Lutheran Bishops Call for Equity in Education

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Pennsylvania's Lutheran bishops issued a pastoral letter, "Seeking Justice in Public Education Funding," Sept. 18 urging the state government to correct inequities in funding for public education in Pennsylvania and calling upon Lutherans to work toward equal education resources for all children as a matter of justice.
The letter was issued at an Interfaith Vigil for Public Education in Harrisburg, Pa. It was signed by the seven Pennsylvania bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
According to Education Week's 2002 annual report on public education, Pennsylvania ranks among the nation's four worst states in terms of using state funds to ensure that children in the poorest districts get an equal opportunity for quality education.
In the past 30 years, Pennsylvania's share of public education funding has fallen from 55 percent to about 35 percent, escalating the inequities between rural and inner city areas and suburban communities with more valuable real estate tax bases, the pastoral letter said. Early in the 16th century Reformation, Martin Luther "challenged civil authorities to support public education because it would benefit all members of society," the letter said.
It is elementally unfair and, in some cases, can be considered racially unjust when children from poor communities attend schools with fewer challenging academic programs, underqualified teachers, larger classes, fewer technology resources and deteriorating buildings, the bishops said in their letter.
"It is grave injustice that, just because of their ZIP codes, all children do not benefit equally from their schools," said the Rev. Roy G. Almquist, bishop of the ELCA Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod, Norristown Pa., and a founding council member of Good Schools Pennsylvania, during the interfaith vigil.
A pilot project co-sponsored by the NCC and the Pennsylvania Council of Churches to mobilize congregational support for public education reform led to the formation of Good Schools Pennsylvania in 2000, which is a growing faith-based grassroots movement seeking to mobilize parents, students and concerned citizens to advocate for comprehensive public education reform.
The bishops challenged Pennsylvania Lutherans to look beyond themselves toward the common good. "We challenge those without children or whose children are grown to care for and nurture society's children, not just those they bear and those they know," said the letter.
The pastoral letter further challenges Lutherans to:
+ support a system of taxation where government collects revenue based on its citizens' ability to pay and provides assistance according to their needs;
+ accept the moral challenge to help transform the states' economic social priorities where children languish in poorly funded schools while escalating levels of public monies are spent for their incarceration later in life;
+ partner with Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania and become actively involved in the public education and tax reform policy debates occurring in the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
Joining Almquist in signing the letter were the Rev. Carol S. Hendrix, bishop of the ELCA Lower Susquehanna Synod, Harrisburg; the Rev. Ralph E. Jones, bishop of the ELCA Northwestern Pennsylvania Synod, Seneca; the Rev. Donald. A. Main, bishop of the ELCA Upper Susquehanna Synod, Lewisburg; the Rev. Donald J. McCoid, bishop of the ELCA Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod, Pittsburgh; the Rev. Gregory R. Pile, bishop of the ELCA Allegheny Synod, Altoona; and the Rev. David R. Strobel, bishop of the ELCA Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod, Wescosville. The National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. (NCC) Executive Board held its spring meeting in Harrisburg, Pa., May 14-15 to demonstrate the U.S. churches' commitment to quality education for all children. The board also participated in a prayer vigil May 14, for public education reform. ---
The full text of the letter is available at http://www.lamp.org on the Web.

*Diana Mavunduse is a communicator with the World Council of Churches, Geneva, Switzerland. This fall she is serving as a volunteer with the ELCA News Service.

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