For months, the local school board, parents and students have been fighting to retain local control of York City School District in the face of a state takeover and privatization. Just days before the year ended, a York County judge put one legal fight to rest, ruling that the state does have the authority to take over the district and hand it to Charter Schools USA to run.

The York City School District and teachers unions in the area have appealed the judge's decision.

If the state pushes forward with its plan and wins its legal battles, York will become the first district in Pennsylvania to turn all charter, and one of just a few in the entire country.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett has supported the state takeover while Governor-elect Tom Wolf, who hails from York, has opposed it without given specifics on how he would act if the plan is implemented.

“I’m pre-disclosed to think that the best way to deliver education in any locality is to have decision makers that know how to do that, but in the hands of people at the local levels,” Wolf said in a meeting with press earlier this month. Wolf also said that he supported disbanding the School Reform Commission and returning to local control of Philadelphia schools.

“Philadelphia is the only school district in Pennsylvania without local authority,” Wolf said. “I think that it is probably not right. Philadelphia ought to have local control. How you do that is another matter.”