Funding Schools Fairly
Share your stories
Send your stories about underfunding in your district to stories@elc-pa.org! Learn more below.
PHILADELPHIA NEW!
We've received our first set of stories and images from four recent graduates of Philadelphia high schools! These students have been working with director Ben Herold on a documentary called First Person. The images are stills from the film. Click on their names below to see what they have to say.
First Person is an independent documentary film that unfolds through the eyes of Philadelphia public high school students struggling to make it to college. For more than two years, director Benjamin Herold and his crew followed six students through their homes, neighborhoods, and schools. Told entirely in the students’ own voices, First Person provides an inside perspective on the path from urban public high schools on to college—and the impact of chronic underfunding of urban school districts. For more information on the film, please visit:
www.firstpersondocumentary.org.
If you are a parent, student, teacher, administrator, or other stakeholder in a Pennsylvania school, we want to hear your stories about what it's like to learn and work in an underfunded school and/or district. You can tell your stories through words or photographs. These stories will provide important evidence that significant statewide funding reform is necessary. We will publish selected stories and photographs here on our website and make them available to public officials and others involved in school funding reform.
Eventually, we plan to have a blog set up on this page where you will be able to post your stories directly, but for now, please send your stories and photographs to stories@elc-pa.org. You do not have to provide identifying details about yourself or your school, but please at least include your initials and the name of your county (we would like stories from as many PA counties as possible!).
Here are some questions to help you start thinking about how to tell your story:
- What are some concrete examples of underfunding in your school?
- How has the lack of funds influenced the education that you or your child is receiving?
- If your school received more state funding, what do you think it should do with these funds?
- Is there a nearby district that is able to spend significantly more in its schools than yours? If so, what are some specific examples of how the two districts differ?
Thank you, and we look forward to hearing from you!