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
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These daily emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg
Diane
Ravitch Speaking at Penn State Harrisburg April 25th at 7:00 p.m.
777
West Harrisburg Pike, Harrisburg, PA
Mukund
S. Kulkarni Theatre, Student Enrichment Center
“Under Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed 2019-20
budget, the district would receive $53.9 million in basic education funding —
or $5,402 per student. Meanwhile, York would receive $9,001 for each of its
7,947 students, and Harrisburg would receive $7,408 per pupil for its 7,486
students. To achieve the average per-pupil state funding for urban districts,
Scranton would need an additional $18.9 million a year, according to the
district.”
At rally and meeting, Scranton school officials demand
more state funding
Times Tribune BY
SARAH HOFIUS HALL, STAFF WRITER / PUBLISHED: APRIL 23, 2019
SCRANTON — Children in York and Harrisburg are not worth more than
children in Scranton. At a rally Monday
and Scranton School Board committee meeting that followed, directors, teachers,
administrators, parents and taxpayers came together to repeat that message —
and they want more people to hear it. “I know we’re going to get this funding
because we won’t stop until we do,” Director Paul Duffy told the 200 people
gathered for the rally outside Scranton High School. Under
Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed 2019-20 budget, the district would receive $53.9
million in basic education funding — or $5,402 per student. Meanwhile, York
would receive $9,001 for each of its 7,947 students, and Harrisburg would
receive $7,408 per pupil for its 7,486 students. To achieve the average per-pupil
state funding for urban districts, Scranton would need an additional $18.9
million a year, according to the district. The funding disparity — and not
solely alleged mismanagement or corruption — helped the district accumulate a
$28.6 million deficit over the last five years. With the district placed in
financial recovery by the state and Chief Recovery Officer Candis Finan, Ed.D. ,
preparing the comprehensive recovery plan due next month, school directors said
they are not looking for a bailout. Instead, officials want children in
Scranton to be treated equally.
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. We
will continue rolling out cyber charter tuition expenses for taxpayers in
education committee members, legislative leadership and various other
districts.
In 2016-17, taxpayers
in House Minority Leader .@RepFrankDermody’s school districts in Allegheny and
Westmoreland Counties had to send over $3.5 million to chronically underperforming
cybers that they never authorized. #SB34 (Schwank) or #HB526 (Sonney) could
change that. Data source: PDE via .@PSBA
Links to additional bill information and several resources have been
moved to the end of today’s postings
|
Allegheny
Valley SD
|
$284,650.42
|
|
Deer
Lakes SD
|
$372,737.22
|
|
Fox
Chapel Area SD
|
$636,523.83
|
|
Highlands
SD
|
$1,222,364.99
|
|
New
Kensington-Arnold SD
|
$704,658.67
|
|
Riverview
SD
|
$321,939.98
|
|
|
$3,542,875.11
|
Has your state
senator cosponsored SB34?
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billInfo/bill_history.cfm?syear=2019&sind=0&body=S&type=B&bn=34
Has your state representative
cosponsored HB526?
Why raising salaries for Pennsylvania teachers is more
complicated than it seems
WHYY/Keystone
Crossroads The Why by Jen Kinney Avi Wolfman-Arent and Air Date: April 23,
2019
Podcast Listen 13:25
Turkeyfoot in
Southwest Pennsylvania is one of the lowest paying school districts in the
state. Teachers can start at just $22,000 a year. That low salary is making it
difficult to attract and retain qualified educators there. Now some
people, including Gov. Tom Wolf, are calling for an across-the-board
raise for
teachers, saying it will avert the shortage. So why do some critics say this is
only a Band-Aid solution to a more complicated problem? And does it put teacher salaries
over student needs? Keystone Crossroads reporters Jen Kinney and Avi Wolfman-Arent explain on this episode of The
Why.
Repeat concerns fill case against Erie Rise’s charter
GoErie By Ed Palattella Posted Apr 21, 2019 at 12:01 AMUpdated
Apr 21, 2019 at 6:27 AM
Erie School
District, in newly issued nonrenewal notice, says charter school has failed to
comply with 2015 improvement plan. Poor academic performance is major concern. The
Erie School District and Erie Rise Leadership Academy Charter School are headed
to a repeat confrontation. As the school district challenges the renewal of
Erie Rise’s charter, the district’s concerns are well known. The district
brought them up five years ago, when it last issued a nonrenewal notice to Erie
Rise. After issuing the nonrenewal notice in April 2014, the school district
ended up renewing Erie Rise’s charter in January 2015 — but with the condition
that Erie Rise comply with an improvement plan whose demands included better
academic performance and better internal oversight. A critical audit of the charter
school’s operations from the state Auditor General’s Office in 2014 also
prompted the school district to develop the improvement plan. The school
district’s new nonrenewal notice, which the Erie School Board issued in a 9-0
vote at its monthly meeting on Wednesday, contends that Erie Rise’s current
deficiencies mirror those that led the Erie School District to act in April
2014. And the district contends that Erie Rise failed to follow its own charter
and the improvement plan meant to give it a second chance. “They did not meet
any of the goals that were set forth,” said the Erie School District’s
executive director of operations, Neal Brokman, who handles charter school
matters for the district.
“Monday, the district discussed its
biggest cost drivers, which include charter school tuition and educating its
special education and English language learners. Charter school tuition is
expected to be around $60 million for 2019-20. The district is spending more
than $42 million in special education this year. Next year it will need to add
five more autistic support classrooms at a cost of at least $1 million. Since
2010, there has been a 60 percent increase in English language learners in the
district. The district received 350 students from Puerto Rico after Hurricane
Maria hit the island. About 280 of those students have stayed in the district.”
Facing $28 million deficit for next year, Allentown
School District looking to borrow money to cover $7 million hole in this year’s
budget
By JACQUELINE PALOCHKO | THE MORNING CALL | APR 22, 2019 | 10:01 PM
The Allentown
School District is facing a $28 million deficit for the 2019-20 school year,
but before the district closes that, it needs to figure out how to deal with a
$7.6 million hole in the current year’s budget because of underbudgeting. At a
special finance meeting Monday night, the school district recommended that the
school board approve borrowing $10 million by adding onto a bond it was
planning on taking out for the $43 million elementary school being built on
12th and Gordon streets. The bond, which would be in the maximum aggregate
amount of $130 million, would go until 2037. In the bond, $25 million would be
for the elementary school and $10 million would be used to plug this year’s
deficit. This would be the second bond the district is taking out for the
elementary school. It took the first one out last year. If the bond is
approved, the district would use that money to fund its pension costs and it
would offset the 2019-20 deficit to $18 million. The board will take up voting
on the bond at its Thursday meeting. The district has a hole in this year’s
$318 million budget because it has historically been underbudgeting. This year,
it underbudgeted salaries by around $6 million. Charter school tuition also
ended up being more than budgeted.
“Another major expense in the budget is
the cost of tuition to charter and cyber charter schools. There are 124
Octorara students attending a local charter school and 70 attending cyber
charter schools. The district has been making an effort to bring local students
back from the charter schools, and has expanded its own online class offerings.
“The challenge is for us, even though we have the Octorara Virtual Academy,
there’s nothing in the school code that requires parents to work with us,”
Superintendent Michele Orner said.”
Octorara Area School Board approves proposed budget, 2.9%
tax hike
Lancaster Online by
MARCELLA PEYRE-FERRY | LNP Correspondent April 23, 2019
The Octorara Area
school board approved a proposed final budget of $56.7 million for the 2019-20
school year at its meeting April 15. The budget calls for a property tax
increase of 2.9%, the most allowed under the state’s Act 1 index, which is used
to determine maximum tax increases for each school district, unless a state
Department of Education exception is sought. The budget also uses an expected
$561,592 from the district fund balance. Because the district is located in
both Lancaster and Chester counties, a rebalancing is done each year to
equalize the tax burden. For the average
Lancaster County property owner within the school district with a median
homestead property value of $190,000, the current millage is 25.35 for a tax
bill of $4,817. The new tax millage rate of 25.87 will result in a total bill
of $4,915, a $98 increase.
Career and tech education is seeing renewed excitement.
How do Centre County students benefit?
Centre Daily Times BY SARAH PAEZ APRIL 22, 2019 09:13 PM
State College While the importance of career and technical education has captured the
attention of state lawmakers, local leaders in business, industry and education
say a lack of interest in CTE programs is causing a workforce development gap. A
bipartisan bundle of bills currently making its way through the Pennsylvania Senate touts the
role of CTE in the Keystone state and aims to bolster programs and make access
to them easier for students. In February, the Chamber of Business and Industry
of Centre County launched CentreReady, an initiative aimed at helping students develop skills necessary for
employment in the Centre County workforce. A CBICC survey
of over 60 companies in Centre County found that 44 percent of businesses said technical skills were
lacking, while 36 percent said that “soft skills” like teamwork, work ethic,
communication and critical thinking were lacking. So what does CTE look like on
a local level, and what are area graduates learning?
Sen. Casey discusses skyrocketing costs of child care
during local visit
Beaver County Times
By Jared Stonesifer Posted Apr 22, 2019 at 3:43 PM Updated
Apr 22, 2019 at 4:59 PM
CENTER TWP. — U.S.
Sen. Bob Casey visited with students and families Monday at Todd Lane
Elementary School in an effort to bring awareness to the skyrocketing costs of
child care. Specifically, Casey, D-Scranton, came to talk about two bills he
supports in the Senate. The first bill, of which he is a co-sponsor, is called
the Child Care for Working Families Act. It would ensure that no family pays
more than 7 percent of their household income for child care if that family
earns less than 150 percent of their state’s median income. That’s a big deal,
Casey said, because the average cost of full-time, center-based day care in
Pennsylvania is $11,560 for an infant and $8,712 for a 4-year-old. Those
numbers represent about 12 percent of the annual income for married couples in
Pennsylvania, and nearly 46 percent of annual income for single parents. “That’s
only the average,” Casey said about child-care costs. “That means some are
paying a hell of a lot higher than that.” Particularly alarming for the
three-term senator is the fact that a single parent could be spending nearly
half of his or her income on child care, Casey said. “You can’t expect a parent
to pay half their income and expect it to work,” he said. The second Senate
bill Casey came to promote is called the Child Care and Dependent Credit
Enhancement Act, of which he is the primary sponsor. The bill would make the
Child Care Tax Credit available to families with incomes under $120,000.
Auditor general calls on Harrisburg School District to
act with ‘greater degree of transparency’
PA Capital Star By Elizabeth Hardison April 22, 2019
Pennsylvania
Auditor General Eugene DePasquale is the latest state official to wade into the
fracas plaguing the capital city’s public school district. On Monday, the state’s
top fiscal watchdog said he is “deeply troubled” by the Harrisburg School
Board’s refusal to cooperate with auditors working for the Pennsylvania
Department of Education. PennLive’s Christine Vendel reported this month that the troubled district declined to provide records
to a firm hired to conduct the audit. District business manager Bilal Hasan
said the district had no legal reason to provide the firm with unfettered
access to its electronic finance system. School board director Judd Pittman
made a motion at a meeting last week to comply with the audit. It was shot down
in a 5-4 vote. Those actions caught the attention of DePasquale, who urged the
board and the district Monday to cooperate with the audit.
McKeesport Area School District working toward agreement
with students after rejecting black student union
MATT MCKINNEY Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette mmckinney@post-gazette.com APR 22, 2019 12:30 PM
The McKeesport
Area School District is working toward an agreement with students who sued
after officials rejected their push to form a black student union club. hearing had been scheduled Monday in a civil
rights lawsuit by 11 students who were represented by the American Civil
Liberties Union of Pennsylvania. U.S. District Judge Marilyn J. Horan postponed
the hearing until further notice, as the school district and students work
toward a resolution. The Pennsylvania ACLU filed the lawsuit this month on
behalf of students who claimed that the district had denied them permission to
create the club. In a previous statement by the Pennsylvania ACLU, the students
said they had "concerns about the way students of color are treated at
McKeesport."
Most teachers don’t teach climate change; 4 in 5 parents
wish they did
WHYY/NPR By Anya
Kamenetz April 22,
2019
More than 80% of
parents in the U.S. support the teaching of climate change. And that support
crosses political divides, according to the results of an exclusive new
NPR/Ipsos poll: Whether they have children or not, two-thirds of Republicans
and 9 in 10 Democrats agree that the subject needs to be taught in school. A
separate poll of teachers found that they are even more supportive, in theory —
86% agree that climate change should be taught. These polls are among the first
to gauge public and teacher opinion on how climate change should be taught to
the generation that in the coming years will face its intensifying
consequences: children.
Hempfield data shows early start times elicit better
grades
Trib Live MEGAN TOMASIC | Tuesday, April 16, 2019 4:33 p.m.
Start times
at Hempfield Area High School won’t change after statics showed better average
grades in earlier periods.
Hempfield Area High
School students will continue to start classes each morning at 7:25 a.m. Assistant Principal
Gregory Saraceni compiled average grades from early classes at the high school
and compared them to the same class held later in the day. In general,
higher-grade averages were seen in first periods, he told the school board
Monday. During the first period AP Economics class, the average was about 95%,
which is about 2% higher than later classes, Saraceni said. The average for the
English 12 class during first period is about 79%, about 5% higher than other
classes. “Listening to the comments being made that they’re not engaged,
they’re not focused, they’re not awake, they’re not performing at that hour, I
think just doing some brief grade comparisons I would have to say that the data
is actually supporting the fact that the kids are more engaged early on,”
Saraceni said. Other schools in the region , including Woodland
Hills and Pine-Richland, voted last year for later start times.
Eyes on the Philly Board of Education: April
25, 2019
Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools by Karel Kilimnik April 22, 2019
Board Rolls Out Red Carpet to Charter
Operators
Spring has arrived
along with the annual crop of charter school amendments and renewals. Renewals
come due when charters’ five-year terms are up. Amendments requests–for
enrollment increases, name changes, relocation–can be submitted at any time,
but often at the time of renewal. Incredibly, charter schools who have
refused to sign renewal agreements have still been granted amendment requests.
First, let us deal with Renewals. Presently on the Charter School Office (CSO)
website is the 2018/19 cohort of 12 schools–with no active link for any school,
so no way to see the renewal evaluation report.
New synthetic turf fields planned for both Council Rock
high schools
Bucks County Courier
Times By Chris English Posted Apr 22, 2019 at 6:00 AM
The school board
will consider replacing the field at Council Rock North and installing one at
Council Rock South at its Thursday night meeting. New synthetic turf fields at
both Council Rock high schools would not only enhance athletic facilities and
opportunities but could also bring more revenue into the district, school board
President Andy Block said. The board is scheduled to vote on replacing the
field at Council Rock High School North’s Walt Snyder Stadium in Newtown
Township and installing one at Council Rock High School South in Northampton at
its Thursday night meeting. If approved by the board, the projects would not be
done until next year and would cost an estimated total of $4.6 million, school
district Operational Services Director Doug Taylor said. Block said he favors
the projects. Speaking in particular about the proposed new synthetic surface
at CR South, he said it could mean significant revenue for the district by
renting it out to outside athletic groups when it’s not being used by the
school’s teams. There will also be “sponsorship opportunities associated with
the new field, whether that be naming, branding or (advertising) signage,”
Block said.
777 West
Harrisburg Pike, Harrisburg, PA
Mukund S.
Kulkarni Theatre, Student Enrichment Center
Join Diane Ravitch as she presents "The End of the Faux Reform Movement."
Ravitch is the author of the national bestseller "Reign of Error The Hoax
of the Privatization Movement" and the "Danger to America’s Public
Schools." There will be a book signing opportunity after the event.
For more information, contact Dr. Hannah Spector at hms22@psu.edu.
Electing PSBA Officers – Application Deadline is May 31st
Do you have strong
communication and leadership skills and a vision for PSBA? Members interested
in becoming the next leaders of PSBA are encouraged to submit
an Application for Nomination no
later than May 31 to PSBA's Leadership Development Committee (LDC).
The nomination process:
All persons seeking nomination for elected positions of the Association shall
file with the Leadership Development Committee chairperson an Application
for Nomination (.PDF) on a form to be provided by the Association expressing interest in the
office sought. The Application for nomination shall be marked received at PSBA
Headquarters or mailed first class and postmarked no later than the application
deadline specified in the timeline established by the Governing Board to be
considered timely-filed.” (PSBA Bylaws, Article IV, Section 6.E.). Application Deadline: May 31, 2019
Open positions are:
- 2020 President-Elect (one-year term)
- 2020 Vice President (one-year term)
- 2020-22 Central At-Large
Representative – includes Sections 2, 3, 6, and 7 (three-year
term)
- 2020-21 Sectional Advisors – includes Sections
1, 3, 5 and 7 (two-year term)
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.
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
Save the
Date: PARSS Annual Conference May 1-3,
2019Wyndham 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
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billInfo/bill_history.cfm?syear=2019&sind=0&body=S&type=B&bn=34
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.
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