Victory for NY school children

Background
On June 26th, 2003, the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, Inc. (CFE) won a major victory when the New York State Court of Appeals ruled that every public school student is entitled to the opportunity to receive a meaningful high school education. The landmark ruling—which struck down Governor Pataki's appeal of the 2001 trial court decision and the ludicrous assertion that an eighth grade education was adequate—was a victory for every child in New York.

Approach
Douglas Gould and Co. has been working with CFE for several years on the planning and implementation of a comprehensive, strategic communications initiative around the lawsuit. We tackled the challenge of maintaining media interest in such a complex and lengthy lawsuit by publicizing events such as a walk by parents and education reform advocates from New York City to Albany, and producing video and radio news releases featuring CFE officials. We also helped CFE stay on message by stressing to reporters that the organization is engaged in the lawsuit on behalf of all school children in New York State, and built grassroots support for the group through local community engagement forums and other meetings.

Results
As a result of Douglas Gould and Co.'s careful planning and broad outreach, CFE received top-notch media coverage following the Court of Appeals ruling. Numerous articles and op-eds featuring quotes from CFE Executive Director Michael Rebell ran in the New York Times, Daily News, Albany Times-Union, Buffalo News, Syracuse Post-Standard, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, and the front page of Newsday. Countless local and community papers also covered the decision, and national outlets such as the Associated Press, Education Week, Christian Science Monitor and Los Angeles Times placed the New York funding debate at the center of the larger national discussion about public school quality across the nation.

We also attracted a great deal of New York broadcast coverage on the day of the landmark decision. Stories ran on the WB11, NY1, WNBC, WABC, WCBS television news programs, and on local NPR affiliate WNYC and 1010 WINS news radio. Rebell was also featured in a New York Times "Public Lives" column and on NY1's "Inside City Hall" public affairs program. An audio news conference that afternoon was strategically designed to reach both upstate and downstate New York media, resulting in broad feature coverage and largely favorable editorials in a wide range of outlets.

The crucial decision has paved the way for CFE to broaden its role in the national debates over the federal No Child Left Behind Act and over how to improve educational outcomes for children in public school. Douglas Gould and Co. will continue to develop powerful messages and media-generating activities to stress the immediate importance of this issue to lawmakers, advocates and educators.