About Right To Learn

Despite already funding its schools at one of the worst levels in the nation, California’s schools are facing budget cuts of historic proportions – $4.8 billion during 2008-09, the so-called “Year of Education.”  These cuts are equivalent to laying off more than 107,000 teachers, cutting more than $24,000 per classroom or increasing class sizes statewide by as much as 35 percent.

Young people know the challenges facing California's public schools firsthand -- from dilapidated facilities to old textbooks to the need for more highly qualified teachers, cutting such a large sum from the education budget would decimate the core of these important public institutions and the lives of the students who attend them.

On April 18, thousands of young people throughout the state will speak up against this proposal and demand that "We Deserve Better!" as part of a statewide Day of Action.  Using our web platform as a dynamic organizing tool, student leaders will host actions on their school campuses across California.  During the Day of Action, our website will feature digital media uniting the collective and powerful student voice denouncing these budget cuts.

"Our Schools. Our Stories."
In November and December 2007, more than 700 young people from across the state shared their thoughts about the biggest challenges facing California’s education system on the Right To Learn Web site. Candid and concerned, these youth—veteran consumers of California’s K-12 education system—feel they have received an inadequate education from such an innovative and wealthy state, from the teachers in their classrooms to the food in their cafeterias to the extracurricular programs their schools provide. Beyond their specific concerns, youth issued a resounding plea to educational decision-makers to involve them in their deliberations.

From these tales, Right To Learn highlighted the most compelling submissions from students in a printed report called "Our Schools. Our Stories," and an online video.

About YouthNoise
YouthNoise is an international youth civic engagement organization. Using a multi-media participatory web site, we provide a platform built on networked technologies that invite youth around the world to bring their unique perspectives and creative visions to solve problems they define as critical to their lives and communities. Through a collaborative online environment, youth share ideas, convert ideas into action and scale actions to build and activate movements. We have established a global network of young people built upon a foundation of trust, authenticity and relevance; young people now leverage this network and the platform we have built to actively participate in bettering their world.