Public education in California has reached a dismal level of low performance. Per the latest results from the Nation’s Report Card (NAEP), California students are lagging behind the national average. We are even trailing behind traditionally underperforming states like Louisiana and Mississippi in fourth-grade (233 vs. 237 national/235 Louisiana/239 Mississippi) math scores. Years of far-left ideological indoctrination has had devasting effects on student performance.

The other side has spent the last half a century (or longer) infiltrating our education system from within. Step by step, they have installed activists in key decision-making positions in nearly all school districts, popularized fringe teaching practices, and perfected processes to purge dissent. Such omnipotent takeover will not be undone by one election, some legal victories or a few local political wins alone. Aside from national and state policies, we must stay focused on the substantive issues of education at the local level: academic curricula, school finances, professional training programs… To reclaim academic excellence, we must effect long-term changes at the local level, day in and day out.

Since our founding, CFER has put into practice the strategy of helping local parents and community members build up their own local school district organizations. It is a long-shot strategy that does not bring immediate payoff or political glamour. Why do we insist on it then, you’d ask? Very simple. Parents, taxpayers and residents know their schools and communities the best. They have personal stakes in the fight. Therefore, local community members in a school district can often obtain the latest and accurate information. On the other hand, local stakeholders, who vote, can make authentic claims that will be acknowledged by the school district leadership. Compared with national and state advocacy organizations, the model of local school district organizing affords parents and other community members ownership and flexibility.

Admittedly, the first step is usually the hardest. It is not just getting connected with likeminded individuals in your area. The crucial task of building awareness requires a public-facing website: you must build it and maintain it. At CFER, we recognize this urgent demand. After working with parents throughout California to kickstart their own local watchdogs, we are proud to announce that CFER now has the experience and knowhow to help you create and maintain your own local organization website, for free and within weeks.

Having a credible website is a necessary step towards broadening outreach to other parents and community members who can also be empowered with timely information and pertinent knowledge. For instance, the PUSD Community Watch website, which CFER helped create and maintains on a regular basis, provides finetuned school district information, including school board members’ voting records, curriculum, school district finances, recent bond measures, school-level performance data, etc. The group has just announced important updates to its website, including a trustee area map, an updated meeting calendar, current legislation issues in education, and more. Recently, CFER also helped launch DSUSD Community Watch’s website, which is now complete with all relevant school district data and facts, such as school board policies, budget plans, a board meeting calendar, and parents-facing FAQs. After launching these two websites, we now have the capabilities to scale up with efficiency!

If you are interested in starting your own school district watchdog organization, we will be glad to help you build your website with customizable features so that you can manage it with ease. Contact us today at info@cferfoudation.org to get started.

Due to the customizable and flexible nature of creating a website based on the local school district, we will incur some fixed costs on hosting platforms. Not counting labor cost, we are looking at spending $40 a month for one school-district website. We understand that financial cost is always a significant hurdle for parents who are investing their own time, energy and other resources in reaching out to voters and other local stakeholders. As such, we strive to make it a bit easier for them by offering to build their website for free. Within weeks, we can customize a website with user-friendly features for future upkeep.

But unlike lushly funded thinktanks and foundations, CFER runs predominantly on grassroots donations. We pinch every penny because we know every valuable contribution from you carries your trust and faith in CFER. Even if you are not ready to start your own organization, you can make a kind donation to CFER today to help us help more local parents kickstart their own websites and their own local groups. We are currently facing a $20,000 deficit and your generosity will make a big difference.

Can we count on you today?