As someone who was fortunate enough to receive a scholarship for low-income students of color, I know what a difference access to a well-funded, well-supported school environment can make in a child’s life.
Right now, our youth’s educational future is determined by their zipcode, which means youth living in poverty, who are disproportionately black, are being robbed of their opportunities to fulfill their destiny because their local schools are lacking and in disrepair.
We cannot push this problem onto private entities who are not accountable to our city and our people. What we need is a robust school system that has full resources for classrooms, students, and teachers. As the state representative of the 188th district, I strive to be a champion for all of our kids, regardless of their socioeconomic status.
I will continue to:
- Advance legislation for a fair public school funding formula that significantly increases the funding received by Philadelphia’s School District
- Stand against any charter school legislation that threatens to pull from public school funding
- Advocate for and support legislation to provide robust teacher salaries with annual pay raises and strong benefits
- Support a moratorium on all charter schools and push legislation that holds all of Philadelphia’s schools, public and charter, accountable to a standard of conditions that respects our children
- Heavily invest in higher education by holding our state budget accountable to properly funding our community colleges