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Top Stories ’11-’12: Harrisburg Rally for Public Education yields many questions, few answers from Corbett Administration
Photo Credit: Sarah Truax, The Eagle Managing Editor
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Written by Dynae Shaw, The Eagle Senior Writer
More classmates! No Inmates! This was a chant along with several others that around 400 students shouted yesterday February, 14th 2012. If you are wondering why, on Valentine’s Day, it was because the theme of the Rally for Public Education in Harrisburg was “Where is the love for PA schools?” The rally took place in the Rotunda of the State Capitol where students, parents, teachers, board members, and other supporters of public education from many areas across the state of Pennsylvania all came together, demanding that Governor Corbett make education a top priority in the budget.
Before the actual rally, each group picked a few students to speak to the Committee Chair of Education, Paul Clymer and the Secretary of Education Ron Tomalis (Mr. Tomalis chose not to attend). I was the student (who spoke to Clymer) that represented Pittsburgh and Teen Bloc (a student led organization funded by A+ Schools). I shared with Mr.Clymer my personal story of how last year’s budget cuts affected the quality of my education and health conditions of my school. I asked him about whether a plan was in place to make sure that we have equitable schools. Unfortunately, it appears that there is no clear plan and he answered the question by steering the topic off into a different subject.
The entire conversation was filled with fluff, which many people said was typical of a politician. We mentioned that they were hoping to get private partnerships to help sponsor schools however; I stated that would be very difficult as the funding for higher education institutions has been cut even more; not to mention that private partnerships are not a guaranteed. Mr.Clymer responded by saying ,“That’s a good point you bring up.”
I also brought up how the education budget decreased while the prison budget increased. Mr.Clymer went on about how prisons costs get really expensive along with the standard rhetoric. I responded by saying that many prisons are privately owned and also by asking what the priorities of the administration are.
One student even asked whether Corbett is trying to set public school students up for failure as he is investing more into prison than education. One thing that Clymer did say was that they want to try a new tact this year. “To save hundreds of office hours,” he said, “schools will not have to report their spending anymore.” I don’t know how you feel about that, but I think it is one of the worst ideas the Corbett people have had; you can’t cut the education budget and then not make schools report their funding. After all, this is the most crucial time in which schools need to be reporting; someone needs to make sure that students get what they need at their schools from their funding.
After our meeting , the rally took place. Students gave very powerful and emotionally-charged speeches inside the Rotunda to make sure our voices were heard by the people who make the decisions. The main groups of students that attended were TeenBloc, the Philadelphia Student Union, a group from Chester, a group from Reading, and the nonviolent schools organization. Many adults were astonished and inspired at how organized, productive, and powerful the students were.
However, that was only the beginning. Leaders of each group met after the rally and discussed the next steps. We will be creating a movement. It will be similar to the Occupy movement. We are reaching out to other organizations with similar visions and missions so that we can take it even further to make sure public schools have equity in this year’s and future budgets. We believe it is a human right to have a quality education and it should be funded that way.
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