They were protesting the nearly one billion dollars in funding cuts for public education. This was Corbett's first visit ever to the schools he decimated.
January 18, 2014

If there's one thing Corbett's famous for, it's avoiding the public. He rarely appears on TV, limits radio to small local outlets and mostly ignores the media. In his entire term, this was to be his first look inside the schools he's bleeding dry. What a coward:

PHILADELPHIA - January 17, 2014 (WPVI) -- Gov. Tom Corbett canceled his first visit as governor to a district-run public school in Philadelphia just before dozens of protesters had come to greet him.

Protesters crowded outside Central high school in Olney Friday morning where Governor Corbett was scheduled to honor some of Philadelphia's top performing public high schools.

The protesters hoped to confront the governor about the nearly one billion dollars in funding cuts for public education in the state.

The governor bristled at the suggested he ran away from foes.

"I don't run from anything," said Governor Tom Corbett. "I take decisions head on. But I was not going to be a distraction to the school day or to the students. I was not going to engage in the theatrics of what the adults wanted to do. We have not received, to my knowledge, any requests to sit down and talk."

Corbett is mounting a months-long campaign to commend high-achieving schools on Pennsylvania's first-ever performance scores last fall.

The Philadelphia teachers' union, the NAACP and other community leaders organized the demonstration.

The protesters who claim Corbett is underfunding public schools didn't want him to get any credit for Central High's Academic excellence.

But when Corbett opted to cancel his visit some called him names.

"Governor Corbett, you are a coward," said one protester. "How dare you not come here and speak to these children and speak to all of us. That shows just how much integrity you do not have, and it lets us know that you do not care about us as a whole, the community, the children, the staff members; none of us."

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