Opinion
No. 68 MM 2007.
June 1, 2007.
ORDER
AND NOW, this 1st day of June 2007, Petitioners' Expedited Application in the Nature of a Petition for Writ of Prohibition is hereby DENIED. AND NOW, this 1st day of June 2007, Petitioners' Expedited Application for Reinstatement of Automatic Supersedeas is hereby DENIED, without prejudice to their ability to pursue a stay or supersedeas in the Commonwealth Court,see Pa.R.A.P. 1732(a), under prevailing law. See Pennsylvania Public Utility Comm'n v. Process Gas Consumers Group, 467 A.2d 805 (Pa. 1983).
On March 8, 2007, the Secretary of the Department of Education issued a "Declaration Concerning Reestablishment of Sound Financial Structure in Chester-Upland School District," which had the effect of dissolving the SBOC and, thereby, ending its control of the Chester-Upland School District. See 24 P.S. § 6-692 (providing that the special board of control operates "during the period necessary to reestablish a sound financial structure"). The Commonwealth Court's orders of April 16 and April 17, 2007, implicitly recognized the plain terms of the Declaration by approving the settlement agreement entered into by the Department and the Empowerment Board and by granting the Department's request to substitute the Empowerment Board for Petitioners in all pending litigation. When Petitioners appealed the court's substitution and settlement agreement orders, no automatic supersedeas came into effect because, in the absence of a demonstrated defect in the Department's declaration, Petitioners were no longer officers of a "political subdivision" under Rule of Appellate Procedure 1736(a) and were thereby not entitled to an automatic supersedeas under Rule 1736(b).