Students, Parents Come Together to Protest Public Education Cuts

It wasn't just students and parents that made their opinions clear on state school budget cuts on Tuesday.

Over 1,000 people made their way to Harrisburg during the day, where they went to the steps of the state Capitol to rally against funding cuts and to meet with legislators. The majority of them were students and parents taking up the rallying cry of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which worked to organize the get-together.

But a small handful of the masses that made it to Harrisburg gathered at School District of Philadelphia offices at 440 N. Broad St. at 5 p.m., where they came together for one final rally. And as NAACP Philadelphia Chapter President Jerry Mondesire spoke out against cuts proposed by Gov. Tom Corbett, district workers, who were unaffiliated with the get-together, left work and came out of their building doors, nodding their heads in approval at the crowd.

They heard Mondesire put a cap on the day's events as they walked out. "Today was just the beginning," he said, as the crowd cheered and held anti-school voucher signs. A school voucher plan is currently being considered in the state Legislature.

Several students from the Bache-Martin School in Fairmount attended the event and made it to the final rally at the district headquarters.

They said they were generally pleased with the progress made in Harrisburg Tuesday. But according to them, it wasn't quite enough. Those in attendance didn't quite cover the steps of the state Capitol. "It should have been more," Bache-Martin student Nirvana Horton said.

Others were reflective.

"I don't understand why people who did bad in the world get rewarded for things that shouldn't have been done, while kids who go to school try their best and do what they have to do so they can have a better life," said Mai Daurov, another Bache-Martin student, as she referenced jail inmates. (Click to read more specifically about some of the proposed cuts.)

At Bache-Martin, specifically, the school might lose a beloved guidance counselor. Others hope arts programs won't be cut in the end.

Wayne Horton, Nirvana's father, said his daughter learned to play the violin at the school.

"You know Pomp and Circumstance, the graduation thing?" Horton said. "She plays it real well now. For them to cut that out, that's a potential violinist there. I mean, I think that's crazy."

Nirvana had something to say to state politicians as well.

"Why turn against us when we're the future?" she asked. "When you die, the world's probably going to be worse than it is right now."