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Erin Apte is Senior Legislative Counsel at Public Advocates. As a member of the Education Equity team, Erin’s work focuses on K–12 state advocacy on school funding and accountability issues. She works closely with statewide coalitions and community partners to achieve policy and budget wins that build community power and advance racial and social justice in schools by eliminating disparities in opportunity for BIPOC and low-income students and their families.

Months of work with community partners has gone into preparing for today’s State Board of Education (SBE) meeting on May 18, 2022. Today, board members will hear public comments on the California Community Schools Partnership Program (CCSPP) and approve the first round of community schools grants, which will provide millions of dollars to districts to create racially just and relationship centered schools. In 2021, the California legislature allocated over $3 billion for CCSPP to establish new and expand existing community schools.

Erin and her community partners in the California Partnership for the Future of Learning led a broad coalition effort to win these funds and have worked diligently to ensure that the CCSPP centers the needs of and input from directly impacted community members at every stage of implementation.

A glimpse into Erin’s day

I’m excited about this day! We’re here to celebrate this historic investment in community schools and to show appreciation for the SBE and Department of Education’s collaboration, especially the value they placed on recommendations from youth, families and educators to the program’s design. Our community partners have a strong, clear and decisive message for board members today – the board needs to hold school districts accountable to deep and equal partnership with students, families, community partners and educators to co-design and implement transformative, racially just, and relationship centered community schools.

7:00 am – I wake up early, have coffee and fruit for breakfast. I’ll need the energy for the big day ahead.

8:00 am – I start my workday responding to texts from California Partnership for the Future of Learning organizers. Terry Supahan from True North Organizing Network/PICO CA Education for Liberation and I discuss current community school program criteria and our demands. I help him put the finishing touches on his public comment. Katy Nunez-Adler, Statewide Coordinator for the Partnership, and I finalize the plan and logistics for the action.

8:10am – In the free moments I have before the SBE meeting begins, I draft a written public comment in support of greater investments in Community Schools and the Community Engagement Initiative for a California Senate budget committee hearing on the Governor’s May revision to the state budget proposal. Our Legislative Coordinator Ines Rosales will testify at that hearing today since I’ll be at the SBE meeting. We’ll be advocating for our priorities in multiple forums at the Capitol!

8:20 am – I look at the “together we rise” artwork I keep on my desk from the Duwamish tribe in Seattle that a friend gifted me and think of how true that message feels as we’re about to kick off public comment from members of the California Partnership for the Future of Learning at the State Board of Education meeting and celebrate the first round of community schools grants — the largest investment in school transformation in the nation.

8:30 am – Sixteen members of the Partnership plan to speak as students, parents and community leaders about this ground-breaking opportunity for school transformation

I get on a final preparatory Zoom call to welcome participants, build relationships, get energized for the action, and answer final questions. Participants go into breakout rooms to practice their public comments in pairs and try to pare them down to one minute or less, which is all the time they’ll have.

9:00 am – Our partner from the Advancement Project CA, Day Son, launches an English text thread which I use to communicate with participants during the action. Katy Nunez-Adler, and Karen Alvarado from Orange County Congregation Community Organization and PICO CA Education for Liberation, who co-lead the Partnership’s community schools workgroup with me, simultaneously launch a Spanish thread, to ensure that information is conveyed in real time to all participants. I ensure interpreters understand the logistics for interpreting for Spanish speakers giving public comment.

9:30 am – The Community Schools item begins. I update Partnership public commenters with call-in information. We got this!

9:55 am – One of our Partnership anchor organizations and close partners, Californians for Justice, is named as a partner for the state community schools’ lead technical assistance center! Congratulations and excitement on the text thread.

10:20 am – Public comment starts on community schools. The sixteen members of the California Partnership for the Future of Learning testify in English, Spanish, and Karuk in support of the program and ensuring that students, families, and community organizations are authentic partners in decision-making. Our text thread is on fire as participants congratulate each other; people are so excited. Everyone gives powerful testimony.

“Transformation happens when students, families, community, and educators are authentic partners. It takes all of us to create racially just, relationship centered community schools.”

Zara Hurtado

10:45 am – Our public comment ends. We showed up strong and powerfully!

11:00 am – I listen to the State Board of Education members’ comments, discussion and final vote on the grants. Meanwhile, Partnership members debrief the SBE action and what it was like to give public comment. They record the debrief so I can listen later. Folks were so proud of themselves and the turnout, especially among young leaders and recent graduates who are helping to shape a better future for California. Emotions were high and folks felt really connected to each other and the movement for school transformation by creating racially just and relationship-centered community schools.

11:15 am – At least five State Board of Education members, including SBE President Darling-Hammond, directly recognize and uplift our Partnership public comments. I’m texting participants every time their comments were shouted out so they know they were heard! Everyone is excited that our comments are getting traction – there are so many fire emojis and power fists on our group text thread.

Member Kim Pattillo Brownson shared how cool it was to hear from so many members of the public on this issue and to see the excitement the program has generated from the community. She also underscored how important it is to have data transparency about the demographics of grant applicants and recipients, one of the things we are asking for. Member Pattillo Brownson also highlighted Partnership and Public Advocates’ advocacy around shared leadership and decision making and ensuring those pillars and commitments are part of the lead technical assistance center and district and school grant implementation. Member Glover Woods also elevated our comments on ensuring that there is authentic collaboration with parents, families, students and communities in every aspect of program design and implementation.

11:30 am – The State Board of Education meeting ends. Wow, what a rush. I’m so excited that the grants were approved and that our comments and recommendations were so well received. I’m moved yet again by the immense power of strategic organizing and centering the voices and leadership of impacted communities. I feel so grateful for our California Partnership for the Future of Learning partners and their leadership in this work.

11:40 am – No rest for the weary. Next, I turn to the California Senate Budget Committee Subcommittee on Education hearing, which is still going on, to listen to the overview of the Governor’s May revision of the state budget proposal and discussion on the Community Engagement Initiative, community schools and educator investments.

11:50 am – I review and edit the Partnership’s press release on State Board of Education grant announcements. Our communications team is ready and working hard to respond quickly to this exciting news. Gotta claim that win!

12:10 pm – I revise our Senate Budget Subcommittee on Education public comment in response to member comments and discussion and the reduced time limit given on public comment. I coordinate with the kindergarten through 12th grade state advocacy team as to who will give the public comment since I’m now available. Ines has put in the work and is ready to represent our team, so she’ll take the lead this time. Unfortunately, there were so many people in line to testify that public comment was ended before we got ours in. We adjust and I email our written comments to the Senate Budget Committee instead.

12:30 pm – The State Board of Education meeting and California Senate Budget Committee Subcommittee on Education hearing have both concluded. I take a much-needed lunch break and sit outside to get some sunshine and re-energize for this afternoon’s Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance hearing on the Governor’s May revision to the state budget proposal.

1:30 pm – I make a fresh cup of coffee and get back to work. I review the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance’s budget analysis and prepare public comment on community schools and the Community Engagement Initiative. I practice timing myself to make sure I can say it at a good pace in less than a minute.

2:20 pm – I listen attentively for our budget priorities to be discussed during the Assembly budget hearing and text with partners from the California Partnership for the Future of Learning, including Karn Saetang from Californians for Justice, to coordinate our public comments so that we can effectively use our 1-minute each to elevate our shared priorities. At the same time, I’m sending emails to partners in the LCFF Equity Coalition, a coalition of education equity advocates that we co-anchor with The Education Trust West, and the California Partnership for the Future of Learning to begin making plans for drafting letters that we’ll send to the Legislature and Administration this week to advocate for our budget priorities, including community schools.

3:45 pm – I give my public comment at the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance hearing and listen to comments by other folks in the field. I get excited when I hear other advocates supporting the additional funding proposed for community schools.

4:10 pm – The Assembly Budget Hearing ends and I don’t have anything else scheduled. It’s been an action-filled and successful day and now I’m exhausted and ready to rest! I let my team know that I’m taking the rest of the afternoon off. They congratulate me on a great turnout at the State Board of Education meeting and job well-done. I feel excited and content knowing that we are making a difference and building the capacity of grassroots leaders and organizers to engage in state advocacy that will have long-term and profound impacts in their local communities.

This day of public comment was organized by the California Partnership for the Future of Learning, a statewide alliance of community organizing and advocacy groups advancing a shared vision of a transformational, racially just education system built for us all. The California Partnership is led by Advancement Project California, Californians for Justice, PICO California Education for Liberation, and Public Advocates, with the support of Community Coalition, InnerCity Struggle, and over a dozen grassroots, research and philanthropic partners.