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
“The legislation
would allow all charter schools, even the poorest performers, to expand without
the authorizing District's knowledge or approval. These unpredictable expenses
would not only create short term fiscal challenges for the District, but make
it impossible to reasonably utilize multi-year budgeting - the very approach to
budgeting which has allowed the District to make the strategic, sustainable
investments which are resulting in improved academic performance across our
schools. These bills undermine the fiscal stability promise of local control.
Newly proposed
charter legislation also frees charters from oversight that is necessary to
ensure they are meeting academic standards. They make it harder to close
underperforming charters and allow unfettered expansion of charters -- even
those with failing performance -- without regard for their ability to
successfully operate. The proposed standard charter application form lacks
information on an applicant's’ experience, finances, past performance and
operational ability, all of which are necessary to meaningfully assess whether
the applicant can sustain a school that meets the needs of the very students it
aspires to serve.”
Philly school officials: Pa. urgently need charter school
reform | Opinion
Dr. William Hite
and Joyce Wilkerson, For the Inquirer Updated: May 30, 2019 - 11:15 AM
The quality of
Pennsylvania’s schools, both district and charter, is vital to the
Commonwealth’s future prosperity. For Pennsylvania to attract new businesses
and grow job opportunities for residents, its public schools must provide a
high-quality education that prepares all students to become the leaders,
innovators and entrepreneurs of tomorrow. But the Commonwealth’s current
charter school law undermines this possibility for thousands of public school
students.
Auditor
General Eugene DePasquale called the 1997 charter law “the worst in the nation.” We couldn’t agree more. Our message to the General Assembly is
clear: The need to overhaul Pennsylvania’s charter school law is real and
urgent. School districts need better tools to hold charter school operators
accountable to families and taxpayers. The Commonwealth has an ethical and
moral responsibility to its public school students to ensure charter schools
are held to the same state academic standards as District schools. It also has
a fiscal responsibility to taxpayers to ensure funds invested in charters are a
good investment and are safeguarded against misuse. Current charter law falls
woefully short on these fronts and many others.
Legislation
currently pending in the General Assembly pushes the charter law in the wrong
direction. House Bills 356 and 357 create more risk for students,
local Districts and taxpayers. We vehemently oppose these bills.
“During brief
remarks, they called on the state to invest more in its public schools,
particularly in programs like PlanCon for capital improvement and building
projects. They want lawmakers to reject proposed legislation they believe will
weaken school district oversight on charter schools they want to prevent the
expansion of the Education Improvement Tax Credit program.”
Pittsburgh Public Schools leaders call for better school
funding, oppose charter school legislation
ELIZABETH BEHRMAN Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette Lbehrman@post-gazette.com MAY 30, 2019 5:25 PM
Allegheny
Traditional Academy, a K-5 school on the North Side, needs about $10 million
worth of “significant” capital improvements just so it can remain functional
and safe for teachers and students. Pittsburgh Public Schools
Superintendent Anthony Hamlet highlighted the building, which was built in
1904, during a news conference at the school Thursday in which he and several
other local educators and advocates called on the Pennsylvania Legislature to
provide better funding for public schools. “To do what is right for
our kids, we must acknowledge the financial stressors that our district is
under,” Mr. Hamlet said. “I look forward to working with members of the
Legislature, the Pennsylvania Department of Education and to ensure students in
Pittsburgh Public Schools receive the valuable resources they deserve.” He was
joined by state Sen. Lindsey Williams, D-West View, PPS board member Sylvia
Wilson; Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers President Nina Esposito-Visgitis; and
Angel Gober, an education organizer with ONE Pennsylvania.
PASBO Finance experts call for charter school funding
reforms
Trib Live by DEB ERDLEY | Wednesday, May 29, 2019 4:24 p.m.
Echoing complaints
of school superintendents across Western Pennsylvania, public school finance
experts Wednesday warned that charter school costs are reaching a breaking
point for many of Pennsylvania’s 500 school districts. Finance experts with the
Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials (PASBO) said lawmakers
must change the way charter costs are assessed to local school districts or
accept that some school districts are not going to be able to continue to bear
the cost of paying hundreds of thousands, and in some cases millions, of
dollars in charter school tuition. The call for change comes as the General
Assembly weighs a variety of bills aimed at altering the way the state
regulates and finances charter and cyber charter schools that now enroll about
140,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Hannah Barrick, of the
Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officers, said charter school
costs, which are borne almost entirely by local school districts, totaled $1.8
billion last year and accounted for 37 cents of every new dollar raised in
local property taxes.
In some school
districts, the costs are even higher.
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 Ed Committee
member .@RepGleim’s school districts in Cumberland County had to send over $5.1
million to chronically underperforming cybers that they never authorized. #SB34
(Schwank) or #HB526 (Sonney) could change that.
|
Data Source: PDE via PSBA
|
|
|
Big Spring SD
|
$1,457,150.44
|
|
Carlisle Area SD
|
$1,429,522.41
|
|
Cumberland Valley SD
|
$1,736,152.00
|
|
South Middleton SD
|
$528,676.27
|
|
|
$5,151,501.12
|
This morning there
are 68 bipartisan cosponsors on this bill; has your state representative
cosponsored HB526?
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
Philly adopts $3.4B budget, says no — again — to a new
charter
Inquirer by Kristen A.
Graham and Maddie Hanna, Updated: May 30, 2019- 9:28 PM
The Philadelphia
school board on Thursday night unanimously approved a $3.4 billion budget for
the 2019-20 school year, approving new money for math support, school nurses,
and teachers for English-language learners. The budget represents a 7.1 percent
increase in expenditures over the current $3.2
billion spending plan, with cost
increases largely driven by payments to charter schools and planned salary
increases driven by the Philadelphia
Federation of Teachers contract. It projects a modest surplus at the end of fiscal 2020, but the picture
is more problematic in the final years of the district’s five-year plan. By
2023, the district is projecting a $262 million budget deficit. The school
board cannot raise its own revenue, but depends on the city, state, and federal
governments to fund operations for the 200,000 students in district and charter
schools. Uri Monson, the district’s chief financial officer, noted that the
budget is a best guess based on city and state projections, but that two bills
soon coming up for hearings before
City Council — one
increasing the homestead exemption rate to $50,000 and another enacting a tax
rate each year that would be “revenue neutral” — could alter the district’s
finances considerably. If both are enacted, they would cost the district $42
million next year, and nearly $500 million over the next five years.
The teacher strike is off, but Harrisburg’s senator still
is calling for state control
PA Capital Star By Elizabeth Hardison May 31, 2019
Harrisburg teachers
may have called off a one-day strike they’d planned for Friday, but one of the
city’s leaders in the General Assembly is still calling for the struggling
district to be put under state control. Sen. John DiSanto, R-Dauphin, told the
Capital-Star on Wednesday that the one-day strike planned by the Harrisburg
Education Association teachers’ union offered further proof that the district
lacks leadership and should be under the control of a state-appointed receiver
— sooner, rather than later. “I’ve learned to say, ‘what else can go wrong?’”
DiSanto said Wednesday. “The last thing I thought we would have is a strike,
and now there’s a strike… I think a lot can continue to go wrong.” The teachers
called off their strike late Wednesday night, once they’d reached an agreement
with the district’s labor counsel. But according to DiSanto, his
position on receivership — which would put the district under the executive
control of a court-appointed administrator — hasn’t wavered since he and other
elected officials first launched the call for state control last month. In
April, DiSanto joined Harrisburg state Rep. Patty Kim and Mayor Eric Papenfuse,
both Democrats, in asking the state Department of Education to put the district
under the control of a court-appointed receiver, who would run all of the
district’s financial and administrative operations for at least three years.
Dissent among Philly school board members over potential
sale of Belmont charter school
A teacher
resident in Relay Graduate School of Education criticized the institution amid
bid for new contract
The notebook by Greg Windle May 30 — 11:43 pm, 2019
The Board of
Education Thursday night denied the revised charter school application from
American Paradigm schools while unanimously renewing three other charters. The
renewal of a fourth, Belmont Elementary Charter School, was approved
another with strong dissent. The school has proposed to buy the District
building it is currently renting. Belmont has been operating without a signed
charter agreement since 2017 due to disagreements with the District over
conditions. “I object,” said School Board Member Chris McGinley, referring to
Belmont’s renewal. “And I’ll be voting no, because the terms and conditions,
while they don’t specifically refer to the sale of the building, this is all
part of a deal that will obligate the board later to sell that building.” The
school, run by the Belmont Charter Network, would use a nonprofit to buy the
building from the District. It’s valued at $2.4 million and Belmont will but it
for $2.8 million. In the process, the District will unload the remaining debt
on the building’s construction of roughly $1 million. Financially, it seems
like a fine deal for the school district. Board member Lee Huang, who voted in
favor of the renewal, said “it is my understanding that the transaction is
contingent on the renewal.” But the charter has a catchment area and so
functions like a neighborhood school. If it were to lose its charter, the
District would lose that neighborhood school and have to buy or rent the
building back – or take on millions in debt to build a new school. “I don’t
think it’s appropriate to sell that building but I further I don’t think it’s
ever appropriate to sell a neighborhood,” McGinley said. “By selling the
building, we are permanently removing our presence in that neighborhood.”
Black teachers matter. How do we get more in the
classroom? | Opinion
Sharif El-Mekki,
for the Inquirer Updated: May 30, 2019 - 12:03 PM
Districts and
schools search incessantly for meaningful, sustainable, and effective
school-based interventions — and those efforts often fail. Tons of money has
been spent on countless reform concepts: “whole language,” “small schools,”
“schools within schools,” “small classrooms.” The list goes on. But what if one
of the best interventions is sitting in our schools right now? Research and
experience yields that one of the best, most impactful interventions has been
largely lost over the years. The Association of American Educators Foundation,
The Fellowship: Black Male Educators for Social Justice, the Center for Black
Educator Development, and 73 other education organizations signed a letter dated May 22 calling for more awareness, funding, and policy to
increase teacher diversity. Imagine if we could decrease black dropout rates by
40% through a tried and true, researched-based intervention. What would your
response be? Would you slowly walk to that intervention or would you run? Would
you wait for the arc of educational justice to bend, or would you try to hammer
that arc?
Governor’s proposal on school attendance will help
students succeed | Opinion
Penn Live By Karen
Farmer White Posted May 30, 8:53 AM
Karen Farmer White is Chair of the
Pennsylvania State Board of Education.
Parents are often
advised that children need structure in their lives, from the time they are
toddlers through their teenage years. While their minds and bodies are growing
and maturing, children don’t always possess the knowledge, skills and
experience to make fully informed decisions. Governor Wolf understands that
formal schooling provides this critical structure, but he also recognizes that
Pennsylvania’s requirements for when students must start school and how long
they have to remain in school are outdated and must be changed to better serve
our students. The State Board of
Education agrees with the governor, unanimously adopting two resolutions on May
8 supporting the proposal to amend the Public School Code. Governor Wolf’s
proposal would lower Pennsylvania’s school attendance requirement from 8 years
to 6 years. Pennsylvania is one of just two states in the nation (Washington
State is the other) that allows children to wait until age 8 to enroll in
school. This compulsory age requirement was established in 1895 and does not
reflect the needs of children or families in the 21st century.
This program in rural Pennsylvania is teaching kids about
robotics
PA Capital Star By Sarah Anne Hughes May 31, 2019
Timothy Heffernan
is the gifted support teacher at Franklin Area High School in Venango County, a
rural part of northwest Pennsylvania. Each year, he lets his students tell him
what they’re interested in and designs their learning around that topic. Four
years ago, it was robotics. So he did what any good teacher would do, Heffernan
joked to the Capital-Star: He went online and started looking for good ideas to
steal. That’s when he found VEX Robotics, a STEM education program that
provides robots to schools and gives students a chance to compete with their
creations. Now, in 2019, that class has grown into the five-county Pennsylvania Rural Robotics Initiative, which has placed 180 robots into the hands of hundreds of students. On
Tuesday, Gov. Tom Wolf’s office announced that the initiative will receive an
$188,300 Pennsylvania Manufacturing Training-to-Career grant, in part, for a
summer workshop. In its first year, the workshop will serve approximately 20
students from schools across the region who have already participated in the
initiative, Heffernan said. It will include robotics and programming lessons,
as well as a trip to Carnegie Mellon University.
Stay in high school, and participate in its reinvention
to meet your needs | Opinion
By Stephen
Herzenberg Capital-Star Op-Ed
Contributor May 31,
2019
Stephen
Herzenberg is an economist and the executive director of the Keystone Research
Center, a progressive think tank in Harrisburg.
I don’t usually
cite researchers at the conservative Manhattan Institute favorably, but I’m
doing that here to highlight opportunities for bipartisan problem solving that
exist in Pennsylvania via reinventing the end of high school for students not
planning to go to four-year college. Too many students today drop out because
they don’t see the point of staying in school — more than 4,000 17-year-old
Pennsylvanians each year. Gov. Tom Wolf wants them to stay in school. He has
proposed raising the dropout age from 17 to 18 because students without a
diploma end up with lower earnings and have greater difficulty navigating the
21st-century economy. That makes sense — but here’s the powerful closing
argument: Wolf and the Legislature have launched a reinvention of grades 11-14
(high school plus two years of postsecondary education) so that potential
dropouts, and many others, do see the point of staying in school. Manhattan
Institute researcher Oren Cass made the case for this reinvention in “How the
Other Half Learns,” a chapter in Cass’ book “The
Once and Future Worker.” Cass
highlights that high school focuses on preparing students for college even
though those who will graduate from four-year schools represent less than half
of young people nationally (much less in Pennsylvania). That college focus has
gone along with the declining status of vocational education and an erosion in
its connections to family-sustaining jobs. Recently, however, the stars have
aligned behind a reinvigoration of voc-ed, now rechristened as career and technical
education (CTE).
CCIU executive director announces retirement after 46
years in education
MediaNews Group May
25, 2019
DOWNINGTOWN —
Chester County Intermediate Unit Executive Director Joseph J. O’Brien announced
that he will be retiring on July 31 after more than 12 years of service to the
intermediate unit and 46 years in public education. “This has been the best job
in education — it will be hard to leave,” O’Brien said. “Education is
highly valued in southeastern Pennsylvania; and, I believe over the years that
we have built the best staff and best IU in the Commonwealth in order to meet
the high expectations and demands of our customers.” O’Brien is credited with
transforming the CCIU into a dynamic, entrepreneurial organization. His
innovative thinking paved the way for regional education programs that seek to
meet the needs of every child while reducing the financial impact of these
services on local school districts. An indication of the CCIU’s financial
success: the IU budget increased nearly $120 million during his tenure.
Under his
leadership at the CCIU, three new dual-enrollment career and technical high
schools were opened: the Chester County Technical College High School (TCHS)
Pennock’s Bridge Campus in 2008 and the TCHS Brandywine Campus in August 2012;
and the renovated TCHS Pickering Campus in 2017. The dual-enrollment career and
technical high schools are models for the Commonwealth. In addition, under his
direction, the CCIU implemented the “administrator on assignment" program
that temporarily places administrators in dozens of school districts throughout
southeastern Pennsylvania. He also implemented the CCIU executive search
services and has assisted over 30 school districts with finding and hiring
their superintendents, including the current superintendents in Avon Grove,
Downingtown, Great Valley, Octorara, Owen J. Roberts, Oxford, Phoenixville,
Tredyffrin/Easttown and Unionville.
“The vanguard of
this unrest is organized teachers, political progressives and public education
activists. Yet public opinion, even if it is moving more slowly, is tilting in
the same direction. According to the school-choice-favoring EdNext Poll,
support for charters slipped noticeably in 2017. Though it rebounded a bit in
2018, it did so mainly among Republicans, with “only 36 percent of Democrats
now supporting their formation” — a phenomenon likely due to the polarizing
influence of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. The most recent polling on
charters in Los Angeles County found that 75 percent of residents favor “improving the
existing public schools” over pursuing “additional charter school options.””
School’s out - Charters were supposed to save public
education. Why are Americans turning against them?
Washington Post By Jack Schneider MAY 30, 2019
The charter school
movement is in trouble. In late December, the editorial board of the Chicago
Sun-Times observed that the charter movement in the Windy City was “in hot water and
likely to get hotter.” Among more than a dozen aspirants for mayor, “only a
handful” expressed any support for charter schools, and the last two standing
for the April 2 runoff election both said they wanted to haltcharter school expansion. In February, New York City’s elected parent
representatives — the Community and Citywide Education Councils — issued a unanimous statement in which they criticized charters for
operating “free from public oversight” and for draining “substantial” resources
from district schools. A month later, Mayor Bill de Blasio tolda parent forum that in the “not-too-distant future” his administration
would seek to curtail the marketing efforts of the city’s charters, which
currently rely on New York City Department of Education mailing lists. After a
six-day strike in January, Los Angeles teachers forced the city’s Board of
Education to seek a state moratorium on new L.A. charters, an outcome that
reverberated across California and then repeated itself in Oakland. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who previously said
he supported charters, responded by appointing a task force to investigate their financial impact on traditional
public schools. Now the state legislature is advancing bills that would cap charter school growth and limit where they can open. Meanwhile, on
the national level, Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren call the schools a problem.
Where the Presidential Candidates Went to School
Education Week By Alyson Klein and Maya Riser-Kositsky May 29, 2019
The presidential
candidates may not be talking much about education so far, but they’ve all had
personal experience with it. After all, they were students themselves at one time
or another. And the parents among them choose schools—public or private—for
their own children. So what did that experience look like? Did the candidates
go to public schools, religious schools, or private schools? Where did they
decide to send their own kids? And how much does any of it matter, when it
comes to both politics and actual policymaking? At least 16 candidates—all
Democrats—went to public school for at least part of their careers, including
Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey; Montana Gov. Steve Bullock; former Housing and
Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro; Sen. Kamala Harris of California;
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio; former Gov. John Hickenlooper of Colorado;
Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington; Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota; Mayor Wayne
Messam of Miramar, Fla.; Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts; former Rep. Beto
O’Rourke of Texas; Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont; Rep. Eric Swalwell of
California; Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts; author Marianne Williamson;
and businessman Andrew Yang. Just one—Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii—was
homeschooled for part of her career.
And at least 10
candidates have sent at least one child to public school, at one point or
another, including Bullock; Castro; de Blasio; Hickenlooper; Inslee; Klobuchar;
Messam; O’Rourke; Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo.; and former Massachusetts
governor William Weld, a Republican. (These findings come from an Education
Week Library analysis of public records and reports. We reached out to other
campaigns for missing information and noted when we didn’t hear back.)
Still, among the
children of all the current candidates and each of their schools, about half
are attending or have attended private schools.
Break Ground on PlanCon 2.0: Contact Your Senator!
PASBO Website
A year after the
PlanCon Advisory Committee issued it's final recommendations for moving forward
with a new PlanCon program, their recommendations have still not been
implemented. As a result, school districts with school construction needs have
no option for obtaining any state support for their projects, meaning that
needed projects will be deferred or property taxes will increase. Senator Pat
Browne (R-Lehigh)--co-chair of the PlanCon Advisory Committee--is reintroducing
legislation to implement the recommendation of the Committee. Those
recommendations include streamlining the PlanCon funding formula and making it
electronic, developing a small projects grant program targeted to maintenance
needs and requiring guidance on what constitutes a maintenance project for the
purposes of determining prevailing wage applicability.
Senator Browne’s Co-Sponsorship Memo: Plan Con -
Construction and Renovation of Buildings by School Entities and Establishing a
Grant Program for Maintenance Projects
Charter Reform: Pay close attention to House Bills 356
and 357. Tell your legislator charter legislation that removes local authority
and leaves out funding reform has missed the mark! Visit our website to send a
letter to your legislator:
PSBA Website May
14, 2019
Tell your legislator to vote NO on charter bills
fast-tracked for a House vote
Significant concerns, expansion without oversight
Monday the House Education Committee reported out a package of four bills addressing various charter school issues. The package is expected to be positioned on a fast track, with a vote on the House floor to occur as early as this Wednesday, May 15. Unlike attempts in previous sessions to move one omnibus charter “reform” bill, the plan now is to separate issues into a series of bills and push the package as a whole. While PSBA supports two of the bills in the package, the other two present significant concerns and are not supported by PSBA.
Please contact your legislators in the House and tell them to vote NO on the charter package.
Significant concerns, expansion without oversight
Monday the House Education Committee reported out a package of four bills addressing various charter school issues. The package is expected to be positioned on a fast track, with a vote on the House floor to occur as early as this Wednesday, May 15. Unlike attempts in previous sessions to move one omnibus charter “reform” bill, the plan now is to separate issues into a series of bills and push the package as a whole. While PSBA supports two of the bills in the package, the other two present significant concerns and are not supported by PSBA.
Please contact your legislators in the House and tell them to vote NO on the charter package.
Find your State Representative’s Contact Info Here:
Philadelphia Public School Notebook 25th Anniversary!
Please join us on June 4, 2019, at the National Museum of
American Jewish History in Philadelphia!
Teachers, families,
public education advocates – come celebrate with us on the last day of the
school year.
Every June, 400 public
school supporters gather in celebration at the end of the school year. This
festive event features awards for outstanding high school journalism, talented
local musicians, a silent auction, and the opportunity to speak with the most
influential voices in the local education community.
THE NOTEBOOK is
thrilled to celebrate our 25th Anniversary on the final day of the school year!
Our annual event will be a celebration of this exciting milestone for our
nonprofit news organization. Our amazing community has made our decades of
reporting possible, and we want to honor you this year: the parents, educators
and advocates striving together in support of equity and quality in our public
schools.
Our 25th Anniversary speakers will include:
• Stephen Flemming, English teacher and certified reading specialist at Martin Luther King High School, and an adjunct professor at Delaware County Community College
• Robin Roberts, Vocal advocate for high quality public education, public school parent and Director for Parents United for Public Education
• Dale Mezzacappa, Notebook contributing editor and veteran Philadelphia education reporter.
• Stephen Flemming, English teacher and certified reading specialist at Martin Luther King High School, and an adjunct professor at Delaware County Community College
• Robin Roberts, Vocal advocate for high quality public education, public school parent and Director for Parents United for Public Education
• Dale Mezzacappa, Notebook contributing editor and veteran Philadelphia education reporter.
PA League of Women Voters 2019 Convention Registration
Crowne Plaza in Reading June 21-23, 2019
DEADLINES
May 22, 2019 –
Deadline to get special room rates at Crowne
Plaza Hotel
Book Hotel
or call: 1 877 666 3243
May 31, 2019 –
Deadline to register as a delegate for the Convention
June 7, 2019 –
Deadline to register for the Convention
Registration: https://www.palwv.org/2019-convention-registration/
PA Schools Work Capitol Caravan Days Wed. June 5th
and Tues. June 18th
If you couldn’t
make it to Harrisburg last week, it’s not too late. We are getting down to the
wire. In a few short weeks, the budget will likely be passed. Collectively, our
voices have a larger impact to get more funding for Pennsylvania’s students.
Legislators need to hear from you!
Public Citizens for
Children and Youth (PCCY) will be at the Capitol on Wednesday, June 5th and
Tuesday, June 18th for our next PA Schools
Work caravan days. We’d love to have you join us on these
legislative visits. For more details about the caravans and to sign up, go
to: www.pccy.org/k12caravan . Please call Tomea Sippio-Smith at (O) 215-563-5848, ext. 36
or (C) 215-667-9421 or Shirlee Howe at (O) 215-563-5848, ext. 34 or (C)
215-888-8297 with any questions or specific requests for legislative
meetings.
NPE Action National
Conference - Save the Date - March 28-29, 2020 in Philadelphia, PA.
The window is now open for workshop proposals for the Network for Public
Education conference, March 28-29, 2020, in Philadelphia. I hope you all sign
on to present on a panel and certainly we want all to attend. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NBCNDKK
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.