150+ Pennsylvanians Occupied Four Legislative Offices to Demand Accountability from Billionaire-Funded, Anti-Public Education Legislators

150+ community members flooded legislative offices to demand accountability from legislators who have taken money from Jeffrey Yass—PA’s richest man and the main funder of school privatization efforts across the country

Harrisburg, PA – This morning, 150+ people from across Pennsylvania occupied the Capitol offices of Senators Kim Ward, Scott Martin, Anthony Williams, and Jarrett Coleman. Community members—who were allowed into every office, except Senator Coleman’s—confronted staffers of the four elected officials, who have taken hundreds of thousands worth of political contributions from right-wing political donor and the state’s richest man, Jeffrey Yass.

Senator Coleman’s staff asked community members to leave and refused to allow them into the Senator’s office. Senator Scott Martin’s staff also refused to meet or engage with community members. 

See photos & videos from the action here.

Activists presented the senators with large prop checks, asking them to “void” the check and advocate for policies that are the best for kids, not for billionaires. Each of the four state senators are proponents of school voucher policies that siphon public dollars from public education to private, charter, and parochial schools. Data has proven that charter schools are detrimental to academic achievement, are rife with discrimination especially for LGBTQIA students, and fail rural students. 

“Most Pennsylvanians want their tax dollars to fund K-12 public education, housing repairs, and to fight climate change. But the leaders whose offices we are occupying right now aren’t listening to us. They are doing the bidding of the state’s richest man–to privatize schools and give the rich tax breaks,” said Miracle Jones of 1 Hood Pittsburgh. “No one in public office should take money from billionaire Jeff Yass. Whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, Yass has aligned himself with forces funding hate, trying to overturn our democracy and seeking to disenfranchise Black and Brown voters.”

Montgomery County resident Jeff Yass is PA’s richest man and worth almost $30 billion. He is also extremely pro-school privatization. Yass, an avid gambler, uses the money he makes from Wall Street and his stake in Tik Tok to support state legislators–Democrats and Republicans–who will privatize schools. Yass is also tied to former President Trump, and many far right-wing politicians.

Yass and his PACs have given over $1,012,000 to Ward, $911,565 to Martin, $321,500 to Williams, and $883,622 to Coleman. These contributions are almost certainly intended to guarantee that these senators move as much money from public education to private vouchers as possible.

Following the action inside the capitol, coalition members joined a pro-public education rally on the steps, co-hosted by SEIU and the Pennsylvania Federation of Teachers.“Mis hijos y todos los niños de Allentown y de todo Pensilvania merecen que sus escuelas tengan los recursos que necesitan para que los estudiantes puedan prosperar. No deberían tener que lidiar con aulas sobrecalentadas ni comida en mal estado [My kids and all children in Allentown and across Pennsylvania deserve schools with the resources they need. They shouldn’t have to deal with overheated classrooms or spoiled food,]” said Elizabeth Polanco of Make the Road PA at the rally. “Pido a nuestra legislatura que termine el trabajo y no destine dinero a vouchers. Necesitan tomar una decisión entre apoyar el futuro de nuestros hijos o cumplir las ordenes de multimillonarios como Jeffrey Yass [I am calling on our legislature to finish the job and not put money toward vouchers. They need to make a choice to either support our kid’s futures or do the bidding for billionaires like Jeffrey Yass.]”

This morning’s action is the latest move by the #AllEyesOnYass coalition, who have run a years-long campaign to expose the role that Yass has played in undermining Pennsylvania’s democracy. Earlier this year, the coalition launched a pledge—which 21 elected officials have already signed—to get Yass’s money and outsized influence out of Pennsylvania politics. Groups include: 1Hood Power, ACRE Campaigns, PA Working Families, POWER, PA Stands Up, OnePA, Free the Ballot, Make the Road Action PA and more. Organizations have been calling for structural solutions to address billionaires like Yass and corporations from rigging the rules through taxing the rich by abolishing the uniformity clause, passing campaign finance limits, and passing lobbying reform bills like a gift ban.