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
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
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 Appropriations Chair .@RepBradford’s school districts in Montgomery
County had to send over $2.7 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
|
Colonial
SD
|
$410,847.95
|
|
Methacton
SD
|
$604,509.63
|
|
Norristown
Area SD
|
$1,784,448.05
|
|
|
$2,799,805.63
|
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?
Radnor votes to push back high school start time by an
hour
Delco Times by Phil Heron April 24, 2019
RADNOR — Sleep
in, kids.
That was the
message from Radnor School Board last night after they voted to push back the
start of school by an hour starting next fall. The 7-2 vote means classes will
start at Radnor High School at 8:30 next school year, as opposed to the 7:30
a.m. current start time. The board spent a year studying the issue and is
part of a national trend backing the idea that a later start time - and
allowing kids to get more sleep - is more conducive to a good learning
environment. Several schools in Chester County recently moved to bump
back start times by a half hour. It is believed Radnor is the first to to a
full hour back. "We really took our time with it and we got a lot of
solid feedback from a variety of different stakeholders and that helped us to
make it. It's not perfect but certainly is a very, very good plan," said
Radnor High School Principal Dan Bechtold. The move means that the school day
at Radnor High will end 45 minutes later starting next fall.
Radnor school board votes to start classes an hour later
Action News 6ABC By Dann Cuellar Updated an hour ago
By a vote of 7-2,
the Radnor school board has voted to start classes at Radnor High School an
hour later. The vote comes after more than a year of studying the scientific
research on the benefits of adolescent sleep and school start times, and
follows a national trend at school districts nationwide. With that move,
Radnor High School becomes the first school in Southeastern Pennsylvania to
begin classes an hour later, at 8:30 a.m. beginning next year. "We
really took our time with it and we got a lot of solid feedback from a variety
of different stakeholders and that helped us to make it. It's not perfect but
certainly is a very, very good plan," said Radnor High School Principal
Dan Bechtold. The American Academy of Pediatrics, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention and the American Medical Association have all issued
policy statements recommending that adolescents get 8-10 hours of sleep each
night and that the high school day should begin at 8:30 a.m. or later. Ken
Batchelor, the school district superintendent says, "The science, what we've
learned about the major medical associations have shared with us about
adolescent sleep and what time is the proper time to start high school we found
that to be very convincing."
“The new contract has a provision
stating the BTEA and district will launch a cyberschool program starting next
school year.”
Bensalem board to vote on six-year teachers contract
Wednesday night
Bucks County Courier
Times By Chris English Posted at 6:00 AM
Details of
the proposed agreement were released by the district on Tuesday.
Bensalem teachers
and other professionals in their 442-member union will get most of their pay
increases in the final three years of a proposed new six-year contract,
according to details released by the district Tuesday. The school board will
vote on the deal at its Wednesday night meeting. Union members in the Bensalem
Township Education Association have been working for more than 20 months under
the terms of a contract that expired June 30, 2017. The new agreement, which
was ratified by the union April 16, is retroactive to July 1, 2017 and runs
through June 30, 2023. It will mean a total of $5.3 million in additional and
recurring costs for the district. That was the same
amount as in
a fact finder’s report twice rejected by the school board, but the estimated
costs in that case were spread out over only five years. The proposed six-year
contract has a wage freeze in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years and/or
limited step and column movement through 2020-21.
Q&A: What happens if the Allentown School District
can’t close its deficit this year?
By JACQUELINE PALOCHKO | THE MORNING CALL | APR 23, 2019 | 6:23 PM
The Allentown
School District is ending this fiscal year $7.6 million in the hole, mostly
because it anticipated salaries would cost $6 million less than they did. It
also faces up to a $28 million deficit for the 2019-20 school year, which
starts July 1. The district’s overall budget is $318 million. The board meets 7
p.m. Thursday night at the administration building in part to discuss what to
do.
Question: What steps to fill the budget void is the district recommending?
Answer: District administrators want the school board to add $10 million in
borrowing to a $25 million bond that already was in the works to help pay for a
new $43 million elementary school. But some board directors are hesitant,
because interest on the extra $10 million could be $4.7 million. The extra
money would be used to lower next year’s projected shortfall to $18 million,
after some maneuvering among budgetary accounts. “This is poor stewardship of taxpayer money,”
Director Robert E. Smith Jr. said. Superintendent Thomas Parker called it “the
best of really bad options.” Administrators insist the district won’t be able
to make payroll for the remainder of the 2018-19 school year if it doesn’t
borrow the money.
Erie schools budget aims for improved academics
GoErie By Ed Palattella Posted at 2:00 AM
Superintendent
proposed adding 13 jobs to help get students to grade level, and another 3 to
teach more students art, music and gym.
After years of
slashing jobs and programs, the Erie School District is taking a more
optimistic approach in its proposed budget for 2019-20. Erie schools
Superintendent Brian Polito wants to add positions to help boost the academic
performance at the district’s 10 elementary schools and three middle schools,
where many students are performing below state averages on standardized tests. The
proposed budget, which Polito issued to the School Board last week, includes
the addition of 13 academic “interventionists,” or one for each school, and the
addition of three “specials” teachers, who would instruct elementary and middle
school students in music, art and physical education. The cost of the
additional staff is roughly $1 million, Polito said. Bringing in the new
employees, he said, is part of the school district’s five-year strategic plan,
which it developed to coincide with its receipt of $14 million in additional
annual state aid to stay solvent.
Nazareth Area School District considers $19.6 million
expansion amid population growth
By CHRISTINA TATU | THE MORNING CALL | APR 23, 2019 | 5:41 PM
To address its
growing student population, the Nazareth Area School District is considering a
$19.6 million expansion that would move fourth graders from Nazareth
Intermediate School and disperse them among the district’s three elementary
buildings: Lower Nazareth, Kenneth N. Butz Jr. and Floyd R. Shafer. The Butz and Lower
Nazareth buildings would be expanded to accommodate the new students. The
school district has experienced a “slow, steady growth of student enrollments,”
and several new housing developments are under construction, Superintendent
Dennis Riker said. “At this time, our Intermediate School and Shafer Elementary
School are close to capacity. ... The issue needs to be addressed,” Riker said.
A meeting will be held Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Walter L. Peters Board Room
at the district administrative office to address questions from the public. On
Tuesday, the school board will vote on the expansion, which Riker said has been
in the development stages for about a year.
Seven Philly principals receive Lindback Award for
distinguished leadership
They are
honored for leadership and humanitarian contributions
the Notebook April 23 — 7:29 pm, 2019
April Brown,
principal of the Laura Waring elementary school in Fairmount, is one of seven
recipients of the Lindback Award for distinguished leadership this year. Photo:
Saquoia Denise Freeman, School District of Philadelphia Seven district
principals were honored Thursday with the annual Lindback Award, which
recognizes distinguished leadership and humanitarian contributions to school
and community. The 2019 recipients are: April Brown, Laura W. Waring School;
Shakae Dupre-Campbell, Middle Years Alternative; Nimet Eren, Kensington Health
Sciences Academy; Rebecca Julien, Eliza B. Kirkbride School; Todd Kimmel, Horatio
B. Hackett School; John Spencer, John F. McCloskey School; and Kiana Thompson,
Academy at Palumbo. The award comes with a $20,000 stipend to improve the
school community. “These award-winning principals go above and beyond to make
sure our students are supported,” said Superintendent William Hite. “Their
vision and dedication to our school communities have shaped them into
outstanding school leaders who truly deserve this honor. We are grateful for
their hard work, and we are proud to celebrate their successes.” Hite, Mayor Kenney, Board of Education member
Leticia Egea-Hinton, and Sheldon M. Bonovitz, Lindback Foundation trustee,
spoke at a ceremony at the Philadelphia Film Center. Several District students
also gave remarks, and students from Franklin Learning Center
performed under the direction of teacher Michelle Frank.
Taking a school ‘to a new level’: In Kensington, this
leader shines
Inquirer by Kristen A.
Graham, Updated: April
23, 2019- 8:18 AM
Nimet Eren never
thought she’d love a job as much as she loved teaching English at Olney High
School. Eren came to Philadelphia and Olney via Harvard and the Teach for
America program, which required a two-year commitment to the school. She stayed
for eight years, throwing herself into both the instructional piece and things
outside the classroom: clubs, activities, celebrations. These days, Eren has a
new passion: serving as principal of Kensington Health Sciences Academy, where
she has won plaudits for building community, and lifting up students and staff.
She is a winner of the 2019 Lindback
Distinguished Principal Award, one of seven Philadelphia School District
leaders singled
out for their leadership. The awards are given annually by the Lindback
Foundation, named for philanthropist and Abbotts Dairies founder Christian
Lindback and his wife, Mary, to recognize top principals. School communities
nominate candidates, and district officials and foundation representatives
select the winners, who each receive a $20,000 prize for their school. The
other winners are April Brown, Laura W. Waring Elementary; Shakae
Dupree-Campbell, Middle Years Alternative; Rebecca Julien, Eliza B. Kirkbride
Elementary; Todd Kimmel, Horatio B. Hackett Elementary; John Spencer, John F.
McCloskey Elementary; and Kiana Thompson, Academy at Palumbo.
Hands-on learning is Saul's trademark
Philly Trib by Chanel
Hill Tribune Staff Writer Apr 16, 2019
Ride along Henry
Ave. in Roxborough and you will see the largest agricultural farm school in the
United States. W.B. Saul High School spans 130 acres and seven buildings within
the city limits and is on a mission to prepare its students for work in
agriculture or science upon graduation. “Being a student at
Saul, comes with a lot of responsibility,” senior Kyrell Smith said. “They let
you do things on your own. Because of that freedom, you have to make sure
you’re doing everything your suppose to be doing as a student. “The teachers
and staff at Saul are very supportive,” he added. “If you need help with
anything they’re are will to help you, but they also let you know that in order
to succeed at Saul or prepare for our future you have to work hard.” Students
at Saul can choose from four agriculture majors including animal science,
horticulture, food science, and national resource management. In the ninth
grade, students take a quarter long course in each major before selecting a
major in their tenth grade year. Once a major is selected, students will then
stay in that major for three years. “I wanted to come to Saul because they had
an horticulture major and I’ve always been interested in horticulture,” said
senior Tia Hammond. “For the last three years, I helped build an exhibit for
the Philadelphia Flower Show.
McKeesport school officials say they did not block Black
Student Union
Trib Live by JAMIE MARTINES | Tuesday, April 23, 2019 3:02 p.m.
McKeesport Area
School District officials on Tuesday refuted claims in a civil rights lawsuit
that they are trying to thwart formation of a Black Student Union. Superintendent
Mark Holtzman, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit along with the
district, told reporters that the American Civil Liberties Union of
Pennsylvania is trying to manipulate the district into illegally allowing the
formation of the student organization. He said the efforts to form the union
came from people outside of the school and was not initiated by students. “This
was never about a Black Student Union,” Holtzman said. “This was about outside
control of a student group.” Filed April 10 by the ACLU of Pennsylvania on
behalf of 11 students, the federal
civil rights lawsuit alleges
that the district violated students’ First Amendment rights by repeatedly
denying their efforts to form a Black Student Union club. The club would be
open to all students and would take on issues involving race and the treatment
of students of color in the district, according to previous statements from the
ACLU of Pennsylvania. Holtzman said that a person from outside the school
called for the Black Student Union, and that it was not initiated solely by
students. Therefore, the district denied the formation of the group, he said.
Guest Column: The American dream personified in Upper
Darby schools
Delco Times By Joe
Batory Times Guest Columnist Apr 22, 2019
When I became Upper
Darby’s superintendent of schools in 1984, many thousands of Vietnamese immigrants
already arrived in the USA. Most of them were from South Vietnam and many had
worked closely with Americans during the Vietnam War. They had escaped
persecution and reprisals from the Communists after Saigon fell in 1975. And
the waves of these newcomers kept coming into the decade ahead. A significant
number of these Vietnamese immigrants, some of them refugee boat people, chose
to settle into an Upper Darby neighborhood just across Philadelphia’s western
border. They had little money and basically were starting their lives over in a
new nation. But they brought with them strong values, which most of us like to
think of as American. They prioritized diligence in school and at work and
prioritized family ties and education as keys to success – the formula for the
American Dream as it has served so many previous generations in the USA. The
Vietnamese Americans had it down to a science. Their children became superb
school citizens and students in the Upper Darby School District because this
was what was expected and demanded at home. And they excelled.
They also had a
profound impact on me.
Can kids stop distracted driving? Philly advocate aims to
bring lessons to schools.
Inquirer by Justine McDaniel, Updated: April 24, 2019- 5:00 AM
When Jay Vaughn’s
daughter was 6 or 7, she called him out one day for using his phone while
driving. “It’s funny how kids pick up on stuff, and she just right away said
it’s not safe,” recalled Vaughn, who has since stopped driving distracted. “It
got me to change my behavior and just kind of knocked sense into me, like, what
am I doing?” That’s the kind of conversation Philadelphia-based advocate Joel
Feldman hopes he can make happen in households across the country — with a new
elementary-school program to combat distracted driving that taps into “the nag
power of little kids.” Developing a curriculum that will be free for teachers
and aimed at second- through fifth-graders, Feldman and collaborator Emily
Stein are aiming to get kids to function as the back-seat police, reminding
their parents to stay off the phone in the car — especially when their parents
won’t heed other warnings.
Do voucher students’ scores bounce back after initial
declines? New research says no
Chalkbeat BY MATT BARNUM - 1 DAY AGO
New research on a
closely watched school voucher program finds that it hurts students’ math test
scores — and that those scores don’t bounce back, even years later. That’s
the grim conclusion of the latest study, released Tuesday, looking at Louisiana students who used a voucher to
attend a private school. It echoes research out of Indiana, Ohio, and Washington, D.C. showing that vouchers reduce students’ math test scores and keep
them down for two years or more. Together, they rebut some initial research suggesting that the declines in test scores would be short-lived,
diminishing a common talking point for voucher proponents. “While the early
research was somewhat mixed … it is striking how consistent these recent
results are,” said Joe Waddington, a University of Kentucky professor who has
studied Indiana’s voucher program. “We’ve started to see persistent negative
effects of receiving a voucher on student math achievement.” The state’s
voucher program also didn’t improve students’ chances of enrolling in college. The results may
influence local and national debates. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is
working to drum up support for a proposed federal tax credit program that could help parents pay private-school tuition, and Tennessee
lawmakers are debating whether to create a voucher-like
program of
their own.
Extending Vouchers Into Middle Class Is Florida's Next
Move
Vouchers for
bullied students draw scrutiny
Education Week By Arianna Prothero April 16, 2019
Florida—already
home to a thriving ecosystem of vouchers—is making a new run at expanding the
numbers of families who are eligible for taxpayer-funded vouchers to send their
children to private school. At the same time, the state's still-new vouchers
for bullied students are causing confusion among school district leaders even
as demand for them has fallen way short of expectations in the program's first
year. Lawmakers are making a full-court press to extend vouchers to thousands
of new students, including many from middle-class families. Legislation to make
that a reality is circulating in the Florida legislature, and with Republican
Gov. Ron DeSantis, a staunch ally of vouchers at the helm, school choice
supporters are feeling optimistic about its prospects. And three of the state's
more-liberal justices reached their term limits, giving DeSantis an opportunity
to appoint a new conservative majority to the state supreme court. "For
years, Florida has been advancing public and private school choice options for
parents, but for the first time though, there is an opportunity to think much
more broadly about what those options are," said Patricia Levesque, the
chief executive officer of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, an
influential group that advocates for school choice.
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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