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America Votes - Pennsylvania
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Victory for Better Public Schools in Pennsylvania
A major part of Governor Tom Corbett's agenda, school vouchers, fell short of a majority in the Republican-controlled state House this week, meaning the legislation will be put off at least until the 2012 legislative session.
Republicans made a late push to pass voucher legislation before the end of 2011, but were unable to garner the needed support from either side of the aisle:
"On Wednesday night, the House, following a lengthy debate, voted 105-90 to reject a scaled-back education-reform plan that would expand the state's Education Improvement Tax Credit program and overhaul the state's charter school law.
House Republican leaders tried to keep their word on vouchers in the afternoon during an angst-filled caucus discussion. They offered several iterations of voucher plans of a smaller scale than the one that the Senate passed this fall.
"The votes are not there on either side of the aisle," said Steve Miskin, news secretary to House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny County, as he announced that the House leaders would shift their focus to the more limited school-reform package.
Members said opposition to even a limited pilot program - which would still be a major shift in public education - came from those opposed to diverting public dollars to private schools.
Others felt they did not want to talk about vouchers in an environment in which state aid to public schools is declining. Still others more clearly didn't want to risk the wrath of public school teachers - and their unions - and the parents of children in their hometown schools."
Education Reform Not Heading in the Right Direction
The school-choice movement, which encourages the use of a voucher system to help parents pay to send their children to private schools, is under heavy debate in states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania where both governors are trying to pass laws that help provide these vouchers. Governor Corbett of Pennsylvania seems to think that the competition created between schools through a voucher system would increase the quality of education for most students. However when it comes to reforming the quality of education in America, it is better to start at the beginning, focusing on training and recruiting teachers.
Countries like China and Finland out-achieving the United States academically and a lot of that can be traced back to the differences in how their teachers are trained. In America we tend to fall back on the "Teach for America" model, which is designed to place graduates of strong colleges in the profession by making credentials easier to obtain. In Finland a master's degree in education is required to teach, and a lot of that course work is focused on studying pedagogy, which not all American teachers are getting.
Recruiting stronger teachers with more challenging programs of study will help elevate the level of education for American children, solidifying the foundation of the system, as opposed to the promise of competition, but not necessarily fundamental improvement in educational services created by a voucher system. "Vouchers have not decreased achievement gaps in Milwaukee or Wisconsin. Common sense and research suggest there is only one critical educational reform: quality teaching. Vouchers and quality teaching are not directly associated," Racine Unified Schools Superintendent James Shaw of Wisconsin said.
Budget Cuts Put Important Programs on the Chopping Block
With the economy in its current state, many families must rely on food banks to keep food on the table and to keep their families going. In efforts to work within the faltering economy,conservative lawmakers are looking at cutting funding for important programs like food banks, leaving many hungry.
In places like Pittsburgh, PA where mills and plants are shutting down and leaving people without jobs, food banks become an important resource for the community. According to the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank "children in 'food insecure' homes are twice as likely to suffer poor health and one third more likely to be hospitalized." By cutting funds to food banks, the lives of children are put at greater risk.
Other important programs such as the AIDS Drug Assistance Program in Florida may fall victim to budget cuts as well. Governor Rick Scott has proposed looking to raise the income standard for receiving medication, cutting down the largest waiting list for HIV medication in the country, but also cutting down the possibility for people with low incomes to receive treatment. Programs like these and food banks are critical for people with lower incomes, but as long as politicians refuse to look to new sources of revenue, these important programs are going to continue to be threatened by drastic budget cuts.
Unionized mines make for safer work environments
A recently released study has determined that in unionized mines there are 18-33% less traumatic injuries annually. This study was performed in the wake of the largest mine explosion in four decades that killed 29 men at a non-unionized mine last year.
Unionization allows for further attention from labor safety councils to mines and it also protects the workers' rights to voice their opinions when they feel there are problems or safety issues that need to be addressed. Overall, the number of injuries in mines annually is on the decline, but further unionization would help perpetuate this trend and continue to provide safer working conditions. Read more here.
America Votes President Joan Fitz-Gerald Talks Solidarity in the Progressive Movement
On March 10th, Joan Fitz-Gerald joined Rick Smith on the Rick Smith Show out of central Pennsylvania to talk about conservatives going after workers' rights and what progressives should be doing about it. Listen to the interview here.
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Budget-cut protesters occupy Tom Ridge's offices
Philadelphia Inquirer
The groups protesting in Ridge's office included several locals of the Service Employees International Union, as well as a number of environmental groups, such as Clean Water Action. The group first held a rally near the Capitol, then began marching to what it earlier described as an "undisclosed location" to deliver the invoice …
EPA Steps Up Scrutiny of Pollution in Pennsylvania Rivers
New York Times
"Both the state and E.P.A. have failed to make these plants get proper permits for discharging oil and gas wastewater into our rivers,” said Myron Arnowitt, the Pennsylvania director for Clean Water Action, an advocacy group. His organization said it would join this week with Three Rivers Waterkeeper in suing two sewage treatment plants for violations of the federal Clean Water Act and for not having a proper permit to discharge industrial drilling waste into rivers …
PA AFL-CIO: Corbett’s Budget Doesn’t Add Up for Pennsylvania’s Middle Class
Gant Daily
Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Rick Bloomingdale and Secretary-Treasurer Frank Snyder said that Gov. Tom Corbett’s budget passes the buck to local governments and school districts, forcing them to raise property taxes or cut essential services and programs to balance their budgets …
Corbett Overturns Rendell Regulations, First Step in Regulation Reductions?
PoliticsPA
“We’re very disappointed that DEP does not believe that it is necessary to do an environmental review of potential impacts on public lands before drilling takes place. We actually think that these are lands that should be given a higher level of protection because they’re publicly owned lands. We disagree with DEP’s view that they should get less protection,” said Jeff Schmidt, director of the Pennsylvania Sierra Club Chapter …
PA America Votes Partners in the News:
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Hundreds rally in solidarity with Wisconsin workers Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"We are here to stand in solidarity with Wisconsin workers and American families everywhere," said Michael Morrill of Keystone Progress, the advocacy group that organized the rally. "Right now the American dream is slipping away for millions of us, and we're here today to say enough is enough. It's time for our government to work for us, and not just corporations and millionaires" …
The Phlog: Don't Sneeze On My Cheesesteak…Rally Philadelphia Weekly More than 60 demonstrators rallied outside of City Hall today and flooded the building in support of paid sick days. About 210,000 workers in Philadelphia receive no paid sick days, according to Action United …
Planned Parenthood May See Elimination Of Federal Funding Haverford-Havertown Patch Congressman Pat Meehan (R-7th Dist.) voted to eliminate the federal funding. Patch did reach out to Meehan seeking a comment but unfortunately, he was unavailable by press time. Maggie Groff, vice president of external affairs for the Southeastern Pennsylvania division of Planned Parenthood, said it’s clear the organization is being targeted because it is well known and it provides abortion services. However, no federal money is spent on abortion services ...
Hundreds rally in solidarity with Wisconsin workers Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"We are here to stand in solidarity with Wisconsin workers and American families everywhere," said Michael Morrill of Keystone Progress, the advocacy group that organized the rally. "Right now the American dream is slipping away for millions of us, and we're here today to say enough is enough. It's time for our government to work for us, and not just corporations and millionaires" …
The Phlog: Don't Sneeze On My Cheesesteak…Rally Philadelphia Weekly More than 60 demonstrators rallied outside of City Hall today and flooded the building in support of paid sick days. About 210,000 workers in Philadelphia receive no paid sick days, according to Action United …
Planned Parenthood May See Elimination Of Federal Funding Haverford-Havertown Patch Congressman Pat Meehan (R-7th Dist.) voted to eliminate the federal funding. Patch did reach out to Meehan seeking a comment but unfortunately, he was unavailable by press time. Maggie Groff, vice president of external affairs for the Southeastern Pennsylvania division of Planned Parenthood, said it’s clear the organization is being targeted because it is well known and it provides abortion services. However, no federal money is spent on abortion services ...
Philadelphia Solidarity Rally
Across the country, working Americans are rallying in solidarity with hard-working public workers in Wisconsin. Union workers, citizens, community activists and politicians gathered in solidarity with the workers of Wisconsin in Philadelphia at the Municipal Services Building last week. After the jump, see some of the pictures from the rally.
See all the pictures here.