Monday, August 21, 2017

PA Ed Policy Roundup Aug 21: Four ways for lawmaker's to fix Pa.'s charter school law

Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 4050 Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, Governor's staff, current/former PA Secretaries of Education, Wolf education transition team members, superintendents, school solicitors, principals, PTO/PTA officers, parent advocates, teacher leaders, business leaders, faith-based organizations, labor organizations, education professors, members of the press and a broad array of P-16 regulatory agencies, professional associations and education advocacy organizations via emails, website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn

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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup Aug 21, 2017:


WATCH LIVE: Can’t get out to see the eclipse? Don’t have glasses? Here is a live NASA video
Delco Times POSTED: 08/21/17, 5:46 AM EDT | UPDATED: 55 SECS AGO
The glasses became this year’s Tickle Me Elmo. If you couldn’t get a pair or can’t get out of work to see the eclipse, we’ve got you covered with a live NASA feed.
CLICK HERE if viewing on a mobile device.

Pennsylvania running out of options for cash to pay bills
Trib Live by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | Sunday, Aug. 20, 2017, 2:06 p.m.
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Top state officials are warning that Pennsylvania's deficit-strapped government is rapidly approaching a more severe stage in its seven-week-old budget stalemate, one in which Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf may have to start deciding which bills to pay and which to postpone.  Taxes are still being collected and checks are being cut by the Pennsylvania Treasury under a nearly $32 billion budget bill that lawmakers approved June 30, the day before the current fiscal year began.  But that spending plan is badly out of balance and, without a loan or an emergency revenue package, the state will face hard decisions within days.  “Somebody's not getting paid if this doesn't get fixed,” Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, a Democrat, said Friday. “Who it is — the vendors, I don't know — that's a decision for others to make. It's simply a math equation: there's not enough money to pay everybody.”

“If we applied Pennsylvania’s school funding solution to the Montgomery bus boycott, it would be like the mayor of Montgomery saying, “We are going to treat everyone fairly on the buses in Montgomery. From now on, every new bus we get will be desegregated. Any passenger, black or white, can enter the front of the bus and sit wherever they want to sit. However, our existing buses will still be segregated with blacks in the back and whites in the front and when necessary, blacks will give their seats up for whites, but this is only on existing buses. This will solve the problem.” I’m confident we can agree it would take years to solve the problem as buses were finally replaced. Likewise, Pennsylvania’s problem will never be solved because we’ve put $6.4 billion in a lockbox of discrimination forever.”
My Turn: Our students deserve fairly funded schools
Pocono Record Opinion By David Parker Posted Aug 17, 2017 at 6:14 PM Updated Aug 17, 2017
David Parker is a Republican from Monroe County who served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 2015-2016. He represented the people of the 115th District, which includes three school districts shown to be collectively short-changed by $50 million in 2015-16 based on the new basic education funding formula. He serves as a director with Citizens for Fair School Funding to continue advocating for students and taxpayers to be treated fairly.
This past December marked the 60th anniversary of the day Rosa Parks got to ride on the front of the bus in Montgomery, Alabama. We’ve made a lot of progress on civil rights across this great country since Dec. 21, 1956; but for some reason, in August 2017, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, we are still treating African-Americans and other people of color like second-class citizens when it comes to education funding.  In 2014, our legislature recognized that Pennsylvania distributes education funding unfairly and established a Basic Education Funding Commission to design a better, fairer way to invest those education dollars. A new, fair, funding formula was unanimously approved by all members of the commission. Unfortunately, the legislature would only implement the newly adopted formula on the new money added to the basic education line item, while the existing $5.5 billion would continue to be distributed unfairly. Recent studies show that this funding distribution method discriminates against school districts with higher minority populations. It certainly holds true in my home county of Monroe, where the least-white (49 percent) district gets less than $2,000 per student, while the mostly white (77 percent) district gets more than $4,300 per student. Based on the last two state budgets, there is no plan to reach equity in school funding, and $5.5 billion in basic education funding and nearly $1 billion in special education funding will continue to be distributed by this discriminatory method in perpetuity. Tragically, by official state policy, Pennsylvania continues to discriminate against schools with higher populations of students of color.

Penn Live Guest Editorial By Tomea Sippio-Smith Posted on August 18, 2017 at 8:30 AM
Tomea Sippio-Smith is the education policy director at Public Citizens for Children and Youth, a Philadelphia-based advocacy group.
State lawmakers often argue that education should operate with the efficiency of business and the performance of a well-oiled machine, but they have not provided schools with the legal tools to support that position.   Pennsylvania's charter school law is a perfect example.  The Commonwealth's decrepit charter school law has been mocked for its ineffectiveness. The law gained national attention when John Oliver singled it out as doing little to combat fraud, mismanagement and waste in charter schools.   His searing take-down was prompted, in part, by a scathing report released by state auditor general Eugene DiPasquale who called it "the worst charter school law" in the nation.  Last week, Pennsylvania's Supreme Court also chimed in on the issue when it held that charter schools cannot operate outside of what is permitted by state statute or their current charters. 

Better-Educated Families Less Likely to Choose Pa. Cyber Charters, Study Finds
Education Week Digital Education Blog By Benjamin Herold on April 28, 2017 9:38 AM
San Antonio As information about the academic struggles of Pennsylvania's cyber charters has become more accessible, the full-time online schools have increasingly enrolled students from the state's least-educated communities and most-disadvantaged school districts, according to a new study to be presented here Sunday as part of the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association.  The result, according to researcher Bryan Mann of Penn State University?  Cyber charter have become an inequitable corner of Pennsylvania's school-choice system, leaving the state's neediest students with another bad option that their peers from better-off school districts largely avoid.  "This may be the educational policy equivalent of asking someone in a food desert to pick between two fast food restaurants and hoping they make a healthy choice," Mann wrote in a pre-conference email interview.  In Pennsylvania and across the country, full-time online charter schools have come under withering scrutiny. Studies by the Center for Research on Educational Outcomes at Stanford University have found at both the national and state level that students in the schools learn at a dramatically slower pace than their peers in traditional brick-and-mortar schools. Last fall, Education Weekpublished a major investigation into the sector, highlighting concerns about students not using the schools' educational software and about extensive lobbying efforts by the for-profit management companies that dominate the industry.

Group plans to open charter school in Mehoopany
Times Tribune BY C.J. MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER / PUBLISHED: AUGUST 18, 2017
A group plans to open a charter school in Mehoopany in response to Tunkhannock Area School District shuttering three of its four elementary schools next year.  Rebecca Peterson, secretary for the Mehoopany Charter School Foundation, said the group wants to have a charter school for grades one to eight operational next year. The foundation formed following the Tunkhannock Area School Board’s March vote to close Evans Falls, Mehoopany and Mill City elementary schools to improve education and district finances. The schools will close at the end of the 2017-18 school year.  At Peterson’s request during a recent Mehoopany Twp. Board of Supervisors meeting, township Supervisor Ryan Visneski agreed to serve on an advisory board for the foundation. The foundation will present its proposal to the Tunkhannock Area School Board in September, Peterson said.  She said she hopes the group can rent the Mehoopany Elementary School building from the district after it closes. If that is not possible, the foundation is exploring alternative locations.  Plans must be submitted to the state Department of Education by November for a charter school to open in 2018.  There are four charter schools in Northeast Pennsylvania — Bear Creek Community Charter School in Bear Creek Twp., Luzerne County; Evergreen Charter School in Cresco, Monroe County; Fell Public Charter School in Fell Twp. and Howard Gardner Multiple Intelligence Public Charter School in Scranton.

Another view: State’s standardized testing scam
Daily Local Opinion by Senator Andy Dinniman POSTED: 08/20/17, 8:18 PM EDT
State Senator Andy Dinniman represents the 19th Senatorial District and serves as minority chair of the Senate Education Committee.
I know that when one challenges the policy of an administration, especially of one’s own party, you risk entering the danger zone. But for 12 years in the Senate, I have fought tooth and nail against standardized testing regardless of whether the administration has been Republican or Democratic. And I’m not about to stop now. It’s just too important of an issue.  Harrisburg always revolves around spin and this week’s announcement of Pennsylvania’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Plan was spin at its finest. The Governor and the Secretary of Education only focused on one part of the ESSA plan and patted themselves on the back for ending the “test culture.” Here are a few questions about the whole ESSA plan that reveal the lack of candor in their claims:
• Does subjecting students as young as 8 and 9 years old to six and a half days of testing, instead of eight, really end test culture?
• Does making eighth grade students take both the PSSA and the Keystone Exam end test culture?
• Does continuing the Keystones as a high school graduation requirement and forcing students to take the equivalent of 10 days of testing end test culture?
• Does maintaining a policy of teacher evaluation and school performance that still depends on test scores end the emphasis on teaching to the test?
The answer to these questions is obviously no, despite any attempts at political spin. And, as is often the case, what wasn’t said is much more telling than what was.

Standardized testing gets a welcome tweak in Pa. | Editorial
By Express-Times opinion staff Updated on August 20, 2017 at 7:08 AM Posted on August 20, 2017 at 7:00 AM
You can make the case that learning shuts down in Pennsylvania's public schools for a month or so every spring -- and we're not talking about spring break. We're talking about the white-knuckle, lost-sleep, teach-to-the test period that grips each district in March and April, when kids in third grade through eighth grade gear up for the annual Pennsylvania System of School Assessment exam. Teachers are required to get students ready for the PSSAs, which take a week to test proficiency in math, English and science. The prep can take up to a month, during which time other lessons and learning methods take a back seat. Over a K-12 career, standardized testing can consume more than 1,000 hours of prep and test-taking per student, according to the Pennsylvania State Education Association. There's a lot riding on the PSSAs. Districts and teachers are evaluated by how students perform. Outcomes can affect property values in school districts. Ideally, the tests provide a statistical readout on how public schools are preparing kids for jobs, college and later life. It's also big business. Pennsylvania spend more than $50 million a year on standardizing testing, the bulk of it going to companies for prep guides and pre-testing materials.

Manheim Township adopts corrective action plan in response to unfavorable audit by state auditor general
Lancaster Online by ALEX GELI | Staff Writer Aug 18, 2017
The Manheim Township school board is attempting to patch an old wound that was reopened by the state's top fiscal watchdog in June.  In response to an unfavorable audit by Auditor General Eugene DePasquale earlier this summer, the board on Thursday officially approved a corrective action plan, detailing ways it will improve transparency and accountability.  “We acknowledge there was a mistake made. We've learned and we're moving forward,” board President Mark Anderson said, calling the audit “a teaching moment for the board.”  The plan states that the board will “comply with the Public School Code by ensuring that termination, buyout, and severance provisions of contracts are not modified during the course of the contract or in the event a contract is terminated prematurely.”  In addition, the board “will ensure that specific contract provisions define the termination terms and limit ... associated costs for future Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent contracts.”

Report grades Pa. schools: Here's every Lehigh Valley high school's marks
By Sara K. Satullo | For lehighvalleylive.com Posted August 21, 2017 at 07:15 AM | Updated August 21, 2017 at 07:15 AM
Curious about the best public high school in Pennsylvania or the Lehigh Valley?
Niche.com has release its 2018 list of the best high schools in the state and we went through it to see where our local schools landed in the rankings, which include charter and magnet schools. The ranking relies on data pulled from the U.S. Department of Education and a "rigorous analysis of key statistics and millions of reviews from students and parents," according to Niche.com. They looked at state test scores, college preparation, graduation rates and SAT/ACT scores amongst other factors. And it relies on reviews from Niche users.


“Arizona first passed a voucher program, technically called Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, for disabled students in 2011. The program differs from traditional vouchers by giving state funding directly to parents, who can use the cash to pay for private school tuition, home-schooling or other education expenses. The program has been repeatedly expanded and now covers a third of all students, including children attending failing schools, those living on Indian reservations, foster children and children of military members. Despite those changes, only about 3,500 students now use it, and more than half are disabled.”
Arizona anti-voucher referendum poised to make ballot
Idaho Statesman BY BOB CHRISTIE Associated Press AUGUST 19, 2017 2:27 PM
PHOENIX  Opponents of Arizona's sweeping new school voucher law took a big step toward blocking it until voters can weigh in next year, after state officials determined that 97 percent of the 111,000 signatures collected by a grassroots group passed an initial certification. That means county recorders who will review a 5 percent sampling of the signatures over the next three weeks could reject 30 percent and the voter referendum would still make the ballot. The measure is temporarily on hold until the signature certification process concludes. The law extends eligibility to all 1.2 million Arizona students by 2022, but it caps enrollment at about 30,000. Voucher backers say they give parents more choice, while opponents argue they siphon money from cash-starved public schools.


PSBA Officer Elections: Slate of Candidates
PSBA Website August 2017
PSBA members seeking election to office for the association were required to submit a nomination form no later than June 1, 2017, to be considered. All candidates who properly completed applications by the deadline are included on the slate of candidates below. In addition, the Leadership Development Committee met on June 17 at PSBA headquarters in Mechanicsburg to interview candidates. According to bylaws, the Leadership Development Committee may determine candidates highly qualified for the office they seek. This is noted next to each person's name with an asterisk (*).

The deadline to submit cover letter, resume and application is August 25, 2017.
PSBA seeking experienced education leaders: Become an Advocacy Ambassador
POSTED ON JUL 17, 2017 IN PSBA NEWS
PSBA is seeking applications for six Advocacy Ambassadors who have been involved in day-to-day functions of a school district, on the school board, or in a school leadership position. The purpose of the PSBA Advocacy Ambassador program is to facilitate the education and engagement of local school directors and public education stakeholders through the advocacy leadership of the ambassadors. Each Advocacy Ambassador will be an active leader in an assigned section of the state, and is kept up to date on current legislation and PSBA position based on PSBA priorities to accomplish advocacy goals.  PSBA Advocacy Ambassadors are independent contractors representing PSBA, and serve as liaisons between PSBA and their local and federal elected officials. Advocacy Ambassadors also commit to building strong relationships with PSBA members with the purpose of engaging the designated members to be active and committed grassroots advocates for PSBA’s legislative priorities.  This is a 9-month independent contractor position with a monthly stipend and potential renewal for a second year. Successful candidates must commit to the full 9-month contract, agree to fulfill assigned Advocacy Ambassador duties and responsibilities, and actively participate in conference calls and in-person meetings

CONSIDER IT: SCHOOL CHOICE AND THE CASES FOR TRADITIONAL PUBLIC EDUCATION AND CHARTER SCHOOLS
September 19 @ 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM Hilton Reading
Berks County Community Foundation
Panelists:
Carol Corbett Burris: Executive Director of the Network for Public Education
Alyson Miles: Deputy Director of Government Affairs for the American Federation for Children
James Paul: Senior Policy Analyst at the Commonwealth Foundation
Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig: Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies and the Director of the Doctorate in Educational Leadership at California State University Sacramento
Karin Mallett: The WFMZ TV anchor and reporter returns as the moderator
School choice has been a hot topic in Berks County, in part due to a lengthy and costly dispute between the Reading School District and I-LEAD Charter School. The topic has also been in the national spotlight as President Trump and U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos have focused on expanding education choice.  With this in mind, a discussion on school choice is being organized as part of Berks County Community Foundation’s Consider It initiative. State Sen. Judy Schwank and Berks County Commissioners Chairman Christian Leinbach are co-chairs of this nonpartisan program, which is designed to promote thoughtful discussion of divisive local and national issues while maintaining a level of civility among participants.  The next Consider It Dinner will take place Tuesday, September 19, 2017, at 5 p.m. at the DoubleTree by Hilton Reading, 701 Penn St., Reading, Pa. Tickets are available here.  For $10 each, tickets include dinner, the panel discussion, reading material, and an opportunity to participate in the conversation.


Apply Now for EPLC's 2017-2018 PA Education Policy Fellowship Program!
Education Policy and Leadership Center
Applications are available now for the 2017-2018 Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP).  The Education Policy Fellowship Program is sponsored in Pennsylvania by The Education Policy and Leadership Center (EPLC). Click here for the program calendar of sessions.  With more than 500 graduates in its first eighteen years, this Program is a premier professional development opportunity for educators, state and local policymakers, advocates, and community leaders.  State Board of Accountancy (SBA) credits are available to certified public accountants. Past participants include state policymakers, district superintendents and principals, school business officers, school board members, education deans/chairs, statewide association leaders, parent leaders, education advocates, and other education and community leaders. Fellows are typically sponsored by their employer or another organization.  The Fellowship Program begins with a two-day retreat on September 14-15, 2017 and continues to graduation in June 2018.

Using Minecraft to Imagine a Better World and Build It Together.
Saturday, September 16, 2017 or Sunday, September 17, 2017 at the University of the Sciences, 43rd & Woodland Avenue, Philadelphia
PCCY, the region’s most influential advocacy organization for children, leverages the world’s greatest video game for the year’s most engaging fundraising event for kids. Join us on Saturday, September 16, 2017 or Sunday, September 17, 2017 at the University of the Sciences, 43rd & Woodland Avenue for a fun, creative and unique gaming opportunity.

Education Law Center’s 2017 Annual Celebration
ELC invites you to join us for our Annual Celebration on September 27 in Philadelphia.
The Annual Celebration will take place this year on September 27, 2017 at The Crystal Tea Room in Philadelphia. The event begins at 5:30 PM. We anticipate more than 300 legal, corporate, and community supporters joining us for a cocktail reception, silent auction, and dinner presentation.  Our annual celebrations honor outstanding champions of public education. This proud tradition continues at this year’s event, when together we will salute these deserving honorees:
·         PNC Bank: for the signature philanthropic cause of the PNC Foundation, PNC Grow Up Great, a bilingual $350 million, multi-year early education initiative to help prepare children from birth to age 5 for success in school and life; and its support of the Equal Justice Works Fellowship, which enables new lawyers to pursue careers in public interest law;
·         Joan Mazzotti: for her 16 years of outstanding leadership as the Executive Director of Philadelphia Futures, a college access and success program serving Philadelphia’s low-income, first-generation-to-college students;
·         Dr. Bruce Campbell Jr., PhD: for his invaluable service to ELC, as he rotates out of the chairman position on our Board of Directors. Dr. Campbell is an Arcadia University Associate Professor in the School of Education; and
·         ELC Pro Bono Awardee Richard Shephard of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP: for his exceptional work as pro bono counsel, making lasting contributions to the lives of many vulnerable families.Questions? Contact Tracy Callahan tcallahan@elc-pa.org or 215-238-6970 ext. 308.

STAY WOKE: THE INAUGURAL NATIONAL BLACK MALE EDUCATORS CONVENING; Philadelphia Fri, Oct 13, 2017 4:00 pm Sun, Oct 15, 2017 7:00pm
TEACHER DIVERSITY WORKS. Increasing the number of Black male educators in our nation’s teacher corps will improve education for all our students, especially for African-American boys.  Today Black men represent only two percent of teachers nationwide. This is a national problem that demands a national response.  Come participate in the inaugural National Black Male Educators Convening to advance policy solutions, learn from one another, and fight for social justice. All are welcome.

Save the Date 2017 PA Principals Association State Conference October 14. 15, 16, 2017 Doubletree Hotel Cranberry Township, PA

Save the Date: PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference October 18-20, Hershey PA

Registration now open for the 67th Annual PASCD Conference  Nov. 12-13 Harrisburg: Sparking Innovation: Personalized Learning, STEM, 4C's
This year's conference will begin on Sunday, November 12th and end on Monday, November 13th. There will also be a free pre-conference on Saturday, November 11th.  You can register for this year's conference online with a credit card payment or have an invoice sent to you.  Click here to register for the conference.
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/PASCD-Conference-Registration-is-Now-Open.html?soid=1101415141682&aid=5F-ceLtbZDs

Save the Date! NSBA 2018 Advocacy Institute February 4-6, 2018 Marriott Marquis, Washington D.C.
Registration Opens Tuesday, September 26, 2017


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