Bradley Breuer and Erica Young: Lobbying for Philly public schools

A child in Philadelphia may go to school each day with out-of-date textbooks in a building that is falling apart from neglect, only to graduate without mastery of basic skills. Another child in the suburbs receives an education in a state-of-the-art building with current textbooks and gets individual attention in a small class. What's the difference between these two children? Their zip codes. Public education in the state of Pennsylvania is failing and action must be taken. In Pennsylvania, there is a $210,850 gap between the wealthiest and poorest classroom of 25 children. This disparity is unacceptable. School funding is largely based on local property taxes. No matter how much a poor locality taxes itself, there will never be sufficient funds to provide quality education. In West Philadelphia, some of the most valuable University property benefits from a tax exempt status. In other words, the University is required to contribute next to nothing to local schools. However, Penn has started on the path of school reform by partnering with local schools. The Penn-Assisted School serves as a model for quality urban education. In this way, the University has taken steps to improve the quality of public education in Philadelphia. However, Penn's resources are limited. There are countless other schools in this community that do not benefit from the support of the University. There is an urgent need to find a solution for the many other schools that do not receive outside support. Every child deserves access to a quality education, and the need for systemic change has never been greater. To balance the inequalities in the education system, the state must take responsibility for a larger share of school funding. This change requires political will and money from the state government. Our public schools are not an experiment in school privatization. Education is not a commodity to be bought and sold. It is something that the government should provide equally to all citizens. Good schools should be run by the government and not by cost-cutting firms. Penn students care about this issue. Some of them see themselves as future residents of Pennsylvania and want their children to have access to quality public education. Others simply care about the community surrounding Penn and consider it their duty as current residents of Philadelphia to support and demand educational justice. Students have joined forces with a statewide movement called Good Schools Pennsylvania to demand comprehensive education reform. These students are organizing to lobby legislators in Harrisburg, harnessing the power of students and the University to change a system of unequal education. Penn has a strong voice in Harrisburg and has the unique ability to influence legislators to put education first on the agenda. Penn should encourage fair funding for urban schools and demand that all children in Pennsylvania have equal access to education. The University, as an agent of change, should endorse the work of Good Schools Pennsylvania and join in the push for equality in the funding of public education. This movement needs a powerful voice; it needs the voice of the University. To be apolitical is to be apathetic. If President Rodin and others sit quietly, they are allowing the public schools to deteriorate further. It costs nothing to lobby for change. For every student admitted at Penn, there is an equally bright pupil in an urban public school somewhere in this country. Those students have the potential to become this country's future lawyers, teachers, doctors, legislators and social workers. They are, however, being deprived of these opportunities. Failing to change the conditions in their schools serves to keep them without a good education, to bar them from higher education and to perpetuate a cycle of poverty. Education is a right, not a privilege. Bradley Breuer is a freshman Urban Studies major. Erica Young is a senior Elementary Education major.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.