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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2017 - 2018
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 12, 2017 02:29 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Angel Cruz |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Abolishing the School Reform Commission and providing for local control of the Philadelphia School District (Former HB 213) |
| In the near future, I will reintroduce legislation to eliminate the Philadelphia School Reform Commission and establish an elected board to oversee operations of the city's school district. The SRC has had more than a decade to fix the issues within the Philadelphia School District and since then its problems have only multiplied. Establishing the SRC was nothing more than the state's quick fix, and not a long term solution, to the district's troubles. Furthermore, no other distressed school district in the state has ever had to operate under a reform commission, thus allowing the state Department of Education to treat the Philadelphia School District and the residents it serves unfairly. My legislation would give control of the school district's operations back to local taxpayers and voters by eliminating the SRC upon election of a Board of Public Education. With the recent enactment of a cigarette tax in Philadelphia, we’re investing more funding into the Philadelphia School District and we must ensure that local taxpayers have a stake in how those dollars are spent. My bill will provide for local oversight and bring the management of the School District of Philadelphia's distressed status in line with that of other distressed school districts in Pennsylvania. Please join me in co-sponsoring this legislation. Thank you in advance for your consideration. Previous co-sponsors: ROEBUCK, BROWNLEE, V. BROWN, O'BRIEN, BISHOP, COHEN AND McCARTER |
Introduced as HB654