AP: State to Settle Spat Over Pa. Pol's Kids (Santorum)

[Eugene]

State to Settle Spat Over Pa. Pol's Kids

By MARC LEVY, Associated Press Writer

Friday, September 1, 2006

(09-01) 18:11 PDT Harrisburg, Pa. (AP) --

The state education department has agreed to pay $55,000 to settle a dispute
with school district that had sought a refund for tuition it paid for Sen. Rick
Santorum's children to take classes through a cyber school.

Under a tentative settlement, the state will pay the Penn Hills School District,
department spokesman Brian McDonald said. The board for the suburban Pittsburgh
school district must still approve the settlement, board attorney Falco Muscante
said.

McDonald denied that the money was a reimbursement to the school district,
characterizing it instead as an acknowledgment that the department gave conflicting
rules about when a district can challenge the state's decision to withhold
cyberschool tuition fees from a district.

The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School had argued the district did not file its
objections in a timely manner.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/09/01/national/a181151D10.DTL

[rodeodance]

1. Santorum knew he was wrong--he just took advantage till caught.

.....The district had sought about $73,000 that it said the state wrongly sent to the cyberschool over four school years, from 2001-02 to 2004-05, Muscante said.

In Pennsylvania, school districts must pay tuition for resident students who enroll in cyber schools. The school board maintained that since Santorum lived primarily in Leesburg, Va., the district should not have to pay for an out-of-state resident's children to go to a cyberschool.

A local newspaper reported last fall that the district was paying to educate five of Santorum's six children. Santorum, R-Pa., then withdrew his children.

[Dr Batsen D Belfry]

2. I can't wait til I get another invitation

to the Western PA Cyber Charter School Prospective Parents Meeting. I get them regularly, so another round should be coming.

"The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School had argued the district did not file its
objections in a timely manner."

As I recall, Nick Trombetta from WPACCS offered Santorum free tuition over the spat.

I would love to get a group of parents together to go to one of their meetings

"We know we are not highly paid public servants who feed at the taxpayer's trough, buyut are we by chance eligible for the same perks Senator Santorum was offered?"

DBDB

[MADem]

3. A reimbursement by any other name would smell as sweet

So, is that cyberschool still teaching those rugrats for free, or is the Missus homeschooling the spawn without benefit of computer?

[Tinksrival]

4. He creeps me out! I would hate to be his kid.

[MasonJar]

5. Now the whole state gets to kick in.