BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 A few dozen people braved arctic cold Tuesday night to learn how an \u201caffordability crisis\u201d is weighing on local students and families.<\/p>\n
Affordable Pennsylvania and Red Wine & Blue led the forum at the United Steelworkers Union Hall on Bethlehem\u2019s North Side.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the household is unstable, then kids are worrying about things that they shouldn’t have to worry about when they go to school.”<\/p>\n
Shonta Ford, East Penn School Board president<\/p>\n
There, guests had dinner before a panel of five women \u2014 two school board leaders, a school psychologist, a children\u2019s advocate and a mother of two \u2014 tried to make sense of rising costs for housing, groceries, healthcare and other essential needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe affordability crisis impacts us all,\u201d said Zarah Quinn, an organizer with Affordable Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, we are putting a spotlight on how rising costs are impacting students, educators, school staff and school communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many families across the Lehigh Valley are struggling to make their rent and mortgage payments and making hard decisions about how to spend their money \u2014 leading to more \u201cunstable\u201d households, East Penn School Board President Shonta Ford said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the household is unstable, then kids are worrying about things that they shouldn’t have to worry about when they go to school,\u201d Ford said.<\/p>\n
‘Feel safe and fed and healthy’<\/p>\n
During the panel session, Aimee Saunders, an advocate with Red Wine & Blue, repeatedly highlighted Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie\u2019s votes to cut SNAP and Medicaid.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe deserve elected leaders who will fight to make life affordable for us and not give tax breaks to billionaires and hand out billions of dollars to masked agents terrorizing our communities.”<\/p>\n
Zarah Quinn, Affordable Pennsylvania advocate<\/p>\n
Mackenzie last May cast an essential vote for the Republican Party\u2019s \u201cOne, Big, Beautiful Bill\u201d to fund President Donald Trump\u2019s second-term agenda. <\/p>\n
The funding package pushes about 3 million people off SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps, and cuts almost $1 trillion in funding to Medicaid over 10 years.<\/p>\n
However, Mackenzie, a first-term congressman, and three other GOP representatives last month joined Democrats to push for a three-year extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits.<\/p>\n
Emily Gehman, vice president of the Southern Lehigh School Board, said funding cuts forced by Republicans\u2019 funding package have pushed more families into stressful financial situations that \u201caffect a child\u2019s ability to focus in school.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kids \u201cneed to be in an emotional state where they’re ready to learn,\u201d Gehman said. \u201cOnce you feel safe and fed and healthy, then we can start to talk about multiplication.\u201d<\/p>\n
Medicare critical to education<\/p>\n
Medicare funding is critical for special education, as it helps pay for individual education programs and 504 plans, Gehman said.<\/p>\n
She said almost 40% of students in Lehigh County receive Medicaid support.<\/p>\n
Without that funding, many districts will struggle to fund services such as occupational, speech and behavioral therapy, she said.<\/p>\n
Several panelists also highlighted the effects of a 134-day state budget impasse, which Ford said created \u201cgridlock\u201d within local school districts despite its significant boost in education funding.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs he has on childcare, health care tax credits, and more, Congressman Mackenzie will continue to work together with colleagues on both sides to deliver relief for the people of the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos.”<\/p>\n
Arnaud Armstrong, spokesman for Rep. Ryan Mackenzie<\/p>\n
Zarah Quinn, an advocate with Affordable Pennsylvania, said Tuesday\u2019s event was meant to highlight an \u201caffordability crisis\u201d and show attendees \u201cwhat happens when our elected officials fail to represent us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe deserve elected leaders who will fight to make life affordable for us and not give tax breaks to billionaires and hand out billions of dollars to masked agents terrorizing our communities,\u201d Quinn said.<\/p>\n
Arnaud Armstrong, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie\u2019s office, on Tuesday said the congressman \u201chas made improving the cost-of-living his top priority from his first day in office.\u201d<\/p>\n
Armstrong highlighted Mackenzie\u2019s votes to cut taxes, increase the child tax credit, facilitate investments in affordable housing and \u201cunleash\u201d American energy to reduce gas prices.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs he has on childcare, health care tax credits and more, Congressman Mackenzie will continue to work together with colleagues on both sides to deliver relief for the people of the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos,\u201d Armstrong said in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 A few dozen people braved arctic cold Tuesday night to learn how an \u201caffordability crisis\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[48303,153,155,154,48304,4482,48305,48306,1582,48307],"class_list":{"0":"post-98809","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-affordable-pennsylvania-and-red-wine-blue","9":"tag-bethlehem","10":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","11":"tag-bethlehem-news","12":"tag-east-penn-schools","13":"tag-education-funding","14":"tag-lehigh-valley-affordability","15":"tag-lehigh-valley-education-funding","16":"tag-ryan-mackenzie","17":"tag-shonta-ford"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}