Time is running out for Wolf to repopulate shorthanded charter school appeals board

According to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a new charter school got the green light to open its doors in Harrisburg this September, thanks to a decision by a powerful state board whose members formerly worked alongside the school’s founder. Pennsylvania’s Charter School Appeals Board voted 5-0 on Tuesday to overturn the Harrisburg School Board’s decision to deny a charter to the Pennsylvania STEAM Academy – a school founded by Carolyn Dumaresq, who was the state’s acting education secretary under former Republican Gov. Tom Corbett.  The unanimous vote will allow the charter school to open for the first time this fall. It plans to enroll 120 children in grades K-2 at a new campus in Harrisburg’s Midtown neighborhood, just blocks from the state Capitol.  Like all charter schools in Pennsylvania, it will be funded by tuition payments from public school districts whose pupils choose to enroll there. Read the full story.