FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 20, 2009
Contact: Julian Rogers
email: JRogers@edvoters.org
216.241.3100 (office)
216.701.5234 (cell)
PUBLIC EDUCATION ADVOCATES ANNOUNCE MERGER
Expanded, Inclusive Education Voters Institute of Ohio Signals New Strength for Proponents of School Funding Equity
CLEVELAND (March 20, 2009)—Two of the state’s leading voices in the call for equity and quality in Ohio’s public schools have announced their merger.
Education Voters Institute (EVI) of Ohio, headquartered in Cleveland and Ohio Fair Schools Campaign (OFSC), recent partners in the presentation of a successful, statewide listening tour that invited participants in twelve cities to share their ideas of how best to reform the state’s public schools and the method by which they are funded, have joined forces at a time that many see as a decisive juncture for public education in Ohio and across the nation.
The merged nonprofits will retain the Education Voters name. In joining, they aim to widen their collective reach and increase their effectiveness in tackling issues that have long impeded reform in a state where the Supreme Court has repeatedly found the school funding system to be unconstitutional. Julian Rogers, the executive director of Education Voters Institute of Ohio will continue to direct the new, larger organization.
Speaking of the merger and its significance, Rogers acknowledged that while similar in mission and vision, the EVI and OFSC each bring unique, complementary identities to their union. “Through the experience of last summer’s listening tour, I believe both organizations gained important respect for one another and for the seriousness with which each approaches questions that are at their core about fairness for kids. OFSC’s diverse network of advocates across the state brings a vital, new dimension to EVI. And I am excited about what our sustained partnership can and will accomplish for Ohio’s public schools in the critical months ahead.”
Representative Debbie Phillips, the founding executive director of the Ohio Fair Schools Campaign who was elected to the Ohio House in November 2008 echoed Rogers’ enthusiasm and his confidence in the merger’s potential. “I remain wholly committed to working with individuals and groups across Ohio to fix Ohio’s school funding system. This is a very exciting time to be engaged in this work, as the legislature partners with Governor Strickland to enact bold reforms that will ensure that every Ohio child has the resources they need to be successful in the 21st century. I am encouraged that the ‘new,’ Education Voters Institute will help citizens have an even stronger voice to make the needed changes and create a constitutional school funding system in Ohio.”
Education Voters Institute of Ohio, an affiliate of Education Voters Institute in Washington, D.C. (with additional offices in New York and Philadelphia) uses innovative civic participation strategies to build public support and public demand for education policies that promote universal access to high quality education. EVI envisions a nation in which every child has equitable opportunity for high quality education, and in which Americans call upon their local, state, and federal officials to support that vision.
Formed in Athens in 2002, the Ohio Fair Schools Campaign, a coalition of community organizations; non-profits; faith networks; local congregations; parent organizations; and concerned citizens from rural, urban and suburban areas identified its mission as organizing and advocating for high quality public education opportunities for all Ohio children wherever they live, whatever their race, and whatever their family background.
# # #
