The Butler Area School District is filing a lawsuit against Governor Tom Wolf and the Secretaries of Health and Education saying their latest order is not within their powers.
The school board approved the lawsuit filed by local attorney Tom King. He says the attestation form that was imposed upon districts is not within Wolf’s power under the emergency powers act.
“The [Governor and Secretaries] invented a form that is, in our opinion, a way of attempting to usurp the power of local school boards and circumvent the legislature of Pennsylvania,” King said.
The attestation form lays out guidelines specific for how schools should operate when COVID cases are confirmed inside their buildings. The Butler school board signed the form under protest last month.
“Butler’s school directors decided to stand up for local control of public school districts, and to assert their rights under the public school code of Pennsylvania,” King said.
King believes that Wolf and his administration does not have the authority to issue a form like this.
“He can override regulation of things like how you get supplies to people if there’s a fire, hurricane, or earthquake,” King said. “But in an emergency he has no power to override the laws of Pennsylvania. He can’t take the powers invested in schools and school boards.”
The lawsuit was filed in the state’s Commonwealth Court and will be paid for by the Butler Area School District’s legal fund.
A call to Gov. Wolf’s office was not immediately returned.
