Monday, September 23, 2019

PA Ed Policy Roundup Sept. 23: “I Trust Parents”: What did the 9/18 Allentown Morning Call, 9/17 Pittsburgh TribLive, 9/3 Harrisburg Penn Live, and both the 9/10 and 9/18 editions of the Delco Times, Pottstown Mercury and West Chester Daily Local all have in common?


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.

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PA Ed Policy Roundup Sept. 23, 2019
“I Trust Parents”: What did the 9/18 Allentown Morning Call, 9/17 Pittsburgh TribLive, 9/3 Harrisburg Penn Live, and both the 9/10 and 9/18 editions of the Delco Times, Pottstown Mercury and West Chester Daily Local all have in common?



They all ran opinion pieces authored by Colleen Cook, an Oklahoma resident who is president of the National Coalition of Public School Options, entitled “Tom Wolf’s Attack on Charter Schools”; or “Pennsylvania Limits School Choice for Students”; or “My Child Might Have Died Without School Choice”. Perhaps you saw some of them.

As someone who has written and submitted opinion pieces to many Pennsylvania press outlets over several years, I have to say that I envy the penetration Ms. Cook’s piece was able to gain across the state.

Skillful marketing? Dogged determination?

Here’s an NPR (I know; liberal media…) piece from February 2018 describing some of K12, Inc.’s continuing efforts in support of their virtual school products and services. It suggests a connection between K12 funding and Ms. Cook’s National Coalition for Public School Options

“K12 Inc. is the largest operator of virtual charter schools, with 111,000 students. Connections Academy, the second largest, says it has 65,000 students.
K12 was co-founded in 1999, with an investment from "junk bond" financier Michael Milken and his brother. The founding chair of the board, William Bennett, who served as education secretary under President Ronald Reagan, resigned in 2005 after making racist remarks. In the early 2010s, the company settled multiple shareholder lawsuits based on its poor student and financial performance.
Betsy DeVos and her husband, Dick DeVos, formerly owned stock in K12 Inc. In October, Kevin Chavous was hired as K12 Inc.'s president of academics, policy and schools. Chavous was a founding board member of the American Federation for Children, the organization DeVos chaired before joining the Trump administration.”
Inside The Virtual Schools Lobby: 'I Trust Parents'
NPR February 13, 2018 6:00 AM ET
The travails of virtual schools have split the charter school movement. The national organizations representing traditional charter schools have sought to put daylight between themselves and virtual schools, going so far as to question "whether virtual schools should be included in the charter school model at all," in the words of NACSA. With states and even other charter schools massed against them, virtual schools and their supporters have fought back. They've lobbied politicians and donated millions to their campaigns. They've pushed for changes and exceptions to accountability systems. They've taken legal action. And, they've organized a network of lobbying groups to make it appear that parents don't care about test scores — that test scores and other accountability measures actually don't matter at all. What matters, they say, is parent choice. This message is summed up in a phrase that has also often been a rallying cry of DeVos. It lives online as a hashtag: #ITrustParents. At times, their opponents say, virtual schools have resorted to "smear tactics," using parents as cover. Like that "day of fun and learning" Marcey Morse got invited to in Atlanta.
Let's take a closer look at some of the players in this ongoing drama.

Blogger note: if you enjoyed watching the video last week of Speaker Turzai where he dismissed public educators as "special interest people" who don't care about students, you may have some interest in his 2020 challenger…
Emily Skopov will challenge Pa. House Speaker Mike Turzai again in 2020
PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE localnews@post-gazette.com AUG 1, 2019
After losing by almost 9 percentage points in 2018, Marshall Democrat Emily Skopov said today that she will again challenge Pennsylvania State House Speaker Mike Turzai for the 28th Legislative District seat. Mr. Turzai, a Republican, has held the seat since 2001 and been the House speaker since 2015. Democrats have challenged him six times, but Ms. Skopov, riding a wave of Democratic energy following President Donald Trump’s election in 2016, was the first to get within 10 points. The 28th District is located entirely within Allegheny County, and includes Pine, Bradford Woods, McCandless, Franklin Park and Marshall. In a press release announcing her run, Ms. Skopov argued she could win because of “demographic and ideological shifts” in the district. “This district is one of the few in Pennsylvania to be currently experiencing unprecedented growth. Mr. Turzai has demonstrated an inability to recognize, let alone understand, these changes and the changing needs and priorities of the residents that he purports to represent,” she said.

A Pa. House Committee is voting on an ‘In God We Trust Bill.’ Because, of course | Monday Morning Coffee
PA Capital Star By  John L. Micek September 23, 2019
Good Monday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
Just about a week ago, our new pals at the investigative journalism site Spotlight PA made a bit of a splash by reporting that the Pennsylvania General Assembly, one of the nation’s largest and best paid, didn’t do much in the way of actual law-making anymore. In the midst of that thorough and well-reported story, House Democratic Whip Jordan Harris, D-Philadephia, suggested that lawmakers were putting quality over quantity by “trying to be more deliberate about which bills they introduce.” So, from our “Hold My Beer” file, we bring you state Rep. Cris Dush, R-Jefferson, who has not only located a solution in search of problem, but has also cannily tracked it to its lair and throttled the life out of it. He’s sponsoring legislation that would allow local school districts to plaster “In God We Trust” in classrooms and other parts of school buildings. The reason, according to Dush, is to pay homage to the “rich history” of the slogan, which had far less to do with protecting the nation’s moral fiber than it did with countering the Red Menace.
Under the terms of this latest grenade in the culture wars, school districts could display the motto in “the form of mounted plaques or artwork from a student contest that will be prominently displayed in each school building,” he wrote in a memo seeking co-sponsors for his proposal. If Dush were merely shouting at the clouds for the first time, that would be one thing. But, as his co-sponsorship memo makes clear, it’s his second try at introducing the legislation. And it comes amid a broader national push to squeeze religion into the schoolhouse. There’s even model legislation to help lawmakers on their way, as Forbes reported in September 2018.

“Failing schools” is a meaningless phrase | PennLive letters
PennLive Letters to the Editor by Scott Bonner, Mechanicsburg Updated Sep 19, 2019; Posted Sep 19, 2019
In her pro-charter school letter, Colleen Cook repeatedly mentioned “schools that fail.” Nowhere in her letter does she ever mention what her definition of “fail” is. Is her definition of “fail” a school that does not meet the designated benchmarks for standardized testing? Probably not, because as president of the National Coalition for Public School Options, Ms. Cook almost certainly is aware that charter schools have not produced standardized test results any better, sometimes not even as good, as many traditional public schools. I can think of a local high school whose enrollment surnames read like a roll call of the U.N. General Assembly. Every day, teachers and administrators work hard and smart to balance relatively free student expression with peaceful co-existence in what is the 21st Century version of the American Experiment. This high school does not “wow” media outlets with lofty standardized test scores, but to clumsily label it as failing is a deep and ignorant injustice. Is a “failing” school something subjective? Is it in the eye of the beholder? If we cannot operationally define what a failing school is, then we end up with the label being hurled haphazardly based on quirks, grudges, and prejudices. I propose that responsible people take the time to consider all the societal influences that traditional public schools have no control over, recognize the legions of dedicated educators working in what is well beyond professional good faith, and assign the phrase "failing schools" to the dustbin of history.

Blogger note: Pugliese Associates is a lobbying firm whose listed clients include the Public Cyber Charter School Association, K12, Inc. and the PA Leadership Charter School

“Pugliese Associates is activity engaged in preserving the ability of parents to choose charter and cyber charter instruction so their children can have educational opportunities. We are addressing the daily assault on charters by the traditional school districts who have seen an increase of student transfers.”
Pugliese Associates’ Pursuit to Retain Robust PA Charter School Options
Pugliese Associates Website Author: Rick Allan
(5 Important Clarifications on the Topic)
Recently there have been many discussions in the news and within PA on the topic of charter school reform. The charter school movement started over 25 years ago as a taxpayer funded tuition and at that time ran independently of the traditional school districts. Later, PA passed the charter school law, ACT 22 of 1997.  Then in 2002, Governor Schweiker signed Act 88 into law allowing cyber charter schools to be an additional option for parents to choose the best education for their children.  Pugliese Associates was instrumental in the development and passage of the cyber charter school law as it remains today. Charter schools offer another educational choice for parents and their children, and enrollment has risen in recent years with state enrollment reaching approximately 137,000 students – approximately of which 40,000 are enrolled in one of the Commonwealth’s 15 cyber charters. It speaks volumes that so many parents are currently choosing the charter school option for their children. It goes to the core of what so many Pennsylvanians still want in terms of parent choice. Clearly the traditional district school model does not work for every child.

Ana Meyers, Executive Director of PA Coalition Of Public Charter Schools, Appointed As Middle States Commissioner
Website of the Commissions on Elementary and Secondary School of the Middle States Association
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Ana Meyers, executive director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools as a new commissioner. In her current role, Meyers manages a statewide coalition of 125 charter schools. Previously, she was director of legislative affairs and director of partnership programs at LeadingAge PA, a statewide association representing 360 non-profit senior facilities. She has also served in the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue and advocated for school choice and charter reform legislation as a state director with FreedomWorks. Meyers is a native of Brazil and earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration in marketing and international business from Baylor University. Her extensive leadership background gives us a stronger understanding of the relationship between education and government affairs.  “Ana is well versed in education reform and the impact of state government on schools locally,” said Lisa Marie McCauley, Ed.D., president of the Middle States Association Commissions on Elementary and Secondary Schools. “She will bring this experience in her role as commissioner and will continue to serve as an important voice for charter school educators everywhere.” "I have been impressed with how the Middle States accreditation process validates the good work charter schools are doing while setting goals for continuous improvement. I’m looking forward to becoming even more engaged with the organization in my new role as a commissioner.” --Ana Meyers

Charter schools not the enemy
Citizens Voice LETTER TO THE EDITOR by Tammy Miller, SHICKSHINNY / PUBLISHED: SEPTEMBER 21, 2019
Editor: I work at a fabulous school, surrounded by people who care. I also choose to send my children to this school. Charter schools are about choice. They are about recognizing that all kids don’t fit into one proverbial box. When I hear elected officials and those in the traditional public school system make comments about charter schools stealing money from traditional public schools, it disgusts me. Competition is healthy. It fosters innovation. It pushes us forward. Perhaps people who have not stepped foot inside a public charter school and do not take the time to look into what good they are doing for children simply don’t like charter schools because they challenge the status quo. Charter schools are not the enemy. Charter schools are simply an option. The funding is shifting from traditional public school districts because parents are choosing the alternative option. Maybe the question that elected officials should be asking themselves is why parents feel the need to make a choice. It is not only about the thousands of students who are currently attending these charters, it’s also about the thousands of students on the waiting lists. It should not be “us against them.” It should be preparing our children to take on the world that lies ahead, and giving them every advantage in our power to help them do so.

La Academia Charter seeks to eliminate 'perceived' conflict of interest with SACA by bringing business services in-house
Lancaster Online by ALEX GELI | Staff Writer Sep 21, 2019
At risk of losing substantial donor support, a Lancaster charter school serving historically underperforming, at-risk students is taking a step toward independence more than two decades after its creation. Founded by the nonprofit Spanish American Civic Association in 1998, La Academia Partnership Charter School, the county’s lone brick and mortar charter school, is working to bring its business services in-house, shifting the responsibility away from SACA. SACA has always managed the school’s money, the vast majority of which comes from local taxpayers. The shift represents an important step to becoming a self-sustaining, independent institution, as concerns from its donors over a potential conflict of interest appear to be rising, school officials say. “In the early days, La Academia was a fledgling charter school, and it needed the support of another organization,” SACA president and La Academia school board Vice President Carlos Graupera said. “It’s been more than 20 years, and La Academia has (grown), and maturity calls for standing on your own.”

In-house cyber school options vary by Valley district
Valley school districts spend hundreds of thousands of dollars operating their own in-house cyber programs, in addition to funding students’ attendance at outside cyber academies. Pennsylvania has 16 cyber charter schools that enroll more than 37,000 students, while last school year, about 400 of the state’s 501 public school districts had in-house cyber education programs, according to data provided by the state Department of Education. Valley school districts offer a variety of cyber schooling options for their students. The $1.2 million Shikellamy spends on students who attend outside cyber charter schools is based on tuition costs of about $10,877 for regular education students and $27,711 for special education students, Superintendent Jason Bendle said. “These costs are set on tuition costs set by the state,” he said. “This is based on school choice, which our state government supports.”

Rep. Frank Ryan: Time to eliminate Pennsylvania property taxes
Delco Times Opinion By Rep. Frank Ryan Guest columnist
There have been discussions about eliminating property taxes for decades. The day of reckoning has arrived. The School Property Tax Elimination Act, HB-13, is in its final draft. In the past two years, we have had extensive meetings with the affected groups to determine how to proceed. This is the result of those efforts.
First, our bill eliminates school property taxes 100%.
Second, the majority of the replacement taxes remain local to our school districts.
Third, we have created a concept called a “local personal income tax” and “local sales tax” so that the new taxes remain local.
Fourth, the replacement taxes for the $15 billion in school property taxes that must be replaced are made up of the following items:
• A local personal income tax of 1.85% which will be paid directly to the school district.
• A local sales tax of 2% will be added to existing items that are already taxed by sales tax and these taxes will be allocated to the school district in the county to which the sale took place.
• A local sales tax of 2% only will be added to food and clothing. These items will not pay the 6% sales tax. Anyone receiving SNAP benefits or public assistance will be exempt from those taxes on food.
• Social Security will not be taxed.
• Retirement income will be taxed at a rate of 4.92% with 3.07% of that tax going to the state and 1.85% of the tax going to the school district. Seniors will save 75% of all the taxes that they currently pay.
• Landlords will be expected to lower rents by the amount of property taxes saved unless they can prove that they did not raise rents when property taxes went up.
Fifth, we have created a lender of last resort for school districts that run into financial distress. This fund of $500 million is designed to protect the school and community in the event of a catastrophe.
Sixth, school districts would be prohibited from reinstating a school property tax. There is a working commission within the Pennsylvania Department of Education that we have established that would allow for legislative fixes or executive branch intervention in school districts where there has been some degree of financial problems not anticipated.

Paul Muschick: Want to reduce Pennsylvania school property taxes? Here’s how it can be done.
By PAUL MUSCHICK THE MORNING CALL | SEP 20, 2019 | 8:00 AM
The news from Harrisburg on the prospects of school tax relief isn’t promising.
A bipartisan group of senators and representatives who have been leading the effort are unlikely to reach a consensus on an alternate funding plan, Morning Call Capitol reporter Ford Turner wrote Thursday. That’s not a surprise. Lawmakers have been talking for years about reducing or doing away with property taxes, with little to show for it. It’s likely that the legislative group will send a list of options to House and Senate leaders, instead of recommending a single solution.
I have three ideas that should be on that list. I also include ideas submitted by senior citizens who are tired of paying rising taxes that threaten their ability to stay in their homes.

Pa. has no standards for teaching climate change in the classroom — so it might not be taught at all
WHYY By Andy Kubis, The Allegheny Front September 20, 2019
This article originally appeared on StateImpact Pennsylvania.
A random act of teaching. That’s how Jeff Remington describes the state of climate change education in Pennsylvania today. “There is no consistency of how it would be taught,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any formal training on how to teach it or why to teach it.” Remington is a science teacher at Palmyra Middle School, outside Harrisburg. He’s also one of 10 national STEM ambassadors for a program funded by the National Science Foundation. He’s been teaching science, but not climate change, for 33 years. Actually, Remington said he’s hard-pressed to think of any teacher he knows who’s tackling climate change in the classroom. That’s largely because Pennsylvania’s current environment and ecology standards don’t address climate change specifically. They were written in 1996 and were adopted 17 years ago. “Our existing standards do talk a lot about man’s impact on the environment and certainly teachers have been doing that,” Remington said. “But the specifics of climate change have not been a part of our old standards.” That means schools in the state are not formally required to teach climate change.

Many Philly students leave school for climate change protest, despite being marked absent
"The government and Congress can't ignore us any more."
The notebook by Dale Mezzacappa September 20 — 12:55 pm, 2019
UPDATED with statement from the School District
It was appropriate that the class that Hazel Carb packed up and walked out of this morning so she could protest climate change was World History. Rather than dwelling on the past, she was thinking about the future. “There’s no point in going to school if the world we’re growing up in is so bad,” said Carb, 14, a 9th grader at Central High School. She took the subway to City Hall, where she met up with thousands more people at the youth-organized protest, including an unknown number of other District students. All of them will be marked absent for the day or part of it. Carb said she would be recorded as missing five class periods. “I guess it will be like we cut class,” she said, a little worried about that, but firm in her conviction that action is necessary. Other students agreed. “It’s the world we’re growing up in, and we want to see change,” said Ren Gibson, 14, a 9th grader at the High School for Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA). Torie Flanagan, 14, also a CAPA 9th grader, said she’s scared to have children when she’s older “because climate change is affecting everything so negatively.”

After environmental risks highlighted, Philly school board gets an earful
Inquirer by Kristen A. Graham, Updated: September 19, 2019
The seventh grader looked up at the powerful adults in front of him, then down at his paper.
“Why are we still in school if there’s asbestos?” Travien Bryson asked the Philadelphia school board. Their worries stirred by the revelation that a teacher at Meredith Elementary School has a deadly form of cancer linked to asbestos exposure, teachers, parents, and students turned out in force Thursday night to plead with the board to take urgent action to address environmental hazards, not just at Meredith but across the city. Travien said he and his fellow students had a lot of questions when they heard that one of their teachers was sick with mesothelioma. “If I have been in Meredith School since kindergarten, how likely am I to develop health conditions related to asbestos?” Travien asked. “Why has it taken so long to address the asbestos around the School District? Now that Meredith is being fixed, what is the plan for other schools?"

“There’s one hundred percent attendance in this class,” says their instructor, Garth Schuler. “They were out there yesterday working in 90-degree heat. They’re just excited to be here.”
GENERATION URBAN FARMERS
W.B. Saul, the largest agricultural school in the country, trains students in the art of farming. Yes, even in the city
Philadelphia Citizen BY JASON WILSON SEP. 18, 2019
It’s a Friday morning at Walter B. Saul High School of Agricultural Sciences in Roxborough, and outside one of the campus barns, a dozen juniors pair up with a horse or donkey. The school year has just begun and they’re learning to brush and feed them, and clean their hooves. “The students are trying to build a relationship with them,” says their teacher, Jane Arbasak. One girl seems a bit skittish around her donkey. “I think you should just get over it,” Arbasak tells her. “You’re going to have to get used to him.” Then, in a moment that is a reminder that Saul students are, after all, teenagers, she scolds another boy for having his phone out. “Esteban! The last time I checked the horses weren’t interested in looking at phones!” “Sorry, sorry” he says, and goes back to brushing his horse. Meanwhile, over in the greenhouse, another group of juniors are given an orientation by their horticulture teacher, Jesse Lepkowski. “What are some of the weekly responsibilities of the greenhouse?” he asks. “Fertilizing?” says one student.  “Yes, we need to fertilize at least once a week.” He also reminds them that the plants need extra water every Saturday to help survive the weekend. “We also need to monitor the ground for weeds,” he says. In another classroom, another horticulture class is preparing to go outside to work on the landscaping. “What we do here, is we fix up our campus and keep it looking neat and nice,” says junior Axae Marrero.

It's not just Elizabeth Forward: Bus driver shortages pose a problem nationwide
MATT MCKINNEY Pittsburgh Post-Gazette mmckinney@post-gazette.com SEP 22, 2019
At 5:30 a.m. Monday, the bus company that shuttles students for Elizabeth Forward schools alerted its emergency contact in the district of an urgent development. Three drivers were unavailable to complete their routes that morning, leaving more than 350 students without bus service and families with practically zero notice to make other plans. The problem spilled into the next several days, frustrating parents and resulting in a court-ordered mediation session. Some questioned whether the interruption was a deliberate escalation in an ongoing contract dispute, which delayed the start of the school year just weeks earlier. McKeesport-based Pennsylvania Coach Lines said it was doing its best under difficult circumstances. Either way, the episode shed renewed light on a persistent, well-documented hurdle that has dogged school districts and contractors alike: a nationwide school-bus driver shortage. Blame a relatively strong job market, a booming gig economy, low pay, irregular hours and the stresses of transporting sometimes rambunctious students. No matter the cause, driver shortages can throw a wrench in the healthy operations of a school district.


Information about the education sessions for the 2019 @PasaSupts @PSBA School Leadership Conference are now live on our website! We hope to see you there! #PASLC2019

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 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!

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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