What Tommy Tomlinson Doesn't Know

I’m a Democrat. I won’t pretend to be something I am not, and I am not going to write an op-ed describing my hemming and hawing about who I plan to vote for to represent us in the State Senate. No--what I’ll tell you is the story of the straw that broke the camel’s back for me, and why now, more than ever before, I am sure voting for Tina Davis is the right decision

In mid-September, I attended a seminar on school funding hosted by Senator Tomlinson. As a School Board Director in Bensalem, I welcomed the opportunity to meet with our State Senator so I could share some of the funding struggles Bensalem is facing. While discussing our serious charter school funding crisis, Tomlinson, in front of a whole room of people, exclaimed that he had “no idea” that the charter funding problem was so serious in Bensalem! He didn’t say it once. He said it three times--twice in front of the same group of people, and once to me privately.

When I ran for school board, I did so with the promise that I would be an advocate for our students and our schools. I expect our State Senators and Representatives to do the same in Harrisburg. At face value, Tomlinson’s senior status on the Senate Education Committee should work in Bensalem’s favor, but only if he is truly aware of the problems we face.

Senator Tomlinson, after 24 years in the State Senate I expect you to know what’s going on in your district. In fact, as a former Board Member and a member of the Education Committee, I expect you to know it better than anyone else. But sadly, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Based on our conversations and your own lack of knowledge of the organizations who donate to you ($7,500 in 2010 from Students First PAC, a major charter lobby firm), it’s clear that you are in fact, beholden to the charter lobby and no friend to Bensalem School District. While I don’t believe that you have intentionally worked to hurt public education in Bensalem, your ignorance or indifference to our current situation and the policies passed that brought us here is beyond disappointing--it’s disqualifying.

But now we know what Tomlinson doesn’t know. We don’t need another 4 years of indifference. We need a fresh set of eyes on a problem that has been brewing for 24 years.

We need Tina Davis.