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Governor Corbett Announces Lawsuit Against NCAA Over Penn State Penalties

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Governor Corbett is suing the NCAA in an effort to have the sanctions against Penn State thrown out.  He announced the federal anti-trust suit in State College.

The Governor is calling the sanctions against Penn State in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal arbitrary and illegal.  He said after months of research, he has concluded the sanctions were overreaching. He says they didn’t punish those charged, they punished past, present and future students of the University. Corbett believes the NCAA had no authority to punish the school.

Governor Corbett says Penn State had no practical alternative but to accept the sanctions.  He says the NCAA seized upon the opportunity for publicity for their own benefit to make a showing of aggressive discipline on the backs of the citizens of the Commonwealth and Penn State University.

The Governor consulted with Attorney General Linda Kelly before proceeding with the legal action, but did not consult with incoming Attorney General Kathleen Kane.  He says the suit is not a political case, it’s being filed on behalf of the citizens of Pennsylvania, the businesses in State College and Centre County and throughout Pennsylvania that are being harmed by this.

The sanctions banned the school from bowl games for four years. They also stripped the school of  a number of scholarships and removed 112 victories from the record books.

The NCAA issued a statement calling the legal action without merit, saying  it’s an affront to all of the victims in this tragedy. The University issued a statement saying it’s not a party to the suit and has not been involved in its preparation.

 

Lawmakers Prepare to File Lawsuit Against Commonwealth Over Education Funding Formula

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Rep Rosemary Brown

Rep Mario Scavello

 

Some lawmakers are getting ready to take the state to court to challenge the school funding formula.   Representatives Mario Scavello and Rosemary Brown, who represent parts of Monroe and Pike Counties, are initiating the suit.  They have backing from colleagues in other areas of the state that are seeing growth. 

The suit will challenge the hold harmless provision.  Since 1991, it has required that school districts get no less money than the year before, regardless of student population.  The lawmakers say that has been hurting growing districts, while benefitting districts with shrinking student populations.  

Representative Brown says enough is enough; it’s time this outdated formula is challenged.    She says she will not accept that it can’t be changed. She says realtors are having trouble selling homes because of property taxes.

Representative Scavello says the school property tax rates in his district have made people prisoners in their own homes.  He cited an example he’s often repeated- a home bought for 250 thousand dollars five years ago, that’s worth 150 thousand dollars today and has an 11 thousand dollar property tax bill on it. He says the Pocono Mountain School District last year raised taxes per house between 400 and 500 dollars.  He says we just can’t continue to do things like this.

Representative Scavello says he’s paying the legal fees out of his own pocket.

Brown and Scavello had support from other lawmakers in districts facing similar problems.  Representative Ron Miller (R-York) says they’ve tried to change the education funding formula in the legislature, but it’s “very hard to convince people to take money from their constituents to help ours.”

Representative Stan Saylor (R-York) agrees.  The house majority whip  says people aren’t willing to give up money that flows into their school districts and keeps their property taxes very low.

Representative Scavello says there will be a taxpayer from every school district involved in the suit and he expects it will take 90 to 120 days before the suit is filed, to allow time to gather all of the information. The suit was announced at a news conference.