While Republicans made big gains across the nation, Pennsylvania was a stark exception. Democrat Tom Wolf beat Republican Governor Tom Corbett by a large margin. The main issue of the campaign was Corbett’s devastating cuts to public schools. Other budget-cutting governors won; why was Corbett whipped?
Here is the answer: Parent power. Parents never forgot what Corbett did and they built a grassroots movement to keep alive the voters’ memory and outrage about what Corbett had done to public schools.
Jesse Ramey–the blogger Yinzercation–explains here the victory strategy. Parents were relentless. They never gave up.
“What really dogged Corbett was – us! Ordinary parents, students, teachers, and community members refused to let this issue go. We wrote letters to the editor, op-eds, and blog pieces; we staged rallies and demonstrations; we held mock-bake sales; we wrote petitions and got on buses to Harrisburg to deliver thousands of signatures; we hosted public debates, lectures, and national authors. With “dogged” determination, we took every opportunity to counter Corbett’s attempts to minimize the damage he was inflicting on our schools: we took to social media and made on-line comments on news stories at every chance.
“Some folks had been doing this work for many years and became advisors and mentors to the more recent groundswell of advocacy, as we joined the long arc of the education justice movement. We connected with others across the state, from Philadelphia, to the Lehigh Valley, State College, Shippensburg, Erie, and beyond. I’m especially grateful to parent leaders such as Helen Gym, Rebecca Poyourow, Susan Spicka, Mark Spengler, and Dana Bacher. One take away message from this election is “don’t mess with Pennsylvania parents – or hurt their kids and schools!”
You can be sure that this powerful coalition will not let Governor Wolf forget why he was elected.
This tactic would never work in nearby New Jersey–there are far too many rich people here to care about the masses.
That is, NJ has far too many rich people for any of them to actually care about the masses. They are more interested in protecting their own self-interests. Why do we have entire beachfront communities that have been restored to their former finery, yet so many of the poorer beach towns still look like they did two years ago after Sandy hit? Money talks.
Pennsylvania has enough middle class to counter big money politics, and that is fantastic. Neighboring states to the north and east do not.
I completely disagree. PA was just a lot further down the path than we (NJ) were to a lousy economy & lousy public schools. Today’s PA voters are looking at the Marcellus shales bringing in tons of $ & PA laws not even taking advantage let alone sharing funds w/public schools. Their backs were to the wall– the rubber finally met the road.
We in NJ continue to have tons of $ moving in merely from proximity to NYC’s huge job market, Wall St etc, We may have lost mfg, but we are the pharmaceutical capital, & a bedroom community, & should be sharing the goods to support our valuable beach & farming communities. Why not? Ask Chris Christie.
If we organize, we still have one crucial advantage. We outnumber them. We have to get out, vote, and get others to do so. If the pain becomes shared across the board, the common good will take on significant meaning again.
I so agree. The answer has to be education at the grass-roots level. We need to be able to convince the tax-paying public that they deserve a return on their $– that it’s not about ‘paying less taxes’ due to ‘less gov’, but about the rainmakers paying their due in taxes so that all those contributing may benefit
I think you are understating it…..California and Pennsylvania….two big states where there was success for democrats……..people trying to bash teachers had democrats fighting on their behalf. Much in contrast to an indifferent Obama leaving education in the hands of Bill gates and Arne Duncan.
I firmly believe that in NC we got several general assembly members voted out for the same reason and by the same actions. Their cuts to public education were deplorable and people were mad.
Tom Wolf sounds too good to be true, a well educated, rich guy that served in the Peace Corps, and saved the family business. Let’s hope power does not corrupt him and that he will do his best for the children of the Commonwealth. He actually attended public school so maybe he has some respect for the job public education does. I am keeping my fingers crossed!
He isn’t taking a salary. He’ll either give it back to the state or to a charity. He claims he already has enough money.
Sorry, off-topic – this article isn’t about education, but it sure is educational: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-9-billion-witness-20141106?page=6
Thank you Dienne for the wonderful link with such important message to people who want to fight for justice. Over the years, my mom warned me about these cover-ups in society. I must admit that an intelligent lawyer like Alayne Fleischmann still cannot do anything except her life and career was ruined for being honesty and integrity.
Educators must be better than lawyers, so that educators can cultivate, persuade, and motivate the strong, the weak, the powerful, the powerless, the white collar and the blue collar to be kinder to each others.
Most of all, American Public Education must be protected so that each American can be proud of the 200 year – young North American civilization that provides the best example in humanity to the world.
Back2basic
Congrats PA!
Things were getting rough down there. Best wishes for turning things around.
Congratulations to PA. In Michigan, parents never had a chance. The Democratic Party chose to run on the campaign that the incumbent cut 1 billion in education in 2014. The problem? He didn’t. Now, Governor Snyder has tried everything to dismantle just as other Governors have done, but in the campaign year he adjusted things so that he reasonably could claim the Dems were lying about the 1 billion cut. Rather than attend in anyway to parent advocacy groups or other educational leaders the party tossed an issue away that would have crossed partisan lines and slowed down ed reform in the state. There is no answer as yet as to why such a clumsy error was made or why other educational issues were not discussed in the campaign or the media (other than the Governor’s EAA project — which most still read as a “Detroit” issue). The point? The Democratic party is most assuredly NOT the way to stop ed reform.
It depends on the level. In NC I view it as a triage.
There is/was no hope of saving public schools until we get ALEC out of Raleigh. And we did overturn several seats and fill them with Democrats on Tuesday’s election.
Now, we can go about the business of righting the wrongs of RttT.
To not see it that way would be to give up, here, which is something I refuse to do.
I fear that Michigan ed will continue to suffer until MI finds another way to make $. [than cars] That seems to be the way it goes in other states.
Dear Governor Elect Wolf,
One request and one question:
Please add the word “Public” (with capital “P”) to your promises of priority investment in Education. We have been too burned and scammed by naive business-model “pushers” of charter schools, cyber schools, school choice, teacher and tenure attacks, “zero tolerance”, and ultimately privatization. Confirm your investment priority of Public Education.
How soon will you arrange Bill Green’s departure and then the elimination of the unelected SRC “board” in Philadelphia ? Green has been derelict in his responsibility to repair the Public school system. His focus has been on financial disinvestment, with “The Budget” as the only Holy Grail. His one dimensional “scorched earth” budget priority (all else be damned) did not “fix” anything. It has been a self serving near-sighted, abrogation of duty. The children (customers) continue to suffer in their struggle for access to equal Public Education.
Wolf’s wife was on the board of a charter school in York. She resigned before the election. Let’s watch what happens.
If only we had a decent alternative on the ballot in Connecticut: we could have used a “Pennsylvania moment”. Four more years of DINO Dan. Ugh!
I have always said, it will be the parents who win the war for public ed. Teachers depend on the union and will follow them like sheep even when it’s against their best interests.
But the bigger problem is knowing if these politicians will hold to their promises or turn the tables. That’s how I am feeling about deBlasio and Farina. It’s Klein all over again with some minor tweaks.