Ed reform powerhouse violated Philly ethics law, fined $1,500
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
The Philadelphia Board of Ethics today announced that Philadelphia School Partnership (PSP) Executive Director Mark Gleason and Managing Director Mike Wang failed to register as lobbyists. The Board also found that PSP failed to register as a principal (an entity that hires a lobbyist), failed to file certain expense reports in 2012 and 2013, and made "material omissions" in the their 2013 third quarter expense report. Read the settlement agreement here.
PSP was fined a total of $1,500. The ethics board also waived a number of financial penalties and reduced others, citing PSP's cooperation.
The board launched its complaint in response to a December 2013 complaint, which Parents United for Public Education says it filed.
The heated battle over public education in Philadelphia has drawn well-funded organizations to the city that promote a brand of school reform that backs charter-school growth and has fought the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers over issues like work rules and seniority.
PSP, whose board members include conservative political heavyweights and numerous high-profile local figures, received millions of dollars of support from the William Penn Foundation and quickly became one of the city's most powerful forces. The group, alongside its political activities, makes grants to charter, District, and parochial schools.
In December, the ethics board rejected a complaint that the William Penn Foundation was acting as a lobbyist in 2012 when it financed the Boston Consulting Group's work for the District on a controversial "transformation blueprint" calling for a radical overhaul of city schools. That complaint was filed by the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia on behalf of Parents United for Public Education and the Philadelphia NAACP.
In that case, the board did hear from at least one witness who said that former William Penn president Jeremy "Nowak's role as a funding source gave him significant influence with and access to School District officials."
This story will be updates shortly with comments from PSP and Parents United co-founder Helen Gym.
