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Friday, July 12, 2019

PA Ed Policy Roundup July 12: If charter schools were supposed to be "laboratories of innovation" what is an innovation school?


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
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PA Ed Policy Roundup July 12, 2019



Blogger comment: I am not an attorney nor a state policy specialist, but this section included in the recently enacted school code bill appears to create the possibility of waivers from normal state and federal accountability standards and regulatory oversight for a charter operator who has made over $600,000 in campaign contributions to state officeholders since 2016. What’s your take on it?
If charter schools were supposed to be "laboratories of innovation" what is an innovation school?
HB1615 (Recently Enacted School Code Bill) See Section 8, “Innovation Schools Program”, starting on page 10.

“A total of 2,218 students who live within the Erie School District’s boundaries attended a bricks-and-mortar charter or cyber charter school in 2018-19. The district is required to reimburse the bricks-and-mortar charter schools $10,000 for each student and $20,000 for each special education student. The district budgeted $28.7 million in charter school expenses for 2019-20, a 6.6 percent increase from $26.9 million budgeted in 2018-19. Charter school expenses represent one of the biggest challenges to the district’s long-term financial stability, according to its state-mandated financial improvement plan.”
Erie schools recruit students door-to-door
GoErie By David Bruce  Posted Jul 11, 2019 at 3:25 PM Updated Jul 11, 2019 at 4:19 PM
The school district’s Welcome Home campaign was to include visits to 704 homes of charter school students. Lateikqua Chambers didn’t expect to see Erie schools Superintendent Brian Polito and two teachers from nearby Edison Elementary School when she opened the door to her east Erie residence Thursday morning. Chambers’ 7-year-old son, Kori Henderson, recently completed first grade at the Robert Benjamin Wiley Community Charter School. Polito, the teachers and two members of the Erie Blue Coats peace initiative were at her door to see if Henderson was interested in attending Edison, located at 1921 E. Lake Road. “Edison offers a lot to students as a community school,” Karen Stoops, a longtime Edison schoolwide support teacher, told Chambers. “It has new reading and math curriculums, and afterschool programs.” “Oh, girl, that’s good,” Chambers said with a smile, later adding, “Kori wants to switch. He wants to play basketball.” Chambers was the first parent with whom Polito and Stoops met Thursday during their door-to-door effort to recruit students to Erie’s Public Schools. The Welcome Home campaign was conducted to reduce the migration of Erie students to charter schools.

Superintendent: Cyber school plan may save taxpayers thousands
Sunbury Daily Item By Francis Scarcella fscarcella@dailyitem.com Jul 10, 2019
SUNBURY — Shikellamy Superintendent Jason Bendle says his plan to bring cyber school students back to the district will save taxpayers thousands if it works. Bendle will present his plan to Shikellamy school board members and the public on Thursday during a district board meeting. Bendle said he has been working on gathering the 84 current cyber school students together to speak with families about why students should be getting their education at Shikellamy. "We are spending $1.2 million right now and students are going to other cyber schools," Bendle said. "If we can bring them back we will spend about $313,000 and our students will get to receive a Shikellamy education. "Bendle said Shikellamy right now only provides 6th- through 12th-grade virtual academy. If the district decides to go with a full cyber school and add K through 5th grades, the district will not only save but be able to add teaching jobs. "My pitch here is that our kids are our kids and they should be part of our district," Bendle said. "If they chose to come back to the district, then they get to participate in sports, all activities including school dances. Most importantly they get a Shikellamy diploma and we will be able to get a few more teachers." Bendle said he already started reaching out to parents and wants to meet with each family and show them what Shikellamy has to offer. "I want to sit down and talk with people," he said. "I truly believe not only will this be something that saves us money but it is, more importantly, a way for our kids to become part of the district and get a great Shikellamy education." Shikellamy is attempting to be part of the growing amount of schools trying to get students to return to the district. Bendle said in 2017-18 the district spent $1.3 million on cyber school students and will spend about the same in 2018-19.

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 continue 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)



Curtis Sonney
R
Erie
$3,034,041.39
Barbara Gleim
R
Cumberland
$5,860,630.02
Rosemary Brown
R
Pike
$16,153,905.53
Jason Ortitay
R
Washington
$4,756,568.38
Mike Tobash
R
Schuylkill
$3,061,151.66
Jesse Topper
R
Bedford
$3,817,748.41
Valerie Gaydos
R
Allegheny
$2,411,780.05
Mark Gillen
R
Lancaster
$4,904,563.28
David Hickernell
R
Lancaster
$5,548,993.15
Mike Jones
R
York
$4,680,258.29
Joshua Kail
R
Washington
$6,227,281.84
Jerry Knowles
R
Schuylkill
$8,999,881.59
Michael Puskaric
R
Washington
$3,399,147.18
Meghan Schroeder
R
Bucks
$2,262,487.09
Craig Staats
R
Bucks
$4,155,807.10
$79,274,244.96
Data Source PDE via PSBA


“In addition to the Keystone Exams, the Data Recognition Corp., which has headquarters in Minnesota, also oversees the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests. It has collected $533 million for its services in Pennsylvania over the last decade, DePasquale said.”
AG report: Unnecessary standardized tests cost Pa. taxpayers $18 million
Trib Live DEB ERDLEY   | Thursday, July 11, 2019 10:36 a.m.
Pennsylvania taxpayers are paying nearly $18 million a year for unnecessary standardized tests administered to high school seniors across the state, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale charged in a report issued Wednesday. The 18-page report “Where did your money go?”examines the costs associated with the Keystone Exams. DePasquale said his office found that the state paid the Data Recognition Corp. $17.6 million last year to administer and score the exams. DePasquale said the state designates the test as a graduation requirement even though the federal law that mandated such testing lapsed in 2015 and many states have since replaced their state-specific tests with the SAT or ACT college admissions tests. DePasquale said between 2015 and 2021, Pennsylvania will have spent nearly $100 million on the exams. “When the federal law changed in 2015, why didn’t Pennsylvania begin to phase out the Keystone Exams? I could understand if they used them for a short time after that, but it’s been four years,” DePasquale said. Mark DiRocco, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators, said his group has stopped short of taking an official stand on the issue. Although the exams are no longer specifically required, DiRocco said the U.S. Department of Education still requires states to administer a standardized test that aligns with its state education standards. “I think many school administrators and principals would be OK with moving away from the Keystone Exams. The real question is how much would that cost and do other tests align to state standards sufficiently that the Department of Education would accept them,” DiRocco said. DePasquale said eliminating the exams would save money and give teachers more time to focus on key instructional goals.

Pa. fiscal watchdog calls for end of Keystone exams
WHYY By Naomi Brauner July 11, 2019
What’s better: saving $1.2 million in taxpayer money or maintaining a test personalized to Pennsylvania? That’s the question Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale wants the state to ask itself. DePasquale released a report this week urging the Pennsylvania Department of Education to get rid of the state’s high school standardized test, the Keystone Exam. DePasquale says the tests, which are developed and scored by the Minnesota-based Data Recognition Corporation, are a waste of money. All told, he says the state spent $17.6 million to administer the tests in the 2017-2018 school year. DePasquale instead suggests that the state adopt the SAT or the ACT to comply with federal testing requirements. He says that would net the state $1.2 million and lessen the time students need to take standardized tests. “The SAT or ACT, for many schools, is a requirement to go to college. So if you’re taking the Keystone exam, which has no impact on college applications at all, and you can’t afford to take the SAT or the ACT, or you don’t think you would do well on it … you end up not taking the test,” DePasquale said.

Citing new state law, Tamaqua school board to rescind gun policy, intends to craft a new one
By SARAH M. WOJCIK and KAYLA DWYER THE MORNING CALL JUL 11, 2019 10:06 PM
The Tamaqua Area School District intends to scrap its policy allowing for the arming of teachers, citing a new state law that some argue throws the legality of the policy into question. But the school board intends to craft a new security policy with the wording of the law in mind, board President Larry Wittig said Thursday. He said people on all sides of the debate will be invited to have a say in what a revamped policy looks like in Tamaqua, but he still believes arming staff is the surest way to prevent a school shooting. The security committee’s recommendation to rescind Policy 705, the first of its kind in Pennsylvania, will be brought to the full board on Tuesday. Wittig expects it to pass without much debate. Gov.Tom Wolf signed Senate Bill 621 into law July 2, amending the Pennsylvania School Code to provide more rigid training requirements and clarify who may serve as an armed school security officer or school resource officer. The law does not reference teachers directly, but states the positions can be filled with law enforcement officers or independent contractors.

“Charter schools in Philadelphia now educate more than 60,000 students or one-third of the city’s enrollment. The city contains half the charter schools in the state, and officials contend that the vintage 1997 charter funding formula stresses district finances to the breaking point. They say it creates a zero-sum game of fewer dollars for district schools every time a new charter opens. Charters, meanwhile, contend that the formula shortchanges their students. 
But the Pennsylvania General Assembly has repeatedly punted on efforts to revise the law and the formula. This and disagreement over the scope of the charter office’s oversight authority has created, at times, a contentious, adversarial relationship between charter operators and the district where there is little if any trust. This controversy lays that bare.”
Philly charter leader says district offered ‘backdoor’ deal for neighborhood high school
WHYY By Avi Wolfman-Arent July 12, 2019
Did Philadelphia school officials try to hand over one of their neighborhood high schools to a charter operator? That’s one of the eyebrow-raising accusations hurled by a Philadelphia charter school leader, who says district officials repeatedly misled her while dangling a series of under-the-table offers. That charter leader, Naomi Johnson-Booker of Global Leadership Academy in West Philadelphia, says the district offered her the opportunity to run Overbrook High School or William Sayre High School as an alternative to granting a charter for her own, competitor high school. Johnson-Booker’s description of events, if true, would represent the kind of backroom deal in which the district says it doesn’t participate. But that’s a big if because district officials deny this offer every happened. And they deny another one of Johnson-Booker’s claims, that she was promised a new high school in exchange for agreeing, in 2016, to take over a struggling district elementary school.

PA’s public library lovers are rejoicing over additional funding
Inquirer by TyLisa C. Johnson, Updated: 21 minutes ago
Speaking to Pennsylvania librarians during a conference in Harrisburg in October, State Rep. Stan Saylor (R., York) promised to do everything he could to increase public library funding and restore funding to $75 million, where it stood prior to being slashed a decade ago. So, when Gov. Tom Wolf signed the state’s new $34 billion budget on June 28, and it included an additional $5 million for the state’s public libraries, supporters rejoiced. Saylor had done it, many advocates felt. It was the first time since around 2006 the state’s public libraries would see a significant boost in operational funding. While, it’s too soon to tell how much each of the state’s 470 libraries will receive, news of additional funding comes on the heels of City Council’s approving an additional $3.5 million for the Free Library of Philadelphia in June. The move followed protests and complaints that a lack of funding had caused frequent library closures, shorter hours and long waits for books and materials. The Free library’s annual budget is $52 million, with the rest coming from the state and private donors. Last fall, the Pennsylvania Libraries Association, headed by Christi Buker, hosted the Harrisburg conference where Saylor spoke. At the time, Saylor, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee and is a longtime library supporter, discussed the importance of libraries and their role in education and in communities.

State pledges $1M boost for area vo-tech
The Danville News By Joe Sylvester jsylvester@thedanvillenews.com Jul 10, 2019
BLOOMSBURG — The Columbia-Montour Area Vocational-Technical School received a $1 million boost on Wednesday for its proposed building expansion plan. State Sen. John Gordner, R-27 of Berwick, along with state Rep. David Millard, R-109 of Millville, met at the school with board members from sending school districts to announce the surprise grant, which Gordner helped get into the state budget. The funds, which are from the state Department of Community and Economic Development and are included in the state general fund budget, will help the school add classroom and workshop space, which would allow more students to enroll and help build up the area's workforce. Students from six school districts in Columbia County and the Danville Area School District in Montour County send students to the school located in South Centre Township, between Bloomsburg and Berwick. Though Danville is on board with the project, at least two other districts have reservations about the plan because of the cost.

Expelled student accused of threatening school shooting loses lawsuit against Rose Tree Media School District
Pennsylvania Record FEDERAL COURT By Charmaine Little | Jul 10, 2019
PHILADELPHIA – A teenager accused of threatening to commit a school shooting had his case against Rose Tree Media School District dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on June 21. Judge Eduardo C. Robreno ruled on the case after a student identified as "G.S." sued the school via his parents, also referred to by their initials, after he was expelled from Penncrest High School following the alleged threats made on social media. G.S. then sued with claims that the school was retaliating against him after he prevailed in a federal rights case in a prior litigation. He also said this isn’t the first time the school made false accusations that he posed a threat to carry out a school shooting.  G.S.’s expulsion came after he shared vulgar lyrics from a song called “Snap” from the band Spite on his Snapchat. The post read, “Everyone, I despise everyone! F*** you, eat s***, blackout, the world is a graveyard!” But it was the next line that caught officials’ attention. “All of you, I will f***ing kill off all of you! This is me, this is my, Snap!” When the school’s @penncrest_students account was tagged by someone who reposted it, the post was identified as a threat. Hours later, Pennsylvania State Police spoke with G.S. and his parents. He was suspended for 10 days before being expelled after proceedings on Aug. 23, 2018.

Community Briefs: Security Funding Increases for Nonpublic Schools and More
Jewish Exponent By  Selah Maya Zighelboim July 11, 2019
Security Funding for Nonpublic Schools Increases
Pennsylvania recently passed its 2019-2020 budget, which includes $3.2 million for nonpublic schools — including Jewish day schools — to expand security grant resources. This represents a 597% increase from last year’s budget, according to Teach PA, a project of the Orthodox Union and an advocate for nonpublic schools. At the same time, the new budget includes a $30 million increase — for a total of $240 million — to provide scholarships for low-to-middle-income students to attend nonpublic school. “These tremendous gains in security, scholarship and other support for our children represent the most significant wins we’ve achieved since we began this work in the Commonwealth just six years ago,” Teach PA Director Arielle Frankston-Morris said in a press release. “We are greatly heartened and deeply appreciative that our elected leaders recognized our community’s growing needs and fought so hard and so tirelessly to make them a reality.”

As Goes Pennsylvania, So Goes the 2020 Election
Politically Uncorrected Column by G. Terry Madonna & Michael L.Young July 11, 2019
While Democrats wade through a marathon of intra-party debates, the national punditocracy is increasingly asking two urgent questions about the impending 2020 presidential contest: Can President Trump win Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin again? And can he win a second term without those three states? Both questions reflect a stark reality in American presidential elections: The presidency is won or lost in the Electoral College -- a body dominated by a handful of large so-called battleground states that can determine the outcome.   Donald Trump triumphed in 2016 by winning narrowly these three Rust Belt states, which he was expected to lose. Pennsylvania was the biggest surprise as well as the biggest prize among them. In theory, Trump can win without these three -- either by replacing them with three other large states -- or by picking up several smaller states that equal their combined 46 electoral votes.   But where will those replacement states come from?  Presently, according to the New York Times, Trump is far behind in Pennsylvania (16 percentage points), Wisconsin (10 points) and Michigan (11 points). According to the Morning Consult, Trump’s current approval rating in Pennsylvania has plummeted 19 points since Inauguration Day.


CREDO at Stanford University Releases First In-Depth Examination of Charter School Impacts in Maryland
CREDO STANFORD, Calif., July 11, 2019
Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO), found that in a year's time, the typical charter school student in Maryland has stronger growth in both reading and math compared to the educational gains that student would have had in a traditional public school (TPS). The report studies Maryland state charter students' performance over four years, beginning with the 2013-2014 school year and ending with the 2016-2017 school year. “As the national conversation around charter schools accelerates, there is a growing role for evidence on how these schools are performing. Maryland has commendably taken steps to recognize the role evidence plays in informing policy decisions. We are grateful for the opportunity to work with the Maryland Department of Education to conduct our first analysis of the performance of Maryland charter schools,” said Margaret Raymond, Director of CREDO at Stanford University.

“The charter school movement has come under recent attack by more liberal Democrats. Several Democratic governors elected last year in strong charter enrollment states like California, Illinois and Michigan have signaled they won’t be as hospitable to charters as previous administrations. West Virginia this year became the 45th state to approve a law adopting charter schools.
A pivot toward charters in Republican-led states comes as Nina Rees, president of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, declared at a national conference this month that the movement must take its fight for “political survival” to suburban and rural areas. Yes Every Kid officials won’t say how much money they will pour into the new initiative and have yet to formally identify its agenda beyond saying it would take an “open-minded approach” to state-level education issues such as school choice, school finance reform and teacher autonomy.”
Powerful Koch network taking on school choice with new group
AP News By SALLY HO July 11, 2019
SEATTLE (AP) — Billionaire industrialist Charles Koch’s powerful network that’s known for influencing state policy is now targeting education issues like school choice as the movement battles a new wave of hostility from Democrats who oppose charter schools and private school vouchers that use taxpayer money. Koch in June announced the Yes Every Kid initiative as the latest addition to his sprawling network of wealthy donors, political groups and tax-exempt advocacy organizations best known for pushing anti-regulation, small-government policies. Its political arm, Americans for Prosperity, has made waves supporting the tea party and fighting former President Barack Obama’s health care law. The Yes Every Kid group is tasked with monitoring statehouses where it can be influential on school choice, said Stacy Hock, a Texas philanthropist who is among hundreds of donors each contributing at least $100,000 annually to the Koch network’s wide-ranging agenda. Hock and officials with the Koch network said it’s too early to provide specifics about what policies the group is pushing. “The priority is to go where there is a political appetite to be open to policy change and lean in there,” said Hock, who also leads the Texans for Education Opportunity advocacy group that supports charters and other education alternatives.

Government Cooperation on Immigration Enforcement Means Fewer Hispanic Students
When local police partnered with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enforce immigration laws, the number of Hispanic students plummeted, a study finds.
US News By Lauren Camera, Education Reporter July 8, 2019, at 3:57 p.m.
MORE THAN 300,000 Hispanic students have been displaced from K-12 schools in communities where local police have forged partnerships with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to better enforce immigration laws, according to a new study from researchers at Stanford University. The researchers used data acquired from the Department of Homeland Security through Freedom of Information Act requests to identify 55 counties where ICE partnered with local law enforcement agencies to identify, arrest and remove undocumented residents. Between 2000 and 2011, those policies resulted in the displacement of about 320,000 Hispanic students, most of whom were elementary school age and likely born in the U.S. In communities where such partnerships existed, the number of Hispanic students dropped by 10% after just two years. "I was really surprised by the magnitude of this effect," Thomas Dee, a professor at Stanford University and lead author of the study, says. "To see such clear evidence of impact was really quite striking to me. If you look in the years prior to the adoption of these ICE partnerships, there is no change in Hispanic and non-Hispanic enrollment, and then you see this drop-off." The partnerships, the researchers said, worked in two main ways – by encouraging families to leave and discouraging other families from moving there. In contrast, ICE partnerships did not affect non-Hispanic enrollment.

Thousands Are Targeted as ICE Prepares to Raid Undocumented Migrant Families
New York Times By Caitlin Dickerson and Zolan Kanno-Youngs July 11, 2019
Nationwide raids to arrest thousands of members of undocumented families have been scheduled to begin Sunday, according to two current and one former homeland security officials, moving forward with a rapidly changing operation, the final details of which remain in flux. The operation, backed by President Trump, had been postponed, partly because of resistance among officials at his own immigration agency. The raids, which will be conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement over multiple days, will include “collateral” deportations, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the preliminary stage of the operation. In those deportations, the authorities might detain immigrants who happened to be on the scene, even though they were not targets of the raids. When possible, family members who are arrested together will be held in family detention centers in Texas and Pennsylvania. But because of space limitations, some might end up staying in hotel rooms until their travel documents can be prepared. ICE’s goal is to deport the families as quickly as possible.

Immigrant families detained in coming Trump crackdown could be held in Berks County facility
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is reportedly gearing up to arrest thousands of undocumented immigrants across the country, some of whom could wind up in a Pennsylvania detention center. The New York Times reported Thursday that raids are expected to begin on Sunday after they were postponed last month by the administration. Family members who are arrested together will be housed — when possible — in Pennsylvania and Texas, the Times reported. U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., told the Capital-Star Thursday that he hadn’t been briefed on the administration’s plans, but he suggested that the Berks Family Residential Center — a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Leesport , Pa., near Reading, — could be where the administration plans to detain immigrant families. Toomey has toured that facility, he said. “It’s actually quite a nice and comfortable environment,” he said, adding that “there’s not much security there.” The facility, about 65 miles northwest of Philadelphia, is a former senior living center that was converted to house immigrants in 2001, WHYY reported in April. In March, ICE officials said Berks had nine residents in the 96-bed facility.


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!

In November, many boards will be preparing to welcome new directors to their governance Team of Ten. This event will help attendees create a full year on-boarding schedule based on best practices and thoughtful prioritization. Register now:
PSBA: Start Strong: Developing a District On-Boarding Plan for New Directors
SEP 11, 2019 • 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
In November, many boards will be faced with a significant transition as they prepare to welcome new directors to their governance Team of Ten. This single-day program facilitated by PSBA trainers and an experienced PA board president will guide attendees to creating a strong, full year on-boarding schedule based on best practices and thoughtful prioritization. Grounded in PSBA’s Principles for Governance and Leadership, attendees will hear best practices from their colleagues and leave with a full year’s schedule, a jump drive of resources, ideas for effective local training, and a plan to start strong.
Register online at MyPSBA: www.psba.org and click on “MyPSBA” in the upper right corner.

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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