Pa. school board chair is quitting Posted on July 25th
HARRISBURG - The chairman of the State Board of Education is stepping down at the request of Gov. Rendell.
Karl Girton said in a resignation letter sent to the governor Tuesday that he would resign from the 22-member board, which sets state education policy and regulations, on Aug. 1.
Both Girton and a spokesman for Rendell said his stepping down had nothing to do with his support for a controversial graduation requirement sidelined by the legislature. Rendell supports the requirement.
In an interview, Girton said he would continue to advocate for uniform and rigorous statewide graduation standards for students, including a set of statewide tests.
Girton said the issue would not go away. “I think at some point in time people will get together and say this is the right thing for the students of this commonwealth,” he said. “The disappointment is that the system is failing tens of thousands of students by granting them diplomas that do not represent what they think it represents or what employers expect.”
Girton said that he had been offered a chance to resign as chairman but stay on the board until his term expires in November 2009. But “the board needed to coalesce around a new chair,” he said.
Girton’s departure follows months of criticism of a board proposal that Pennsylvania students meet statewide graduation standards before they can graduate high school.
The board’s plan to adopt new graduation requirements, including a set of state tests, was delayed by at least a year by the legislature amid opposition from many lawmakers, school board members, and educators who said the proposed rules would undermine the policymaking authority of local school boards.
The board envisioned creating 10 subject-specific final high school exams, and students who did not pass the PSSAs, comparable Advanced Placement tests, or International Baccalaureate tests would have to pass six in order to graduate, starting with the Class of 2014. Failing students could be retested.
In an effort to win broader support for the idea, the state Education Department is planning to develop tests that school districts can administer voluntarily, starting in the 2009-10 school year.
Rendell’s spokesman Chuck Ardo said yesterday that the governor’s request that Girton step down had nothing to do with the controversy.
“The governor felt that the appointment of this new contingent of board members would be an opportune time to consider appointing a new state board chair,” Ardo said.
Seventeen of the board’s members are nominated by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate. Eight new board members were confirmed to fill vacancies in April - the largest number of new members since Rendell took office, Ardo said.
In his resignation letter, Girton said his 17 years on the board “have brought some of the most rewarding experiences of my life.”
“I would like to believe that in that time we made things better for the students of our commonwealth,” Girton wrote.
Girton, a partner with a management-services company in Millville and a Republican, was first appointed to the board by Gov. Robert P. Casey. Girton was appointed chairman of the board by Gov. Mark S. Schweiker in 2002.
Girton is a former Millville Area school board member and former director of the Susquehanna Intermediate Unit, a regional education agency, in Snyder County.
Inquirer staff writer Dan Hardy contributed to this article.
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