HARRISBURG – Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed charter school regulatory reforms circumvent the legislative process and could trigger unintended consequences, Sen. Scott Martin (R-13) said today.
That’s why Chairman Martin and the other Republican members of the Senate Education Committee agreed to send a letter to the Independent Regulatory Review Commission disapproving of the administration’s pending reforms to the charter school law.
“It’s unwise to rush these reforms just because the legislative process hasn’t produced results as quickly as we’d like it too,” Martin said. “These proposed regulations will jeopardize the educational future of thousands of low-income, minority and special education students through burdensome, unfunded mandates.”
Despite years of ongoing negotiations with the General Assembly to adopt meaningful reforms, the Department of Education instead turned to the regulatory process to make wide-ranging policy changes that couldn’t get support from a majority of legislators.
“There could be some things we could actually agree upon, but punting away the legislature’s ability to make or change laws to a regulatory body is not in the best interest of the people who’ve elected us,” Martin said.
CONTACT: Terry Trego, 717-787-6535