WEST CHESTER – The ability for a person to create transformative change for a better community is everyone’s responsibility.
That’s according to retiring state Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-19th, of West Whiteland. He did not run for reelection in 2020. His current term in the State Senate ends in December.
“I am not retiring from my effort to create change,” Dinniman said.
The senator recently told MediaNews Group that he plans to create change after retiring from the Pennsylvania Senate as an advocate for “transformative” education.
Dinniman said he is forming a Political Action Committee (super PAC) for education advocacy. He said he plans to officially launch the PAC this winter beginning in December. His term in the senate ends Monday.
“One has a responsibility, all of one’s life, to make things better for your community,” Dinniman said.
It will be a nonpartisan PAC, Dinniman said.
Dinniman has served in government as an elected official for more than 30 years. He spent 14 years as a Chester County Commissioner prior to becoming an elected state senator in 2006.
Further, Dinniman has launched a weekly podcast on education to continue his advocacy work. It is available on Spotify and via other digital platforms.
He said the hope is for the issues PAC to advance solutions in education for students in Pennsylvania. The PAC will work together to collaborate on solutions and present its findings to the state Legislature and the governor.
“Education today is facing the worst crisis in over 100 years,” Dinniman said. “Many students, especially in poorer areas, just are not learning online.”
These students were already vulnerable prior to the pandemic and “we have increased their vulnerability,” he said, noting many students, living in poverty, have not been in a classroom setting since March.
“There’s always things to make things better,” he said. “You’re talking about a generation of students.”
Civil service
While reflecting on his tenure in the state Senate, Dinniman said he’s received more than 200 thank-you letters from constituents.
During his 15 years as a senator and 14 years as a county commissioner from 1992 until 2004, Dinniman has received more than 80 awards and recognitions from community, regional, state and national organizations.
In 2020, some of his most recent honors include winning the Citizen of the Year from the Chester County Chamber of Business and Industry and awards from the Humane Society, the Chester County Association of Township Officials (CATO), the Chester County Development Council, and the Chester and Delaware County Farm Bureau, Main Line Mentoring, Movement Community Development Corporation, the Chester County Chamber of Commerce and the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association.
Additional honors include winning the President’s Medal for Service from West Chester University in 2015 and the Elected State Official of the Year from Pennsylvania Citizens for Better Libraries in 2007.
Recently, his Democratic colleagues in the State Senate recently gave him an award too, which reads: “Thank you for your effective, compassionate and dedicated service to the Commonwealth.”
When Dinniman began his career in the Pennsylvania Senate after winning the 2006 special election senate race as a newcomer to the state Legislature, he became the first elected Democratic state senator to represent Chester County in Harrisburg since the 19th Century.
Dinniman, 75, won the special election 15 years ago to fill the vacancy created by the death of state Sen. Bob Thompson. He then won re-election on three more occasions over Republican challengers in 2008, 2012 and 2016.
In 2020, he announced his retirement instead of running for re-election as an incumbent senator again.
Dinniman began his political career in education as an elected official of the Downing Area School Board.
“There is no more right fundamental to opportunity than a quality education,” Dinniman said, “and there are so many in Pennsylvania who aren’t receiving it.”
The senator added, “Each one of us should never retire from our obligations to help one another.”
As a state legislator, Dinniman has advocated for seniors and small business enterprises and for equality of opportunity in education. He holds a doctorate degree in education from Penn State University.
“I wanted to stand up for those who couldn’t stand up for themselves,” Dinniman said while reflecting on his tenure in Harrisburg.
In 2006, the State Senate appointed Dinniman to its Senate Education Committee in Harrisburg where he will retire this winter as its minority chairperson.
Transformative change
“We are in the fastest era of change in all of human history,” Dinniman told MediaNews Group back in July. “Bar none.”
The senator said the combination of change and chaos can either create the total breakdown of the society, an inability to function, or it can be a catalyst for a transformative renaissance that creates something good.
“Having talked about change and globalization all these years, having seen the destruction that social media has brought about, understand that we are also entering a new age of robotics and artificial intelligence, our educational system is going to have to produce new skills for people,” he said. “This is going to happen very quickly.”
Dinniman said, “Change comes about in a combination of chaos and a degree of hope. You have to have hope. What we need is elected officials who are not afraid of change but also give people hope that you can persevere, in terms of change, and create a new society.”
