ith the approval of the "Covenant on Education"* at our last residential session in 1999, Friends in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM) joined together to make an historic affirmation of our young people getting "a right education, whether it be in public schools, Friends schools or in some other setting." In so doing, we united in giving voice to our long held conviction that education is among our highest priorities.

As in most other regions, Friends in PYM are involved in the endeavor of education at virtually every level: as students, parents, teachers, staff, school board members and administrators. Unlike in other yearly meetings, however, in the PYM region (eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, Delaware and the eastern shore of Maryland) there are 41 Friends schools with over 10,000 students and 1500 faculty. With so many choices over such a large geographic region, many PYM families can consider sending their children to a Friends school, which is not an option available to most Quaker families in the rest of the United States.

Given several generations of personal and community involvement in the Friends schools-along with the substantial wealth that has accrued to them over that time, the discourse on education in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting has long been dominated by a concern for these institutions. Indeed, for most of the 20th century the majority of Quaker children attended Friends schools, the faculty were predominantly Friends and meetings maintained relatively close control of the schools' operations. Accordingly, the character of the schools reflected the ethos and ethics of Friends.

With this as a backdrop, many Friends active in public education came to feel that Quakers and PYM in particular did not place a priority on concern for Friends in public education. Naturally, the buildup of such feelings had the affect of creating some resentments and barriers to honest communication within our communities. These feelings persisted for many years, despite widespread agreement among Friends about the important role of public education in a pluralist democracy and the right of universal access to high-quality public schooling.

In the process of developing and approving the "Covenant on Education," we acknowledged and addressed the unproductive mindset that artificially treated Friends education and public education as opposing interests. The Covenant gives voice to a fundamental insight about education that all Friends can support: "As Friends, we should work to strengthen both Friends schools and public education because through both of them we strengthen our community and society."

By affirming our commitment to all of our children- as well as to our adults engaged in the ministry that is the education profession-we took a great stride toward healing an old wound in our community. In taking that step towards healing, we simultaneously helped to release and support a great deal of positive energy that has since been expressed in numerous tangible ways. Since approval of the Covenant, PYM members have witnessed a heightened attention and support for numerous facets of education. These various initiatives have blossomed alongside one another rather than competed with each other for energy and resources.**

Chief among these developments has been the formation of the Public Education Working Group (PEWG) which takes as its mission the support of Friends and Friends' families involved in public education, as well as advocacy at the public level for laws and policies that are consistent with Friends testimonies. These include support for equal funding for school districts, as well as the promotion of conflict resolution and peer mediation programs in our public school systems. (At last count over 300 adults in PYM-3 percent of the adult membership-were directly involved in public education as teachers, administrators or staff. Moreover, some 60 percent of PYM children attend the public schools in their local areas.) PEWG's goal is to serve as a resource for networking and sharing of information, so that Friends tap into the abundant energy and vitality that is already in place in this area. PEWG looks forward to sponsoring regional affinity groups and the first annual gathering of Friends concerned for public education, on January 12, 2002, featuring workshops and Paul Lacey as keynote speaker.

Another key outgrowth of the work around the "Covenant on Education" has been a more forthright and serious consideration of the decreasing afford-ability of Friends schools for many Quaker families. Two generations ago the majority of Quaker children attended Friends schools. These children comprised a significant minority, if not an outright majority, of all of the students at those schools. A survey of the membership of PYM in 2000 revealed that only about one-third of their children attend Friends schools. Many Quaker families report that cost is a major factor influencing their decision to attend or not to attend a Friends school.

The Friends Children in Friends Schools Project Group has coalesced around a mission to work with the schools, the meetings and the yearly meeting to address the concern that within a generation from now most Friends may not be able to pay for a Friends school tuition. With the new climate of openness in PYM educational concerns, Friends look forward to developing the shared understandings, policies and resources to tackle this complicated problem while it is still manageable.

As we have stated in Faith and Practice (1997), "whether within the family, monthly meeting, Friends schools and colleges, or the various levels of public education, Friends are committed to an educational experience that balances heart, mind and hand in spiritual wholeness." With the implementation of the "Covenant on Education" we have taken a big step toward letting our lives speak.

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* The complete text of the "Covenant on Education" can be read at www.pym.org.

** Anyone interested in a copy of the implementation report or the "Covenant on Education" can contact Tom Hoopes at: Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 1515 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102 or by e-mail: tomh@pym.org.

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