Crawford Strategies managed media and communications for the Fund Our Future campaign, which won the passage of the landmark Student Opportunity Act in 2019. The legislation commits the state to increasing annual K-12 education funding by $1.5 billion, with a focus on students in low-income communities.
Project Details
The Fund Our Future campaign was formed by union educators, parents, and students, organizing through the Massachusetts Education Justice Alliance (MEJA), to end the generation-long underfunding of local public schools and public colleges and universities in Massachusetts, starting with updating the state’s outdated foundation budget formula for school spending.
Crawford Strategies developed the communications strategy for the successful campaign to update and modernize the foundation budget formula, delivering billions of dollars more for low-income students, students of color and English learners who have been left behind for years. Our messaging focused on the real-world impact of the difficult-to-understand funding formula, and focused on translating the complex policy debate into terms that reporters and the general public could relate to.
After months of aggressive campaigning by the Fund Our Future campaign, including a major rally at the State House and a 8+ hour legislative hearing, the Student Opportunity Act, which commits the state to increasing annual K-12 education funding by $1.5 billion over inflation over a seven-year phase-in, was signed into law on November 26, 2019. The legislation provides millions of dollars more for the highest-poverty districts whose students have the greatest needs.
Months later, as the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic caused a drop in state revenues, the state delayed the implementation of the Student Opportunity Act. Crawford Strategies developed and led a communications strategy focused on highlighting the urgent needs of students during the pandemic, and helped MEJA advocate to get the Student Opportunity Act back on track on its original timeline.
Crawford Strategies continues to work with MEJA to ensure that the Student Opportunity Act is fully implemented, and to address the deep underfunding of public colleges and universities in Massachusetts.
Selected Press Clips
MassLive, New coalition will push for more education funding in Massachusetts
Patch, Hundreds Show Up At State House Education Funding Hearing
Boston Globe, Hundreds rally for changes to school funding formula
Bay State Banner, Lawmakers advance education funding bill
South Coast Today, Activists turn attention to higher ed funding