MILTON — A Republican lawmaker and a school superintendent are still arguing over whether it was appropriate for the Milton district to host Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell’s Sunday morning press conference a month ago.
The dispute between state Sen. John Gordner and Superintendent William A. Clark came to light Tuesday night during a work session of the Milton school board, when Clark said he and the politician had a 12-minute conversation that ended with neither giving ground.
Contacted Wednesday, Gordner said Rendell’s visit to Milton was purely political in nature. The state senator said Rendell has been visiting schools in Republican districts to make points for his budget proposals, and that the governor does not make similar visits to Democratic districts.
“(Rendell) came to Milton specifically to attack myself, Representative (Merle) Phillips and Representative (Russ) Fairchild,” Gordner said.
“Clark welcomed Rendell to Milton. This was purely a political event, a way for Rendell to make points for his budget.”
In a press release prior to Rendell’s July 12 visit, Gordner, of Berwick, also criticized the school board and Clark for passing a 2009-10 budget that includes a 5.1 percent tax increase in Northumberland County, Clark said.
Clark last week responded to Gordner’s press release. In his letter to the politician, Clark stated the Milton district was selected because it had developed a five-year budget model based on one developed by a Penn State professor.
In closing his letter, Clark told Gordner that using school districts as political footballs was unacceptable.
“He’s educated, not naive,” Gordner said with a snort. “It was a political event.
“I wasn’t going to an event like that on a Sunday morning, and neither was Merle Phillips,” Gordner said. “We were both in church.”
In his letter to Gordner, Clark said he sought to explain the district’s methodology in developing its budget. He also criticized Gordner, who compared Milton’s budget to that of the adjacent Warrior Run School District, pointing out that “each district has their own issues in dealing with the financial obligations within their community.”
That approach “compares apples to oranges, because each community lives and survives based on its own demographics and issues.”
Gordner on Wednesday said he was “disappointed with the tone of Clark’s letter.”
Gordner also accused Clark of violating state law, alleging that Milton was the only school district in Northumberland County that failed to forward its 2009-10 budget information to the House and Senate education committees by June 30.
However, Clark reported, “Our PDE 2028 which is the General Fund budget was submitted June 24, several days before the July 15 deadline. If the Senate made a specific request to the district, I do not remember receiving that request but would have referred them to the PDE 2028.”
Clark said he has the receipt from the Department of Education acknowledging the arrival of the PDE 2028 form.
Asked whether it was appropriate for a school official to turn down a request by the governor, Gordner said the Hazleton School District recently spurned a request from Rendell to hold a similar meeting.
“The superintendent and the school board president saw it as a political event,” Gordner said. “If the governor was going at a normal time for a school program, I’d have no objection, but he (Rendell) wanted to talk tax and budget increases and attack the House and Senate plans.”
Mike Smith, a Rendell spokesman, said Wednesday that Rendell’s visits to schools around the state are designed to educate the public about the differences between the governor’s budget plan and the Republican plan.
Pennsylvania’s budget is 43 days overdue. Rendell’s spending proposal of $28.2 billion includes a 7 percent increase for public school education. A Senate Republican budget totals $27.3 billion.
Smith said Rendell’s speaking engagements have taken place in school districts with no regard for the political leanings of the area.
“We want to educate the public on the drastic effects Republican budget plan would have on education statewide,” Smith said. “It would cut out $1 billion from education funds, including $830,000 from Milton.”
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