Main Line Pastor to Lead "Funeral" for Public School Funding in PA

PHILADELPHIA - May 9, 2014 - PRLog -- Wayne Pastor to Help Lead “Mock Funeral” for

PA Public School Funding

Leader of First Baptist Church of Wayne to Join Clergy, Students and Parents

from Across Region to call for Full, Fair Funding Formula for PA Schools

Contact: David Koppisch, 215-219-3950,dkoppisch@powerphiladelphia.org

On Friday, May 9, 2014, 2:00pm, Rev. Rashad Grove, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Wayne, will help lead hundreds of faith leaders, students and parents in a mock funeral procession in downtown Philadelphia to mark the urgency of school funding crises gripping hundreds of districts across the state.  The mock funeral is being organized by Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower and Rebuild (http://www.powerphiladelphia.org/) (POWER), a growing coalition of Christian, Jewish and Muslim congregations in the Philadelphia region.

Because of huge cuts to education funding since 2011, and the dismantling of a school funding formula enacted under the Rendell Administration, the school spending gap between wealthy and poor districts has reached crisis levels.  In Delaware County, the spending gap between the wealthiest and the poorest districts is $100,000 per classroom.  As a whole, the 15 school districts that comprise Delaware County are $45M short of adequate funding to operate their schools.  As a result, all 15 school districts have had to raise property taxes to try to make up for reductions in state education dollars, according to a recent report by Public Citizens for Children and Youth (https://www.pccy.org/userfiles/file/BottomLineCountyRepor...).

In Montgomery County, the gap in instructional spending between rich and poor districts is even worse, at $142,000 per classroom.  Every school district in Montgomery County receives less state education funding this year compared to 2010-11, when a state funding formula was in place.  As a result, 85% of the county’s school districts have had to raise property taxes in recent years, again according to Public Citizens for Children and Youth (https://www.pccy.org/userfiles/file/BottomLineCountyRepor...).

This reduction in state education dollars has caused widespread lay-offs of teachers, counselors, and support staff; cuts to extracurricular offerings, sports and arts programs, advanced placement courses, and extra help for struggling students, as well as increasing class sizes in districts across the state, both rural and urban.  Students in poverty, with disabilities or other special needs are suffering the most from this gap.

Organizers of the event see the continued strangling of local school districts as a death knell for many children’s futures.  The mock funeral will take place:

Friday, May 9^th, 2014

4:00pm: Gather at Philadelphia City Hall

4:30pm: Mock Funeral Procession to 200 South Broad Street, Phila, PA

4:45pm: Eulogies by Faith Leaders, Students, Parents

5:15pm: Closing

Rev. Grove, a native of Coatesville, a product of Coatesville public schools and father of a daughter who will soon enter the Treddyfrin East School District, said he leading the POWER event because “I see the inequities all around me in the suburbs.  Just drive a mile or two across district or township boundaries in Delaware or Montgomery Counties and you will see different worlds in terms of the resources available to teach our children.”

Rev. Grove’s personal experience is confirmed by research.   A recent state-commissioned survey found that 94% of Pennsylvania school districts lack the necessary funding to provide an adequate education to students.  Pennsylvania is only one of three states without a fair, predictable education funding formula. Poor children bear the brunt of this lack of investment.  Further, school districts with disproportionately poor student bodies have $1,800 less per pupil than they need to provide an adequate education, on average. Some large districts are short-changed by as much as $5,000 per pupil.  In contrast, wealthy districts in the state have a per pupil surplus.

Rev. Grove’s daughter and most of his congregants are fortunate enough to live in districts with adequate resources to operate good schools, but he is called to help shine a light on the fact that many of his nearby neighbors are suffering.  “I am moved by my faith to speak out on this issue.  As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, ‘an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’  The idea that a child’s zip code will determine how much we will spend on his or her education is an injustice” proclaimed Grove.

The mock funeral procession will include coffins and "RIP" signs indicating landmark court cases and policy decisions that helped promote education equity over the decades, all of which are threatened by continued disinvestment in Pennsylvania's public schools.

POWER is a faith-based, non-profit and non-partisan organization that seeks to raise a prophetic voice for justice in Pennsylvania. Learn more at www.powerphiladelphia.org