Education Activists From Philadelphia Area Depart For State Capital
By Dan Wing
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A group of parents, children and education activists took a bus from Philadelphia to the state capitol Tuesday morning to call on state legislators to get a budget in place.
About 50-people boarded the bus at the United Way on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to head to the state capitol, where they will hold a rally and meet with 20-legislators to push for the budget to be passed. The trip was organized by Public Citizens for Children and Youth, and the group's Education Policy Director Shanee Garner says they have a simple goal.
"The budget is 8-weeks late, school starts in about a week or so, and our students have no idea what they're walking into and we want to change that," Garner says.
PCCY says school districts have done their job by passing budgets on time and now it's time for the state legislature to do the same. Roxy Barnaby with PCCY describes the message that they will try to deliver to the state legislature.
"We need them to pass a budget, we need it to restore cuts to education, and we need them to pass a fair funding formula for our schools so we don't have to go through this every year."
PCCY says without state funding, many school districts will be forced to cut staff and services, and raise property taxes but even that may not be enough.
In addition to getting the state budget passed, PCCY wants to see the state implement a fair funding formula so that situations like this aren't a problem year after year.
