Colin McNickle At Large

Tone deafness at Pittsburgh Public Schools (& Other Matters of Public Policy)

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Good grief. Pittsburgh Public Schools are in horrendous administrative and academic disarray, according to a recent report by the Council of the Great City Schools. But how is the vice president of the school board busying herself?

By introducing a resolution that would make the district the commonwealth’s first to declare itself a “sanctuary” campus, the Post-Gazette reports. That is, the district, on its grounds, would give protection, or “sanctuary,” to illegal student aliens from federal immigration authorities.

It’s considered a symbolic move. That’s because immigration authorities already typically shy away from enforcement actions at schools. And, as the P-G notes, the state bars the district from asking about immigration status when students are enrolled.

The “sanctuary” resolution was introduced on Jan. 18 by board vice president Moira Kaleida. It would bar immigration agents from school grounds without the permission of the district’s law department or the superintendent, the P-G reports.

Kaleida says her resolution comes “out of fear” that the Trump administration would — GASP! — start enforcing immigration laws.

What an outrage. What tone deafness. And from a district just roundly panned by the Council of the Great City Schools for having failed students and taxpayers for at least the last decade, academically and administratively.

Allegheny Institute President Jake Haulk has called on the state Department of Education to consider taking over the district based on the many failings outlined in the council’s report. Kaleida’s nonsense only punctuates the need.

All that said, legislation has been introduced in Congress to strip colleges and universities of federal financial aid that declare themselves to be “sanctuary campuses.”

The Pennsylvania Legislature should consider companion legislation for public schools in the commonwealth also attempting to thumb their noses at the rule of law. Pittsburgh Public Schools should be at the top of the list.

The New York Times editorialized that Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt should be rejected as the next head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “(He) has built his career attacking the very agency he would run,” The Times laments.

Well, if any agency needs to be “attacked,” it’s this rogue agency that repeatedly has exceeded its legal warrant, as prescribed (and proscribed) by Congress.

Of course, there should be environmental regulations. But the federal EPA for far too long has had a nasty habit of making its own rules out of whole cloth. The rule of law has been nothing more than an annoying bump in the road to environmental tyranny for the EPA. It must stop.

It’s more than a bit disconcerting to think that more than a few conservatives are having a difficult time understanding how the new president’s call for “insurance for everybody” does not involve what would be a disastrous single-payer system.

Cue the tutorial for “market economics.” But it appears Keith Rothfus won’t need it. The Western Pennsylvania congressman tells the Post-Gazette that ObamaCare must be replaced with a model featuring more choice and flexibility — and more competition. Good for him. And good for his constituents.

Despite what all those command, single-payer and government economists shout, it’s the competitive marketplace model that will lower costs.

Speaking of competition, Pennsylvania’s 1,200 beer distributors now can sell six-packs, growlers and single 32-ounce bottles.

Some had complained that the move to allow beer sales outside the distributorship system — think grocery and convenience stores — had put them at a competitive disadvantage (never mind their long monopoly on beer sales by the case and keg).

Now the playing field is being leveled. Or perhaps the better term is “re-leveled.”

There are media reports of distributors beefing up their physical plants — with new display racks and coolers, among other things — to better serve their customers and to attempt to regain, keep or better their market share.

This is how it should be in a market economy.

Colin McNickle is a senior fellow and media specialist at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).

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Colin McNickle
Colin McNickle

Colin received his B.G.S. from Ohio University. The 40-year journalism veteran joined the Institute in October 2016. That followed a 22-year career with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 18 as director of editorial pages for Trib Total Media. Prior that, Colin had a long and varied career in media — from radio, newspapers and magazines, to United Press International and The Associated Press.

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