| Repository: | Western Reserve Historical Society |
| Creator: | Cleveland School Budget Coalition |
| Title: | Cleveland School Budget Coalition Records |
| Dates: | 1982-1986 |
| Extent: | 0.60 linear feet (2 containers) |
| Abstract: | The Cleveland School Budget Coalition was a public education advocacy group formed in 1982 in Cleveland, Ohio. Its purpose was to organize parents and citizens in Cleveland to urge the Cleveland Board of Education to allocate at least 55% of the Cleveland Public Schools budget to direct services to students. The collection consists of agendas, budgets, calendars, certificates, correspondence, fact sheets, job descriptions, memoranda, minutes, newsletters, newspaper clippings, notes, press releases, programs, proposals, reports, and statements. |
| MS Number | MS 5226 |
| Location: | closed stacks |
| Language: | The records are in English |
The Cleveland School Budget Coalition was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1982 by member organizations of the Minimum Standards Coalition after attending a meeting with the New York-based advocacy group Educational Priorities Panel. The purpose of the Cleveland School Budget Coalition was to create a coalition of community groups that sought education reform and public school accountability by evaluating the Cleveland Public Schools budget and determining acceptable levels of funding for direct classroom instruction. The group's mission evolved to include the promotion of parental and citizen involvement in Cleveland Public Schools.
The Cleveland School Budget Coalition considered the school budget as the most crucial issue when advocating for educational reform. It urged the board of education to allocate at least 55% of the budget to direct services to students. The group also believed that when budget cuts became necessary, the board of education should make cuts at the administrative level before the classroom level. It believed that school budget monitoring was necessary by advocacy groups, parents, and citizens. Finally, it believed that the board of education needed to expand the roles of parents and citizens in establishing spending priorities throughout the district.
The founding organizations of the Cleveland School Budget Coalition were Clevelanders for Quality Education Now, the Commission on Catholic Community Action, Friendly Inn Social Settlement, the Greater Cleveland Interchurch Council, Hough Concerned Parents, League Park Center, the League of Women Voters of Cleveland, Merrick House Social Settlement, Near West Neighbors in Action, the Neighborhood Centers Association, and West Side Ecumenical Ministry. The group expanded its membership by 1986 to include the Bell Neighborhood Center, Black Focus on the West Side, the City Wide Parent Policy Council, Concerned Parents of Garden Valley, East End Neighborhood House, Garden Valley Neighborhood House, the Spanish American Center, Low Income People Together, My House, Your House, the Natural Resource Retrieval Center, the Sister Clara Muhammad School, the Teen Fathers Program, Tremont Concerned Parents, the Urban Church Task Force, the Welfare Rights Organization, and the West Side Quality Education Team.
In 1990 the Cleveland School Budget Coalition changed its name to the Coalition for Excellence in Cleveland Schools.
The Cleveland School Budget Coalition Records, 1982-1986 and undated, consist of agendas, budgets, calendars, certificates, correspondence, fact sheets, job descriptions, memoranda, minutes, newsletters, newspaper clippings, notes, press releases, programs, proposals, reports, and statements.
This collection will be useful to researchers studying issues regarding public education in Cleveland, Ohio, in the 1980s. The collection documents the activities of the Cleveland School Budget Coalition to organize parents and citizens to advocate on behalf of students in Cleveland Public Schools, particularly regarding issues of school funding and budget allocation as they affect classroom instruction. The collection also documents the relationships fostered by the Cleveland School Budget Coalition and other education advocacy groups in Cleveland, particularly Tremont Concerned Citizens.
None.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 5226 Cleveland School Budget Coalition Records, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
These files were removed from MS 4796 WELCOME Records. Gift of Gail Long in 1996.
Processed by Margaret Burzynski-Bays in 2014.
Series I: Administrative Records 1982-1986 undated |
|||||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Budgets and financial statements 1983-1986 | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Calendars 1985-1986 | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Certificate 1986 | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Correspondence 1982-1985 | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Fact sheets 1983 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Job descriptions undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Letters of agreement 1984-1985 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Newsletters 1985 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Newspaper clipping 1983 | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Press releases 1983 | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Proposed structure of the Cleveland School Budget Coalition 1983 | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Report, Cars or Kids, A Report on Vehicle Use in the Cleveland Public Schools 1983 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Report, Controlling Our Destiny, A Study of Budgeting and Spending in the Cleveland City School District 1986 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Report, Costs of Schooling, A School Finance Research Report 1983 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Report, executive summary of the Cleveland School Budget Coalition undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Report, Report of the Cleveland School Budget Coalition 1983 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Report, Report to the Cleveland Foundation and the George Gund Foundation by the Cleveland School Budget Coalition 1985 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Report, Standards for Evaluating the Cleveland School Budget 1983 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Report, Why Must We Be Involved ca. 1984 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Statements of purpose and goals 1982-1983 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Statements to the Cleveland Board of Education 1983-1986 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Workshop materials undated | |||||||||
Series II: Subject Files 1982-1986 undated |
|||||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Board of Trustees/Steering Committee, agendas, minutes, notes, correspondence, reports, event flyers, financial statements, and memoranda 1982-1983 | |||||||||
| 1 | 8 | Board of Trustees/Steering Committee, agendas, minutes, notes, correspondence, reports, event flyers, financial statements, and memoranda 1983-1985 | |||||||||
| 1 | 9 | Board of Trustees/Steering Committee, agendas, minutes, notes, correspondence, reports, event flyers, financial statements, and memoranda 1985-1986 | |||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 2 | 1 | Budget Review Committee, minutes, reports, memoranda, and notes 1982-1986 undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 1 | Cleveland Board of Education, mission statement, lists, and memoranda 1983-1985 | |||||||||
| 2 | 1 | Executive Committee, minutes, budgets, and notes 1983-1986 | |||||||||
| 2 | 1 | Fundraising Committee, report 1986 | |||||||||
| 2 | 1 | Levy Committee, report undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 1 | Organizing Committee, report 1984 | |||||||||
| 2 | 1 | Parental involvement, statement undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 1 | Public Membership Committee, event flyers, minutes, agendas, and programs 1983-1986 | |||||||||
| 2 | 2 | School supplies, memoranda and reports 1985 | |||||||||
| 2 | 2 | Tremont Concerned Parents, correspondence, reports, notes, and agreements 1984-1986 | |||||||||