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
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These daily emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
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PA Ed Policy Roundup for Jan. 3, 2020
For over a decade, PA
reimbursed districts for stranded costs when students left for charters. In
2011, that $219M budget line was zeroed out.
For over a decade, PA reimbursed
districts for stranded costs when students left for charters. In 2011, under
Gov. Corbett, the state zeroed out this budget line as a $219 million cost
saving measure after the Great Recession. It has not come back.
Reprise 2017: New report on Pa. charter school growth
finds ‘stranded costs’ linger five years later
WHYY By Kevin McCorry September 13, 2017
A new study finds
that expanding the charter school sector in Pennsylvania creates a significant
toll on traditional public school systems, which, based on an array of fixed
costs, can’t downsize at the same rate that students leave. The report, authored by the Philadelphia-based non-profit Research for Action,
delves into one of the central questions of Pennsylvania’s charter school
debate. The key finding here, though, is not new. Past studies of the issue in
Pennsylvania and elsewhere have consistently found that charter schools pose a
negative fiscal threat to traditional systems. But those efforts have often raised more questions than answers, as their
methodologies were not presented openly and transparently. RFA’s study seeks to
reverse that trend by offering a public tool that makes plain its assumptions and calculations, a tool designed
to help school districts better understand and prepare for the effects of
authorizing new charter school seats.
Mon-Yough School
Officials Seek Relief, Changes to Charter School Laws
McKeesport's Holtzman: Current system 'just
cannot continue'
By Richard
Finch Jr. The Tube
City Almanac December 11, 2019
Charter schools are causing “financial instability” to urban school systems, said McKeesport Area School District Superintendent Mark Holtzman Jr. and officials from other area districts, who participated in a state-wide rally Thursday to ask Pennsylvania legislators for charter school reform. The news conference held in McKeesport was part of an effort among nearly 20 other districts and timed to coincide with the 64th anniversary of the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycotts sparked by Rosa Parks. State Sen. Jim Brewster joined Holtzman and school district superintendents Sue Moyer of Duquesne City, Nancy Hines of Penn Hills and Linda J. Iverson of Wilkinsburg to discuss the impact of charter school funding in Mon Valley school districts. Also attending the conference were school superintendents Lisa Duval of South Allegheny, James Harris of Woodland Hills, Ginny Hunt of Clairton and Ed Wehrer of Steel Valley. Thursday's event was organized by the Pennsylvania League of Urban Schools. PLUS leaders called the rally to address “unfair and inequitable” funding and are looking to Gov. Tom Wolf and the state General Assembly for help in reforming Pennsylvania's charter school law.
Charter schools are causing “financial instability” to urban school systems, said McKeesport Area School District Superintendent Mark Holtzman Jr. and officials from other area districts, who participated in a state-wide rally Thursday to ask Pennsylvania legislators for charter school reform. The news conference held in McKeesport was part of an effort among nearly 20 other districts and timed to coincide with the 64th anniversary of the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycotts sparked by Rosa Parks. State Sen. Jim Brewster joined Holtzman and school district superintendents Sue Moyer of Duquesne City, Nancy Hines of Penn Hills and Linda J. Iverson of Wilkinsburg to discuss the impact of charter school funding in Mon Valley school districts. Also attending the conference were school superintendents Lisa Duval of South Allegheny, James Harris of Woodland Hills, Ginny Hunt of Clairton and Ed Wehrer of Steel Valley. Thursday's event was organized by the Pennsylvania League of Urban Schools. PLUS leaders called the rally to address “unfair and inequitable” funding and are looking to Gov. Tom Wolf and the state General Assembly for help in reforming Pennsylvania's charter school law.
PLUS is critical of
the use of private, for-profit management companies to run charter schools.
2020 Legislative
Priorities - Teacher Evaluation Reform.
Tweet from Senator
Aument January 2, 2020 Video Runtime 1:30
These reforms would
reduce the emphasis on standardized testing, acknowledge the relationship
between poverty and student performance, and give our educators useful and
meaningful feedback.
“Three years ago, in January 2017, the
District did a study called the Facilities Condition Assessment that concluded it would take nearly $5 billion to fully
clean up and modernize its vast inventory of buildings that have an average age
of 70 years. That declaration was greeted largely with indifference from
elected officials in Harrisburg and Philadelphia who control the District’s
purse strings. While the state legislature enacted a program called PlanCON for the purpose of fixing school buildings, it currently
has no funding.”
New year opens with protests, concerns about health
conditions in Philly schools
McClure
Elementary to remain closed for another week.
The notebook by Dale Mezzacappa and Avi Wolfman-Arent January 2 — 6:06 pm, 2020
The new year
started off in Philadelphia with more protests and concern over whether
conditions in Philadelphia’s schools are safe for students and staff. Parents
and staff from Alexander McClure School in Hunting Park rallied late Thursday
afternoon outside the nearby Roberto Clemente Middle School, shortly after
officials announced McClure will remain closed until at least Monday, Jan. 13. The District
shuttered McClure and Laura H. Carnell elementary schools temporarily on Dec. 20 after discovering damaged
asbestos. McClure staff were told to report to Roberto Clemente Middle
School on Thursday, Jan. 2, and Friday, Jan. 3, while staff from Carnell were
told to work at the Little School House. It is unclear whether Carnell is
re-opening on Monday, Jan. 6, for students and staff. Early in the morning teachers
and parents held a similar rally outside the Franklin Learning Center, which
was closed several days before the official start of winter break after loose asbestos was
found in an attic air shaft which is important in heating the building. While
that problem was dealt with over the break, the protesters said that the
stately century-old building, which started life in 1908 as the William Penn
High School for Girls, is still full of health hazards that have not been
addressed.
North Philadelphia elementary school to remain closed due
to asbestos concerns
Inquirer by Kristen A.
Graham, Updated: January
2, 2020- 7:27 PM
A North
Philadelphia elementary school will remain closed at least through Jan. 13 to
address concerns about damaged asbestos in heavily trafficked areas, including
several classrooms. The news came Thursday as worried McClure Elementary School
parents, staff, and students pushed the Philadelphia School District for
answers about a growing environmental crisis in schools across the city. The
decision to close McClure to students was made Dec. 19. At first, students were
supposed to return Thursday, but that date has been pushed back as district and
teachers union environmental experts identified more troublesome asbestos in
the school. Jim Creedon, the district’s interim director of facilities,
operations, and capital projects, said at a meeting for the McClure community
that the school system will dispatch crews to abate damaged asbestos in McClure
classrooms, stairwells, and other areas, and hopes that the work will be
complete by Jan. 13.
“The saga of FLC’s building spans more
than a century — and in many ways, mirrors the journey of Philadelphia’s public
school system: from growth-fueled overcrowding to ‘white flight’ to financial
ruin to bureaucratic turmoil.”
How 30 years of broken promises, false starts led to
another Philly asbestos closure
WHYY By Avi Wolfman-Arent December 23, 2019
Lynn Johnson began
teaching at Philadelphia’s Franklin Learning Center in 1999 — and from the
moment she stepped into the aging structure, she heard “constant talk” of a
move. The district had promised to relocate the high school after a 1996
student protest over poor building conditions. Johnson, an award-winning
biology teacher, says she even sat on a planning committee to design new labs
for the forthcoming building. And then… crickets. Promises turned into 16 years
of inaction, and eventually, Johnson retired at age 55 when she developed
a rare auto-immune
disease that
sapped her hearing and vision. She can’t be sure if the ailment stems from
environmental conditions inside her former school, but she wonders. And she
wonders why — after decades of false starts and red flags — Franklin Learning
Center still inhabits a building erected back in 1908. “The school district
isn’t surprised about the conditions at FLC,” said Johnson. “They knew about
this for years, and just fell asleep.”
Funding School Infrastructure
In Philadelphia And Across PA
Comcast Newsmakers with
Vincent Hughes, PA State Senator
Video Runtime 4:10 Posted Dec
23, 2019 Expires Jan 22, 2020
Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent Hughes talks about environmental hazards in school infrastructure and the
issue of equitable funding for repairs throughout the State. Recorded December
19, 2019.
“And that gets to the root of the
problem with the Philadelphia public school district: There are way too many
low-income students in it, as much as 81 percent are in poverty.”
PHILLY SCHOOLS ARE LIKE A SLOW-MOVING ASTEROID
Philly schools are toxic, underperforming and
mismanaged. When, WURD’s afternoon host wonders, is someone going to take
responsibility?
Philadelphia
Citizen BY CHARLES D. ELLISON DEC. 31, 2019
It’s rather amazing
and quite telling on the state of affairs in Philadelphia, that no one in City
Hall has yet broached the subject of firing Schools Superintendent William
Hite. If there ever was a first-step solution to the slow-moving toxic
iceberg hitting
the public school system, it might be that. And overhaul the School Board while
at it. There is an uncomfortable sense, perhaps a sort of Philly-fied and
culturally self-imposed standard, that this too will pass. An
acceptance that the crisis festering throughout the city’s public school system
will simply rectify itself, or that the largely poor residents and their
children who rely on it for daily education, space, food, comfort and a guard
against truancy will have no other choice but to deal with it.
Philadelphia’s black teen boys lose so many friends to
gun violence. Studying how they grieve might help.
Inquirer by Sandy Bauers, Updated: January 2, 2020- 6:00 AM
One out of every 12
shooting victims in Philadelphia was under age 18 in 2018, and the toll only
grew worse in 2019. As gun violence in the city grows, children
are increasingly the victims. Although the
families bear the greatest sorrow, others in the victims’ orbit suffer, as
well. A University of Pennsylvania researcher has been studying the emotions
and grief rituals of black teenage boys in Philadelphia who have lost a friend
— frequently more than one friend — to gun violence. Nora Gross, a doctoral
candidate pursuing a dual degree in sociology and education, spoke to us
recently about her work.
Carlisle School Board approves early bird 4-year contract
with teachers
Joseph Cress The Sentinel January 2, 2020
Carlisle Area
School Board Thursday approved a four-year early bird contract that calls for
an average annual salary increase of 3.16% for local teachers starting in
2020-21. The contract was settled more than eight months before the current
agreement expires in mid-August. The new contract will cover Aug. 16, 2020, to
Aug. 15, 2024. Resolving the contract early allows the district to focus
attention on moving forward with initiatives, Superintendent Christina
Spielbauer said. “The goal was to get it settled so that staff members have a
good idea of where they stand and the district could create a positive,
collaborative working environment.” “The talks were really positive,” said
Ellie Park, president of the Carlisle Area Education Association. “It was never
contentious. It never got heated. We worked through our issues quickly.”
Paid in Full: Fundraising effort raises $23,000 to erase
lunch debt in Carlisle Area School District
By Tammie Gitt The Sentinel January 2, 2020
A recent community
effort to erase the lunch debts for students in the Carlisle Area School
District made its goal — and then some. Organizers of the fundraising
effort said they raised $23,536.21. District officials
have said that 572 students across every municipality in the school district
have negative balances that range from a few dollars to around $1,000. The
unpaid balances total about $22,000. “We
are blown away by the support of our local community not only financially but
with such respect, concern and commitment to our local children and their
families,” said organizer Kristi Knox. Knox, a real estate agent with the Knox Bowermaster Team at Berkshire Hathaway, started the project with a few phone calls
to friends, but took it public last week
13 full moons, 2 supermoons and a blue moon in 2020: Full
moon dates, names and meanings, and 2020 meteor shower calendar
By Steve
Novak | For lehighvalleylive.com Updated Jan 02, 2020;Posted Jan 02, 2020
There will be an
extra full moon in 2020 – 13 in all. That means a blue moon this year. In addition, at least two 2020 full moons will be considered a supermoon, both appearing a bit larger and brighter than usual. But before the January full moon will be the first 2020 meteor shower, which peaks this weekend.
Join us for Advocacy
Day in Harrisburg to support public education Monday March 23, 2020!
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
PA SCHOOLS WORK:
Special Education Funding Webinar Tue, Jan 14, 2020 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM EST
Training: Enhancing
School Safety Jan. 9th, 8 am – 1 pm Council Rock High School South
The training is
provided by the United States Secret Service and the Office PA Rep Wendi
Thomas, in partnership with the Bucks County Intermediate Unit, Bucks County DA
Matt Weintraub and PSEA.
Date: Thursday,
January 9, 2020, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Council Rock High
School South, 2002 Rock Way, Holland PA 18954
This is the
region’s first presentation of the National Threat Assessment Center's (NTAC)
2020 research on actionable plans to prevent violence in schools. The training
is provided by the United States Secret Service (USSS)
and is based on updated operational research conducted by the USSS and the
NTAC. The training will offer best practices on preventing incidents of
targeted school violence. This workshop will focus solely on how to proactively
identify, assess, and manage individuals exhibiting concerning behavior based
on USSS methodologies.
At the conclusion
of the training, attendees will be able to:
· Understand operational research on preventing incidents of targeted
school violence;
· Be able to proactively identify, using USSS methodologies, concerning
behaviors prior to an incident;
· Be able to assess concerning behaviors using best practice standards and
use identified methods to better manage individuals who exhibit concerning
behaviors with the goal of preventing school violence.
Charter Schools;
Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
PENNSYLVANIA
BULLETIN PROPOSED RULEMAKING DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION [ 22 PA. CODE CH. 711 ]
The award winning documentary Backpack Full of
Cash that explores the siphoning of funds from traditional public
schools by charters and vouchers will be shown in three locations in the
Philadelphia suburbs in the upcoming weeks.
The film is
narrated by Matt Damon, and some of the footage was shot in Philadelphia.
Members of the
public who are interested in becoming better informed about some of the
challenges to public education posed by privatization are invited to attend.
At all locations, the film will start
promptly at 7 pm, so it is suggested that members of the
audience arrive 10-15 minutes prior to the start of the
screening.
Backpack Full of
Cash hosted by State
Representatives Mary Jo Daley, Tim Briggs, and Matt Bradford
Monday,
January 6, 2020
Ludington
Library 5 S. Bryn Mawr Avenue Bryn Mawr,
PA 19010
PSBA Alumni Forum: Leaving school board service?
Continue your connection and commitment to public education by joining PSBA Alumni Forum. Benefits of the complimentary membership includes:
Continue your connection and commitment to public education by joining PSBA Alumni Forum. Benefits of the complimentary membership includes:
- electronic access to PSBA Bulletin
- legislative information via email
- Daily EDition e-newsletter
- Special access to one dedicated annual briefing
Register
today online. Contact Crista Degregorio at Crista.Degregorio@psba.org with questions.
PSBA: Required School
Director Training
Your trusted and
approved source
The Pennsylvania
Department of Education has named PSBA an approved provider of required school
director training. Your association has more than 100 years of statewide
expertise in school law, policy, finance and ethical governance, so you can be
sure you’re receiving the highest quality learning, relevant to your role. To
learn when you or your board will be required to complete training hours,
please refer to PDE’s
FAQs here
Act 55 and Act 18
Training requirements specific to you:
• Newly elected and appointed school board directors –
• Successful completion of five training hours.
• Re-elected school board directors –
• Successful completion of three training hours.
Training requirements specific to you:
• Newly elected and appointed school board directors –
• Successful completion of five training hours.
• Re-elected school board directors –
• Successful completion of three training hours.
PSBA knows that
everyone has unique scheduling requirements and distinct learning styles.
Therefore, we have created two pathways in meeting state requirements:
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
- Saturday, January 11, 2020 — PSBA
Headquarters, 400 Bent Creek Blvd, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050
- Saturday, January 25,
2020 — Bucks County IU 22, 705 N Shady Retreat Rd, Doylestown, PA 18901
- Monday, February 3,
2020 — Beaver Valley IU 27, 147
Poplar Avenue, Monaca, PA 15061
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:
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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