A second round of education budget cuts in Philadelphia could be fatal to schools and children's futures. 

That's the message that students carried in the form of a coffin down Broad Street on Friday, from City Hall to Governor Tom Corbett's Philadelphia office in the Bellevue. Philadelphia Student Union, Boat People S.O.S. and Youth United for Change joined with Philadelphians Organized to Witness Empowerment and Rebuild (POWER) to mourn the current state of funding for public education and demand fair funding for the city's public schools.

This year, many Philadelphia schools struggled to stay afloat after a multi-million dollar shortfall left schools without counselors, nurses, librarians, secretaries, aides, teachers and other vital staff, reducing schools to "empty shells," according to Superintendent William Hite. Another $440 million shortfall for the coming school year could cause thousands of teachers and staff to lose their jobs. 

Sharron Snyder, a senior at Benjamin Franklin High School and member of Philadelphia Student Union, knows first hand how the budget cuts have affected learning and working towards a brighter future. Her school's full-time counselor is shared by more than 500 students. The school's nurse only shows up twice a week. 

"What about the students who need extra help," Snyder asked. 

At Franklin, nearly every student receives free or reduced price lunch, one in five are special education students and about one in six are English Language Learners. 

"They are the next generation in this great city who will be the first to say that they are not going to do better than their parents and their grandparents, who are not going to be able to use their education to lift themselves out of poverty and envision a better future," POWER member Rabbi Lauren Grabelle-Herrmann shouted on the steps of the Bellevue. "We mourn for that future."