Districts ask legislators the tough questions

Interesting article in today's Daily Local News (Chester County, PA).

Districts ask legislators the tough questions

Published: Friday, May 06, 2011

By SARA MOSQUEDA-FERNANDEZ
Staff Writer

 

WEST GOSHEN - Eight legislative officials discussed and answered questions posed by the community of the 12 Chester County school districts.

Held in the auditorium of West Chester East High School, the event began with a representative from each PTO group making a brief statement regarding how the state budget has already affected districts, students, and taxpayers as school boards must approve their own budgets before the state budget's deadline.

"We are already doing more with less," said Octorara PTO Representative Joseph Dagg. His statement was echoed by the other districts' PTOs, as each highlighted student achievements, while reporting on already having made budget cuts in recent years.

WCASD PTO Representative Toni Keg closed the PTO comments by focusing on the "big picture."

"I hear a common unifying theme, and it struck me," she said. "Parents from each district express the concern that these proposed budget cuts will force their districts to possibly remove key elements in the educational system of their respective districts. And for me it became very clear, sitting and listening, that in effect what these proposed budget cuts may do is begin the process of dismantling the entire public education system in the state of Pennsylvania."

State legislators responded with their own introductory statements once the PTOs finished. Legislators included Senator Andy Dinniman, Representative Tim Hennessey, Representative Chris Ross, Representative Tom Killion, Representative Warren Kampf, Representative Dan Truitt, Representative Duane Milne, Representative John Lawrence. Erik Arenson was also present as Senator Dominic Pileggi's representative, since Pileggi had a conflicting engagement. All the stated that the Governor's budget proposal would not be approved in it's current form.

Ross stated that there has never been a budget that was passed in the manner in which it was introduced. "And this won't be the first," he said.

"I haven't talked to anyone in Harrisburg who has said that they like these numbers," Truitt said.

"I, you, and probably everyone on this stage, doesn't like the steepness of the cuts in education," said Kampf. "But at the end of the day we are not going to be able to restore all that funding unless we also attack costs and that mandate relief is a big part of attacking those costs.

Avon Grove PTO member Peggy Bell-Cole stated that the event developed with the West Chester PTO Council trying to put together a smaller, localized forum, and it grew rapidly from there. "I think this is a great forum, for us to be able to get across how difficult this has been for our districts," said Bell-Cole. "Avon Grove has been running very lean for a number of years. And this year we think that we've been able to make the required cuts to balance the budget, but this is not sustainable."

Assistant Superintendant of the Downingtown Area School District, Dr. Tony Watson, stated that he was present to listen to what the legislators had to say in reference to the budget cuts affecting the commonwealth.

"I think we have to understand the individuals here tonight are not directly responsible for the cuts so I'm hoping I can get an understanding of what it is that they're supporting and what it is that they do not support in reference to the proposed cuts from the Governor," he said.

Janice Heagy and Jodi Davis, vice president and president of the Octorara PTO, respectively, drove nearly an hour from their homes in order to attend and support the districts.

"We are very concerned with the proposed education budget that Gov Corbett is trying to pass through because it's cutting a lot of good educational programs from our schools," said Heagy.

Davis stated that middle school sports have already been cut, and talks of more cuts to the athletic and music programs have been circulating.

Local students were also present at the event, either supporting the districts or volunteering by collecting written questions from the audience and handing them to host Robin Harkins, PTO co-chair of West Chester. The students were as attentive as the other members of the audience to what the legislators said, hoping to come out of the auditorium more informed than when they went in.

"We're all really involved (in our schools), so we don't want to see our money go anywhere that it doesn't need to go," said Jackie Richardi, a senior at Bayard Rustin High School.

Joe Lightner, a senior at East High School, stated his primary concern was about the future of the district's gifted program, which he has been enrolled in throughout his academic career, crediting it with the college he was accepted into and the ROTC scholarship he has been offered.

"It's probably one of the best things that the district has created and I'm really worried about that getting cut," he said. "I've heard vague things about lots of proposals to cut parts of it, major parts of it, and I don't like any of what I've heard. Maybe it sounds a little mean, but frankly it comes down to the students and the students will be severely affected by any cuts in either of those programs." "I'm just looking forward to getting informed," said Rustin sophomore Andrew Stermatz. "I'm involved in the gifted program too, and I've had kind of like a bond with most of my gifted teachers the past couple years. It's going to be a shame to see them lose their jobs if they're strictly involved with the gifted program and they don't have any classes to teach other than that."