Public Funding for School Choice in NY: Pathways Or

ZAKIYA ANSARI is the Advocacy Director of the New York State Alliance for Quality Education (AQE), and a founding parent leader of the NYC Coalition for Educational Justice, a collaborative of community-based organizations representing parents, community members, students and educators organizing to end the inequities in the city’s public school system. Ms. Ansari is a member of the NYC Department of Education community schools steering and advisory Public Funding for committee, and served on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Transition Committee. In 2013 she co-initiated a national grass roots movement, “Journey for Justice,” an alliance of community-based organizations from over 24 cities across the United States School Choice in NY: representing youth, parents, and inter-generational organizations affected by harmful policies of school closing, turnaround, and corporate charter school expan- Pathways or Threats to sion in communities of color. Ms. Ansari represents AQE in the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS) an alliance of parent, youth, community and labor organizations Educational Equity and Excellence? representing over 7 million people nationwide. She is the mother of eight children and grandmother of three. BEVERLY DONOHUE joined New Visions in 2003. She serves as Senior Policy Advisor, coordinating research and program development projects and providing Tuesday, May 23, 2017 policy analysis in support of New Visions initiatives. Ms. Donohue brings extensive experience from New York City government, where she held positions as Chief 8:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Financial Officer for the New York City public school system and Deputy Director of the New York City Office of Management and Budget. She is a nationally recognized expert on school budgets and funding in support of educational reform. Ms. Donohue holds a B.A. from Radcliffe College and a M.Ed. from Harvard University. PRESENTED BY JAMES MERRIMAN is CEO of the New York City Charter School Center. Mr. Merriman is one of the nation’s foremost experts on charter school policy and a leading advocate for high quality, equitable charter schools. He frequently speaks and writes about the actions needed to strengthen and expand charter schools within the New York City public school system. Mr. Merriman’s op-eds, commentary and guest blogs have been featured in The New York Times, The New York Post, The New York Daily News, The Huffington Post, Gotham Schools and Eduwonk. Before joining the Charter Center in 2007, he helped develop and implement the Walton Family Foundation’s grant making in the charter school sector. Mr. Merriman also served as executive director of the Charter Schools Institute of the State University of New York (SUNY-CSI), where he helped design authorization and oversight systems that pro- mote the growth of a high quality charter school sector. He has served on the board About Women’s City Club of New York of the National Charter Schools Institute and is currently a member of the board of In 1915, with an eye on pending legislation that would at last assure women’s suffrage, directors of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers. Before entering a group of New York City activists founded the Women’s City Club the charter sector, Mr. Merriman was a commercial litigator for the law firm Cleary, of New York. They sought not only the right to vote, but also the know-how Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in New York City. He is a graduate of Columbia College to make a real impact on their city’s politics and progress. and New York University Law School. Today, WCC continues to focus on issues of great concern to all New Yorkers: criminal justice, the environment, good government, health, housing and homelessness, income inequality, and public school education. Our members are equally focused on cultivating the next generation of women leaders. wccny.org PROGRAM BIOS REGISTRATION AND NETWORKING MODERATOR WELCOME MICHAEL REBELL is Executive Director, Campaign for Educational Equity and Professor of Law and Educational Practice at Teachers College, Columbia University. Mr. Rebell also is an adjunct Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, OPENING REMARKS and was previously Executive Director of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity and Annette Choolfaian co-counsel for the plaintiffs in CFE v. State of New York, a challenge to the system President, Women’s City Club of New York of funding public education in New York. CFE established the right of all students in the state to the “opportunity for a sound basic education.” Mr. Rebell currently INTRODUCTION OF SPEAKER AND MODERATOR represents plaintiffs in New Yorkers for Students’ Educational Rights v. State of New York, a case now pending before the New York Court of Appeals. Amy Schwartz Board Member, Women’s City Club of New York Mr. Rebell is the author or co-author of six books, and dozens of articles on issues of law and education. Among his most recent works are Schools, Courts and Civic KEYNOTE SPEAKER Participation: Ensuring the Future of Our Democracy (University of Chicago Press, Michael A. Rebell, Executive Director, forthcoming, 2018), Courts and Kids: Pursuing Educational Equity Through theState Campaign for Educational Equity and Professor of Law Courts (U. Chicago Press, 2009); and Moving Every Child Ahead: From NCLB Hype to Meaningful Educational Opportunity (with Jessica R. Wolff, Teachers and Educational Practice at Teachers College, Columbia University College Press, 2008). Mr. Rebell was a member of the National Commission on Equity and Excellence in Education and of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s New York PANEL DISCUSSION Education Reform Commission. Moderator Shawn Morehead Program Director, Promising Futures Education PANELISTS & Human Justice, The New York Community Trust SHAWN MOREHEAD is Program Director, Promising Futures Education & Human Justice, The New York Community Trust. Prior to coming to The Trust, Panelists Zakiyah Ansari Ms. Morehead collaborated on recommendations to the Chancellor of the Advocacy Director, Alliance for Quality Education New York City Department of Education to improve services for students with disabilities. Ms. Morehead was previously the Litigation Director at Advocates Beverly Donohue for Children of New York, where she managed a docket of systemic reform cases Senior Policy Advisor, New Visions concerning education and civil rights on behalf of New York City public school James Merriman students. She also serves on the boards of Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees, and the Rivendell School. Ms. Morehead received her CEO, New York City Charter School Center J.D. from Stanford Law School and clerked for the Honorable Michael B. Mukasey, then Chief Judge of the Southern District of New York. Before law school, she QUESTIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE taught middle school special education in Shreveport, Louisiana. CLOSING AND NEXT STEPS Laura Wolff, Board Member, Women’s City Club of New York Public Funding for School Choice in New York Women’s City Club of New York wccny.org.

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