Notes from the Field
Submitted by Frank Murphy, May 31, 2011
Across the state of Pennsylvania, school district administrators are struggling to grapple with the painful process of reducing services to the children whom they serve. They do so in response to the billion-dollar reduction in state education funding proposed by Governor Corbett. Cutting full day kindergarten classes is one of the most troublesome of options on the reduction list of some district leaders.
This will mean that an effective and proven strategy for assisting young children to build the prerequisite skills that they will need for future literacy achievement will be denied them. Any individual who purports the belief that all children should have access to a high quality instructional program should consider this possibility as unacceptable. Indeed, I would think that the corporate school reformers and their political allies who dominant America’s educational agenda would be right on top of this serious problem. They claim that they are on a civil rights crusade to save every child from the ill effects of an inferior educational experience.
Some of our local Philadelphia-elected state officials have been actively lobbying for the restoration of the revenue Governor Corbett has proposed to eliminate from the education allocation of the state budget. State Representative James Roebuck, Ronald G. Waters, Vanessa Lowery Brown and State Senators Vincent Hughs and Shirley Kitchen are among the co signers of a statement that decries the effects that Corbett’s proposed state budget will have on public education. What is most interesting about this particular position statement of the Legislative Black Caucus is the absences of the signatures of some our more powerful local state legislators. Most notable among these individuals is State Senator Anthony Williams.
Kitchen and Hughes have also written a letter to the mayor and city council members encouraging them to act on their willingness to find additional city funding for the school district. In their view, doing so will better strengthen the case for an increase in state aid to the School District of Philadelphia. It is encouraging to see that the people we have elected to represent our interests at both a local and state level are taking appropriate actions to protect one of our most vital public services. But even as I appreciate the willingness of these few to do the right thing, I am disappointed by the near silence on this matter by Senator Anthony Williams.
I would think that this self proclaimed champion of all of Pennsylvania’s poor school children, Anthony Williams, would be in the forefront of those who are determined to right this wrong. Surely he realizes how important it is for every child to get a good start in school. For children who live in poor communities, access to full day kindergarten classes can make a huge difference in helping them to keep pace developmentally with other children who live in more affluent communities. Wouldn’t the denial of the benefit of a full day kindergarten class to any children in our state be a violation of their civil rights?
Senator Williams has been concerned about those who would stand in the schoolhouse door, blocking our children from the full access to the education that they deserve. We all know from his many public proclamations that he is an agent of the new civil rights movement. So I wonder what is he going to do to right this wrong?
At the very least he should add his name to the statement composed by his fellow state legislators who have protested against these devastating budget cuts.