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
House votes down school code - HB1615 by
a vote of 77 yes to 121 no votes; will reconvene today.
Pa. budget deal still
in limbo amid last-minute brinksmanship
Delco Times By MARC
LEVY and MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press June 28, 2019
HARRISBURG, Pa.
(AP) — Republicans who control the Pennsylvania Legislature inserted some pet
policy objectives into hundreds of pages of just-unveiled budget legislation
with the annual fiscal-year deadline days away, forcing Democratic Gov. Tom
Wolf to make hard choices at the 11th-hour. Amid the deadline brinksmanship,
measures approved by lawmakers Thursday included a $34 billion budget package
and changes to laws that govern elections, public schools and human services. A
key budget-related bill that guides education policy hit opposition Thursday
night in the House of Representatives, and remained in limbo. The 2019-20
fiscal year begins Monday. Wolf's office said the governor would not take
action on bills before Friday, and Wolf has not said how he'll handle bills
that include provisions hotly opposed by his Democratic allies in the
Legislature. One GOP-backed provision in a bill on Wolf's desk is making the
governor decide between eliminating a decades-old cash assistance program for
the poor and continuing state subsidies for Philadelphia hospitals. Not one
single Democratic lawmaker voted for it, and a fight in the Senate over the bill on Wednesday devolved into shouting,
name-calling and bare-knuckled procedural tactics. Another three-paragraph
provision inserted Wednesday night into a sprawling, 69-page budget-related
bill would stall any move by Philadelphia to ban plastic bags or impose a fee
on reusable bags that many stores provide. Wolf in 2017 vetoed a bill that
sought to prevent counties and municipalities from taxing or banning plastic
bags.
“But an interesting alchemy had emerged.
A number of the Republicans' most conservative members voted against the
bill--in large part because of a separate provision that would lower the
compulsory age of school attendance from eight to six and increase the age a
student can leave school from 17 to 18. Mark Gillen, a Republican from Berks
County, said on the chamber floor that the late addition of that provision had
blindsided him and other like-minded members. "I'm concerned from the
perspective of religious freedom," he said, "I think it's perfectly
consistent to embrace religious freedom and educational freedom and freedom of
choice in the commonwealth and then meet our constitutional responsibility to
public education."
Inches from finish line, House budget talks falter over
education
WITF Written
by Katie Meyer,
Capitol Bureau Chief | Jun
28, 2019 5:08 AM
(Harrisburg) - House lawmakers were one bill
away from sending Governor Tom Wolf a complete budget package Thursday night
when negotiations abruptly broke down. The issue? Two components of the measure that would have, among other things, authorized $6.7 billion in
basic education funding. Before the Senate approved it, they adjusted some
provisions related to career and technical education, or CTE. They had been
part of a bill package that unanimously passed the House in March. House
Democrats said they only realized late Thursday that the Senate had omitted the
initiatives their caucus favored--among them, an online career
resource center, a
requirement to inventory workforce
development programs, advisory committees for CTE programs, and a grant program designed to encourage apprenticeships. "We wanted to send a
message," House Minority Leader Frank Dermody said of the bill's
crash-and-burn. "Look, you made a commitment. We heard that in the House.
It should have been done." Dermody
and the rest of the Democrats registered their unhappiness in a committee
meeting ahead of the final vote. At first, they agreed to put their concerns
aside and moved the bill through unanimously.
PA budget passed,
school spending plan up in the air
Johnstown Tribune Democrat
By John Finnerty jfinnerty@cnhi.com June 28, 2019
HARRISBURG – The
state Senate sent Gov. Tom Wolf a $34 billion state budget Thursday night, but
lawmakers in the state House will return to the Capitol on Friday to take up a
budget measure dealing with school law. In a late Thursday vote, the House
refused to concur on changes made by the state Senate. Democrats balked at
supporting the measure, and a smaller group of Republicans refused to back it
over changes to the state’s required school age. The measure would have
required students to enroll at age 6 and remain in school until 18. Current law
uses 8 and 17 as the upper and lower age requirements. Speaker Mike Turzai,
R-Allegheny, had urged the members to back the school plan despite the concerns
about the changes made by the Senate. But by a 121-77, House members refused to
agree to the school law plan. Lawmakers were huddling behind closed doors late
Thursday after the session. Wolf put off signing the overall budget bill
Thursday night in light of the House vote, J.J. Abbott, a spokesman for Wolf
said. The state House approved the overall spending plan earlier this week. The
plan would increase basic education funding for schools by $160 million and
increases funding for special education by $50 million. The plan also would
allow for another $25 million in tax credits for donors who give to scholarship
programs that cover tuition for private schools. Wolf vetoed a bill that would
have boosted that tax credit program by $100 million. The budget would provide
schools with another $60 million to boost security in the wake of ongoing
concerns over safety in light of shooting incidents across the country. But in
debate before rejecting the school bill, lawmakers raised concerns about a move
to change the ages of compulsory attendance, as well as the career and
technical education changes.
With deadline
looming, the Pa. Budget stalls in the state House over education
PA Capital Star By Stephen Caruso June 28, 2019
Some last minute
additions — and surprising missing pieces — derailed final approval of the
state budget late Thursday night. The House balked at passing one final part of
the budget in a 77-121 vote on the school code — an omnibus bill of
that directs how
the state’s $6.7 billion education budget will be spent. All but one Democrat
voted with 31 Republicans to vote the legislation down. It was a surprise end
to what seemed a triumphant march to an early signing of the state’s $34 billion budget, which ran into limited hiccups — amid some fiery debate — over the past week. The coalition seemed out of place considered the provisions in the
school code bill. From a safe harbor rule to encourage underage college
students out drinking to report sexual violence to a $25 million expansion of
the Educational Improvement Tax Credit, there seemed to be something to keep
everybody happy. But the plan started to fall apart around 7:30 p.m.. Among
House Republicans, at issue was a proposal to expand the compulsory school age
from the current range of age eight to 17 to age six to 18. More socially
conservative Republicans saw the proposal as taking away the rights of parents
to decide what’s best for their kids. Pennsylvania is one of 14 states that has a compulsory attendance age above 6 year old, and is tied
with Washington for the oldest.
Pa. Senate sends $34 billion budget bill to Gov. Tom Wolf
but last-minute glitch delays signing
Penn Live By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com Updated Jun 27, 10:57 PM; Posted Jun 27,
3:59 PM
A $34
billion state budget bill is
before Gov. Tom Wolf but some unexpected drama in the Capitol kept him from
signing the spending plan Thursday night. The state Senate Thursday approved a
budget bill that provides hundreds of millions more for schools, makes another
investment in school security, provides help
to the state’s sputtering agricultural industry, and all without a tax increase. The Senate voted 42-8 to approve the
spending bill; the House passed it by a 140-62 vote on Tuesday. The spending package does not include an increase
in the state’s minimum wage, a key goal for Democrats. Wolf has indicated he
would sign the spending plan legislation once he received the entire package of
budget-related bills. Assuming Wolf does it before Monday, it would mean for
the second consecutive year – and the second time since he first moved into the
governor’s office – that Pennsylvania has had a budget done on time. He was
prepared to hold a public signing ceremony on Thursday evening once the House
passed a bill that directs school funding to pay for the budget. However, an
eleventh-hour hiccup arose in the House’s consideration of that bill that
delayed the governor’s ceremony. The Senate changed parts of the school code
bill that drew objections from both House Republicans and Democrats. House GOP
members disliked the inclusion of a change in the compulsory school age from 6
to 18 years old or upon graduation from the current 8 to 17 years of age. House
Democrats objected to the omission of some career and technical education
programs that they wanted and felt they had the House Republicans’ word would
be included.
Winners and losers in
Pa.’s $34 billion state budget package
The General
Assembly sent the main funding bill to the governor Thursday. But a key
education bill failed to pass.
PA Post by Ed Mahon
and Katie Meyer JUNE 27, 2019 | 9:03 PM
Three days ahead of
their June 30 deadline, state lawmakers failed to finalize a roughly $34
billion budget package. Wolf’s office said the main spending plan, which
includes no tax increases, meets his objectives. But some lawmakers in Wolf’s
own party have criticized the plan, and the governor himself strongly opposes
parts of related funding bills — in particular, a measure that repeals a small
cash assistance program for the poor. Then at around 9:20 p.m. Thursday,
the House failed to pass an education bill — throwing a wrench into the entire
process. A spokesperson for the governor said Wolf won’t be signing any budget
bills Thursday evening. The House plans to return to session on Friday
morning. Below is a look at who stands to win and lose from the budget package,
if it gets back on track.
“But before the school board could vote
on the sale, Board President Joyce Wilkerson pulled the proposal from the
agenda.
She said new language embedded in a state bill could be problematic, and that the board wanted more time
to review the bill before voting on Belmont’s fate.
“Today we learned that the state is
considering House Bill 1615 which would codify a designation where Belmont
Charter School could be exempt from all state and local oversight,” Wilkerson
said. “For this reason, I have withdrawn the sale of the Belmont facility
until we understand the outcome of this legislation”
House Bill 1615, an omnibus bill that
would make several changes to the state’s school code, now contains a section entitled “Innovation Schools Program.”
That section allows for the creation of
Innovation Schools, using specific language that appears to single out Belmont
Charter School. To be eligible for this designation, a school would have to
serve a certain percentage of low-income students, be located in a federal
Promise Zone, and “partnered with behavioral health specialists” — all of
which apply to Belmont Charter School.
June 27 — 9:08 pm, 2019”
Penn Alexander 2.0? Two Philly schools to move into
building owned by Drexel
Plan to sell
Belmont Charter to its management organization is postponed due to concerns
about a new state law.
WHYY NEWS Avi Wolfman-Arent and Makoto Manheim June 27, 2019 9:08 pm
Two West
Philadelphia public schools are officially on the move, with plans to relocate
in a building owned by Drexel University. Powel Elementary, a K-4 neighborhood
school, and Science Leadership Academy Middle School (SLAMS), a 5-8 school
focused on project-based learning, will open the 2020-21 school year in a new
facility located at 36th and Filbert Streets in Powelton Village. The School
District will pay $7 million of the projected $38
million construction cost, and then
pay Drexel a nominal rent of $12 a year after that. The agreement will last 35
years, according to a resolution approved Thursday night by the School District of Philadelphia’s
Board of Education. The unusual arrangement comes with an unusual, and
circular, back story. This prime parcel of real estate once housed University
City High School, which the district closed in 2013. The district then sold the
property to Drexel, which will now build a school used by two district schools.
The arrangement is reminiscent of the partnership the School District of
Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania forged in 2001, when Penn
agreed to provide guidance and extra money for students at the newly created
Sadie Alexander School, just beyond its campus.
Philly’s proposed plastic bag ban could get derailed
after last-minute budget move by GOP lawmakers
Inquirer by Sean Walsh, Updated: June 27, 2019- 6:42 PM
Republican
legislators in Harrisburg on Thursday added a last-minute amendment to the
state budget package that could delay and potentially derail a
proposal to ban Philadelphia stores from using plastic bags, a maneuver one City Council member called an
unfair power grab. The provision would prohibit the state and local governments
from passing new regulations on plastic bags for one year, while directing two
state offices to study the economic and environmental impact of regulating
plastic bags. Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman (R., Centre) said he pushed
for the provision because his district includes players on both sides of the
issue: a plastics manufacturer, Milesburg-based Hilex Poly, and Ferguson
Township, which is considering a fee on plastic bags. “In my own district, I
have a municipality that’s looking at an impact fee, and also I have a
manufacturer that makes plastic bags. So you hear from both sides," Corman
said. “So we thought the best thing to do to help everyone move forward was to
study it.” But by adding it as an amendment to the fiscal code, which must be
approved for the state to enact its spending plan for next year, its backers
essentially ensured its passage. Gov. Tom Wolf cannot veto the plastics
language without rejecting the entire code, which would derail a $34 billion
budget deal the Democrat spent weeks negotiating with the Republican-controlled
legislature.
Armed teachers in
Pa.’s schools? Groups on both sides of the gun debate say Senate bill would
allow it
PA Capital Star By Elizabeth Hardison June 27, 2019
Shira Goodman and
Kim Stolfer may not agree on much, but they recently found common ground on a
school safety bill now before the state Senate. Goodman, leader of the gun
control group CeaseFire PA, and Stolfer, president of the pro-gun Firearms
Owners Against Crime, both say that a bill sponsored by Sen. Mike Regan, R-York, would grant schools more
discretion in arming trained employees. That could mean deputizing teachers to
carry firearms. “Could a teacher be able to carry a firearm if they met
qualifications [under the bill]? We believe if a school board wanted that, the
bill would enable it,” Stolfer said. That’s welcome news to Stolfer, who thinks
Pennsylvania should arm its teachers to prevent deadly mass shootings. Goodman,
on the other hand, argues that the proliferation of guns in schools will only
endanger students. And she’s troubled that two groups with opposite
philosophies on gun safety share the same interpretation of Regan’s bill.
Keeping ‘the lights
on’: Pennsylvania’s libraries poised to get first state funding boost in a
decade
PA Capital Star By Elizabeth Hardison June 28, 2019
A bipartisan effort
among Pennsylvania lawmakers to bolster career readiness and workforce skills
could be a boon to public libraries, which are due to get their first state
funding increase in nearly a decade. The 2019-20 spending plan that Gov. Tom Wolf is expected to sign this week includes a $59
million allocation for Pennsylvania’s public library subsidy — a 9 percent bump
from the current fiscal year that ends July 1, and the fund’s first increase
since 2010. Advocates say it’s a crucial victory for public libraries, which
provide thousands of Pennsylvanians with internet access to search for jobs or
enroll in government services. “[State funding] is a significant portion
of our operating income,” Karen Cullings, interim executive director of the
Dauphin County Library System, said. “It really keeps the doors open and the
lights on in a lot of ways.” Libraries across the state are still reeling from
deep cuts sustained in 2003, when the General Assembly slashed the library
subsidy. Many libraries reduced their hours or programs to trim costs.
Harrisburg School District receiver cleans house, ousts
superintendent, solicitor, a dozen more jobs
By Christine Vendel | cvendel@pennlive.com Updated 6:38 AM; Posted Jun 27, 7:30 PM
The newly-appointed
receiver of the Harrisburg School District cleaned house on Thursday,
eliminating the positions of more than a dozen employees, including the entire
business office and Human Resources Department on the same day the
superintendent departed. The receiver confirmed Superintendent Sybil
Knight-Burney’s position was eliminated and that Knight-Burney had been
collecting paychecks over the past year when she didn’t have a written
contract. Pennsylvania state law requires all working superintendents to have
written contracts. Also terminated was recently hired Solicitor James Ellison,
the interim Business Manager Bilal Hasan and acting Human Resources Director
Lance Freeman. The eliminations become effective at the end of the month. Ellison
did not attend the meeting, but Hasan and Freeman were in attendance.
Receiver Janet Samuels
made the announcement at a special school board meeting Thursday night, just
hours after Knight-Burney
sent an email to some staff members saying her time as district leader had “come to an end.”
“The district wanted the board to
approve a $342 million budget with a 3.5% tax hike. By raising taxes that much,
a taxpayer with a home valued at $110,000 would pay an extra $76 annually in
property taxes. That budget also included an assumption that the charter
schools would agree to a reduction in tuition payments that would erase the
remaining $6 million deficit. The district has not yet asked charters to take a
reduction, and Parker said they can say no.”
After several votes,
Allentown School Board finally passes budget with 1.75% tax hike and plea for
charter schools to take tuition reduction
By JACQUELINE PALOCHKO | THE MORNING CALL | JUN 28, 2019 | 1:00 AM
It took hours of
contentious discussions, a plea to charter schools to help and a compromise
among some school directors after several votes, but in the end, the Allentown
School District finally passed a 2019-20 budget before its June 30 deadline. In
a more than five-hour meeting Thursday night, the Allentown School Board
approved a 2019-20 budget that calls for a 1.75% tax hike, and a request that
the 24 charter and cyber charter schools Allentown students attend take a 10%
reduction in tuition costs to help Allentown pass its budget. After multiple
budget proposals being shot down by the board, directors eventually voted 5-3
to pass a budget. Directors Lisa Conover, Phoebe Harris and Cheryl Johnson
Watts voted against it. Board Vice President Elizabeth Martinez was absent,
meaning the board had only eight members and kept ending in a tie vote.
SE Delco raises
taxes, holds off on staff cuts in budget
Delco Times By Kevin Tustin
ktustin@21st-centurymedia.com June 28, 2019
FOLCROFT — The
2019-20 budget for the Southeast Delco School District was looking grim since
introduced in late May with a slew of staff and program cuts on the chopping
block to make up for a $2 million shortfall — this after a projected 3.4
percent tax increase. What was ultimately approved by a 7-1 vote of the school
board Thursday night was a $85.6 million budget that includes a 3 percent tax
increase that will bring the millage rate to 44.3467. The use of $1.9 million
in fund balance was included in the budget to potentially offset the cuts that
were being eyed to makeup for the shortfall. An additional $200,000 is
anticipated from the state budget passed by the state House of Representatives
earlier this week to fill in whatever shortfall may still remain. Board member
Sheree Monroe cast the sole "no" vote. Tammi Forbes was not present. However,
as Schools Superintendent Stephen Butz mentioned, if substantial state revenues
don’t come in – a definitive figure will be seen when Gov. Tom Wolf signs the
budget into law by the end of the week - the fund balance will be depleted at
the end of the year and the district will have to look in July and August at what
positions it will cut.
No room to grow: Crowded suburban Philly schools struggle
to secure new land to build
WHYY By Robby Brod June 28, 2019
Thousands of people
move to suburban Philadelphia every year, which means thousands of new students
enrolled in public school systems. However, many of these school districts are
already crowded, facing budget deficits, and in desperate need of more space to
build new schools. And in heavily developed areas, finding space to build new
classrooms has become a bigger challenge than paying for it. The Upper Darby
School District in Delaware County says 108 middle school
classes have more than 30 students in them, and many of them attend class in basements or trailers. Last year, a
study by Research for Action, a Philadelphia-based educational research
organization said the district is underfunded by 22%, and also noted that members of the community felt the school was even
worse off than that. At the district’s Drexel Hill Middle School, students have
been attending class for the past 15 years in trailers that were initially
designed to be used for just five years.
Joe Biden, Kamala Harris Clash Over Busing, Segregated
Schools in Democratic Debate
Education Week
Politics K12 Blog By Andrew Ujifusa on June 27, 2019 11:53 PM
An intense dispute
between former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris about
segregation in education and how Washington should address it highlighted the
second night of the first debate among Democratic candidates for president. In
the second hour of Thursday's 10-candidate debate, the California senator
challenged Biden for what she called his opposition in the 1970s to busing as a
strategy to help desegregated schools, a charge Biden rejected. The subsequent
exchange underscored how racial segregation in education, as well as Biden's
ongoing defense of his relationship with segregationists in Congress decades
ago, could prove to be a potent issue in the Democratic Party primary. The
Democratic candidates also stressed their support for the Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals program, a 2012 executive order signed by President Barack
Obama that provides legal protections for nearly 700,000 undocumented
immigrants, including thousands of public school students and teachers. Otherwise,
they mostly brushed lightly over K-12 policy topics. Biden did emphasize his
support for additional school aid. And a few candidates also used gun violence
at schools to push for additional restrictions on firearms.
The deadline to
submit a cover letter, resume and application is August 19,
2019.
Become a 2019-2020 PSBA Advocacy Ambassador
PSBA is seeking
applications for two open Advocacy Ambassador positions. Candidates
should have experience in day-to-day functions of a school district,
on the school board, or in a school leadership position. The purpose of the
PSBA Advocacy Ambassador program is to facilitate the education and engagement
of local school directors and public education stakeholders through the
advocacy leadership of the ambassadors. Each Advocacy Ambassador will
be responsible for assisting PSBA in achieving its advocacy goals. To
achieve their mission, ambassadors will be kept up to date on current
legislation and PSBA positions on legislation. The current open
positions will cover PSBA Sections 3 and 4, and
Section 7.
PSBA Advocacy
Ambassadors are independent contractors representing PSBA and serve
as liaisons between PSBA and their local elected officials. Advocacy
Ambassadors also commit to building strong relationships with PSBA members with
the purpose of engaging the designated members to be active and committed
grassroots advocates for PSBA’s legislative priorities.
PSBA: Nominations for The Allwein Society are open!
This award program
recognizes school directors who are outstanding leaders & advocates on
behalf of public schools & students. Nominations are accepted year-round
with selections announced early fall: http://ow.ly/CchG50uDoxq
EPLC is accepting
applications for the 2019-20 PA Education Policy Fellowship Program
Education Policy & Leadership Center
PA's premier education policy leadership program for education, policy
& community leaders with 582 alumni since 1999. Application with program
schedule & agenda are at http://www.eplc.org
2019 PASA-PSBA School
Leadership Conference Oct. 16-18, 2019
WHERE: Hershey Lodge and
Convention Center 325 University Drive, Hershey, PA
WHEN: Wednesday, October
16 to Friday, October 18, 201
Registration is now open!
Growth from knowledge acquired. Vision inspired by innovation. Impact
created by a synergized leadership community. You are called upon to be the
drivers of a thriving public education system. It’s a complex and challenging
role. Expand your skillset and give yourself the tools needed for the
challenge. Packed into two and a half daysꟷꟷgain access to top-notch education
and insights, dynamic speakers, peer learning opportunities and the latest
product and service innovations. Come to the PASA-PSBA School Leadership
Conference to grow!
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
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.