Pennsylvania House Minority Leader Frank Dermody, D-Oakmont, has taken the lead in urging that all of the $60 million fine levied by the NCAA against Penn State in connection with the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal be spent in the Keystone State to help child victims. His request deserves serious consideration.

If not all of the money, at least most of it should be spent here, since, as Dermody has pointed out, the endowment that the NCAA is establishing is being funded completely by Penn State with Pennsylvania dollars.

“The endowment’s very creation was sparked by a tragedy that occurred in Pennsylvania and which scarred the lives of Pennsylvania children,” he wrote in response to a statement by Kathleen T. McNeely, NCAA vice president of administration and chief financial officer. As reported by a Pittsburgh newspaper, McNeely had said a task force was being established to create policies and processes to determine how best to distribute the funds. That panel was announced Tuesday. Penn State will pay at least $12 million a year into the endowment until the fine is paid in full.

But Dermody is unhappy about the response of the 1,200-member Indianapolis, Ind.-based association, accusing that body of being “tone deaf to me on this.”

Dermody told the Pittsburgh newspaper that “the NCAA needs to take a step back and be a little bit more open-minded in how they look at this.”

If the NCAA is dead set against directing all of the money in question back to Pennsylvania, and that apparently is the case, it should commit itself to sending back no less than 60 percent — $36 million — for use here.

There’s no doubt that the money could be well spent across the country, but the NCAA, as part of its strong stand against child sexual abuse, should be willing to allocate more of its own funds to that fight as part of giving a fair share of the Penn State fine back to Pennsylvania.

Gov. Tom Corbett, who is a member of the Penn State Board of Trustees, should get behind Demody’s effort and lobby the athletic association on this state’s behalf.

In a letter to Dermody, McNeely said she hoped the NCAA would receive many proposals from Pennsylvania entities regarding use of the funds. Once details of the endowment funds’ distribution are announced, Pennsylvania officials should filter down to local-level agencies details of how to apply and what information should accompany the application to make a case for specific amounts of money.

The NCAA’s tough sanctions against Penn State must not carry over to how the NCAA treats Pennsylvania regarding the money Penn State will pay.

One man committed the crimes that triggered the scandal that has enveloped the university for the past 10 months. The NCAA shouldn’t use the money to inflict further punishment on what Penn State and Pennsylvania already are experiencing.

Dermody’s point makes sense. Faced with the same unfortunate circumstances, other states would be putting forth the same argument.