As students returned to their schools amidst what media and advocates have coined as “doomsday” budget cuts, parents, teachers and politicians throughout Philadelphia are struggling to remain positive while fighting for adequate funding for the city’s children and their futures.

Mayor Nutter plans to launch the school year — and an education-focused week — starting with a visit to Learning in New Context, a new public high school on 2nd Street and Erie Avenue. Nutter’s chief education officer Lori Shorr told press on Friday that the Mayor’s office is aiming to celebrate students and the district’s progress without losing focus on the immediate need for more funding.

“As adults, we have to be of two minds when we do our work,” Shorr said. “One is the urgency and importance of the work we do around funding. But we also have an obligation to the kids who go into those schools every day.”

However, many students haven’t been distracted by the celebrations. It’s no secret that schools struggled to open as the district faces an $81 million deficit. Some measures to save a few million dollars included cutting transportation stipends for students living between 1.5 and 2 miles of their school, although the district managed to preserve the transportation stipends at the last minute. Unless the state legislature passes a $2 per pack cigarette bill, an additional 1,000 staff could face layoffs.

Before he began his first day, Philadelphia Student Union leader Brian Burney of Benjamin Franklin High School said that he fears that this year’s circumstances will be even worse than last year’s.

“I feel that when students walk into their schools, things will have changed for the worse,” Burney said. 

In the Northeast, teachers picketed at Feltonville School of Arts and Science (FSAS), where the majority of students identify as Latino, live below the poverty line, and one in five is an English Language Learner. One in five students also requires special support as part of the Individualized Education Program. Amy Roat of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers said that the intention behind their picket was to show parents that conditions from budget cuts — which removed two counselors, a school police officer, two science teachers, two math teachers, one reading and language arts teacher, one music teachers, two secretaries, two assistant principals, three aides, a full-time nurse and social workers — cannot be the “new normal.”

“The budget cuts at our school have been catastrophic even though we are doing our best to provide an education to our kids,” Roat said.

As FSAS teachers picketed in the Northeast, the Philadelphia Coalition Advocating for Public Schools rallied outside Benjamin Franklin High School before school began, registering voters all the while for the upcoming gubernatorial election. Meanwhile, outside Governor Corbett’s office in Philadelphia, education advocates for Public Citizens for Children and Youth as well as parents and political leaders read letters written by students from Kindergarten to 12th grade all morning and afternoon to passerby on Broad Street. The letters called for restored funding to cash-starved schools and discussed how students lost their favorite teachers or extracurricular activities. Others just said that they worried about their future, and the future of the state. 

“Education is not to be feared," Philadelphia student Will Amari wrote. "Taking away education – now that’s scary.”

The Mayor’s visits this week will include stops at Swenson Arts and Technology High in the Northeast, Roman Catholic High School in Centre City, Global Leadership Academy in Parkside, Northeast High School and even a charter school board meeting to raise awareness that the meetings are open to the public. Meanwhile, parents and advocates plan to continue protests outside Governor Corbett’s office, Central High School, High School for the Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) in South Philadelphia and Kensington CAPA.

Mayor Nutter and Superintendent Hite plan to travel to Harrisburg on Sept. 15 to advocate for the passage of the cigarette tax.