Published: Nov. 21, 2017
Backpack Full of Cash poster

Join School and Society instructors and Dean Kathy Schultz for a film screening of the documentary,Backpack Full of Cash, on Tuesday, Nov. 28 at6:30 p.m. in Eaton Humanities, HUMN 1B50.

Narrated by Matt Damon, Backpack Full of Cash is afeature-length documentary that explores the growing privatization of public schools and the resulting impact on America’s most vulnerable children. Filmed in Philadelphia, New Orleans, Nashville and other cities, the film takes viewers through the tumultuous 2013-14 school year, exposing the world of corporate-driven education “reform” where public education —starved of resources —hangs in the balance.

Free and open to the public, the film screening will be followed by a panel and Q&A dicussion with attendees and four education faculty members, including:

  • Michele Moses, professor of educational foundations, policy and practice
  • Michelle Renée Valladares, associate director of the National Education Policy Center
  • Kevin Welner, professor of educational foundations, policy and practice
  • Terri Wilson, assistantprofessor of educational foundations, policy and practice

RSVPs are not necessary but encouraged at www.colorado.edu/education/BackpackFullofCashFilmScreening.

Update! Follow-up Resources

Local groups/organizations:

Research-basededucation policy organizations:

  • (based at CU Boulder School of Education)

Select groups and organizations promoted on the Backpack Full of Cash website:

  • An alliance of parent, youth, community, and labor organizations that represent more than 7 million people. Organizes nationwide days of action to reclaim the promise of public education as our nation’s gateway to a strong democracy and racial and economic justice.
  • A network of over 80,000 teachers and education activists throughout theUnited States who fight for communities to have strong, sustainable, and well-funded public schools.
  • on “An End to the Privatization of Education and Real Community Control.”
  • Works with high-impact base-building organizations, organizing alliances, and progressive unions to envision and win an innovative proworker, pro-immigrant, racial and economic justice agenda.
  • A nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank created to include the needs of low- and middle-income workers in economic policy discussions. See their
  • serves as a leading voice for New Jersey’s publicschool children and is one of the most effective advocates for equal educational opportunity and equitable school funding in the United States. See
  • An alliance of grassroots community, youth, and parent-led organizations in 21 cities across the country pushing back and demanding community-driven alternatives to the privatization of public schools systems. See.
  • NAACP,the oldest civil rights organization in the United States. The fundamental goal of the NAACP’s education advocacy agenda is to provide all students access to quality education..
  • The ELC-PA’s mission is to ensure access to a quality public education for all children in Pennsylvania.
  • A youth-led, democratic organization made up of youth of color and working-class communities, with the “people” and political power to hold school officials and government accountable to meeting the educational needs of Philadelphia public school students.
  • Runs city-wide campaigns that bring together students from all of their chapters and additional schools to improve school district policies and practices.