Let's increase student achievement in schools.

Let's cut school funding. Let's  increase class sizes.
And let's do all of this - at the same time.

This makes no sense, yet it is exactly what Gov. Corbett proposed in his education  plan.

This school year, seventy percent of school districts in PA increased class sizes and 45 percent cut programs.

The Governor cut $860 million from  schools. And a new Terry Madonna Opinion Research poll says that 65 percent of Pennsylvanians oppose that.

What helps our students achieve results?
The respondents favored or strongly favored "more individualized student attention and tutoring" (89 percent), reduced class sizes (88 percent), and "programs to help make schools safer" (85 percent). They also favored:  alternative placement for disruptive/violent students (85 percent); "pre- and full-day kindergarten" (73 percent); and "programs to coordinate school, community and law enforcement programs" (79 percent).

Pennsylvania's public schools are among the best in the nation. Seven of ten public school students go on to college or higher education.

At a time when the world is expanding through globalization, shrinking educational opportunities, especially for urban youth, is the wrong direction.

Tim Kearney
1st grade teacher
Cleveland Elementary
Allentown School District
Vice President of Elementary Schools/Allentown Education Association

SECTION 1.      

 The purpose of this Association shall be to promote the general educational welfare of the Allentown School District; to advance educational standards; to foster an allegiance to a genuine spirit of professional ethics; and to cooperate with civic bodies having educational objectives.

 SECTION 2.     

  To protect and advance the interests and general welfare of its members; to encourage improvements in conditions as will enable teachers to function properly as a vital factor in the educational process; and to enable members to speak with a common voice on matters pertaining to the teaching profession and to present their individual and common interest before the School Board and other legal authorities.

 SECTION 3.       

To promote membership in and cooperation with the Pennsylvania State Education Association and the National Education Association in carrying out the avowed objectives of the United Profession.

SECTION 4.    

To encourage teachers to exercise their rights and privileges as citizens and to accept, willingly, leadership in civic affairs.