Last Wednesday, Guilford For All’s education campaign concluded with a win of an additional $12.3 million for schools organized through collective action to move the County Commission. This followed a campaign climax on June 5th where 42 of our members marched through downtown Greensboro alongside our partners at the Guilford County Association of Educators (GCAE), and held a powerful rally outside the old county courthouse just before filling the County Commission public hearing with our stories on why we need more education funding.
Our campaign started just back in March when 68 Guilford For All members came together and voted on a campaign to support GCAE in the fight for a 2 cents per 100 dollars property tax that would raise $14 million for necessary school staff raises and address the staffing crises in the county.
Our first action was our powerful presence at the County Commission Budget Town Halls on April 1st and April 7th, where we showed up and showed out, challenging the County Commission to meet the needs of our kids. We showed our mass of green shirts and let the commissioners know that we demand creative solutions to find this money, and that it’d need to happen now.
Second, we shifted away from a property tax as a main means for generating income to pay for staff raises based on feedback from our community. We shifted our focus towards a solution raised by commissioner Frankie Jones (District 7) to reallocate tax surplus sitting in the county’s bank account towards addressing this funding crisis now.
Throughout May, we took to the streets and canvassed at events and parks across the county, organizing other neighbors concerned with strong schools for our kids. We invited folks into joining our movement and stepping up to share their stories to the county commission.
A week before June 5th, 27 members organized a Community Huddle for Education where we made signs, wrote letters, and even painted a cardboard school bus together to make our march to the June 5th Budget Hearing that much more powerful.
On June 18th, the County Commissioners announced that they recognized the hard work we put into organizing the community to fight for more school funding. In a 7-2 vote, the majority of commissioners used both the aforementioned tax surplus reallocation and a slight property tax increase to raise $12.3 million, with an incredible $3 million earmarked specifically for the hardworking classified staff that keep the schools running.
Following the hard work of our campaign team and member leaders, G4A has scored another victory for working folks in the county–both for the Guilford County Schools Staff who support our communities but also the kids that are the future of our county.
This fall, G4A takes aim at another powerful Municipal Election season and next year we’ll continue organizing for education funding in an important property re-evaluation year. Our continued wins and growth are from the work of determined community leaders who stepped up because no one else would, and if you are interested in stepping into your leadership too, sign up for a conversation here!