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
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School
Funding Briefing Thursday, May 23, 2019 6:30 – 8:00 PM
Drexel
Hill Middle School, 3001 State Road, Drexel Hill, PA 19026
Blogger note: the PA House and Senate
return for session days on June 3.
Urban district leaders protest proposed charter law
changes, call for more funds
Superintendents,
who have been meeting regularly to discuss strategy, say resources are their
most critical issue and that charter amendments would weaken their oversight.
The notebook by Dale Mezzacappa May 16 — 9:26 am, 2019
HARRISBURG –
Leaders of 10 urban school districts in Pennsylvania, including Philadelphia
Superintendent William Hite, traveled to the State Capitol this week to oppose
pending charter school legislation that they say would wreck their capacity to
plan financially and weaken their ability to monitor charters’ performance. The
bills would restrict what information districts could seek from charter
applicants, would squeeze the renewal process into 90 days, and would allow
some charters to open in multiple locations without prior approval, among other
changes. As the leaders were talking, those bills sailed through the House
Education Committee on a party-line vote, with Republicans in favor and
Democrats against. The school leaders, a group that included superintendents
and school board members, stood in the Capitol Rotunda and said, as cameras
rolled, that their paramount concern was securing additional state revenue for
their districts. These laws, they said, would make it even harder to control
spending, plan responsibly, and meet the needs of all students. “We are asking
for fiscal relief,” said Joseph Roy, superintendent of the Bethlehem School
District. He was among 13 people representing 10 mostly urban and financially
struggling districts across the state – Philadelphia, Greater Johnstown,
Bethlehem, Pottstown, Allentown, Reading, Steelton-Highspire, Harrisburg,
Southeast Delco, and York. These are also the districts where the state’s
charter schools are concentrated.
My Turn: Monroe, Pike taxpayers foot the bill for online
charter schools
Pocono Record
Opinion By Susan Spicka Posted May 19, 2019 at 11:00 AM
Funny thing about
those billboards advertising “free” online education: The education isn’t free
— and neither is the billboard. Both are paid for with taxpayer dollars. Same
goes for those radio ads, TV ads, and internet ads promoting free cyber school —
all paid for with public money. In fact, over the last three school years,
Pennsylvania’s cyber charter schools spent more than $21 million combined in
taxpayer money on expensive advertising campaigns to promote their schools. Cyber
charter schools also use school tax dollars to pay for lobbying, shareholder
profits of private management companies, and generous CEO and administrative
salaries. And in the case of the high-profile fraud committed by Nick
Trombetta, founder and former CEO of PA Cyber, more than $8 million in taxpayer
money was spent on a private airplane, vacation homes, and other luxuries. This
waste, fraud, and abuse of school tax dollars happens because the state’s
funding system for cyber charter schools is broken. And this broken system has
a significant and negative impact on taxpayers and students here in Monroe
County. Each year, Monroe County school districts spend $13,932,726 or more and
Pike County school districts spend $1,512,395 or more in local taxpayer money
on student tuition bills for cyber charter schools. In order to pay these
bills, school districts must raise property taxes, cut teachers or programs, or
take money away from something else in their budgets. In other words, home and
business owners in Monroe and Pike Counties are paying more and students are
going without, because state law mandates that school districts send cyber
charter schools millions of dollars in education funding that are spent on
things not related to educating students.
“As a result, Pennsylvania’s
Commonwealth Court has recently announced the procedural schedule for this lawsuit
challenging the state’s school funding system. Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer
issued the order and will oversee the pre-trial proceedings. Before the actual
trial, the parties will conduct extensive fact discovery and produce expert
reports by Oct. 4, 2019. The parties will then have 60 days to file expert
reports and rebuttals to these reports. Motions for summary judgment are due by
Feb. 4, 2020.”
Guest Column: Education funding: William Penn families
finally get day in court
Delco Times By
Joseph Batory Times Guest Columnist May 20, 2019
Joseph Batory is the former superintendent of the Upper Darby School
District.
Pennsylvania’s
Commonwealth Court had dismissed a major lawsuit challenging the state system
of public education funding in 2015 (William Penn School District et al. v. PA
Department of Education et al). It was filed in 2014 by the Education Law
Center and the Public Interest Law Center on behalf of parents, school districts,
and statewide organizations. It alleged that the Pennsylvania’s system of
funding public education was violating Pennsylvania’s Constitution, due to
significant underfunding and gross disparities in allocations that penalize
students in low-wealth districts. However, on September 28, 2017, the
Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed the Commonwealth Court decision and
delivered a major victory to hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania students by
ordering the Commonwealth Court to hold a trial on whether state officials have
been violating the state’s constitution by failing to adequately and equitably
fund public education. The Supreme Court decision asserted that considering
this lawsuit will ensure legislative compliance with Pennsylvania’s Education
Clause, which requires the General Assembly to “provide for the maintenance and
support of a thorough and efficient system of public education” for
Pennsylvania’s schoolchildren. The court also found no basis to deny
consideration of allegations by parents and school districts that the
legislature’s current funding discriminates against children based on where
they live and the wealth of their communities.
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 immediately 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 immediately and tell them to vote NO on the charter package.
Find your State Representative’s Contact Info Here:
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 Rep. Michael Puskaric’s school districts in Washington and Allegheny Counties
had to send over $2.9 million to chronically underperforming cybers that they
never authorized. #SB34 (Schwank) or #HB526 (Sonney) could
change that.
|
Data
Source: PDE via PSBA
|
|
|
Bentworth
SD
|
$275,827.37
|
|
Bethel
Park SD
|
$571,465.60
|
|
Elizabeth
Forward SD
|
$343,876.78
|
|
Ringgold
SD
|
$1,020,865.05
|
|
South
Park SD
|
$294,224.01
|
|
West
Jefferson Hills SD
|
$472,637.67
|
|
|
$2,978,896.48
|
This morning there
are 67 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
Another failing grade for Pa.: It’s past time to reform
the Legislature | Opinion
By Carol Kuniholm Capital-Star Op-Ed
Contributor May 21,
2019
Carol
Kuniholm writes on behalf of the government reform group Fair Districts PA.
Last week U.S. News
& World Report released its third annual list of the best and worst states in America to live in, based on
“thousands of data points to measure how well states are performing for their
citizens.” Pennsylvania was ranked 41st: down from 30th in 2017 and 38th in
2018, far behind our neighboring mid-Atlantic states. For those concerned about
our economy: we’re now ranked 44th. Every indicator points back to priorities
and policy in Harrisburg. That’s no surprise. A 2015 study by the
Center for Public Integrity Project described PA’s “entrenched culture of malfeasance” and placed us 45th
in the country for systems in place to deter political corruption. Year after
year, our legislators promise solutions, introduce good legislation, then wait
for legislative leaders to take interest. Whatever the problem, the answer is
indifference or delay. A recent headline: “Pa. gets failing
grade for treatment of lead in school drinking water.” We’ve known for years now that 18 cities in PA
have worse lead levels than Flint Michigan. In the past two decades, over 25 bills have been introduced to address
this, but so far no remedies have been given so much as a vote in committee. An
op-ed last fall said “Pa. gets failing
grade for helping college students with costs.” PA falls last or near last in share of public education funding, in
school funding equity and in jobs creation, while ranking highest in the nation
for average student debt. Bills are regularly introduced in Harrisburg to
address all of these issues. None are given a hearing or a vote.
Who are Philly’s best teachers? Here are 60 who shine.
Inquirer by Kristen A.
Graham, Updated: May
21, 2019- 5:00 AM
Sixty Philadelphia
School District elementary-, middle-, and high-school teachers have won 2019
Lindback Foundation Distinguished Teaching Awards. Each receives a $3,500 prize
and will be honored Tuesday at a ceremony at the Philadelphia Film Society. These
excerpts are from nominations submitted to the foundation, which celebrates
excellence in education and has awarded teaching prizes since 2008.
Charter Appeals Board upholds decision to award charter
to Catalyst Academy in Pittsburgh's East End
ELIZABETH BEHRMAN Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette Lbehrman@post-gazette.com MAY 21, 2019
The Pennsylvania
Charter Appeals Board on Tuesday upheld an earlier decision to award a charter
to Catalyst Academy, overturning a unanimous vote by the Pittsburgh Public
Schools board last year. The appeals board on Monday voted 4-2 to award the
charter to the kindergarten-through-eighth grade charter school that plans to
serve students in Pittsburgh’s East End communities. Charter school advocates
said the board had to vote again due to a technicality, even though it voted
in favor of awarding the charter in February, that time by a vote of 3-2. At that time, district solicitor Ira
Weiss said he planned to recommend that the school board appeal the decision to
Commonwealth Court. Catalyst Academy applied for a charter in 2017, which
was denied
by the Pittsburgh school board in February 2018. Board members had expressed concerns about the
school’s proposed disciplinary policy and its ability to accommodate students
with special needs, among other things.
Penn Hills school board eyes 55 layoffs, 6.7% tax hike to
address financial woes
MATT MCKINNEY Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette mmckinney@post-gazette.com MAY 21, 2019
As Penn Hills
School District looks for ways out of its budget crisis, a state-appointed
school finance expert on Monday released a plan that would cut dozens of jobs
and hike property tax rates that already sit among the highest in Allegheny
County. The school board is considering a plan to cut as many as 55 positions
and raise property taxes by 6.7% as the financially struggling district
attempts to climb out of more than $170 million in debt. The measures are part
of a financial recovery plan and a proposed budget that the board reviewed at a
meeting Monday. The budget has a projected shortfall of of $8.1 million. The
tax increase would raise the district’s millage rate to 30.58 mills from the
current 28.66 mills. The majority of the layoffs would affect the
district’s teachers, school officials said. The faculty total for this year is 244.
According to the plan submitted to the school board, as many as 26 classroom
teachers and another nine specialists, including counselors and social workers,
would be cut through layoffs and attrition. Those layoffs would save the
district an estimated $3.3 million, officials said. The plan also recommended
cutting another 24 to 30 support staffers, who now number 93, which save the
district another $569,000.
Record number of Lancaster County parents opt their
children out of PSSAs this year
Lancaster Online by
ALEX GELI | Staff
Writer May 16,
2019
Sarah Kuzmenko, a
Manheim Township mother of two, feels like parents don’t have much of a say
when it comes to their children’s education. But when it comes to standardized
tests, she makes her voice heard. Kuzmenko has opted her two sons — now in
third and fourth grade at Bucher Elementary School — out of the Pennsylvania
System of School Assessments the last two years. In a way, she said, it’s a
protest. But she’s able to use a religious exemption — the only legal way,
besides a medical emergency, to prevent a child from taking the state’s
high-stakes exams. "They’re using one measurement to measure every student
across the state, and I believe that is wrong," Kuzmenko told LNP in a
phone interview Wednesday. “Children, they learn differently.” More parents
than ever have joined the booming opt-out movement this year. Including
Kuzmenko’s two kids, 941 Lancaster County students opted out. That’s 14% more
than last
year, when 822
students opted out — and more than 6,000% more than the 15 opt-outs in
2013. While the current numbers represent a miniscule portion of the
county’s test-eligible students, school administrators have expressed concern
over participation rates as opt-outs increase.
Debate on arming teachers falls along party lines,
setting up Tamaqua school board fight in November
Penn Live By Jan Murphy |
jmurphy@pennlive.com Posted May
21, 11:32 PM
Tamaqua was the first school district in Pennsylvania to pass a policy to
let teachers carry guns, but the school board put the idea on hold in January
pending the outcome of separate lawsuits from parents and teachers. Now parents
have learned that the suspension of the policy has been lifted.
The arming of
teachers is an issue that divides school districts across Pennsylvania and
apparently will continue to divide the school board candidates running for
election in the only district in the state with a policy where staffers
carrying firearms in school is allowed. Tamaqua Area School Board has five
seats up for election this year with just three incumbents – Larry Wittig, Dan
Schoener, and Melanie Dillman – seeking another term. On Tuesday, all three
incumbents, who support the gun policy, were among the five top vote-getters on
the Republican ballot, according to the
unofficial results on the Schuylkill County Election Bureau website.Joining them were newcomers Thomas Bartasavage and Trina Schellhammer,
who the
Morning Call in Allentown reported
also campaigned to uphold the policy. The unofficial results for the Democratic
nomination for the five seats told a different story, one that mirrored the
image of the larger gun control debate.
New faces set to join Philly City Council as Democratic
machine takes at-large races
The party’s
endorsed candidates beat out a huge field of contenders.
Billy Penn May 21,
2019
Philadelphia City
Council looks like it will get two new faces next year. The slate of five
Democratic party-endorsed candidates held a decisive lead with 96 percent of
votes tallied, according to unofficial returns. Democratic voters in Tuesday’s
municipal primary were able to cast ballots for five of 28 City Council
at-large candidates. The top five vote-getters will now go on to represent the
Dems in November’s general election, where the city’s voter registration makeup
gives them the clear edge for victory.
As of 11 p.m., the
Democratic nominees appear to be:
- Incumbent Councilwoman Helen Gym, with over
104,000 votes (15 percent)
- Incumbent Councilman Allan Domb, with over
65,000 votes (10 percent)
- Incumbent Councilman Derek Green, with over
59,000 votes, (9 percent)
- Isaiah Thomas, with over 62,000 votes, (9
percent)
- Katherine Gilmore Richardson, with over 44,000
votes, (7 percent)
Helen Gym - At-large Councilwoman Helen Gym is sailing toward her second term with 15
percent of the vote citywide — a much larger number of votes than any of her
Democratic rivals in the race. Gym spearheaded the city’s Fair Workweek
legislation in her
first term, and earned clout as a champion for progressive social justice
reforms. Before her political career got started, she was an activist who
focused primarily on improving the
city’s stock of public schools. In her bid for reelection, Gym earned support from Mayor Kenney, the
Democratic City Committee, and unions like AFL-CIO, AFSCME and the Local 98 electricians union, whose leaders are under federal indictment.
She’s said in her second term she’ll work to end the tax
abatement and get more funding for public schools.
Activist Harbin edges another newcomer to win race for
seat on Pittsburgh school board
Two other
first-time candidates claim victories
ELIZABETH BEHRMAN Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette Lbehrman@post-gazette.com MAY 21, 2019
The three contested
races for Pittsburgh school board were likely decided by Tuesday’s primary,
making November’s general election largely a formality barring any upsets from
independent or write-in candidates. Based on unofficial results Tuesday
night, community activist Pam Harbin edged out public policy analyst Anna
Batista in the race for the District 4 seat. Both candidates cross-filed as
Republican and Democrat, and Ms. Harbin led on both ballots.
Ninth grade academies are helping Philly students stay on
track
Fewer than
20 percent of freshman who fall behind make up ground and earn diplomas.
The notebook by Connie Langland May 17 — 1:27 pm, 2019
David Jones, Amanda
Strickland, Christine Wu and Kayla Milton – all 11th graders at South
Philadelphia High School – have ambitious plans for after graduation. Jones,
17, will opt for culinary school – he’s a whiz at pastry. Strickland and Wu,
both 17, want careers in the health field, Strickland as a nurse, Wu as a
surgeon. Even in high school, Milton, 18, is gaining experience in the graphic
arts field. Similar optimism is apparent at Sayre High School in West
Philadelphia. There, 11th graders Unique Stephens, 16, and Michael Taylor, 18,
both plan to attend college. Stephens plans to study civil engineering, while
Taylor wants to be a lawyer. All these students – and scores of their peers –
are among the first cohort of young people to benefit from having started their
high school journey in their school’s ninth-grade academy, an ambitious and
promising District program now established in all 21 neighborhood high schools.
Education researchers describe the transition into ninth grade as the riskiest
of years for students in urban districts, with as many as 40 percent of
students failing to get promoted from ninth to tenth grade on time. That
setback puts those young people in grave jeopardy for dropping out. Fewer than
20 percent of students who fall behind make up ground and earn diplomas,
according to MDRC, a national education research group.
Charter Schools Are Quietly Gobbling Up My Public School
District
Gadfly on the Wall
Blog by Steven M. Singer May 20, 2019 stevenmsinger
I work in a little
suburban school district just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that is
slowly being destroyed by privatization. Steel Valley Schools have a proud history. We’re located (in part) in Homestead –
the home of the
historic steel strike of 1892. But today it isn’t private security agents and industrial business
magnates against whom we’re struggling. It’s charter schools,
voucher schools and the pro-corporate policies that enable them to pocket tax dollars meant to educate kids and then
blame us for the shortfall. Our middle school-high school complex is located at
the top of a hill. At the bottom of the hill in our most impoverished
neighborhood sits one of the Propel network of charter schools. Our district is
so poor we can’t even afford to bus our kids to school. So Propel tempts kids
who don’t feel like making the long walk to our door.
Institutions like
Propel are publicly funded but
privately operated. That means
they take our tax dollars but don’t have to be as accountable, transparent or
sensible in how they spend them.
This school district outsourced many of its high school
courses to an online program. But it’s not clear students are learning.
Chalkbeat BY MATT BARNUM - 1 DAY AGO - UPDATED 8 HOURS AGO
A Milwaukee high
school student walks into his class on “Romeo and Juliet.” But there’s no
teacher walking students through Shakespeare’s turns of phrase and no peers to
discuss them with. Instead, “The student toggled between his phone and the
lesson on the screen, texting while the lecture played and talking to a student
nearby,” researchers who observed the course recorded. “The instructor came by
and told him to take notes, but he did not follow through.” Welcome to the world
of online coursetaking, where regular public high schools farm out some
instruction to computer programs, often in an effort to help students rapidly
earn course credits. In Milwaukee, one in five credits earned in middle and
high school in the 2016-17 school year came through an online class. New
research finds the approach does help students graduate — but raises big
questions about
whether it actually helps them learn. Researchers who spent years watching
students take online courses in 18 Milwaukee high schools found teachers struggling
to monitor large groups of students, classes that effectively segregated
students with behavioral problems, and students habitually searching the
Internet for answers. Taking the classes also appeared to actually hurt
students’ year-end math and reading scores.
Here are 7 'Schools of Opportunity’ that 'show us a way
forward’
Washington Post Answer Sheet By Valerie Strauss Reporter May 20
Five years ago I
began spotlighting the winners of an annual project called “Schools of Opportunity,” which recognizes high schools that work to close opportunity gaps by
creating learning environments that reach every student. Here are the seven
winners in the 2018-19 cycle. The Schools of Opportunity project started in
2014 as a pilot in New York and Colorado, and went national in 2015-16. Several
dozen schools have been honored in the program, which assesses a range of
factors (see graphic above), including how well the adults in a school building
provide health and psychological support for students as well as judicious and
fair discipline policies, and broad and enriched curriculum. Schools submit applications explaining why they should be recognized. Next year’s application
cycle is already open, and if you know a potential School of Opportunity,
please visit http://schoolsofopportunity.org/ to learn more. In the following piece, Kevin Welner, one of the
founders of Schools of Opportunity, explains what it’s all about and briefly
describes the schools that won the latest cycle. In the coming weeks I will
publish pieces on each separate school.
Bernie Sanders’s Education
Plan Laments Rise of Charter Schools
The New York Times By Sandra E. Garcia May 18, 2019
Senator Bernie
Sanders took aim at charter schools on Saturday, calling for a moratorium on
federal funding for the schools in a declaration of his education policy
priorities ahead of the 2020 election. In a 10-point
plan, Mr.
Sanders, one of nearly two dozen candidates for the Democratic presidential
nomination, said that, if elected, he would “desegregate schools” in part by
forbidding federal spending on new charter schools as well as by banning
for-profit charter schools — which account for a small proportion of existing
charters. “The proliferation of charter schools has disproportionately affected
communities of color,” Mr. Sanders wrote, adding, “We do not need two schools
systems; we need to invest in our public schools system.” Mr. Sanders of
Vermont would also require that charter schools be subject to the same
oversight as public schools, and that teachers and parents account for at least
half the representation on all charter school boards. Additionally, his plan
would demand that charter schools disclose student attrition rates, nonpublic
sources of funding and financial interests.
Feds: DeVos used personal emails for work in ‘limited’
cases
Inquirer by Collin
Binkley, AP Education Writer, Updated: May 20, 2019- 1:16 PM
An internal
Education Department watchdog says Secretary Betsy DeVos has sometimes used
personal email accounts for government business and did not always save the
messages properly. The agency's Office of Inspector General released a report
Monday finding "limited" instances in which DeVos sent work emails
from four personal accounts. Investigators say they found fewer than 100 emails
to or from DeVos' personal accounts on the department's email system, and found
no evidence of "active or extensive" use of her personal accounts. But they found that
the emails, which should have been forwarded to her government account,
"were not always being properly preserved." The report says many of
the emails were from people congratulating DeVos on her 2017 confirmation or
offering staffing recommendations.
House Democrats
requested the review in October 2017.
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.
Drexel Hill
Middle School, 3001 State Road, Drexel Hill, PA 19026
In 2019, the Public
Interest Law Center is celebrating 50 years of fighting for justice, and
preparing for 50 more, through a series of 50th anniversary events.
As part of this
series, the Upper Darby School Board is pleased to host the Public Interest Law
Center at Drexel Hill Middle School on Thursday, May 23rd, for a School Funding
Briefing.
Pennsylvania has
the largest funding gap in the country between low-wealth and high-wealth
school districts. Pennsylvania is also ranked 46th in the share of funding that
comes from the state, leaving local taxpayers to take on rising costs. How did
we get here? At the briefing, you will learn the basics of education funding
and how it works in Pennsylvania, as well as ways you can get involved in
advocacy for fully funded public education. You will also learn about the
latest developments in the Law Center's school
funding lawsuit.
Afterward, you will
have a chance to meet Law Center attorneys working on this landmark case, as
well as mingle with other interested in Pennsylvania education.
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 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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