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 Jan. 28, 2020
Mifflin/Huntingdon County Superintendents call for
charter school reform
Officials declare laws unfair
Lewistown Sentinel by ERIN THOMPSON Education/religion
editor ethompson@lewistownsentinel.com JAN 28, 2020
McVEYTOWN — School officials across the
region joined in solidarity on Monday.
Superintendents from seven area school
districts met for a press conference at Tuscarora Intermediate Unit 11 to bring
attention to the need for reforms to the Pennsylvania charter school law and to
share the impact of inflated charter and cyber school tuition payments in their
communities. The press conference came during National School Choice Week,
which promotes the concept of school choice. Since 2010, Mifflin County taxpayers
alone have spent more than $14.4 million to fund tuition bills for cyber and
charter schools, said Mifflin County School District Superintendent James
Estep, who organized the press conference.
“The real irony is — at Mifflin County — we
already offer online and blended learning programs to 500 students through our
Alpha and MCO programs. I shudder to think how much more burden our taxpayers
would shoulder for cyber and charter tuition if we didn’t run our own programs
— it would likely double to current taxpayer burden to pay for cyber and
charter school tuition.”
Estep referenced “slickly produced” advertisements
run by the cyber and charter school lobby which say they offer a free
high-quality education.
“Let me tell you, it’s not free. You’re
paying for it each and every time you get your school tax bill and because of
the way in which the law is currently written, it guarantees that the price
will continue to grow with each passing year.”
He said studies have shown that students who
attend cyber and charter schools lose the equivalent of about a year’s work of
instruction in math and nearly the same in reading and language arts.
LEARN, Leaders for Educational Accountability and Reform
Network
30 Public School Superintendents in Greater
Philadelphia Call for Charter Reform
YouTube Video by Norristown Area School
District January 27, 2020 Video Runtime: 41:13
“The formation of LEARN comes as even some Republican
legislators are becoming increasingly concerned about the poor academic
performance of the state’s 15 cyber charter schools, with average graduation
rates barely exceeding 50% and scores on state tests that consistently place
them among the lowest-achieving schools in the Commonwealth. About 35,000
students are enrolled in the cyber charters in Pennsylvania, more than in all
but two other states. Virtually all the state’s 500 districts pay for students to
attend these schools, which receive more than $500 million in funds that would
otherwise go to the districts.”
District leaders call for moratorium on new charters
until law is changed
The new coalition, called LEARN, is
statewide, showing that charter reform is not just an "urban" issue.
The notebook by Dale
Mezzacappa January 27 — 10:23 pm, 2020
In what they called an “unprecedented”
coalition, more than 30 superintendents and other school district leaders in
Southeast Pennsylvania — joined by several from the center of the state — are
calling for a moratorium on new charter schools and charter seats until
Harrisburg thoroughly revamps the 23-year-old charter law. They want to reform
the formula for sending payments to these publicly-funded, privately-managed
schools, and strengthen measures for holding the them accountable for financial
integrity and academic success. “It’s time that this happens … the charter
school law is badly broken, and something has to change,” said Frank Gallagher,
superintendent of the Souderton Area School District. “It simply cannot wait
any longer.” The push comes a week before Gov. Wolf, who has said he wants to
reform the charter school law, gives his budget address to the legislature. At
a press conference held Monday at a Norristown elementary school, Gallagher and
other school leaders repeated longstanding complaints about charters — how they
are not required to have a fully certified staff and have “different rules”
when it comes to providing health benefits to employees, for example. And they
said that in 20 years, they have not fulfilled promises that they would be hubs
for educational innovation and produce competition that would lead traditional
schools to improve. Instead, they said, charters have drained money from the
district schools while avoiding transparency and accountability. The superintendents
detailed how “excess” payments to charters, especially for special education
services, were draining their schools of needed services.
“Representatives from the following school districts were
present during Monday’s press conference: Avon Grove School District, Bensalem
Township School District, Bethlehem Area School District, Bristol Township
School District, Centennial School District, Central Bucks School District,
Cheltenham School District, Coatesville Area School District, Colonial School
District, Downingtown Area School District, Ephrata Area School District, Interboro
School District, Lower Merion School District, Methacton School District,
Norristown Area School District, North Penn School District, Owen J. Roberts
School District, Oxford School District, Perkiomen Valley School District,
Phoenixville Area School District, Pottstown Area School District, Quakertown
Community School District, Radnor Township School District, Rose Tree Media
School District, School District of Haverford Township, School District of
Philadelphia, Souderton Area School District, Southeast Delco School District,
Upper Darby School District, West Chester Area School District, and William
Penn School District.”
Delco Times By Rachel Ravina
rravina@thereporteronline.com @rachelravina on Twitter Jan 27, 2020 Updated 11
hrs ago
NORRISTOWN — More than 30
superintendents from districts in five counties across the greater Philadelphia
area announced their intentions to tackle charter school reform during a press
conference Monday at the start of National School Choice Week. “We
are a coalition of school leaders who are standing up for public education and
fighting for charter school reform,” said
Frank Gallagher, superintendent of Souderton Area School District. “It is time
that this happens.” LEARN, or Leaders for Educational Accountability and Reform
Network, is a new coalition of educators whose "first priority is to urge
lawmakers to reform Pennsylvania's outdated charter school law," stated a press
release announcing Monday's forum. Officials from five counties stood
together at Whitehall Elementary School in Eagleville to speak about
changing the current state of charter schools. Jim Scanlon, superintendent of
the West Chester Area School District, said he’s had experience dealing with
charter school law for nearly 20 years. “The only
revisions to charter school law in that time have further undermined the local
control and reduced our ability to hold schools accountable,” Scanlon said.
“That has to change.”
How did these public school leaders kick off National
School Choice Week? By advocating for charter school reform
Lancaster Online by ALEX GELI | Staff Writer January 28,
2020
Dozens of public school leaders kicked off
National School Choice Week Monday by advocating for charter school reform. The
group — which goes by Leaders for Educational Accountability and Reform
Network, or LEARN — are calling for a moratorium on new charter school
applications and a freeze on charter school enrollment until changes are made
to the state’s decades-old charter school law. Monday’s event in Philadelphia
struck a chord with charter school advocates. “It is unfortunate that
Pennsylvania’s school district leaders chose this week to attack public charter
schools, rather than work with them to find solutions,” said Ana Meyers,
executive director of the PA Coalition of Public Charter Schools. Meyers said
funding cuts or a moratorium on charter school applications would
disproportionately harm low-income students and students of color who
"benefit most from Pennsylvania’s public charter schools." Among
LEARN’s members are School District of Lancaster Superintendent Damaris Rau and
Ephrata Area Superintendent Brian Troop. Troop attended Monday’s event. Rau
said she joined the group because she believes “it’s important for
superintendents to advocate together on these important issues and on behalf of
our students, staff and taxpayers.” She said charter school reform could “help
ease the burdens on public schools.”
Pa. superintendents join to demand charter school reform
ahead of Wolf’s budget proposal
Inquirer by Maddie Hanna, Updated: January 27, 2020-
5:41 PM
As school districts send increasingly larger
shares of their budgets to charter schools, nearly 30 superintendents from
across the Philadelphia area joined Monday to call for changes to
Pennsylvania’s charter law in a collaboration they described as unprecedented. District
leaders said they hoped Gov. Tom Wolf — who pledged charter change last
year — would make the issue a priority in his budget address next week,
including by calling for a moratorium on new charters and expansion of existing
schools. "It simply cannot wait any longer,” Souderton Area School
District Superintendent Frank Gallagher said Monday at the news conference in
Norristown. He said "charter school costs are growing faster than our own
district costs” and “hurting public education.” Charter leaders argued that
costs are increasing because students are rejecting traditional schools in
favor of charters. They accused district leaders of “attacking” charter schools
and families during National School Choice Week.
Pennsylvania: Superintendents Form Coalition to Fight
Privatization
Diane Ravitch’s Blog By
dianeravitch January 27, 2020 //
The Resistance grows!
Press Advisory: Thirty Regional School
Superintendents To Come Together to Defend Public Education, Joining Public
District Leaders from Across the State to Urge Reform of Pennsylvania’s
Charter School Law
When: Monday, January 27, 2020 10 a.m.
Where: Whitehall Elementary, 399 North Whitehall Road Norristown, PA 19403
Leaders Form Coalition and Support a
Moratorium on New Charter Enrollment Until Laws Can be Reformed
Leaders from public school districts in the
five-county Greater Philadelphia region are joining with others from across the
state in calling for meaningful, substantive reform of Pennsylvania’s charter
school laws. They also support a moratorium on new charter school applications
and a freeze on additional seats for students at existing charters until reform
is enacted. Public school superintendents and other top school administrators
recently formed LEARN, Leaders for Educational Accountability and Reform Network,
as a way to coalesce around urgent issues impacting public schools, such as
charter reform. They are calling for reform to the way charters are funded, as
well as an improvement in accountability and oversight. Citing an extremely
inequitable funding system, LEARN says charter schools, which are often among
the worst performing schools in the state, are straining public systems.
Extreme increases in charter costs are sending an increasingly greater amount
of public tax dollars to charters, over which locally elected school boards
have little-to-no authority or oversight. LEARN wants to bring charter tuition
payments in line with actual school district costs and provide more
accountability.
Teachers are refusing to enter a Philadelphia elementary
school because of asbestos fears
Inquirer by Kristen A. Graham, Updated: January
27, 2020- 7:57 PM
Teachers and staff at an elementary school in
Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood refused to enter their school building
Monday amid fear that damaged asbestos has not been properly contained. Dozens
of them stood outside Lewis Elkin Elementary School, bundled up in jackets and
hats against the cold, holding signs and occasionally chanting. They said they
would remain outside until Philadelphia School District officials presented
evidence that the building was safe. Some parents left their children at home and
stood with the teachers in solidarity. Others dropped their children off at the
school at D Street and Allegheny Avenue, where administrators and some central
office staff were present. “It’s
unfortunate that they would even want children to be put in there, into a place
that’s not safe,” said Gerry Schmidt, a veteran Elkin teacher. “And if it’s
safe, show us the proof, open the doors, and we’ll get to work.”
“The film will be shown at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 28 in the
Quakertown Community High School’s Performing Arts Center. The screening is
free and intended for high school students as well as seventh and eighth
graders. The high school is at 600 Park Ave. in Quakertown.”
Quakertown school district presenting film on racial
profiling
By JACQUELINE PALOCHKO THE MORNING
CALL | JAN 27, 2020 | 8:19 PM
The Quakertown Community School District will
screen a documentary examining racial profiling Tuesday night, with a
discussion following the showing. The documentary, “Walking While Black:
L.O.V.E. is the Answer,” sheds light on racial profiling among police officers,
and looks at ways to improve relationships between communities of color and
police officers. The movie by A.J. Ali and Errol Webber includes interviews
with law enforcement officers, as well as members of minority communities who
share their experiences. L.O.V.E. is an acronym for “Learn about the community
and the people in it, Open your heart to the humanity of people in the
community, Volunteer yourself to be part of the solution, and Empower others to
do the same," according to a news release from the district. Quakertown
school resource officer Bob Lee worked with Bucks County District Attorney
Matthew D. Weintraub to bring the film to the district.
Which Lehigh Valley schools are among Pa.’s highest
achieving and most improved?
By Rudy
Miller | For lehighvalleylive.com Updated Jan
27, 2020; Posted Jan 27, 2020
It’s not easy to be named a Title 1
Distinguished School.
Only 94 out of the roughly 3,000 public
schools in Pennsylvania have earned that distinction. To get there, your school
must be in the top 5% for achievement for school years 2017-18 and for 2018-19.
Or, it must be in the top 5% for growth for those academic years. Or, it must
have made the greatest gain in achievement in the school’s “all students
group," according to information provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. It’s an
exclusive club. Only 14 schools in the Lehigh Valley made the cut. All public
schools in Pennsylvania with Title 1 programs are eligible. Title 1 is the
federal program that evenly distributes education subsidies from wealthy
communities into the ones that need more support. Here’s the list of Title 1
Distinguished Schools in the Lehigh Valley. The list was furnished to lehighvalleylive.com on
Monday, Jan. 27:
Walton Family Foundation expected to invest $200M in
charters by mid-2020
Education Dive by AUTHOR Naaz Modan@NaazModan PUBLISHED Jan.
27, 2020
Dive Brief:
- The
Walton Family Foundation, through it's Building Equity Initiative,
has spent $185 million over three years to renovate charter facilities,
according to a report released Monday by the foundation, and that number
is expected to reach $200 million by mid-2020.
- The
foundation also said it expects $264 million to be available in the form
of loans for small and emerging charters in high-needs communities to
construct, acquire or renovate facilities.
- In
addition, the foundation announced 26 recipients of its Spark Opportunity
Grant Program, 10 of which are located in Opportunity Zones created by
Congress in 2017. The first round of grants are expected to create 20,000
additional seats for public charter students. The foundation also
opened a second round of grants for the program.
The 5 most serious charter school scandals in 2019 — and
why they matter
Washington Post Answer Sheet By Valerie Strauss Reporter
Jan. 27, 2020 at 4:12 p.m. EST
The new year is bringing calls for new
scrutiny of the charter school sector as the bipartisan support it once enjoyed
has been fracturing, with many Democrats turning against the movement they had
supported. In Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Wolfe (D) had pledged to tighten lax
ethics rules and give school districts the right to limit enrollment at
charters that don’t offer a high-quality education — and now nearly 30
superintendents are calling on him to fulfill that promise, the Philadelphia Inquirer
reported. In Oklahoma, legislation has been
filed for the 2020 session to limit funding for virtual charter schools and
tighten regulation of them at a time when the state’s largest virtual charter
is under investigation over fraud allegations, News4 reported. That’s not
to say that scrutiny is increasing everywhere, but there has been growing
acknowledgment that charter schools have drained resources from public school
districts in some areas and have operated with little oversight, leading in
some cases to scandal. This post looks at the most egregious scandals in the
charter sector in 2019 — and explains why they matter. This was written by
Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education, a
nonprofit organization that advocates for traditional public education and
opposes charters. Burris is a former award-winning principal in New York who
has been chronicling the charter school movement and the
standardized-test-based accountability movement on this blog for years.
PSBA Announces Completion of Commonwealth Education
Blueprint
We are happy to announce the Commonwealth
Education Blueprint is complete! The project is a statewide vision for the
future of public education in Pennsylvania and is a collaborative effort of
individuals that represent the many faces of public education.
Read it here: https://edblueprintpa.org/blueprint
School Finance & Budget Town Hall
This event is set for Jan. 28 at Bensalem
High School
By Lower Bucks Times January 21,
2020
The Bensalem community is invited to a Town
Hall Forum to learn about school funding, finance and the district’s budget on
Tuesday, Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. at Bensalem High School North Wing Audion, 4319
Hulmeville Road, Bensalem.
Speakers include:
Susan Spicka, executive director, Education
Voters of PA
Dr. Samuel Lee, district superintendent
John Steffy, director of business operations.
Everyone is welcome to attend this
interactive presentation and question and answer session.
PARSS Annual Conference April 29 – May 1, 2020 in State
College
The 2020 PARSS Conference is April 29 through
May 1, 2020, at Wyndham Garden Hotel at Mountain View Country Club in State
College. Please register as a member or a vendor by accessing the links below.
Allegheny County Legislative Forum on Education March 12
by Allegheny Intermediate Unit Thu, March
12, 2020 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM EDT
Join us on March 12 at 7:00 pm for the
Allegheny Intermediate Unit's annual Allegheny County Legislative Forum. The
event will feature a discussion with state lawmakers on a variety of issues
impacting public schools. We hope you will join us and be part of the
conversation about education in Allegheny County.
Five compelling reasons for .@PSBA .@PASA .@PAIU school leaders to
come to the Capitol for Advocacy Day on March 23rd:
Charter Reform
Cyber Charter Reform
Basic Ed Funding
Special Ed Funding
PLANCON
Register at http://mypsba.org
School Leaders: Register today for @PSBA @PASA @PAIU Advocacy Day at the
Capitol on March 23rd and you could be the lucky winner of my school board
salary for the entire year. Register now at http://mypsba.org
For more information: https://www.psba.org/event/advocacy-day-2020/
Charter
Schools; Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
PENNSYLVANIA BULLETIN PROPOSED RULEMAKING DEPARTMENT
OF EDUCATION [ 22 PA. CODE CH. 711 ]
PSBA New and Advanced
School Director Training in Dec & Jan
Additional sessions now being offered in
Bucks and Beaver Counties
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
- Monday, February 3,
2020 — Beaver Valley IU 27, 147
Poplar Avenue, Monaca, PA 15061
PSBA Sectional
Meetings
Hear relevant
content from statewide experts, district practitioners and PSBA government
affairs staff at PSBA’s annual membership gathering. PSBA Sectional Advisors
and Advocacy Ambassadors are on-site to connect with district leaders in their
region and share important information for you to take back to your district.
Locations and dates
- Wednesday,
March 18, 2020 — Section 7, PSBA
Headquarters, 400 Bent Creek Blvd, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050
- Tuesday,
March 24, 2020 — Section 1, General McLane
High School, 11761 Edinboro Rd, Edinboro, PA 16412
- Tuesday,
March 24, 2020 — Section 4, Abington
Heights School District, 200 East Grove Street, Clark Summit, PA 18411
- Wednesday,
March 25, 2020 — Section 3, Columbia-Montour
AVTS, 5050 Sweppenheiser Dr., Bloomsburg, PA 17815
- Wednesday,
March 25, 2020 — Section 6, Bedford County
Technical Center, 195 Pennknoll Road, Everett, PA 15537
- Thursday,
March 26, 2020 — Section 2, State College
Area High School, 650 Westerly Pkwy, State College, PA 16801
- Monday,
March 30, 2020 — Section 5, Forbes Road
Career & Technology Center, 607 Beatty Road, Monroeville, PA 15146
- Monday,
March 30, 2020 — Section 8, East Penn
School District, 800 Pine St, Emmaus, PA 18049
- Tuesday,
April 7, 2020 — Section 5, Washington
School District, 311 Allison Avenue, Washington, PA 15301
- Tuesday,
April 7, 2020 — Section 8, School
District of Haverford Twp, 50 East Eagle Road, Havertown, PA 19083
Sectional Meetings
are 6:00 p.m. -8:00 p.m. (across all locations). Light refreshments will be
offered.
Cost: Complimentary for PSBA member entities.
Registration: Registration is now open. To register, please sign into myPSBA and look for Store/Registration on the left.
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
All school
leaders are invited to attend Advocacy Day at the state Capitol in
Harrisburg. The Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA), Pennsylvania
Association of Intermediate Units (PAIU) and the Pennsylvania Association of
School Administrators (PASA) are partnering together to strengthen our advocacy
impact. The day will center around meetings with legislators to discuss
critical issues affecting public education. Click here for more information or register
at http://www.mypsba.org/
School
directors can register online now by logging in to myPSBA. If you need
assistance logging in and registering contact Alysha Newingham, Member Data
System Administrator at alysha.newingham@psba.org
Register now for
Network for Public Education Action National Conference in Philadelphia March
28-29, 2020
Registration, hotel
information, keynote speakers and panels:
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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