Indiana Coalition for Public Education—Monroe County February 19, 2018
Contact: Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer, Chair FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Cell Phone: 812-320-4400
Email: [email protected]
ACCLAIMED DOCUMENTARY BACKPACK FULL OF CASH TO BE SCREENED IN BLOOMINGTON THURSDAY, MARCH 1
Bloomington, Indiana—A local public education coalition and community partners are bringing a movie about the consequences of defunding and school privatization to Bloomington. Backpack Full of Cash will be screened Thursday, March 1, 6:45 p.m., at AMC Showplace Bloomington 12 on the west side. Tickets for the free but ticketed event are available online through Eventbrite.
Narrated by Matt Damon, this feature-length documentary explores the diversion of public resources into charter schools and vouchers and the resulting impact on America’s most vulnerable children. Filmed in Philadelphia, New Orleans, Nashville and other cities, Backpack Full of Cash takes viewers through the tumultuous 2013–14 school year, exposing the world of corporate-driven education “reform” where public schools—starved of resources—hang in the balance.
While Indiana is not a focus of Backpack Full of Cash, what the film describes applies here in spades. Since 2011, over $1.3 billion of state education funding has been channeled into Indiana’s privately managed charter schools, including $142 million to charters that have since closed. Private schools have received more than $520 million through the voucher program. Meanwhile, parents are expected to pay for public school textbooks, and in some areas of the state, school districts are struggling to maintain basic services such as transportation programs. Our state legislature is considering state takeover of districts which have lost students and funding, which would lead to the loss of elected school boards in those communities.
This event is sponsored by the Indiana Coalition for Public Education—Monroe County, the Indiana State Teachers Association District Council 18, and the Indiana University School of Education. Other generous sponsors include Democracy for Monroe County, Penny Githens, Andy and Susie Graham, John Hamilton and Dawn Johnsen, Ivy Tech Community College Bloomington, Monroe County Education Association, Martha and David Moore, Deborah Myerson, Sculpture Trails Outdoor Museum, Brian and Peg Smith, Janet Stake, Jeff Stake HiFi, Liz Watson for Congress, Showers Inn, Sterling Real Estate, and the Education Associations of Brown County, Cloverdale, Eastern-Greene, and Linton-Stockton.
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For more information about the movie, please visit www.BackpackFullofCash.com. To learn more about the March 1 screening and the Indiana Coalition for Public Education–Monroe County, please contact Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer at 812-320-4400 or visit our website at https://www.icpe-monroecounty.org/.
Contact: Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer, Chair FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Cell Phone: 812-320-4400
Email: [email protected]
ACCLAIMED DOCUMENTARY BACKPACK FULL OF CASH TO BE SCREENED IN BLOOMINGTON THURSDAY, MARCH 1
Bloomington, Indiana—A local public education coalition and community partners are bringing a movie about the consequences of defunding and school privatization to Bloomington. Backpack Full of Cash will be screened Thursday, March 1, 6:45 p.m., at AMC Showplace Bloomington 12 on the west side. Tickets for the free but ticketed event are available online through Eventbrite.
Narrated by Matt Damon, this feature-length documentary explores the diversion of public resources into charter schools and vouchers and the resulting impact on America’s most vulnerable children. Filmed in Philadelphia, New Orleans, Nashville and other cities, Backpack Full of Cash takes viewers through the tumultuous 2013–14 school year, exposing the world of corporate-driven education “reform” where public schools—starved of resources—hang in the balance.
While Indiana is not a focus of Backpack Full of Cash, what the film describes applies here in spades. Since 2011, over $1.3 billion of state education funding has been channeled into Indiana’s privately managed charter schools, including $142 million to charters that have since closed. Private schools have received more than $520 million through the voucher program. Meanwhile, parents are expected to pay for public school textbooks, and in some areas of the state, school districts are struggling to maintain basic services such as transportation programs. Our state legislature is considering state takeover of districts which have lost students and funding, which would lead to the loss of elected school boards in those communities.
This event is sponsored by the Indiana Coalition for Public Education—Monroe County, the Indiana State Teachers Association District Council 18, and the Indiana University School of Education. Other generous sponsors include Democracy for Monroe County, Penny Githens, Andy and Susie Graham, John Hamilton and Dawn Johnsen, Ivy Tech Community College Bloomington, Monroe County Education Association, Martha and David Moore, Deborah Myerson, Sculpture Trails Outdoor Museum, Brian and Peg Smith, Janet Stake, Jeff Stake HiFi, Liz Watson for Congress, Showers Inn, Sterling Real Estate, and the Education Associations of Brown County, Cloverdale, Eastern-Greene, and Linton-Stockton.
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For more information about the movie, please visit www.BackpackFullofCash.com. To learn more about the March 1 screening and the Indiana Coalition for Public Education–Monroe County, please contact Cathy Fuentes-Rohwer at 812-320-4400 or visit our website at https://www.icpe-monroecounty.org/.