After the rally comes the hard part.
Voicing determination to save their school district and to write a new state fiscal plan for public schools, Jeannette officials vowed Saturday to carry their fight to Harrisburg and to 499 other school districts in the state facing a financial crunch.
A gathering in Harrisburg March 12 to protest the budget submitted by Gov. Mark Schweiker is expected to kick off a battle that could run into early summer.
A crowd estimated at 450 yesterday heard Jeannette Mayor John Kisic, school district Superintendent Vince Aiello and state Rep. James Casorio Jr. say Schweiker's proposed budget, submitted to the General Assembly earlier this month, is unacceptable because it shortchanges all districts except Philadelphia, and is especially harmful to Jeannette.
The audience, mostly city residents, erupted in applause as all three men pledged to keep Jeannette's school colors flying in the face of declining state support. Aiello tried to put to rest "rumors" that the district would be merged with either Penn-Trafford or Hempfield Area school districts, or both.
"That is what we want to avoid," Aiello said.
According to Aiello, the rumors were groundless. No one in the district had spoken to anyone in any other district about possible mergers, he said. Nor has the matter been raised by the state Department of Education.
Jeannette native Casorio, a Democrat, brought the crowd at the Jeannette American Legion to its feet once and elicited loud applause other times as he lambasted Schweiker, a Republican, and the city of Philadelphia.
Concerning the budget, Casorio said, "We will get this piece of garbage thrown out."
He continued, "I am sick and tired of balancing Philadelphia's budget" and of sending money that belongs to "the citizens of Jeannette" there.
At one point Casorio suggested talks with New Jersey and Delaware to see which state would take Philadelphia. The audience neither laughed nor snickered at the suggestion, but applauded.
Casorio vowed to meet with other lawmakers from Westmoreland County to form a solid front to oppose the Schweiker plan. He said when he returns to Harrisburg, he would attempt to meet with the governor now and "throughout May," the probable length of the budget negotiations.
Casorio urged residents to write to him as well as to other lawmakers as a means of applying pressure on the governor and budget negotiators. The addresses of lawmakers were passed out to the crowd.
John Dancy, an aide to state Sen. Allen Kukovich, read a statement from Kukovich pledging to vote against the Schweiker budget. A Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor in the May primary, Kukovich was elsewhere yesterday because of a previously scheduled appearance, Dancy said.
Standing on the stage of the spacious American Legion auditorium, the four speakers faced scores of "Save Our Schools" posters, many held aloft by young people. The posters seemed to be most conspicuous whenever the various television cameramen covering the event turned toward the audience. The crowd, a mixture of young, old and middle-aged, stretched from the stage area to the back of the auditorium, a distance of several hundred feet.
In the governor's budget for the upcoming fiscal year, Aiello said the district's basic education state subsidy would be slashed from $234,000 to $54,000. Special education funding would fall from approximately $80,000 to $11,000, he said.
The budget submitted by the governor Feb. 5 contains increases of 1 percent to 1.5 percent for the state's public schools. Only Philadelphia would receive something larger — 12 percent — under a fiscal plan that is notably leaner than budgets submitted during times of economic expansion under Gov. Tom Ridge.
Schweiker became governor last October, shortly after Ridge left for Washington to become homeland security chief in the Bush administration.
Aiello said the governor's budget would prove "devastating" to Jeannette. He cited possible increases in class sizes and the continuing inability of the district to strengthen, and straighten out, its classroom computers. As for special education, the state subsidy of $11,000 could possibly be consumed by just one special-needs student requiring transportation to Pittsburgh for a year, he said.
Dancy said the "political reality" is that the state budget is controlled by the Republican governor and GOP lawmakers. However, some Republican lawmakers have already indicated they would break with the administration on the budget.
Casorio told the large audience the battle to save Jeannette schools was not just "about our future, it is about our past. We will never forget the struggles of our grandparents."
