If there is one time-honored fundraising tradition in American education, it is the bake sale. Schools regularly host bake sales to make ends meet and to raise money to properly fund educational needs of students, staff, and the surrounding communities.
So when Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) unveiled more than $1.2 billion worth of cuts to the state’s K-12 education system, the parents and friends of Pennsylvania’s schools decided to hold a bake sale of their own — in the state capitol building in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Students and parents held a mock “bake sale” in the capitol yesterday, trying to draw media attention to the plight facing Pennsylvania’s schools. They estimated that, at the going market rate of 50 cents per cookie, they would have to sell 2.4 billion cookies to make up for the money that Corbett is trying to cut from public education in the state:
Students and parents in the Shippensburg Area School District are taking a new approach to highlight the affect Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed budget cuts will have on the district — their weapon of choice Monday was homemade cookies. […]
They calculated, at 50 cents a piece, the state would have to sell 2.4 billion cookies to make up for the Corbett’s proposed cuts. The two Shippensburg parents realized few people were not engaged at their school board meetings so they took their message and cookies to the capitol.
“Everyone knew there were going to be cuts but now when we see the actual numbers on the paper that we can understand these cuts are going to be deep and will permanently damage education in Pennsylvania,” Susan Spicka said.
Local news station WGAL covered the protests by parents from Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, who estimated they’d have to sell 4.5 million cookies just to make up for the costs their schools will bear from budget cuts — which could end full-time kindergarten and force students to pay to play team sports. Watch it:
Thousands of protesters — part of a nationwide Main Street Movement aiming to challenge unfair budget decisions that harm the middle class and leave the rich untouched — are expected to converge on the capitol today to protest Corbett’s education cuts.
Update:
The Rick Smith Show interviewed one protester this morning. Listen to it here.