Posted on 11/18/2004 6:05:39 AM PST by SwinusMaximus
A western Pennsylvania school district says it shouldn't have to pay the charter school tuition for US senator Rick Santorum's five children, because they actually live in Virginia.
So Santorum is pulling his kids out of the school, and he says he'll home-school them instead.
Santorum issued a statement on Wednesday night saying he was withdrawing his five children from the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, where they'd attended for four years.
This comes after the Penn Hills School District informed him that only children who live in the district full-time are entitled to have their charter school tuition paid by the district.
A Penn Hills school board member says the district has paid $100,000 to educate Santorum's children over the last four years.
Santorum owns a house in Penn Hills, but his family lives in Leesburg, Virginia, outside Washington.
It's not ususual for senators to have homes near the Capitol, and Santorum says he believes it's important to have his children nearby while he's working. Santorum says he'll home-school his children now
Five kids over four years? That price tag sounds in the ballpark when you think how much an average school district can spend per kid. That said, I think it's reasonable of the district not to want to foot the bill for kids who reside outside the district. My only question is why the district waited 'til now to make an issue of it.
I can't agree. People who work in DC for the government are allowed and expected to have dual residences. It's a different category than what we can claim. They really do live in both places. I think this is probably a deliberate attempt to slam Santorum because he's a conservative.
It is a partisan Democrat attack on the Republican Senator's children.
My only question is why the district waited 'til now to make an issue of it.
Kerry lost.
I'd prefer to see Pat go after Fast Eddie though.
The Democrats would love to unseat Sen. Santorum in a primary and take the seat. I'm sure they agree with you.
petty move by a bitter Western PA Dem. who was fuming over the election and used his itty bit of power on a school board to take a shot at the most-handy Republican (since
tearing all the Bush signs off my lawn apparently did not work)
Well, what do the rules say? And do the Santorums qualify for dual residency? If so, no problem. If not, problem :)
Doesn't sound like Pennsylvania is paying an unusually high rate for these children.
Pity they are so petty because they get remuneration from the county, state, and federal government per student!
To my mind the only question is residency. If the Santorums meet it, then the district should belt up. If they don't, the district is in the right.
Santorum is experiencing the karmic reaction that one should expect when peddling one's soul.
I agree with you but Santorum brought this on himself.
When he first ran for Congress he campaigned against the incumbant saying the Dem (can't remember the name) didn't really live in PA but in Virginia.
The dems are just giving back to Santorum exactly what he gave to them.
What goes around comes around.
If Santorum was smart he would not have sold his larger PA home to buy a 2 bedroom and then have someone else live in it.
It boggles my mind why rich and semi-rich people insist upon enrolling their children in public schools. Public schools are, essentially, welfare schools. Why would someone who could afford to educate his children have them educated at someone else's expense? Too many people who don't need it or deserve it use education welfare (ie. public schools) and use the money they SHOULD have spent on educating their own kids buying rich people toys like huge homes, expensive cars, etc. It is just wrong!
>>Toomey in 2006<<
Over Santorum?
Because he thought that his kids could attend a Virtual Elementary in his home state (of which he has a residence)?
Because they paid 5000.00 per student (100,000 divided by 5 children, divided by 4 years = 5,000), less than the 6700.00 per student we pay in MI/
I don't understand the problem here.
I see he has "Chosen to Homeschool"!!!! They were anyway! It was a cyber academy.
This article is just trying to slam him.
I'm sure he is quaking in his boots at the prospect of losing your support.
that is ridiculous. it is cyber school. that is why you have cyber school. he is their senator doing there stupid business.
But then there is Tom Daschle who believed he qualified for a property tax credit reserved for only homeowners whose "primary residence" was Washington, DC. The socialist/Democratic one-party ruled city-state agreed.
South Dakota voters made the whole thing a reality. Now TD is a full-time resident of DC, no longer having to pretend to live in South Dakota.
The name you can't remember from the old PA-18 district is Doug Walgren.
Couldn't agree with you more, except that under PA law, when cyber schooling your children under the local school district, you are not homeschooling. They were public school students.
But who's going to pay for it? I take it that it wouldn't bother you if your taxes were going to pay for kids from outside the district?
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