Marchers rail against money for schools

"Our goal is basically, as parents, to make a stand and say that we're fed up and tired," says one demonstrator.

Thursday, June 2, 2005 BY KAREN A. DAVIS, Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Dozens and dozens of youngsters, parents and education advocates marched from Classical High School to the State House yesterday to demand adequate funding of public schools.

The marchers plodded through city streets during evening rush hour, wearing red T-shirts and carrying signs that read "Kids come first" and "March for our kids, March for our schools."

The demonstration was organized by Rhode Island ACORN. At the State House, marchers joined with a larger group of demonstrators from Working Rhode Island, a group that advocates for families from Providence, Pawtucket, Woonsocket and Central Falls.

The goal of the demonstration was to send a message to legislators and Governor Carcieri that public schools need more state money now.

"While our state leaders are still deciphering the budget, we need to send them the message loud and clear: Stop our children from suffering any more! Fund our schools now!" said ACORN member Vivian Moreno, a mother of three. "We need a statewide fair and predictable formula where every child in the state has access to a quality education and immediately our school districts need more money for the upcoming school year."

Stephanie Cannady, a march coordinator and a Rhode Island delegate to the national ACORN organization, said parents were moved to march after reading news reports about state officials pondering tax breaks for companies as they discuss curtailing aid to public education.

A recent report from Governor Carcieri said state officials discovered "newfound revenue." That revenue should be used to help restore vital programs that public school systems were forced to cut last year, ACORN members argued.

"Our goal is basically, as parents, to make a stand and say that we're fed up and tired," said Cannady, who has a son graduating from high school and a daughter in the third grade at Asa Messer Elementary. "For the past three years, this struggle [over funding education] has been an ongoing thing."

The Providence School Department faces a $13.7-million budget gap and recently held brainstorming sessions with parents to discuss the possibility of cutting sports, transportation, special education and personnel, such as assistant principals and guidance counselors.

Mayor David N. Cicilline has offered to give the schools $4.4 million. He has also lobbied for the state to help.

But state officials are not expected to finalize the budget until next month.

"I'm petrified," Cannady said. "I'm scared to death. I don't know what to expect [when school starts] in September."

Cannady said parents are not the only ones who are worried. Her daughter, Gloria, is nervous about what fourth grade will be like next fall.

She wonders whether she will go to school for only half-days and whether she will have art class, her mother said.

Nancy Evans-Lloyd, a parent who joined a local Save Our Schools coalition in March 2004, when the School Department made its first round of cuts in extra-curricular activities, said schools have become "pretty darn dry" and "unmotivating."

Three years ago the schools were doing so well [with education reform]," Evans-Lloyd said. "But the last three years they've just been chipping away and chipping away and chipping awayI think its discriminating against these kids who have these [artistic] talents."

In helping her daughter -- who's graduating from Classical High School --fill out college applications, Evans-Lloyd said she's learned that colleges look for students who have diverse interests and involvement in extra-curricular activities. For some students, that could mean the difference between being accepted or rejected, she said.

Evans-Lloyd came to the march with her son, Davis, a seventh grade student at Nathanael Greene Middle School. Davis said school became boring this year when students were no longer able to take such electives as robotics.

His mother said schools have already been forced to cut programs that fostered "creative-thinking, ingenuity and inventiveness -- the same qualities that business people are looking for" in employees.

Evans-Lloyd said many parents brought their children to "set a good example" and teach them that "you have to stand up for what you believe in."

Fred McLin, 21, who graduated from Johnson & Wales University two weeks ago, wore his black cap and gown to draw attention, he said, tucking a bullhorn under his arm, and to emphasize that many Providence students might not graduate from college if the state is not willing to invest in their education.

McLin said he was not expected to graduate from high school, having grown up in a tough neighborhood in Compton, Calif.

In order for today's youth to flourish, McLin said, they need more and after-school programs that promote positive activities and teamwork.

The way that schools are funded is "not a good formula," Cannady said. "What we're asking them to do is change it."

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