Pennsylvania State System of Higher Ed taken over by Jeb Bush Acolyte and School Voucher Creator

Source: DailyKos.com

Last week the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) Board of Governors chose Frank Brogan to become the next Chancellor of the 14 public university system. Brogan is currently the Chancellor of the State University System of Florida. Brogan becomes the third consecutive PASSHE Chancellor to make the 14 plus hour drive from Florida to Pennsylvania. Judy Hample, the former Chancellor of the Florida’s State University System, served as PASSHE Chancellor from 2001 to 2008. From 2008 until this past February, former President of West Florida University, John C. Cavanaugh, became the Chancellor that would preside over the longest faculty contract fight in PASSHE history. This “Florida Connection” has helped usher in an approach to public higher education that favors austerity, privatization, and anti-unionism. Unlike every previous Chancellor search, this time around the Board of Governors decided to pass a new policy that required members of the chancellor search committee to sign confidentiality agreements. According to the new policy, passed unanimously on January 11, 2013,

"Preserving confidentiality in the search for a Chancellor is essential to recruiting and retaining the most qualified candidates. All applications and deliberations about individual applications shall remain wholly confidential until the appointment of a new Chancellor is publicly announced. Each member of the search committee must agree to maintain this confidentiality. The Chancellor Search Committee Chair may at his or her sole discretion remove from the committee who violates confidentiality."

PASSHE’s new policy, ensured that the public, faculty, students, parents, and citizens of the Commonwealth would be denied access to deliberations and a thorough vetting of prospective candidates. After the white smoke rose from the Dixon Center on Wednesday, August 7, PASSHE issued a statement on its webpage introducing Frank Brogan as the next chancellor and explaining the Board’s decision.

Read more: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/08/16/1231602/-Pennsylvania-State-System-of-Higher-Ed-taken-over-by-Jeb-Bush-Acolyte-and-School-Voucher-Creator#

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There has been a lot of talk about increasing pressure on Teachers unions in PA. Corbett's dedication to destroying public education very well might be the straw that breaks the camels back now that the infamous Frank Brogan is being named chancellor of education.

Brogan is a typical austerity ghoul, private charter school supporter and was part of the conservative group that created the "common core" curriculum which is devastating on students and teachers.

I really hope to find some sort of mass movement in PA, because living here scares me. I am surrounded by Tea Partiers; the OccupyPA movement was dead long ago and I do not see anything that could really be called a movement.