Prayer Vigil & Press Conference February 2, 10 am, Statehouse, in Support of Public Education

For Immediate Release                       Contact: Dr. Gary Percesepe
                                                            (937) 215-6172
                                                            gpercesepe@aol.com
 
Faith-Based Group Hosts February 2 Prayer Vigil & Press Conference
Ladies Gallery of the Statehouse, 10 a.m.
 
The Reverend Ruth Brandon, Association Minister in the United Church of Christ, will join Presiding Elder Charles Holmes of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Rev. Rebecca Tollefson, Executive Director of the Ohio Council of Churches, Rev. John Paddock, Rector of Christ Episcopal Church, Dayton, and other Prepare The Future Ohio faith leaders from around the state of Ohio to speak in support of comprehensive public education reform.
 
Prepare The Future Ohio leadership commends Governor Strickland and the legislature for moving in the right direction on school reform measures during 2009.  HB 1 laid out a solid framework of comprehensive, systemic funding and program reform.   While planning continues in the Ohio State Department of Education toward implementation of many elements of that framework, Prepare The Future Ohio calls on our elected leadership in Columbus to accomplish at least four goals to confirm and extend last year’s good beginning:
1)      Funding the budget at a level that increases state funding for school districts to maintain progress toward a constitutional level of funding as reflected in the 2009 framework.
2)      Funding necessary to restore the 12,000 early childhood education slots cut in recent months plus a commitment to quality early childhood education programs for at least all of Ohio’s low-income 3 and 4 year old children.
3)      Funding necessary to expand by at least ten percent the proportion of low-income children with access to full-day kindergarten.
4)      Accelerate the implementation of strategies necessary to insure a quality teacher in every classroom.
 
Reverend Paddock states that, “We come today as people of faith to bear witness to the crying need for justice in Ohio’s schools.  We live in a state in which one can predict graduation rates based on a child’s zip code.  That is immoral.  We live in a state in which the highest court has declared our system of funding public education unconstitutional four times since 1994; yet funding remains inadequate, unfairly raised and inequitably distributed.  That’s wrong.  We are better than that.”
 
Reverend Paddock goes on to say, “The good news is that the bad news is unnecessary.  All of these facts are the result of choices we make.  We need big changes on behalf of all children.  Those changes must begin in this legislative session.”
 
Prepare the Future Ohio is a faith-based organization mobilizing “values voters” around the state of Ohio in support of comprehensive, systemic, and simultaneous reform of public education in the state of Ohio.
 
Reverend Paddock, Reverend Tollefson, and Elder Holmes will be joined by representatives from the Church of the Brethren, the Ohio Council of Churches, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church’s Eastern and Western Conferences, First Baptist Church, Dayton, Lutheran Metro Ministries of Cleveland, and Greater Dayton Christian Connections.
 
The Prayer Vigil & Press Conference will begin at 10 a.m. Both events will take place in the Ladies Gallery of the Statehouse, Columbus, Ohio, located on the first floor.
 
 
For more information, contact Rev. Dr. Gary Percesepe, (937) 215-6172, gpercesepe@aol.com