Arguments over charter schools, tax incentives, and state funding have dominated our discourse for decades, but very little has changed. Our public school system struggles to consistently offer high-quality educational experiences across all schools and to all students. Instead of pushing for improvement across the system, we splinter into factions, labeling others as friend or foe. Our advocacy efforts verge on slander as we focus on discrediting others, claiming the system's dysfunction is their fault alone.

It's time to try something new. It's time to remove the labels we stuck on ourselves long ago and work together to build the public school system our city deserves.

This political platform for public education in the City of St. Louis offers a place to start. It's short —there are only two goals — but it won't be easy or fast to implement. We'll need politicians, policy makers, and education leaders with the political will to see it through. And we'll need community stakeholders to hold them accountable every step of the way.