Thursday, May 23, 2019

PA Ed Policy Roundup May 23: 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.


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




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.

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?

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. 

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 (.PDFon 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:


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


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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