The Rochester City has the third highest child-poverty rate in the nation. Ninety percent of our school district's students are from an under-served population. Due to mismanagement of funds as well as lack of funding from the state level, our district is facing a dire budgetary crisis that has resulted in mid-year teacher cuts and displacements that have disrupted our entire city. Numerous teachers, paraprofessionals and support staff have been displaced or laid off, leaving the students and school staff scrambling to make things right. 

Our students deserve better than this. They are the ones most severely impacted by systemic dysfunction, mismanagement of funds and resources and overall negligence of funding support, and this must change. Each one of our students deserves access to sustainable, high-quality education. Anything less is a violation of basic human rights. This is an issue of access, equity and justice.

As parents, family members and concerned citizens we must raise our voices against these injustices. We must demand full funding of Foundation Aid at the state level and full transparency of financial management at the local level to ensure that our students have access to the education that they deserve.