Bad news for K to 12th grade education in PA. Poor get poorer, sadly.

First this news from the Duquesne School District then a school newspaper rant.

Duquesne schools face teacher cuts
Extracurricular activities also may be eliminated
Friday, May 27, 2011
By Mary Niederberger, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Under a preliminary budget approved Thursday, the Duquesne City School District will see its teaching staff cut from 51 to 29.

Also, all extracurricular activities and after-school programs will be eliminated and its administrative staff pared to a principal and an assistant principal.

And that's the good news.

That's because the $14.26 million budget approved by the state board of control overseeing the district is still $2.52 million short.

The board adopted a preliminary budget that is out of balance because it couldn't bear to make any further cuts to the educational program in the K-8 school for 413 students the district still operates.

Also, its members warned they may not vote to adopt a final budget that contains the bare-bones program presented in the preliminary budget.

"This board will not accept this as a reality," said Juan Baughn, a special assistant to the state education secretary and the newly appointed chairman of the board of control. "This is not over, and we are not going to let it be over until our kids are taken care of."