wfn.org | NCC Supports Growing Public Education Rights Movement

["Nat'l Council of Churches" <nccc_usa@ncccusa.org>]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
NCC5/20/02

NATIONAL RELIGIOUS LEADERS TRAVEL TO PENNSYLVANIA TO LEND SUPPORT FOR
GROWING PUBLIC EDUCATION RIGHTS MOVEMENT

May 14, 2002, Harrisburg, Pa. - The National Council of Churches' Executive
Board took its spring meeting to Harrisburg, Pa., May 14-15 to demonstrate
the U.S. churches' commitment to quality education for all children.

Some 50 NCC board members and staff joined 150 other advocates at the
Pennsylvania State Capitol May 14 in a prayer vigil for public education
reform. The vigil was sponsored by Good Schools Pennsylvania, a growing
grassroots movement with strong faith-based support established in 2000 to
address the states public education crisis.

Pennsylvania ranks among the nations four worst states in terms of using
state funds to ensure that children in the poorest districts get an equal
opportunity for a quality education, earning it a D- for educational equity
in Education Weeks 2002 annual report on public education. The states
share of local educational expenditures declined from 55 percent in 1974-75
to 35 percent in 2001-2002, Good Schools Pennsylvania reports.

"Tell me a childs zip code and I can predict what will happen to the
child," Dr. David Hornbeck, former Philadelphia superintendent of schools
and a member of the Good Schools Pennsylvania Founding Council, told the NCC
Executive Board. The highest spending district spent $14,406 per student,
the lowest only $5,302 - a $227,600 a year gap for a classroom of 25
children.  The inequity falls hardest on children of color, he said, leading
Good Schools Pennsylvania to recognize their mission as a civil rights
struggle.

"At a time when public education has become a political battleground, we
call on our member churches and nation to remember first and foremost our
children. Every child in Pennsylvania should receive a quality education
regardless of the community in which he or she is born," said Dr. Bob Edgar,
NCC General Secretary.

The National Council of Churches Executive Board meets four times a year,
and the board resolved in February to move its spring meeting from
Washington, D.C., to Harrisburg, Pa., in order to demonstrate the Council's
deep and longstanding commitment to eliminate poverty be ensuring a quality
education for every child.

The NCC in 1999 adopted a policy statement on public education, which points
out that "public schools are the primary route for most children -
especially the children of poverty - into full participation in our
economic, political and community life. As a consequence, all of us,
Christians and non-Christians alike, have a moral responsibility to support,
strengthen and reform the public schools."

A pilot project co-sponsored by the NCC and the Pennsylvania Council of
Churches to mobilize congregational support for public education reform led
to the formation of Good Schools Pennsylvania. NCC Deputy General Secretary,
the Rev. Dr. Eileen W. Lindner, represents the NCC on the Good Schools
Pennsylvania Founding Council.

"What more pressing issue could bring us together than the education of
children?," asked Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson, Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America, an NCC Executive Board member, at the May 14 vigil. "We
join with other faiths and citizens of Pennsylvania to call on the leaders
of this state to be just and equitable in their investment in and commitment
to education for all children.

"The NCC has a historic commitment to people of color, people in poverty and
new immigrants," he said, "so when we see in the allocation of resources in
Pennsylvania thse groups bear the burden of inequity, we must speak
publicly."

United Methodist Bishop Melvin G. Talbert, of Nashville, Tenn., also an NCC
Executive Board member, noted at the vigil that "the United Methodist
Council of Bishops has a worldwide initiative on children and poverty. At
root is helping a child develop to his or her fullest potential. Education
is at the heart.

"For me and for the church this is a very critical issue," Bishop Talbert
said. "If we fail as the church to help children we have failed the call of
God to the church to ensure the well-being of what Jesus called 'the least
of these.'"

"The fact that NCC Executive Board members agreed to come all the way to
Harrisburg to bring a unified witness shows they sense the seriousness of
this struggle in Pennsylvania," said Bishop Roy Almquist of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Americas Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod - one of five
Pennsylvania Lutheran, Methodist and Episcopal bishops at the May 14 vigil.

"We feel desperately the time has come for Pennsylvania to address the
quality of education being determined by your zip code," said Bishop
Almquist. "This really is a civil rights issue -- the damage of racism, the
damage to children from this immoral allocation. This is very exciting that
the NCC is here."

The NCCs Executive Board took time at its national meeting to call on the
Pennsylvania legislature to pass comprehensive public education reform this
legislative session. According to Good Schools Pennsylvania, comprehensive
public education reform must include:

1) A system that ensures adequate funds are equitably distributed to every
district;

2) The implementation of quality education principles that are proven to
boost student performance; and

3) The establishment of an accountability system to reward schools that
improve and consequences for those schools that have persistently poor
performance.

Good Schools Pennsylvania representatives came from Erie, the Poconos, Mon
Valley, Pittsburgh, Scranton, Wilkes Barre, Philadelphia and surrounding
counties, Lancaster and the Lehigh Valley. "It is clear by the statewide
geographic representation today that Pennsylvanians are united in their
resolve to find a solution to the crisis in public education. We stand here
today to call on the next Governor to make sure that every child can attend
a high quality public school," said Ellen P. Smith, a Good Schools
Pennsylvania Chapter Leader in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania.

Good Schools Pennsylvania is a non-profit coalition of grassroots, statewide
and national organizations seeking to mobilize parents, students and
concerned citizens to advocate for comprehensive public education reform
this legislative session. The organization is training 10,000 Pennsylvanians
on the basics of school finance, school performance and quality school
practices. The Campaign has offices in Lancaster, Allentown, Pittsburgh,
Philadelphia, McKeesport, Erie, Hatboro, Wilkes Barre and Havertown.

The National Council of Churches is the nation's leading ecumenical
organization. Its 36 Protestant and Orthodox member denominations comprise
50 million persons in 140,000 local congregations across the United States.

-end-

Contacts: NCC News, 212-870-2252; news@ncccusa.org; www.ncccusa.org
Good Schools Pennsylvania, 215-332-2700; sheila@goodschoolspa.org;
www.goodschoolspa.org