Edulection

By Charles Sweeney (Junior)

Pennsylvania recently had a very important midterm election day, and the Democratic party came out with major gains, with Democrats Josh Shapiro and John Fetterman winning the Governor and Senate races respectively. These elections will have a very big impact on our state, and they also have an equally significant impact on us as Obama students. Both Fetterman and Shapiro are very pro-education and will put money into school funding that their former competitors, Doug Mastriano and Mehmet Oz—who both looked to pull funding from public schools in order to send more students to private, charter, and christian schools— would have taken from our schools.

The more significant race to us as students was the election for governor, with both candidates being on opposite ends of each other. Democrat and now Governor-elect Shapiro is in favor of continuing with current  Governor Tom Wolfe’s increase to funding for schools, and strives to make funding more equitable. He wants students to receive equal amounts of resources and help no matter their zip code. He has vowed to fully fund public schools, make them safer and healthier, and protect our teachers. Shapiro is focused on improving public schools rather than giving up and sending students to private schools, and his policies look to benefit us and our school, especially compared to the policy of his opponent.

While Shapiro’s policy would affect us now, Fetterman’s policy looks to benefit our future. Fetterman has stated that he will work to bring down the very high price of college tuition (college tuition costs are up 180% since 1980), and support efforts to make community college free so that money isn’t a barrier to keep students from attending college. On the other end of education, Fetterman hopes to implement universal Kindergarten and Pre-K in Pennsylvania.

In all, Shapiro and Fetterman’s complementary views on public education could really manifest tangible benefits in our lives. The recent election results will show us benefits via representatives in the government that will look to help us and our school, and we can look forward to the support of their pro-education policy.