North Carolina Teacher Uses Change.org Petition to Fight For Early Childhood Education

After a month of organizing, Michelle O'Reilly stood up in front of the Charlotte Mecklenberg Board of Commissioners last night, telling them why they need to save, rather than axe, the early childhood education program she teaches for.

"When a society invests wisely in children and families, the next generation will pay that back through a lifetime of productivity and responsible citizenship," said O'Reilly "I want to live in a world- class Charlotte that truly showcases the best of American living for all of its citizens."

She brought with her 1,671 signatures, gathered online and by hand, from community members, showing their support for Bright Beginnings - a preschool program that serves Charlotte-Mecklenberg's neediest students and will lose 1,800 seats if a $10 million dollar proposed budget cuts moves forward. You can watch the video from the April 5 meeting here - O'Reilly speaks at 43:21.

After the meeting, O'Reilly says she felt excited. Although some board members have criticized her petition on Change.org, saying it attracted out-of-state signers that are irrelevant to the county's decisions, she says the commissioners leafed through the pages of signatures she gave them while she spoke and looked impressed.

"I feel like a lot of hard work has paid off," said O'Reilly. "Now they know in one more way that this community supports Bright Beginnings and that we truly value early childhood education."

But the fight isn't over. The decision to slash funding for Bright Beginnings has been pushed back to late April or early May, according to O'Reilly. Supporters of Bright Beginnings aren't going to sit idly by until the vote happens. They're planning a month-long effort to keep pressure on the county and the school board to save Bright Beginnings.

"We need to come together for a big push," says O'Reilly. "The petition was the first step. Now, we've got to keep it going."

Originally, O'Reilly wrote her petition to support a proposal put forth by commissioner Vilma Leake. Leake proposed the county giving the school district a $10 million grant to cover Bright Beginnings for a year. But there were concerns that the funding wasn't sustainable, and that next year, the program would be on the chopping block again.

But a new idea is surfacing now - to keep the county from lowering property taxes. If the county did lower property taxes, as some have proposed, the $40 to 70 million generated would go toward Charlotte-Mecklenberg Schools, and anything over $44 million, says O'Reilly, would go toward Bright Beginnings.

O'Reilly says she's excited to keep moving forward to find a solution that works to keep this program open. At last night's meeting, she quoted Education Secretary Arne Duncan's thoughts on early childhood education:

“There are smart ways to cut, and frankly, there are dumb ways to cut," said Duncan. "Our three- and four-year-olds don't have lobbyists, but if we want to close achievement gaps -- if we're serious about giving every single child a chance to be successful -- we have to enter kindergarten ready to learn and ready to read.”

Stand with Michelle O'Reilly and the children of Charlotte-Mecklenberg - Tell the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners: Please Fund Bright Beginnings!

Photo credit: Dave Parker