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While we spent over $450 million on tuition, the average
student at a cyber charter in Pennsylvania lost 106 days of learning in reading
and 118 days in math
HR1878:
Glide path for full 40% funding of IDEA now has 95 cosponsors in Congress. Is
your PA member of Congress on the list?
When it comes to cyber charters, doing nothing is not an
option | Editorial
The Inquirer
Editorial Board | opinion@inquirer.com Updated: 16 minutes ago
Public education
isn’t simple. Funding it, delivering it, making it equitable for all, are all
tough problems to solve. So why ignore education problems that have simpler
solutions? Cyber charter schools is one of the biggest. A new
report on charter school performance in Pennsylvania raises the latest red flag about cyber
charters, showing that this sector of education – that educates over 30,000
students and represents $463 million in spending is not only not bringing
improvements, but actually making the situation worse. The Stanford
University Center
for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) report is an update of a 2011 report that delves deeply into
student performance in math and reading and assesses how charters are faring. The
results are mixed at best; brick and mortar charter schools are showing gains
for some students over traditional public schools in math and reading, similar
performance for some, and negative performance for other students. The
clearest, and most troubling finding is that cyber charters show overwhelmingly
negative results in academic growth of students. This is not exactly news.
Since cybers were authorized in 2002, there have been questions about the money
being poured into the sector, the lack of oversight, and the questionable
academic performance.
“The average student at a cyber charter in Pennsylvania lost
106 days of learning in reading and 118 days in math compared to their
“twins” in traditional public schools. Cyber school skeptics say these results
prove that the virtual classroom isn’t working for Pennsylvania students, and
that the roughly half a billion dollars cyber charters collect each year from
taxpayers is a bad investment.”
Cyber charters in Pa. are wildly ineffective, and 3 other
takeaways from new Stanford study
WHYY By Avi Wolfman-Arent June 5, 2019
Pennsylvania’s
charter school debate attracts a lot of heated rhetoric.
But this week, the
conversation got some cold, hard numbers.
The Center for
Research on Education Outcomes, a group based at Stanford University, released
a deep dive into Pennsylvania’s charter schools, which now serve roughly
140,000 students. Debates about the quality of the growing sector can be
especially fraught because comparing schools is rarely an apples-to-apples
exercise. A charter school serving many low-income students might not post top
results on state tests, but may actually do a better job serving disadvantaged
students than a nearby traditional public school. On the flip side, some
studies show charters sidestep the toughest-to-serve students, like those with
extreme special needs or those who are learning English. These skeptics worry
that traditional public schools end up with these cast-aside students, and
thus, lower test scores.
REPORT: Commonsense Cyber Charter School Funding Reform
Real reform will eliminate wasteful spending
and save $250 million in taxpayer money
Education Voters PA
Report 2019
Cyber charter
schools have materially lower costs than either traditional public schools or
brick and mortar charter schools, where teachers are in the same classrooms as
their students. Cyber charter schools deliver their education over the internet
to students in their own homes, typically with a laptop computer that is
provided by the cyber charter school. They frequently use recorded programs
that can be re‐used in many classes or for students individually. Infrastructure is
greatly reduced. Despite this different cost structure, they are paid the same
as brick and mortar charter schools. In 2015, the Pennsylvania legislature
enacted a new school funding formula that based funding on actual student
enrollment and other cost factors. This was a major step forward in correcting
a decades‐old, deeply flawed, and inequitable system of funding public school
districts. The legislature has not yet addressed similar flaws in Pennsylvania’s
system for funding cyber charter schools. With a nearly $500 million annual
price tag, funding of cyber charter schools remains just as flawed as the old
system of funding basic education was, and has created ever worsening problems
for our state’s school districts and wasted tax monies.
In this report, we recommend adopting commonsense
cyber charter school funding reform to eliminate wasteful spending, saving $250
million in taxpayer money, and mitigating the harm that cyber charter schools
cause to Pennsylvania’s public school districts.
How much could your
school district and taxpayers save if there were statewide flat cyber 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?
Buses filling up for June 12 fair school funding rally
The Phoenix
Reporter by Evan Brandt ebrandt@21st-centurymedia.com @PottstownNews on Twitter
June 7, 2019
POTTSTOWN —
Knowing that Pennsylvania's funding gap between rich and poor school districts
is the worst in the nation makes Kelly Grosser angry. "It's
despicable," said Grosser during a May 20 "Education Equity"
workshop at Montgomery County Community College's West Campus in Pottstown. Grosser,
youth program director for YWCA Tri-County Area, get's even angrier when she
talks about the fact that even when school districts have a similar poverty
level, the state funding system provides more dollars per student to districts
with more white students. "How do they sleep at night?" she asked,
not expecting an answer. She was referring to state legislators who, by failing
to apply Pennsylvania's Fair School Funding formula to all public education,
perpetuate this racial inequity in Pennsylvania's public education funding. There
are fewer of them all the time, as more and more become co-sponsors of House
Bill 961, introduced
by state Rep. Chris Rabb, D-200th Dist. Most recently, state Rep. Tim
Hennessey, R-26th Dist., who represents the southern portion of Pottstown,
signed on. That bill would immediately implement the fair funding formula for
all Pennsylvania public schools. Under the current system, 52 percent of all
public school students in the Keystone state attend under-funded schools, according
to Rabb.
HB800: More tax credits? More spending? Lawmakers
continue to clash on education.
PA Post by Katie
Meyer JUNE 5, 2019 | 3:31 PM
(Harrisburg) — Republicans in the state House
and Senate are briskly moving a
bill they
say helps low-income students, and that Democrats say is unfairly routing money
away from struggling public schools. The proposed increase to the Educational
Improvement Tax Credit will likely to be used as a bargaining chip in ongoing
budget negotiations. The
tax credit goes
to people and businesses that donate to private school scholarships or run
related programs. It lets them deduct most of that money from their state
taxes. The available credits have grown incrementally and substantially since
the program started in 2001—often with bipartisan support. This bill goes
further than past iterations, however. It would nearly double the amount of
credit available and escalate it automatically if at least 90 percent gets
used. It would also raise the income cap for eligible families, from $85,000 to
$95,000. Chester County Democrat Andy Dinniman, minority chair of the Senate
Education Committee, has long supported the program. But he said this is too
much. “My concern is that we have students sitting in classrooms in some of our
schools that have asbestos and lead in those classrooms,” Dinniman said. “We
need to make sure some
money is given there.” Fellow
Democratic Senator Lindsey Williams, of Allegheny County, noted she is
concerned there isn’t enough oversight involved with the program. “Every dollar
that we draw out is less money for those [public] schools, and those dollars
should be spent in a transparent and accountable way,” she said. “We don’t know
what’s happening with it.”
Paul Muschick on charter school’s hypocrisy: Public
funding, secret spending
By PAUL MUSCHICK | THE MORNING CALL | JUN 06, 2019 | 3:21 PM
I often hear
charter schools and their supporters say they are unfairly criticized. Well,
here’s an opportunity for one school to build some credibility with the public,
and set an example for others. A $4 million gym recently opened at Executive
Education Academy Charter School in Allentown. If that gym was at an Allentown
School District building, the public would have the right to see how every
penny was spent. But the charter school, which gets taxpayer money, doesn’t
want to disclose construction spending details, which were sought by Morning
Call reporter Jacqueline Palochko. The school rejected her request for the
records under the state Right-to-Know Law. The school says it doesn’t possess
the records because it didn’t build the gym. It says the construction was done
by the building’s owner, the Executive Education Academy Charter School
Foundation, and the school is merely a rent-paying tenant. The charter school
argues that the foundation is a separate, private, nonprofit entity that
doesn’t perform a “governmental function” for the school, so it doesn’t have to
cough up those records. Thankfully, the state Office of Open Records rejected
that shell game. It said the foundation and the school essentially are the same
operation.
As it seeks state control, Education department tries to
prevent new action by Harrisburg School Board
PA Capital Star By Elizabeth Hardison June 6, 2019
The Pennsylvania
Department of Education on Thursday tried a new tactic in its battle to take
control of the Harrisburg School District, asking a county judge to prevent the
city’s elected school board from approving any new contracts. Education
Secretary Pedro Rivera filed the emergency injunction on Thursday morning, the
same day that the Harrisburg School Board of Directors is scheduled to hold a
special meeting to vote on personnel items. Rivera petitioned Dauphin County
Court of Common Pleas earlier this week to put the struggling district in
receivership, a move that would require its superintendent and school board to
cede almost all their powers to a state-appointed administrator. Among other
points, Rivera argued in the petition that the district violated the long-term
recovery plan it adopted jointly with the state in 2013 by allowing its
superintendent and solicitor to collect paychecks, even though its board has
not approved their employment contracts. In his filings on Thursday, Rivera
sought to prevent the school board from voting on any new employment contracts
until the courts make a decision on receivership.
Should Harrisburg school board members be allowed to make
binding decisions as state takeover looms?
Penn Live By Christine Vendel |
cvendel@pennlive.com Today 5:00
AM
A Dauphin County
judge on Friday will hear arguments on whether Harrisburg School Board members
can hire and fire employees and make other binding decisions while a judge
considers a petition to appoint a receiver. Attorneys for the Commonwealth on
Thursday filed an emergency motion, just hours before school board members
intended to meet in a specially-called meeting, to prevent the board members
from taking any action that would tie the hands of a receiver, if one
eventually is appointed. Judge William Tully granted the injunction, at least
temporarily, which prompted the board to cancel Thursday night’s special
meeting. Two county deputies interrupted the school board members while they
were in a closed, executive session, to serve them with the papers. Tully said
he would hear arguments on the injunction at 1:45 p.m. Friday. His temporary
order remains in effect until he rules on the emergency motion. If Tully grants
the state’s request, board members would be prohibited from creating new— or
terminating existing— contracts for goods, services or personnel. It would
retain the “status quo” while the court decides whether to appoint a receiver
to take over operations of the district.
Big Soda’s big spending in the primary didn’t much
threaten the sweetened beverage tax | Clout
Inquirer by Chris Brennan, Updated: 40 minutes ago
Does Big Soda have
more money than sense?
The American
Beverage Association, closing in on $20 million in spending in Philadelphia
since 2016, appears no closer to killing Mayor Jim Kenney’s
sweetened beverage tax that pays for pre-K and other city programs. The ABA’s
most recent investment — just shy of $1.5 million in the May 21 primary
election — didn’t
do much to move the
needle. Thirty-five percent of that money was spent on television
commercials critical of Kenney. He won his Democratic primary bid for reelection with 67 percent of the
vote while barely campaigning.
Phoenixville schools budget hikes property taxes 2.23%
The Mercury by Evan Brandt
ebrandt@21st-centurymedia.com @PottstownNews on Twitter June 6, 2019
PHOENIXVILLE —
When the Phoenixville School Board votes Tuesday on setting the new tax rate,
it will be based on a budget that was approved last month and will raise
property taxes by 2.23 percent. The $94,513,605 budget for 2019-2020 was
approved May 16 in a 7-2 vote, with board members Lori Broker and David Golberg
voting no. The budget represents a spending increase of $2,842,253 over the
current year's budget and includes money for full-day kindergarten, which will
be implemented for the first time in the coming school year. For the average
residential property in the district, which is assessed at $135,000, the budget
will represent an annual increase of $92 over the current average school tax
bill of $4,120, according to Christopher Gehris, the district's director of
finance. The tax hike of 2.23 percent is less than the Act 1 index of 2.3
percent, the maximum tax hike allowed by the state without a public referendum.
No reserve funds were used to balance the budget, according to Gehris.
Pottstown Middle School gets $2M grant over 5 years
The Mercury by Evan Brandt
ebrandt@21st-centurymedia.com @PottstownNews on Twitter June 7, 2019
POTTSTOWN — Efforts
to improve opportunities at Pottstown Middle School have received a $2 million
boost from the state. For the next five years, before- and after-school
programs at the middle school will receive a $400,000 annual boost through its
21st-Century Community Learning Centers program. Pottstown's was one of 74 out
of 99 grant applicants chosen to receive funding and the only one in Berks of
Montgomery counties. Four programs in Chester County were also funded. A
total of $22 million out of $30 million in applications were awarded, according
to the Pennsylvania Department of Education. In a message to the district,
Pottstown Schools Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez said grant funding is
"specifically focused on enrichment and academic achievement for all of
our middle school students over the next five years," adding, "this
programming will be free for any Pottstown Middle School full-time
students."
PA Education Leaders to Hold Advocacy Day 2019 in
Harrisburg June 18th
PA Principals
Association Press Release June 5th, 2019
(Harrisburg, PA) —
A delegation of principals, education leaders and staff from the Pennsylvania
Principals Association, the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators
(PASA) and the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools (PARSS) will
participate in PA Education Leaders Advocacy Day 2019 (#paadvocacyday19) on
Tuesday, June 18 at the Capitol Building in Harrisburg, Pa., to meet with
legislators to address several important issues that are at the forefront of education
in the commonwealth. These include: Increasing Basic Education Funding/Special
Education Funding/Early Childhood Funding; Revising Act 82: Principal and
Teacher Evaluations; Supporting Pre-K Education; Supporting Changes to
Pennsylvania’s Compulsory School Attendance Ages; and Supporting and Funding
Career and Technical Education.
PA League of Women Voters 2019 Convention Registration
Crowne Plaza in Reading June 21-23, 2019
DEADLINES
May 22, 2019 –
Deadline to get special room rates at Crowne
Plaza Hotel
Book Hotel
or call: 1 877 666 3243
May 31, 2019 –
Deadline to register as a delegate for the Convention
June 7, 2019 –
Deadline to register for the Convention
Registration: https://www.palwv.org/2019-convention-registration/
PA Schools Work Capitol Caravan Days Wed. June 5th
and Tues. June 18th
If you couldn’t
make it to Harrisburg last week, it’s not too late. We are getting down to the
wire. In a few short weeks, the budget will likely be passed. Collectively, our
voices have a larger impact to get more funding for Pennsylvania’s students.
Legislators need to hear from you!
Public Citizens for
Children and Youth (PCCY) will be at the Capitol on Wednesday, June 5th and
Tuesday, June 18th for our next PA Schools
Work caravan days. We’d love to have you join us on these
legislative visits. For more details about the caravans and to sign up, go
to: www.pccy.org/k12caravan . Please call Tomea Sippio-Smith at (O) 215-563-5848, ext. 36
or (C) 215-667-9421 or Shirlee Howe at (O) 215-563-5848, ext. 34 or (C)
215-888-8297 with any questions or specific requests for legislative
meetings.
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
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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