Alliance for Educational Justice (AEJ) is a left-wing collaborative of 30 youth-led education activist groups ^{[1] [2]} that aims to build organizational capacity sustain and grow the left-progressive movement. ^[3]

Originally funded by the left-of-center Edward W. Hazen Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Surdna Foundation ^[4] and supported by the Movement Strategy Center (MSC), ^[5] AEJ supports “police-free schools” ^[6] and advocates for an end of what the organization calls the “school-to-prison pipeline.” ^[7] AEJ lobbied the Obama administration to take a stand against zero-tolerance school discipline measures. ^[8]

In 2018, AEJ published a report with the left-of-center Advancement Project ^[9] that calls for a removal of police from schools ^[10] and claims policing practices at public schools have historical roots in suppressing black and Hispanic student movements and “the criminalization of black childhood.” ^[11] AEJ  links the movement to remove police from schools to the far-left Black Lives Matter movement. ^[12]

History and Leadership

Alliance for Educational Justice (AEJ) was founded in San Francisco 2008 after a meeting of 20 groups of student and educational activist groups with the goal of incorporating the critical race theory-inspired concept of educational equity in their own states and communities. ^[13] Originally funded by the left-of-center Edward W. Hazen Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Surdna Foundation ^[14] and facilitated by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, AEJ lobbied the Obama administration ^[15] to take a stand against zero-tolerance school discipline measures and promote critical race theory-influenced concept of “restorative justice” alternatives. As of 2022, AEJ  links the movement to remove police from schools to the far-left Black Lives Matter movement, ^[16] and its membership includes 1,000 high school-aged members. ^[17]

Jonathan Stith is AEJ’s national director. ^{[18] [19]} Previously Stith was the executive director of the Youth Education Alliance and a steering committee member of the Justice for DC Youth Coalition. ^[20]

Activities and Funding

Alliance for Educational Justice is a national collective of 30 youth-led educational activist groups across 12 states and 14 cities. ^{[21] [22]} AEJ’s launch was supported by the left-wing Movement Strategy Center (MSC) ^[23] and aims to build organizational capacity to sustain and grow the left-progressive movement. ^[24] AEJ’s organizing efforts focus on minority and LGBT youth and their parents in an effort to dismantle what they call the U.S. educational system’s “school-to-prison pipeline.” ^[25] AEJ has received development support from the left-wing MSC ^[26] and aligns its organizing efforts with other left-progressive priorities including “other struggles for humanity, equality, and justice.” ^[27]

AEJ operates a map documenting police use of force, ^[28] supports “police-free schools,” ^[29] hosted webinars on police-free schools, ^[30] and operates the critical race theory-influenced George Carter III Restorative Justice Learning Exchange with funds from Life Comes From It. ^[31]

AEJ a member of the left-of-center Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, ^[32] is on the coordinating committee for the Journey for Justice Alliance, ^[33] and operates the Youth Justice Corp NYA Fund with the National Youth Alliance for Boys and Men of Color (NYABMOC). ^[34] AEJ is also a member of the left-of-center Communities for Just Schools Fund alongside the left-of-center Dignity in Schools, the Center for Popular Democracy, and the Journey for Justice Alliance. ^[35]

AEJ has worked with the Advancement Project to address the system it calls a “school-to-prison pipeline.” ^[36] In support of this policy position, AEJ and the Advancement Project co-authored the We Came to Learn report ion 2018. This report claims safety does not exist when minority groups are forced to “interact with a system of policing that views them as a threat and not as students.” The report also says policing practices at public schools have historical roots in suppressing black and Hispanic student movements and “the criminalization of black childhood.” The report also calls for a removal of police from schools. ^[37]

Police Free Schools

Alliance for Educational Justice and the left-of-center Advancement Project operate Police Free Schools, which advocates for the removal of police in schools. Founded in 2017, it convenes 10 organizations to form the National Campaign for Police Free Schools. The group defines “police free schools” as dismantling police infrastructure, culture, and practice; ending school militarization and surveillance; and building a new, liberatory education system. ^[38] The group is grounded in 6 “D’s” to advance its so-called “abolitionist fights:” decriminalize, deprioritize, divest and invest, demilitarize and disarm, delegitimize, and dismantle. ^[39]

Police Free Schools’ partner organizations include: Baltimore Algebra Project, Black Lives Matter Louisville, Black Organizing Project, Black Swan Academy, Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth, Education Justice Alliance, EveryBlackGirl, Girls for Gender Equity, Juntos, the radical-left Labor Community Strategy Center, Make the Road New York (MRNY), and others. ^[40]

Members

Members of AEJ have included Albany Park Neighborhood Council, Baltimore Algebra Project, Boston Youth Organizing Project, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, Californians for Justice, Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth, Community Coalition, Desis Rising Up and Moving, Future of Tomorrow, InnerCity Struggle, Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, Make the Road New York, Mothers on the Move, Padres y Jovenes Unidos, Philadelphia Student Union, Sistas & Brothas United (a project of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition), Sunflower Community Action, Youth Together, Youth United for Change, Youth Education Alliance. ^[41]

Funding

Alliance for Educational Justice was originally funded by the left-of-center Edward W. Hazen Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Surdna Foundation. ^[42] The left-wing Movement Strategy Center has provided developmental support to AEJ and advises AEJ on strategy. ^[43]

In 2020, AEJ received a grant from the FCYO Movement to Movement Fund for its Police Free Schools initiative. ^[44] That same year, the left-of-center Ford Foundation’s Next Generation Fund announced it would have given funds to AEJ if the fund had more resources. ^[45]

In 2019, AEJ received $10,000 from the Cricket Island Foundation through Coleman Advocates in 2019. ^[46] In 2017, AEJ received fiscal sponsorship from Coleman Children and Youth Services in 2017. ^[47] AEJ also received $15,000 in funding from the left-of-center Schott Foundation for Public Education via a donation to MSC in 2013. ^[48]

In 2012, AEJ received $800,000 via a grant to MSC from Atlantic Philanthropies. ^[49]