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PA Ed Policy Roundup July 11: Taxpayers in Senate
Ed Committee members’ school districts spent $149 million on cyber charter
tuition for 2017-2018
DePasquale: Scrap
Keystone exams for high school kids and replace them with SATs
PA Capital Star By John L. Micek July 10, 2019
Pennsylvania
taxpayers are paying a bundle, and not getting much return on investment, for
the battery of standardized tests for high school students that eat into
instructional time and haven’t been federally mandated for years, state Auditor
General Eugene DePasquale said Wednesday. Since 2015, and
running until 2021, the state will pay nearly $100 million to a Minnesota-based
company to administer and score the Keystone Exams, which are taken annually by
high school students across Pennsylvania, DePasquale said during a Capitol news
conference. Instead,
Pennsylvania could join the ranks of 12 other states that have scrapped
state-specific exams since the demise of the federal No Child Left Behind law,
and instead allow students to take the PSAT or SAT. Doing so would both save
money and allow the state to meet a requirement under federal law that all high
school students take some kind of standardized test. DePasquale, joined
by Sen. Andrew Dinniman, D-Chester, also said switching to the SAT, PSAT or ACT
examinations would open the door to a college education for more students —
particularly lower-income students who have trouble covering the out-of-pocket
cost of the now-optional college entrance exam. “Why not use the cheaper
alternative that can help get kids into college,” said DePasquale, who
undertook the audit at the request of Dinniman, who’s the ranking Democrat on
the Senate Education Committee.
By Sara K. Satullo | For lehighvalleylive.com Updated Jul 10, 4:38 PM; Posted Jul 10,
3:52 PM
Pennsylvania’s top
fiscal watchdog wants to know why the state’s taxpayers continue to spend
millions of dollars annually for high school students to take the Keystone
Exams, when he says there’s no longer a reason to do so. Auditor General Eugene
DePasquale on Wednesday release an 18-page
special report urging
the state to explore replacing the subject-based Keystone Exams with a high
school standardized test, like the SAT college-entrance exam. Pennsylvania has
spent millions of dollars developing the Keystones, initially designed as
end-of-course graduation requirements that would meet the federal testing
mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act. But now the act has been overhauled,
lifting the requirement for a state-specific standardized test, and state
lawmakers have reversed course amid questions about the merits of high stakes
testing, DePasquale said. Now, the Keystone Exams are just one of several ways
students can
demonstrate they’re ready to graduate from high school. This has left DePasquale questioning why Pennsylvania taxpayers over the
last decade have sent at least $425 million to a Minnesota testing company to
administer and develop the PSSAs and Keystone Exams. From 2015 to 2021,
Pennsylvania will have spent nearly $100 million on the Keystones.
Auditor General
DePasquale: Replacing Keystone Exams with SATs Would Save Money, Help Students
and Parents
Auditor General DePasquale’s website HARRISBURG (July
10, 2019)
In a new special report released today, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said
Pennsylvania taxpayers are still spending tens of millions of dollars every
year on the Keystone Exams, which have not been federally required for four
years. “Pennsylvania should aggressively explore using a nationally recognized
test that can open new doors for students rather than continuing to spend money
on an exam that is no longer required,” DePasquale said. “For less than what
Pennsylvania spends on the Keystone Exams, it could instead pick up the tab for
every high school student to take the PSAT or SAT.” Federal law requires that
all states administer a secondary-level standardized test; however, since 2015,
when the No Child Left Behind Act was replaced, the state-specific Keystone
Exams were no longer required. But rather than phase out the state-specific
tests – which at least 12 other states have done – the Pennsylvania Department
of Education (PDE) is still paying the tests’ creator, Minnesota-based Data
Recognition Corp., tens of millions of dollars each year to administer and
score the Keystone Exams. Between 2015 and 2021, Pennsylvania will have spent
nearly $100 million on the Keystone Exams.
Blogger note: over the past year we have
been publishing 2016-2017 cyber charter tuition data. We received the 2017-2018
data this week and will be pushing it out during the summer.
If the state would take on the cost of
cyber charter school tuition since the state is responsible for authorizing and
overseeing cyber charter schools, it would save school districts $520 million.
(PASBO)
If we adopted single, statewide tuition
rates for both regular and special education students that were tied to the
actual costs of providing cyber education we could save taxpayers $250 million
each year. (Education Voters PA)
|
Wayne
Langerholc
|
R
|
Bedford
|
$10,352,558.79
|
|
Andrew
Dinniman
|
D
|
Chester
|
$15,672,638.25
|
|
John
DiSanto
|
R
|
Dauphin
|
$21,154,163.29
|
|
Joseph
Scarnati
|
R
|
Potter
|
$11,443,339.56
|
|
Ryan
Aument
|
R
|
Lancaster
|
$9,175,841.22
|
|
Patrick
Browne
|
R
|
Lehigh
|
$10,444,374.84
|
|
Mike
Folmer
|
R
|
Lebanon
|
$19,387,881.10
|
|
Robert
Tomlinson
|
R
|
Bucks
|
$10,432,488.25
|
|
James
Brewster
|
D
|
Allegheny
|
$15,897,374.62
|
|
Daylin
Leach
|
D
|
Montgomery
|
$5,799,084.60
|
|
Lindsay
Williams
|
D
|
Allegheny
|
$19,569,080.20
|
Data Source PDE via
PSBA
Citing technicality, Pa. school district scraps
first-of-kind policy to arm teachers
WHYY By Avi Wolfman-Arent July 10, 2019
The Tamaqua Area
School District will scrap a groundbreaking policy that would have allowed
teachers and staff to carry weapons anonymously on school grounds. The school
board’s Security Committee recommended the policy be rescinded at a meeting Tuesday
night. School
board president Larry Wittig confirmed that the board will heed that
recommendation and overturn the policy. “The old policy is dead,” Wittig said. Tamaqua
Area was the first school district in Pennsylvania to create a rule that would
have allowed staff members to carry guns, and the policy’s passage last
fall triggered debates and legal challenges. But Wittig said a change in state law
ultimately scuttled the proposal and sent local officials back to the drawing
board. That new law, Senate Bill 621, inspired its own controversy because some advocates thought its
vagaries would ultimately permit school districts to arm teachers. The bill’s
sponsor said that wasn’t the intent, and Governor Tom Wolf even argued that the
bill would explicitly bar staff members from carrying weapons in school. Tamaqua
Area officials, however, were worried about another section of the law, Wittig
said. Senate Bill 621 details specific training security guards must receive
before carrying a concealed weapon on school grounds. Wittig said he and others
worried that Tamaqua’s policy didn’t comply with these new regulations.
In shift from past, state boosts special ed funding more
than basic ed
Wilkes Barre Times Leader By Mark Guydish
- mguydish@timesleader.com July 9, 2019
Local school
districts again saw modest increases in state money for education, but it
differed this year, with the state boosting funding for special education at a
higher rate than for basic education. The change comes after the Education Law
Center issued a scathing report criticizing the state for “shortchanging
children with disabilities” for the last decade. Collectively, Luzerne County’s
11 districts saw Basic Education Funding (BEF) and Special Education Funding
(SEF) increase by 3.1 percent, with the boosts ranging from a low of 0.4
percent at Lake-Lehman (where closure of a school is on the table in efforts to
end chronic shortfalls) to a high of 5.7 percent for Hazleton Area, the
county’s largest district. But differences between BEF versus SEF suggest a
state preference to help offset soaring special education costs this year.
County-wide, BEF rose by 2.7 percent, while SEF increased an average of 6.3
percent. The smallest BEF increase was doled out to Lake-Lehman, only 0.1
percent, or $7,416. Hanover Area saw the biggest BEF jump, 5.1 percent, or
$405,651. On the SEF side, Lake-Lehman again got the smallest increase at 2.4
percent, or $28,600. Pittston Area’s increase hit double digits, 11.8 percent
or $194,635. As the budget season ramped up at the start of this year, the
Education Law Center issued a report showing a stark shortfall in state money
for special education. While BEF has received increases most years, SEF often
was increased by less, or flat-lined.
Our View: Hopeful signs from Harrisburg on education
Times Leader July 10, 2019 timesleader Opinion, Our Opinion 0
Amid the usual
partisan bickering on too many topics, there came from Harrisburg recently
several promising moves regarding education:
• Under a new
program signed into law last week by Gov. Tom Wolf, spouses and children of
Pennsylvania National Guard members to attend college at no cost or a reduced
cost.
The first
initiative of its kind in the nation, the PA GI Bill, or Military Family
Education Program, was passed unanimously by the state House and Senate.
• Local school
districts again saw modest increases in state money for education, but it
differed this year, with the state boosting funding for special education at a
higher rate than for basic education, our Mark Guydish reported on Wednesday.
The change comes
after the Education Law Center issued a scathing report criticizing the state
for “shortchanging children with disabilities” for the last decade.
• As reported by
the Associated Press in today’s edition, Pennsylvania students who attend one
of the 14 state-owned universities won’t see higher tuition next year as a
result of a board vote Wednesday, the first such freeze in more than 20 years.
The State System of
Higher Education’s Board of Governors voted unanimously to keep in-state
tuition flat at about $7,700, the AP reported. Nearly 90% of the system’s
students hail from Pennsylvania.
• Also in today’s
edition, Guydish reports that state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale issued a
report Wednesday making the case for dropping the state Keystone Exam system
used to gauge high school student academic achievement.
Pa. legislators, how about a present for your
constituents? Pass the Gift Ban bill | Editorial
By PennLive Editorial Board Updated Jul 10, 5:28 PM; Posted Jul 10,
5:22 PM
A bipartisan House
bill would make it illegal to bribe Pennsylvania lawmakers with gifts such as
expensive meals, sporting event tickets, transportation, lodging and anything
else of economic value. HB 1291 is one of those proposals that makes you
wonder: Why is this even a matter of debate? The answer in Harrisburg is always
the same, because someone benefits from the way things are. And it’s not you,
the voter and taxpayer. Thus, this commonsense proposal has been offered
session after session but never reaches a vote. Why? Because lawmakers and
special interests benefit. Pennsylvania does — sort of — ban gifts, but only
where there’s an explicit quid pro quo, as in, “Here’s a nice vacation in
return for your vote.” Bribes don’t need to be that blatant, so hardly anyone
in the state is successfully prosecuted for illegal gifts. Some lawmakers will
tell you, indignantly, that they “can’t be bought” with a meal or college
football tickets (even as they accept them). They’re just being open-minded, in
hearing someone’s viewpoint over an expensive dinner. But they protest too
much. Anyway, the problem isn’t so much that a single gift buys a vote, it's
the cumulative effect of showering lawmakers and government officials with
favors and a sense of importance. Gifts reinforce the cozy, elbow-rubbing
atmosphere in Harrisburg, which predisposes lawmakers to serve influential
interests first, and yours incidentally, if at all.
Photos: A year at Philly’s Strawberry Mansion High School
by Tim Tai, July 10, 2019
Junior Sincear
Morton-Murray, right, wears a football championship jacket while playing guitar
during music class at Strawberry Mansion High School in Philadelphia on Monday,
Oct. 15, 2018. The first music teacher of the school year left during the fall
and was replaced. The class is now oriented toward learning music production
and business skills. Football was canceled in the middle of the 2018 season due
to a lack of enough players to sustain a team, but is expected to return this
fall. When I first stepped into the imposing, cavernous building that is
Strawberry Mansion High School last fall, I was surprised by how normal it
seemed. Largely empty — this year’s enrollment was 169 students across three
grades — there was no chaos, no fighting, and nothing to suggest it was known
in recent years as “one of the most dangerous schools in America.” My colleague Kristen Graham and I saw a number of classes: music,
math, biology. Eager to show off their skills, culinary students prepared food
for us and several school leaders. Volleyball players prepared for practice. It
was not how I pictured a school that was failing according to the metrics. The
school district granted Kristen and I access to follow Mansion students and
staff through a year of transition, after pausing ninth grade
admissions and initially planning to phase out the traditional high school
program. The
school, built for 1,800 kids, had already survived a closure attempt in 2013.
The story published in two parts: Forever Mansion? and ‘Capable of
Greatness.’
Equity isn’t just a
slogan. It should transform the way we educate kids.
The Holdsworth
Center By Dr. Pedro Noguera July 8, 2019
Dr. Pedro Noguera
is a former classroom teacher who is now a sociologist, researcher and
sought-after expert on educational equity. He is the Distinguished Professor of
Education at the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies and
Faculty Director for the Center for the Transformation of Schools at UCLA. He is also a member of The Holdsworth
Center’s network of scholars, an advisory group who contribute to the development of research around
our theory of action. The Holdsworth Center invited Pedro to work with Leaders
in our District Leadership Program and share some of his insights and teachings
on our blog.
Think about your
family.
When one child is
sick, do you give that child more attention? When one child is a rule-follower
and the other a free spirit, do you parent them the same? For most of us,
giving our kids what they need when they need it means we don’t always treat
them the same.
That’s true in
schools too. Anyone who works in public schools knows that students arrive with
different needs. Some have experienced trauma, others are learning English for
the first time, and others may be reading below grade level. It follows that
our students will need different things in order to thrive and meet their full
potential. Addressing the needs of all students is not easy but that is the
goal of equity in education: to treat our students the way we would want our
own children to be treated. This is the true meaning of equity – acknowledging
students’ differences and giving them what they need to be successful. It also
means staying focused on outcomes, both academic and developmental. We’ll know
we are doing equity work right when kids’ backgrounds no longer predict their
outcomes.
PCCY: 2 seconds for
$200,000 and a game-changing opportunity for kids
PCCY needs
your votes! We are in the running for a $200,000 Key to the Community
Grant from the Philadelphia Foundation! Our idea is simple – give more parents in the Greater Philadelphia
region tools, resources and networks to amplify their voices in advocacy and
policy impacting our children. To launch the Parent Advocacy Accelerator, we
need your help. The Philadelphia Foundation is running an on-line voting
contest. The idea that gets the most votes in a category, wins the grant. Voting
is quick and easy at https://www.philafound.org/vote/. Just scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and vote for the
project listed as the Parent Advocacy Accelerator under the “Community and
Civic Engagement" category, Every vote, every day counts. VOTE
EVERY DAY UNTIL JULY 26! Share with your networks in Pennsylvania, New York,
New Jersey, or Delaware and ask them to vote every day, too.
Thank you for your
votes and support!
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.
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