• Organizational Background: AQE operates across New York State, mobilizing Black, Brown, low-income, and immigrant families through coalition-building strategies to hold state leaders accountable for a high-quality public education for all students regardless of zip code. Combining legislative and policy expertise with grassroots organizing, AQE advances proven-to-work strategies that lead to student success and generate public demand for a high-quality education. Through SCG’s Community-led COVID-19 Recovery Action Accelerator in 2020, AQE conducted a study with subsequent policy recommendations to state and district leaders on prioritizing the needs of Black, Brown, low-income, and immigrant families for remote learning.

  • Project: The Alliance for Quality Education prioritized the voices of Black, Brown, low-income, and immigrant parents in how to allocate federal education relief funds. AQE’s efforts centered on information gathering and organizing with parents in New York City and Rochester. The resultant report, We Demand: How New York’s Communities Want to Use New Federal Aid to Public Schools, delineated parents’ priorities around essential academic and health supports for students with forward-looking guidance on how to leverage these resources to imbue greater equality into the education system. AQE is using the report as a framework for organizing efforts across five additional New York school districts.

Collateral

Featured
Albany Accountability One Pager
Albany Accountability One Pager

Albany schools are slated to receive an additional $55.9 million in state and federal aid. All districts were required to publicly post their spending plans for this new funding on or before July 1.

With nearly 700 school districts in New York State, we need your help to determine whether YOUR district’s plan adequately addresses the needs and demands of families, educators and students in your community.

Kingston Accountability One Pager
Kingston Accountability One Pager

Kingston schools are slated to receive an additional $25.8 million in state and federal aid. All districts were required to publicly post their spending plans for this new funding on or before July 1.

With nearly 700 school districts in New York State, we need your help to determine whether YOUR district’s plan adequately addresses the needs and demands of families, educators and students in your community.

Utica Accountability One Pager
Utica Accountability One Pager

Utica schools are slated to receive an additional $95.7 million in state and federal aid. All districts were required to publicly post their spending plans for this new funding on or before July 1.

With nearly 700 school districts in New York State, we need your help to determine whether YOUR district’s plan adequately addresses the needs and demands of families, educators and students in your community.

Buffalo Accountability One Pager
Buffalo Accountability One Pager

Buffalo schools are slated to receive an additional $333 million in state and federal aid. All districts were required to publicly post their spending plans for this new funding on or before July 1.

With nearly 700 school districts in New York State, we need your help to determine whether YOUR district’s plan adequately addresses the needs and demands of families, educators and students in your community.

Rochester Accountability One Pager
Rochester Accountability One Pager

Rochester schools are slated to receive an additional $324.5 million in state and federal aid. All districts were required to publicly post their spending plans for this new funding on or before July 1.

With nearly 700 school districts in New York State, we need your help to determine whether YOUR district’s plan adequately addresses the needs and demands of families, educators and students in your community.

WAMC Article: Survey: How NY Communities Want Public Schools To Use Covid Relief Funding
WAMC Article: Survey: How NY Communities Want Public Schools To Use Covid Relief Funding

AQE leaders were recently featured in this media piece by WAMC Northeast Public Radio sharing the results of their survey of over 1,000parents’ views on how ARPA resources should meet the needs and priorities of families, students, and educators for COVID-19 recovery and to combat systemically racist practices in schooling.

Preliminary ARP Plan with Public Input
Preliminary ARP Plan with Public Input

As part of the federal government’s American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act, school districts across the country will receive additional funding to support student need in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Rochester City School District will receive an allocation of almost $197 million to invest in our students’ education over the next three years. This is a once in a generation infusion of funds that gives us the opportunity to truly reimagine education in our district.

Survey Report
Survey Report

Families, students and research agree: New York's schools should invest new federal education funding in strategies that work.

The Alliance for Quality Education and Public Policy and Education Fund launched a survey with the intent of getting feedback and input from Black and Latinx families, students and educators primarily in New York City, Buffalo, Rochester, Kingston, Utica, Albany. We collected 1,046 surveys in English and Spanish