POWER Clergy Leaders, Students, & Parents To Stage A 'Mock Funeral' For Philadelphia Public Schools

PHILADELPHIA - May 8, 2014 - PRLog -- POWER's inter-faith leaders, along with students, and parents, will stage a mock funeral this Friday May 9th at 4pm. The funeral procession will start at Philadelphia City Hall and then travel down Broad Street to Governor Tom Corbett's Philadelphia office at the Bellevue Building located at 200 South Broad Street. Members of POWER's clergy will eulogize public education, then lead an inter-faith prayer that lawmakers develop a solution to end the budget crisis. There will also be testimonials from parents and students from the Philadelphia Student Union, Youth United for Change, and Boat People S.O.S. The groups have chosen a funeral theme for the action because the projected cuts in education represent the death of political leaders’ commitment to public schools.The groups are pushing for a state level solution and a full funding formula for education.

The mock funeral is in response to Superintendent William Hite's recent projection of a $400M budget deficit for the School District of Philadelphia. Dr. Hite says the budget shortfall will result in 1,000 additional staff lay-offs, and overcrowded classrooms of more than 40 students.

"This truly is a time of mourning for our school children," says Bishop Dwayne Royster, POWER's Executive Director. "Pennsylvania is only one of three states without a fair, predictable education funding formula. Poor children, and mostly children of color, bear the brunt of this lack of investment."

To help make education funding a priority in 2014 elections, POWER and other organizations are contacting and mobilizing thousands of voters who care about public schools, urging them to vote in the gubernatorial primary election this month and in the general election in November.  “State-level political leaders will soon begin to hear from more voters that school funding inequities will no longer stand in Pennsylvania” said Bishop Dwayne Royster, Executive Director of POWER.

For more information about Friday's Mock Funeral for Public Education, contact Power Philadelphia (http://powerphiladelphia.org) by calling (215) 232-7697. All media inquiries should be directed to Leslie Patterson-Tyler - email Leslie@TylerMadePR.com or call (609) 247-2632.

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POWER is a faith-based community organization comprised of 41 congregations representing 25,000 diverse Philadelphians from Christian, Jewish and Muslim backgrounds. POWER is part of the PICO National Network.  POWER was founded in 2011.

Boat People SOS - Delaware Valley Chapter is part of a national advocacy organization that works to assist Vietnamese refugees and immigrants in their search for a life in liberty and dignity by empowering, equipping and organizing them toward self-sufficiency.

Philadelphia Student Union is a student-led organization, founded in 1997, that teaches leadership and community organizing skills and fights for student rights and improvements to our public schools.  PSU has chapters in 7 city high schools.

Youth United for Change is a youth-led, democratic organization made up of youth of color and working class communities, aimed at holding school officials and government accountable to meeting the educational needs of Philadelphia public school students.  YUC has 6 chapters throughout the city.