Salisbury School Board President Takes Stand Against PA Education Department

Salisbury School Board President Russell Giordano, criticizing how charter schools are regulated, called on the board Wednesday to consider drafting a resolution expressing "no confidence" in the Pennsylvania Department of Education's leadership.

The department of education "keeps making things harder and harder and harder for us and we should say something about it," Giordano said.

Giordano accused the state of gearing up to privatize schools.

Giordano criticized the Department of Education for what he says are double standards for charter schools, such as less rigorious standards for the PSSA and different standards to fund their budgets.

"People in Salisbury are used to not worrying about the schools, but things are getting beyond our control," he said.

Giordano said the state is constantly applying new rules and regulations for public schools to follow, but charter schools do not have such rules.

As an example, Giordano said that he knows of one charter school that is using 95 percent of its fund balance to cover its budget while public schools are only allowed to use 8 percent toward their budgets.

In addition, charter schools have much less rigid criteria for meeting average yearly progress, or on state-mandated PSSA tests than public schools, he said.

Giordano said he was outraged by the PSSA "cheating crackdown" implemented by the state.