BCT Editorial – 7/17/05

This page was last updated on July 17, 2005.

Nice loophole; Editorial; Beaver County Times; July 17, 2005.

This is another example of illogic and pettiness by the Times editorial board.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“Who are we more angry with, U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum or the lawmakers who conjured up the cyber charter school regulations?

“On Tuesday, The Associated Press reported that a hearing officer has sided with Santorum, recommending to the state secretary of education that Penn Hills School District not be allowed to recoup any tax money paid to educate Santorum’s children.

“Santorum enrolled his four children in the Midland-based Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School in 2003-04, with the youngest joining in the 2004-05 school year. The children were withdrawn in November, after controversy kicked up.

“Santorum still owns a $106,000 house in Penn Hills, but the family primarily lives in a $757,000 home in Leesburg, Va.

“At some point, one might think that residency would become an issue.

“But the pivotal point became the timing of the district’s request for repayment. The law said a district must challenge residency within seven days of enrollment. This dwarfed the residency issue in the mind of Santorum’s hearing officer, Barry Kramer. Penn Hills didn’t question the bill until December.”

[RWC] I think partisans like the Times are missing a bigger point. If they believe Sen. Santorum doesn’t live in Penn Hills enough to meet school district requirements, why are they not challenging his eligibility to serve as a senator from Pennsylvania?

“Giving a district an unlimited amount of time to raise objections would ‘de-prive [sic] cyber charter schools of any certainty regarding their budgets,’ Kramer said. So, the ability for cyber charter schools to plan budgets obviously takes priority over whether the correct entity is footing a bill for thousands of dollars.

“But Santorum is wrong to work the system this way. Here’s a man - a maker of laws himself, a leader of the Republican party, a proselytizer of morality - who’s looking for a loophole.”

[RWC] Sen. Santorum could probably have handled this better, but our representatives are placed in a tough position. Should a representative have to live away from his family for extended periods of time? There is no way a senator could live at home and serve in the Senate, unless his home is already within driving distance of Washington, DC.

Sen. Santorum maintains a house in the Penn Hills school district, pays property taxes on the house, and pays the PA income tax. He moved his family to a Washington, DC, suburb so they would not be separated most of the year. I believe the Santorums clearly weren’t trying to cheat anyone because they paid the same PA and school district taxes they would have if they resided in PA.

I believe editorials and letters like this are a cheap shot.