SHIPPENSBURG — Area teachers, Shippensburg University faculty, students and concerned community members came to Memorial Auditorium at Shippensburg University Thursday to participate in a discussion about the state’s education system.

“Tonight you will send the message that people in the middle state care about public education,” said Susan Spicka in her opening remarks.

Spicka is the community liaison for Education Matters in the Cumberland Valley, a local grass-roots organization focused on educating the community about current issues affecting public education. The group co-hosted the event with the university.

The forum was supposed to include several legislators that would answer the public’s questions on education issues, but none of the 10 state legislators invited attended.

“The 10 legislators who are not here, the question isn’t that they aren’t here, the question is are they going to feel any heat for not being here,” said Ron Cowell, a speaker at the forum and president of The Education Policy and Leadership Center, an independent, nonprofit organization based in Harrisburg. “Are any of them looking over their shoulders about that? I doubt it.”

While state representatives and senators did not show, local officials Bruce Hockersmith, Shippensburg mayor, and Steve Brenize, vice president of Shippensburg Borough Council, attended, along with several members of the Shippensburg Area school board.

Educational globalization and upcoming education legislation, such as efforts to implement a school voucher system and create more charter schools, were discussed at the event, but the biggest topic of the night were the effects of recent state funding cuts for education.Big Spring School District Superintendent Richard Fry cited the cuts along with poverty as a main issue in the current system in his lecture entitled “95/5,” which reviewed national and statewide trends in achievement, dropout and completion percentage.

“When I have no idea right now when I’m looking at my board about what the state support will be — that’s not good for any student and that’s what we are looking at,” he said. “Is there room for growth (in our schools)? Absolutely. But should we stop the train from rolling down the track, which is the best thing we have right now — based on budget?”

Advance placement courses, foreign language programs and full-day kindergarten are some of the programs Ron Crowell, president of the Education Policy and Leadership Center of Harrisburg, cited as reduction choices in the 2011-12 school year. With resources currently inadequate, Crowell also expressed concern about what message the state system is sending possible future teachers.

“I think 10 years from now we are going to be beating ourselves up because we drove away some bright young people from the teaching profession,” he said.

Crowell also spoke about the fiscal and political factors of some upcoming educational legislation.

The forum wasn’t only about starting a community dialogue on the topic, audience members were given a postcard that they can send to their state representatives, expressing any of their concerns.

“You can’t just sit around assuming that everyone just knows that education is good and valuable,” Crowell said. “If you don’t (do something about it) no one’s going to do it. It’s the only way things will get better.”

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Morgan Young can be reached at myoung@shipnewsnow.com and 262-4753, or follow her on Twitter @ShipNewsGirl.

Legislators decline to attend forum

None of the 10 state lawmakers invited to a public education forum hosted by Shippensburg University’s Education Department, in conjunction with Education Matters in the Cumberland Valley, had planned to attend.

Here are their reasons why.

- Rep. Steve Bloom, R-Cumberland, said, “I have another obligation here in my district. I was down in Shippensburg for (their) Educational Study counsel last month.”

- Rep. Glen Grell, R-Hampden Township, said, “I think I have two other things that evening. I’m having my own forum on Dec. 7 in my own district.”

- Rep. Sheryl M. Delozier, R-Cumberland, said, “I have a conflict here at my own district. The education issue as a whole is an important one, Rep. Grell and I are having a forum of our own in our own district.”

- Rep. Scott Perry, R-Dillsburg, said in a voicemail message, “I have a previously scheduled meeting at Indiantown Gap at 6:30 p.m. on the same evening, so I can’t attend both at the same time, and I already accepted the other meeting.”

- Heather Rodgers, secretary for Rep. Todd Rock, R-Mont Alto, said in an e-mail, “Rep. Rock will not be in attendance at the Education Forum on Dec. 1 due to a scheduling conflict.”

- Sen. Patricia Vance, R-Cumberland, did not return a message to her office about the forum by deadline.

- Rep. Mark Keller, R-New Bloomfield, did not return a message to his office about the forum by deadline.

- Rep. Dan Moul, R-Gettysburg, did not return a message to his office about the forum by deadline.

- Sen. Richard Alloway, R-Chambersburg, did not return a message to his office about the forum by deadline.

- Rep. Rob Kauffman, R-Chambersburg, did not return a message to his office about the forum by deadline.