A recipe for education decline

Republican Sen. Jeffrey Piccola's "Mandate Relief/Taxpayer Protection" package of bills, which he unveiled at a news conference Tuesday, seems mainly about holding down taxes, not improving or even maintaining public education in Pennsylvania. A lot of this is Republican Fantasy Camp stuff, but if even a few of them are passed it will do major damage.

Perhaps the most obnoxious part of it is a bill that would require two-thirds votes on school boards before taxes can be raised, instead of a simple majority. Forget about majority rules. This will allow a determined minority to thwart the will of the people of the school district. As long as the anti-education types can get four votes on nine-member school boards, they can stop any tax increase. You can be sure that if this passes, the next step will be to require voter approval of any tax increases that happen to slide through.

I grew up in a state, Michigan, where all millage increases had to receive voter approval.  I remember when millage votes failed and we lost art, music, and physical education teachers in the schools. The regular classroom teachers filled in as best they could, but no one was fooled. There were school districts, fortunately not mine, where millage votes failed for years and complete shut-down of the schools was contemplated. Imagine if your kid ends up in one of those?

I also love how they're going to replace the requirement for trained, certified superintendents, allowing boards to hire instead anyone with a graduate degree in business or finance. Yes, let's make sure tax-cutting school boards don't have to face push-back from a superintendent who cares about educating kids and understands how it's done. Let's put a hard-nosed bean-counter in there instead.

Then comes the real killer, allowing school boards to lay off teachers for purely economic reasons. This one comes from the distinguished Republican senator from Lebanon, Mike Folmer, who claimed the other day to have seen iPhone toting, designer-jean clad, Cadillac Escalade-driving welfare queens at his local Wal-Mart store. Really? Oh, and this bill would also eliminate seniority protection in layoffs so the most veteran, highest-paid teachers could be gotten rid of and replaced with fresh college graduates, assuming anyone will still want to enter the teaching profession in Pennsylvania.

The Republicans are trying to ram these through with minimal hearings, calling for a committee vote the first week in April. That's the same tack they used in 2004 to ram through the odious Chapter 14 law that made it easier to shut off utility service to the poor, and which resulted in several deaths. Sen. Piccola ought to keep in mind how close he came to losing to Democrat Judy Hirsh the last time he ran for re-election, in 2008. A lot of Democratic voters will be going to the polls in 2012, drawn by the opportunity to re-elect President Obama. And a lot of Republicans are going to lose.