Yesterday, Missourians spoke loud and clear: We won’t be tricked by Gov. Kehoe’s billionaire-backed tax scheme. Despite over $17 million in dark money spending to confuse us, over 83% of us resoundingly voted NO on Amendment 5—a majority of voters in every single county in the state. We rejected tax relief for the rich that would have been a drain on our communities, our classrooms, and our own pockets.

Join our debrief call Thursday 8/6 from 7-8pm on Zoom. Come celebrate, reflect, and hear what comes next. 

This outcome was not inevitable. It was organized, not by a well-funded campaign with paid consultants and television ads, but by regular parents, teachers, and people who know that strong schools are the heart of strong communities——who believe that EVERY child in our state deserves access to an amazing and fully funded public education. We built something out of nothing and scaled it through sheer grit and our love of our kids. 

In less than 10 weeks, here’s what we built and did TOGETHER:

• 800+ people across 50 counties took some kind of action 

• 600+ launch and onboarding attendees

• 350 people trained to organize No votes

• 225 people made BIG COMMITMENTS to action

• 1K+ signs distributed statewide

• 9 stories in the press about our parent organizing

• 20+ school board resolutions and statements 

• $7K+ raised from parents, teachers and grassroots donors

We organized grounded in our stakes and committed to take agency—to DO SOMETHING to change what might happen next for our public schools. We refused to let a billionaire's financial interests and state lawmakers' political ambitions determine what our schools become.

WE WON BIG, AND WE SHOULD BE PROUD

But the fight to protect public schools in Missouri is far from over. We are still 49th out of 50th in state spending on public education. Amendment 5 was one fight in a long campaign to starve Missouri's public schools and public institutions.

So we are not declaring victory and going home. We are going deeper. We are going to organize more regular people in more communities across our state. We are going to build school-level teams that know how to fight—and win—before the next threat appears on the ballot or gets rammed through the legislature.

Join our debrief call Thursday 8/6 from 7-8pm on Zoom. Come celebrate, reflect, and hear what comes next.

And in the meantime, we’d love your reflections on this campaign—let us know what you learned and what you imagine forward as we plan our next steps.

We are just getting started. And we need you and everyone you can organize to join us. 

Onwards,

Stephanie, LaNee, David, Sierra, Latrice, Jamie, Jennifer, Sarah, Amber, Laci, Judy, Molly, Ellen

And the rest of the Parents for Missouri Public Schools Organizing Team