Gov.+Corbett’s+message+to+Chester+Upland+comes+through+loud+and+clear

= = =By State Sen. Andy Dinniman= =Published by the Patriot News= =1/17/12= = = = = = The Corbett administration should be ashamed of its recent actions toward the Chester Upland School District. To refuse to advance funds and to force the closure of Pennsylvania’s most impoverished school district in the middle of the school year is simply wrong. = = = = It is unthinkable and egregious for Pennsylvania to tell students who have persevered and stayed in school despite economic adversity: “We are withholding state money and letting your school close in the middle of your education.” Yet that is precisely what this administration is allowing to happen. = = The real heroes of this debacle are the teachers who are instructing classes of more than 40 students and continuing to work despite not getting paid. In this crisis, where Harrisburg is destroying a community, it is a tribute to educators everywhere that they are standing in the breach for their students. = = It is clear that there is a focused effort by the Corbett administration to shut down the public schools in Chester and force students into charter schools. What is happening in the Chester Upland School District is the first step in what might well be how a number of other school districts on the brink of financial disaster, including Reading, Harrisburg, Sto-Rox and Steelton-Highspire, also are going to be treated under this administration. = = It was a result of actions by the Corbett administration that set up this doomsday scenario. The Corbett budget cut education funding for the poorest and most needy school districts. The Chester Upland School District was cut by millions of dollars. Corbett administration officials knew the school district could not survive on the money available and knew an advance of the funds would be necessary. Yet when school district officials made their advance request, Corbett administration officials refused. = = = = Since August, Sen. Jeffrey Piccola, R-Dauphin County, majority chairman of the Senate Education Committee, and I have asked Education Department officials to send us a list of school districts in the state on the verge of what amounts to bankruptcy along with a plan to deal with this dire situation. = = **To this day, they have refused to do so**. To say the Corbett administration failed in an attempt to save Chester Upland would be one thing, but the sad reality is that a rescue effort was never even made. In fact, the administration manufactured a perfect storm for Chester Upland. = = Now, it’s refusing to throw a lifeline to teachers, parents and families. The callous action to not advance the basic funds to allow the education of students in Chester Upland is not school reform; it is a purposeful and harmful attempt to destroy public education. No matter what side of the education debate you are on, all of us need to stand up to make sure that the basic funding continues to be available for the students in this district. = = We must stand as one to assure that the politics of education in Pennsylvania is not done on the backs of these students and their teachers. =

= **Andy Dinniman, of West Whiteland, is a Democratic state senator for Pennsylvania’s 19th District.** = = = = = = = =News= =home=