Lawmakers stick up for Safe Schools Advocate

Two state legislators wrote to state education officials yesterday objecting to their shuttering of Philadelphia's Safe Schools Advocate's Office. In the letter, State Reps. John Taylor (R., Phila.) and Bill Keller (D., Phila.) told Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak that they were troubled by his "use of the current budget crisis as justification to close a legally mandated office with a yearly budget allocation of $387,000."

"To do this, especially just a few weeks before the beginning of school, is unacceptable," Taylor said yesterday.

A spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Education dismissed the legislators' claims. "With all due respect to them, we differ on the interpretation of the statute," Michael Race said. "The position isn't statutorially required. The function of the office is statutorially required, and it's our intention to continue to carry out those functions regardless of the furloughs necessitated by the budget."

State officials last week ordered safe-schools advocate Jack Stollsteimer and two other office employees to stop working, though they will remain on the state payroll through Aug. 28. Stollsteimer has said the move was political retaliation for his willingness to tell the truth about problems in city schools. - Kristen Graham