COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION

IN RE:

APPLICATION OF ERIE COUNTY Docket No. 2019-001

SEEKING TO ESTABLISH A
COMMUNITY COLLEGE

ERIE COUNTY’S ANSWER TO INTERYENOR

NORTHERN PENNSYLVANIA REGIONAL COLLEGE’S OBJECTION TO
APPLICATION TO SUPPLEMENT HEARING EXHIBITS OF INTERVENOR
EMPOWER ERIE, LLC

Erie County, by and through its undersigned counsel, hereby files this Answer to

Intervenor Northern Pennsylvania Regional College’s (“NPRC”) Objection to Application to

Supplement Hearing Exhibits of Intervenor Empower Erie, LLC (“Objection”) and in support

thereof, avers as follows:

1. Admitted.

2. This paragraph does not contain any factual averments that require a response. In

further answer, Erie County submits that there is no valid basis for NPRC’s objection.

3. Admitted.

4. Admitted.

5. Admitted.

6. Denied as stated. The relevant considerations for this Board are stated in Article

XIX-A of the Public School Code, which speaks for itself.

7. Denied as stated. Empower Erie’s application speaks for itself.

 8. Denied. The report speaks for itself as to its contents. In further answer, the

report speaks towards the unmet need for post-secondary education and workforce training in

Erie County, which is not adequately served by established institutions of higher learning, and

which can be most appropriately met by the establishment of a bricks and mortar public

community college.

9. Denied. The inquiry before this Board is whether Erie County’s Plan meets the

requirements of Article XIX-A of the Public School Code, one of which is whether there is an

unmet need in Erie County that is not adequately served by established institutions of higher

learning. The training and education of the population to enter into the workforce is at the core

of higher education.

10. Denied. The report speaks for itself as to the process undertaken, and the research

involved, in reaching the conclusions set forth therein, which include a need for a bricks and

mortar community college in Erie County. In further answer, the report was identified promptly

after it was issued. Empower Erie could not identify as an exhibit a report before it existed.

11. Denied as stated. Empower Erie simply pointed out in its Application that NPRC

has two representatives serving on the steering committee that assisted in the study resulting in

the report, and therefore had knowledge of its existence, eliminating any argument that NPRC

was unaware of the report or its findings.

12. This paragraph does not contain any factual averments that require a response.

13. Denied as stated. The report was not finalized until May 4, 2020. NPRC is well

aware of that fact, as it had two representatives sitting on the steering committee that participated

in the study, including reviewing the initial draft of the report and providing comments on same

prior to it being finalized.

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 14. Denied. Erie County is without information sufficient to determine the truth of

the averments of this paragraph, and therefore must deny same.

15. Denied. Erie County is without information sufficient to determine the truth of

the averments of this paragraph, and therefore denies same. In further answer, the report is not a

survey, but a study. The report speaks for itself as to its conclusions, and the basis for same.

This Board can determine for itself the weight to afford to those conclusions, but should have the

opportunity to consider the information contained therein.

16. Denied. Erie County incorporates by reference its answer to paragraph 15 in

further response.

17. Denied. The final report concludes that there is a need for a bricks and mortar

community college that NPRC is not meeting. NPRC’s educational offerings were considered

in reaching that conclusion.

18. Denied as stated. Empower Erie’s Application speaks for itself, and NPRC’s

characterization of same is specifically denied. In further answer, Ms. Bula was a member of the

steering committee for the study that produced the report, which NPRC admits.

19. Denied as stated. It is denied that Empower Erie’s Application was misleading in

any regard. In further answer Ms. Bula was a member of the steering committee and had some

involvement with regard to the report. Erie County does not know what specific role that Ms.

Bula played with regard to the report, aside from what the report itself states. Erie County

incorporates by reference the contents of the report in further answer.

20. Denied. Erie County is without knowledge sufficient to determine the truth of the

averments this paragraph, and therefore must deny same. In further answer, whether or not Ms.

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Bula or Mr. Jackson had a copy of the final report prior to the filing of Empower Erie’s

application should have no bearing on whether the report should be considered by this Board.

21. Denied. The report contains conclusions and recommendations, one of which is

that Erie County needs a bricks and mortar community college. There is nothing inaccurate or

misleading about that.

22. This paragraph contains only conclusions of law that require no response. In

further answer, and to the extent that NPRC is stating or implying that the report is not relevant

to the matters before this Board, the averment is denied. To the contrary, the report speaks

directly to the whether the local sponsor (Erie County) is not adequately served by established

institutions of higher education; one of the very elements that NPRC states in its Objection is a

relevant consideration before this Board.

23. Erie County incorporates by reference its answer to paragraph 22.

24. Erie County incorporates by reference its answer to paragraph 22. In further

answer, Erie County agrees that this Board has broad discretion to admit evidence in this

administrative proceeding.

25. Denied. The report speaks directly to the whether the local sponsor (Erie County)

is not adequately served by established institutions of higher education, from the perspective of

the business, manufacturing and industrial sectors. This is one of the very elements that NPRC

states in its Objection is a relevant consideration before this Board.

26. Denied. It is denied that Empower Erie’s Application was misleading in any way

or purported to use the report for any improper purpose. Empower Erie’s Application (which

itself is not evidence), merely indicated its request to add the report to its list of exhibits for the

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hearing, and to explain the timing and basis for that request. Erie County incorporates by

reference its answer to paragraph 19 in further response.

27. Denied. This paragraph contains conclusions of law that require no response. In

further answer, the case cited by NPRC addresses the evidentiary rules applicable to court

proceedings — not administrative hearings. Finally, to the extent that NPRC is suggesting that it

has suffered from unfair surprise, that suggestion is denied. The report was only finalized at the

beginning of May, 2020. Additionally, NPRC cannot be surprised by a report that they knew

about, and participated in reviewing a draft of, before it was finalized.

28. Admitted.

29. Denied as stated. The role of the hearing examiner is set forth in 1 Pa. Code

Chapter 35, tire contents of which speak for itself.

30. Denied as stated. It is admitted that this Board has the discretion to determine the

admissibility of evidence for this proceeding. It is denied that the proposed exhibit has been

untimely proffered as (1) the hearing has not commenced; (2) the exhibit is newly discovered

evidence from a third party that was not in the possession of Empower Erie or Erie County prior

to May 4, 2020; (3) the exhibit bears directly upon the matters before this Board; (4) the exhibit

report (and the study that preceded it) was commissioned by an independent third party in the

furtherance of its own mission, and not for the purposes of this hearing; and (5) NPRC had some

level of participation in the study that produced the report.

31. Denied. The report is not an expert report of any party to this proceeding. To the

contrary, the report is the result of a third party commissioned study and provides relevant data

that this Board should consider when evaluating Erie County’s Plan. For the reasons stated

above, the report has been timely identified, given that it was only recently issued and made

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available. This Board should not be denied the opportunity to hear from the Erie County

business, industrial and manufacturing community on this important issue.

WHEREFORE, Erie County respectfully requests that this Board deny Intervenor

Northern Pennsylvania Regional College’s Objection to Application to Supplement Hearing

Exhibits of Intervenor Empower Erie, LLC.

Pa. Supreme Court I.D. No. 72680

POST & SCHELL, P.C.
17 North Second Street, 12th Floor
Harrisburg, PA 17101
JKutz@postschell.com
MWinfield@postschell.com
Telephone: (717)731-1970
Facsimile: (717)731-1985

Attorneys for County of Erie

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 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that I have this date caused a true and correct copy of the foregoing

document to be served upon the following as indicated below:

Via Email & First Class U.S. Mail, Postage Prepaid:

Adam L. Santucci, Esquire David C. Hittinger, Jr., Esquire

McNees, Wallace & Nurick, LLC
100 Pine Street, P. O. Box 1166
Harrisburg, PA 17108
asantucci@mcneeslaw.com
Attorneys for Intervenor
Senator Joseph Scarnati, III
Mark Stewart, Esquire
Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC
213 Market Street, 8th Floor
Harrisburg, PA 17101
nhittinger@eckerseamans.com
Attorney for Intervenor Empower Erie

Thomas P. Howell, Deputy General Counsel Kevin L. Hall, Esquire

Governor’s Office of General Counsel Tucker Arensberg, P.C.
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 2 Lemoyne Drive, Suite 200
333 Market Street, 17th Floor Lemoyne, PA 17043
Harrisburg, PA 17101 khall@tuckerlaw.com
thowell@pa.gov Attorney for Intervenor
Counsel to State Board of Education Northern Pennsylvania Regional College

Dated: June 3, 2020

Michadl W. Winfield, Eisqu Ire
Pa. Supretne Court I.D. \No 72680
POST & SCHELL, P.C.
17 North Second Street, 12th Floor
Harrisburg, PA 17101
Telephone: (717) 612-6024
Facsimile: (717) 720-5393
MWinfield@PostSchell.com
Attorneys for County of Erie