The American Federation for Children today
congratulated Joe Watkins, a strong school choice advocate, on his appointment
as chief financial recovery officer of the Chester Upland School District in
Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Ronald Tomalis
made the appointment on Friday, according to the Delaware
County Daily Times.
Watkins is chairman of Students First Pennsylvania,
an advocacy group that has worked tirelessly to bring strong educational
options to Keystone State families. The
group was integral in working with the state legislature and the governor to expand
the highly-popular Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program and to
create a new scholarship tax credit program for students stuck in the state’s
worst-performing schools.
While Watkins will be leaving his position at
Students First PA, in his new role, he will be able to provide greater educational
opportunity to the nearly 4,500 students in the Chester Upland School District.
Under the Financial Recovery Legislation for
Schools, which was enacted alongside the expansion of EITC and creation of the
Educational Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit, the secretary of education
could place the school district in financial recovery status. As chief financial recovery officer, Watkins
has the ability to close schools, cut staff, and transform public schools into
charter schools.
