The Pennsylvania legislature is hammering out the state budget, and it looks like education will once again face budget cuts. Why are legislators prepared to sacrifice the future?
This letter was sent yesterday to all Pennsylvania state legislators in the 5-county region as well as to press representatives by Higher Education United for Public Education, a group of educators at colleges and universities in the metropolitan region of Philadelphia. 150 professors, instructors, and administrators from 27 colleges/universities in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties signed on in support. Monday is the deadline for the state budget, and things do not look good for public education funding in Pennsylvania.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Our elected politicians can’t seem to do their jobs well. One of those jobs, is funding education. They should all be “fired” for their incompetence. They create the funding shortfalls to our schools, then leave the teachers holding the bag, trying to pick up the pieces, fighting for their dignities, fighting for the children. Meanwhile, the reformers have more than enough money to lobby, change laws, bring suits, donate to charter startups, then pull out leaving the public holding the bag.
Doesn’t this mess start with our politicians? They find money to build stadiums, etc. They find money to build charter schools….why can’t they fund our public schools properly? It is by design. Plain and simple. Time to fire the politicians with out votes. Out.
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One month ago the Phila. superintendent, Hite, and the chairperson of the state commission which runs the district both agreed that they could not, in good conscience, submit a budget for next year when, without proper and assured funding from the state, thier budget would mean more teacher and other staff layoffs and class sizes exceeding 40. They went to Harrisburg pleading for fair funding and reasonable tax hikes. The response is as you have reported. The Governor thinks it is okay to hold the students and their parents hostage to his demand for a pension reform plan which will do nothing to close the pension funding deficit but will strip all new teacher hires of a defined benefit pension, replacing it with a 401k type plan. This is all part of a master plan to destroy public education in the city, destroy all teachers’ pensions, and destroy the teacher unions statewide.
When even a Broad Foundation grad like William Hite says the situation in Philadelphia is immoral, you know something is wrong.
One proposal being talked about is to have the city schools open on a full funding basis in September and then close them when the money runs out, say in November or December. Then, maybe, the disgraceful politicians we elect will finally get the message, as 200,000 children roam the streets of the City of Brotherly Love and their teachers take a well-deserved vacation on unemployment comp.
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Here is a very disturbing story from Pennsylvania. A 55 year old mother of seven was found dead in her jail cell on June 7. She had been sentenced to 48 hours in jail over her failure to pay $2000 in fees and fines for her children’s absences from school.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/woman-jailed-over-truancy-fines-found-dead-in-cell/
http://truth-out.org/news/item/24478-tackling-debtors-prisons-reflecting-on-the-death-of-eileen-dinino
The New Yorker also has an article on this kind of punishment of poverty called “Get Out of Jail Inc.” by Sarah Stillman in the June 23 edition.
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A scenario of the Philadelphia schools opening at full funding until they run out of money is nothing that progressives should be fighting for. In labor history this is known as a lockout. This is a backdoor way of getting the ALEC privatization agenda. http://tinyurl.com/6hu8op
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What do you suggest then? Will the PFT call a strike or is it afraid their members will then lose their licenses. Should the teachers work under conditions which will be even more horrible than those they suffered through this past year? It seems to me a reasonable response to the politicians is to say, fine, this is the money you want to give us, this is how much real education you have bought, and when the money runs out, we won’t participate in this charade any longer.
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This would be a harsh but effective “solution”. It would create a chaotic situation that would force some type of response. The response might be difficult for all, but inconveniencing everyone just might get things moving in a better direction. It seems that things are at rock bottom and can only go up from here but I’ve been wrong before;^)
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Hi Diane, I am part of the PCAPs group that is “sitting in” at the capital in Harrisburg. We had some parents and children from Pittsburgh join us today so our numbers have grown. We are singing, chanting, passing out leaflets, and talking to try and shine a light on the shameful budget proposals currently on the table. Our group is a diverse group of parents, community members, teachers, and children. Our entire legislature went home yesterday. Unbelievable. Thank you for continuing to highlight PA’s funding plight.
Diane Payne Sent from my iPad
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