School leaders, advocates contemplate ‘affordability crisis,’ rue funding cuts at Bethlehem event

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — A few dozen people braved arctic cold Tuesday night to learn how an “affordability crisis” is weighing on local students and families.

Affordable Pennsylvania and Red Wine & Blue led the forum at the United Steelworkers Union Hall on Bethlehem’s North Side.

There, guests had dinner before a panel of five women — two school board leaders, a school psychologist, a children’s advocate and a mother of two — tried to make sense of rising costs for housing, groceries, healthcare and other essential needs.

“The affordability crisis impacts us all,” said Zarah Quinn, an organizer with Affordable Pennsylvania.

“Today, we are putting a spotlight on how rising costs are impacting students, educators, school staff and school communities.”

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 — leading to more “unstable” households, East Penn School Board President Shonta Ford said.

“If the household is unstable, then kids are worrying about things that they shouldn't have to worry about when they go to school,” Ford said.

'Feel safe and fed and healthy'

During the panel session, Aimee Saunders, an advocate with Red Wine & Blue, repeatedly highlighted Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie’s votes to cut SNAP and Medicaid.

Mackenzie last May cast an essential vote for the Republican Party’s “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” to fund President Donald Trump’s second-term agenda.

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.

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.

Emily Gehman, vice president of the Southern Lehigh School Board, said funding cuts forced by Republicans’ funding package have pushed more families into stressful financial situations that “affect a child’s ability to focus in school.”

Kids “need to be in an emotional state where they're ready to learn,” Gehman said. “Once you feel safe and fed and healthy, then we can start to talk about multiplication.”

Medicare critical to education

Medicare funding is critical for special education, as it helps pay for individual education programs and 504 plans, Gehman said.

She said almost 40% of students in Lehigh County receive Medicaid support.

Without that funding, many districts will struggle to fund services such as occupational, speech and behavioral therapy, she said.

Several panelists also highlighted the effects of a 134-day state budget impasse, which Ford said created “gridlock” within local school districts despite its significant boost in education funding.

Zarah Quinn, an advocate with Affordable Pennsylvania, said Tuesday’s event was meant to highlight an “affordability crisis” and show attendees “what happens when our elected officials fail to represent us.”

“We 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,” Quinn said.

Arnaud Armstrong, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie’s office, on Tuesday said the congressman “has made improving the cost-of-living his top priority from his first day in office.”

Armstrong highlighted Mackenzie’s votes to cut taxes, increase the child tax credit, facilitate investments in affordable housing and “unleash” American energy to reduce gas prices.

“As 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,” Armstrong said in a statement.