photo by steed media service

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter is dedicated to improving the educational system for millions of students in Philadelphia and has made it a top priority of his administration. “Education is something that I’ve emphasized throughout my political career and something I made some very direct statements about at the inauguration,” he asserts. “[We’re] seeking to cut our high school dropout rate in half and seeking to double our college degree attainment rate over the next 5 to 10 years. I’m very serious about education.”

While he understands that there are multiple pertinent issues facing the city, he believes that education doesn’t receive the urgency that it demands. “Crime and public safety get a lot more ink than they should and I know those issues are important, but where we should focus our time, attention and our money is education,” he says frankly. “If we had more educated folks, we’d have less crime — in this city and other cities across the country.”

“We’ve got to look at our funding streams in the first and secondary education systems and, of course, in the postsecondary as well,” the mayor continues. He believes that there is at least one postsecondary option that more high school graduates need to explore. “I’ve put forth a significant increase in funding for our local community college, the Community College of Philadelphia,” he explains. “But also, goal enrollment programs are very important between colleges and high schools as well as four-year schools. We have to give people a path. The community college’s slogan is ‘the path to possibilities’ [and students] have to see a path to the future.” -todd williams

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