As 2011 came to a close it was obvious that the power of community needed to be at the forefront now more than ever.

Time and time again changes in education at the local and state level failed to involve community voice; and decisions came from the top down.

One example is the voucher campaign  that Gov. Tom Corbett pushed in Pennsylvania throughout 2011. After slashing Pennsylvania’s education budget, Corbett then decided that the problem with Pennsylvania’s education system was its lack of “school choice.” He then spearheaded voucher legislation that garnered national attention.

Nevertheless communities from all over the state came together in opposition to vouchers and ultimately halted its progress.

Thanks to the resounding voices of countless community champions, vouchers are no longer a looming reality for Pennsylvania
However, often the voices of the community are excluded and don’t get to weigh in on the very proposals and decisions that affect the lives of students.

In Philadelphia, the School Reform Commission recently agreed to a major contract with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where the future of 50,000 seats from the lowest performing schools are at stake. The School Reform Commission made this decision without a single public hearing on the proposal.

Furthermore this private process was completed so quickly the public never had a chance to try and demand input. For this reason it is essential we actively check the powers that be to ensure our seat at the table.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said that “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”  Our Students matter and the education that they receive matters.

If we remain silent and allow education to continue to be run into the ground then our lives will have ended. If our students can’t succeed then our future is lost along with theirs.

Gov. Tom Corbett recently revealed his plan for education, pushing for vouchers as the new standard for education reform. On October 24th, the Senate Education Committee approved a vouchers program. Now, the Senate is poised to pass it. The Senate Education Committee’s support of vouchers is happening despite major opposition from students and parents across Pennsylvania.

Why fund private and parochial schools with taxpayer dollars? If public education weren’t always under attack by budget cuts, there would be no need to expand educational “choices” for parents and students. We know the real first choice of every parent and student is a high quality public school in their neighborhood.

If Gov. Corbett’s real goal was the expansion of educational choice for students he would be funding public education instead of vouchers. “Fixing struggling schools like mine is a process. It takes leadership from the principal and the district, student and parent involvement, qualified and effective teachers, engaging curriculum, accountability, and adequate funding. It is a process, but I know that my school can succeed if it is invested in,” said Baseerah Watson, a senior at  Sayre High School in West Philadelphia. There is no better choice for parents and students than a district of well-funded neighborhood schools.

Vouchers will only increase the disparity within already struggling districts. Many students, parents, and taxpayers will be left behind. They will be left behind because there is no guarantee that getting a voucher will lead to a better education. Even students who get vouchers are not guaranteed acceptance at private schools. Private schools can turn away students or kick students out for any reason, including a student’s disability, religion, test scores, background, or status as an English Language Learner. Even with a voucher, many students will be stuck in the same underfunded, under-performing schools, while more and more resources are drained out of their schools.

Vouchers will not benefit all of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, regardless of the promises being made by Corbett’s administration. These promises are empty promises. Can we really afford to leave anymore students behind? And, furthermore, would we want to?

Last week Drexel's Center for the Prevention of School-Aged Violence awarded Leticie Almiron with their first Violence Prevention Award for a Teacher.  Below is her speech which highlights how the underfunding of schools is violent:

Good evening everyone. My name is Leticie Almiron and I am a second grade teacher in the William Penn School District in Darby, PA. I would like to first thank Drexel's Center for the Prevention of School Aged Violence for inviting me here today as I accept this award. It is an honor and a pleasure to be in a room full of people who all share a common goal: to find solutions to prevent our young children from being violent in such a tough society.

I have been working with children for many years and I have witnessed the conditions many of them have to live with and face every day.  Elementary Education is the foundation to learning how to read, write and understand basic math skills. This is where children develop their love for learning and can start to build a level of self-confidence that is needed to feel successful. However, many children either never gets to feel like a successful student or lose that feeling way too early in their educational career. Unfortunately, our classrooms are overcrowded and underfunded to give each child an adequate, quality, and fair education.

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As an organizer I was completely taken aback by the conduct and remarks of Rev. Al Sharpton on September 29^th 2009. What should have been a simple conversation turned into a complete attack and insult on my intelligence and that of my fellow organizer Ashley Rowell. All we wanted to do was try and establish a meeting with The Reverend so that we could actually put forth input into the education reform that was being promoted through the “listening and learning” tour. However, from the jump, Rev. Sharpton got defensive and strongly dodged our simple request of holding a more formal meeting to really delve into the issue of education.

He continued to respond to our request by saying that, “we are meeting right now.” I hardly believe it is fathomable to really discuss education in such a bustling media frenzy that ensued outside McDaniel Elementary School. After what seemed like an eternity of him putting on a show for the media he realized that we were firmly not going to budge from our proposal for a meeting with him and he decided to agree to it. However he continued to put on a show by trying to belittle us and make it seem as though we didn't understand what it was that we were protesting for. He is sadly mistaken. Just because he has much more experience in civil rights activism doesn't make him the connoisseur of organizing.

I guess because he is much older than we are he thinks he could just say whatever her wants, but he is wrong. We are fully capable of comprehending the state of education in our schools across our city and our nation, and it doesn't require a great degree of age and experience to see that students educations are not adequate. The most maddening moment of the entire ordeal was his off the cuff remarks towards me because I graduated from Bodine High School For International Affairs, one of our city's magnet schools. He proceeded to try and take a stab at my education by calling me part of the “bourgeoisie” and something to the effect of what am I doing down here with the people?

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