For weeks, parents have been hearing the alarms sounded by the Philadelphia School District. Unless it receives more state, federal and local funding to close a $629-million budget gap, it would have to implement Draconian budget cuts.
Among the cuts would be the elimination of 3,820 jobs
- 1,260 would be teachers
- 650 noon time aides
- 430 jobs from central office
- 400 custodians
- 180 counselors
- 51 nurses
Haviva Goldman of Chestnut Hill says, "We need to properly fund our schools. Our neighborhood schools - all of our schools… I would pay more taxes to properly fund schools. I think the businesses should be paying higher taxes to help fund our schools."
"It's imperative that the governor understands that education is important for all our children," explains Theresa Boyd of Mount Airy. "We do not want our children to go back into the '60s. We need education now - we need funding for education. Half a day kindergarten is not fair to the children."
The question now is will the pleas of those at the rally fall on deaf ears or will something be done before the school district is required to pass its budget by May 31st.
"I think the key right now is we're not seeing enough of what would be the quantum change we need in order to restore or stave off the cuts that we have to go through, so we're still preparing," said Leroy Nunnery, Deputy Superintendent for Philadelphia Schools.
The Districts Chief financial officer told the crowd the proposed budget cuts in school funding come at a time when the district Tests scores have been steadily climbing. "More kids are succeeding in public schools in Philadelphia then they have in decades and we don't want to stop that, we want to improve it, we want to accelerate the progress," Philadelphia Schools Chief Financial Officer, Michael Masch said.