Rendell, Fisher debate education

Although Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidates Ed Rendell and Mike Fisher were joint keynote speakers at a forum on education yesterday in Houston Hall, they were actually in the same room for all of two minutes.

Rendell, the Democratic former mayor of Philadelphia, and Fisher, the Republican state attorney general, spoke at a luncheon as part of the 2002 Pennsylvania Education Policy Forum, a project of Penn's Center for Greater Philadelphia and its Operation Public Education program.

While Fisher arrived early and spent several minutes shaking hands with everyone in the room, Rendell swept in about a half hour late, clutching a big blue Pepsi cup full of soda.

Due to Rendell's tardiness, which he later attributed to a scheduling error, Fisher spoke first. He advocated greater accountability for Pennsylvania's teachers, increased school choice and the sale of the state liquor store system to raise money for public schools.

It is "terribly wrong that the parents in Philadelphia, because of economics, don't have the opportunity to put their children in private school," Fisher said, also stressing his "sincere and... deep commitment to public education."

Fisher also said that he opposed state-mandated pre-kindergarten and kindergarten programs, citing monetary concerns.

"I would not mandate kindergarten, and I would not mandate preschool," he said. "Pennsylvania can't afford that kind of mandate."

Fisher was in the middle of taking questions when Rendell arrived. The two men, all smiles, shook hands. Fisher left soon after Rendell took the podium.

Rendell, who as a Penn alumnus was on familiar turf, spoke about the need for more state funding of education because reliance on revenue from local taxes produces well-funded schools in the richer districts and poorly-funded schools in impoverished districts.

"As long as you rely on local income, we're going to have this disparity," Rendell said. "It's not fair. It's not right."

Rendell said that he would like the state to foot at least half of the bill for public education, as it was required to do by law until the early 1980s.

"Republicans, they don't want to talk about putting money into the schools," he said. "There are times when you need to spend money."

History and Public Policy Professor Ted Hershberg, who runs the Center for Greater Philadelphia and hosted the luncheon, said afterwards that he was concerned about Fisher's reluctance to put a significant amount of state tax money into public education.

"Mr. Fisher's method works fine if you have enough wealth in a community," Hershberg said. "When the community doesn't have money to be taxed... it doesn't do you any good. The state has to assume responsibility to address the problem of inequity."

"I'm hoping that Mr. Fisher will revise his position," he added.

About the Series Every Friday until the gubernatorial elections in November, The Daily Pennsylvanian will run an article analyzing the major issues on the minds of Pennsylvania voters and how the major candidates are addressing them. As polls change, as the advertisements start to heat up, the DP will focus on the angle coming from each candidate's campaign and the perspective provided by political experts and non-partisan analysts, as well as how ordinary Pennsylvanians react to the messages of Ed Rendell and Mike Fisher. And as the campaigns progress and Nov. 5 approaches, share your thoughts at the dailypennsylvanian.com gubernatorial race forum.

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