DeLissio On Education

State Rep. Pam DeLissio, D-194, called the state budget's cuts in education "extrememly short-sighted" at a town hall meeting she hosted Wednesdy. 

"It will be interesting to follow the impact of these cuts down the road," she said at the auditorium at . "The city has been adversely affected in a number of ways."

Parents and teachers who attended the meeting believe the govenor's budget is breaking down the commonwealth's public education system. 

"Even if we take out the $300 million in funding that we lost because of the budget, we're still $300 million in debt," a public school teacher who works in Northeast Philadelphia said. "Are we [the school district] still viable?"

The parent of a student at felt that this budget "de-stabalized" a solid community school. 

"We don't know what is coming down the pike," she said. "How do we fight this? How do we repeal the SRC and bring back an elected school board?"

To improve the school district's position the state representatitive said she believes it must be radically decentralized. 

"It is just too big," she said.

There are 144,000 students in the Philadelphia School District. The next largest district in the state is Allegheny with less than 30,000. 

"The differences are just too large," DeLissio said. 

Voucher programs were also discussed but DeLissio said she was not in support because that system utlimately took money away from the school district. 

"It's not a solution," she said. "How can you take money out of a school district and expect it to succeed?"

Although no legislation has been passed yet, the state rep said a number of bills regarding vouchers have been introduced. If a child were to use the voucher system, DeLissio said 75 to 100 percent of the money that the district would spend educating the child would leave with the child. 

"We need to have a level playing field in terms of education and we don't right now," she said. 

And, she continued, her district gives her an interesting perspective. 

"It includes Lower Merion that spend the most per capita on students and Philadelphia that spends the least," she said. 

When it comes to what the community can do, DeLissio urged residents to contact the education committee.

"We need to make sure that the voters voices are heard," she said.