Fake it ‘til you break it
Ever fake a pant hem with safety pins? You may deserve some credit for your quick-thinking craftiness but after a while you just start to look weird. Better to hem the pants and avoid the emergency altogether, no?
Unfortunately our legislators in Harrisburg seem fixated on safety pins. Is this really how we want our state government to function?
There are times when a quick-fix is called for because, of course, no one can see the future. But when government consistently mismanages the annual budget process, costing taxpayers millions and embarrassing its constituency, how long until our silence will be seen as tacit acceptance?
When do you say enough is enough?
When do you say your family deserves better?
When do YOU declare a state-wide crisis?
Our public schools now face their greatest crisis: They don’t have the financial wherewithal to weather another crisis, manufactured or otherwise.
The basic pillars that the state needs to provide school districts include:
*Adequate and fair state funding
*Adequate special education funding
*Responsible charter oversight
*Funding for public pensions
*Consistent measures of success
*Quality pre-k
At the current time, the Commonwealth can boast none of these. Simplistically, this is because a politically charged environment isn’t conducive to the long-term, strategic thinking necessary for the first four pillars to be in place.
The last two pillars illustrate the shortcomings of short-term thinking. The benefits of having consistent measures of success (as opposed to testing parameters and standards that are constantly changing) and quality pre-k (which significantly improves student outcomes and saves tax dollars by driving down the need for special education) are particularly meaningful and impactful over a period of several years. That’s longer than a term in office. But it’s just how things work in politics, right?
But by this point, we all know how things work in Harrisburg is actually a great example of how things don’t work. Nowhere is our state legislature’s penchant for short-term, near-sighted, brinksmanship more damaging than in our schools.
When it comes to educating our children, we have a responsibility to build something that will last them a lifetime. While the rest of the world is hell-bent on increasing investments in their children to be competitive in the global marketplace, our legislators seem unbothered by losing ground. But every time they play politics with education, our children get shortchanged. Isn’t it time we say enough?
In a little over two weeks, parents, educators and so many others who have had enough will converge at the state capitol to tell legislators to pass the budget, including the additional $400 million for education the Governor has proposed. While billions short of what education leaders in PA say is needed to adequately teach our children, it would pull back many of our school districts from the brink of disaster.
Make May 2nd the time to make our stand. Join us in Harrisburg for Rally for Public Education and demand an end to the crisis culture.
Rally for the end of the crisis culture in Harrisburg! Join us at the Rally for Public Education on May 2nd at the state capitol. Need a ride for you and your friends? Call Shirlee to reserve seats on our caravan of buses [215-563-5848 x34]! SIGN UP NOW!
Pre-K booster? Passionate about strong public schools and healthy kids? Celebrate with us on May 10 at PCCY’s 35th birthday party as we honor Public Citizen of the Year William George! RESERVE YOUR TICKETS HERE!
“I love Harriet Tubman. I love what she did. But we can find another way to honor her. Maybe, uh, maybe, a $2 bill,” former GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson offers his two cents, narrowly avoids suggesting a $3 bill. READ IT!
“So many school districts and parents have been focused on who gets more and who gets less that most have failed to notice that every single school district in Pennsylvania is a loser with this budget, no matter how the funding is distributed.” Susan Spicka, lamenting the nurturing of a Hunger Games culture as cover for politicians who don’t support education funding. READ MORE!