Pa. Gov. Tom Wolf's charter school law changes pass final regulatory hurdle - PennLive

Changes to Pennsylvania’s charter school law passed the last regulatory hurdle Monday, becoming the first significant alteration to the law’s implementation in more than two decades.

Regulations offered by Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration to provide clarity and accountability in rules governing these independent public schools, won approval in a 3-2 vote by the Independent Regulatory Review Commission, a five-member panel of gubernatorial and legislative appointees.

Wolf applauded the commission’s decision. In a statement, he said, “These regulations are a vital step in clarifying charter schools’ responsibilities to the taxpayers who fund them. We were forced to take this path when the Legislature refused to act on our comprehensive reform package.”

The commission’s vote followed nearly three hours of testimony that was mostly favorable about the regulations, and two years of work by the Wolf Administration to address issues that have arisen with the 25-year-old charter school law.

That law has remained relatively unchanged, except for a 2002 addition to recognize the advent of cyber charter schools, despite numerous failed efforts by the legislature to modify and update it.

Currently, there are 179 charter schools in Pennsylvania that enroll more than 163,000 students. They are receiving nearly $3 billion in taxpayer funding this year that flows from a charter school student’s district of residence.

The Wolf administration said the regulations clear up several elements of the charter school law to align public charter school operations and oversight with that of traditional public schools.

The approved regulations set minimum requirements for information required in a charter school application. They require charter schools to post their non-discriminatory enrollment and student selection policies.

They further underscore the fact that charter school officials and their board of trustees are public officials who fall under the state ethics law and are required to submit statements of financial interest.

The regulations also outline a process intended to resolve payment disputes between charter schools and public schools over charter school payments. Finally, they ensure charter school employees have comparable health benefits to those offered by their authorizing school district or the district where the charter school’s administrative office is based.

The three commissioners who supported the regulations indicated that they saw the regulations as in the public’s best interest and an incremental change in a law to eliminate some of the confusion that has arisen with the law’s implementation.

“This is the first of hopefully many things that will be done to change the law and to change the way in which charter schools and other public schools compete and work with each other,” said commissioner Murray Ufberg, who voted for the regulations’ approval.

Commissioner John Soroko took an opposing view, saying he believes the Department of Education overstepped its authority with some of the proposed regulations it put forth. Additionally, he said the legislature’s failure to address issues with the law is not a rationale for making regulatory changes nor is it reason for the commission to approve or disapprove of a regulations.

“The very argument that the legislature has ‘failed to act’ is somehow itself the legal basis for departmental regulation is simply contrary to law, contrary to logic, frankly nonsensical,” he said.

Both the House and Senate education committees disapproved of the regulations. The legislature has the opportunity to try to override the commission’s decision through a joint House-Senate resolution, but for the most part, past attempts to take that action were not successful, according to the regulatory review commission.

Jan Murphy may be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @JanMurphy.

Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.

source: https://www.pennlive.com/news/2022/03/pa-gov-tom-wolfs-charter-school-law-changes-pass-final-regulatory-hurdle.html

Your content is great. However, if any of the content contained herein violates any rights of yours, including those of copyright, please contact us immediately by e-mail at media[@]kissrpr.com.