Bill Cosby Defends School Funding

“No more cuts!” comedian Bill Cosby cried out last week at a demonstration in Pennsylvania. A long-time proponent of the value of education for children, he joined State Governor Ed Rendell to call for more money for public schools instead of less.

Rendell is opposed to certain cutbacks suggested in the new state budget, nearly two months past its deadline, claiming that the budget must serve and educate children, not hurt them.

“The state budget impasse is really a fight for our children’s future,” he said in a statement. “I refuse to agree to a budget that makes devastating cuts in early childhood education and in school funding. While doing so might bring about a quick end to this impasse, it would come at the expense of the next generation of Pennsylvanians, and that would be the worst thing we could do for our economy in the long run.”

Cosby’s perspective is also on economics and the future as he recognizes the progress demonstrated by Pennsylvania’s climbing student test scores. Cosby believes that educating children keeps them off the streets and out of jails.

“Why would you want to take money from the success story and pull back on it so that they will start to enter prison?” he said, claiming that educating a child costs taxpayers less than $5000 a year while incarcerating a person costs $33,000.

“Pennsylvania deserves to have a budget in place quickly,” said Rendell, “but none of us will be satisfied unless it is the right plan for our state’s future.”