Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now
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Keystone
State Education Coalition
Despite poor performance of conventional
vouchers and no evidence about ESAs, policymakers are adopting and expanding
these new voucher programs.
National Education Policy Center January 23, 2018
BOULDER, CO (January 23, 2018) – Education Savings
Accounts (ESAs) are a new form of government subsidy for private education, and
they are arguably the most strongly promoted approach by voucher advocates.
Parents are provided a set sum, often in the form of a debit account, which
they can use for a variety of educational services including private school
tuition and fees, online courses, extracurricular activities and private
tutoring. Students enrolled in an ESA program are not allowed to concurrently
attend a public school. A new brief released today by the National
Education Policy Center examines this emerging policy, considering similarities
and differences with conventional voucher approaches, and examining the legal
issues that the policy raises.
Blogger note: this letter, signed by
over 20 statewide organizations, was delivered to all members of the General
Assembly last week.
SB2: Pennsylvanians
Opposed to Vouchers Letter to All Members of the PA General Assembly
TO: The Honorable Members of the Pennsylvania
General AssemblyFROM: Education Stakeholders and Interested Parties
DATE: January 19, 2018
SUBJECT: Senate Bill 2 – Education Savings Accounts, i.e. school vouchers
Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), a new and worse iteration of school vouchers proposed in SB 2, siphon precious taxpayer resources from already financially struggling public schools to private schools and other private educational service organizations that are not accountable to the public for their decisions and results. Whereas traditional public education entities have strict requirements for public meetings, transparency, governance, academic achievement, testing/reporting and financial accountability, such requirements don’t exist and wouldn’t exist for entities receiving tax dollars from ESA vouchers.
Editorial:
Pa. High court strikes blow for basic democratic rights
Delco Times POSTED: 01/23/18, 8:58 PM
EST | UPDATED: 56 SECS AGO
It’s been a pretty good couple of days for
underdogs. No, we’re not talking about the Eagles.
We’re talking about those who took one look at the
Pennsylvania Congressional map, noticed how it was contorted and twisted into
bizarre shapes in a blatant display of partisanship, and cried foul. Monday the
state Supreme Court agreed with them. Not only that, but the justices ordered
the maps – a result of the redistricting done back in 2011 based on the results
of the 2010 census – be thrown out. They ordered the state Legislature to take
another shot at it, redraw the maps, and submit the plan to Gov. Tom Wolf by
Feb. 15 – in time for the new boundaries to be in place for the May Primary. If
they fail to get the job done, the justices said they would take up the job
themselves. Who says you can’t fight City Hall? Don’t tell that to the League
of Women Voters, which took one look at the state’s reconfigured Congressional
districts after the 2010 census and smelled a rat. Actually, what they smelled
was politics. It’s called gerrymandering. And in Pennsylvania it’s something of
an art form. The state Legislature performs the redistricting process every 10
years after the latest census. Not surprisingly, the party that controls the
Legislature often uses that political clout to bend the new boundaries in ways
that help their candidates.
Pa.
Republicans ask state Supreme Court to stay its own gerrymandering order
Inquirer by Jonathan Lai & Liz
Navratil, STAFF WRITERS Updated: JANUARY 23, 2018 — 6:35 PM EST
A day after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the
state’s congressional map is an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander and ordered
legislators to draw a new map, Republican leaders on Tuesday asked the court to
halt its order. In their application for a stay, State Senate President
Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati and House Speaker Mike Turzai said the ruling “throws
the 2018 Congressional elections into chaos” and “raises a profoundly important
question under federal law” that should be resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court. Their
filing contends the current map has been used for so long, and the order comes
so late in the election timeline, that a change would confuse voters and
candidates. “The Court’s decision poses a profound threat to the integrity
of Pennsylvania’s upcoming Congressional elections,” it says. Asking the court
to stay its own order is a necessary step before Republicans can ask the U.S.
Supreme Court to intervene, said Michael Li, a redistricting expert at the
Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. He said the state court was
almost sure to deny the request.
Can
Pennsylvania's policy-makers really build a better Congressional map in 17
days?
Penn Live By Charles Thompson cthompson@pennlive.com Updated 6:06
AM; January 24, 2018
Rightly or wrongly, it is often said around the
Pennsylvania Capitol that legislators do their best work when facing a
deadline. That maxim will be put to a stern test this winter if, as the state
Supreme Court ruled Monday, the General
Assembly is tasked with building a new map of Congressional districts by Feb. 9. Leaders
of the legislature's Republican majorities' first goal, of course, remains
getting a stay that would postpone the whole exercise until at least after the
fast-approaching 2018 campaign cycle. Legislative leaders formally filed their
application for a stay with the state Supreme Court late Tuesday. A second
appeal to federal courts is also expected later this week, asserting in part
that the state Supreme Court has no authority to redraw federal legislative
districts. Outside the courtroom, meanwhile, behind-the-scenes efforts to
develop a new map - the case at hand only applies to the state's 18 seats in
the U.S. House of Representatives - were tentatively starting to crank up.
House
Majority Leader Dave Reed announces congressional run as lawmakers prepare to
redraw district maps
Inquirer by Liz Navratil, HARRISBURG
BUREAU Updated: JANUARY 23, 2018 — 12:04 PM EST
HARRISBURG — House Majority Leader Dave Reed, a
Republican from Indiana County, announced Tuesday morning that he is running
for an open congressional seat. The announcement comes while the
Republican-controlled state legislature is deciding how to redraw the state’s
congressional maps following a state Supreme Court order Monday that declared
them unconstitutional, putting Reed in a potentially sticky spot. Reed, who has
been majority leader for three years, said he thinks it’s fine for him to
participate in the map-making process if it occurs. “For the congressional
maps, it’s the entire legislative body with the governor that actually
physically works on the maps,” he said Tuesday afternoon, following a meeting
of the state House Rules committee, which he chairs. “There is no added
interest from the majority leader’s perspective…and, quite frankly, I think
we’re probably going to end up with maps drawn by the Supreme Court.”
About that
court ruling that could change the face of Pennsylvania politics | John Baer
Is the political face of
Pennsylvania about to change? Or not.Philly Daily News by John Baer, STAFF COLUMNIST baerj@phillynews.com Updated: JANUARY 23, 2018 — 4:33 PM EST
The thing about change? Especially in places not
used to it? If it comes, it comes quickly. Like a lightning bolt. Like the state
Supreme Court ruling this week
that Pennsylvania’s congressional districts are overly partisan,
unconstitutional and need redrawn right now. Boom. Zap. Just like that. Staid,
old Pa. politics might never be the same. New congressional district maps
replacing Republican-drawn 2011 maps that are ranked among America’s
most-gerrymandered would mean actual political reform. Imagine. And likely a
big win for Democrats. Ever since the 2011 maps, they’ve held just five of the
state’s 18 U.S. House seats. If the ruling stands, and Dems don’t do what
they’re prone to do, namely screw up opportunities, they stand to gain. Less-partisan
maps could mean Democrats grab, by some estimates, up to four, even five new
seats — even without a 2018 Democrat wave.
Top Pa.
Republicans give Pat Meehan benefit of the doubt
Inquirer by Jonathan Tamari & Andrew
Seidman - Staff Writers Updated: JANUARY 23, 2018 — 11:12 AM EST
Top Pennsylvania Republicans are giving U.S.
Rep. Pat Meehan the benefit of the doubt as he tries to chart a path
forward in the face of a report that he used thousands of
taxpayer dollars to quietly settle a sexual harassment claim. While a number of
Democrats have called on the Delaware County Republican to step down, key GOP
leaders acknowledge the report is troubling, while arguing in the next breath
that there may be more to the story, if only it could be revealed. Republican leaders’ responses give Meehan space to
consider his next move and decide whether he can ride out the political furor
as he faces what was already expected to be a difficult reelection campaign in
a battleground suburban district.
Democrat
Austin Davis wins Pa. House's 35th District to fill Gergely's seat
PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE JAN 23, 2018 9:39 PM
Democrat Austin Davis appeared to have secured a win
Tuesday in the special election to replace Marc Gergely in the 35th State House
District. “I think the people are sending a resounding message: that they want
a representative that will deliver results,” said Mr. Davis, 28, of McKeesport,
who maintained a roughly 3-to-1 lead over Republican Fawn Walker-Montgomery. He pledged to focus on the same issues he’d
campaigned on -- improving education, transit and safety, and public safety. “We’re
united here in the Mon Valley. … We’re united and we’re going to move this
valley forward and we’re going to deliver results to the people in this
district,” Mr. Davis told a crowd of more than 100 supporters at McKeesport’s
Palisades ballroom.
Christiana
finishes distant second to Barletta in caucus vote
Beaver County Times
By J.D. Prose Posted
Jan 23, 2018 at 3:12 PM Updated Jan 23, 2018 at 4:29 PM
U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta has overwhelmingly won
another regional Republican committee straw poll for Senate primary candidates,
with Beaver County state Rep. Jim Christiana again coming in a distant second. The
Republican State Committee’s Southeast Caucus on Saturday gave Barletta, R-11,
Hazleton, 62 of the 78 votes while Christiana, R-15, Brighton Township,
received 14 votes and Bobby Lawrence of Waynesboro, Franklin County, collected
two. Besides Christiana, Barletta and Lawrence, the GOP primary race includes
Robinson Township resident Joe Vodvarka and Gettysburg resident Cynthia Ayers.
Barletta, who leads the field in fundraising and has close ties to President
Donald Trump, is considered the favorite to win the May 15 primary and
challenge U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, in the general election. Barletta’s
successful showing comes after he dominated the three other
Republican regional caucuses (Central, Northeast and Northeast-Central)
earlier this month, winning 127 of 144 votes. Christiana received the other 17
votes on Jan. 6.
Reducing
size of Pa. House by a quarter seen as 'a foot in the door' leading to more
reforms
Penn Live By Jan Murphy jmurphy@pennlive.com Updated 1:39
PM; Posted 1:29 PM
Hard as it is to imagine voting to support possibly
giving yourself and 51 of your colleagues a pink slip, that is exactly what a
majority of the House State Government Committee did on Tuesday. By approving a proposed constitutional
amendment to shrink the size of
the 203-member state House of Representatives to 151 members,
the committee advanced this government reform measure to a point in the lengthy
state constitutional amendment process that it is believed it has never reached
before. Some see this measure, which passed the committee by a 14-10 vote, as a way to save
money and make government more efficient. Some simply want to let the voters
decide if this is a reform they want to see occur. Yet, others see it as making
House districts too expansive and the wrong direction for state government to
head. Regardless, the proposed constitutional amendment to shrink
the nation's second largest Legislature - and the largest full-time Legislature
- now goes to the full House for consideration possibly as soon as early next
month.
Without
transparency, it's hard to be enthusiastic about Philly's new school board |
Opinion
by Lisa Haver, For the Philadelphia
Inquirer Updated: JANUARY 23, 2018 — 12:29 PM EST
The nominating panel convened under the rules of
the Philadelphia Home
Rule Charter for the purpose of selecting candidates for
the new school board held its first meeting last week. That should have been
cause for rejoicing, an event to usher in a new day for the city. After a
17-year reign, the state-imposed School Reform Commission voted last November
to dissolve itself. A nine-person local school board, nominated by the
panel and appointed by Mayor Kenney, will be seated July 1. But the manner in
which the panel has conducted its business so far, including its announcement
that it will conduct
deliberations in private, left advocates wondering why we fought so hard to
bring back local control of our public schools. The panel turned its back to
the public. No remarks were addressed to the public, and there were no
introductions of the 13 panel members chosen by the mayor. The agenda included
no time for public speakers. Chair Wendell Pritchett announced that there would
be only one more public meeting, when the panel would vote on the final 27
names to be sent to the mayor, from which he would choose the final nine.
The city
needs a transformation to improve education, not just a new school board
A former teacher, now a social impact strategist,
shares a bold vision for Philadelphia's future.
The notebook Commentary by Paul Perry January
23, 2018 — 3:14pm
The first thing I did every day as a teacher in
Philly was kick a trash can.
I was checking for mice in my classroom. So instead
of helping Angela boost her reading level, my first daily act as a middle
school teacher in this city was pest control. Why do we allow working and
learning conditions like these in our schools? Imagine if employees at CHOP,
Vanguard, or even City Hall had to deal with these sorts of working conditions.
Yet this is the reality in many Philadelphia schools today. And it’s unlikely
our soon-to-be
appointed school board will find ways to resolve this. Even though
much good can come from local control, urban school boards are basically set up
for failure. Though we ultimately spend more per student than many of our peers in OECD
countries, we still get lackluster results because of
how we spend. The federal government gives too little to schools compared to
peer countries, while states consistently
reduce their contributions to schools, meaning localities must inevitably
ratchet up property taxes, further deepening inequities among districts. Most
countries that outperform us have nothing like our over 15,000 school boards.
For example, the Canadian province of Ontario (which is similar in size to dozens of our
states) saved millions when it halved the number of school districts across the
province. The money saved went more directly to schools and students, while
increases in student achievement followed. We’ve got one or two layers of
governance too many, and dissolving the SRC doesn’t
single-handedly change that context.
Black male educators make up 31 percent of Bethune
Elementary staff
Philly Trib by Samaria Bailey Tribune Correspondent Jan
23, 2018
While the national rate of Black male educators
stands at two percent, Bethune Elementary School in North Philadelphia has
managed to produce a team of which the percentage of Black male educators
dwarfs the local and national average. Eighty percent of Bethune’s 700 plus
students are Black. And the 13 Black male educators including classroom
teachers, a dean and an intervention specialist, make up 31 percent of its
staff. That is nearly 10 times the School District of Philadelphia’s 2016-2017
average of four percent and more than 10 times the national average of two
percent as reported by the U.S. Department of Education. “Last year, we made a
conscious effort to increase the number of Black male educators in our
building. We didn’t shy away from other qualified candidates but we were
focused in our recruitment efforts to find qualified Black Male Educators who
believe in the vision that we have for our school,” said Bethune principal
Jamina Dingle. “I’ve always felt that it just makes sense for the teaching
staff of a school to be reflective of the students that are being taught.
York Dispatch by Junior Gonzalez,
505-5439/@EducationYD Published 2:39 p.m. ET Jan. 23, 2018 | Updated 6:23
p.m. ET Jan. 23, 2018
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
·
Thackston
agreed to complete and approve audits for the 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16
school years in an agreement.
·
With
about a week to go before the deadline, all three years were incomplete as of
Jan. 16.
·
If
the audits are not approved by Jan. 31, Thackston must close by the end of the
current school year.
Helen Thackston Charter School is racing to complete
three years of financial audits by Wednesday, Jan. 31, under a deal with the
York City school board that would allow the charter to remain open through
the 2018-19 school year. If the audits are not completed and approved by next
week's deadline, Thackston could close at the end of the current school year. The
school boards for Thackston and the district each unanimously approved
a dissolution agreement last October to avoid lengthy revocation hearings
focusing on Thackston's performance. The deal calls for the charter school to
close its doors for good in 2019 — as long as the board can produce
the missing audits.
Parents
need to do their homework on school choice options | Opinion
Penn Live Guest Editorial by Natasha Shane Updated Jan
22; Posted Jan 22
This week marks the start of National School Choice
Week. While Pennsylvania lawmakers have yet to legalize school vouchers (the
most common form of choice), Keystone State parents still have no shortage of
options for their children. In the video below, Natasha
Shane, of Commonwealth Charter Academy, a K-12 cyber-school, offers
pointers to parents who might be considering other education options for their
children.
Saucon
Valley School Board offered a choice of tax increases
Charles Malinchak Special to The Morning Call
January 23, 2018
The Saucon Valley School District’s preliminary
2018-2019 budget made its first appearance Monday night and it showed two
spending plans that both call for a tax increase. District Superintendent Craig
Butler presented the board with the two proposals, calling the first one a
“rollover’’ budget and the second a plan that includes spending on technology
and rewriting academic curriculums. The first plan would cost $46.6 million and
includes no new spending on anything except meeting expenses that routinely go
up every year such as retirement and health insurance costs, salaries and
utilities. “This includes the normal yearly increases,’’ said district Business
Manager David Bonenberger. But even without spending on new programs or
projects, Bonenberger said just to meet those normal yearly increases the plan
needs $669,104 to bring a balanced budget.
Parkland
limits possible tax hike to 2.4 percent
Margie Peterson Special to The Morning Call January
23, 2018
Parkland School Board voted Tuesday to contain any
tax increase for its 2018-2019 budget to no more than the Act I Index of 2.4
percent. That won’t be easy because the cost of benefits — including pensions
and health coverage — is expected to rise 4.45 percent from $50.4 million to
$52.7 million, according to John Vignone, Parkland’s director of business
administration. Vignone gave the board an overview of budget projections before
school directors voted unanimously with Board President David M. Kennedy absent
to keep any tax hike to 2.4 percent or less. Vignone is projecting the school
district will spend nearly $1 million more next year for services such as
tuition for students who attend charter schools and cybercharter schools — or
about 9 percent more than this year. Rodney Troutman, assistant superintendent,
said Parkland pays about $11,000 for a typical child in the district to attend
charter and cybercharters and about $22,000 for a child in special education.
‘The commission points to Pennsylvania,
where high-poverty districts spend around 30 percent less than wealthier
districts on average. Districts and parents have long advocated for change in
Pennsylvania, pushing for change in its legislature makeup.”
LOW-INCOME
BLACK AND LATINO STUDENTS HIT HARDEST IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Newsweek BY TRACY LEE ON 1/11/18 AT 6:23 PM
Poverty and segregation drive the gap between
public schools across the United States, hitting low-income black and
Latino students the hardest, according to a study released Thursday.
“Vast funding inequities in our state public
education systems render the education available to millions of American public
school students profoundly unequal,” says a report by the U.S.
Commission on Civil Rights. Schools are mostly funded with money generated
through local property taxes, which means that poorer communities are not
able to rake in funds to adequately fund their schools. As a result, funding
disparities among school districts occur, the report highlights. While the
report notes that an average of $11,066 is spent on each student annually by
school districts, that amount "fluctuates dramatically from district to
district."
Eight
governors join coalition to expand computer science education
With these new additions, the total
membership of the Governors' Partnership for K-12 Computer Science has doubled.
Edscoop By Emily
Tate JANUARY 23,
2018 5:49 PM
Eight more governors have signed on to the
Governors’ Partnership for K-12 Computer Science, a coalition of state leaders
committed to advancing computer science education. These recent additions bring
the total membership to 16 governors, meaning that the Partnership, which
launched in 2016 with the help of Code.org, has doubled since last month. The
new members include Republicans Doug Burgum of North Dakota, Eric Holcomb of
Indiana, Kay Ivey of Alabama, Matt Mead of Wyoming and Democrats Steve Bullock
of Montana, David Ige of Hawaii, Ralph Northam of Virginia and Tom Wolf of
Pennsylvania. In joining the partnership, the governors pledge to prioritize
policy, standards and funding around computer science education. And it’s not
just beneficial to the students. Nationwide, there are over 500,000 openings
for computing jobs, according to Code.org, and that’s only expected to grow.
States also report increasing shortages of skilled workers in the fields of
STEM, computer science, IT and cybersecurity.
School Shooting in Kentucky Is Nation’s 11th of Year. It’s Jan. 23.
New York Times By ALAN BLINDER and DANIEL VICTOR JAN. 23, 2018
ATLANTA — On Tuesday, it was a high school in
small-town Kentucky. On Monday, a school cafeteria outside Dallas and a charter
school parking lot in New Orleans. And before that, a school bus in Iowa, a college campus in Southern California, a high school in Seattle. Gunfire
ringing out in American schools used to be rare, and shocking. Now it seems to
happen all the time. The scene in Benton, Ky., on Tuesday was the worst so far
in 2018: Two 15-year-old students were killed and 18 more people were injured.
But it was one of at least 11 shootings on school property recorded since Jan.
1, and roughly the 50th of the academic year. Researchers and gun control
advocates say that since 2013, they have logged school
shootings at a rate of about one a week. “We have absolutely become numb to
these kinds of shootings, and I think that will continue,” said Katherine W.
Schweit, a former senior F.B.I. official and the co-author of a study of 160 active shooting incidents in the United
States.
Obituary:
Ursula K. Le Guin / acclaimed for her science fiction, dead at 88
GERALD JONAS The New York Times JAN 23, 2018 7:04
PM
Ursula K. Le Guin, the immensely popular author who
brought literary depth and a tough-minded feminist sensibility to science
fiction and fantasy with books like “The Left Hand of Darkness” and the
Earthsea series, died Monday at her home in Portland, Oregon. She was 88. Her
son, Theo Downes-Le Guin, confirmed the death. He did not specify a cause but
said she had been in poor health for several months. Le Guin embraced the
standard themes of her chosen genres: sorcery and dragons, spaceships and
planetary conflict. But even when her protagonists are male, they avoid the
macho posturing of so many science fiction and fantasy heroes. The conflicts
they face are typically rooted in a clash of cultures and resolved more by
conciliation and self-sacrifice than by swordplay or space battles. Her books
have been translated into more than 40 languages and have sold millions of
copies worldwide. Several, including “The Left Hand of Darkness” — set on a
planet where the customary gender distinctions do not apply — have been in
print for almost 50 years. Critic Harold Bloom lauded Le Guin as “a superbly
imaginative creator and major stylist” who “has raised fantasy into high
literature for our time.” In addition to her more than 20 novels, she was the
author of a dozen books of poetry, more than 100 short stories (collected in
multiple volumes), seven collections of essays, 13 books for children and five
volumes of translation, including the Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu and selected
poems by Chilean Nobel Prize winner Gabriela Mistral. She also wrote a guide
for writers.
Testing
Resistance & Reform News: January 17-23, 2018
FairTest Submitted by fairtest on January 23,
2018 - 1:06pm
The drumbeat of evidence documenting the damage to
educational quality and equity from high-stakes exams is forcing policymakers
to reconsider their commitment to testing overuse and misuse. Look for many
more assessment reform victories as 2018 state legislative sessions move into
high gear.
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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