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
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg
If any of your colleagues would like to be added to the
email list please have them send their name, title and affiliation to KeystoneStateEdCoalition@gmail.com
PA Ed Policy Roundup for Nov. 4, 2019
The PA Ed Policy
Roundup will be offline tomorrow, November 5th, election day. Good
luck to all who are on the ballot. Don’t forget to vote.
Blogger opinion: For 19
years, PA voting taxpayers have had virtually no say in whether or how their
tax dollars are spent on chronically underperforming cyber charter schools;
$463 million in 2016-17
Erie lawmaker plans hearings on cyber charter school bill
GoErie By Dave Fidlin The Center Square Posted
Nov 2, 2019 at 12:11 AM
Republican
State Rep. Curt Sonney said the goal is to make the charter school system
accountable to local communities.
An Erie-area
lawmaker who introduced a bill aimed at changing the structure of the state’s
charter school system said he intends to hold public hearings before the year
draws to a close. In House Bill 1897,
state Rep. Curt Sonney, R-4th Dist., has proposed legislation that would
require all Pennsylvania school districts to offer a full-time cyber education
program. Sonney’s legislation, first introduced Oct. 7, has been met with
criticism from school choice advocates — a reality he acknowledged in a recent
interview with The Center Square — but the goal, he said, is to make the
charter school system accountable to local communities. “I believe that the
system is broken as it is today,” Sonney said in the interview. “My goal is not
to stifle the system, but greatly expand it.” Since their introduction in 2002,
Pennsylvania’s cyber charter schools have been overseen at the state level.
Sonney’s bill would bring their oversight directly under the auspices of local
school districts. But in the interview, Sonney said his goal is not to
overpower the various charter schools that are in place across Pennsylvania. “My
bill would put them up against any other education content provider,” Sonney
said. “Brick-and-mortar charter schools today already have pretty long waiting
lists.”
Reprise Feb. 2018: Inside
The Virtual Schools Lobby: 'I Trust Parents'
NPR by ANYA KAMENETZ February 13, 2018 6:00 AM ET
A free day at the
aquarium! For Marcey Morse, a mother of two, it sounded pretty good.
It was the fall of
2016, and Morse had received an email offering tickets, along with a warning
about her children's education. At that time, Morse's two kids were enrolled in
an online, or "virtual," school called the Georgia Cyber Academy, run
by a company called K12 Inc. About 275,000 students around the country attend
these online public charter schools, run by for-profit companies, at taxpayers'
expense. The aquarium wouldn't be something they could ordinarily afford. So
Morse, her husband, a friend and their children took the day off and drove
downtown to an Atlanta hotel for what was billed as a "day of fun at the
aquarium and learning how to best protect our kids and their educational
options." But what happened, she says, was very different. "They were
trying to usher us, step by step, in kind of a sneaky way, into a
protest," she says. "It was a trick. A basic, classic hustle."
Report offers
‘simple’ fix to special education funding in Pennsylvania
PA Capital Star By Elizabeth Hardison November 1, 2019
A state panel has
less than a month to tell lawmakers if the Pennsylvania lawmakers whether they
need to tweak the formula that distributes more than $1 billion in funding for
special education each year. Pennsylvania’s Special Education Funding
Commission, a 15-member panel of lawmakers and state agency officials,
has traveled across the
state this
fall to hear educators and school administrators sound off on special education
funding in Pennsylvania’s public schools. The panel is set to return a
report to the General Assembly by Nov. 30 with its recommendations on how
to distribute special education funding to the state’s 500 school
districts. One month ahead of that deadline, a team of researchers and
education reform advocates have some ideas of what those recommendations should
look like. A report published Thursday by the Education Law Center, a
statewide legal aid service, and Research for Action, a Philadelphia-based
nonprofit organization, suggests that state lawmakers scrap the existing
special education funding formula, arguing it contains flaws that “give an
artificial boost” to wealthy districts at the expense of poorer ones. In its
place, they said, the Legislature should adopt a new one that’s modeled off
another education formula that’s already on the books — Pennsylvania’s basic
education funding formula, which was adopted in 2016 in an effort to achieve
more equity in school funding.
Report recommends change in how Pa. special education
dollars are allocated
The change
would benefit districts like Philadelphia that serve more historically
disadvantaged student groups.
The notebook by Dale Mezzacappa November 1 — 9:44 am, 2019
A new report from the Education Law Center and Research for Action recommends a
small but significant change in how Pennsylvania special education dollars are
allocated that would mean millions more for Philadelphia and 160 other
districts, many of which serve many low-income students and students of color. The
report comes as a state legislative commission is re-evaluating a formula for
allocating special education dollars to districts – now about $1 billion
annually – that was originally adopted five years ago. The change involves
tweaking the method used to determine a district’s wealth and tax effort. In
2016, two years after the adoption of the special education formula, a
different legislative commission devised a formula for allocating basic
education funding. That commission used updated metrics that more accurately
reflected districts’ conditions and needs. The report suggests using those
updated metrics for the special education money as well. The sticking point is
that while 160 districts from throughout the state would gain funds if the
recommendation were adopted, more than 300 would get less money. The report
suggests phasing in the changes in a way that would minimize losses for those
districts – or adding $150 million more to the overall allocation, which would
guarantee that no district received less than the year before. The legislative
commission held public hearings in October and is expected to issue its report
in November.
“While Donegan kindergartners last year
started the school year reading 51 percentage points below where Hanover kindergarten students were reading, Donegan
kids almost closed the gap, ending up just 6 points behind Hanover
kindergartners. Additionally, Donegan kindergartners were reading at the
district average. Roy credits the “Reading By Grade 3″ initiative, an
approximately $3 million program that provides training, materials and support
to teach elementary staff about the science behind learning how to read and how
to apply it. All of Bethlehem Area’s elementary schools have seen improvement
in kindergarten reading since the program started. Roy also attributes
Donegan’s growth to its classification as a community school through United
Way, which is how school coordinator Rosa Carides-Hof came to work with
students there.”
Even with more
resources, Bethlehem’s lower income schools struggle to match peers
THE MORNING CALL |
By JACQUELINE PALOCHKO NOV 01, 2019 | 7:00 AM
In teacher Floralba
Melendez’s classroom at Donegan Elementary School in Bethlehem, 16 third
graders sit in clusters of four reading the story “Bruno’s New Home.” “Follow
along,” Melendez instructs a little boy in the front row. “The lion in the
story learned an important lesson,” the boy reads, sometimes pausing between
words but completing the paragraph correctly. “The story inspired Bruno.” Ready
to learn, the students raise their hands on this Wednesday in September when
Melendez asks questions about the story. Then they partner up to discuss the
plot and read aloud in the voices of characters. When students walk into her
classroom, Melendez wants them to set their worries aside, if only for a few
hours, and just learn. She and her colleagues go out of their way to remove
what impediments they can, such as hunger and cold. They send kids home with
backpacks full of food on the weekends, and provide coats and scarves all
winter long. “When they come through our doors, they get everything they need,”
Melendez said. “We make sure they don’t have to worry about anything else.”
“Those changes that need to be made,
that could be made and the choices about the changes to be made, are in the
hands of the Legislature, the governor and individual legislators. Every one of
those have to make choices, have to vote on various legislation and that’s
where change will occur,” Hartman said.
Study: Structural changes needed to fund educational
system
Williamsport
Sun-Gazette by PAT CROSSLEY pcrossley@sungazette.com NOV 3, 2019
Unless structural
changes are made by the Legislature in the way schools in the state are funded,
the state educational system will continue to be divided into have and have-not
districts, according to a study by William Hartman and Timothy J. Shrom. About
25 community and educational leaders attended the event of the Pennsylvania
Economy League at Lycoming College. Shrom is director of research for the state
Association of School Business Officials. Hartman is a professor at Penn State
in the educational leadership department. Both were part of a consortium formed
to support state legislators, local officials and education policymakers in a
review of ways to improve public school finances. The duo has published a
policy brief based on their findings entitled “A Tale of Haves and
Have-Nots: The Financial Future of Pennsylvania School Districts.” The
focus of their study was fiscal conditions for the state’s 500 school districts
from 2017 to 2022. It featured a review of district revenues and expenditures
to illustrate the shortfalls and surpluses that resulted.
Arts charter school not welcomed
Pocono Record By Maria
Francis Posted
Nov 2, 2019 8:17 PM Updated Nov 2, 2019 8:53 PM
POCONO SUMMIT - On
Oct. 28, Dr. Thomas Lubben announced that he is bringing the new Pocono Charter
Arts High School to the area located at the old Shawnee Tabernacle building in
Tobyhanna. At a Thursday press conference, Superintendent of Pocono Mountain
School District (PMSD), Dr. Elizabeth Robison responded, “Let me state this
quite strongly and quite clearly – this rural area already offers amazing arts
and music educational programming and opportunities for all of our students.
You don’t need a specialized school to offer specialized and individualized
arts and music programs for students.” “There is no deficit of music and arts
programs and opportunities for students in PMSD, just the opposite is true,”
said Robison. “When other school districts throughout Pennsylvania were forced
to cut their arts and music programs due to budget constraints, PMSD expanded
such opportunities for our students.” Robison said students already have real
‘choice’, the choice to attend PMSD and excel in music and the arts. They have
the additional choice of having input into the electives available to them,
which are based upon student interest surveys. “While charter schools promote
the concept of school choice, at times they promote a very limited concept of
school choice that benefits the charter schools founders and organizers more
that the students,” said Robison. “We are not Allentown, Bethlehem or Easton.
We offer more opportunities for our students than any charter school can hope
to offer.” Senator Mario Scavello said he believes charter schools were meant
to be put in areas where the schools were not doing their jobs, or possibly not
getting proper funding, not in an area where you’re excelling in the arts and
education. “By doing this, you are actually hurting the students in your
school, where you are going to cut into their dollars, taxpayer dollars that
should stay here in the public school system,” said Scavello.
Blogger note: We have followed campaign
contributions closely for several years. Here are three tweets we pushed out on
Friday that follow a recent $1 million contribution by school privatization Students
First PAC. Follow me on twitter at @lfeinberg to see the PA Department of State
Campaign Finance reports associated with these tweets.
Following
the Students First PAC money (1 of 3)
Students First PAC (Yass,
Dantchick, Greenberg) give $1 million on August 6, 2019 to Commonwealth
Children's Choice Fund where Matt Brouillette (formerly of Commonwealth
Foundation) is listed as Chairman.
Follow the
Students First PAC money (2 of 3)
Then Commonwealth Children's
Choice Fund makes two contributions to Commonwealth Leaders Fund (where
Brouillette is listed as Treasurer): $300,000 on 9/18/19 and another $100,000
on 10/9/19
Follow the
Students First PAC money (3 of 3)
Then Commonwealth Leaders Fund
gives Christylee Peck for Superior Court Committee $300,000 on 10/14/19;
Friends of Megan King (also Superior Court candidate) $98,000 on 10/21/19;
$202,000 to the Republican State Committee on 10/18/19.
“The Republican campaigns and outside
spending are being bankrolled largely by Jeff Yass, a cofounder of the Bala
Cynwyd-based investment company Susquehanna International Group, and real
estate investor Clay Hamlin III, founder of the Bryn Mawr-based firm LBCW
Investments, records show. Yass, a school-choice advocate who backed Democratic
State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams' 2010 gubernatorial campaign and 2015 bid for
Philadelphia mayor, in July contributed $1.25 million to a group called
Students First PAC. A few weeks later, Students First donated $1 million to a
newly formed PAC that later routed $400,000 to a GOP group called Commonwealth
Leaders Fund. Hamlin also cut a $250,000 check for the fund, which has since
contributed more than $700,000 to the two Republican campaigns, the state GOP,
and a PAC that is airing TV ads statewide. Yass' and Hamlin's contributions
account for about 86% of Commonwealth Leaders' fund-raising haul.”
Here’s who’s
bankrolling Pennsylvania’s judicial races
Morning Call By ANDREW
SEIDMAN PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER | OCT 31, 2019 | 10:41 AM
Democrats,
Republicans, and special interest groups have poured at least $2 million into
television ads in an otherwise quiet race for two statewide appellate
judgeships in Pennsylvania, according to a media buyer. Four candidates are
seeking election Tuesday to two open seats on the 15-member Superior Court,
which typically sits in three-judge panels in Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and
Pittsburgh, and hears thousands of appeals every year on civil and criminal
cases, as well as family matters. Most of its decisions stand; only a select
few are taken up by the state Supreme Court for review. Ads funded by
Pennsylvania Democrats and like-minded groups are urging voters to "send
Trump a message" by electing Democratic judges, and warn that GOP jurists
would oppose abortion rights. The Republican candidates are touting their
experience as prosecutors and judges who sent "drug pushers and child
abusers to prison" and "kept our families safe."
Why does Gov. Wolf want to take school choice away from
Pennsylvania voters? | Opinion
Penn Live By Patricia Rossetti Today 8:02 AM
Patricia Rossetti is CEO of PA Distance
Learning Charter School.
Pennsylvania
families who believe that every parent has the right to choose the best school
for their children are about to be in for the fight of their lives — and their
children’s futures. On August 13, Gov. Tom Wolf announced that he would be
taking executive action to rewrite the commonwealth’s charter school law
because, in his words, “While many charter schools are succeeding, others,
especially some cyber charter schools, are underperforming and we are not doing
enough to hold them accountable to the taxpaying public and the children they
serve.” Unfortunately, Gov. Wolf appears to be taking action without being
fully informed on the data and effectiveness of existing charter school
education. Even worse, he is not alone. On Oct. 4th, Pennsylvania House
Education Committee Chairman Curt Sonney announced his plan to introduce a bill
that will require every public school district in the state to build and offer
its own cyber charter system by next year. His proposed bill, HB 1897, seeks to
“eliminate the tension between school districts and cyber charter schools.”
Pennsylvania and New Jersey reading scores decline on
‘nation’s report card’
Inquirer by Maddie Hanna, Updated: November 1, 2019- 2:07 PM
Pennsylvania and
New Jersey students held steady in math but showed declines in reading, with
eighth graders in both states notching steeper-than-average drops in those
scores, according to the latest national education benchmark. Philadelphia
students also registered greater declines than their peers in other large
cities in eighth-grade reading on the National Assessment of Educational
Progress (NAEP) test. Known as the “nation’s report card,” the test is
administered every two years by the National Center for Education Statistics.
The 2019 results, from nearly 600,000 exams given to students between January
and March, were released Wednesday. Both states rank relatively well
nationally, New Jersey in particular. And some experts caution against reading
too much into two-year changes.
“The fund has provided over $139 million
in higher education scholarships to more than 9,300 Pittsburgh Public School
graduates since 2008. More than 3,200 Pittsburgh Promise recipients have
graduated from higher education programs and are working in the Pittsburgh
region, according to figures provided by the fund.”
Pittsburgh Promise
scholarship fund grows by $4.8 million
Trib Live JAMIE MARTINES | Sunday, November 3, 2019 3:13 p.m.
The Pittsburgh
Promise scholarship fund grew by $4.8 million in new contributions this year,
Executive Director Saleem Ghubril announced Friday. About $1.2 million of that
total was raised through a fundraising gala, “A Night of Promise,” held
Saturday evening. The event featured
a performance by
Grammy and Tony winner Leslie Odom Jr., a Carnegie Mellon University graduate.
PSBA New and Advanced
School Director Training in Dec & Jan
Do you want
high-impact, engaging training that newly elected and reseated school directors
can attend to be certified in new and advanced required training? PSBA has been
supporting new school directors for more than 50 years by enlisting statewide
experts in school law, finance and governance to deliver a one-day foundational
training. This year, we are adding a parallel track of sessions for those who
need advanced school director training to meet their compliance requirements.
These sessions will be delivered by the same experts but with advanced content.
Look for a compact evening training or a longer Saturday session at a location
near you. All sites will include one hour of trauma-informed training required
by Act 18 of 2019. Weekend sites will include an extra hour for a legislative
update from PSBA’s government affairs team.
New School
Director Training
Week Nights:
Registration opens 3:00 p.m., program starts 3:30 p.m. -9:00 p.m., dinner with
break included
Saturdays: Registration opens at 8:00 a.m., program starts at 9:00 a.m. -3:30 p.m., lunch with break included
Saturdays: Registration opens at 8:00 a.m., program starts at 9:00 a.m. -3:30 p.m., lunch with break included
Advanced
School Director Training
Week Nights:
Registration with dinner provided opens at 4:30 p.m., program starts 5:30 p.m.
-9:00 p.m.
Saturdays: Registration opens at 10:00 a.m., program starts at 11:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m., lunch with break included
Saturdays: Registration opens at 10:00 a.m., program starts at 11:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m., lunch with break included
Locations
and dates
- Saturday, December 7 — AW Beattie
Career Center, 9600 Babcock Blvd., Allison Park, PA 15101
- Saturday, December 7 — Radnor
Township School District, 135 S. Wayne Ave., Wayne, PA 19087
- Tuesday, December 10 — Grove City
Area School District, 511 Highland Avenue, Grove City, PA 16127
- Tuesday, December 10 — Penn Manor
School District, 2950 Charlestown Road, Lancaster, PA 17603
- Tuesday, December 10 — CTC of
Lackawanna County, 3201 Rockwell Ave, Scranton, PA 18508
- Wednesday, December 11 — Upper St. Clair
Township SD, 1820 McLaughlin Run Road, Upper St. Clair, PA 15241
- Wednesday, December 11 — Montoursville
Area High School, 700 Mulberry St, Montoursville, PA 17754
- Wednesday, December 11 — Berks County
IU 14, 1111 Commons Blvd, Reading, PA 19605
- Thursday, December 12 — Richland
School District, 1 Academic Avenue, Suite 200, Johnstown, PA 15904
- Thursday, December 12 — Seneca Highlands
IU 9, 119 S Mechanic St, Smethport, PA 16749
- Thursday, December 12 — School
District of Haverford Twp, 50 East Eagle Road, Havertown, PA 19083
- Saturday, December 14 — State College
Area High School, 650 Westerly Pkwy, State College, PA 16801
- Saturday, January 11, 2020 — PSBA
Headquarters, 400 Bent Creek Blvd, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050
Film Screening: PERSONAL STATEMENT with director Julie
Dressner Penn C89 Sat, November 9, 2019, 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM EST
Location: Zellerbach
Theatre, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 3680 Walnut Street, Philadelphia,
PA 19104
Please join us for
a free screening and panel discussion of PERSONAL STATEMENT. This award-winning
documentary film created by a Penn alumna features three inspirational high
school seniors who are working as college counselors in their schools and are
determined to get their entire classes to college, even though they are not sure
they are going to make it there themselves. Screening will be followed by a
panel discussion with director Julie Dressner (C’89), cast member Enoch
Jemmott, Netter Center founding director Dr. Ira Harkavy (C'70 GR'79), and
others. Free and open to the public! (Registration strongly encouraged but not
required.)
Webinar: Introduction
to PSBA’s Equity Toolkit
NOV 12, 2019 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
The equity toolkit
supports school entities as they incorporate equity into district practice.
This webinar will offer a walk-through of the components of the toolkit, from
the equity lens approach to the equity action plan. Participants are encouraged
to ask questions and share experiences throughout the webinar.
Facilitator: Heather Bennett J.D., Ph.D., director of equity services
Pennsylvania School Boards Association
Pennsylvania School Boards Association
Registration URL: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1261156731797681154
*Note: registration closes one hour prior to the event.
*Note: registration closes one hour prior to the event.
UPDATE: Second Workshop Added Thursday, November
14, 2019 9:30 am to 3:00 pm: Adolescent Health and School Start Times:
Science, Strategies, Tactics, & Logistics Workshop in Exton, PA
The first workshop on November 13 sold out in
less than 4 weeks. Thanks to recent additional sponsorships, there will
be a second workshop held on Thursday, November 14. Register HERE.
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 a
second interactive and solutions-oriented workshop on Thursday, November 14, 2019 9:30 am to 3:00 pm Clarion
Hotel in Exton, PA. The science is clear. Many middle and high schools 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.
For more information visit the workshop
website www.startschoollater.net/workshop---pa or
email contact@startschoollater.net
Congress, Courts, and
a National Election: 50 Million Children’s Futures Are at Stake. Be their
champion at the 2020 Advocacy Institute.
NSBA Advocacy Institute
Feb. 2-4, 2020 Marriot Marquis, Washington, D.C.
Join school leaders
from across the country on Capitol Hill, Feb. 2-4, 2020 to influence the
legislative agenda & shape decisions that impact public schools. Check out
the schedule & more at https://nsba.org/Events/Advocacy-Institute
Register now for
Network for Public Education Action National Conference in Philadelphia March
28-29, 2020
Registration, hotel
information, keynote speakers and panels:
Know Your Facts on Funding and Charter Performance. Then
Call for Charter Change!
PSBA PA Charter
Change Website September 2019
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.