Opinion
No. 224 MAL 2020 No. 230 MAL 2020
09-22-2020
IN RE: PETITION FOR FORMATION OF INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT CONSISTING OF the BOROUGH OF HIGHSPIRE, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania Petition of: Middletown Area School District In re: Petition for Formation of Independent School District Consisting of the Borough of Highspire, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania Petition of: Steelton-Highspire School District
ORDER
PER CURIAM.
AND NOW, this 22nd day of September, 2020, the Petitions for Allowance of Appeal are GRANTED, LIMITED TO the issues set forth below. Allocatur is DENIED as to all remaining issues. The issue, as stated by Petitioner Middletown Area School District, is:
(1) Whether the Commonwealth Court erred in failing to follow its own precedent, as well as Supreme Court precedent, in holding the Secretary of Education could not consider the devastating financial impact a proposed transfer of territory between two school districts would impose upon an already financially-distressed school district?
The issues, as stated by Petitioner Steelton-Highspire School District are:
(1) Whether the Commonwealth Court's reversal of the Secretary of Education's determination that the Petition to create an Independent School District was not meritorious from an educational standpoint was in err when it departed from its own recent precedent?
(2) Whether the Secretary of Education's consideration of the financial impact of the proposed transfer on a school district that has been identified as financially at risk and placed on `Financial Watch Status' is an issue of first impression and accordingly should be reviewed by this Court.
(3) Whether the catastrophic financial impact on a financially at risk school districts' ongoing ability to provide adequate educational services to its current and future students is of substantial importance to the students and their families that will remain in the District.