Philadelphia, PA–A group of local students, public school employees and parents held a surprise teach-in at State Senator Mike Stack's office today to quiz the senator and his staff about how a voucher bill would jeopardize Philadelphia's schools. Senate Bill 1 would drain millions of additional tax dollars from the city's public school students who are already facing a projected loss of $1 billion in state funding.
"This expensive voucher program would undermine our schools' recent progress and traps too many children in underfunded public schools," said Danita Bates, whose son attends Tanner Duckery Elementary School. "Overcrowded classrooms and reduced educational services will leave our students ill-equipped for tomorrow's jobs."
Vouchers could cause local property tax increases because they force taxpayers to fund two school systems, one public and one private. Moreover, SB 1 lacks basic accountability measures to ensure that taxpayers are funding high quality schools. Unlike the strict reporting standards for public schools, the legislation contains no provisions to require private schools receiving taxpayer dollars to account for the funds.
"We cannot afford to shortchange our students when our communities are already struggling without good jobs," said Ernie Bennett, a building engineer for the Philadelphia School District. "It's in everyone's best interest to stop this effort to deny our kids the education they need to get ahead."
Under the proposed voucher program, students from low-income families and those attending the lowest performing public schools will receive fewer choices and opportunities than those from more affluent areas. The voucher program could also foster discrimination because it will allow private and religious schools to select the students they want based on gender, church affiliation, academic ability, disability status, or other behavioral and special learning needs. This could exclude the participation of students with disabilities and significant educational challenges.
With more than 120,000 members in nine states, including 7,000 in Philadelphia, 32BJ SEIU is the largest property services union in the country.
updated 4/25/2011
