Education group fined for lobbying violations

THE PHILADELPHIA School Partnership, a nonprofit that promotes school-choice policies, will pay a $1,500 fine to the city Board of Ethics for failing to register and report as a lobbying group in 2012 and early 2013, according to a settlement signed Wednesday.

The group registered as a principal under the city's lobbying law in August and cooperated with the board's investigation, which focused on the year-and-a-half before that time.

Executive Director Mark Gleason and Managing Director Michael Wang should have registered as lobbyists for work they did in early 2013, the settlement said, and the nonprofit failed to file lobbying expenditure reports in 2012 and 2013.

The group has been a significant player in recent years in Philadelphia's charter-school movement and the School District of Philadelphia's handling of "ed reform" issues like seeking labor concessions.