Civic & Historical Framework
WHO ELSE ARE THE TAXPAYERS SERVING?
Public education is funded by taxpayers to serve students. This page tracks a narrower, adjacent question: what else does that same funding reach, in what form, and how visible is the route?
Every entry below started the same way — not as an accusation, but as a question that happened to sit inside a different one already being asked. Nothing here presumes wrongdoing. A private association funded by public dues, or a curriculum contract with terms few people ever read, is not inherently improper. The question is only whether the public paying for it can find it.
Each entry is marked by what has actually been confirmed, not by what seems likely. Some are settled. Some are partial. Some are named and set aside, deliberately, until there’s reason to open them further.
PSBA: private 501(c)(4), EIN 23-6003238. Membership is institutional — the district joins as a whole upon a director’s election, not the individual director personally. Dues are paid from district (public) funds, confirmed both by PSBA’s own published funding sources and independently by a sitting board director. PSBA’s own FAQ states it “is not in a position to assist with citizen inquiries.”
PASA (superintendents) appears structurally similar to PSBA, though not yet independently confirmed to the same standard. PAESSP (principals) is structurally different: membership is individual, not institutional — a principal joins and pays personally, per PAESSP’s own constitution. Whether that cost is then reimbursed through a district’s Act 93 compensation plan is a district-by-district question, not a statewide fact. Compare to the clergy housing-allowance structure: the routing differs (direct payment vs. personal payment with reimbursement), but the ultimate source of funds may not. Not yet resolved for any specific district.
A parallel mechanism, not yet examined: contracts, adoption processes, and incentive structures surrounding curriculum, textbooks, and digital learning platforms procured with public education funds. Flagged as belonging to the same family of question — public money, private terms, uncertain visibility — but governed by a different body of law (procurement and contracting, not RTKL or ADA) and requiring its own separate research pass before anything here is asserted.
This page grows as entries are confirmed, not on a fixed schedule. No entry represents a final word.
Administrative Literacy Series · CulturalContrarianPMA.org