TEACH+takes+on+education+funding+cuts

=By Mary Niederberger= =//Published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette//= =//6/23/11//= = = = = = = =When Gov. Tom Corbett introduced a budget in March that included more than $1 billion in cuts to education, a group of teachers from the Mon Valley immediately started to mobilize to get the word out about how devastating the funding cuts could be.= =The initial group was composed largely of teachers from the Steel Valley School District, which stands to lose $2.4 million under the governor's proposed budget. But since that time, teachers and community members throughout the area have joined the effort known as TEACH, which stands for "Tell Everyone All Cuts Hurt."= =In addition to Steel Valley, districts involved include Mc-Keesport, West Mifflin Area, Duquesne, Jeannette, West Jefferson Hills, South Park, Woodland Hills, Gateway, Brownsville, Brentwood and districts in the Johnstown and Philadelphia areas, said Jill Fleming-Salopek, chairwoman of TEACH and a furloughed Steel Valley English teacher.= =Last week the group took about 40 members to a 100-person rally at the state Capitol to protest the education cuts and to support public education. That activity was the most recent in a string of events aimed to let the public know how deeply their school districts will be affected by the drop in state funding.= ="It's going to be hard on the children. And what does it say to them? It tells them that the people who run their state don't care about them," said Susan Sherman, a TEACH member and teacher in the Duquesne City School District for 22 years.= =Ms. Fleming-Salopek said she had no idea she was going to lose her job when she first got involved organizing the TEACH effort.= ="This is so much bigger than one person's job or one district. We are trying to tell everyone that all cuts hurt and trying to tell everyone what this is going to do to our kids and our communities," she said.= =The TEACH group's first activity was distributing signs protesting the governor's budget in March. Signs were distributed along Main Street in Munhall and included messages such as: "Governor Corbett's Budget= =Equals All Children Left Behind" and "Good Schools Equal Good Communities."= =Signs are now popping up on lawns throughout the area.= =Duquesne teachers were wearing T-shirts with the same messages at the May Board of Control meeting where officials from the state Education Department presented a preliminary budget that would reduce their staff from 51 to 29, cut all extracurricular activities and eliminate most of the administration.= =In April, TEACH sponsored a public meeting with the Steel Valley school board and local legislators to discuss the state budget cuts. In May, the group attended the Rally in the Valley and visited Republican legislators to protest the cuts.= ="You don't really need to pour more money into public education as much as to reallocate the money that is already there," Ms. Fleming-Salopek said.= =Statistics released in March by state Rep. Joseph Markosek, D-Monroeville, show that Mon Valley districts were among those that would lose the most funding per pupil in the governor's proposed budget. Duquesne stands to lose $2,561; Clairton, $1,480; McKeesport Area, $1,104; Steel Valley, $972; and South Allegheny, $841.= =Members say they will continue to fight to get money restored to districts. A state House version of the budget approved last month restores several hundred million of the more than $1 billion cut. But TEACH members say that is not enough.= =The state Senate is discussing its version of the budget this week.= ="They are letting thousands of children high and dry in the Mon Valley," Mrs. Sherman said. "The children who are most affected are children of color and children of low economic background. We have to stand up and fight for our students because if we don't, no one else will."= =Read more: [] = = = =News= =home=