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Keystone
State Education Coalition
PA
Ed Policy Roundup May 15, 2017:
Special
ed funding would be in peril if U.S. Senate passes House bill
John
Dewey: “What the best and wisest parent wants for his child, that must we want
for all the children of the community. Anything less is unlovely, and left
unchecked, destroys our democracy.”
“Under the proposed change, there could
be restrictions to: hearing-impaired services, nursing services, occupational
therapy services, personal care and physical therapy services, psychological
and social work services, speech and language and specialized transportation
services, among many other critical support systems,” said Casey Smith, a
spokeswoman for the state Department of Education.”
KATE GIAMMARISE Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette kgiammarise@post-gazette.com
12:00 AM
MAY 15, 2017
The bill passed by the U.S. House
to repeal the Affordable Care Act, now being considered by the Senate, would
make deep cuts to Medicaid — which threatens millions in special education
dollars for local school districts. The
money pays for items such as therapy equipment, portable stair climbers, or a
device that might help visually impaired students do their schoolwork, as well
as certain aides. Medicaid, the health
insurance coverage for low-income and disabled individuals that is jointly paid
for by states and the federal government, reimburses schools for health-related
services for special education students.
In Pennsylvania, schools receive about $143 million annually for these
services. Federal law requires schools
to have individualized education plans for each special needs child and to
provide appropriate services. In other words, said Steve
Robinson, spokesman for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, schools are
mandated to meet the needs of special education students. The federal cuts
would push costs to either the state or local communities. “The state is going to be
challenged to come up with those dollars,” he said.
Schools brace for impact if Congress cuts
Medicaid spending
Inquirer by SALLY HO and CAROLYN THOMPSON, The
Associated Press Updated: MAY
14, 2017 — 7:20 AM EDT
For school districts still
getting their financial footing after the Great Recession, the Medicaid changes
being advanced as part of the health care overhaul are sounding familiar
alarms.
Administrators say programming
and services even beyond those that receive funding from the state-federal
health care program could be at risk should Congress follow through with plans
to change the way Medicaid is distributed. They say any reduction in the
estimated $4 billion schools receive in annual Medicaid reimbursements would be
hard to absorb after years of reduced state funding and a weakened tax base. "If they have less Medicaid money,
something's going to go away," said Randy Liepa, superintendent of the
Wayne County Regional Education Service Agency, which works with 33 school
districts in the Detroit area. The agency covers about 21,000 children with
special needs who are on Medicaid and it helps districts recoup about $30
million annually in reimbursements. Districts
would have to look at nonmandated positions and programs if forced to bear more
of the costs for services for poor and disabled students required by federal
law, said Thomas Gentzel, executive director of the National School Boards Association.
State pension debt won’t magically vanish
‘Shifting risk’ sounds nice. But
the most drastic element of pension reform is addressing the $62 billion debt
Post Gazette Opinion by MIRIAM FOX 12:00 AM MAY 14, 2017
Miriam Fox is executive director of the state House Democratic
Appropriations Committee.
As a longtime public servant on
the House Appropriations Committee, I have worked to remind legislators about
the unshakeable truth behind the numbers related to proposed policy changes. But as the pension reform
conversation for teachers and state employees is once again moving toward a bad
result, it is very important to share our heightened concern about this with
you. For the past six years,
policymakers have been talking about shifting investment risk away from
taxpayers and moving employees into a new retirement savings program.
Unfortunately, many people and many editorial pages have adopted this notion
without considering an important pension element: the $62.2 billion debt. New retirement benefit plan structures and
the shifting risk conversation dangerously miss the point. Retirement savings
programs are not the problem. Pennsylvania has a large debt to repay and it
needs a guarantee that politicians will never again use the kind of creative
financing that got us into this place to begin with. While “shifting risk”
sounds good, it doesn’t address the core issue; it circumvents hard choices.
Pa. lawmakers debate whether pension debt
could be paid off faster
WHYY Newsworks BY KATIE MEYER, WITF MAY 15, 2017
The debate over how to pay off
Pennsylvania's roughly $70 billion unfunded pension liability has seen some
movement. The commonwealth's Independent
Fiscal Office recently released an actuarial note estimating a current House
measure would save up to $18 billion by paying down the debt faster. Republican Representative John McGinnis of
Blair County is sponsoring the proposal, which would jack up the state's
required pension payments by about a half billion dollars in just its first
year. That would shorten the time it
would take to pay off the debt. But it also means the commonwealth would have
to divert significant funds from other programs. McGinnis sees it as a good
trade-off. "I think the proper
thing is to give priority to your unpaid expenses in the past before you commit
to new expenses," he said.
#HB97:
Real charter reform not in current bill
TIMES-TRIBUNE Letter by
Gary Smedley PUBLISHED: MAY 11, 2017PRESIDENT, CARBONDALE AREA SCHOOL BOARD
Editor: Charter schools have been
around for 20 years but the law that created them has changed little. It’s time
for some meaningful reforms. House Bill 97, however, is not the legislation to
do that. First, when a district denies a
request to open a new charter school, charter operators can appeal to the
statewide charter appeals board. HB 97 proposes three additional positions on
the board that could stack the deck in favor of charters. It would be like a
municipality denying a request by corporation X to erect a 50-foot cell tower
on the town square only to find the appeal board with the power to overturn the
denial is run by corporation X. Currently,
charters operate under an initial term of three years and a renewal term of
five years. HB 97 proposes to expand it to five and 10 years, respectively. A
child starting in first grade would be in 10th grade before the authorizing
district would be able to offer corrections. The bill also proposes only using
academic standards to determine if a charter should be renewed. While student
performance is most critical, districts should be allowed to take charters’
poor financial practices into consideration.
#HB97: Public charter school reform is
needed for students, not the education system
The Notebook Commentary by Tim
Eller May 12, 2017 — 12:30pm
Tim Eller is executive director
of the Keystone Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
As the public charter school
reform debate gets under way in the state Capitol, traditional public education
establishment organizations, and their supporters, continue to spread
misinformation about public charter schools in order to skew the public’s opinion
of public school choice. Fortunately, publicly available
data shows that public brick-and-mortar charter schools have a track record of
providing high-quality educational programs and services to their students. While there are a small number of
poorly managed and low-performing public charter schools – which should be shut
down – the overwhelming majority of public charter schools are overseen and
operated by board members, administrators and educators who are honest,
hard-working public officials and employees dedicated to providing their
students with a high-quality education. Unfortunately, every sector – public
and private – has its share of bad actors who cast a negative light on their
entire community. Are reforms needed for
public charter schools? Yes, but not for the reasons anti-charter school
advocates would have the public believe. Contrary to popular belief,
charter schools, which are public schools funded with taxpayer dollars, are
required to follow the same state and federal education, transparency and
accountability laws and regulations that apply to school districts, and do not
receive any special exemptions or treatment. Public charter schools are not
permitted to pick and choose their students. They must use a lottery system for
enrollment. In fact, publicly available data shows that public charter schools
also enroll and educate students with disabilities.
“Opponents of school choice say programs
like tax credits or school vouchers direct money away from and hurt traditional
public schools, he said. The argument is especially heated right now because
U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has expressed support for expanding such
programs nationwide.”
EITC: For low-income students, Crossroads
Foundation provides access to better high schools
ELIZABETH BEHRMAN Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Lbehrman@post-gazette.com 12:00 AM MAY 15, 2017
Jalen Cruz beamed as he made his
way to the front of the room, took a seat and signed a piece of paper
documenting his commitment to attend Clark Atlanta University in Georgia. Moments later, his twin sister, Sierra, made
a similar pledge to attend Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Their mom snapped photos and
cheered along with their classmates. She wasn’t surprised that they made it to
“College Signing Day.” She would have worked a second or third job to cover the
cost of the Catholic school tuition, she said, but thanks to the Crossroads
Foundation, which hosted the Tuesdaycelebration, she didn’t have to. “They’ve just been so supportive,” Karla
Barham of Penn Hills said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better place for them
to be.” The Crossroads Foundation, based
in Point Breeze, provides scholarships for low-income students “at high risk
for school failure” to attend one of the region’s six Catholic high schools.
More than 500 students have graduated during the foundation’s 28-year history, and
29 of this year’s 30 graduates are college bound.
Times Leader By Mark Guydish - mguydish@timesleader.com May 13, 2017
WILKES-BARRE — While stressing
that his organization analyzes data but does not make policy recommendations,
Matthew Knittel of the Commonwealth’s Independent Fiscal Office ran through
property tax elimination proposals before a small crowd Friday and offered
mixed expectations. During a luncheon set up by the
Pennsylvania Economy League at the Westmoreland Club, Knittel hinged many
observations on an analysis the IFO did regarding Senate Bill 76 of 2013, a
proposal that gained widespread support with a promise of completely
eliminating school property taxes. That bill failed, but similar proposals have
resurfaced. In a nut shell, school
property taxes would be replaced with increases in personal and sales taxes,
and in an expansion of what the state sales tax covers. Knittel did review a
few other ideas, including plans that would reduce but not eliminate school
propriety taxes through similar means, and bills that would let local school
districts replace property taxes with local income taxes or business taxes.
Ed
Law Center Letter to the Pennsylvania Senate Regarding SB 383, the bill
permitting school personnel to carry concealed firearms in schools.
Education Law Center May 2017
With forty-one years of
experience working on school climate issues, ELC wrote to Pennsylvania’s Senate
Education Committee, urging them to oppose SB 383, the
bill permitting school personnel to carry concealed firearms in schools.
Arming teachers and other school personnel is not the appropriate way to
protect students and ensure schools are safe places.
PSSA
opt out choice supported by many but could impact school, teacher evaluations
Centre Daily Times BY
BRITNEY MILAZZO bmilazzo@centredaily.com MAY 13, 2017
9:56 PM
Dozens of local families with
children in third to eighth grade are participating in what’s called the opt
out movement when it comes to state standardized tests. One Bellefonte woman, Leah Guizar, is making
it her mission to advocate for the cause — not because she’s against testing,
but because she doesn’t support the reasoning behind a set of tests that she
said cost too much and don’t benefit students.
The state Department of Education allows families to have their child
opt out of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessments, otherwise known as
PSSA exams. All families have this option as long as they notify school
administrators of their choice. However,
the opt out option could come at a price.
“Opting out can affect how our schools are rated throughout the state,”
Philipsburg-Osceola Area Superintendent Gregg Paladina said. Bellefonte Area Superintendent Michelle
Saylor encourages the public to meet with lawmakers to help change education
laws regarding testing mandates at the state level. Michelle Saylor, Bellefonte Area
superintendent “They need to hear
parents’ voices; they’re tired of hearing our voices, quite frankly, and they
shut us down because they know what we’re going to say to them,” she said. “The
concerns with the opt out from the district’s perspective is, unfortunately,
the way the system is set up, those tests are tied to what we call school
improvement… It’s a no-win situation.”
Additionally, Saylor said those
tests are also “unfortunately” tied to teacher evaluations.
Bellefonte
mom advocating against standardized tests
Centre Daily Times BY
BRITNEY MILAZZO bmilazzo@centredaily.com MAY 13, 2017
8:12 PM
Leah Guizar believes good tests
prove knowledge and help with student growth.
The mother of three children in
the Bellefonte Area School District for the past two years has chosen to opt
out her kids from taking the Pennsylvania System of School Assessments,
otherwise known as PSSA exams. She said
it’s her way of advocating against state standardized tests, and taking a stand
for those who might not fight for themselves regarding the issue. Her stance is inspired by her oldest
daughter, Eden Guizar — a seventh-grader with cerebral palsy who functions on a
first- to third-grade level, Guizar said.
Guizar addressed the Bellefonte Area school board at a bi-monthly
meeting last month and explained four reasons why her family participates in
what’s called the opt out movement: cost of PSSAs; the lack of pragmatic
testing; not accommodating to all students; and its original intent to meet the
No Child Left Behind act, which was repealed in 2015.
MAY 10, 2017 BY Stephen Herzenberg Keystone Research Center TIMESLEADER
We appreciate learning from the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton that the Diocese distributes across 11
counties taxpayer-funded vouchers for students attending religious and other
private schools. Even these 11 counties
as a group, however, receive only 3.6 percent of voucher dollars while they
have 9.7 percent of Pennsylvania school-age children. Voucher programs
under-serve Northeastern Pennsylvania. Nearly two thirds of voucher dollars go to Philadelphia and its
suburbs plus Allegheny County, including Pittsburgh.
Since voucher programs
under-serve NEPA, expanding those programs won’t help many area school
children. For example, a $55 million increase supported by some lawmakers in
voucher dollars would bring only $2 million to the 11 NEPA counties. Allocating
those same dollars to public schools using the state’s new funding fair formula
would bring the region $5.3 million – since the region has some of
Pennsylvania’s most underfunded public schools and highest property taxes. We also welcome the Scranton Diocese sharing
that its Catholic Schools’ curricula could meet state standards that some other
religious schools teaching creationism as science could not meet. Given its
high standards, we look forward to the diocese adding its voice to advocacy for
curriculum accountability needed at all voucher schools – and for financial
accountability for voucher funds as well, since there is no accountability of
any kind now.
Titusville Herald By Sydney Sample Herald Staff Writer Posted May 10, 2017 5:00 am
The spring season has been a time of number crunching for the Titusville Area School District. In a statement released by the district, it was noted that the administration and financial committee were able to reduce the originally contained deficit of $1,126,000 to $517,694. It was cited in the same statement that the new figure was achieved after several meetings. The proposed budget is presently at $32,365,690 in expenditures, against $31,241,996 in projected revenues. Even though there will still be a tax hike for those in the district, the amount comes in under the Act 1 index allowable amount. Business manager Shawn Sampson relayed to board members that the district is looking at a tax increase of $213,803. While it is an increase, Sampson said in an interview that it is $100,000 less than the maximum Act 1 index, of $317,000. Titusville Area School District administration and the financial committee worked the tax hike in to lower the deficit to $517,694. It is projected that Crawford County will see an increase of 1.14 mills (2.9 percent); Venango County — 0.28 mills (1.7 percent); and Warren County — 1.32 mills (2.7 percent). One mill equals $1 for every $1,000 in a property’s assessed value. The district released in the statement that the “major items impacting this budget are the continued increase in the district’s required contribution to the pensions, health insurance cost, and special education cost (which the state and federal government continue to underfund).”
http://www.titusvilleherald.com/news/article_cf2b62f4-34ef-11e7-a73e-47b866278aa0.html#.WRbwmQihRXw.twitter
Bradford Era By SIERRA ARCHER
Special to The Era
PORT ALLEGANY —
Attempting to hammer out a budget for next school year, Port Allegany school
board members have concerns over the end of Keystones to Opportunity grants, as
well as the possible loss of other funding resources. As a district, Port Allegany has received
more than $2 million in the past five years through KTO grants, which
were developed through federal funding to improve reading outcomes for students
at all age levels. With the possibility
of Title II (formerly No Child Left Behind) funding being cut — a little over
$60,000 — and some parts of Title I being cut, the school district is facing an
upcoming deficit. “When you couple all
of those factors, along with the ending of the KTO grant, the district is
looking at a substantial deficit getting into next year,” Superintendent Gary
Buchsen said during a school board meeting on Monday. It was also
stated that with the continuing deficit, the district would be considered “in
trouble” in about five to six years. Meanwhile, with the loss of two physical
education teachers and two elementary school teachers, the district is left
with deciding who to hire to fill the positions. It was noted that the district is tentatively
looking at an $80,000 increase in basic education and special
education funding. Board members also discussed other forms of funding to help
defray upcoming losses. There were
suggestions of a tax increase, which was approximated to generate at least $100,000
in new revenue, although concerns were raised about the effects the increase
would have on families. No board member
agreed on a tax increase and the idea was dismissed. The board approved a
proposed budget for the 2017-18 school year of $15,180,918 in a 6 to 1 vote.http://www.bradfordera.com/news/port-allegany-board-concerned-about-lost-revenues-for/article_dbe60e90-35cb-11e7-9484-3b5443098bb4.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=user-share
Phoenixville School Board eyes $90M
budget, 1.89%t tax hike
By Eric Devlin, The Mercury POSTED: 05/14/17, 5:11 PM
EDT | UPDATED: 4 HRS AGO
PHOENIXVILLE >> Despite
some school officials saying they thought there was still some work to do, it
appears property owners in the Phoenixville Area School District should get
ready for another tax hike. The school
board reviewed the proposed 2017-18 final budget of approximately $90 million,
which calls for a 1.89 percent tax increase on Thursday. Under a new millage
rate of 29.71 mills, a 1.89 percent tax increase would equate to an additional
$74 a year in real estate property taxes for the median $135,000 home assessment.
A mill is equal to $1 for each $1,000 of assessed property value. The board is
expected to vote on the budget at the May 18 meeting. The board must approve a
budget by the June 30 Pennsylvania Department of Education deadline. If approved, the tax hike would be the fourth
lowest in Chester County behind the Oxford, Great Valley and Downingtown school
districts, finance director Christopher Gehris said at the May 8 budget meeting.
It would also be the district’s seventh tax increase in the last eight
years. “We now have a couple of years
running where we’re increasing taxes on average less than comparable
districts,” said board member Eric Daugherty. “A key point is at the same time
we’re seeing better than average increases in things like test scores and what
not. So the difference between us and other districts is decreasing. We’re
getting better learning outcomes and being slightly more economical little by
little.” In January, the board approved a $92.7 million preliminary budget and
the district has trimmed it down since then. As of May 8, the district
anticipates collecting approximately $89.5 million in revenue, leaving the
budget still unbalanced by $500,000 due to use of reserve funding for the
Public School Employees Retirement System, said Gehris.
Pay could be docked for some Philly
teachers who protested lack of contract
Inquirer by Kristen A. Graham, Staff Writer @newskag | kgraham@phillynews.com Updated: MAY 12, 2017 — 5:38 PM EDT
Philadelphia teachers who took
off May 1 in part to protest nearly four years without a contract could have
their pay docked for that absence, officials confirmed Friday. About 1,000 School District teachers called
out that day, an effort organized by the Caucus of Working Educators, a
coalition within the teachers’ union. The
principals of at least nine schools were initially told to dock teachers’ pay,
despite the fact that they put in to use personal time they had earned. Late
Friday afternoon, Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. called
Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president Jerry Jordan and said he was
halting that directive until he could gather more information. District officials could not say how many
teachers might lose pay for the day, but 384 teachers used personal days May 1.
At some schools, half or more of the faculty took the day off.
Hundreds of teachers shut down
part of North Broad Street that day, marching as a sign of their displeasure
with the lack of a contract.
Pa. school-choice advocates pump millions
into campaigns
Altoona Mirror MAY 14, 2017
HARRISBURG — Wealthy
school-choice advocates, wielding millions of dollars in campaign
contributions, have sought to play a powerful role in Pennsylvania politics. All told, more than $10 million from
school-choice advocates has made its way into Pennsylvania political campaigns
in the past decade. Much of it came from
a suburban Philadelphia trio who helped start Susquehanna International Group,
an investment firm, and give heavily to school choice causes and candidates.
And much of it has gone to help Philadelphia state Sen. Anthony Williams, who
has run unsuccessfully for mayor and governor as the school choice candidate in
the Democratic Party’s primaries. The Associated
Press examined political contributions over a 10-year period by the people who
have been major contributors to advance school choice measures such as public
charter schools and programs to use taxpayer funding to pay for private school
tuition. In 2010 alone, Arthur Dantchik,
Joel Greenberg and Jeffrey Yass gave roughly $5 million to help Williams’
gubernatorial campaign, and then outdid that by pouring roughly $7 million into
helping Williams’ campaign for Philadelphia mayor in 2015. Williams lost both
times, and remains in the Senate.
The
Promise And Peril Of School Vouchers
NPR by CORY TURNER Heard on Morning
Edition May 12, 20176:00 AM ET
Wendy Robinson wants to make one
thing very clear. As the long-serving
superintendent of Fort Wayne public schools, Indiana's largest district, she is
not afraid of competition from private schools.
"We've been talking choice in this community and in this school system
for almost 40 years," Robinson says. Her downtown office sits in the
shadow of the city's grand, Civil War-era Cathedral of the Immaculate
Conception. In Fort Wayne, a parking lot is the only thing that separates the
beating heart of Catholic life from the brains of the city's public schools. In fact, steeples
dominate the skyline of the so-called City
of Churches. Fort Wayne has long been a vibrant religious hub, home to more
than 350 churches, many of which also run their own schools. While the city's public and private schools
managed, for decades, to co-exist amicably, that changed in 2011, Robinson
says. That's when state lawmakers began the Indiana Choice Scholarship Program,
a plan to allow low-income students to use vouchers, paid for with public
school dollars, to attend private, generally religious schools. Six years later, Indiana's statewide voucher
program is now the largest
of its kind in the country and, with President Trump and Education
Secretary Betsy DeVos openly encouraging states to embrace private school
choice, the story of the Choice Scholarship — how it came to be, how it works
and whom it serves — has become a national story of freedom, faith, poverty and
politics.
How Google Took
Over the Classroom
The tech giant is transforming
public education with low-cost laptops and free apps. But schools may be giving
Google more than they are getting.
New York Times By NATASHA
SINGER
MAY 13, 2017
CHICAGO — The sixth graders at
Newton Bateman, a public elementary school here with a classic red brick
facade, know the Google drill. In a
social-science class last year, the students each grabbed a Google-powered
laptop. They opened Google Classroom, an app where teachers make assignments.
Then they clicked on Google Docs, a writing program, and began composing
essays. Looking up from her laptop,
Masuma Khan, then 11 years old, said her essay explored how schooling in
ancient Athens differed from her own. “Back then, they had wooden tablets and
they had to take all of their notes on it,” she said. “Nowadays, we can just do
it in Google Docs.” Chicago Public
Schools, the third-largest school district in the
United States, with about 381,000 students, is at the forefront of a profound
shift in American education: the Googlification of the classroom. In the space of just five years, Google has
helped upend the sales methods companies use to place their products in
classrooms. It has enlisted teachers and administrators to promote Google’s
products to other schools. It has directly reached out to educators to test its
products — effectively bypassing senior district officials. And it has
outmaneuvered Apple and Microsoft with a powerful combination of low-cost
laptops, called Chromebooks, and free classroom apps.
Betsy DeVos was asked to address education reporters at their annual convention. She said no.
Washington Post Answer Sheet Blog By Valerie Strauss May 12 at 2:00 PM
President Trump listens as Education Secretary Betsy DeVos speaks during a meeting with parents and teachers at the White House on Feb. 14. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
Every U.S. education secretary has found time to address the Education Writers Association convention, and the organization was hoping that Betsy DeVos would agree to do the same thing at its 2017 convention in Washington. It’s not happening. Caroline Hendrie, EWA executive editor, said the association invited DeVos to speak at the convention right after she was confirmed by the Senate as education secretary on Feb. 7 (which, you may remember, happened only after Mike Pence broke a tie in the Senate, becoming the first vice president in history to do so for a Cabinet nominee). When no response was forthcoming, Hendrie said the invitation was renewed several times, but it was not until late April that a staff member at the Education Department called to decline. Why? According to Hendrie, “They couldn’t make it work for her schedule.” The Education Department did not respond to a query about why they couldn’t make it work. The conference, at the new FutureEd think tank at Georgetown’s McCourt School of Public Policy, is scheduled for May 31 to June 2, Wednesday through Friday. Though DeVos does not often have public events on Fridays, she does on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/05/12/betsy-devos-was-asked-to-address-education-reporters-at-their-annual-convention-she-said-no/
Please take this 5 minute survey to improve PA schools
Education Law Center/Youth United for Change May 2017
This is a short survey developed by Youth United for Change and the Education Law Center, which we're asking community members statewide - including students, parents, school staff, and others connected to public schools - to complete. The survey asks respondents to share their story to inform legislators about what their school/district needs and how cuts to education have impacted their education. While we'd prefer responses by April 30th, the survey will remain live at least until June. We'd be incredibly appreciative if you could share the survey with your networks - by including the link in your monthly newsletter, sharing via your social media postings, or as its own e-blast - to help as many people as possible share their stories. We expect the survey will take respondents less than 5 minutes to complete and can be completed anonymously.
Access the survey here: https://goo.gl/forms/63Kpa9VckdgQPaBX2
Questions or comments? Contact Michaela Ward at mward@elc-pa.org / 267-825-7710 or Alia Trindle at alia@yucyouth.org / (215) 534-1314.
Nominations for PSBA Allwein Advocacy Award
The Timothy M. Allwein Advocacy Award was established in 2011 by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association and may be presented annually to the individual school director or entire school board to recognize outstanding leadership in legislative advocacy efforts on behalf of public education and students that are consistent with the positions in PSBA’s Legislative Platform. In addition to being a highly respected lobbyist, Timothy Allwein served to help our members be effective advocates in their own right. Many have said that Tim inspired them to become active in our Legislative Action Program and to develop personal working relationships with their legislators. The 2017 Allwein Award nomination process will begin on Monday, May 15, 2017. The application due date is July 16, 2017 in the honor of Tim’s birth date of July 16.
https://www.psba.org/2017/05/nominations-allwein-advocacy-award/
Electing PSBA Officers; Applications Due June 1
All persons seeking nomination for elected positions of the Association shall send applications to the attention of the chair of the Leadership Development Committee, during the months of April and May an Application for Nomination to be provided by the Association expressing interest in the office sought. “The Application for nomination shall be marked received at PSBA Headquarters or mailed first class and postmarked by June 1 to be considered and timely filed.” (PSBA Bylaws, Article IV, Section 5.E.).
Open positions are:
·
2017-19
Central Section at Large Representative – includes
Regions 4, 5, 6, 9 and 12 (for the remaining two years of a
three-year term)
·
2018-20
Western At Large Representative – includes Regions 1, 2,
3, 13 and 14 (three-year term)
In addition to the
application form, PSBA Governing
Board Policy 302 asks that all candidates furnish with their
application a recent, print quality photograph and letters of application. The
application form specifies no less than three letters of recommendation and no
more than four, and are specifically requested as follows:
o
One from superintendent or school director of home entity
o
One from a school director from another school district
o
Other individuals familiar with the candidate's leadership skills
PSBA Governing
Board Policy 108 also outlines the campaign procedures of candidates.All terms of office commence January 1 following election.
https://www.psba.org/about/governance/electing-psba-officers/
PSBA Spring Town Hall Meetings coming in May!
Don’t be left in the
dark on legislation that affects your district! Learn the latest from your
legislators at PSBA Spring Town Hall Meetings. Conveniently offered at 10
locations around the state throughout May, this event will provide you with the
opportunity to interact face-to-face with key lawmakers from your area. Enjoy
refreshments, connect with colleagues, and learn what issues impact you and how
you can make a difference. Log in to the Members Area to register today for this FREE event!
- Monday, May 15, 6-8 p.m. — CTC of
Lackawanna Co., 3201 Rockwell Avenue, Scranton, PA 18508
- Tuesday, May 16, 6-8 p.m. — PSBA, 400
Bent Creek Boulevard, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050
- Wednesday, May 17, 6-8 p.m. — Lycoming
CTC, 293 Cemetery Street, Hughesville, PA 17737
- Thursday, May 18, 6-8 p.m. — Chestnut
Ridge SD, 3281 Valley Road, Fishertown, PA 15539
For assistance
with registration, please contact Michelle Kunkel at 717-506-2450 ext. 3365.
SAVE THE DATE LWVPA Convention 2017 June
1-4, 2017
Join the
League of Women Voters of PA for our 2017 Biennial Convention at the beautiful
Inn at Pocono Manor!
Pennsylvania Education Leadership Summit
July 23-25, 2017 Blair County Convention Center - Altoona
A three-day event providing an
excellent opportunity for school district administrative teams and
instructional leaders to learn, share and plan together
co-sponsored by PASA, the
Pennsylvania Principals Association, PASCD and the PA Association for Middle
Level Education
**REGISTRATION IS OPEN**Early
Bird Registration Ends after April 30!
Keynote speakers, high quality
breakout sessions, table talks on hot topics, and district team planning and
job-alike sessions will provide practical ideas that can be immediately reviewed
and discussed at the summit and utilized at the district level.
Keynote Speakers:
Thomas Murray, Director of Innovation for Future Ready Schools, a project of the Alliance for Excellent Education
Kristen Swanson, Director of Learning at Slack and one of the founding members of the Edcamp movement
Thomas Murray, Director of Innovation for Future Ready Schools, a project of the Alliance for Excellent Education
Kristen Swanson, Director of Learning at Slack and one of the founding members of the Edcamp movement
Breakout session strands:
*Strategic/Cultural Leadership
*Systems Leadership
*Leadership for Learning
*Professional and Community Leadership
*Strategic/Cultural Leadership
*Systems Leadership
*Leadership for Learning
*Professional and Community Leadership
CLICK HERE to access the Summit
website for program, hotel and registration information.
Save the Date
2017 PA Principals Association State Conference October 14. 15, 16, 2017
Doubletree
Hotel Cranberry Township, PA
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