City students ask governor to make education a priority
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From left, Carolyn Johnson and Tia Torres, both seniors, and Dynae Shaw, a junior, all 17 and students in the TeenBloc of A+ Schools in the Hill District, sit with signs they plan to carry today in Harrisburg to protest Gov. Tom Corbett's education funding.
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Several Pittsburgh students are in Harrisburg for Valentine's Day, but it's not so they can deliver chocolate and flowers to Gov. Tom Corbett.
Instead, it's so they can send him a message: that the governor's proposed education budget is breaking students' hearts.
"We're trying to get the love back for education," said Tia Torres, 17, a University Prep senior who lives in the Hill District.
Tia, a member of student leadership organization Teen Bloc, and about 50 other Pittsburgh Public Schools students, parents and community advocates will discuss education funding today with legislators including state Rep. Paul Clymer, R-Bucks, chairman of the House Education Committee.
The unveiling last week of Mr. Corbett's proposed budget has students like Tia worried that Pennsylvania has lost that loving feeling when it comes to spending money on public education.
This year's budget is better than Mr. Corbett's 2011-12 budget, when schools received almost $900 million less in funding, but it's not enough, said DaVonna Graham, youth and community organizer for A+ Schools, a community alliance that supports public education and sponsors Teen Bloc.
Mr. Corbett's $27 billion spending plan for 2012-13 increases aid to local school districts slightly, but most of the money will go toward increased pension obligations. Ms. Graham said Mr. Corbett's proposed budget could result in widespread layoffs and higher classroom sizes, and that it fails to provide adequate solutions for crumbling schools.
"We are asking for the governor to make a budget where each school has exactly what it needs," she said.
That's the argument Dynae Shaw, 17, of Garfield, will make when she gives her prepared remarks today. Ms. Shaw, a junior in the International Baccalaureate program at Pittsburgh Obama 6-12 in Shadyside, will talk about how her school's pipes leak and class sizes have jumped from 18 to 30 students. She will advise legislators to focus on allocating money for schools, rather than prisons.
"We need to prioritize the budget and make education the No. 1 thing like it was a long time ago," she said.
Dynae, who worked with Teen Bloc members and on her own to study Mr. Corbett's budget proposal and draft a response, will give her speech during a legislative meeting with Mr. Clymer. Her Teen Bloc colleague, Tia, will deliver her speech in the rotunda of the state Capitol building.
The outcome of this year's budget battle won't directly affect Tia, since next fall she will join the physical therapy program at Spelman College in Atlanta. But she has a brother who is 7 and a sister who is 5, and they are why she is spending her Valentine's Day in Harrisburg.
"It's actually for them and for the children of their generation," she said.
First Published February 14, 2012 12:00 am
