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Monday, March 4, 2019

PA Ed Policy Roundup March 4: SB34/HB526: Proposed law could save PA school districts money, but be 'death knell' for cyber charters


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

SB34/HB526: Proposed law could save PA school districts money, but be 'death knell' for cyber charters



Register for Advocacy Day at the Capitol in Harrisburg Monday April 29
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



Almost 10,000 students went to this online school last year. 851 stayed the whole time
Of the 851 students who made it a full year, almost 60 percent didn’t earn a single credit Chalkbeat BY SHAINA CAVAZOS  -  2 DAYS AGO
Nearly 10,000 students attended Indiana Virtual School at some point last school year, but about 91 percent didn’t stay for an entire year, new data released by Daleville public schools show. Of the 851 students who made it a full year, almost 60 percent didn’t earn a single credit — and the district claims some students weren’t signed up for classes at all. This churn of students and lack of credits were among the red flags that prompted Daleville’s school board to vote earlier this week to begin the process of revoking the charters for Indiana Virtual School and its sister school, Indiana Virtual Pathways Academy. The virtual schools’ superintendent has called Daleville’s data inaccurate and says students were taking courses, but he has not said what the errors are specifically. School leaders have said in the past that, due to the students that they attract for their online-only programs, their enrollment fluctuates wildly throughout the school year. “Every student at Indiana Virtual School and Indiana Virtual Pathways Academy is enrolled in classes,” Clark said in a emailed statement Wednesday night in response to earlier questions about enrollment and course assignments. But district leaders are standing by the analysis, arguing that the data they used came directly from reports submitted to the state by the virtual schools.

SB34/HB526: Proposed law could save Pennsylvania school districts money, but be 'death knell' for cyber charters
Bills in the Pennsylvania Senate and House would require parents to pay their child’s tuition fee at a cyber charter school if the home district offers an existing online program.
Jacqueline Palochko Contact Reporter Of The Morning Call March 3, 2019
Proposed legislation in Harrisburg would save some Lehigh Valley school districts millions of dollars each year in cyber charter tuition, but could leave the online schools in a dire state and hinder school choice for parents and students. Bills recently introduced in the state Senate and state House would require parents to pay their child’s tuition fee at a cyber charter school if the student’s home district has an existing online program. Districts currently must pay cyber charter schools for each student who opts to attend one. The proposed policy changes have been introduced before, but may gain traction in the House. Chief sponsor Rep. Curt Sonney, R-Erie, now chairs the House Education Committee. Sonney said in an interview he will examine the cyberprograms offered both by the districts and by the online-only schools before pushing his bill.
But if the bill does go through, it will hurt the cyber charter schools that depend on money from the school districts. “My bill is a death knell to cyber charter schools,” Sonney said. Cyber charter supporters say if passed, the policy changes would eliminate school choice for parents who couldn’t afford tuition at a cyber charter school for their children. “This legislation would … [force] students to remain with a district that does not serve and meet the expectations of families,” said Ana Myers, executive director of PA Coalition of Public Charter Schools. Cyber charter schools typically perform near the bottom on the state’s standardized test scores. All Pennsylvania cyber charter schools had graduation rates below the state average of 86.6 percent, according to the state’s measuring tool, the Future Ready Pa Index.

Blogger note: Senator Boscola’s senatorial district includes many of the school districts noted in the Morning Call article above.
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 and legislative leadership districts.
In 2016-17, taxpayers in Senator .@SenLisaBoscola’s districts had to send over $16.1 million to chronically underperforming cybers that locally elected school boards never authorized. SB34 (Schwank) or HB526 (Sonney) could change that.
Data source: PDE via @PSBA


Allentown City SD
$4,731,095.00
Bethlehem Area SD
$2,796,413.50
Catasauqua Area SD
$446,908.17
East Penn SD
$1,394,388.41
Easton Area SD
$1,881,859.44
Nazareth Area SD
$1,049,226.01
Northampton Area SD
$1,655,900.69
Salisbury Township SD
$141,197.56
Saucon Valley SD
$844,722.25
Whitehall-Coplay SD
$705,356.01
Wilson Area SD
$526,608.44

$16,173,675.48


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?

Wolf budget provides little comfort for Pottstown schools
For most local school districts Gov. Tom Wolf's 2019-2020 budget proposal is more business as usual. Which is not terribly good news for the Pottstown School District. While most local districts will see a modest increase in state aid, none are as chronically under-funded by the state as Pottstown, which should be receiving an additional $13 million under the state's fair funding formula. Adopted in 2016, the fair funding formula is designed to "level the playing field" for districts with stressed tax bases, high poverty and other challenges. But since it was adopted, the state has continued to apply the formula to just a small percentage of its total education funding, leaving districts the formula was designed to bolster, like Pottstown, still struggling to make ends meet. During his reelection campaign, Wolf answered questions at a July press conference by saying that all state funding should be routed through the formula. But the budget he proposed in February makes no mention of an effort in that regard.  Wolf has proposed a $442 million increase in basic education aid and that may seem high except that, as PennLive reported on Feb. 7, Wolf's budget rolls in $242 million of Ready to Learn Block Grants that had been included as a separate budget line in previous years.

Blogger note: other area school boards have also passed similar resolutions including Haverford, Garnet Valley, Upper Darby, Upper Moreland, Phoenixville and Wallingford-Swarthmore
Radnor School Board passes resolution backing fair funding formula
Main Line Times By Linda Stein lstein@21st-centurymedia.com @lsteinreporter
RADNOR — The full-court press seeking additional education funding for Delaware County school districts continues to gain traction. The Radnor Township School Board recently joined several other school districts in voting to approve a resolution asking the state Legislature for additional funding for public education. The resolution, which is being touted by the advocacy group Pennsylvania Schools Work, cites some statistics, including that “Pennsylvania ranks 46th among the 50 states in the amount of state subsidies allocated to support elementary and secondary education, among the lowest in the nation, with state’s share of funding public education at 38 percent.” Also, the state “has the widest funding gap between wealthy and poor school districts of any state in the country” and special education costs have increased by $1.6 billion over the last decade while the state’s share of that cost has fallen from 36 to 25 percent. Also, state special education funding has increased by only $44,830 in the last eight years while the Radnor Township School District’s costs rose $4.7 million.

Fate of former Corbett official’s charter school lies with ex-colleagues
PA Capital Star By  Elizabeth Hardison March 4, 2019
During her year-and-a-half stint as Pennsylvania’s top education executive, Carolyn Dumaresq oversaw hundreds of charter schools across the state. Last month, though, she hit a stumbling block in her quest to open one of her own. Dumaresq’s application to open a private charter school in the Harrisburg City School District was rejected by the local school board in a 7-0 vote in February. Dumaresq intends to appeal the decision to the state Charter School Appeal Board — a public board that can override a local school board’s decision to close charter schools or deny new applications. Dumaresq chaired the Charter School Appeal Board from 2013 to 2015, when she served as acting secretary of education under Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, a staunch charter school advocate. That experience taught her the difference between a strong charter application and a weak one, she told the Capital-Star last week. But it also means Dumaresq has worked alongside all the people who could now grant her charter appeal. All five current members of the charter appeal board are holdovers from the Corbett administration — a fact highlighted by the education news site The Notebook earlier this month.

Report: Philly charter schools serve more affluent, advantaged students than rest of district
Inquirer by Maddie Hanna, Updated: March 1, 2019
Philadelphia’s charter schools serve a more affluent and advantaged population than its traditional public schools, according to a new report by the Education Law Center, which questioned whether the charters are complying with civil rights laws. The report, issued Thursday, said city charter schools enrolled a smaller share of economically disadvantaged students — 54 percent, compared to 70 percent in district schools. It also found fewer students with severe disabilities and one-third as many English language learners in charters, along with higher levels of racial isolation. The report limited its analysis to 58 “traditional” charter schools, which are publicly funded but independently run schools serving the district. Philadelphia has 87 in total, including ones that took over existing neighborhood schools — so-called Renaissance charters — and draw students from specific neighborhoods. “As a whole, traditional charter schools in Philadelphia are failing to ensure equitable access for all students,” said the report. It said "the conduct of these charters raises systemic concerns about the extent to which they are compliant with federal and state laws protecting the civil rights of students with disabilities." The report recommended that the school board — which, like others across Pennsylvania, is tasked with overseeing charter schools — make equitable access a focus during its evaluations of charters.

Science and social studies shouldn’t take a backseat in elementary schools | Opinion
Stephen Flemming, For the Inquirer Updated: March 1, 2019 - 6:00 AM
Stephen R. Flemming, Ed.D., is an English teacher and certified reading specialist at Martin Luther King High School and an adjunct professor at Delaware County Community College.
A teacher friend of mine was recently complaining to me that school administrators in a Germantown public elementary school ordered some teachers to cease teaching science and social studies so they could focus on reading instruction. I was unable to verify this, but it didn’t surprise me, since too often, science and social studies take a backseat to reading and math instruction. As an educator, passionate about teaching and learning, I have several problems with such an approach. First, science and social studies experiences should always be included in the daily educational experiences of elementary-age students. In a world where STEM and STEAM are all the rage, it is unconscionable to think that these experiences take a backseat to a strict diet of what has become provincial and rote literacy instruction. Science, technology, engineering, and math, along with the arts, are all around us. Imagine a world without our phones, or social media, or modern medicine. Imagine not being able to order a car, or have a car bring food to you, or not being able to use your phone to send someone money. Yes, we need STEM.

A school in a troubled district finds success: 'They aren't waiting for anyone to get further behind'
District leaders say parent involvement is what sets the school apart
ELIZABETH BEHRMAN Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Lbehrman@post-gazette.com MAR 2, 2019   
11:20 PM
When it first opened in 2009, the Woodland Hills Academy was meant to provide an alternative for a families who wanted something more rigorous than their neighborhood schools, and a way for the Woodland Hills School District to compete with the charter schools that began popping up about a decade ago. The Academy offered longer school days, a longer school year and foreign language classes. The K-8 school was the first in the Woodland Hills School District to enact a uniform policy for students, and it used to be mandatory for parents to participate in a number of school events throughout the year.  It offers more academic support to students, but doesn’t have behavioral specialists on staff to offer emotional support, like at other district schools, said Principal Kelly Mann. But over the years, budget cuts have eliminated all of what originally made the Academy significantly different. The school year calendar and the curricula are now the same across all grade levels at each Woodland Hills school. Yet there are dozens of students on the waiting lists to enroll at the Academy at each grade level, and few seats open up due to low student turnover. With a little more than 550 students, the Academy is at capacity.

The Last Lesson: Why do employees leave the Harrisburg school system? Exit interviews shed some light.
TheBurg News MARCH 1, 2019 | by Lizzy Hardison
Pop quiz: What do high truancy rates and low test scores have in common in the Harrisburg school district? According to administrators, both are caused by high rates of teacher turnover. Resignations in Harrisburg’s school district reached a five-year high during the 2017-18 school year, when 136 classroom teachers, principals, aides, librarians and other school building employees quit their jobs, according to district data. (At a given point, the district employs about 580 union-represented teachers and aides across its 13 school campuses.) In the past year, officials have said that this churn of teachers undermines student performance in the city’s struggling schools. And while administrators have designed programs to boost teacher retention, records obtained by TheBurg suggest they’re not informed by much data. Records obtained under Pennsylvania’s Right to Know law reveal that, for at least five years, fewer than 2 percent of departing employees chose to submit exit interviews to the district. These voluntary surveys allow employees to explain why they resigned and what the district could have done to keep them employed.

We can turn the corner on gun violence | Opinion
Madeleine Dean, for the Inquirer Updated: March 1, 2019 - 2:22 PM
For decades, America has struggled to talk about our gun violence problem. That’s changing.
This week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed historic legislation to require universal background checks and close the Charleston loophole (so named for the 2015 South Carolina mass shooting in which the killer was able to purchase a gun because his background check hadn’t cleared within three days). This marks the first time in a quarter-century that Congress has acted to curb gun violence. During that time, more than a million Americans have been killed or wounded by firearms. Despite our country’s breathtaking violence, the gun lobby has long pressured elected leaders to stay silent. I’ve seen this dynamic play out in my career, beginning in my own communities and in the Pennsylvania State House.

Gun enthusiasts lukewarm on proposed background check legislation
Trib Live by EMILY BALSER   | Sunday, March 3, 2019 2:54 p.m
Gun enthusiasts didn’t seem fazed by the gun control legislation being considered in Congress during a gun show Sunday at the Pittsburgh Mills. The gun show was one of several held each year by the Pennsylvania Gun Collectors Association, which draw dozens of gun sellers, buyers and collectors. Sunday’s event was held in the former Best Buy building and featured everything from modern rifles, handguns, antique guns and ammo to other items like World War II memorabilia. The Associated Press reported the U.S. House last week approved a measure requiring federal background checks for all firearms sales and transfers. They’re also considering another measure that would extend the review period for background checks from three to 10 days. This is the first major gun control legislation considered by Congress in nearly 25 years.
Political analysts have said the legislation, which passed the House, has little chance of passing the U.S. Senate and heading to the president’s desk. Even if it does, President Donald Trump has indicated he may veto the measures. Phil Dacey, president of the association, said the gun shows are meant to be part of how they further the education of the sport as well as provide a place for gun owners to come together.

Pa.'s February revenue collections fail to hit the mark, but overall picture still looking bright
Pennsylvania's fiscal year-to-date general fund collections total $20.1 billion, or 1.4 percent above estimate, despite February's collections coming in below estimate.
Penn Live By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com Updated Mar 1; Posted Mar 1
Pennsylvania’s revenue picture continues to look bright eight months into the fiscal year despite experiencing a second consecutive month where tax collections came in slightly below estimate. The monthly revenue report shows the state collected $2 billion in February, which was $2.5 million or a tenth of 1 percent less than anticipated. But that still leaves fiscal year-to-date revenue collections $287.4 million higher than estimate, for a total of $20.2 billion, according to the state Department of Revenue. Compared to the same point last year, overall collections are running $1.1 billion, or 5.7 percent, ahead of what was collected in the first eight months of the last fiscal year.

Today's teens aren't snowflakes — and they deserve a class ranking system that better serves their interests [opinion]
Lancaster Online Editorial by THE LNP EDITORIAL BOARD March 3, 2019
THE ISSUE - Cocalico High School “is fundamentally shifting how it ranks students,” LNP’s Alex Geli reported last week, noting, “Weighted class rankings — determined by student grades and the ‘quality’ of courses taken — will no longer be published on student transcripts.” Beginning with the Class of 2023, the next batch of incoming freshmen, the high school also will eliminate the annual valedictorian and salutatorian honors. For the Class of 2023 students, “and those who come after them, the school is implementing a decile ranking system,” Geli reported. “It will place students into the top 10 percent, 20 percent, and so on, depending on their GPA. The top 3 percent, rather than the top two individual students, will be acknowledged at graduation.”
Cocalico High School Principal Chris Irvine gave two reasons for making this change and both of them struck us as valid. “It takes a little bit of the pressure off kids,” he told Geli. “I think there’s enough going on in this world; I don’t think we need to add to that.” Irvine also said students should be free to choose courses that align with their college or career pathway without fear of falling behind their peers in class ranking.

Pittsburgh Public Schools eases consequences for students caught with pot
Trib Live by NATASHA LINDSTROM   | Monday, March 4, 2019 1:30 a.m
Pittsburgh Public Schools students caught with small amounts of marijuana will no longer face an immediate suspension or risk being removed from their schools for six weeks or more. Starting this month, first-time offenders in possession of less than 5 grams of marijuana will have the option of a five-day suspension in exchange for meeting with counselors and taking weeknight or Saturday drug treatment courses. Students were suspended for 10 days under the old rules and would often be issued alternative placements through the district’s Student Achievement Center, which typically removes a student from their home school for at least 45 days. “We’re reducing the number of students who are going to alternative placements, which means they get support and get back to school sooner,” said Melissa Friez, the district’s assistant superintendent of student support services. The board voted in January to reduce the initial suspension for first-time offenders to five days from 10. The policy applies only to marijuana. A student who brings opioids or other recreational drugs to school will not be treated with the same leniency, Friez said.

Tori Koerbler: A plan to pay teachers what they’re worth
Trib Live Letter by TORI KOERBLER | Saturday, March 2, 2019 7:00 p.m
Tori Koerbler is a third-grade teacher in the Panther Valley School District in Lansford, Carbon County.
When I was in fifth grade, the kickball game at recess was the best part of the school day. My teacher, Mr. Mettler, would lace up his white New Balance sneakers, take the ball from the closet and get the game going in the school yard. He could have taken recess time to grade papers or prep his next lesson, but he chose to spend it kicking a ball around with his students. Mr. Mettler inspired me to become a teacher, and like him, I put my students first every day. Every student in Pennsylvania deserves to have the very best educators. Teachers, after all, play a vital role in student achievement. That’s why I’m so happy that Gov. Tom Wolf has put forth a plan to raise the minimum teacher salary, which is now $18,500. He wants teachers like me to be able to pour our hearts and souls into educating our students, not worry about how we’re going to pay the bills. I have been teaching for the past four years, and I make about $37,000 per year. The governor’s plan would raise my annual salary to $45,000 next year. I am one of about 3,100 educators across the commonwealth who would benefit from the governor’s proposal to raise teacher salaries. Three out of four of us are women, and half of us — myself included — have more than three years of experience. Many of us are contending with a mountain of student loan debt. Some will give up on the profession or seek teaching jobs in another district or state. Wolf’s plan would bring teacher salaries much more in line with what other similarly educated professionals earn in the state.

Daniel Boone School Board proposes tax hike
Pottstown Mercury By Denise Larive For MEdiaNews Group March 3, 2019
The Daniel Boone School Board has approved a preliminary 2019-20 budget that would increase the real estate millage rate from 30.834 to 31.789 mills, per Act 1. That is a $95.50 increase for every $100,000 of assessed property value. The total tax on a home assessed at $100,000 would be $3,178. Taxes in the Daniel Boone School District increased $63 last year and $50 in June 2017. Board members said they will work with district administration to reduce the proposed budget of $59,543,551, whereby reducing the millage rate. A final budget is due by June 30.
The proposed budget amount is an increase of $535,130 from the 2018-19 approved budget.

“The $80.8 million initiative, as Polito said, is meant to make the Erie School District’s buildings “safe, warm and dry” as the district continues its state-aided financial recovery and follows its new strategic plan to improve its programs.”
Erie School District set to issue bonds for renovations
GoErie By Ed Palattella  Posted at 2:01 AM
School Board already approved $80.8 million plan to make buildings “safe, warm and dry.”
With its first bids out, the Erie School District is ready to finance one of the largest capital projects in district history. The district by April 9 plans to go to market to issue $50 million in bonds to help pay for the $80.8 million project, which will span three years and is designed to make basic but long-needed repairs to most of the 11,000-student Erie School District’s 16 school buildings. Erie schools Superintendent Brian Polito said PNC Bank, which is handling the bond issue, is scheduled to present information on the financing to the School Board at its monthly nonvoting committee-of-the-whole meeting on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at the district administration building, 148 W. 21st St. The board is scheduled to vote on the bond financing at its regular meeting on March 13, Polito said. Following board approval, PNC plans to market the bonds on April 9 and close on them on May 9, he said. The initial renovations in the project include new roofs at several schools, swipe-card systems to improve safety at the entrances to all district schools and new artificial turf at Veterans Memorial Stadium. Bids for the roofs have been out for several days and are expected to be awarded by mid-March. Due largely to an infusion of $14 million in additional annual state aid, the Erie School District also has $30 million in cash on hand to finance the $80.8 million renovation project, which the School Board approved in December.


"The data undercuts the idea that charters are a better option," said Robert Balfanz, a Johns Hopkins University researcher who is a national authority on graduation-rate patterns. "If kids go to a charter high school where the norm is not to graduate, it's not delivering on the promise of creating better, more successful schools for kids in need."
In Many Charter High Schools, Graduation Odds Are Slim
Education Week By Arianna Prothero and Alex Harwin February 26, 2019
At nearly 1,000 U.S. high schools, the chance of students graduating on time is no better than the flip of a coin. And charter schools—which were born to create more options for students—make up an outsized share of the number of public schools persistently graduating less than half of their students. An analysis of federal data by the Education Week Research Center identified 935 public high schools with four-year graduation rates of less than 50 percent in 2016-17, the most recent year available. Of those, 54 percent are charter schools. That's one-quarter of all U.S. charter high schools, and nearly 3 percent of all public high schools. These numbers aren't just a one-time blip. Many charter schools have suffered from chronically low graduation rates of below 50 percent since 2010-11. And the number of charters with low graduation rates could be even larger than the Education Week analysis reveals. That's because some charter schools were excluded from the federal data set due to student privacy concerns. For its analysis, the Education Week Research Center also removed all schools labeled as "alternative" in the federal data.

Teach For America: Now With Less Teaching
Curmuducation Blog by Peter Greene Friday, March 1, 2019
Teach for America has always been a work in progress, an evolving enterprise in search of a reason to keep existing. Once upon a time it was all about teaching and plugging holes in the system. Then it was about supplanting traditional teachers (and trying not to say out loud that they needed to be supplanted because they sucked and the Best and the Brightest had better swoop in like a shining white cavalry to rescue the poor children). And then maybe were about building a resume and getting yourself prepped for your real career (their slogan at one point was literally "change and be changed"). And then, sensitive about that shining white cavalry thing, they decided to be a force for diversity in the teaching force. But I recently was hanging about the TFA website and discovered that more morphing of a sort has occurred, and TFA is now leaning into what has always been one of their missions. It was just never a part of the mission that they expressed so directly.

Stop Talking About Student Achievement
Forbes by Peter Greene Contributor Mar 2, 2019, 02:38pm
If I told you that my student had achieved great things in school this year, what would you imagine I meant? Maybe she started reading longer books with heavier vocabulary and deeper themes. Maybe she not only read them, but spent time thinking about the ideas they contained. Maybe she improved her technical facility and musicality when playing her flute. Maybe she conducted an impressively complex and ambitious physics experiment. Maybe she created a beautiful and useful website. Maybe she progressed to more complex problems in algebra. Maybe she completed some impressive in-depth research on a particular historical period. Maybe she passed welding certification tests. Or maybe she packed away some chunks of learning that won't really come to life for her until years from now. But we have a problem in current education policy discussions; when we say "student achievement," we usually don't mean any of those things. One of the great central challenges of education in general and teaching in particular is that we cannot read minds. We cannot see inside a student's head and see what has taken root and what has taken flight. So part of the gentle art of teaching involves the creation and deployment of performance tasks designed to get us at least a peek inside the student brain to see if they have in fact mastered what we tried to get them to master. 

Guess which state spends the most public funds on private and religious school education. Hint: Betsy DeVos has a house there.
The Washington Post Answer Sheet By Valerie Strauss March 1
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos just announced she is backing Senate legislation that would create the first federally funded school tax credit, so it seems like a good time to see which states spend public money to send kids to private and religious schools — and how much. To be clear, the legislation has virtually no chance of passing Congress; Democrats control the House, and most of them wouldn’t support it. A similar idea couldn’t muster enough enthusiasm a few years ago when Republicans controlled the House and the Senate. It is worth noting that DeVos opposes federal involvement in education — she once said “government sucks” — and she believes that choice programs, like all education, are best at the state and local level. She couldn’t, of course, oppose a federal choice program. But she isn’t likely to appreciate federal restrictions that would necessarily be attached to the money. Tax credits are just one of the programs that fall under the branch of the “school choice” movement that seeks to use public money to send children to private and religious schools — even when those schools can legally discriminate against LBGTQ students and other groups of students. There are, however, differences in how the programs work throughout the country, structured according to the laws of each state.


“BACKPACK FULL OF CASH” DOCUMENTARY You Are Invited to A Free Screening presented by BASD Proud Parents and the Bethlehem Area School District MARCH 21, 6:30pm – 8:00pm  NITSCHMANN MIDDLE SCHOOL Discussion to Follow
“BACKPACK FULL OF CASH” DOCUMENTARY – Narrated by Academy Award-winning actor, Matt Damon, BACKPACK explores the real cost of privatizing America’s public schools. Before the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the appointment of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, filmmakers Sarah Mondale and Vera Aronow couldn’t have known that the new administration would dramatically shift the national debate about education to the very issues at the heart of their film: charter schools, vouchers and privatization. Now, this timely new documentary takes viewers into the world of market-based education “reform”.
BACKPACK FULL OF CASH follows the tumultuous 2013-14 school year in Philadelphia and other cities where public education – starved of resources and undermined by privatization – is at risk. The documentary also showcases a model for improving schools – a well-resourced public school system in Union City, New Jersey, where poor kids are getting a high-quality education without charters or vouchers. BACKPACK FULL OF CASH makes the case for public education as a basic civil right. The film features genuine heroes like the principals, teachers, activists, parents and most hearteningly, students who are fighting for their education. Former Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch, writer David Kirp and policy expert Linda Darling Hammond are among the national thought leaders who provide analysis in the film.

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

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.

PSBA Sectional Meetings - Ten convenient locations in February and March
School safety and security is a complex, multi-perspective topic impacting school entities in dramatic ways. This complimentary PSBA member meeting featured in ten locations will offer essential updates and information on Safe2Say reporting, suicide awareness related to student safety, school climate, and emergency preparedness planning. Representatives from the Attorney General’s office, PEMA, and a top expert in behavioral health will be presenting. Updates on legislation impacting your schools will be presented by PSBA staff. Connect with the experts, have your questions answered, and network with other members.
Locations and Dates
Section Meetings are 6-8 p.m. (across all locations).
Register online by logging in to myPSBA.



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/

Indiana Area School District Safety & Security Symposium March 15, 2019
Indiana Area School District Website
Background: It’s 2019, and school safety has catapulted as one of the top priorities for school districts around the country. With an eye toward providing educators with various resources and opportunities specific to Pennsylvania, the Indiana Area School District -- in collaboration with Indiana University of Pennsylvania, PA Representative Jim Struzzi, and as well as Indiana County Tourist Bureau-- is hosting a FREE safety and security symposium on March 15, 2019. This safety and security exchange will provide information that benefits all stakeholders in your education community: administrators, board members, and staff members alike. Presenters offer valuable resources to help prepare your organization to continue the discussion on safety and security in our schools.  Pre-registration is required, and you will be invited to choose the breakout sessions that you feel will have the most impact in your professional learning on these various topics, as well as overall impact on your District’s systems of operations. Please take time to review the various course breakout sessions and their descriptions.  Don’t miss this opportunity to connect and learn.
How to Register: Participants attending the Safety Symposium on March 15, 2019, will have the option to select a maximum of 4 breakout sessions to attend on this day.  Prior to the breakout sessions, attendees will hear opening remarks from former Secretary of Education - Dr. Gerald Zahorchak.  We want to empower the attendees to exercise their voice and choice in planning their day!  Please review the various break out session descriptions by clicking on the "Session Descriptions" on the right-hand side of this page.  On that page, you will be able to review the sessions offered that day and register for the symposium.  
https://www.iasd.cc/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=1491839&type=d&pREC_ID=1637670

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


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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