This week we bring to you, Kevin M. McKenna, as we continue to introduce members of the PCPCS staff. He is Managing Shareholder of the Exton office of Latsha Davis & McKenna P.C. and is the Chairman of the firm’s education practice group. Mr. McKenna has been representing charter schools throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for nearly two decades and also serves as General Counsel for the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools. Under his guidance, Latsha Davis & McKenna’s clients have enjoyed continued success in cases before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Commonwealth Court, Courts of Common Pleas, and the State Charter School Appeal Board (CAB). Some highlights include the following:

• Successfully defended charter schools against the imposition of an illegal cap on
enrollment in Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania (2015).

• Defeated school district’s attempt to modify the per-pupil subsidies for regular education students attending both brick-and-mortar charter schools and cyber charter schools in Delaware County Court of Common Pleas (2015).

• Extended renewal terms of four charter schools for five years after the district tried to
impose a one year charter in contravention of Charter School Law in Allegheny Court of Common Pleas (2016).

• Helped the Coalition and charter schools throughout the state recover subsidies in
excess of Twenty Million Dollars ($20,000,000) after the state failed to redirect subsidies
during a historic budget impasse in Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania (2016-
Present).

• Won the right for existing charter schools to file new applications to change material
terms in their charters in Pennsylvania Supreme Court (2017).

• Helped win the right for cyber charter schools to exist in the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania (2004).

Mr. McKenna is currently litigating the following:

• Assisted in recovering in excess of Two Million Dollars ($2,000,000) in state subsidies on behalf of charter schools against a proposed reduction in funding due to a school district use of “actual” expenditures instead of the “budgeted” expenditures in making the subsidies calculation.

• Filed an Amicus Curiae Brief in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in support of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools in opposition to a restrictive covenant preventing a charter school from buying a school district property.

• Filed an Amicus Curiae Brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in regards to parents attorney’s fees and school district placement of students with special education services.

• Has assisted charter school applicants statewide to obtain new charters, including in Philadelphia, since the School Reform Commission reopened the renewal process in the School District of Philadelphia.

Mr. McKenna is involved in reviewing and drafting proposed legislation regarding charter schools on behalf of the Coalition.

He also regularly speaks at educational forums across the country on topics such as ethics and the responsibilities of public school boards and is a member of the Education Law Association, iNACOL, and numerous bar associations.

Mr. McKenna is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, Ohio, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Mr. McKenna most recently served as an expert to the Pennsylvania State Senate in Jake Corman, et al. v. NCAA and Penn State University (2014) and previously as an expert on behalf of the Plaintiff in Jerry Tarkanian, et al. v. NCAA , et al. (1998).

He has also served as an adjunct college professor teaching education law. He also practices in the areas of litigation, Environmental Superfund and toxic tort litigation, sports law, Workers’ Compensation and insurance defense. Mr. McKenna also conducts independent internal investigations, including Title IX.

He received his B.A. from Villanova University and earned his J.D. from Villanova University School of Law.