Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now
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administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, Governor's
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These daily emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
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Keystone
State Education Coalition
School Directors
voice opposition to SB2 school voucher plan
SB2 ESA Vouchers could take $500 million from
Pennsylvania public schools, which educate 90% of our kids, and give it to
unaccountable private and religious schools. Voucher bill SB2 is anticipated to
move out of the Senate Ed Committee as soon as next week.
Contact your state senator here:
Contact your state representatives here:
GIVE KIDS A SMILE 1-17-18 Update: WE'RE SO CLOSE. 80 people over
the next 5 days would get us to our funding goal! Help make free dental
care for kids in need possible by making a donation today.
After a review of student software-login
records for the 2015-16 school year, state officials determined that ECOT
had overstated its enrollment by more than
9,000 students, and thus was overpaid by more than $60
million. To recoup those funds, the state has withheld roughly $2.5 million
from each of its monthly payments to ECOT this school year.”
Ohio's
Largest Cyber Charter Closes Mid-Year
Education Week By Benjamin Herold on January
19, 2018 9:44 AM
After a protracted fight with state officials over
student attendance and funding, one of the largest full-time online charter
schools in the country will shutter its doors mid-year, sending as many as
12,000 students scrambling to find new schools. The closure of Ohio's
Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow is effective today, following a 3-0 vote by
the board of the school's sponsor on Thursday evening. In a statement posted on Facebook Thursday,
ECOT officials blasted the decision, saying the Ohio Department of Education
should have come to an agreement that would have allowed the school to remain
open through the end of the school year. "By rejecting an offer that would
have allowed our current students to finish the year, Governor Kasich, State
Superintendent Paolo DeMaria, Diane Lease, and company showed they were more
interested in settling a political score than in doing what's best for
students," school spokesman and lobbyist Neil Clark in the statement. The
closure comes because ECOT is running out of money, the result of efforts by
the Ohio Department of Education to recover roughly $80 million in disputed
funds.
SB2: Homer-Center School Directors voice opposition to school voucher plan
Indiana Gazette By CHAUNCEY ROSS chauncey@indianagazette.net January 19, 2018
CENTER TOWNSHIP — The Homer-Center
school board has joined a growing list of schools and education
institutions calling for the Legislature to defeat a proposed educational
savings account (ESA) program that would provide school-choice vouchers to
parents. The directors adopted a resolution at the urging of the Pennsylvania
School Boards Association, a group leading the call for the defeat of Senate
Bill 2 in the General Assembly. Sponsored by Sen. John DiSanto of Perry and
Dauphin counties, and co-sponsored by Sen. Don White and 19 other lawmakers, SB
2 would fund ESAs for parents to transfer their kids out of underperforming
public school districts.
SB2: Otto-Eldred board discusses impact of Senate Bill
2 on their district
Bradford Era by BARB CLOSE Era Correspondent bmdclose@hotmail.com January 18, 2018
DUKE CENTER — The Otto-Eldred School board
unanimously voted to pass a resolution opposing Senate Bill 2 after discussions
during the meeting held Tuesday evening. superintendent, Matthew Splain,
discussed the potential impact of Senate Bill 2 with the board. Splain
explained if passed, Senate Bill 2 would siphon public school money toward
private schools. Families with students attending the lowest 15-percent
performing schools in the state would be eligible to establish an Education
Savings Account through the state Treasury to use toward private school costs
along with other non-public educational resources. There would be no oversight
or accountability for the use of these public funds. Private schools would determine which
students to accept, regardless of their educational background or disability.
The calculation to determine the lowest 15-percent performing schools is quite
limited. Currently, Otto-Eldred High School is on that list even though the
building's current School Performance Profile score is 80.5, higher than any
other building in the Intermediate Unit 9. It was also mentioned that Sen. Joe
Scarnati, R-Brockway, currently supports this bill.
SB2: Voucher
plan bad for public schools
Altoona Mirror by OPINION DOLORES MCCRACKEN JAN 16, 2018Dolores McCracken is a paraprofessional in the Council Rock School District.
Someone once said that “the definition of
insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different
result.” When I think about some legislators’ latest tuition voucher
scheme, that sentiment comes immediately to mind. For the third or fourth time
in the last quarter century, a few of Pennsylvania’s state senators have again
made passing a tuition voucher bill a top priority. The goal of bills like this
one has always been the same: take taxpayer money from public schools, and
allow people to use it to cover tuition at private or religious schools. The
state Senate plan, which renames these tuition vouchers “education
savings accounts,” would siphon $500 million in state funding from the
71 school districts where students would be eligible to use them. And, it is
the least accountable version yet of these flawed voucher plans.
Feds
approve Pa. education plan that deemphasizes standardized testing
By Katie Meyer, WITF January 19, 2018
Now that US
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has approved Pennsylvania’s 13-year education-improvement plan, state officials
are working on rolling out some changes. The updated plan is designed to bring
Pennsylvania into compliance with the Every Student Succeeds Act, the latest
update of the federal education law that passed with bipartisan support in
2015. Compared to its predecessor, No Child Left Behind, ESSA gives
states much more flexibility in setting policy and spending federal public
school dollars. One key change in Pennsylvania’s new plan is that it broadens how school success is measured. Created by Gov.
Tom Wolf’s education department, a new system dubbed the Future Ready PA Index
is being released in the fall, and will track things like career readiness,
along with existing criteria like test scores. Critics, including the Republican chairmen of the House and
Senate education committees and an independent panel of education
policy experts, have complained the new measures are too vague. And they say
the plan’s procedures for holding schools accountable to their improvement
goals are too weak.
New US
Dept of Ed Finding: Schools Cannot Require Parents or Students to Waive Their
FERPA Rights Through Ed Tech Company’s Terms of Service
Future of Privacy Forum By
Lindsey Barrett and Amelia Vance JANUARY 19, 2018
Policymakers, parents, and privacy advocates have
long asked whether FERPA is up to the task of protecting student privacy in the
21st century. A just-released letter regarding the Agora Cyber
Charter School might signal that a FERPA compliance crack-down – frequently
mentioned as their next step after providing extensive guidance by the U.S.
Department of Education (USED) employees at conferences throughout 2017 – has
begun. The Agora letter provides
crucial guidance to schools – both K-12 and Higher Ed – and ed tech companies
about how USED interprets FERPA’s requirements regarding parental consent and
ed tech products’ terms of service, and it may predict USED’s enforcement
priorities going forward. FERPA compliance can be complicated; the statute was
first passed in 1974 and has been occasionally updated to add additional
protections and exceptions, some of which include ambiguous language.
USED’s Privacy Technical
Assistance Center (PTAC) – a program that has received
nearly universal praise from state and local officials over the past four years
– has spent significant time and effort providing practical guidance, training,
and resources for state and local education agencies to clarify FERPA’s
requirements for the use of ed tech products.
School District of Lancaster moves wisely to address
disparate number of school suspensions of black male middle schoolers [opinion]
Lancaster Online by
The LNP Editorial Board January 19, 2018
THE
ISSUE - School District of Lancaster administrators are seeking to address a
disparity in suspensions given to black male middle school students, LNP correspondent Kimberly Marselas reported
Wednesday.
Black male students receive one-third of all out-of-school suspensions at the
district’s five middle schools, even though they make up 17 percent of the
student population. Data collected by the district and shared at a Jan. 9
school board work session shows black male students accounted for 33 percent of
all sixth- through eighth-grade out-of-school suspensions over a 3½-year period
ending in December. Hispanic students — constituting the district’s majority at
61 percent — accounted for 54 percent of suspensions during that same period.
White students, at 13 percent of enrollment, received 11 percent of middle
school suspensions.
The following infractions — described in School
District of Lancaster staff members’ own words — led to out-of-school
suspensions in the 2016-17 school year:
1. Skipping classes, defiance.
2. Instigating a verbal argument with another
student in the cafeteria.
3. Admitting to bringing in a weapon to harm peers.
The third infraction, for sure, merited
out-of-school suspension — and a call to the police.
But as for No. 1, why would you punish a kid for
skipping class by enabling him to miss more classes? And as for No. 2,
instigating a verbal argument? That is an adolescent art form.
These examples were provided to the School District
of Lancaster school board Jan. 9. And they illustrate the murkiness of the
criteria for out-of-school suspension in that district.
Recent
wave of legislative retirements shakes up House GOP seniority
The PLS Reporter Author: Jason Gottesman/Thursday, January 18, 2018
It’s that time in
the two-year legislative session when state lawmakers are making up their minds
about whether they will seek another term in the General Assembly and a recent
wave of recently-announced upcoming retirements is going to change the makeup
of the House Republican caucus’s seniority list. Currently, the three most
senior members in the House GOP are Representatives Bob Godshall
(R-Montgomery), John Taylor (R-Philadelphia), and Ron Marsico (R-Dauphin), all
of whom have announced they will not seek reelection. The change, as it stands
now, will leave a trio of state House members elected in 1992—Rep. Matt Baker
(R-Tioga), Rep. Tim Hennessey (R-Montgomery), and Rep. Stan Saylor (R-York)—as
the most veteran House Republicans, assuming they each stand for and win
reelection in November.
“The 18th is
quintessentially Trump country. But there are at least six compelling forces
playing out in this race that should frighten Republicans and reassure
Democrats as the latter try to pick up a “safe” GOP seat heading into the
momentous 2018 Midterms.”
PA18:
Should the GOP Worry In Pennsylvania's March Special Election?Politically Uncorrected Column by G. Terry Madonna & Michael L.Young January 3, 2018
The March 13 special election in the Pennsylvania 18th congressional district in the southwestern part of the state should be a ho-hum affair. It won’t be! It should be ho-hum because it is a strongly Republican leaning district, rated a plus 11 Advantage Republican by the respected Cook report, and rated at least “ likely Republican” by virtually every other election handicapper. Conventional wisdom favors Republicans so strongly because of the history and demographic make-up of the district. The now disgraced previous incumbent, Tim Murphy regularly won the district by 60 percent or more - while Hillary Clinton pulled only a miserly 38 percent in the 2016 presidential race. What makes the district so favorable to Republicans is the composition of the electorate, which includes the southern portion of Allegheny County, as well as Washington, Westmoreland and Greene counties. The latter three were overwhelmingly carried by Trump in 2016. These counties are the homes of a substantial number of white, rural and small-town voters – many of them working class – the same voters that propelled Trump to his 44,000-vote statewide victory. They were a critical part of the president’s rust belt strategy, especially in the old manufacturing and mill town portions of the district.
https://www.fandm.edu/politics/politically-uncorrected-column/should-the-gop-worry-in-pennsylvania-s-march-special-election
SRC gives reprieves to Universal Vare, Memphis Street charters
The notebook by Darryl C. Murphy January 18, 2018 —
11:20pm
Memphis Street Academy Charter School at J.P. Jones
and Universal Vare Promise Neighborhood Partnership Charter School both live
another day after the School Reform Commission voted that the Charter School
Office (CSO) should negotiate with both schools over conditions for renewal. Both
are so-called Renaissance Schools, former low-performing District schools that
were ceded to charter organizations on the promise of rapid turnaround. If the
schools lose their charters, the District would have to take them back, since
they still have neighborhood catchments. There were no dissenters in either
vote, though Farah Jimenez recused herself during the Vare vote, citing a
potential conflict of interest. Commissioner Bill Green was absent. Both
schools were recommended for nonrenewal by the charter office, but mounted
strong campaigns to stay open. Commissioner Christopher McGinley made it clear
the votes were not renewals. “While there was great enthusiasm from the
Memphis school community, we still have a lot of work ahead of us. This resolution
directs the work of the charter school office.”
Three
school districts consider moving start times later for teens
Post Gazette by MELISSA MCCART Post-Gazette JAN
18, 2018 3:42 PM
Three North Hills school districts are considering a
later start time for high school students, prompted by studies showing that
teenagers who get more sleep are healthier and perform better in school. North
Allegheny, Hampton and Fox Chapel Area school districts are at different stages
of the process. The North Allegheny School Board is set to vote Jan. 24
on whether to move the start time for the Intermediate High School and Senior
High School from 7:25 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. The starting bell sounds at the
district’s three middle schools at 8:10 a.m., and would move to 8 a.m. with
the proposed change. One of the biggest challenges to this move would be the
cost and logistics of busing: whether the school district would have to add
more buses to get students to school on time and whether middle and high school
students would ride buses together, said Emily Schaffer, spokeswoman for the
district.
North
Allegheny considers later start time for middle and high school students
Post-Gazette by SANDY TROZZO JAN 18, 2018 1:41
PM
The North Allegheny School Board will vote Jan. 24
on a proposal to start both high school and middle school at 8 a.m., beginning
with the 2019-20 school year. The district had investigated ways to start high
school later to help students with stress. Experts, including the American
Medical Association, have recommend that high schools and middle schools start
classes at 8:30 a.m. or later. However, the majority of the 5,530 parents,
students and staff responding to a district survey did not want the starting
times for elementary and secondary flipped. Combining the middle and high
school bus runs was the only option that received support from the community. “We
believe this is an appropriate compromise,” Superintendent Robert Scherrer said
at the board’s work session Wednesday. Under the proposal, both the high school
and middle school days would run from 8 a.m. to 2:50 p.m. The high school day
now runs from 7:25 a.m. to 2:15 p.m., and the middle school day from 8:10 to
2:58 p.m. The start time for elementary schools would be pushed back five
minutes, to 9:05 a.m., to accommodate bus schedules. School would also end five
minutes later, at 3:35 p.m.
Pa.
Supreme Court to hear Lower Merion tax appeal
Inquirer by Kathy Boccella, Staff
Writer @Kathy_Boccella | kboccella@phillynews.comUpdated: JANUARY 18, 2018 — 11:56 AM EST
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has agreed to hear
the Lower Merion School District’s appeal of a lower court decision that said
the district could not impose a 4.4 percent tax increase on residents for the
2016-17 school year. Last spring, a
three-judge panel of Commonwealth Court dismissed an appeal in
the district’s battle with three residents who sued over what they called
excessive tax bills, which had increased 53.3 percent since 2006. They maintain
that Lower Merion misrepresented how much money it had in reserve and claimed
deficits that didn’t exist in order to impose a tax increase that exceeds what
the state allows. “Obviously we’re extremely pleased,” Kenneth A. Roos, the
district’s solicitor, said of the Supreme Court’s decision. In August 2016, Montgomery County
Judge Joseph Smyth ordered the district to cut the tax increase for 2016-17
year to no more than 2.4 percent. In his ruling, he noted that the
8,400-student district – one of the wealthiest in the state – had falsely
projected annual multimillion-dollar deficits since 2010, though it had
accumulated a $42.5 million surplus. Lower Merion’s appeal was dismissed not on
the merits but because the appeals court said the district failed to meet the
10-day deadline for filing post-trial motions after Smyth’s ruling.
“The bruhaha has unexpectedly put one of
Pennsylvania’s most affluent and high-achieving suburban districts at the
cutting edge of a national debate over the merits of suspensions. Critics
question what good is accomplished by taking kids away from the classroom and
cite statistics that non-white students and the disabled are disproportionately
punished, although that isn’t the issue in Unionville which is 93 percent
white.”
School
district to rescind suspensions so kids can apply to college
Inquirer by Kathy Boccella, Staff
Writer @Kathy_Boccella | kboccella@phillynews.comUpdated: JANUARY 18, 2018 — 3:01 AM EST
When a Unionville High School administrator spotted
a visibly intoxicated student at a football game last September, it triggered a
school probe into underage drinking and e-cigarette use that led to 20
suspensions, roiling the Unionville-Chadds
Ford School District – and that was just the beginning. Next came the backlash.
Parents of many of the suspended high schoolers clashed with school leaders at
heated board meetings and, in some cases, hired lawyers to contest the
punishments – arguing the 10-day out-of-school suspensions for drinking were
too severe, hampered their kids’ learning and, most importantly, would wreck
their chances at getting into a good college. With the controversy dragging on
for months, Unionville-Chadds Ford is now weighing a radical overhaul in its
disciplinary policies that officials say would make it the first
Pennsylvania district to allow for the rescission of student suspensions – a
chance to wipe the record clean after a period of good behavior.
As homeschooling
becomes more mainstream, is it right for my child? Here’s what I’ve learned.
Public Source by Saima Sitwat January 18, 2018
The question surprised both of us. “Do you like
being homeschooled?” a woman asked my 8-year-old daughter Alina at our gym in
Wexford. She was out of school sick that day. I didn’t think homeschool was the
most obvious reason to figure a child wouldn’t be in school.
But, as Alina tried to decipher what “homeschooling” meant, I remembered that
some of my friends have chosen to homeschool and recalled the kids I’ve been
noticing during the daytime at grocery stores, how they practice spelling
ingredients on the packages or calculating the bill at the register. While some
of them could be enrolled in cyber schools, it made me wonder if homeschooling
is becoming more mainstream — at least in my suburban world. In fact,
homeschooling has been on the rise in Pennsylvania since the 2011-12 school
year when there were about 20,900 homeschooled students in the state. In
2015-16, the state Department of Education recorded nearly 23,900
homeschoolers, which likely underestimates its prevalence because students
homeschooled for religious reasons are exempt from the registration
requirement. Still, homeschooled students represent only about 1.38 percent of
K-12 students in Pennsylvania. Nationally, homeschoolers tend to be white (59
percent) and concentrated in the suburbs (39 percent), according to the
National Center for Education Statistics [NCES]. The 2015-2016 state data
showed 2,638 homeschooled students in the seven-county Pittsburgh metropolitan
area, 40 percent of whom were living in Allegheny County.
TRIBUNE-REVIEW by JAMIE MARTINES | Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018, 12:27 p.m.
The Senate Education Committee is considering
legislation that would require schools to notify parents if their child was
treated for a tick bite at school. Pennsylvania School Code currently does not include such guidelines. Pennsylvania is a leader in
reported cases of the tick-borne illness Lyme Disease, which presents with symptoms including fever, chills, joint aches, swollen lymph nodes,
headache and fatigue. Sometimes, a bull's-eye shaped rash appears in the area
of the tick bite. The proposed bill-- Senate Bill 1016 --would require schools to send parents or guardians
written notification that a tick was removed from a student at school. Though
not all ticks carry Lyme Disease, monitoring for signs of Lyme Disease and
treating the illness early is crucial.
Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks North Carolina Gerrymandering Ruling
New York Times By ADAM LIPTAK and ALAN BLINDER JAN. 18, 2018
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday
temporarily blocked a trial court’s order requiring North Carolina lawmakers to
produce a revised congressional voting map, making it likely that the midterm
elections this year will be conducted using districts favorable to Republican
candidates. The trial court had found that Republican legislators in the state
had violated the Constitution by drawing congressional voting districts to hurt
the electoral chances of Democratic candidates. The Supreme Court’s move was
expected and not particularly telling. The court, which is considering two
other major tests of partisan gerrymandering, has granted stays in similar
settings. Its decisions in the pending cases, from Wisconsin and Maryland, are likely to
effectively decide the North Carolina case, too.
Register now for PSBA Board Presidents Panel
PSBA Website January 2018
School board leaders, this one's for you! Join your colleagues at an evening of networking and learning in 10 convenient locations around the state at the end of January. Share your experience and leadership through a panel discussion moderated by PSBA Member Services team. Participate in roundtable conversations focused on the most pressing challenges and current issues affecting PA school districts. Bring your specific challenges and scenarios for small group discussion. Register online.
NSBA 2018
Advocacy Institute February 4 - 6, 2018 Marriott Marquis, Washington D.C.
Register Now
Come a day early and attend the Equity
Symposium!
Join hundreds of public education advocates
on Capitol Hill and help shape the decisions made in Washington D.C. that
directly impact our students. At the 2018 Advocacy Institute, you’ll gain
insight into the most critical issues affecting public education, sharpen your
advocacy skills, and prepare for effective meetings with your representatives. Whether
you are an expert advocator or a novice, attend and experience inspirational
keynote speakers and education sessions featuring policymakers, legal experts
and policy influencers. All designed to help you advocate for your students and
communities.
Local School Board Members to Advocate on Capitol Hill in 2018
NSBA's Advocacy Institute 2018 entitled, "Elected. Engaged. Empowered: Representing the Voice in Public Education," will be held on February 4-6, 2018 at the Marriott Marquis in Washington, D.C. This conference will convene Members of Congress, national thought-leaders, state association executives and well-known political pundits to provide local school board members with an update on key policy and legal issues impacting public education, and tactics and strategies to enhance their ability to influence the policy-making process and national education debate during their year-round advocacy efforts.
WHAT'S NEW - ADVOCACY INSTITUTE '18?
·
Confirmed
National Speaker: Cokie Roberts, Political Commentator for NPR and ABC News
·
NSBA
will convene first ever National School Board Town Hall on School Choice
·
Includes
General Sessions featuring national policy experts, Members of Congress,
"DC Insiders" and local school board members
·
Offers
conference attendees "Beginner" and "Advanced" Advocacy
breakout sessions
·
NSBA
will host a Hill Day Wrap-Up Reception
Click here to register for the Advocacy
Institute. The hotel block will close on Monday, January 15PSBA Closer Look Series Public Briefings
The Closer Look Series Public Briefings will take a deeper dive into concepts contained in the proposed Pennsylvania State Budget and the State of Education Report. Sessions will harness the expertise of local business leaders, education advocates, government and local school leaders from across the state. Learn more about the fiscal health of schools, how workforce development and early education can be improved and what local schools are doing to improve the State of Education in Pennsylvania. All sessions are free and open to the public.
Connecting Student Success to Employment
Doubletree by Hilton Hotel – Pittsburgh Green Tree Feb. 27, 2018, 7-8:45 a.m.
More than eight out of 10 students taking one or more industry-specific assessments are achieving either at the competent or advanced level. How do we connect student success to jobs in the community? What does the connection between schools and the business community look like and how can it be improved? How do we increase public awareness of the growing demand for workers in the skilled trades and other employment trends in the commonwealth? Hear John Callahan, PSBA assistant executive director, and Matt Smith, president of the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, give a free, public presentation on these topics followed by a Q&A period.
A Deeper Dive into the State of Education
Crowne Plaza Philadelphia – King of Prussia March 6, 2018, 7-8:45 a.m.
In the State of Education Report, 40% of schools stated that 16% to 30% of students joining schools at kindergarten or first grade are below the expected level of school readiness. Learn more about the impact of early education and what local schools are doing to improve the State of Education in Pennsylvania. A free, public presentation by local and legislative experts will be followed by a Q&A period.
Public Education Under Extreme Pressure
Hilton Harrisburg March 12, 2018, 7-8:45 a.m.
According to the State of Education Report, 84% of all school districts viewed budget pressures as the most difficult area to manage over the past year. With so many choices and pressures, school districts must make decisions to invest in priorities while managing their locally diverse budgets. How does the state budget impact these decisions? What investments does the business community need for the future growth of the economy and how do we improve the health, education and well-being of students who attend public schools in the commonwealth in this extreme environment? Hear local and legislative leaders in a free, public presentation on these topics followed by a Q&A period.
Registration for these public briefings: https://www.psba.org/2018/01/closer-look-series-public-briefings/
Registration is now open for the 2018 PASA Education Congress! State College, PA, March 19-20, 2018
Don't miss this marquee event for Pennsylvania school leaders at the Nittany Lion Inn, State College, PA, March 19-20, 2018.
Learn more by visiting http://www.pasa-net.org/2018edcongress
SAVE THE DATE for the 2018
PA Educational Leadership Summit - July 29-31 - State College, PA sponsored by
the PA Principals Association, PASA, PAMLE and PASCD.
This year's Summit will be held from July 29-31, 2018 at the Penn Stater
Conference Center Hotel, State College, PA.
Any comments contained herein are my comments, alone, and
do not necessarily reflect the opinions of any other person or organization
that I may be affiliated with.
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