Pa+Legislative+Black+Caucus+Holds+Hearings+on+Corbett's+Budget

=Pa. Legislative Black Caucus holds hearings on Corbett budget= =//By Mohana Ravindranath, Inquirer Staff Writer//= =//Published on Philly.com//= =// April 09, 2011 //=

= = =The Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus on Friday held the first of four statewide hearings on Gov. Corbett's proposed $1 billion cuts in the education budget.= ="Education is a civil right. The right is being threatened. . . . Poor communities and communities of color are disproportionately affected," said State Rep. Ron Waters, the caucus chairman, addressing the hearing at the University of Pennsylvania.= ="You can't cut the pathway to jobs and create jobs."= =Waters, along with Democratic State Reps. Vanessa Lowery Brown, Kenyatta Johnson, James R. Roebuck Jr., and Louise Williams Bishop, all of Philadelphia, heard testimony from about a half-dozen students, advocates and professionals.= = = =Community College of Philadelphia student Khalif Dobson, a graduate of West Philadelphia High School and a member of the Campaign for Nonviolent Schools, spoke about school violence.= ="The criminalization of students is apparent," he said. He presented the campaign's plan to reduce violence by 2014, which involves peer mediation and other techniques to point students toward graduation, not prison.= =He criticized the Corbett plan to increase spending on prisons at the expense of education.= =Nancy Nguyen, an advocate for South Philadelphia Asian Students, told of difficulties applying "rote" education models to all Philadelphia schools, such as South Philadelphia High School, which has a high percentage of immigrants.= =Aside from violence problems, she said, there are administrative deficiencies: only two counselors for the entire school and a low graduation rate.= =Last year, she said, "students felt they weren't going to a school, but a war zone."= =The proposed budget cut is about $400 per child in the School District, according to Nijmie Zakkiyyah Dzurinko, executive director of the Philadelphia Student Union.= ="The way the cuts are made is inequitable," she said, saying they were much less per student in wealthier districts.= =Michael J. Masch, the district's chief financial officer, testified that "higher student achievement has gone hand in hand with increased funding," to counter the claim that former state administrations wasted money on trying to rescue failing school systems. He said that he and other district officials were taking pay cuts and that some staff reductions would have to be made.= =In response to questions from caucus members about staffing cuts - if, for example, special-education staff would be reduced - he said, "Everyone will be surprised at how little discretion there really is."= =Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president Jerry Jordan testified that the elimination of many nonteacher-assistant positions had resulted in increased violence.= =The implications of Senate Bill 1, which proposes a voucher system for students, were discussed at length. Jordan said he thought the bill did not provide parents with much choice of schools, because a school could decide not to accept a child. Brown said several of her constituents supported the bill because they believe their neighborhood schools are too dangerous.=

=// Contact staff writer Mohana Ravindranath at 215-854-2917 or mravindranath@phillynews.com. //=

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