Fourteen people were arrested Wednesday during a huge rally to protest cutbacks being made by the Philadelphia School District.
Union bus drivers, custodians and maintenance workers, as well as thousands of supporters showed up at the Municipal Services Building near City Hall. Protesters then marched to the Philadelphia School District Headquarters. The rally was organized by the Service Employees International Union 32BJ.
Eleven men and three women were arrested after they sat in the middle of Broad Street and blocked traffic.
The protesters are angry over education cuts proposed by Governor Tom Corbett and a plan that would shut down 40 schools at the end of the school year.
Several people at the rally told NBC10's Rosemary Connors they have already received pink slips.
“I feel upset about it because this layoff affects five people in my family, it’s five of us getting laid off and we’re all in the same household,” said Andrea Lawrente.
Governor Tom Corbett's press secretary released the following statement:
Claims that the governor cut $1 billion from Basic Education are simply untrue. The missing $1 billion was one-time only federal stimulus funds that districts were warned against using for operating budgets. Gov. Corbett restored state money that had been cut from the Basic Education formula and added more. Pennsylvania taxpayers now pay more toward Basic Education than at any time in the state’s history. A full 40.3 percent of the state’s general budget is devoted to education. Political opponents of the governor will cling to this myth of a $1 billion cut so long as the media goes along with the fiction.
