When Torchy's Tacos re-submitted a two-year old bid to sell alcohol within 300 feet of Fulmore Middle School, they forgot to take into account the lasting power of Austin Interfaith. Leaders from neighboring Travis Heights Elementary PTA, St. Ignatius Catholic, Oak Creek Village Tenants Association and St. David's Episcopal Church were already organizing around funding for after-school programming and maintaining affordable housing in communities near the school when apartment complexes are redeveloped.

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TMO leaders and parents of children attending Lyons Elementary held a pre-board meeting press conference to detail their concerns about the latest HISD proposal to rezone elementary schools. Rosa Rivera argued that a plan to shift new students to nearby elementary schools would negatively impact the education of her children as the nearby schools are not as high quality as Lyons. "Before they start to do all these movements, I would like HISD to improve the schools."

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Convening 1,500 at Oklahoma City University Sunday afternoon, VOICE leaders challenged a bipartisan panel of candidates for Oklahoma State Superintendent with stories and questions around the state of Oklahoma schools; 5 of the 7 invited candidates directly heard from community members, teachers and parents, and responded with answers to direct questions.

Over the last six months VOICE leaders (including the Oklahoma Educators Association) have been presenting "High-Stakes Testing: Is it Worth the Cost?" all over the state. The presentation exposed the cost of and examines the impact of high-stakes testing and created opportunities for students, teachers, parents and school administrators to weigh in. VOICE leaders collected input regarding what would make an "A" school, identifying four main themes:

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African American clergy from VOICE-OKC called on State Superintendent Janet Barresi and her 6 opponents to participate in an accountability session June 6th focusing on testing and the quality of public schools in Oklahoma. Said Reverend Ray Douglas, senior pastor of Greater Mount Olive Baptist Church in northeast Oklahoma, "These kids are the people who are going to have to be our leaders and take care of us in the future...The future is in their hands, and it has to be in educated hands if we're going to survive and prosper."

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At a meeting sponsored by NAIC, Northern Arizona Interfaith Council teachers, administrators and parents assembled with Secretary of State Ken Bennett, Representative Karen Fann and the Chairman of the local commercial development group to develop a funding plan for Prescott Valley public schools. Leaders from three distinct school districts serving 13,000 children will mobilize to pass approximately $43 Million in bonds and override propositions to raise money.

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