PBS President Pat Mitchell and Educators to Call for Continued Support of Critical Educational Programming and Services Offered by Public Television

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PBS President Pat Mitchell and Educators to Call for Continued Support of Critical Educational Programming and Services Offered by Public Television

WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Jun. 21 -/E-Wire/-- On Wednesday, June 22nd at 10:15 am, Pat Mitchell, President and CEO of PBS will be hold a press conference call to discuss how PBS' educational programs serve as a vital resource for children, parents and educators and how threatened cuts to federal funding of these programs would have a negative impact on educating Americans. Mitchell will be joined on the call by a parent who will describe how she relies on PBS' educational programs to home-school her children, as well as other educators who will speak about how they use PBS resources in their classrooms. Also joining the call will be Mark Erstling, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Association of Public Television Stations. The Public Broadcasting Service and its member stations are the single largest educational institution in America. PBS is the top choice of American teachers for video in the classroom and is a leading source of online lesson plans for schools and for parents who home-school their children. Public television is a critical resource for adults to learn to read, pass the GED, learn English and develop new skills for the workplace. The House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on a bill that would drastically cut funding for public broadcasting. Specifically, Ready To Learn, a major children's educational service, would be zeroed out and the overall $400 million budget for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps fund local stations and national programming would be cut by 25% to $300 million for fiscal year 2006.

If implemented, the proposed cuts would significantly damage PBS' ability to design curricula and programs, and could decimate local PBS stations' coordinating community outreach and programming, especially those that serve rural and underserved communities.

To join the call, please dial 1-[REDACTED-PHONE] and tell the operator you want to join the PBS press call (confirmation number 729300).

Lea Sloan [REDACTED-EMAIL]

Stephanie Aaronson [REDACTED-EMAIL]

Jan McNamara, [REDACTED-PHONE], [REDACTED-EMAIL].

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