In the wake of the privatization of Philadelphia schools and concerns over scholastic performance across the state, education has become a top priority for Pennsylvania voters.
And with only six weeks until the gubernatorial elections, Republican candidate Mike Fisher and Democratic candidate Ed Rendell have made education one of their top priorities as well.
According to a Keystone Poll of Pennsylvania Voters conducted in June, 23 percent of those randomly polled said that education was the most important problem facing the state today, making it second only to economic and employment issues, which garnered 26 percent.
Terry Madonna, director of the Keystone Poll and of Millersville University's Center for Politics and Public Affairs, said he believes that these numbers indicate that education is a major subject that voters want to hear the candidates address.
According to Madonna, both candidates have structured a large portion of their campaigns around this issue, and though they differ on some tactics, their platforms do not differ greatly on "accountability issues."
Both Rendell and Fisher support reducing class sizes, mandatory registration for kindergarten and measures to stop school violence. They also both support the creation of a special section of the legislature to deal with property taxes, but their plans to use these taxes differ.
"Rendell wants to use small taxes like racetrack revenues and cigarette taxes to fund education, while Fisher wants to use that money for prescription drugs," Madonna said.
As attorney general, Fisher spokesman Kent Gates said Fisher focused on school safety; as governor he will focus on making sure that Pennsylvania's children go to college.
"Fisher's plan focuses on investment in early childhood learning and Head Start, charter schools and school choice, and SAT-based scholarships to Pennsylvania schools," Gates said.
According to Rendell spokesman Dan Fee, the Democrat will be approaching the issue differently.
"Rendell's platform includes reforming state funding, instating universal full-day kindergarten and pre-K and reducing class sizes," Fee said.
Aside from indicating the prevalence of education in voter concerns, the poll results also showed that the level of concern for education seemed to be regionally based.
"In the southeast, education was number one, because of Philadelphia city schools and the enormous media coverage," Madonna said.
Throughout his campaign, Rendell has garnered some criticism, first from his primary opponent Auditor General Bob Casey and now from Fisher, on the situation that befell Philadelphia schools under his tenure as mayor -- overall low performance and financial deficits that led to the eventual privatization of 42 of the city's schools.
"Rendell cut funding for Philadelphia four out of the eight years he was mayor," Fisher spokesman Kent Gates said. "He left Philadelphia schools in major debt."
Fee disagreed.
"When Rendell left, the budget was balanced and test scores were up," he said. "Fisher's campaign is trying to make it an issue. In reality, Philadelphia faces the same problems as schools everywhere."
But Berwood Yost, director of Millersville University's Center for Opinion Research, said Philadelphia schools are still an issue.
"Rendell's strength with voters is that he ran a city in bad shape," he said. "However, there is a lot of finger-pointing because education is so important and Philadelphia schools are a big concern."
According to the Keystone Poll, however, the situation facing Philadelphia schools has not seemed to have had much effect on the voters. In answering which candidate they felt would do the best job in dealing with the problems of Pennsylvania public schools, 34 percent said Rendell, while only 25 percent said Fisher.
In addition to the Keystone Poll, the nonpartisan group IssuesPA released the results of a state-wide poll this month which found that education was the biggest long-term priority in the state.
Fourteen percent of those polled also said that education was the top overall problem facing Pennsylvania -- compared to 23 percent who cited the economy -- and 60 percent of those surveyed said the state does not spend enough on public education. Seventy percent also said it didn't spend enough on higher education.
"Education is near the top of things because the state spends a lot of money on it," said Yost, who worked on both the Keystone and IssuesPA polls. "Education is tied to economic development and many view it as an investment in people's future, and therefore an investment in the future of the state."
According to Nancy McGinley, president of the Philadelphia Education Fund, there are two issues the next governor will need to pay attention to in terms of education policy: funding reform and teacher quality.
"We cannot continue to rely on property tax and maintain two classes of school systems -- the haves and have-nots," McGinley said. "The next governor must step up to the plate and make sure property tax revisions bring equity to poor school districts."
McGinley also suggested that overall student achievement could be greatly improved with incentives to get teachers to teach in low-income districts and teacher certification in specific areas.
Penn's Graduate School of Education Dean Susan Fuhrman pointed to other economic issues with education. "I think the major issue will be funding -- increasing the state share and decreasing disparity," Fuhrman said. "Both candidates are talking about that."
"We need to hear more on improving teacher performance and quality," Fuhrman added.
In the end, education may not make or break a candidate's dreams of victory, but the issue along with the economy could be the link to voters that they are looking for.
"We talk about single issues, but they are really intertwined," Yost said. "We can't talk about education without talking about tax reform. Sometimes we try to oversimplify when there are lots of ways to talk about education. That's what makes it an important issue and difficult to predict how the candidates will use it."
About the Series Every Friday until the gubernatorial elections in November, The Daily Pennsylvanian will run an article analyzing the major issues on the minds of Pennsylvania voters and how the major candidates are addressing them. As polls change, as the advertisements start to heat up, the DP will focus on the angle coming from each candidate's campaign and the perspective provided by political experts and non-partisan analysts, as well as how ordinary Pennsylvanians react to the messages of Ed Rendell and Mike Fisher. And as the campaigns progress and Nov. 5 approaches, share your thoughts at dailypennsylvanian.com.
