School communities from 12 school districts in Chester County came together Thursday night in West Chester, and their plea was much the same: Governor Corbett, we can't make this work.
"We're not cutting fat anymore, we're cutting bone, cutting structure that holds our public education system in place," said Jennifer Wessels.
Speaker after speaker from Parent-Teacher organizations across Chester County stood at a special meeting hoping that their voices would be heard by Governor Corbett on the proposed education cuts of over $1 billion in the state budget.
"I just hope the Governor can hear people in the state and re-think his position," said Debbie Fell.
Teacher, parents, and administrators cheered often from the crowd at West Chester East High School.
Also listening were area legislators who weighed in.
"Keep in mind that what we're looking at and what you're looking at in the news is the Governor's proposal, but as he describes it, that's the first quarter of his four quarter football game," said State Rep. Tim Hennessey.
"During the Rendell administration, the poorer your district, the lower your tax base, the more resources we put in, but now the poorer the district the greater the cuts," said State Senator Andrew Dinniman.
Coatesville Area School District had a strong showing complete with school pom-poms, but while the spirit is there, the money is not.
The superintendent has a long list of ways to close their $12 million budget gap. One of the most extreme proposals, a four day school week, though administrators are hoping for better alternatives.
"We're going to make it work whether we get the money or not, we're going to make it work," said Coatesville Schools Superintendent, Richard Como.
The budget deadline is June 30th. The reality is that this will be an austere budget according to one official, but the hope here is that the cuts will be limited as much as possible.
