Reporter's Guide to Pennsylvania Local Government

The Reporter’s Guide to Pennsylvania Local Government is a tool for reporters who cover municipal and school board meetings. It is designed to provide the essential information that reporters need to cover meetings, gather the news and prepare accurate stories for their readers.

The format of the guide is concise, factual and user-friendly. It is not intended to be a complete civics lesson in Pennsylvania government.

For a thorough overview of the various layers of government, how they are organized and how they work in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, reporters are encouraged to consult the Citizen’s Guide to Pennsylvania Local Government and other publications from the Governor’s Center for Local Government, which have provided much of the information about municipal government in this guide.

For more information about Pennsylvania’s schools, the Pennsylvania Department of Education offers a large menu of online publications for reporters.

See the “Links” page of this website to access these resources.

The Pennsylvania Newspaper Association Foundation thanks Marijon Shearer, a former graduate student at Shippensburg University Department of Communications/Journalism, for creating this helpful guide for our members.