DV Journal

When Bucks County state Sen. Jarrett Coleman heard about a school district where someone brought a knife into a school, and that information was kept from the parents, he knew he had to act.

On Tuesday, Coleman’s bill, SB 246, to increase requirements for school transparency for parents passed the Senate in an overwhelming 45-4 vote.

Under current law, school districts are not required to inform parents or guardians about incidents when a weapon is brought onto school grounds or related activities. In fact, Coleman notes, districts are only required to report to the Department of Education incidents “relating to expulsions for possession of a weapon on school grounds, school-sponsored activities or public conveyances providing transportation to a school or school-sponsored activity.”

“Parents in a district I represent only found out about a knife being brought to school because one of the parents read a police report about it,” Coleman said. “One of my constituents called for increased transparency following that egregious occurrence. There is broad agreement from both Republicans and Democrats that schools need to inform parents or guardians and staff about situations that impact the safety of children.”

SB 246 says schools must notify parents within 24 hours of an incident involving the possession of a weapon on school property. Teachers, administrators and other employees where the weapons were found must also be notified.

The bill also requires schools to inform parents about harassment and bullying.

“There should be a much higher level of transparency around weapons brought to schools, harassment and destruction of school property. Schools must be forthcoming when dangerous incidents take place,” Coleman said.

Philadelphia Democratic Sen.  Christine Tartaglione said co-sponsoring the bill was “an easy and common-sense decision.”

“Families deserve transparency. If a weapon is found in a school, every parent, guardian, and staff member has a right to know. This bill is about trust, safety, and clear communication. It’s about giving people peace of mind and making sure schools stay accountable,” Tartaglione said.

Parents who spoke to DVJournal said trust between public schools and the parents they are supposed to serve has been broken, and legislation like this could help.

“Schools should absolutely be transparent with parents when a weapon is brought to school. Ever since the unnecessary COVID lockdowns, parents have lost trust in schools,” said Chalfont mother Jamie Walker.

Upper Darby dad Jeff Jones agrees.

“I think it’s important for there to be clear and candid communication between educators and parents,” Jones said. “As a parent, I have tried to partner with my kids’ teacher to get the best from my kids and support a productive class environment. This bill allows me to be aware of what is happening in my kids’ lives for those teachable moments that is a parent’s responsibility to build and encourage character, integrity, bravery,  trustworthiness, responsibility, compassion and grace in my children.”

The bill received strong bipartisan support in the Senate in the previous legislative session. It now moves to the House of Representatives for consideration.

It’s Tax Day, folks. And as usual, Pennsylvanians are doing more than our fair share.

Pennsylvania has the fifth-highest overall tax burden in the country, and it ranks eighth in federal taxes paid.

So far this fiscal year, Americans have paid more than $1.1 trillion in personal income taxes, just over half of the federal government’s total revenue.

The Commonwealth Foundation, Pennsylvania’s free-market think tank, also came up with bleak numbers for taxpayers.

“Tax Day 2025 looks quite gloomy for Pennsylvanians. A proposed $4.8 billion budget deficit looms as the state’s budget negotiations ramp up in the Capitol. Unfortunately for Pennsylvania taxpayers, this budget deficit has a cost—a $1,900 tax hike per family of four,” said policy analyst Andrew Holman.

“Despite widespread calls to boost Pennsylvania’s economic competitiveness, little has been done to move the needle. Pennsylvania remains one of the most oppressive states for taxpayers, ranking 28th in state-local tax burden. This, combined with excessive spending, a growing deficit, and heavy regulation (Pennsylvania is the 14th most regulated state in the nation), has put chains over Pennsylvania’s ability to reach its potential as an economic powerhouse.

“Pennsylvania’s tax environment continues to repel workers and businesses alike. Population loss remains a plight for the Keystone State, given net out-migration in 14 of the past 15 years and projections of the state’s working-age population declining 2.1 percent over the next five years.

“It is hard to fault those leaving given the commonwealth’s abysmal economic conditions. Currently, Pennsylvania ranks 34th nationally for tax competitiveness, a three-spot drop since last year’s ranking,” Holman said.

Plenty of people in the Delaware Valley agree that Keystone State taxpayers are getting hit too hard.

“We’ve done our taxes, which are definitely too high,” said Chester County resident Felice Fein. “The Colonists fought a revolution against an authoritarian power over a 2 percent tax. Most taxpayers are well into the double-digit tax range at this point. I believe the voters engaged in a peaceful revolution in electing Trump in 2024 and are hoping for changes in the U.S. tax structure.”

State Sen. Jarrett Coleman (R-Lehigh/Bucks) says Pennsylvania has turned into “a salad bar of taxes.”

“But unlike selecting your favorite dressing, your plate is smothered in a variety of taxes. It’s not just one tax that impacts Pennsylvanians. We’re nickel and dimed. There’s real estate transfer, inheritance, property taxes, and occupational privilege taxes, and then you get into all of the fees that get stacked on for permits and occupational licensing. Let us not forget the gas tax. But the sad truth is that until lawmakers get serious about cutting taxes, we won’t see substantial change.”

His fellow Delaware Valley Republican, Sen. Tracy Pennycuick (R-Montgomery), says the state’s fifth-place tax burden should be “a wake-up call to all Pennsylvania public officials to do better.” She says the real problem is politicians spending too much.

“Despite facing a $3 billion budget deficit, Democrats in Harrisburg want to raise taxes again instead of cutting wasteful spending. The commonwealth’s tax and spend policies drive people and small businesses out of our state and discourage companies from locating here.”

Rep. Donna Scheuren (R-Harleysville) has a similar view. “Taxes in Pennsylvania will go even higher if Shapiro keeps spending billions from the rainy-day reserves without generating new revenue to replace it. Legalizing marijuana throughout our state isn’t going to cut it, and I won’t vote for it.”

Not everyone is complaining about Pennsylvania’s taxes, however.

Montgomery County resident Roberta Lee and her husband have filed their returns, and she says it was “very reasonable.”

“It seems like it’s a modest amount to pay for all the state tries to do.”

Don’t tell that to Delaware County resident John DeMasi.

“I pay self-employment taxes. I also pay property taxes to the county, township, and school. I pay 6 percent tax on almost everything I buy. I paid a boatload in tolls. I paid hotel and lodging taxes. I pay taxes and fees on airline tickets. I pay taxes on my telecommunications. I pay the liquid fuel tax whenever I fill up my car… the list goes on.

“And now, Upper Darby wants to charge me an extra 1 percent just because they can. I’m sure their 1 percent will be the tax that funds our utopia that all those other taxes failed to do.”

Whether you think they are too high, too low, or just right, State Treasurer Stacy Garrity is reminding Keystone Staters they can still file their state and federal taxes for free through Direct File.

State Senate Republicans are firing flak at Pennsylvania’s high-flying governor, questioning his frequent use of state-owned aircraft and what they say is a lack of transparency in how these flights are reported.

Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) will be up for reelection next year and pundits have speculated whether he might run for president in 2028, especially after he made Kamala Harris’ vice presidential short list for a running mate in 2024.

Sen. Jarrett Coleman (R-Bucks/Lehigh) published Shapiro’s flight logs for the Department of Transportation’s (PennDOT) private plane. Shapiro also uses the State Police aircraft, but logs were not available for those flights, Coleman said.

In 2024, flights for Shapiro and Lt. Gov. Austin Davis cost taxpayers than $300,000. Those flights included trips to throw out the first pitch for the third National League Division Series game, attend a Penn State vs. Michigan football game, flying the Shapiro family to Erie to see the solar eclipse, and a visit to Hilton Head, S.C.

Republicans also noted a taxpayer-funded flight to take Lt. Gov. Austin Davis from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg to preside over the Senate for just half an hour, before flying back.

According to state data, “The base cost for the use is $1,350 per block hour. A block hour is the elapsed time from when the airplane door is closed until it is opened at the destination. Additional charges include pilot charges consisting of the individual pilot salary per block hour, subject to overtime, subsistence and pilot lodging when applicable. Additional costs include incidental fees, including without limitation landing, hangar and de-icing fees.”

Republicans, as the saying goes, pounced.

“It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No… it’s  @GovernorShapiro flying high on YOUR tax dollars. #ShapiroAirlines,” Senate President Pro Tem Kim Ward posted on X.

Coleman noted that the information, which should be available to the public, had to be uncovered by legislators.

“The information I posted on my website is only available because of extensive research my staff and I conducted by referencing Shapiro’s daily calendar, social media updates, and media reports. Taxpayers don’t have the time for all that legwork and shouldn’t have to play detective anyway,” Coleman said.

Coleman and the Senate Appropriations Committee have brought administration and former administration officials to testify about the flights.

While state law requires PennDOT to post the names of people on those flights, the logs frequently list people who were on the plane on a certain date, but not which specific flight.

“The data provided by PennDOT is woefully inadequate. The PennDOT logs are full of inaccuracies and omissions. These errors mask the true use of the airplane and thwart a comprehensive evaluation of their use,” Coleman said.

During questioning at the Appropriations Committee hearing on Thursday, Secretary of the Budget Uri Monson said it is difficult to read and understand the flight logs and promised to make them more transparent.

“It’s not that difficult. It’s a flight log,” Coleman told him.

State Police flights do not require passenger documentation, and Coleman said he would sponsor a law to change that. After being questioned by lawmakers and the media, Shapiro is voluntarily making those flight logs public going forward. However, Coleman said a law is needed since the next governor may not.

A memo by Dana Fritz, Shapiro’s chief of staff, outlined who gets dibs on the PennDOT airplane, with Shapiro and Davis having priority.

“Statewide elected commonwealth officials, members of the governor’s cabinet and senior staff, board and commission chairpersons and legislative leadership will be considered next in priority with the governor’s chief of staff’s approval. All other flight requests will be last in priority and must be approved by the respective agency head or a deputy secretary or equivalent senior agency manager on a first-come, first-serve basis,” the memo stated.

Also, “commonwealth aircraft are to be used when necessary for commonwealth business as determined by the requesting agency upon consideration of cost and need.”

PennDOT requested $10 million for two new airplanes in the governor’s proposed 2025-26 $51.5 billion state budget, up 7.5 percent from last year.

Coleman is also concerned that the state is self-insured. In case of an accident, Coleman worried whether people aboard the plane who are not state employees would be covered.

“Which is important to the people on the airplane and, if there was a crash, to the people on the ground,” Coleman said.

When asked about the insurance, Monson told Coleman he’d look into it.

A spokesperson for Shapiro did not respond to requests for comments about the governor’s airplane use.

(From a press release)

Sen. Jarrett Coleman (R-16) and Rep. Shelby Labs (R-143) announced today that Sellersville and Perkasie will receive more than $6.1 million from the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST) to remove chemicals from the water supply and improve the reliability of wastewater service.

Perkasie Regional Authority will receive more than $668,00 in a low-interest loan and a grant of nearly $3.2 million to improve water quality and increase system reliability. Granular-activated carbon will be used to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The funding will be used to construct a building for the treatment of two wells as an addition to the granular-activated carbon filter vessels for removal of PFAS from the blended well water supply.

“Drinking water with levels of PFAS that are too high may cause health issues, including an increased risk of cancer. The $3.8 million in state funding will play a critical role in addressing this problem without raising the rate of Perkasie Regional Authority’s residential, commercial and industrial customers,” Coleman said. “I’m pleased to see this funding being used wisely.”

“This funding from PENNVEST is a major investment in our community’s infrastructure,” said Labs. “It is part of the continued commitment to ensuring residents have access to safe drinking water while also combatting potentially negative environmental impacts.”

Sellersville Borough will receive nearly $2.3 million in a low-interest loan to address a faulty gravity sanitary sewer main, which has been in service for more than 65 years. It experiences significant infiltration and inflow during rain events. A video inspection also showed pipe sags, leaking joints and lateral break-ins.

The loan, which will provide the grant-equivalent of nearly $638,000 throughout the life of the loan, will replace more than 5,800 feet of eight-inch and 10-inch gravity sanitary sewer mail on Lawn Avenue between Almont Road and Maple Avenue. New pipe will include 4,195 feet of eight-inch and 1,671 feet of 10-inch gravity sewer main. The project also includes replacing 29 manholes.

PENNVEST approved the funding at its board meeting today. The state’s PENNVEST Program provides low-interest loans and grants for the design, engineering and construction of drinking water distribution facilities, stormwater conveyance and wastewater treatment and collection systems.

On Aug. 25, a 17-year-old student came to the Cheltenham/Abington football game with a gun tucked into his waistband. That same evening, a teenager was gunned down at a football game in Choctaw, Okla.

State Sen. Mike Regan introduced a ripped-from-the-headlines bill on Tuesday to address fears inspired by stories like these. Senate Bill 907 would require school districts to employ an armed, trained, and vetted security person at every school during school hours.

“Students want to know their schools are safe, and parents want to know their children will come home at the end of the school day. The safety of students, teachers, and school staff should be a top priority. Students deserve a safe environment where they can learn and grow, and teachers should not have the sole responsibility for protecting our kids,” said Regan (R-Cumberland/York).

Abington Police Chief Patrick Molloy said the quick thinking and skill of two of his school resource officers allowed the gun-carrying Cheltenham student to be arrested without incident and before anyone got hurt.

“Thank God for a mother who wanted to remain anonymous, saw the gun in the kid’s waistband,” he said.

He said the youth at the Abington field allegedly had a ghost gun with 30 rounds and two extended magazines with a laser affixed for accuracy.

“God knows what he was up to. But the actions and the planning of those two officers to take him into custody, with very few people even knowing it and escorting him out of there, was remarkable,” said Molloy.

School resource officers have extra training and “want to be with the kids,” he said.

“It takes a special kind of cop that wants to do that,” said Molloy. “I think that’s how we should be recruiting. We should do everything we can. My officers are highly trained. One of them is a SWAT officer. He’s in the school all day. They have all kinds of tools on their belt, but the biggest tool is their ability to communicate and de-escalate.”

“In 30 years, we’ve had school resource officers in Abington Township, and we’ve had no major uses of force,” he added.

Regan’s legislation also aims to enhance safety at school extracurricular activities. It would allow school boards to station armed school security personnel on school grounds during extracurricular events outside regular school hours.

Part of the bill would require any armed school safety personnel to comply with vigorous training and certification requirements, including lethal weapons training and student interaction training.

Sen. Tracy Pennycuick, who represents parts of Montgomery County, applauded the initiative.

“It is unacceptable that our nation’s schools, teachers, and students have become targets for those seeking to perpetrate violence,” Pennycuick said. “Having professionally trained school safety personnel on campus is a commonsense step we can take to better secure our institutions and ensure that there is an extra layer of security keeping our kids safe. Our children are our most cherished treasures, and I applaud my colleague, Sen. Regan, for advancing this important proposal.”

Sen. Jarrett Coleman (R-Bucks/Lehigh) supports efforts to improve and increase school safety but also has not had a chance to read the bill and can’t comment specifically, a spokesman said

But some senators have reservations.

During a podcast interview with DVJournal, Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams (D-Delaware/Philadelphia) said that while he hadn’t seen the bill, he did have some concerns about the concept.

“I don’t know the bill,” said Williams. “I don’t know the limitations or parameters. I don’t know who gets to be armed, or how much training they have. Many of the police officers who do school policing are not necessarily candidates that have graduated from the law enforcement schools.”

He pointed to the death of 8-year-old Fanta Bility who was hit by gunfire from three now-former Sharon Hill officers. They reacted to shots fired by two teenagers who were fighting down the block and fired into people leaving a game.

“Unfortunately, I have to say this, you know, we had police officers that were not trained at a sporting event that led to significant tragedy and the death of a child in Delaware County,” said Williams. “So just having someone there without proper training does not guarantee anyone’s safety.”

Regan argues the state must step up.

“We require our children to attend school; therefore, it is incumbent upon us to do everything we can to secure them while they are there,” Regan said. “Failure to enact this bill would leave our schools, teachers, and students more vulnerable to attack. That is too great a risk that we just cannot take.”

Since 2018, the General Assembly has appropriated $800 million in grant funds to help districts pay for school safety and security upgrades. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, about half of the commonwealth’s 500 school districts have taken advantage of that funding to put armed officers in schools.

“Many school districts haven’t done what is considered by school security experts as the most effective method of deterring acts of violence, and that is putting an armed, trained, and vetted officer in every building. The time to fix that is now, before another school falls victim to a heinous act of violence,” Regan said.

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Actions speak louder than words in politics and almost everything else in life. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s recent actions tell the story of a politician who sold out parents and students to appease special interests.

Too many students in Pennsylvania are trapped in underperforming schools. Regardless of how hard these students try or how much their parents care, these children are unlikely to receive the quality education they deserve simply because they are trapped in the school district their address dictates, the address their parents can afford.

Many of these students live in low-income households. Their parents cannot afford to send them to a different school. These children lack access to the educational opportunities that are their birthright as residents of Pennsylvania.

My colleagues in the state Senate and I heard their stories, and we acted. We included $100 million in this year’s state budget to create a new program specifically designed to help these children. This $100 million is on top of the historic increase in education funding. Yes, that is right, the Senate budget increased public school funding by historic levels, the highest levels of public school funding in the state’s history. Shapiro acknowledged this fact in his press conference on the budget passed by the Senate. So saying the Senate is not doing enough to fund public education is simply not true, a point the governor acknowledged.

The Pennsylvania Award for Student Success (PASS) program money is new and not taken from any existing state program or service. This funding would be in addition to the record levels of state support for education already included in this year’s budget. To reiterate, the budget passed by the Senate spends more money on public education than any budget in Pennsylvania state history. Vetoing the PASS program provides ZERO additional dollars for public schools and only penalizes the students who can least afford it.

The new PASS program would provide scholarships of up to $15,000 to students in low-income households living in underperforming school districts.

Low-income households would be defined as those earning 250% or less of the federal poverty threshold, which would be $75,000 for a family of four. Underperforming school districts would include the lowest 15% of school districts based on performance on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests.

During his campaign for governor last year, Shapiro supported these scholarships, saying, “I’m for making sure we give parents the ability [to] put their kids in the best situation for them to be able to succeed.”

The governor’s actions, unfortunately, undermine his words. When the Senate approved, and the House agreed to a state budget bill including the $100 million for these new scholarships, Shapiro promised to eliminate the funding from the final budget he plans to sign into law.

The governor promised to kill the program after he received pressure from powerful teachers’ unions and other liberal special interest groups.

The famous American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Your actions speak so loud, I cannot hear what you are saying.” Pennsylvanians find themselves being deafened by Shapiro’s callous disregard for the educational opportunities many families are desperate for to give their children a chance for a brighter future.

Pennsylvania parents and students have heard Shapiro, but more importantly, they are seeing his actions. The governor’s veto destroys this program single-handedly, and slams closed the door of educational opportunity for these low-income students. PASS funds students, not failing systems.

First, their schools failed them. Now their governor is failing them.

Pennsylvania parents and students deserve a governor whose actions are as admirable as his words.