Tuesday, March 26, 2019

PA Ed Policy Roundup March 26: In 2016-17, @SenatorScavello’s school districts in Northampton, Lehigh and Monroe Counties had to send over $23.2 million to chronically underperforming cybers that they never authorized


Started in November 2010, 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, charter school leaders, 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.

These daily emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg

In 2016-17, @SenatorScavello’s school districts in Northampton, Lehigh and Monroe Counties had to send over $23.2 million to chronically underperforming cybers that they never authorized


Blogger note: Congrats to Senator Aument. My guess is that the chairmanship of the Senate Ed Committee is now in play; curious to see who is selected for that role.
Aument Elected to Senate Republican Caucus Leadership
Senator Aument’s Website Posted on Mar 25, 2019
(HARRISBURG) – Earlier today, Senator Ryan Aument (R-Landisville) received the unanimous approval of his colleagues in the Senate Republican Caucus to serve them as their Caucus Secretary for the remainder of the 2019-2020 legislative session. “During my time in the General Assembly, my goal has always been to advance an opportunity agenda, including policies that build strong families, vibrant and interconnected communities, an economy that works, and high performing schools,” said Sen. Aument.  “As such, I have continually sought to serve in positions where I can have the greatest impact on behalf of those who elected me to represent them in Harrisburg.  I see this leadership position as a unique opportunity to work with my colleagues in the Senate Republican Caucus to give all Pennsylvanians, regardless of their situation in life, a chance to experience earned success and upward mobility.” Senator Joe Scarnati, President Pro Tempore, congratulated Senator Aument on his election: “Throughout his time in the Senate he has been an influential leader, advocating for numerous important issues including job growth initiatives, government efficiency and reducing government spending.  Senator Aument will be a great asset to our Republican Leadership team as we work together to tackle tough issues and make Pennsylvania a stronger state.”

Blogger note: Total cyber charter tuition paid by PA taxpayers from 500 school districts for 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 was over $1.6 billion; $393.5 million, $398.8 million, $436.1 million and $454.7 million respectively. Over the next several days we will continue rolling out cyber charter tuition expenses for taxpayers in education committee members, legislative leadership and various other districts.
In 2016-17, @SenatorScavello’s school districts in Northampton, Lehigh and Monroe Counties had to send over $23.2 million to chronically underperforming cybers that they never authorized. #SB34 (Schwank) or #HB526 (Sonney) could change that.
Links to additional bill information and several resources have been moved to the end of today’s postings
Data Source: PDE via PSBA

Bangor Area SD
$848,062.80
Bethlehem Area SD
$2,796,413.50
East Stroudsburg Area SD
$3,157,698.04
Easton Area SD
$1,881,859.44
Nazareth Area SD
$1,049,226.01
Northampton Area SD
$1,655,900.69
Northern Lehigh SD
$593,611.31
Pen Argyl Area SD
$473,535.05
Pleasant Valley SD
$2,554,727.90
Pocono Mountain SD
$5,976,724.34
Stroudsburg Area SD
$2,243,575.72

$23,231,334.80


On a historic day, the Pa. House had a chance to be pluralistic and welcoming. It totally whiffed | Tuesday Morning Coffee
PA Capital Star By  John L. Micek March 26, 2019
Good Tuesday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
If there’s one thing that’s true about the Pennsylvania General Assembly, it’s that the 253-member body (203 in the House, 50 in the Senate) rarely loses its capacity to surprise. With that many people in one place, swimming through a stew of differing beliefs, contrasting priorities, clashing egos, wildly divergent and explicitly partisan agendas, there’s always an endless potential for drama. Still, even by those admittedly generous standards, the not-quite two minutes that freshman state Rep. Stephanie Borowicz spent on the Speaker’s Rostrum on Monday afternoon to deliver the House’s daily invocation, stands out as one of the more dramatic and polarizing moments in recent memory. Worse, it came just as the House was to swear in its first Muslim woman member, Movita Johnson-Harrell, of Philadelphia. It was a landmark moment, a moment to reach out and deliver an inclusive, welcoming benediction.
Which is exactly what didn’t happen.

LTE: Cyber charter school ‘rant’ off base
Intelligencer Letter by Colleen Hroncich, senior fellow, Commonwealth Foundation, Harrisburg Posted at 5:51 AM
Quakertown Superintendent Dr. Bill Harner’s recent rant against cyber charter schools is misleading and shows incredible disdain for Pennsylvania parents. Dr. Harner says he wants to create a “future ready workforce.” In the digital age, cyber schools are uniquely situated to do just that! Their flexibility allows students to pursue opportunities that aren’t limited by zip codes or school calendars. As Dr. Harner knows, money only goes to cyber schools if parents choose to enroll their children there — which only happens if the local district isn’t meeting their needs. No district can meet the needs of every student within its borders. That’s why even at the “best” districts some families choose another option. For many students, cyber schools are the only option within reach. They offer a variety of curriculum and are accessible wherever there’s an internet connection. This enables them to serve a diverse population — rural, urban, bullying victims, students with special needs, gifted students, kids who need a flexible schedule like athletes and dancers, etc. Disregarding the benefits of choice, Dr. Harner advocates forcing families to choose a district-run cyber school or pay separate tuition. This attitude implies that children — and the funding meant to educate them — are the property of the district. It also eliminates alternatives for some low-income families. If the goal is to create a future ready workforce, we need more school choice — not less. Cyber schools are an important part of that equation.

How school construction is changing due to security concerns
PA Post by Emily Reddy, WPSU MARCH 25, 2019 | 12:25 PM
Martha Sherman has two kids at Mount Nittany Elementary School in State College. On a recent morning when she was dropping them off, office staff wouldn’t let her go beyond the front office. She wanted to walk her son Zane to his kindergarten class, but his school, like many others, has a safety policy that says parents can’t do that. “He was just anxious about going by himself. His sister had run off, excited, and went to class so she couldn’t take him, which she normally takes him,” Sherman said. “And so, I thought ‘I’ll just take you to your classroom.’ And they said ‘No, we’ll get him there.’” Sherman says it was tough on her son, who’s in a big school for the first time this year. “He’s very sensitive. And he’s a creature of habit,” Sherman said. “And so, you know, the routine changed. And so, he was just anxious.” While she understands the need for safety precautions, Sherman says she thinks there could be some flexibility to make families feel more welcome. She’s also a criminologist at Penn State who questions whether locking down school buildings will even work.

Pennsylvania education department settles discrimination claims in alternative education programs
By Peter Hall and Jacqueline Palochko Of The Morning Call March 25, 2019
In 2013, the Philadelphia-based Education Law Center filed a complaint alleging a disproportionate number of students, specifically African-Americans and students with disabilities, were being placed in the state’s alternative education program for disruptive youth. The complaint, which looked at numbers from every district in the state, said students were not getting the services they needed. Nearly six years later, federal justice officials said Monday the Pennsylvania Department of Education has agreed to take steps to address claims of discrimination in the state’s alternative education program for disruptive youth. The three U.S. attorneys for Pennsylvania launched a civil rights investigation after receiving complaints in 2013 that the Alternative Education for Disruptive Youth (AEDY) program discriminated against students on the basis of their disabilities. They also looked into claims that the program did not provide appropriate services to students learning English as a second language, the U.S. attorneys announced.

No more snow days? Legislation would allow schools to replace snow days with 'flexible instructional days'
Lancaster Online by ALEX GELI | Staff Writer March 26, 2019
A bill working its way through the state Senate could spell the end of traditional snow days at some Pennsylvania schools. The legislation, which is cosponsored by Lancaster County Republican Sens. Scott Martin and Ryan Aument, would allow public schools to replace up to five snow days with flexible instructional days, during which students complete web-based assignments at home. Schools, therefore, wouldn’t have to make up a day later on, as flexible instructional days count toward the 180-day school year. As a lawmaker and a parent, Martin said he supports the measure because it provides “another way to keep education going and not disrupt learning for kids.” The legislation comes on the heels of a three-year pilot program that ended after the 2017-18 school year. Lancaster Country Day School was one of 12 Pennsylvania schools to participate.  “For us, it has been a very effective way to allow us to continue with our academic program even when nature doesn’t cooperate,” assistant head of school Todd Trout said.

Eastern York School District plans on big tax hike for 2019-20, but officials say actual bump depends on state aid
Lancaster Online by CHRIS A. COUROGEN | LNP Correspondent March 25, 2019
Eastern York School District officials are planning the maximum tax hike allowed by state law in the district’s 2019-20 budget. But they are hoping they won’t actually have to actually increase taxes to that limit. That was the message presented to the Finance Committee of Eastern York school board during a presentation March 21 by district administrators on the preliminary budget for the upcoming school year. It all depends on the fate of Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed $200 million increase in state basic education funding, district Business Manager Teresa Weaver said. “If we get what the governor is proposing, it would be between $400,000 and $450,000 in additional funding for us,” she said. “But we don’t know if we will get that.” While the district awaits those final numbers from the state, administrators are continuing to plan as if state funding levels will be unchanged. Under that scenario, property taxes would need to increase by about 3 percent, the maximum allowed under the state’s Act 1 index, to fund the $47.5 million spending plan. Even with that increase they will need to find around $117,000 in additional spending cuts to balance the budget. Real estate taxes in the district are currently set at 23.98 mills. A mill is equal to $1 of tax for each $1,000 of assessed value of the property. For a property assessed at $122,000, the district average, that equates to $2,925 in taxes. That bill would increase $88 if taxes go up 0.72 mills, the maximum allowed under the index formula. Such an increase would generate around $750,000 in new revenue to the district.

“This is the only firearms-related ban passed by federal lawmakers in recent years, the Associated Press reported. Congress in 1994 passed a 10-year ban on assault-type weapons. It expired in 2004. The decade-long assault weapons ban only applied to sales, as the government allowed people who bought them before the ban to keep the weapons. No such provision will apply to bump stocks. The government also is not offering any compensation, such as buy backs, for the devices.”
Federal bump stock ban goes into effect Tuesday; none turned over to ATF in Pennsylvania
Trib Live by STEPHEN HUBA   | Monday, March 25, 2019 5:02 p.m.
With the bump stock ban looming, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says it is not aware of anyone turning a single one in at the field office in Pittsburgh or the dozen other offices across the state, a spokeswoman said. The final rule promulgated by the Trump administration banning bump stocks goes into effect Tuesday, meaning bump stock owners must either turn them in or destroy them on their own. “We haven’t seen anybody turn in any bump stocks as of right now to any of our local ATF offices in Pennsylvania,” said Charlene Hennessy, an ATF spokeswoman in the Philadelphia Field Division, which oversees the agency’s operations in Pennsylvania. “What we’re informing the public is: They can either destroy them on their own by melting, crushing or cutting, or they can bring them to their local ATF office to drop them off and basically abandon them at that point,” she said. Turning in a bump stock at an ATF field office requires an appointment, Hennessy said. The Pittsburgh field office, at 1000 Liberty Ave., can be reached by calling 412-395-0540. Hennessy said there are no sanctions for turning in a bump stock after Tuesday. But “if an owner is found in possession of one of these devices, they could be subject to federal prosecution since the item will be illegal,” she said.

Regional business leaders shadow students at Frazier High School
Herald Standard By Eric Morris emorris@heraldstandard.com  Mar 24, 2019
Five Pittsburgh-area executives exchanged the office for the classroom as they became students for a day on a recent visit to Frazier High School. Corporate leaders from some of the region’s most recognizable companies and organizations joined Frazier students for a full day of instruction as part of the CEO in the Classroom shadowing experience to gather insight about what and how students are learning. “It’s a way for them to see the great work that’s underway in schools today and some of the challenges that schools face,” said Principal Jason Pappas. “I think they’ll take this opportunity to look at the possibility of increased funding for schools and increased opportunities for students.” An initiative of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development in partnership with the Grable Foundation, CEO in the Classroom paired nearly 30 CEOs and business leaders from southwestern Pennsylvania with students in seven schools in the Pittsburgh region on March 12 to see firsthand how the region’s future workforce is learning.

Students march across city after Downtown Antwon Rose rally
JULIAN ROUTH AND ASHLEY MURRAY Pittsburgh Post-Gazette MAR 25, 2019 4:50 PM
Shortly after 11 on Monday morning, about 100 students were gathered in front of the City-County Building to celebrate Antwon Rose II’s life when a line of police officers rode by on horses. “Three shots in the back, how do you justify that?” they chanted, echoing the rallying cry that was shouted hundreds of times the past weekend in a series of demonstrations after former police officer Michael Rosfeld was acquitted in Antwon’s killing. Just two hours later, the same group passed Grant Street, this time in the middle of a march around the Golden Triangle, and this time, in a mass estimated by many to be 1,000 strong. As the rain poured down, the students — who walked out of their classes earlier in the day to participate — chanted their way through the streets Downtown in what was by far the largest demonstration yet over the acquittal of Mr. Rosfeld. Mr. Rosfeld was found not guilty in the killing of Antwon, whom he shot three times as the unarmed 17-year-old attempted to flee a felony traffic stop on June 19.

State orders ‘emergency removal’ of remaining boys at Glen Mills Schools after abuse revelations
The decision follows an Inquirer investigation into abuse and cover-ups at the Delaware County campus.
Inquirer by Lisa Gartner, Updated: March 25, 2019- 5:10 PM
The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services has issued an emergency removal order of all boys remaining at the Glen Mills Schools, the oldest existing U.S. reform school. In a Monday letter to the school’s board of managers, the state agency – which licenses and oversees the Delaware County campus – said conditions “constitute gross incompetence, negligence, misconduct in operating a facility, including mistreatment and abuse of clients, likely to constitute immediate and serious danger to the life or health of the children in care."  “As the investigation into allegations raised in recent reporting continues, we must do what is necessary to ensure that no more children are at risk of physical and emotional harm," said Department of Human Services Secretary Teresa Miller. Miller said the emergency removal order is “one step” of an ongoing process at Glen Mills, which holds 14 licenses with the state. “DHS is committed to seeing this investigation through to ensure that any individual responsible for endangering the welfare of children and coercing silence can be held responsible,” she said.

Eyes on the Philly Board of Education: March 28, 2019
Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools March 24, 2019 appsphilly.net by Karel Kilimnik
As income inequality grows each year, we witness philanthropic institutions and foundations funding more District projects and programs.  Schools across the Commonwealth have still not recovered from the massive cuts former Governor Corbett imposed on districts. Pennsylvania still lags in funding public schools that must now rely more than ever on local real estate taxes. As corporations and the wealthy receive more tax cuts,  resulting in less government funding available for public education, the burden of funding schools falls on the shoulders of local taxpayers. All these private funders blur the lines of accountability and transparency. They are accountable to their investors–not the public.

Philadelphia: It Takes Years and Millions to Close Failing Charter Schools and the Public Pays for Everything
Diane Ravitch’s Blog By dianeravitch March 25, 2019 //
Lisa Haver, Parent Activist in Philadelphia, writes here about how it takes years and millions of dollars to close failing charter schools. The public must pay the cost of challenging the charter and pay the cost of defending the charter. The charter operator gets a free ride for failing. Only the taxpayers and students lose. Why is it easy to close a public school but hard to close a charter school? One guess: charter lobbyists wrote the state law.


NSBA’s Tom Gentzel: Explaining Ourselves
LinkedIn post by Tom Gentzel, Executive Director & CEO at National School Boards Association Published on March 25, 2019
The story could have appeared in any local news outlet in the country. It concerned a school board that had made a controversial and divisive decision about a hot button issue. The name of the board is not important nor, for that matter, is the topic it was addressing. This was another example of public officials wrestling with a difficult choice, doing the best they could with the information and alternatives available to them. Being a school board member is not easy. Those who run for or are appointed to the office recognize they are likely to be in the center of many storms. The issues that can be readily resolved—the ones for which good policies and procedures exist, where school personnel know their roles and execute them well, and for which the best course is obvious—are not the ones that wind up on a school board’s agenda. We select public officials to solve the problems that are enmeshed in competing priorities and values, that have weighty implications, or that others have simply failed to address. Governance is, at its core, an exercise in choosing. If we expect leaders to render a decision, we already have conceded they have more than one option in front of them. As observers of this process, our perspective about what these officials should do is, naturally, skewed in favor of the outcome we favor-—whether our preferred solution benefits us personally, would help an interest we support, or just seems logical from our vantage point. “Of course, the board should keep that school open,” we might say. “It’s been a part of our community for years. How could they even consider closing it?” It’s perfectly clear!
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/explaining-ourselves-tom-gentzel/

Three Things to Watch for When DeVos Defends Trump's Budget to Congress
Education Week Politics K12 Blog By Andrew Ujifusa on March 24, 2019 8:08 AM
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is about to have a busy week on Capitol Hill. 
On Tuesday, DeVos is testifying before the House appropriations subcommittee that decides how much money the Department of Education will get in the upcoming fiscal year. On Thursday, she'll repeat the process with the corresponding Senate subcommittee. DeVos will be there to defend the budget request from Trump, who wants to cut funding for the department by 10 percent, or about $7 billion in fiscal 2020. It's the third straight time the president has proposed slashing the department's budget.   But there's a twist this time. Unlike the two previous occassions DeVos has defended Trump's budget requests in the House, this year Democrats control the subcommittee. So DeVos, along with participants and observers, can expect a markedly different experience than when Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., ran the subcommittee in 2017 and 2018. (Remember, Republicans still control the Senate, and Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., still controls the Senate subcommittee on education appropriations.) But what can we expect in the new political landscape? Here are a few things to keep an eye on.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2019/03/betsy-devos-trump-budget-request-education-house-three-things-to-watch.html

Report: U.S. government wasted up to $1 billion on charter schools and still fails to adequately monitor grants
Washington Post Answer Sheet By Valerie Strauss March 25 at 6:24 PM
The U.S. government has wasted up to $1 billion on charter schools that never opened, or opened and then closed because of mismanagement and other reasons, according to a report from an education advocacy group. The study also says the U.S. Education Department does not adequately monitor how its grant money is spent. The report, titled “Asleep at the Wheel” and issued by the nonprofit advocacy group Network for Public Education, says:
·         More than 1,000 grants were given to schools that never opened, or later closed because of mismanagement, poor performance, lack of enrollment or fraud. “Of the schools awarded grants directlyfrom the department between 2009 and 2016, nearly one in four either never opened or shut its doors,” it says.
·         Some grants in the 25-year-old federal Charter School Program (CSP) have been awarded to charters that set barriers to enrollment of certain students. Thirty-four California charter schools that received grants appear on an American Civil Liberties Union list of charters “that discriminate — in some cases illegally — in admissions.”
·         The department’s grant approval process for charters has been sorely lacking, with “no attempt to verify the information presented” by applicants.
·         The Education Department in Republican and Democratic administrations has “largely ignored or not sufficiently addressed” recommendations to improve the program made by its own inspector general.
“Our investigation finds the U.S. Department of Education has not been a responsible steward of taxpayer dollars in its management of the CSP,” it says.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/03/25/report-us-government-wasted-up-billion-charter-schools-still-fails-adequately-monitor-grants/?utm_term=.b8d3bc3254c5

“The Periodic Table was set out by Mendeleyev before the discovery of electrons, so the irony of this tabular display of noble gases and ignoble substances is that a table based on atomic weights could predict interactions between elements even before the discovery of the structure of the atom. That was either a stroke of luck, a stroke of genius -- or, perhaps antithetical to the entire ethos of science, a stroke of providence.”
David Shribman: Periodic table, now 150 years old, evolves and ages gracefully
Pottstown Mercury Opinion by David Shribman Mar 24, 2019
David M. Shribman is the former executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
There are only a few developments that have organized the way we see the world. There is the classification system of the life sciences, which separated the natural world into kingdoms. There is the Constitution of the United States, which created a delicate system of checks and balances. There is double-entry accounting, which made modern bookkeeping possible and sometimes is credited with giving flight to capitalism. There is the baseball rulebook, which sets forth the infield-fly rule. And there is the Periodic Table of the Elements.
It almost certainly has escaped your notice, but this month is the 150th anniversary of this key to how the known world (and beyond) is constructed. It has many progenitors, but the principal one is a Russian chemist named Dmitri Mendeleyev, who had a prodigious Old Testament beard, who was shaped by the liberal notions that were in the air of Tsarist Russia in the years between the Decembrist uprising of 1825 and the assassination of Alexander II in 1881, and who was energized by a conference of chemists in the southern German town of Karlsruhe two months before the election of Abraham Lincoln. In March 1869 he crafted a graphic tool that, as Paul Strathern explains in his landmark 2001 "Mendeleyev's Dream," performed the astonishing achievement of having "classified the building blocks of the universe."
https://www.pottsmerc.com/opinion/david-shribman-periodic-table-now-years-old-evolves-and-ages/article_7acc3046-4e7c-11e9-a428-0f3b8a64d1e4.html


Delco Students for Education Meeting Sat, March 30, 2019 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Location: William Penn School District - Administration Building, 100 Green Avenue – Annex, Lansdowne, PA 19050
Sponsored by Rafi Cave, Yeadon Borough Councilman, The Urban League of Philadelphia & PA Schools Work, the nonpartisan statewide campaign to support equitable public education funding in Pennsylvania.
It's no secret Delco schools are underfunded. Join your peers and education advocates to learn what you can do to work for change in your school community. Ask questions, hear from experts, and meet State Representative Joanna McClinton. Includes breakfast & giveaways!! Don't miss out.
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/delco-students-for-education-tickets-58603126529

The League of Women Voters of Delaware County and the Delaware County Intermediate Unit present: EPLC 2019 Regional Training Workshop for PA School Board Candidates (and Incumbents) April 27th 8am – 4:30pm at DCIU
Ron Cowell of The Pennsylvania Education Policy and Leadership Center will conduct a regional full day workshop for 2019 Pennsylvania School Board Candidates.
Date & Time: Saturday, April 27, 2019, 8am to 4:30pm
Location: Delaware County Intermediate Unit, 200 Yale Ave. Morton, PA
Incumbents, non-incumbents, campaign supporters and all interested voters are invited to participate in this workshop. Registration is $75 (payable by credit card) and includes coffee and pastries, lunch, and materials. For questions contact Adriene Irving at 610-938-9000 ext. 2061.
To register, please visit http://tinyurl.com/CandidatesWksp

PSBA: Nominations for the Allwein Society are welcome!
The Allwein Society is an award program recognizing school directors who are outstanding leaders and advocates on behalf of public schools and students. This prestigious honor was created in 2011 in memory of Timothy M. Allwein, a former PSBA staff member who exemplified the integrity and commitment to advance political action for the benefit of public education. Nominations are accepted year-round and inductees will be recognized at the PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference, among other honors.

PSBA: 2019 State of Education report now online
PSBA Website February 19, 2019
The 2019 State of Education report is now available on PSBA.org in PDF format. The report is a barometer of not only the key indicators of public school performance, but also the challenges schools face and how they are coping with them. Data reported comes from publicly available sources and from a survey to chief school administrators, which had a 66% response rate. Print copies of the report will be mailed to members soon.

PSBA Members - Register for Advocacy Day at the Capitol in Harrisburg Monday April 29, 2019
All PSBA-members are invited to attend Advocacy Day on Monday, April 29, 2019 at the state Capitol in Harrisburg. In addition, this year PSBA will be partnering with the Pennsylvania Association of Intermediate Units (PAIU) and Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators (PASA) to strengthen our advocacy impact. The focus for the day will be meetings with legislators to discuss critical issues affecting public education. There is no cost to attend, and PSBA will assist in scheduling appointments with legislators once your registration is received. The day will begin with a continental breakfast and issue briefings prior to the legislator visits. Registrants will receive talking points, materials and leave-behinds to use with their meetings. PSBA staff will be stationed at a table in the main Rotunda during the day to answer questions and provide assistance. The day’s agenda and other details will be available soon. If you have questions about Advocacy Day, legislative appointments or need additional information, contact Jamie.Zuvich@psba.org  Register for Advocacy Day now at http://www.mypsba.org/
PSBA members can register online now by logging in to myPSBA. If you need assistance logging in and registering contact Alysha Newingham, Member Data System Administrator at alysha.newingham@psba.org or call her at (717) 506-2450, ext. 3420

PSBA Board Presidents’ Panel
Learn, discuss, and practice problem solving with school leader peers facing similar or applicable challenges. Workshop-style discussions will be facilitated and guided by PSBA experts. With the enormous challenges facing schools today, effective and knowledgeable board leadership is essential to your productivity and performance as a team of ten.
Locations & Dates
Due to inclement weather, some dates have been rescheduled. The updated schedule is below.

Pennsylvania schools work – for students, communities and the economy when adequate resources are available to give all students an equal opportunity to succeed.
Join A Movement that Supports our Schools & Communities
PA Schools Work website
Our students are in classrooms that are underfunded and overcrowded. Teachers are paying out of pocket and picking up the slack. And public education is suffering. Each child in Pennsylvania has a right to an excellent public education. Every child, regardless of zip code, deserves access to a full curriculum, art and music classes, technical opportunities and a safe, clean, stable environment. All children must be provided a level chance to succeed. PA Schools Work is fighting for equitable, adequate funding necessary to support educational excellence. Investing in public education excellence is the path to thriving communities, a stable economy and successful students.
http://paschoolswork.org/

Annual PenSPRA Symposium set for March 28-29, 2019
Pennsylvania School Public Relations Association Website
Once again, PenSPRA will hold its annual symposium with nationally-recognized speakers on hot topics for school communicators. The symposium, held at the Conference Center at Shippensburg University, promises to provide time for collegial sharing and networking opportunities. Mark you calendars now!
We hope you can join us. Plans are underway, so check back for more information.
http://www.penspra.org/

2019 NSBA Annual Conference Philadelphia March 30 - April 1, 2019
Pennsylvania Convention Center 1101 Arch Street Philadelphia, PA 19107
Registration Questions or Assistance: 1-800-950-6722
The NSBA Annual Conference & Exposition is the one national event that brings together education leaders at a time when domestic policies and global trends are combining to shape the future of the students. Join us in Philadelphia for a robust offering of over 250 educational programs, including three inspirational general sessions that will give you new ideas and tools to help drive your district forward.
https://www.nsba.org/conference

Save the Date:  PARSS Annual Conference May 1-3, 2019
Wyndham Garden Hotel, Mountainview Country Club
Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools
https://www.parss.org/Annual_Conference


PSBA Tweet March 12, 2019 Video Runtime: 6:40
In this installment of #VideoEDition, learn about legislation introduced in the PA Senate & House of Representatives that would save millions of dollars for school districts that make tuition payments for their students to attend cyber charter schools.
http://ow.ly/RyIM50n1uHi 

PSBA Summaries of Senate Bill 34 and House Bill 526

PSBA Sample Board Resolution in Support of Statewide Cyber Charter School Funding Reform

PSBA Sample Board Resolution in Support of Senate Bill 34 and House Bill 256

How much could your school district and taxpayers save if there were statewide flat tuition rates of $5000 for regular ed students and $8865 for special ed.? See the estimated savings by school district here.
Education Voters PA Website February 14, 2019


Has your state representative cosponsored HB526?

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.

Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)