The Fight to Save Public Education

Editor's note: Carol Haslam's children attend Cook Wissahickon elementary school. This opinion column does not necessarily reflect the views of Patch.

This month has seen a flurry of action for public school teachers and parents in the Manayunk-Roxborough area. When word started to spread about Governor Corbett’s proposed $1.2 billion in budget cuts to public education, affecting kindergarten through college, it was as if a dam burst and the floodwaters began to rage through Manyunk and Roxborough. 

Cook Wissahickon and Shawmont Elementary Schools consistently rank in the top 25 elementaries in Philadelphia (out of 171 total). So, a lot of families who want to stay urban have chosen to live in these neighborhoods But the Philadelphia School District estimates that they will be facing a $6 million to $8 million deficit due to the state budget cuts. 

Though parents and teachers suspect that a portion of that deficit is due to mismanagement of funds, it doesn’t help ease worry when every teacher with less than three years with the district has received a layoff notice, and kindergarten is being cut to half day. Nurses, Special Ed and Gifted staff, arts programs, and even school sports are all on the chopping block. 

To make matters worse, our state legislature is considering a voucher bill that would divert tax dollars from the public educational system into private schools. Though it may sound good when a GOP official explains it, watchdog groups explain that the way the bill is written, people already attending private schools (even millionaires) will get to use vouchers first. 

Then the kids in the worst performing schools will get vouchers … but since private schools are private, they do not have to take any of those impoverished kids. Those kids the bill is supposed to be helping won’t even get into the private schools if they have poor grades or negative behavioral histories. Only an estimated seven percent of the kids in the worst schools will get into a private school through the use of a voucher. Meanwhile, the system would be sucking millions of dollars out of public education to finance private schools!

Needless to say, public school parents are not happy about this. A grass roots effort has swept through Cook-Wiss over the last month or so, as the issues have come to light. Current Home & School Association President, Cheryl Dore, organized efforts that resulted in over 200 area parents, children, and educators attending a on Tuesday, April 26. 

A Facebook page entitled “Save our Schools” has manifested as a forum for parents to empower each other for political action. The page has 74 members at the moment, but wants to extend an invitation to all area parents to sign up and get involved to use the page as a place to get and give relevant information as it becomes available. 

A YouTube video has been posted about the issue – with links for petitions to sign and links for websites where you can write elected officials. Teachers across the city picketed in front of their schools Tuesday morning, and are scheduled.   

Furious parents also started working on creative ways to fundraise so that they can offer their children after-school programs next year – fun clubs like cycling, hooping, and knitting, and educationally supplemental clubs like second languages and journalism. 

“,” one mom said, “but when it comes to my kids, I would do anything for them – even if it meant selling a house in the area I love to move twomiles over and rent a home in Lower Merion. But,” she continued, “that is a last resort. I am going to put up a valiant fight first!”

Please call, write, and email your elected officials to tell them that you support public education. It's not just an issue for parents. If the state cuts funding, we’re all affected as property taxes may rise to offset the missing funds. And, as public education deteriorates for the middle class, people with the means are likely to leave the city – further effecting the tax base. 

Education has not always been available for the masses. In many ancient cultures, only the elite had access to formal education. As recently as 200 years ago, slave owners banned together to make sure slaves were not educated, for fear that if they were - they'd revolt. And as recently as the 1960’s many who read this article may remember the fight that African Americans fought to get equal educational opportunities as whites. 

What is interesting about Cook Wissahickon is that it is a racially mixed (42 percent African American, 46 percent white, 12 percent Latino, Asian, and Other), and socio-economically mixed (61 percent “economically disadvantaged”), yet the school consistently ranks in the top 25 elementary schools in the city, and has no achievement gap.  In other words, there is no difference in performance based on race or socio-economic background.  It is evidence that public education does work, and public education can be a place where all people get an equal shot at reaching their potential, dreaming dreams, and achieving them.

For more information about how you can get involved with the growing group of parents, connect with the parent group on Facebook “Save our Schools,” or comment on this article about upcoming events and efforts to save public education in Philadelphia.