Thursday, September 12, 2019

PA Ed Policy Roundup Sept. 12: "The Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, for example, reported zero low-income enrollment and $500,000 in EITC/OSTC contributions eligible for publicly funded tax credits."


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PA Ed Policy Roundup Sept. 12, 2019



What: AAUW Informal discussion on cyber charter schools
When: 9 a.m. refreshments, 9:30 a.m. panel, Oct. 7
Where: Central Pennsylvania Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, 800 E. Park Ave., State College



Blogger note: Although they are responsible for raising taxes that are sent as tuition payments to cybers, no elected school boards authorized cyber charters and school boards get virtually no information back from cybers besides their invoices. We will continue pushing out cyber charter 990 forms so all stakeholders might have a better understanding of how their neighbors’ tax dollars are being spent.
PENNSYLVANIA VIRTUAL CHARTER SCHOOL Form 990 for FYE June 2017
630 PARK AVE, KNG OF PRUSSA, PA 19406-1408 | TAX-EXEMPT SINCE JAN. 2003
ProPublica Full text of "Form 990" for fiscal year ending June 2017
Tax returns filed by nonprofit organizations are public records. The Internal Revenue Service releases them in two formats: page images and raw data in XML. The raw data is more useful, especially to researchers, because it can be extracted and analyzed more easily. The pages below are a reconstruction of a tax document using raw data from the IRS.
Source: Data and stylesheets from the Internal Revenue Service. E-file viewer adapted from IRS e-File Viewer by Ben Getson.

“Keystone Crossroads compared the contributions received by 151 schools that administer their own EITC/OSTC programs, and compared it with the demographic data that the schools report for other purposes to the state Department of Education.  It found that 57 of those schools reported that they had not enrolled any low-income students, and that another 15 reported low-income enrollment of less than 5%. The Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, for example, reported zero low-income enrollment and $500,000 in EITC/OSTC contributions eligible for publicly funded tax credits.”
EITC/OSTC: Require data on tax-credit scholarships
Citizens Voice by THE EDITORIAL BOARD / PUBLISHED: SEPTEMBER 11, 2019
Advocates of Pennsylvania’s two backdoor voucher programs, which provide public tax credits for private contributions to private schools, say that they help poor kids who are trapped in poorly performing public schools. Well, some of the contributions do so. But as demonstrated by the Keystone Crossroads, a left-leaning policy think tank in Harrisburg, some of the money helps kids who are “trapped” in some of the state’s toniest neighborhoods amid some of its best-performing public schools. Under the Educational Improvement Tax Credit and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit programs, the state awards tax credits to companies that contribute to nonprofit scholarship organizations, most of which are attached to private schools, including religious and secular institutions. The tax credit is 100% for the first $10,000, 75% for anything above that, and 90% for maintaining the contributions for two consecutive years. Credits are capped at $200,000 a year per donor, for two years.

“A quick scan of line items determined by the count reveals just how important the census really is. Its data determine how much communities receive for special education grants, Title I grants, school lunches, and Head Start programs, just to name a few. It affects students and educators in other ways, too—ways sometimes less direct but never less important. A community's share of Section 8 housing vouchers, heating assistance funding, and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits, for example, all depend on census data. In other words, the census keeps kids housed, fed, rested, and safe. In order for students to come to school ready to learn in 2020 and the decade beyond, an accurate count is crucial.”
The Next Census Will Shape Children's Lives. Let's Make Sure We Count Right
An inaccurate count could hurt vulnerable students and schools
Education Week Commentary By Gregg Behr March 5, 2018
These are—to put it mildly—uncertain times. As we've seen repeatedly over the last year, laws and proposals can change overnight: A judge blocks the deportation of "dreamers"; the teacher tax deduction is eliminated, then doubled, then left as it was. For educators, students, and schools, upheaval is the new normal. With so much vying for our attention, it's tempting to overlook what's predictable, what's perennial, what follows a set pattern. Consider the census—perhaps the most reliable and least exciting of all civic events. In the United States, we've been counting our population every 10 years since 1790. In 2020, we'll do it again. Most of us know the principal function of the census: It tells us who lives where and apportions U.S. House seats. And yet it also does so much more than that. The census directs hundreds of billions of federal dollars to hospitals, infrastructure projects, and education each year, exerting unparalleled influence on students, educators, and schools.

PENNSYLVANIA: In FY2016, Pennsylvania received $39,179,047,733 through 55 federal spending programs guided by data derived from the 2010 Census.
Andrew Reamer, George Washington Institute of Public Policy January 2019

The U.S. now spends more on its debt than programs for kids, report | Thursday Morning Coffee
PA Capital Star By  John L. Micek September 12, 2019
Good Thursday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
If the way a government spends its money is a statement of its priorities — and it surely is — then this is not a very good time to be a child in Donald Trump’s America. That’s because, for the first time ever, the United States government now spends more money servicing its debt than it does on the next generation of Americans. That’s according to a new report by the advocacy group First Focus on Children, which tracks government spending on children. According to the report, the share of federal spending on children has dropped by nearly 10 percent since 2015, hitting an historic low of just 7.2 percent in fiscal 2019. Adjusted for inflation, the federal government cut spending on children by 1 percent last year. The Trump administration has proposed further reducing that share to just 6.4 percent of federal spending, the analysis found. It gets there, in part, by eliminating more than 40 pro-kid and pro-family programs, the analysis found. “Treating our children as an afterthought has resulted in one of the highest child poverty rates in the developed world,” the group’s president, Bruce Lesley, said in a statement.

Teachers’ union investigating a possible cancer link to Philly schools, warns of hazards
Inquirer by Kristen A. GrahamWendy Ruderman and Barbara Laker, Updated: September 11, 2019- 6:28 PM
A longtime city educator has mesothelioma — a type of cancer most often caused by asbestos exposure — and Philadelphia Federation of Teachers officials said Wednesday they are investigating a potential cancer cluster linked to widespread asbestos problems in schools across the district. The teacher, who works at Meredith Elementary in South Philadelphia, also spent several years teaching at Nebinger Elementary, a few blocks from Meredith. The union declined to name the teacher, who was diagnosed recently. The teacher has spent more than 30 years in Philadelphia classrooms. As recently as 2015-16, Meredith was flagged by the district as a high-priority school for asbestos removal. Nebinger was one of 19 city schools where teachers and staff tested surfaces for asbestos fibers as part of The Inquirer’s “Toxic City: Sick Schools” series; the school was also one of seven designated for emergency cleanup by the district last year after The Inquirer discovered high levels of asbestos fibers in settled dust there.

PFT, officials demand $100 million to clean up city schools after teacher’s cancer diagnosis
"Let's call it what it is, a disgrace."
The notebook by Dale Mezzacappa and Bill Hangley Jr. September 11 — 9:28 pm, 2019
After a longtime educator was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a lung disease almost always caused by exposure to loose asbestos fibers, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and several local elected officials are calling for an immediate $100 million investment from the state to test and fix health hazards in the city’s schools. While the officials and experts acknowledged that the cause of the teacher’s condition could not be definitively pinpointed, PFT President Jerry Jordan, at a Wednesday press conference, called environmental problems in the schools “systemic” and said that “students and educators are literally risking death whenever they go to school.” He said that during her 30-year career the affected teacher spent 17 years teaching at Meredith Elementary School in South Philadelphia, and before that worked at nearby Nebinger. Jordan said that 160 to 175 of the District’s school buildings contain asbestos, which was commonly used in insulation before 1978. District officials confirmed that estimate. “That’s probably true,” said Brian Joseph, the District’s director of Environmental Services, in a School District press conference held later on Wednesday. “But as long as it is intact, it is not presenting a health hazard.”

A Pa. state senator got the green light to start a school safety nonprofit — but can’t mention his day job
PA Capital Star By  Elizabeth Hardison September 12, 2019
State Sen. Mike Regan, R-York, wasn’t successful in his bid earlier this year to secure $125 million in state funds to help schools finance new equipment, security personnel, and other services that would bolster safety.  He’s now trying a new — and unusual — tactic to get schools what he says is vital to prevent shootings in a post-Parkland America.  Regan announced earlier this month that he will head a new nonprofit foundation called Protect PA Schools, which will collect donations to help private and public schools get security upgrades, personnel, and consulting.  Pennsylvania’s state Ethics Act prohibits Regan, who currently serves as the nonprofit’s president, from using his position as a state senator to solicit donations for his organization.  But the former U.S. Marshal doesn’t think that will be a problem. Speaking to the Capital-Star on Tuesday, Regan said he formed the nonprofit to pursue a “passion” for school safety, which is an area where he’s passed multiple bills since entering the General Assembly in 2013 as a member of the House. 

In ‘substantive’ 40-minute call, Pat Toomey told Donald Trump to ‘seize an opportunity’ on gun background checks. President remains non-committal
By LAURA OLSON THE MORNING CALL | SEP 11, 2019 | 5:14 PM
For nearly 40 minutes Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey and two of his colleagues from across the aisle huddled around a phone, fielding what they described as thoughtful questions from President Donald Trump about hammering out a bill to expand gun background checks. Afterward, the Pennsylvania Republican once again told reporters that the president was engaged and interested in doing something on the issue — but still has not endorsed Toomey’s proposal to expand background checks to all commercial gun purchases or any other ideas that have been put forward since a pair of mass shootings in early August. That could change in the next day or so. Toomey’s Democratic colleagues — U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Chris Murphy of Connecticut — said they expect to hear from the White House as soon as Thursday on whether Trump is willing to endorse any proposals under discussion. “I do think we’re getting to the witching hour,” Murphy said. “I think we will know soon, within the next day or two, if the White House is willing to put a substantive background check bill on the table.”

Editorial: We need to take measures to protect students from gun violence and those measures ought to be constitutional
Lancaster Online by THE LNP EDITORIAL BOARD September 12, 2019
THE ISSUE: Lancaster Country Day School seeks a 1,000-foot “gun-shop-free school zone” around its Manheim Township campus, as well as all other educational institutions in the suburb, LNP’s Junior Gonzalez has reported. The “two-pronged proposal” not only would forbid gun shops within 1,000 feet of the school but would “ban any pictures or drawings of guns that ‘promote the use or sale of firearms’ within the same zone,” Gonzalez noted. The Manheim Township Board of Commissioners heard from a half-dozen residents about the school’s desired zoning proposal at its meeting Monday evening but did not vote on the matter. Even before the February 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas massacre in which 14 students and three staff members were fatally shot in Parkland, Florida, we called for stronger, sensible gun regulation. We’ve lamented the burden placed on students to protect themselves — with active-shooter drills and bullet-resistant backpacks — and railed at the failures of our elected officials to pass sensible gun measures that would keep children safer (and by sensible measures, we don’t mean equipping children with river stones to throw at intruders, as one Schuylkill County school district unbelievably did). Sensible. That’s the word we have used repeatedly. In our view, a 1,000-foot “gun-shop-free school zone” around a school campus strikes us as sensible. Schools should be gun-free zones. Their doors should be locked against intruders; they should be appointed with state-of-the-art security features. But the only people packing heat in a school should be police officers.

Erie School District, Erie Rise Charter negotiating a deal
GoErie By Ed Palattella Posted Sep 11, 2019 at 7:55 PM  Updated Sep 11, 2019 at 7:56 PM
 District wants to end charter school’s renewal case with agreement that would include enrollment cap, “surrender clause.”
The heated dispute over the future of the Erie Rise Leadership Academy Charter School is on a path to end with a compromise rather than a court battle. Erie School District Superintendent Brian Polito said that his administration is negotiating with Erie Rise over how to renew the school’s charter with five conditions. They include a cap on student enrollment and the inclusion of a “surrender clause” that would require Erie Rise to forfeit its charter automatically if it failed to meet certain benchmarks. “This willingness to determine if compromise is possible is notwithstanding the fact that the administration believes that sufficient facts exist to justify nonrenewal,” Polito said in a statement that he read at the Erie School Board meeting on Wednesday night. The School Board, which signed off on the statement, unanimously passed a resolution at the meeting that requires the school directors to vote on Erie Rise’s charter renewal at the board’s Nov. 13 meeting. “This resolution was designed to ensure that Erie Rise and the School District work diligently to resolve the question of renewal,” Polito said in the statement.
The board at the Nov. 13 meeting could also renew the charter with the comprise in place. A rejection of the charter would all but guarantee an appeal to the state Charter School Appeal Board and then state Commonwealth Court.

Hempfield teachers garner support at school board meeting over contract impasse
Hempfield teachers, who have been working without a contract for more than two months, aren’t being shy as negotiations drag on between union representatives and the board. As proof, more than 150 district employees showed up at Tuesday’s school board meeting — some of them even camping outside the administration building — and watched silently as the board conducted its business. Hempfield Education Association President Rik Appleby said the demonstration was a respectful way to “observe the process.” “We continue to work toward a fair settlement … and what’s best for kids,” Appleby said after the meeting. “Our working conditions are the students’ learning conditions.” Several dozen residents also attended the meeting, and a handful of them used the public comment period to advocate for the district’s teachers. In an email through the district’s spokesperson, board President Bill Otto said he appreciated community members getting involved and reiterated the board’s hope that negotiations proceed smoothly. “While it would not be appropriate to discuss contract negotiation details as the school board and HEA continue to bargain in good faith,” he said, “it is important for the public to know that our board members strongly desire to come to an agreement with the HEA that is competitive for our valued teaching staff but also fiscally responsible and sustainable for all community stakeholders.”

Blake staffer fired over Scranton School District funding letter
Times-Tribune BY SARAH HOFIUS HALL, STAFF WRITER / PUBLISHED: SEPT 11, 2019
A letter to the editor, in which an employee in Sen. John Blake’s office challenged the Scranton School District’s argument for additional state funding, has cost the staff member his job. Stephen Brush, who worked in constituent services in the Scranton office of Blake, D-22, Archbald, was fired after the letter published in Monday’s edition of The Times-Tribune. Blake has helped lead the push for more state funding for the school district, which claims it needs an additional $18.9 million a year to receive the average per-pupil state allotment for districts with similar demographics. The state placed the district in financial recovery earlier this year. The state senator said Tuesday that he had no prior knowledge of Brush’s letter, disagrees with it and called it “insubordination.”

Pottsgrove to track school buses with GPS
LOWER POTTSGROVE — It took a couple of meetings, but the Pottsgrove School Board finally got on board Tuesday night with a plan to install global positioning systems on its 56 school buses. Discussion of the matter began last month, but some board members, specifically Ashley Custer and Jim Lapic, questioned the installation costs. Subsequently, Business Manager David Nester convinced the company, Eagle Wireless, to shave about $2,000 off the cost, bringing the price down to initial installation price down to $15,323.

State College school board rejects controversial Papa John’s pizza bid
Centre Daily Times BY SARAH PAEZ SEPTEMBER 10, 2019 11:39 AM, UPDATED SEPTEMBER 10, 2019 10:07 PM
Members of the State College Area School District Board of Directors rejected a controversial bid to purchase Papa John’s delivered pizza for the current school year. The board voted 6 to 3 to reject the bid, with Board President Amber Concepcion, Vice President Amy Bader and board members Dan Duffy, Laurel Zydney, Gretchen Brandt and Lori Bedell opposed and Jim Leous, Scott Fozard and David Hutchinson in favor. Papa John’s gained national attention in 2018 when Forbes reported the company’s ex-CEO and board chairman John Schnatter used the N-word in a conference call following remarks in late 2017 criticizing NFL national anthem protests for negatively impacting shareholders. Schnatter has since resigned and sold most of his company shares, though he remains the largest shareholder with 19% stake in the company. Last year, the board voted pulled its bid for Papa John’s to provide delivered pizza to elementary and middle school students and went with Domino’s instead. It made the decision based on an internal recommendation that Schnatter’s racist remarks violated the school climate policy. This year, in keeping with “restorative justice practices,” district administration recommended Papa John’s delivered pizza again. It found the local Papa John’s franchise had the lowest cost per delivered pizza, and that both the corporation and local franchisee had taken steps to support diversity and equity. A coalition of district parents and community members opposed the latest recommendation on the grounds that Schnatter still owns shares in the company and that, regardless of local efforts, support of the company shows support of bigotry.

Here’s a suggestion for Thursday’s presidential debate: Talk about public education
Washington Post By  Helaine Olen  Opinion writer September 10, 2019 at 2:05 p.m. EDT
When Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) and former vice president Joe Biden got into a dispute about busing at the first presidential debate, it felt for five minutes that maybe, just maybe, we would have a wide-ranging discussion about the continuing inequities in public school education. The moment passed quickly. Worries about public schools have hardly factored in the Democratic primary. Yes, free state college tuition, student loan forgiveness and universal pre-K are subjects of constant talk, but K-12 issues are relegated to the second tier of topics. Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have released plans, and Harris has proposed raising teacher pay, but these ideas are barely discussed, and other prominent candidates such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) haven’t yet detailed their policies. Democrats need to remedy this. According to the Brookings Institution, we are spending less on education as a percentage of gross domestic product than we did in 1970. A decade of underinvestment in education, and lagging teacher pay following the Great Recession led to a wave of teacher strikes in red states in 2018 and in deep-blue Los Angeles this year, with robust public support. A Pew Research Center poll conducted in 2017 discovered more Americans considered the nation’s public schools “below average” than “above average” when compared with those in other countries. While only a small percentage of whites and Asian Americans are dissatisfied with their local public schools, the same is not true for other groups. Almost two-thirds of African Americans say black children do not enjoy the same access to a good public education as whites. The same is true for just under half of Latinos and 4 of 10 Native Americans. And they are right to be unhappy. By the fourth grade, Latino, black and Native Americans are far behind white children when it comes to reading skillsCalculus is offered in half of high schools — an embarrassingly low number in and of itself — but in less than 40 percent of those that educate large numbers of black and Latino students.

Census Could Miss Counting Vulnerable Children, Advocacy Group Warns
Education Week By Christina Samuels on June 27, 2018 1:27 AM
The 2010 census didn't account for 1 million children under the age of 5, and there's a high risk that the 2020 census could miss even more children—a problem the country would have to live with for a decade, said the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation, an advocacy organization.  The warning came as part of the foundation's annual Kids Count data book released Wednesday, which tracks child well-being in four domains: economic well-being, education, health, and family and community. Overall, child economic well-being is on the rise compared to previous years, but the other indicators tracked by the foundation showed more mixed outcomes.  The foundation noted that many children might not be counted because they have complex living arrangements; for example, they're living with nonrelatives, or their families are experiencing homelessness. Or, they might live in high-poverty areas where rental and multi-unit housing is dominant and mobility is high.


What: Informal discussion on cyber charter schools
When: 9 a.m. refreshments, 9:30 a.m. panel, Oct. 7
Where: Central Pennsylvania Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, 800 E. Park Ave., State College
AAUW State College Branch invites you to attend an informational panel discussion to learn more about background and issues connected with cyber charter schools. Join us on Saturday, Oct. 7, at the Central Pennsylvania Convention and Visitors Bureau, 800 E. Park Ave., State College (visitor center off Porter Road). Refreshments, 9 a.m.; panel discussion, 9:30 a.m.
The American Association of University Women State College Branch is part of a nationwide network of about 1,000 branches that are dedicated to advancing equity for women and girls.

Adolescent Health and School Start Times:  Science, Strategies, Tactics, & Logistics  Workshop Nov 13, Exton
Join school administrators and staff, including superintendents, transportation directors, principals, athletic directors, teachers, counselors, nurses, and school board members, parents, guardians, health professionals and other concerned community members for an interactive and solutions-oriented workshop on  Wednesday, November 13, 2019 9:30 am to 3:00 pm 
Clarion Hotel in Exton, PA
The science is clear. Many middle and high school days in Pennsylvania, and across the nation, start too early in the morning. The American Medical Association, Centers for Disease Control, American Academy of Pediatrics, and many other major health and education leaders agree and have issued policy statements recommending that secondary schools start no earlier than 8:30 am to allow for sleep, health, and learning. Implementing these recommendations, however, can seem daunting.  Discussions will include the science of sleep and its connection to school start times, as well as proven strategies for successfully making change--how to generate optimum community support and work through implementation challenges such as bus routes, athletics, and more.   Register for the workshop here: 
https://ssl-workshop-pa.eventbrite.com Thanks to our generous sponsors, we are able to offer early bird registration for $25, which includes a box-lunch and coffee service. Seating is limited and early bird registration ends on Friday, September 13.
For more information visit the workshop website 
www.startschoollater.net/workshop---pa  or email contact@startschoollater.net

“Each member entity will have one vote for each officer. This will require boards of the various school entities to come to a consensus on each candidate and cast their vote electronically during the open voting period (Aug. 23 – Oct. 11, 2019).”
PSBA Officer Elections: Slate of Candidates
PSBA members seeking election to office for the association were required to submit a nomination form no later than June 1, 2019, to be considered. All candidates who properly completed applications by the deadline are included on the slate of candidates below. In addition, the Leadership Development Committee met on June 15th at PSBA headquarters in Mechanicsburg to interview candidates. According to bylaws, the Leadership Development Committee may determine candidates highly qualified for the office they seek. This is noted next to each person’s name with an asterisk (*).

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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