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 Feb 12, 2020
“While using tax credits to avoid legal and political problems
associated with school choice and funding faith-based schools is legal in
Pennsylvania, my research reveals that the program leads to increased
educational and wealth inequality. Rather than helping low-income families
afford a private school, most of the $135 million a year in K-12 scholarships
is supporting families that have already chosen private school because they can
afford it. Pennsylvania has the most generous income qualification in the U.S. at $90,000 plus $15,842 per
child; higher if the child has a disability.”
Your View: How using public money for religious schools
would hurt education in Pennsylvania
By JULIE AMBROSE THE MORNING CALL |
FEB 11, 2020 | 9:00 AM
Julie Ambrose is an instructor in technical
leadership at Bloomsburg University.
The U.S. Supreme Court case Espinoza vs.
Montana Department of Revenue is being closely watched by school choice and
public school advocates alike, with a ruling expected
this summer. The central question is whether
states can use taxpayer funds for scholarships to private, religious schools.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Maddie Hanna’s recent
article discussed the likely effect the Supreme Court’s decision would have on
Pennsylvania. I researched Pennsylvania’s
Educational Improvement Tax Credit program for the past five years and
conducted a policy analysis dissertation on the program. The Pennsylvania
program is designed quite differently than the one in Montana. Pennsylvania’s
program is hugely popular but has damaging effects. Private academies and
church-based private schools predated public schools in the United States.
After debating a “pauper bill” to educate poor students, Pennsylvania
legislators created a system of public education in 1835. Those legislators
argued that education for all is a public good — one that benefits the community,
but is difficult to charge for, like firefighters and safe roads.
Why charter school leaders are furious at Trump and Betsy
DeVos
Washington Post Answer Sheet by Valerie Strauss Feb.
11, 2020 at 5:04 p.m. EST
The charter school world was certain it had
faithful supporters in President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
After all, the pair made “school choice” their No. 1 education priority. DeVos
has spent decades working to expand the charter sector. And Trump and DeVos
repeatedly proposed boosting charter school funding, without giving a hint that
federal funding of charters would be in danger under their watch. Now, some
leaders in the charter world, including the head of the nation’s largest
charter school organization, are furious at them. On Monday, the Trump
administration released its 2021 budget proposal, and there was a gargantuan
surprise in the Education Department’s plan for charter school funding. It
calls for the effective elimination of the federal Charter Schools Program
(CSP), which has funded the expansion of charter schools since 1994 to the tune
of $3.3 billion. Forty percent of operational charter schools — which are
publicly funded but privately operated — were created with money from this
program. Instead of maintaining CSP as a discrete program, the administration
is proposing it be lumped with nearly 30 other Education Department programs —
including support for homeless students, civics education, magnet schools and
school safety — into a single $19 billion block grant for states to use as they
want on programs most important to them.
PA Ed Policy Roundup for Feb 10, 2020
1. Adopt resolution for charter funding
reform
2. Ask your legislators to cosponsor HB2261
or SB1024
3. Register for Advocacy Day on March 23rd
‘Without any additional funding, it’s kind of crazy’:
Reaction mixed from districts on proposed full-day kindergarten mandate
The PLS Reporter BY: ANDREW BAHL FEBRUARY
11, 2020
Gov. Tom Wolf announced in his budget address
last week that he will seek to require full-day kindergarten programming in all
districts throughout the state, a year after initially saying his
administration would probe the subject. The problem for districts still
offering half-day programs? The directive does not come with any state funding
specifically earmarked to help with compliance; only promises of broad funding
increases. “Without any additional funding, it’s kind of crazy,” said David
Christopher, superintendent of the Cumberland Valley School District.
Larger school districts hit hardest by
potential full-day changes
While data from the Department of Education
lists Cumberland Valley as one of 45 districts throughout the state to only
offer half-day programming, that isn’t the full story.
Christopher said the district offers an
extended day option for those students who need it. One of the elementary
schools in the district, which has the highest count of students eligible for
free or reduced price lunch, has the extended day option as standard. Another
25 districts have a program similar to Cumberland Valley–half-day for some
students, with a longer program for those who need it. Statewide, over 22,000
kids would shift to a full-day program and Wolf Administration officials have
pointed to the considerable body of evidence that full-day programs are
beneficial to a child’s development. It comes a year after a report was
commissioned on expanding to full-day kindergarten and while Wolf
Administration officials have said it will be released soon, it is unclear when
that will be.
‘Safe2Say Something’ tops 40,382 tips
Bethlehem Press Monday, February 10, 2020 by The Press in Local News
On the one year anniversary of the Safe2Say
program, Attorney General Josh Shapiro today announced Pennsylvania’s anonymous
reporting system for schools, students and community members, “Safe2Say
Something PA” has reached over 40,000 tips from across the commonwealth. Safe2Say
Something was created following the governor’s approval of Act 44 in 2018. The
anonymous reporting system came online Jan. 14, 2019. Pennsylvania was the
first to deploy Safe2Say statewide and to train students and staff in all of
the commonwealth’s 500 public school districts, including private, charter, and
parochial schools. Students and community members can submit tips via PA’s
website, www.Safe2Saypa.org; through
the Safe2Say Something PA app; or via telephone at 844-Safe2Say (844-723-2729).
Most of the 40,382 tips were received through the app (32,998), while 6,512
tips came through the website, and 872 tips were telephoned into the crisis
management center.
The top five categories of tips received
during Safe2Say’s first year:
Pennsylvania launches online application for mail-in
ballots
AP By MARC LEVY February 11, 2020
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania is
launching the website where voters for the first time can request the newly
legalized mail-in ballots ahead of the state’s April 28 primary election, officials
said Tuesday. The mail-in ballots, part of an election reform law signed
in October by Gov. Tom Wolf, now allow all voters to vote by mail for any
reason. The website was live as of Tuesday. Online applicants must supply a
driver’s license number or an identification card number issued by the
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, as well as their name, address,
phone number and email address. Prospective voters can also use the site to
apply for an absentee ballot, and they will be asked questions to determine
whether they qualify for one. Those questions include whether they will be
traveling on the election day or whether they are ill or have a physical
disability that prevents them from voting in person. The deadline for county
election offices to receive applications is 5 p.m. April 21. The deadline for
county election offices to receive a mail-in or absentee ballot in the coming
primary election is when polls close, or 8 p.m. April 28. Voters can also
download and print the application and mail it to their county election office,
or apply in person.
Adopt the 2020 PSBA resolution for charter school funding
reform
PSBA Website POSTED ON FEBRUARY 3,
2020 IN PSBA
NEWS
In this legislative session, PSBA has been
leading the charge with the Senate, House of Representatives and the Governor’s
Administration to push for positive charter reform. We’re now asking you to
join the campaign: Adopt the resolution: We’re asking all school
boards to adopt the 2020 resolution for charter school funding reform at your
next board meeting and submit it to your legislators and to PSBA.
A 120-page charter
reform proposal is being introduced as House Bill 2261 by Rep. Joseph
Ciresi (D-Montgomery), and Senate Bill 1024, introduced by Senators
Lindsey Williams (D-Allegheny) and James Brewster (D-Allegheny). Ask your
legislator to sign on as a cosponsor to House Bill 2261 or Senate Bill
1024.
Map: Pa. education officials hit the road to hear input
on new science standards
PA Capital Star By Elizabeth Hardison February
11, 2020
If you’re an educator, parent, or business
owner who wants a say in what Pennsylvania students learn in science class, the
state Department of Education wants to hear from you. The department recently
announced a statewide listening tour to collect public input as Pennsylvania
prepares to reboot its K-12 science standards for the first time in 20 years. The
standards guide science education for 1.7 million schoolchildren. But they’ve
been in place since 2002, and educators say that drastic changes in the
climate, technology and the labor market have left the framework long-overdue
for a refresh. The Education Department will hold 13 meetings — including two
virtual ones — across the Commonwealth between Feb. 19 and March 12 to take
comment. View the meeting details in the map below or on the education
department’s website. Members of
the public are invited to attend. Register for the events using this form.
Reprise Dec, 2019: Tempers warming: Will a debate over
climate change stall a long-overdue update of Pa.’s science standards?
PA Capital Star By Elizabeth Hardison October 16,
2019
LANCASTER, Pa. — Jeff
Remington was nearly a decade into his teaching career when Pennsylvania set out
to create a new set of guidelines for science education. That was in 1996, the
same year that the first USB port appeared on computers and that a pair of Palo
Alto programmers launched the internet search engine that would become Google.
Dolly the sheep was born, making mankind’s first successful clone of a
life-form, and Nintendo 64 reigned supreme among gamers. Those milestones have
come and gone. But the science education standards that Pennsylvania adopted
remain in place to this day, informing school curriculum and statewide
standardized tests for nearly 2 million children. “We’re still testing kids in
Pennsylvania from this era,” Remington, a middle school science teacher in
Palmyra, Lebanon County, said in early October, when he and a hundred other science
educators convened for an annual statewide conference in Lancaster. “It’s
absolutely crazy.” At a time when Pennsylvania is injecting more money
than ever into STEM programs, experts and educators say the standards that
guide their teaching are wildly outdated, and fail to account for recent
scientific developments or contemporary understandings of how children
learn. One expert estimates that Pennsylvania may have the oldest science
standards in the United States. “The current standards are based on the
best of what we knew back in the ‘90s,” Carla Zembal-Saul, a researcher at Penn
State University, said. “But a lot has changed since then.”
Philly District finds that creating more trauma-informed
schools requires a change of culture
“The world of thinking about trauma, the
importance of school climate and social-emotional learning is 20, 30, 40 years
behind the world of instruction."
The notebook by Paul
Jablow February 11 — 2:51 pm, 2020
Joanna Schwartz, a second-grade teacher at
Eliza B. Kirkbride Elementary School, was about to take a scheduled break and
desperately needed a place to have peace and quiet. But the only place she
could find was a broom closet. A few years earlier, in another school, Schwartz
said teachers were baffled by a third grader who continually fell asleep in
class. Was he bored? Hostile? Disrespectful? None of the three, as it turned
out. His mother had been found dead in a field and this made him afraid
to fall asleep. “So he stayed up all night watching videos.” To prevent scenes
like these from happening, schools around the country are turning to
trauma-informed education, creating an atmosphere that makes it easier for students
to learn and teachers to teach. In a trauma-informed school, Schwartz would
have had a place to recharge her batteries and the source of the third-grader’s
sleepiness would have been discerned much earlier.
U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick meets with Parkland families,
Trump on school safety measures
PA Capital Star By Cassie Miller February
11, 2020
Friday marks two years since the Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Fla., that claimed the lives
of 17 people. With years now rolling by, legislators and families are still
pressing to find a consensus and solution to safer schools. U.S. Rep.
Brian Fitzpatrick, R-1st District, met privately Monday in the Oval Office with
the families of victims of the Parkland shooting and President Donald
Trump. Fitzpatrick, who has been advocating for legislative reform for
school safety with Parkland families, presented Trump with an update on bills
currently under consideration to enhance school safety measures. Included
in the update was HR 3714, or the EAGLES Act of 2019, which
reauthorizes the National Threat Assessment Center of the Department of
Homeland Security through fiscal year 2023 and expands establishes a national
program on targeted school violence prevention in addition to funding school
safety assessments nationwide.
College professor joins race for Pa. Senate seat (PA-31) representing
Cumberland, York counties
Penn Live By Jan
Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com Posted Feb
11, 2020
Carlisle Area School Board member and college
professor Rick Coplen has announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination
for the 31st state senatorial district seat in the April 28 primary. Coplen,
61, of Carlisle, is the second candidate to announce for his party’s nomination
for the seat held by Republican incumbent Mike
Regan who has declared his intention
to seek a second four-year term. Shanna Danielson of
Dillsburg made known her plans to seek the
Democratic nomination for this seat last month. Coplen, who has served on the
school board since 2015, is on the faculty at the U.S. Army War College and
Elizabethtown College. He also serves on the Employment Skills Center Board and
is the former president of the Rotary Club of Carlisle.
Shame on Trump, Betsy DeVos for using Philly girl to
manipulate message on school choice | Opinion
Jonathan Zimmerman, For The Inquirer Updated: February
11, 2020 - 12:11 PM
Jonathan Zimmerman teaches education and
history at the University of Pennsylvania.
In the 1920s, automobile titan Henry Ford
moved the one-room schoolhouse of his youth to the living-history museum he
built in Dearborn, Michigan. Ford recruited 32 local
children to attend the school for
free, greeting each one personally as they arrived in 1929. And he paid a lone
female teacher to take charge, just like the woman who had instructed him as a
boy. I thought of Ford as I read about Philadelphia fourth-grader
Janiyah Davis, who appeared at the State of the Union address
last week. President Trump attacked “failing government schools,” reiterating
his demand for federal tax credits that would make more scholarship money
available for students like Janiyah to attend private and parochial schools. That
effort is stalled in Congress, so Trump announced that Education Secretary Betsy
DeVos—like Ford, a wealthy Michigan scion—would fund Janiyah’s
scholarship herself. “You will soon be heading to the
school of your choice,” Trump told Janiyah. But Janiyah Davis already attends
the school of her choice. It’s a “government school,” and it’s hardly failing;
indeed, it’s one the most sought-after charter schools in Philadelphia. And
that points to a huge difference between these two figures: Henry Ford used his
largesse to build up public schools, whereas Betsy DeVos—like Donald Trump—is
trying to bring them down.
New Application Hearing for High School of Health
Sciences Leadership Charter: January 22, 2020
District Finds Deficiencies Throughout HS2L
Application
Alliance for Philadellphia Public Schools by
Lynda Rubin February 11, 2020
The School District held the second of two
hearings for new charter applications on Thursday January 22. The High School
for Health Sciences Leadership Charter hearing began at 2 PM. Representing
the charter’s founding coalition were Tim Matheney, Incorporator, Founding
Coalition leader, and proposed Board Member; Geordie Bracken, Founding
Coalition member and educational consultant; Michael Whisman, CPA from Charter
Choices, Inc., an educational consulting firm
advising charter investors and operators; and
Attorney Kathleen Nagle. District Chief of Charter Schools
Christina Grant read a summary of the Charter Schools Office (CSO) application
evaluation. Read more here.
Central Bucks, Neshaminy ordered to release blocked app,
website records
Bucks County Courier Times By James
McGinnis Posted
Feb 11, 2020 at 12:54 PM
Since 2016, the National School Boards
Association reports more than 700 cybersecurity “incidents” in public schools. The
Central Bucks and Neshaminy school districts must release records that show how
students are monitored and protected while surfing the net. The Pennsylvania
Office of Open Records ordered the release and gave
each district 30 days to produce the files first requested by this news
organization on Nov. 8 as part of a story on how districts monitor and control
online activity. Central Bucks, Neshaminy and thousands of other U.S. school
districts are under constant threat of cyberattack. Since 2016, the National
School Boards Association reports more than 700 cybersecurity “incidents” in
public schools. In response, some school administrators have turned to
technology that censors or filters the content students can access. Some
districts block access to social media and streaming services.
'It was barely a discussion': Spring Grove schools change
rule on religious expression
Lindsay C VanAsdalan, York
Dispatch Published 11:45 a.m. ET Feb. 11, 2020 | Updated 4:36 p.m. ET Feb.
11, 2020
The Spring Grove Area school board voted
unanimously on Monday to update its high school handbook, striking a line under
its “Student Expression” section that restricted students from speaking freely
about religion. It was a change recommended by the conservative
not-for-profit Independence Law Center, which sent the district a letter Jan.
21 threatening a lawsuit if officials did not update the handbook by
April 1. The handbook listed “Seek to establish the supremacy of a particular
religious denomination, sect, or point of view” as something that would not be
protected by the right to free expression because it violates the rights of
others. The Harrisburg-based law center, which advocates for Christian rights
through legal action, alleged district officials were violating the
Constitution by policing speech about religion.
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
For more information: https://www.psba.org/event/advocacy-day-2020/
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.
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.
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:
PSBA Board Presidents Panel April 27, 28 and 29; Multiple
Locations
Offered at 10 locations across the state,
this annual event supports current and aspiring school board leaders through
roundtable conversations with colleagues as well as a facilitated panel of
experienced regional and statewide board presidents and superintendents. Board
Presidents Panel is designed to equip new and veteran board presidents and vice
presidents as well as superintendents and other school directors who may pursue
a leadership position in the future.
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.
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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