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
In 2016-17, taxpayers in House Ed Committee member .@RepPattyKim’s
school districts in Dauphin County had to send over $9.6 million to chronically
underperforming cybers that they never authorized. #SB34 (Schwank) or #HB526
(Sonney) could change that.
School
Funding Briefing Thursday, May 23, 2019 6:30 – 8:00 PM
Drexel
Hill Middle School, 3001 State Road, Drexel Hill, PA 19026
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
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 .@RepPattyKim’s school districts in Dauphin County had to send over $9.6
million to chronically underperforming cybers that they never authorized. #SB34
(Schwank) or #HB526 (Sonney) could change that.
|
Data
Source: PDE via PSBA
|
|
|
Central
Dauphin SD
|
$4,538,413.84
|
|
Harrisburg
City SD
|
$5,145,276.66
|
|
|
$9,683,690.50
|
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
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:
Parkland survivor David Hogg tells young Pittsburgh
activists: Unite the fight against gun violence
DAN GIGLER AND
ANDREA KLICK Pittsburgh Post-Gazette MAY 23, 2019 6:20 AM
The lanky
19-year-old with a mop of hair and a baby face sat in a small chair in a
cramped conference room, wearing an orange hoodie, wind pants, and black Nikes.
He wouldn’t look one bit out of place tossing a Frisbee 10 blocks away on
Schenley Plaza, and by any reasonable estimation, that’s the kind of place he should be.
Instead, a year, three months and eight days after 14 of his classmates and
three of his teachers were gunned down and his life was irrevocably changed,
David Hogg on Wednesday was on the second floor of a building on Melwood Avenue
in Oakland, talking with other people his age about activism and spreading a
simple message – unite against gun violence. “I’m not going to stop until I
stop breathing,” he said. “Even if we don’t cross the finish line in this
generation ... what I define as winning is giving people the chance to
cross that finish line in the future, for kids that aren’t even here yet.”
Innovative Arts Academy Charter School makes argument to
stay open while Catasauqua blasts school’s poor academic scores
By SARAH M. WOJCIK | THE MORNING CALL | MAY 22, 2019 | 9:50 PM
Catasauqua
administrators painted the Innovative Arts Academy Charter School as a school
that’s habitually failing students academically. Charter school administrators
sought to portray the school as one where students in need of extra attention
found solace and purpose while staff contended with a demographic of
economically disadvantaged students with unexpected challenges. It will be the
Catasauqua Area School Board who must decide whether the embattled school,
which serves grades 6-12 with a career-based curriculum, will stay open with a
renewed charter or will close its doors. The board has 30 days to issue their
decision. The charter school can appeal the decision to the state if they
disagree. Student Mariah Simpson, a junior, provided an emotional appeal to the
board to renew the charter. “I’ve grown so much since it first opened. I never
used to talk to anyone,” Simpson said, her voice wavering. “All the teachers
they care about... they care about the students. They’re just like a family
here.” On Tuesday, the Catasauqua Area School District outlined their concerns
about the charter school, focusing on the lack of academic achievement at the
school. Superintendent Robert Spengler later emphasized the school’s problems
were made under “prior leadership.”
Tamaqua area votes split along party lines over arming
teachers, primary results show
By MICHELLE MERLIN | THE MORNING CALL | MAY 22, 2019 | 4:36 PM
Tamaqua Area School
District residents will have to wait until November to find out whether their
school board supports a policy of arming teachers with guns to thwart a school
shooter. Primary voters on Tuesday selected five candidates on each major
ballot. Candidates who oppose the policy did best of the Democratic ballot. And
those who support the policy did best on the Republican ballot. But
cross-filing, which allows a candidate to appear on both ballots, showed that
not all Democratic voters oppose the measure, nor do all Republican voters
support it. Those 10 winning candidates will square off Nov. 5 over five board
seats. “We’ll just have a rerun of [Tuesday’s] election," said Larry
Wittig, one of the winning Republican candidates. “The issues will be the
same.”
Hermitage school budget holds line
The Herald By DAVID
L. DYE Herald Staff Writer May 23, 2019
HERMITAGE — The
Hermitage School Board unanimously approved a preliminary 2019-20 budget that
holds property taxes steady. The preliminary budget calls for total
spending of $33,183,375. The real estate tax rate would remain
at 63.907 mills, so the tax bill for a property with an assessed value at the
city’s average of $24,450, the tax bill would remain at $1,562.63. The 1
percent earned income tax would not change, either. The preliminary spending
plan’s overall cost is a 1.8 percent increase over the
2018-19 budget’s overall expenditures of about $32.6 million. That
includes an increased contribution to the state’s Pennsylvania School
Employee Retirement System, or PSERS, to 34.29 percent from 33.43
percent of employee wages. To keep the pension system solvent, the state has
required a dramatic, seven-fold increase in public school districts’
contributions, up from 4.78 percent in 2009-10. But the rate of increase is
leveling off, Hermitage Superintendent Dr. Dan Bell said. He said
projections through 2026 show the PSERS contribution increasing to 39 percent
of salaries. “The increases to get to this point were very difficult, but it
seems that all the big increases for the PSERS are behind us,” Bell said.
Voters have spoken, but nine months of chaos threatens
unless the state takes over Harrisburg SD | PennLive Editorial
By PennLive Editorial Board Posted May 22, 5:14 PM
The low turnout was
disappointing, considering what was at stake in Harrisburg, but the voters who
headed to the polls Tuesday got the job done. They ushered in a new era for the
Harrisburg School District Their message was clear – serious change is needed
in the city’s schools. Voters concluded the incumbents on the ballot had failed
in their most basic duty – to be accountable to the people and transparent in
carrying out their duties. Uptown resident Kim Hughes put it well: “The board
is dysfunctional. You watch a board meeting, and it’s out of control.” It
wasn’t just the chaotic board meetings. It was the backroom dealings, the poor
financial oversight, the mismanagement of faculty and staff and the poor
academic achievement of most of the district’s students.
Study shows controversial soda tax works
Citizens’ Voice by THE
EDITORIAL BOARD / PUBLISHED: MAY 23, 2019
A new study affirms
public benefits from a controversial “soda tax” that Philadelphia implemented
in January 2017. The levy, which is equivalent to about $1 on a 2-liter bottle
of soda, contributed to a 38 percent decline in soft drink sales in
Philadelphia in 2017, compared to the preceding year, according to research
published in the recent Journal of the American Medical Association. The study
was funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, a group that supports anti-obesity
efforts, and affirms previous findings that beverage taxes reduce consumption.
Soda tax supporters say it helps deter people from indulging in sugary drinks,
an effective tool in the battle against obesity, diabetes and other
diet-related health afflictions. Obesity rates have doubled nationally over the
last 40 years and the number of people with diabetes has quadrupled. The
beverage industry, which has fought the tax vigorously and continues to argue
that the levy hurts working families and small businesses, has drawn intense
condemnation for minimizing the connection between sugary drinks and obesity.
The state Supreme Court in July 2018 rejected a beverage industry challenge to
Philadelphia’s tax. As an added benefit, the tax has generated some $130
million so far to help Philadelphia pay for free preschool programs and other
community services.
Sue Legg: Twenty years later, Bush plan fails Florida’s
students
Gainesville Sun By
Sue Legg / Special to The Sun Posted
May 22, 2019 at 2:00 AM Updated May 22, 2019 at 8:58 AM
Sue Legg is a
retired University of Florida faculty member. She serves on the Network for
Public Education Action board. The complete report is on the Network for Public
Education Action website, http://bit.ly/twentyyearslater.
Did the A+ Plan
produce a miracle in Florida’s schools? A 20-year perspective on the impact of
a test-driven curriculum, school grades and school choice provides some
answers. When Jeb Bush was elected governor in 1998, schools were huge, and
only four states had larger class sizes. Charter and private schools were
championed as an inexpensive fix to improve education. Florida’s citizens
countered in 1998 by approving Amendment VIII to the Florida Constitution to
ensure that all students would have equal access to a “uniform, efficient,
safe, secure, and high-quality system of free public schools.” The intent was
clear — no public money to private schools. The 2007 recession put Florida’s
schools on the verge of a fiscal and social crisis. Citizens for Strong Schools
filed a lawsuit in 2009 to protest growing inequities in school funding. In January the
Supreme Court, in a contentious 4-3 split decision, rejected the plaintiff’s
claims. The minority opinion stated that the decision “eviscerates the 1998
opinion ... only time will truly reveal the depth of the injury inflicted upon
Florida’s children.” The injury comes in many forms. Florida touts improved
academic achievement that is not supported by research. Fourth grade reading
scores did jump in 2004 when Florida was the first state to retain
low-performing third graders. Unfortunately, the gains were lost by eighth grade.
A recent National Bureau of Economic Research study reported that eighth
graders were at the national average in 2002 and are now. In 2012, PolitiFact
confirmed that one half of Florida’s high school graduates do not read at grade
level. The National Assessment for Educational Progress reported Florida’s
graduation rate was above only 14 states in 2016. There was no Florida miracle.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.