The Social Justice Vision at Stephen S. Wise Temple

Our congregation will see Social Justice as a calling that derives from our sense of God and the imperative of Jewish Tradition. The Stephen S. Wise Temple community will use our influence, power and compassion to be a force for positive, meaningful and effective change in the quality of life on behalf of all the citizens of Los Angeles and the world.


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Friday, January 13, 2012

The Latest update from Educate Our State: Ballot Intiative Called Off.


Greetings Camp Educate attendee and EOS supporter!

Thank you, to all of you who attended, for your time and energy at Camp Educate.  Since our November convening in Los Angeles, the Educate Our State Leaders have been hard at work continuing to organize the parent voice.  We wanted to give you an update and a sense of where we are headed for the rest of the year.

Educate Our State Led Ballot Measure Update
After careful consideration, we have postponed our work on an Educate Our State led ballot measure in 2012. If you have been following the initiative landscape, you are aware that the field has become increasingly crowded.  See below for a review of the current proposed initiative measures.  We believe that to ensure that our kids are put first, all interested parties should come together to support a single ballot measure in November.  We are evaluating how we can best support a process that creates the opportunity for this to happen.

The Mission of Educate Our State
The mission of Educate Our State is to be the voice of parents demanding real, meaningful change for our state's public schools. Our goals have always been simple--do what is right for all of our children and our schools. We have organized parents to speak up and speak out, we have connected with other grassroots groups engaged in supporting schools, and we have supported people, positions and efforts that will bring about change.  We will continue this work in the year ahead, and we look forward to your engagement and support.

Moving Forward in 2012--Initiatives and More
There are many opinions among education and political experts about which of the initiatives outlined below is best for students and our state. Unity discussions continue between the three groups that may result in a collaborative effort under one initiative. We will be actively following this process, and we will continue to bring the parent voice to the table.

We Are Strong and Getting Stronger
Over the past year, Educate Our State has grown to 40,000 strong supporters in every legislative district in California.  We have continued our efforts through successful campaigns to send the message to Sacramento that parents and concerned citizens are paying attention and want our elected officials to hear what we have to say about improving our schools.

Camp Educate
Camp Educate was a milestone in our ongoing campaign and has helped springboard us to where we are today.  This leadership and organizational training weekend empowered parents and gave them the skills to lead the grassroots work: be involved in discussions with key groups across the state, evaluate candidates for various races, hold house parties and information sessions, and build a motivated parent-led infrastructure to go to the ballot box and fix education now and for the future.

We cannot do this work without you. The fight for high-quality public education in California is fueled by your generous donations. Our all-volunteer team runs a lean operation with 100% of all donated funds going to the efforts of Educate Our State. Please donate if you can. Together we can unite the voices of Californians in support of high-quality public education and demand real change. 

Thank you for taking a stand for California’s children, and thank you for your support!

The Educate Our State Team

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