Will Richman join SRC in charter-school vote?

Will Estelle B. Richman be a member of the School Reform Commission on Wednesday, when the panel meets to consider three new charter-school applications? Probably.

But whether she'll vote on the applications is up in the air.

Richman, nominated to the board by Gov. Wolf, appeared before the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday. Her nomination was voted out of committee Tuesday night.

In the best-case scenario, the full Senate will vote her onto the SRC on Wednesday. Richman said SRC staff members had been asked to have a notary lined up so she can be sworn in before the 4 p.m. SRC meeting.

"I would walk into the meeting with two hours' notice," Richman said. "I will not have been briefed on the charters."

Richman said she did not know whether she would be able to bring herself up to speed on the charter applications in time and whether she would vote on or abstain from the applications.

The full Senate also might not take up her nomination, in which case the earliest she could be seated on the SRC is March.

The School District's charter office raised concerns about each of the three applications -- for Friendship Whittier, Deep Roots, and KIPP Parkside -- but will not make recommendations about whether the SRC should approve or deny the charter applications.

Richman, a former state public welfare secretary, city managing director, and senior adviser at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, said she was eager to get on with her work.

Questions at her hearing, she said, were similar to ones she fielded in private meetings with the 12 members of the education committee. They centered on school choice, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers' contract, and the future of the SRC.

"They've probably asked about charters in every way they can think of asking," Richman said. The Harrisburg Republican majority has a keen interest in expanding charter schools in the city. "The reality is, I'm not categorically against anything," she said.

Richman said she favored school choice and "good schools that are held accountable for their outcomes."

She said she told the senators that she favored "teachers being paid a fair wage," but also believed that PFT members need to begin paying toward their health insurance. City teachers are approaching four years without a contract.

The senators asked whether she believed the SRC should be removed from its role as the district's governing body, a push by many in recent years. Eventually, she said, but not yet.

"I'm not sure my first order of business," she said, "will be to put myself out of business."