Church member Beth Logue has been working with POWER Interfaith’s Education Justice to advocate that every child in Pennsylvania have access to a good, justly-funded education. (Learn more about POWER’s campaign here.)

Educational Options

Gov. Josh Shapiro said in his speech at the 2024 Democratic National Convention: “We are the party of real freedom … The kind of real freedom that comes when that child has a great public school with an awesome teacher because we believe in her future.” I hope Shapiro will abandon his support for vouchers touted by billionaires as the solution to our educational needs, and that he will stop accepting money from them, as well.

Great public schools come from an adequate and equitable funding system, free from earmarks and political manipulation of funds that benefit only certain constituents instead of doing what is fair for all of Pennsylvania’s children. As Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock said in his speech at the DNC: “I need my neighbor’s children to be OK so that my children will be OK. I need all of my neighbor’s children to be OK. Poor inner-city children in Atlanta and poor children of Appalachia. I need the poor children of Israel and the poor children of Gaza. I need Israelis and Palestinians. I need those in the Congo, those in Haiti, those in Ukraine. I need American children on both sides of the track to be OK, because we’re all God’s children.” Let’s live by that creed so we can all experience real freedom.

Beth Logue, POWER Statewide Education Justice Team, Philadelphia, elizabeth.logue44@gmail.com

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/letters/letters-editor-september-4-2024-20240904.html?