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 18, 2020
Unified voice for
public education: Join us for Advocacy Day March 23rd
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.
As a membership benefit, there
is no cost to register for this event. Your legislator appointments will
be coordinated with the completion of your registration. Registration
closes on March 17. Click here for more information, details
about registration or to view an agenda of the day.
POSTED
ON FEBRUARY 17, 2020 IN PSBA
NEWS
PA Budget Talk: An Exclusive With Governor Wolf and PSBA
PSBAvideo•Premiered
Feb 11, 2020
An exclusive one-to-one discussion between
Governor Tom Wolf and PSBA CEO, Nathan Mains covering the proposed 2020-21
state budget. Hear more about the increases in basic and special education, the
charter reform proposal, minimum teacher salary increase and other elements of
the proposed budget with potential impact to public schools.
Safe2Say tips have AG Shapiro calling for mental health
counselors in all Pa. schools
WPXI News By: Mike
Holden Updated: February 17, 2020 - 4:54 AM
In its first year, Pennsylvania’s Safe2Say Something anonymous reporting system for
schools, students and community members has received more than 40,000 tips,
according to Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro. Shapiro said most of
the tips dealt with issues such as suicide, self-harm, depression and anxiety. “As I traveled across Pennsylvania to talk to
students about Safe2Say, they
weren’t peppering me with questions on school shooting drills or metal
detectors. They were talking about fellow students who seemed depressed, came
to school without lunch, and chronic online bullying,” Shapiro said in a news
release. In light of the results of Safe2Say Something, Shapiro is asking to put at least
one mental health counselor in every school building in the commonwealth. “We
need additional funding to ensure there is at least one mental health counselor
in every school building in PA,” Shapiro said. “We must expand mental health
services in our schools.”
“For more than a year, district leaders have pushed for more
state funding, estimating the district needs nearly $20 million more each year
to receive the average per-pupil state allotment for districts with similar
demographics. If Pennsylvania distributed all basic education money through the
funding formula enacted in 2016, the district would receive an extra $32.5
million a year. Instead, only new money — any increases the state gives districts
for the year — is distributed through the formula that better accounts for
factors such as poverty, the number of English language learners and local tax
effort.”
Scranton teachers rally for fair funding, safer schools
Scranton Times-Tribune BY SARAH HOFIUS HALL,
STAFF WRITER / PUBLISHED: FEBRUARY 17, 2020
SCRANTON — As the sun set today, Scranton
teachers rallied for a better tomorrow. More than 200 teachers and community
members gathered outside Scranton High School, demanding safer schools, fair
funding and more opportunities for the district’s more than 10,000 students. “If
we don’t speak for them, who will,” asked former Scranton Mayor Jim Connors. As
teachers work in their third year under an expired contract, the district faces
many uncertainties. Recently revealed asbestos issues in most city schools
could greatly alter the district’s recovery plan. The district, still the
subject of an ongoing criminal investigation, also has not announced whether it
will offer preschool classes in the fall. “We want our students to have what
students across Pennsylvania should have,” said Rosemary Boland, president of
the Scranton Federation of Teachers. “What is more important than the children
and their education?”
Exclusive: Superintendent William Hite Says Lack Of
Financial Resources Chiefly Behind Asbestos Crisis In Philly Schools
CBS3 By Joe Holden February
16, 2020 at 11:13 pm
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Relief is coming to
parents and students who attend Ben Franklin High School and Science Leadership
Academy in Spring Garden. The shared school building reopens on Tuesday after
being closed since October because of asbestos. For several months, the School
District of Philadelphia has wrestled with what has become a crisis involving
asbestos across a handful of city schools. Superintendent William Hite
exclusively spoke with CBS3 on Sunday night. The first question: From an
administrative perspective, what went wrong? “We have a lot of old school
buildings here in the City of Philadelphia. In fact, any school that was built
prior to 1978 is likely to contain asbestos, containing materials and lead
paint and that is 80% of our schools,” Hite said. “When you think about that
and then you actually add to that years, or decades I should say, of not doing
deferred maintenance and not having the resources or revenue to address capital
issues, then you have these things that begin to happen.” It’s a staggering
statistic. Four out of every five schools in the city are now dealing with
asbestos.
Why did the crisis seemingly explode this
school year? Hite says decades of deferred maintenance for one and there has
been little-to-no money to tackle the costly problem.
Students will get back inside Ben Franklin High, SLA
after a long delay, $50M in renovations
Inquirer by Kristen A. Graham, Updated: February
17, 2020- 2:03 PM
Five months after students last attended
classes in the sprawling building at Broad and Green Streets, Benjamin Franklin
High and Science Leadership Academy students are going back in on Tuesday. The
two schools had to vacate their building for
temporary locations in October amid damaged asbestos and problems with a $37
million renovation job to upgrade the Ben Franklin building as SLA, the elite
magnet school, moved in. The delay and environmental clean-up will put the
final project cost at as much as $50 million, Superintendent William R. Hite
Jr. said. Construction was largely finished in January, said Hite, who led a
press tour Monday, but officials used the extra time to take hundreds of air
samples and thoroughly clean the building — which Hite said is now “completely
asbestos safe.” The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers’ environmental director
has also signed off on re-occupancy.
A western Pennsylvania school district ran out of paper.
That’s everything you need to know about school funding in Pa. | Analysis
By Kim Lyons Capital-Star Correspondent February
18, 2020
PITTSBURGH — The
news started as a morning tweet on Valentine’s Day that easily could have gone
unnoticed: Katie Couch, a school counselor at the Sto-Rox school district tweeted that
the district had “completely run out of paper for the rest of the year.” The
Sto-Rox superintendent told the Tribune Review that
the “surprising” shortage was due to “a conservative spending budget.”
How it came as a surprise to anyone is a bit
puzzling: look at the number of Sto-Rox teachers who posted requests for
paper for their individual classrooms
on Donors Choose, a Go-Fund-Me site for “public school teachers in need of
funding.” One reads: “I teach in a low-income Title I school district where
100% of students receive free breakfast and lunch. Despite the daily struggles
many of my students face, they come into my class knowing they can set their
baggage aside for a while and just be a regular kid in fifth grade.” When
I saw Couch’s tweet, I felt confident two things would happen: first, that the
generous people of southwestern Pennsylvania would step up to help, and second,
that the local news media would focus on that generosity and turn this into a
“feel-good” story (more on that in a second). The worst part of this
story is the problem that isn’t getting fixed by people buying reams of paper.
Because when it takes a school counselor pleading on Twitter to get a
low-income school district enough basic supplies, it’s not a feel- good story. It’s
yet another huge red flag that the way we fund public schools in Pennsylvania —
relying heavily on local property taxes— is badly
broken and needs to change.
Your View: How we can fix Pennsylvania’s teacher shortage
Opinion By RICH ASKEY THE MORNING CALL |
FEB 17, 2020 | 9:12 AM
Rich Askey is a Harrisburg music teacher and
the president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association.
Do you like living in a world with doctors,
engineers, entrepreneurs and artists? We wouldn’t have any of these
professionals — or countless others — without educators. Education is the
career that makes every other career possible. So, it should trouble all of us
that Pennsylvania, like much of the nation, is experiencing a shortage of educators, teaching
assistants and other school professionals. How bad is it? Between the 2012-13
and 2018-19 school years, the Pennsylvania Department of Education saw a 74% drop in the
number of Level 1 teaching certificates it issued. And between 2013-14 and
2017-18, the number of students graduating from Pennsylvania’s teacher prep
programs declined by 32%. This is a
real problem. That’s why the Pennsylvania State Education Association wants to
tackle the educator shortage head-on. We started by asking our members how best
to do that. Here are some of their ideas.
Filling classroom void: Guest substitute program brings
real-life experience
The program is a win-win for schools
districts and for participants
THE EDITORIAL BOARD Pittsburgh Post-Gazette FEB
17, 2020 6:15 AM
The guest substitute teacher program not only
fills a need for school districts that are desperate to find substitutes, but
it brings people with real-world experience into the classroom to share their
knowledge with students. It’s a win-win for districts and the participants, and
a program that more people should be encouraged to consider. The number of
certified teachers in Pennsylvania has dropped dramatically over the last two
decades, often leaving school districts scrambling to find certified
substitutes. The state Department of Education created an option for districts
to use substitutes without teaching certificates — guest substitutes — to cover
the vacancies that spring up almost daily. The option has been embraced by many
school districts, particularly because of the continuing decline in the number
of certified teachers. Officials at the Allegheny Intermediate Unit said that
20 years ago, the state would issue about 14,000 teaching certificates a year.
As recently as 2016-17, the number dropped to about 4,400. That’s where
participants in the guest substitute program have stepped in to fill the void.
Candidates for the program must have a bachelor’s degree, complete in-person
and online training and spend two half-days in classrooms for observation.
New after-school program helping students at Avon Grove
West Chester Daily Local by MediaNews Group February
18, 2020
WEST GROVE - A new after-school program at
Avon Grove High School is helping underprivileged students to get a jump start
on their careers. ESCALERA, a national program from UnidosUS, is currently
serving about 1,000 students in 21 sites nationwide. The career readiness
program focuses on opening eyes and doorways for underrepresented youth that
may not have a family history or experience in pursuing higher education. “It
is important to have a program like this,” said Brian Luna, a high school
junior in the program who is interested in studying psychology. “A lot of us
don’t realize all that you have to do to apply to college.” LCH (La Comunidad
Hispana) offers the ESCALERA model to students in southern Chester County
through Avon Grove high school, where thirteen students meet after school once
a week.
Career and technical education keeps America’s economy
strong | Opinion
Glen R. Mort, For The Inquirer Updated: February
17, 2020 - 12:41 PM
Glen R. Mort is the vice president of
accreditation for the Middle States Association Commissions on Elementary and
Secondary Schools, based in Philadelphia.
In Pennsylvania and throughout the country,
there is an increasing focus on the need for high-quality career and technical
education in order to ensure that future workers are well equipped to meet the
economic needs of the 21st century. With total student loan debt at an all-time
high of $1.4 trillion, according to a recent study by Experian, there is
growing bipartisan recognition that the cost of a traditional four-year college
education is unaffordable for many students and families and that an
alternative path to the workforce is necessary. There is little question that
high-quality career and technical programs can provide students with life-changing
opportunities that may not otherwise be available to them, and can play a
critical role in helping America’s employers access a skilled workforce. Pennsylvania
offers more than 1,700 career and technical
programs in over 200 schools serving
thousands of students across the commonwealth, and that number is likely to
grow exponentially in the coming years.
Don’t restrict rights of families in Pa.
Citizens Voice LETTER TO THE EDITOR by Nicole
Manley MTSS Coordinator at Agora Cyber Charter School, PUBLISHED: FEBRUARY 18, 2020
Editor: I’ve been reading a lot about pending
legislation that could shut down cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania and
restrict the rights of families to freely choose these public-school options.
This breaks my heart, because Insight Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School is the
one place where my students feel accepted, understood, and can grow at their
own pace. I have always had a soft spot in my heart for students struggling
with math, because as a young student, I struggled with math. It always seemed
to be a race and everyone else around me was ahead by laps. My students are
improving and learning that math isn’t so impossible, and they have a space
where they can make mistakes without fear. In my cyber classroom, we sing and
dance our way through mistakes, because mistakes are proof you are learning.
And when they start a problem over, they are not starting from scratch, but
from experience. I’ve had students with serious medical issues that forced them
to accumulate devastating truancy issues at their local brick-and-mortar school
— do they not deserve to have the same education at their fingertips as their
healthier fellow students? I’ve had students literally in tears and afraid to
go to school for fear of bullying or potential future school shootings — do
they not deserve to feel safe?
Cyber charter schools are serving thousands
of students with similar needs, but they can only do so if parents in our state
have power and freedom to choose their school.
“Trump, in his State of Union speech, also proposed a $5 billion Education Freedom
Scholarships and Opportunity Act, something Education Secretary Betsy
DeVos supports and Republican lawmakers first
introduced. The proposed legislation would allow states to give tax
credits to individuals and corporations for the cost parents incur when they
choose to send their kids to private schools or opt for homeschooling. Similar
tax-credit programs were already set up in eighteen states, as a
workaround to provisions in state constitutions that forbid funneling tax money
to private religious schools (the majority of private schools are
religion-affiliated). These programs, which distribute vouchers from a
nonprofit created by the state, are entirely funded from private individuals
and corporations, even though donors are mostly remunerated by getting the tax
credit. If this sounds like a legal form of money laundering, that’s because it is.”
The Charter School Movement Is Imploding. What Comes Next
May Be Worse
Trump’s plan for ‘school choice’ will lead to
the further privatization of public education.
The Progressive by Jeff Bryant February 17, 2020
“For
too long,” Trump declared in his
State of the Union address on February 4, “countless American children have
been trapped in failing government schools.” Trump, to shore up his
point, introduced two
guests in the audience: Stephanie Davis, a black single mom from Philadelphia,
and her fourth-grade daughter, Jayinah, who the President said was on a
waitlist in Pennsylvania's voucher program. Trump then revealed that one of
these voucher had magically “become available” for Jayinah. It turns out
that none of this was quite true.
First, federal officials—Trump, included—do
not have the power to issue a school voucher for a child in Pennsylvania or any
other state. Jayinah was only able to skip a waiting list more than 40,000
applicants for a voucher because of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who
promised to personally fund her tuition for an indefinite number of
years.
Second, Trump called Jayinah’s school a
“government school”—the term privatization advocates use when they refer to
public schools. But, as The Philadelphia Inquirer reported, she wasn’t
enrolled in a public school. She was attending a charter school, which are
often privately managed and, though run on public funds, not truly
public.
And finally, Trump blamed Pennsylvania
Governor Tom Wolf for thwarting the girl’s admission into a private,
voucher-supported school. He claimed that Wolf recently vetoed a bill to expand
the state’s voucher program, but that’s not the whole picture. While Wolf
did veto an expansion bill, he also passed a budget that expanded the voucher
program and provided larger tax breaks for low-income families who are eligible
to apply.
How Do The Current Democratic Candidates Stack Up On
Public Education?
Forbes by Peter Greene Senior Contributor Feb 17, 2020,
02:34pm
You’d be hard-pressed to find many
single-issue voters whose single issue was public education, but if you could
find such animals, what could they make of the current set of Democratic
contenders? Ignoring other issues, including what may be the biggest question
of them all (”How would you get Congress to enact any of this?”), how do the
candidates stack up in education? It is heartening to see so much substantive
education policy discussion; four years ago it was good enough to be for pre-K
schools and against for-profit charters, the policy equivalent of being for
kissing babies and against armed yetis riding on unicorns. But this time we
have seen a series of policy ideas appear, garner discussion, and spread across
campaigns. At this stage of the race, most campaigns agree that IDEA should be
fully funded, that Title I should be increased by some large amount, teachers
should be paid more, and Betsy DeVos should be done as secretary of education
(this is not exactly a revelation, as most new-party Presidents clean out the
cabinet, but it still gets plenty of applause). Here’s the stack, in descending
order.
Blogger note: support Governor Wolf’s proposed charter reforms:
Reprise: 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
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.
Cosponsor: 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.
Register: 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/
Volunteer your time and talents.
Register Today to Help transform education in
Philadelphia.
Philadelphia Education Fund
Learn More at PEF's Information Session
Tuesday, February 25, 2020 4:30 - 5:30 pm
Philadelphia Education Fund, 718 Arch Street,
Suite 700N Philadelphia, PA 19106
Do you have a willingness to engage with the
students we serve through our college access and college persistence
programming? The Philadelphia Education Fund supports nearly 6,000 students and
serves 16 schools. As a result, we produce and host hundreds of sessions for
students on a range of topics that are intended to help our young people
navigate a successful journey through high school and college.
This Information Session will explain how you
can help!
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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