Bill Cosby joins Governor to call for school funding

Entertainer and education advocate Bill Cosby's message about school funding was clear: "No more cuts."

Cosby joined Governor Ed Rendell, lawmakers, education advocates and hundreds of teachers, students and administrators from across Pennsylvania for an event celebrating the achievements of PA schools.

"No more cuts," Cosby began. No more cuts. People graduate from college to become school teachers because they have this picture, this dream to save young lives through education. They do not enter the world of teaching to become wealthy and retire at an early age. Many of them take their salary to spend it on a student needing paper to write on, needing paper to read. Many teachers send texts, e-mails, notes to parents, asking, pleading to meet with them about their children. No more cuts."

Cosby continued to talk about the importance of teachers and of giving our schools the funding they need to continue to be successful. He encouraged the audience to call legislators and tell them to fund schools now.

He continued to talk about the needs of PA students. "I mean, what did these people (referring to PA students) ever do to you, that you want to cut?" asked Cosby. "They are moving on a course, that's very, very favorable, why would you want to take money from the success story and pull back on it? ...these are our children, and we need no more cuts."

The event was held to recognize the recent achievements of PA schools, highlighting the need to fund the formula the General Assembly passed last year. The report, released August 19 by the Center on Education Policy, shows Pennsylvania students made gains in all academic categories from 2002-08. The report will be available online at www.cep-dc.org.

CEP President Jack Jennings spoke at the event, lauding teachers, students and administrators for their achievements, and urging that adequate funding is necessary to continue progress in the future.

The CEP report is consistent with the findings from the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The NAEP found that Pennsylvania is one of only six states to make significant gains in elementary school reading and math since 2005. Also, Pennsylvania was one of only 10 states to make significant gains in elementary school reading and math since 2003.

Governor Rendell praised educators and students for their achievements and emphasized the need for school funding. “With proof-positive that our strategies are working, it is deeply troubling that Republicans in the General Assembly want to cut more than a billion dollars in state funding for education from our proposed budget,” the Governor said. “We simply cannot afford to balance the budget on the backs of our students and local property taxpayers.”

For more information, visit www.savepaschools.org.