They are most concerned about two specific issues being targeted: transportation and all-day kindergarten.
"I think it's horrible," said Ethel Earl of Roxborough. "The mothers that don't have car fare might not even be on welfare. They might be unemployed. What are they going to do?"
That is one grandparent's reaction to the proposed 44% cut in the district's transportation budget. The district will now bus only those pupils it is legally required to: special education and charter students. The move is expected to save nearly $39 million.
The free SEPTA TransPasses provided for thousands of students will be thrown under the bus if the new austere budget goes through. There will be plenty of fallout.
Just ask the kids at Roxborough High School.
"It will be harder to get here. Not everybody can afford this. It costs too much. It's three buses from where I live at," said Dequan Braxton of Olney.
"I take three buses to get here and to go back. And my mom has two jobs right now. I don't think she'll be very happy about this," said Ajah Peterson of Mayfair.
Just a few blocks away at Cook-Wissahickon Elementary School in Manayunk, parents are crying foul. The school district says it must go from full- to half-day kindergarten in order to balance the books. District-wide, some 13,000 children are enrolled in full-day kindergarten.
"I can't even believe it's a consideration, quite frankly, considering that this country is already behind the eight ball academically, not to mention this city," said parent Trinette Giberson.
"Most of the families in this neighborhood are two-parent working families. To add additional daycare costs, it would really cripple us in our ability to work," parent Carol Haslam told Action News.
To no one's surprise, this plan to drastically cut the school budget has generated a flood of stress, fear and uncertainty in a school district that by most legitimate standards has been making significant progress.
