Parents+decry+state+education+cuts

= 100 marchers turn out for city rally =

=By Rich Lord= =Published by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette= =3/4/12= = = = = =Morgan Coles plays seven instruments and is a believer in the power of music to stimulate the brain. So when she heard that budget cuts threaten to gut music programs, just as her children are starting their educations, she wasn't about to go quietly.= ="They're cutting back on the basic education -- math, reading, writing skills," she said Saturday. "And then you don't have creative education" like music, said the 22-year-old bank employee, as she stood outside of Pittsburgh Obama 6-12 school, recorder in hand, following a "teach-in" and protest march. "Education is the one thing that can empower our country."= =The event organized by One Pittsburgh started with presentations from teachers and former state legislators, and a brainstorming session aimed at finding alternatives to the cuts in state school funding that have pushed some districts to slash programs and increase class sizes. Their conclusion was that corporate tax loopholes should be closed and education funding levels restored.= =To make the point, nearly 100 people marched from the school, across Penn Avenue, into the Bakery Square development and then into a Verizon Wireless store. Most tooted through plastic recorders, some blew whistles and one played a trumpet in a noisy replacement for gutted music classes.= =One Pittsburgh Coordinator Silas Russell told a befuddled Verizon Wireless store manager that his company dodges taxes that could otherwise go to schools. After giving him a large, cardboard "tax bill," Mr. Russell said the company uses the so-called Delaware loophole, in which companies create subsidiaries in states with no corporate income tax to avoid levies in states like Pennsylvania.= =The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center has estimated that the Delaware loophole costs Pennsylvania $500 million annually in corporate taxes.= =Lee Gierczynski, a spokesman for Verizon, said the company is incorporated in Delaware, and nationally paid $3.9 billion in total taxes in 2011. He noted that the company pays property taxes to school districts.= ="Verizon pays its fair share of taxes," Mr. Gierczynski said, along with cable franchise fees and charitable contributions.= =Gov. Tom Corbett's 2012-13 proposed budget wasn't as hard on basic education as on higher education, but in the current fiscal year the districts have absorbed a $900 million cut.= =Ashley Hammonds, a 29-year-old labor relations compliance assistant, held her 5-year-old daughter, Ayriana, outside of Verizon Wireless. She said Ayriana is in kindergarten at Pittsburgh Liberty K-5, which is reducing staff by five teachers.= ="I'm upset, just outraged that [state leaders] can have the guts to take away this amount of money," she said.= = = = = =Read more: [|http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12064/1214389-298-0.stm#ixzz1oAvs3BsX] = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =News= =home=