Penn Democrats hosted Pennsylvania State Senator and Democratic Whip Anthony Hardy Williams Monday night in the LGBT Center as part of their Fireside Chat speaker series .
The discussion centered on the current situation of education in Philadelphia, among other topics related to current and future legislation in Pennsylvania . State Rep. Jordan Harris attended the event with Williams.
In Philadelphia, students must attend neighborhood schools, but Williams is an advocate of school choice. “Why do we have artificial boundaries of where a person goes to school?” he asked. Williams is in support of restructuring the distribution of funding among schools, but expressed a bigger concern about the everyday effects of irregular school funding on students and families.
Williams said that students relegated to poorer neighborhood schools want to see problems like security and curriculum addressed now. Discussing the issue in the State Senate , Williams said, is not an adequate response for students who feel the impact every day.
“You can’t put upon a poor person that we’re going to argue about this in the legislature,” he said. “Somebody who is in Clearfield County who doesn’t care about a kid in Philadelphia is not going to vote for the bill, [anyway].”
“Choice is not the toolbox, it’s just a tool in the toolbox,” Harris added, emphasizing that parents are taking their children out of local schools rather than advocating for changes.
One member of the audience said that some Philadelphia students are ill-equipped to enter the workforce due to lack of basic skills. “Everybody gets defensive when you talk about this, like it’s an indictment against teachers and principals — it’s not,” Williams said. “Everybody has some skin in this game.”
Harris believes it is important to first discuss what is being done with the current allocations of money before talking about how education in practice is being approached. “We have to separate the rhetoric that we read and that we hear from what is actually happening on the ground,” he said. Williams agreed it is important to look at “what we’re doing with the money we have.”
Williams also discussed his views on the legalization and decriminalization of marijuana, the advancement of legislation on sex trafficking and the privatization of liquor sales in the state.
The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.
DonatePlease note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.