BCT Editorial – 2/8/09

This page was last updated on February 8, 2009.

Look who’s talking; Editorial; Beaver County Times; February 8, 2009.

The editorial subtitle is “Rendell has started a long overdue discussion on school consolidation.”

To begin, I agree with the Times some school districts would be better served with consolidation. Where we part company is in how consolidation should be done. The Times believes the Commonwealth should force consolidation while I believe the decision should be under local control. Along with community consolidation, school district consolidation has been a recurring subject of Times editorials for at least the last four years and likely a lot longer.

The theme of the editorial is either the General Assembly or the PA Board of Education should force consolidation. Given the Times political leanings, this position would be completely predictable except for one thing. Since 2005, at least three editorials (“Local control #1,” “Go slowly,” and “Local control #2”) spoke out in favor of local control. I noted in my critiques of those editorials (as well as in critiques of contradictory editorials) the apparent disapproval of loss of local control was simply a case of crocodile tears. This editorial is more proof. Support for local control only when you get what you want isn’t support at all. It’s a tactic to deceive people about your true position. It’s like the position of many on the left regarding democracy; they’re for it when the vote goes their way. That’s why lefties like judges who legislate from the bench. When the elected representatives of the people don’t do what a leftist group wants, that group can look to judges who rule based on their personal policy preferences and not the law to thwart the actions/policies of the peoples’ representatives.