In a community school, students, families, educators, and community members work together to identify needs and develop solutions to create school and community environments where everyone can thrive.

Schools, and the educators and staff in them, must have the capacity to support students from various backgrounds, classes, race, and sexual orientation so that our next generation of leaders feel like they can contribute and make an impact in their local communities, state, and our nation.

Our core transformative school principles include:

• Every child has the right to a curriculum that transparently reflects our history and the contributions of our diverse citizenry
• Every child must not be excluded from resources to close equity gaps in their school performance
• Students and families must have a voice in decisions at the school level that impact them
• Police-free schools that center mental health and wellness promote school cultures that can problem solve with the individual student in mind, helping students, families and staff feel safe and understood

Led by these core tenets, we hold our government and education system accountable.

Read more: Let’s Advance Racial Justice Through Community Schools, California set to launch hundreds of community schools with $635 million in grants

California is leading the way on a community schools approach

As an anchor member of the California Partnership for the Future of Learning, Public Advocates supported students, families, community members, and educators to expand the statewide community schools program. Together, we won a multi-year $4.1 billion commitment to racially just community schools from the state. This resulted in the creation of California’s Community Schools Framework and the California Community School Partnership Program.