All+About+the+6-14-11+Harrisburg+Rally

= = media type="custom" key="9927753" media type="custom" key="9927755" = On Tuesday, 6/14/11 !!! =

=Approximately 100 people took to the Capital steps to fight for education on Tuesday, 6/14/11 - 40 of them from South Allegheny and Steel Valley areas. They were joined by State Reps. Marc Gergely (D-White Oak), Bill Kortz (D-Dravosburg) and Joe Markosek (D-Monroeville) as well as State Sen. James Brewster (D-McKeesport). After expressing their support for properly funding education instead of unnecessarily cutting it, they spread through the capital to disseminate that message to Republican legislators - IN PERSON. They talked with State Rep. Rick Saccone (R-Elizabeth Township) and State Sen. John Pippy (R-Moon), both of whom refused. Election day is coming, Gentlemen! =

=All About the 6-14-11 Harrisburg Rally= =Local schools join Harrisburg rally against cuts= =[|Patriot News Photo Gallery of Harrisburg Rally]=

=Tuesday June 14th 2011=

= Save Our School, TEACH SV & SA Rally the Capital = =

= =On Tuesday, June 14th, 40 South Allegheny Teachers and 10 Steel Valley Teachers left SA parking lot at 8 a.m. heading to Harrisburg. Our goal: To continue the fight for our public education system and to let these elected officials know that we want equitable funding back for our schools.= =We arrived at the capital around 12:30 p.m. and we were greeted by Rep. Kortz's secretary. She gave us the office numbers of all elected officials in the capital so we could visit them personally to address our concerns. The Rally began at 1:00 where we were greeted by State Reps. Jim Brewster, Marc Gergely, Bill Kortz and Joe Markosek.=

=Superintendent of SA, Wayne Gdovic spoke about how this budget is affecting his school district. SA is set to lose $1.5 million. Along with the State representatives speaking, several other teachers, parents and students spoke about how this budget is hurting the public school system. One of the officials spoke about how the "Republican officials do not HAVE to do this, they WANT to do this!" They also spoke about the other places that money can be found but the finger keeps getting pointed back to education. Students spoke about the loss of special electives such as gym, music, art and tech ed. The students who spoke said they fear that kids will get into more trouble because they feel that these electives give them the chance to express themselves. A daycare from Harrisburg, carrying signs, also joined us on the front steps of the capital chanting, "STOP STEPPING ON OUR FUTURE!" =

= After the rally we broke up into groups and visited several of the Republicans that are voting in favor of the budget. Representative Saccone was on the house floor when we arrived at this office. His secretary took us to the floor and we spoke to him for about 30 minutes. He was clear that his constituents do not want taxes raised. When asked if it were a choice between taxes and the quality of education of our schools, he implied that raising taxes was the highest concern of his constituents. He implied that our teacher contracts and the fact the state teachers would not take a pay freeze and our looming pension crisis adds to the budget problem. He also added that our school enrollment has dropped, but we have more teachers. (I thought about this after, but No Child Left Behind forced us to attain this resources (teachers/programs) so that we'd meet the proficiency mark by 2014.) When asked about the drilling tax, he stated that would "only" bring in $100 million to the budget. He said that he does not have a stance on Senate Bill 1 but he did say that competition would be good for the public schools. (In my mind I am thinking, public schools do not have $30,000 to put a commercial on TV.) We also asked about the Delaware Loophole and this is how he explained it: He uses the example of the "Caterpillar" company. They were housed in Missouri (I think) and they closed the hole and taxed the company. Other neighboring states started to pursue them to come to their state, which in turn they did, losing thousands of jobs for Missouri. He does not want that to happen in PA. We closed by asking him to bring more equitable funding back to our schools by looking into other taxes that we know can help and to do HIS OWN research on Vouchers and how they are working in other states before he makes a stance on Sen.Bill1. =



= One thing I found interesting was that Wayne Gdovic spoke about SA and how they did not use the stimulus money to hire teachers. Teachers who were there from SA told Saccone their salaries after 15 years of teaching, which is low compared to other districts. Wayne stated they have been fiscally responsible but yet, this budget is going to really hurt the district and the programs for their students. = = Isn't this Corbett's big accusation: That schools have been irresponsible and should have known that the stimulus money wouldn't be around forever?? Now, how could it be that a district that WAS responsible with the money from the state is still in terrible financial trouble!!!???? I think we all know there is a bigger agenda here. = = We arrived back at SA around 7:30. It was a long day but worth while. They need to feel the pressure. To think 50 of us took time from our families and drove across the state to tell them we are NOT backing down speaks volumes for our cause. I hope that we all enjoy our summer vacations, but August is around the corner. What do you want your working conditions to be like in August? Do you want your students to get the attention they deserve from you, programs you know that are successful to be around in August? SPEAK UP!!! They have not won yet. We need to keep fighting until we know we have in place what is best for our students/kids!!! If you can't make it to the rallies or meetings, then please advocate for our kids by phone. =



= A BIG THANKS goes out to Pennsylvania Coach Lines for donating the bus to the SA teachers. Also, another big thank you to SA who shared the bus with the SV teachers!! It was great traveling with you!! = = = =-Christy Ruffing= =T.E.A.C.H.= =Local schools join Harrisburg rally against cuts= =[|Patriot News Photo Gallery of Harrisburg Rally]= =home=



=Fleet of vehicles, including for wives of Corbett and Lt. Gov., raises question=