Philadelphia parents have taken a strong stand against the budget cuts that have decimated their children’s schools. They say, “Don’t open them unless they are fully funded.” Parents were responding to the district superintendent’s statement that the opening of school may be delayed. Last spring the district laid off nearly 4,000 teachers and other staff.

“I am in the unfortunate position today of having to announce that if we do not receive at least $50 million by Friday, August 16, the School District of Philadelphia will be forced to consider alternatives to starting the 2013-14 school year on Monday, September 9,” Hite said in a statement. “This means that we may not be able to open any schools on September 9, that we may only be able to open a few, or that we might be open for a half-day. We will not be able to open all 218 schools for a full-day program.”

This was the parents’ response to the doomsday warning:

With a potential Corbett deal on the horizon, though, a group of parents is taking Hite to task. Along with local congregations and students, they’re organizing a town hall Monday. Even if the first bell does ring on Sept. 9 as scheduled, the Philadelphia school district will be a shell of its former self. Fifty million dollars, they say, is not enough — it’s far less than the $180 million the district had originally asked for. If the $50 million is necessary but not sufficient for educating their kids, they wonder, what’s the point?

“The town hall is a community wide response to the notion that we’re looking at funding schools so that buildings can open, rather than funding schools that can educate children,” said Helen Gym, a public school parent and founder of the activist group Parents United for Public Education. “The money that he’s [Hite] asked for is necessary but not sufficient to operate our schools. That’s just a terrible and dangerous standard for our district to put out there.”

Gym said she would take Hite’s ultimatum a step further. “Unless the schools get what’s needed for them to educate children and not open buildings, we don’t think school should open either,” she said. “We’re asking the district to redo its budget so they can guarantee arts and music, a counselor in every school.”

If Pennsylvania has a state constitution similar to other states, the state government is responsible for funding a free public education for every student. And while critics blame the district for financial mismanagement, the district has been under state–not local–control for more than a decade.

It is time for Governor Corbett and the legislature to meet their responsibilities to the children of Philadelphia. In the meanwhile, the parents are right to exercise the power they have: the power to keep their child home until the state provides a real school, not just a building.