Rendell vetoes education bill over charter-school tax break

[proud2BlibKansan]

Gov. Rendell on Friday vetoed a comprehensive education bill that he said gave an unfair tax break to charter-school landlords - a move that blindsided and outraged some legislators and advocates of the measure.
The provision would have exempted nonprofit foundations that rent property to charter schools, and let them apply the tax break retroactively.

But the governor's veto took down with it a wider law that included about 20 other initiatives - among them, ones to combat student violence, make textbooks more affordable, and improve financial literacy.

"I support many of the initiatives included in this legislation, so withholding my signature is not easy," Rendell said Friday. "But this bill does not meet the threshold of constitutionality or basic fairness."

Every senator and 180 of 203 House members voted for the bill. Criticism of the veto came from members of both parties.

http://m.philly.com/phillycom/pm_21412/contentdetail.htm;jsessionid=61E33B0964F2F894EB665C82D99EE7DD?contentguid=2zHGPQte

[Starry Messenger]

1. k & r

[senseandsensibility]

2. k and r

eom

[mzteris]

3. Not a very smart move . . .

Rep. James Roebuck (D., Phila.), chairman of the House Education Committee . . ."I'm more than appalled - I'm offended. I'm deeply offended by his arrogance," said Roebuck, who had written initiatives in the package to improve data on dropout rates and help teachers pay their certification fees. "This is a governor I was for when no one else was for him."

Charter schools are typically exempt from property taxes, although some districts have sought to tax them in recent years. The provision in question would have extended the exemption to their property owners, if the owners were nonprofits.

. . . The office of Sen. Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware), who sponsored the charter-school provision, said it would affect just three schools: the Collegium and Avon Grove Charter Schools in Chester County and the School Lane Charter School in Bucks County.

(So to "get" three schools - he punished the whole damn state! Wow. What a smart guy. . . )


"This governor has never been a friend to public charter schools, so his animosity toward them is not a surprise," said Erik Arneson, spokesman for Pileggi.

Guy Ciarrocchi, who heads the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools, said the language was "a technicality" to resolve what had become a costly legal issue.

. . . The veto disappointed others for different reasons.

Gary Cuccia had lobbied for nearly three years for schools to develop programs about dating violence among teens - since his daughter Demi was murdered by an ex-boyfriend in 2007. Earlier this month, the House declared Oct. 6 Demi Brae Cuccia Day.

The bill that would have mandated prevention programs was folded into the wider education bill. Cuccia, of Monroeville, said he had heard last week that a veto might be looming. So the news wasn't a shock.

Still, he said, "it's very disappointing."

[MichiganVote]

4. Enough of holding public officials hostage with a bunch of threats. Good for him.