A PASCU Chapter at Each PASSHE University - Part 7

The Relationship between PASSHE and PASCU

 
In recent blog posts we have been trying to identify every option available to citizens whose elected officials fail to enforce a law that would benefit them—if enforced—but whose failure to enforce the law harms them greatly.  
 

The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE)

PASSHE is the 14-University system of taxpayer-supported institutions of higher education that includes Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester Universities.

PASSHE’s statutory purpose, and the most important reason for its existence, is “To provide high quality education at the lowest possible cost to the students.”

The Pennsylvania Association of State Colleges and Universities (PASCU)

 
PASCU is a non-partisan, non-profit association of citizens founded in June of 2012 that is committed to preserving the historic purpose of public higher education in Pennsylvania so that individual students, communities, and society at large may be enriched in perpetuity.

PASCU’s Mission is: “To ensure that the statutory purpose of public higher education in Pennsylvania as specified by Act 188 of 1982: ‘High Quality Education at the Lowest Possible Cost to the Students,’ is indefinitely preserved and faithfully delivered.”

PASCU’s Challenge - Redux

A comparison of PASCU’s mission with PASSHE’s statutory purpose reveals that PASCU seeks to preserve and deliver something already mandated by law!  And while PASCU’s mission might then seem redundant at first, the facts that elected and appointed officials who control PASSHE have neither preserved nor delivered Act 188’s statutory purpose since 2002 make PASCU’s existence and mission extremely necessary, rather than redundant, for many affected citizens.      

 
PASCU’s challenge is to answer this question:  "What options exist for those citizens whose elected officials, aided by their political appointees, choose to ignore the law as written, to the detriment of those citizens?"
 
So far we have looked into legislative censure or impeachment, as well as the filing of complaints with the Office of Inspector General and the Office of General Counsel, both of which report directly to the Governor of the State who may in fact be directly involved in the malfeasance being alleged against the other officials who control PASSHE.
 
For that reason, we will now look at two State agencies that do not report to the Governor and are, in fact, directed by independently elected State officials.  I refer to the Offices of Auditor General and Attorney General.

The Office of Auditor General

According to its website: 
“The Pennsylvania Department of the Auditor General is the chief fiscal watchdog of the commonwealth.  It is responsible for using audits to ensure that all state money is spent legally and properly.

The auditor general was created by an act of the General Assembly in 1809. The auditor general was appointed by the governor until 1850, when it became an elected office. The auditor general can serve a maximum of two, four-year terms.  Eugene A. DePasquale is Pennsylvania’s 51^st elected auditor general.

The mission of the Department of the Auditor General is to serve the people of Pennsylvania by improving government accountability, transparency, and the effective use of taxpayer dollars.

What we audit

The department is responsible for three types of audits:

Financial Audits – Help ensure the reliability of financial information on which much of the state government operates.
Performance Audits - Gauge whether or not government programs and activities are meeting stated goals and objectives, and if tax dollars are being spent efficiently and effectively.” (Emphasis added.)

The fact that PASSHE is not currently meeting its statutory purpose of “high quality education at the lowest possible cost to the students” would seem to fall under the Performance Audit responsibility of the Office of Auditor General.    

The Office of Attorney General

 
According to the Office of Attorney General website:
 
“The Commonwealth Attorneys Act establishes the Attorney General as the chief legal and law enforcement officer of the  Commonwealth and provides [in part] the following fundamental duties and responsibilities of the Office of Attorney general:
 
·         To be the Commonwealth’s chief law enforcement officer charged with the responsibility for the prosecution of organized crime and public corruption.  This law enforcement program includes a criminal investigations unit and drug law enforcement program as well as direction of Statewide and multi-county investigating grand juries and a Medicaid Fraud Control Section.

·       To represent the Commonwealth and all Commonwealth agencies and upon request the Auditor General, State Treasurer and Public Utility Commission in any action brought by or against the Commonwealth or its agencies; to furnish upon request legal advice to the Governor or the head of any Commonwealth agency.

·         To review for form and legality all proposed rules and regulations for Commonwealth agencies.  (Emphasis added.)

 
The fact that PASSHE has enacted rules and regulations that contradict its statutory purpose of “high quality education at the lowest possible cost to the students” would seem to indicate that the Office of Attorney General has both the authority and the responsibility to challenge the legality of those PASSHE rules and regulations which may be contrary to PASSHE’s official statutory purpose as specified by Act 188.

For the above reasons, PASCU will contact both the Office of Auditor General and the Office of Attorney General to alert both offices to the failure of the PASSHE Board of Governors to preserve or deliver the Act 188 statutory purpose of public higher education in Pennsylvania since 2002.  We will provide updates on this blog regarding whatever responses PASCU’s receives, if any, from these State agencies.

 
To be continued.