Pine-Richland School Board is out of control

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported today that the Pine-Richland School Board voted for a $41.7 million cap on expansion project. Does Pine-Richland really need this project?

The Pine-Richland School Board’s spending is already out of control.
The school board claimed it had no intention of raising taxes, but they voted for a proposed budget with a tax increase. Now they have voted for a cap that they have no intention of using. Why do they need to fudge numbers if they have no intention of using reaching the cap ?

"There is no one up here who has any intention of spending that amount of money," Director Kevin Nigh said.

I applaud School Board Vice President Richard Herko for his comments:

Vice President Richard Herko cast the lone dissenting vote. He said he realized the number was "imaginary," in that the board has no intention of spending that amount for construction, "but it feels like a real one."

What are you scared of Mr. Turzai?

Mike Turzai challenges petitions


I just don't understand why politicians feel the need to attack the Democratic process. I don't have much more to say other than it just isn't very Democratic.

Pine-Richland School Board wants to build more?

I was shocked when I saw a few weeks ago an article about the Pine-Richland School District looking to raise taxes. I was mostly shocked because the make up of the Board is 100% Republican. As I read through the article I knew there has to be a catch as to why Republicans might have to raise taxes. It is the Democrats fault!!

"This is the cause of mismanagement by the state government," Rich Herko, board vice president, said. "And this is not a surprise to the legislatures, even when they reduced our contribution to the PSERS, they soft-pedaled it and kicked it down the lane.

"State legislatures and our governor (Ed Rendell) have done nothing about it and don't intend to do anything about it either. They don't view it as their problem -- they see it as the school districts' problem."

I love that it couldn't possibly by the fault of the school board. It is all the fault of a lame duck governor and a Democratic State House majority of the last 3 years. I'm sure the Republican controlled Senate has nothing to do with it when blaming the State Government.

I can understand that government and schools are expensive and costs will go up as time goes on, but I couldn't help but wonder why the state's amount of support became such a small percentage of the budget. So I wanted to look at how much the local school board has raised the budget in the last 5 years. In 2004-2005 the budget was $44.9 million. This year they are proposing a budget of $66.6 million. In times when government are doing everything to cut back this fiscally conservative school board has raised their budget by 48% in just a few years.

I have no problem with cost of government going up to some degree. It is bound to happen. I do have major issues when local elected officials rail against the federal government and state government for partisan issues while at same time they can't keep their own pocketbooks in order. At a time when governments are trying to cut back, Pine-Richland school district builds a fancy upper elementary building to make parents in Suburbia feel safer because their kids will just be around kids their own age. Did anyone look at what the transportation costs are to have 3 school buildings that service the entire geographic school district before they built an "upper elementary school"?

To top off these Republican comments about property tax raises, (that aren't their fault) the school board is looking to add a $30 million dollar addition to a school. So next time one of these school board members tells you something about how much Democrats are all about taxing and spending, ask them why they feel the need to tax and spend on a special interest that they care about so deeply.

Local School Boards "Race to the Bottom"

After many discussions, three local school boards opted out of the ‘Race to the Top’ federal grant program. The Race to the Top grant program is funded by the American Recovery and Investment Act. Shaler, Hampton and Pine-Richland all decided that it wasn’t “worth” it due to required activities. North Hills School District has decided to pursue the federal grants.

This reeks of political posturing to me. These same school boards all complain that they don’t get enough funding from the state. When there might be an option for these school districts to recover some of our federal tax dollars the schools boards don’t want to participate.

What was the real reason behind this decision? Is it because our President wants to find a way to make our children’s education better? Is it because of this quote from President Obama: “It's time to stop just talking about education reform and start actually doing it. It's time to make education America's national mission.”

These grants and plans from the Federal Government are to lay the foundation for education reform by supporting investments in innovative strategies that are most likely to lead to improved results for students, long-term gains in school and school system capacity, and increased productivity and effectiveness. The competitive grant program is designed to encourage and reward States that are creating the conditions for education innovation and reform; achieving significant improvement in student outcomes, including making substantial gains in student achievement, closing achievement gaps, improving high school graduation rates, and ensuring student preparation for success in college and careers.

The hope of this grant program is to encourage schools boards and their members to do a better job of educating our children. Our local school boards have decided they want to make their own rules and regulations to accomplish the same goal. While I understand the importance of local control, there is no reason to make a political stand with our children’s future.