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 4, 2020
Some Selected Provisions of the proposed Charter School Reform
Act of 2020:
• Requires any company running a charter
school to open up their records so the people can see if they’re educating kids
properly or just cashing in.
• Requires a statewide, data-driven cyber
charter school tuition rate to make sure all taxpayers are getting the same
results for the same dollars and ending the wide disparity in rates affecting
tuition in neighboring districts;
• Requires charter schools to use the Special
Education Fair Funding Formula public schools use
.@PSBA .@PASA .@PAIU school leaders - this is the best shot
we've had for charter reform in 20 years. Come meet your legislators in their
Capitol offices for Advocacy Day on March 23rd. Register at http://mypsba.org
Wonder where some of that cyber charter tuition goes?
Morningstar: K12 Inc. Executive Compensation
2015-2019
Blogger note: In yesterday’s PA Ed Policy Roundup the link to
this PASBO/PASA Report was not correct. You can view the report at the link
below.
PASBO and PASA Release 2020 Winter School District Budget
Report
By: PASBO On:
01/31/2020 08:21:37
PASBO and PASA today shared their latest
school district budget report, outlining the financial health, needs and
challenges of school districts ahead of state budget discussions.
Click here to read the 2020 Winter PASBO/PASA School District Budget
Report
Click here to read the PASBO/PASA press release
Click here to read the PASBO/PASA press release
Adopt the 2020 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.
“Mike Straub, a spokesperson for House Republicans, said it was
“too early to tell" how much support the charter law changes may have
going forward because the sponsoring lawmakers — Sens. Lindsey
Williams and James Brewster of Allegheny County, and Rep. Joe Ciresi of Montgomery County — were still
collecting cosponsors.”
Inquirer by Maddie Hanna, Updated: February 3, 2020-
6:40 PM
Gov. Tom Wolf is pushing significant changes
to Pennsylvania’s charter school law that his office says could save school
districts statewide $280 million a year and would leave the existing charters
with less funding each year. The changes are outlined in a bill, sponsored
by several Democratic House and Senate lawmakers and released Monday by the
governor’s office, that would change the way district payments to charters are
calculated. It follows Wolf’s call last year to
overhaul Pennsylvania’s rules for charter school funding and accountability, as
districts statewide have complained about how their budgets are affected by
schools that they say they have insufficient ability to regulate. “Every
student deserves a great education, whether in a traditional public school or a
charter school, but the state’s flawed and outdated charter school law is
failing children, parents, and taxpayers," Wolf said in a statement
Monday. “Pennsylvania has a history of school choice, which I support, but
there is widespread agreement that we must change the law to prioritize quality
and align funding to actual costs.”
Blogger note: this cosponsorship memo details some of the
provisions of the proposed charter school bill. You can view
the entire 120 page bill here.
COSPONSORSHIP MEMORANDUM
Posted: February
3, 2020 11:01 AM
From: Representative Joe Ciresi
To: All House members
Subject: Fixing Pennsylvania’s Charter School Law
to protect kids and taxpayers
In 1997 Google and Netflix didn’t exist, but
Woolworth’s still did. The world has changed a lot since then, but one thing
hasn’t: PA’s antique charter school law.
If we’re going to treat ALL schools fairly –
and put kids and families first – we need a law built for 2020 and beyond. We
need them to be partners with our public schools, not competitors for dollars
taken from long-suffering homeowners.
We need to be tough on the schools failing
our kids when it comes to academics, ethics, and cost. We need to reward solid
performers who are innovating while still delivering on our obligations.
We can make our current system better, and
there’s a plan to do that. You’ll know more, you’ll see better results, and
you’ll know your money is being invested to build a future our kids deserve.
The Charter School
Reform Act of 2020 includes:
Protecting Your Right to Know
·
Requires charter school trustees and
administrators to live by the same financial and ethical reporting standards
public school board members and school district officials live up to;
·
Requires charter school meetings to follow
the Sunshine Act;
Protecting Your Property Tax Dollars
·
Requires charter schools to use the Special
Education Fair Funding Formula public schools use to ensure
students in need are getting the results they deserve and preventing huge tax
rate increases on homeowners in districts serving rapidly growing populations
of students with special needs;
·
Requires charter schools to use actual
accounting and enrollment in calculating tuition – backed up by PA Department
of Education – to make sure payments are fair, consistent, and promises are
kept;
·
Requires charter schools to carry enough
insurance to take care of kids and families if the charter closes or the parent
company goes out of business.
Protecting the Future of Our Kids
·
Creates a standard state framework for
charter school applications so potential school operators know just what is
required to deliver success;
·
Standardizes the method to change charter
schools’ missions and goals to reward innovation and best practices, and ensure
school districts have the tools needed to evaluate changes to charters;
·
Creates a state grading system for charters
to allow high-performing schools even more self-determination while focusing
attention on low-performing schools to better serve the kids;
·
Stops the creation of new cyber charter
schools until the existing schools improve performance – right three out of
every four charter schools rank in the bottom five percent of schools statewide
– and charges DoE with creating enrollment and performance standards of the
worst performers.
It’s a big job, but our kids, their parents,
and our taxpayers are counting on us. It’s time for a change for the better.
Please sign onto this bill and let’s get to work on passing a new, modern
charter school law.
View Attachment https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=H&SPick=20190&cosponId=31106
“Here’s what the public should know. The conversion of MCTI to a
full service high school could be fully paid for with existing general funds
from each school district in one year, without incurring any debt, or without
raising taxes, or wondering if there will be more money from the state, if the
county’s school districts were not burdened with the $20 million they currently
must pay in tuition every year for charter schools— schools that simply
duplicate the offerings of existing public schools. We hear a lot about the
virtues of school choice. Here’s a choice: the ability of students to choose a
comprehensive education at MCTI that results in professional credentials and
certifications. This is a real choice, not a made up one. If the legislature is
serious about providing meaningful choice to students, it must relieve school
districts of the burden of paying for charter schools that simply duplicate the
existing public schools.”
My Turn: Give students a real choice
Pocono Record Opinion By Merlyn Clarke Posted
at 10:27 AM February 3, 2020
Senator Mario Scavello writes that the Monroe
Career and Technical School (MCTI) should go forward with plans to become a
full-service high school. This would provide a better opportunity for students
and meet the increasing demand for skilled people in the trades. He correctly
points out that students with an aptitude for the trades can acquire these
skills while in high school and avoid the lost time, expense and often
excessive debt necessary to obtain a college degree— a degree that often does
not guarantee employment or the ability to repay college debt. He further makes the point that, since the
programs at MCTI are currently only part time, students spend many hours every
day either riding the bus or waiting for a bus to transport them to and from
MCTI mid-day when they should be focusing on academics, skill development, or
taking electives or participating in extracurricular activities. He’s right
about this as well.
Almost no one opposes this proposal to convert
MCTI into a full service high school. It’s good for the students. It’s good for
local business. It’s good for the community, as anyone who has trouble finding
a good tradesperson knows. The only obstacle, of course, is the cost, not only
of expanding the MCTI facility, but the cost of supporting the additional staff
needed to provide a comprehensive program. Sen. Scevello speaks of additional
monies being made available from the state, some, apparently in the form of
continuing line items, but others in the form of grants, the availability of
which are not assured from one year to the next. The burden of providing these
additional funds would fall on each of the school districts in the county, that
is, on the taxpayers.
Merlyn Clarke, Stroud Township, SASD School
Board
PA ranked 47th worst state for opportunities for students
of color
West Chester University Quad by Caroline Helms February 3, 2020
The U.S. Department of Education has found
that Pennsylvania gives students of color some of the worst educational
opportunities in the United States. Pennsylvania is ranked the 47th worst state
when it comes to the opportunity gap between black and white students, ranking
similarly between Hispanic and white students. Educational equality for
students of color has always been an upwards battle and has more ground to
cover. WHYY, a Philadelphia based radio station, states that, “Students of
color in Pennsylvania are far less likely than their white peers to have access
to small classes, certified teachers and advanced coursework.” The American
Psychological Association also reports that black students are 54% less likely
to be recommended for gifted programs than white students. This is not an
observation of the intelligence of black students, but instead an observation
of the lack of resources provided for them. Similar trends can be found in the
treatment of Hispanic students in a K-12 environment.
https://wcuquad.com/6015988/news/pa-ranked-47th-worst-state-for-opportunities-for-students-of-color/
#PaBudget 2020: Our students deserve safe and healthy
schools. This should be Job One | Opinion
By Jerry T. Jordan Capital-Star Op-Ed Contributor February 3,
2020
In January 2016, SEIU member Chris Trakimas
reported to the FS Edmonds school to perform maintenance work on the school’s
boiler and was gravely injured when it exploded. After a long battle,
Chris died of his injuries.
Historically, the task he was performing was assigned to pairs, but years of
austerity left him assigned to the job alone. In May 2017, Cassidy Elementary
student Chelsea Mungo described her school building as “like a prison or a junkyard.” She asked Senator Vincent Hughes why
the color of her skin affected the amount of funding allocated to her school. In
September 2017, as reported in the Inquirer’s Pulitzer Prize nominated Toxic Schools series, 6 year
old Dean Pagan wanted
to keep his desk at Comly Elementary school tidy. So when dust rained down from
the ceiling, and lead paint chips coated his desk daily, he ate them—and now
suffers the life-long effects of severe lead poisoning. And in August 2019, one
of our beloved PFT members, Lea DiRusso was
diagnosed with mesothelioma after having spent her entire career teaching in
schools with known damaged asbestos. After a career of service to
Philadelphia’s young people, she is now undergoing grueling treatment for an
incurable disease.
Enough.
#PaBudget 2020: Let’s talk about fixing Pennsylvania’s
educator shortage | Opinion
By Rich Askey Capital-Star Op-Ed Contributor February 3,
2020
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, school nurses, and counselors. How bad is it? Between the 2012-13
and 2018-19 school years, the Pennsylvania Department of Education saw a 74
percent 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 percent. 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.
Philly schools implement new rules for lockdowns to
reduce trauma
Also planned is the district’s first-ever
staff training dedicated to the procedure.
Billy Penn by Michaela Winberg February 3, 2020
The School District of Philadelphia is
fundamentally restructuring the way it deals with and classifies lockdowns.
Officials hope the changes will lead to fewer interruptions of student
learning, and make the incidents less traumatic. Perhaps the biggest change:
the word “lockdown” will only be used when there’s an unknown individual inside
the building — for example, a potential active shooter. When it’s other
circumstances that warrant a building-wide response, school officials will use
new categories that entail varying levels of severity. They’ll use “lock-in”
for a fight inside the building, and “lock-out” for violence in the
neighborhood. Also new: SDP officials will visit every
school in the district in the next year, training staff on how to deploy these
new categories. While they’re there, they’ll also distribute trauma kits to all
schools, with gauze and tourniquets in case of emergency. Over the past decade,
Philly schools have reported more than 700 lockdowns. That equates to an
average of one lockdown every other school day. Plus, officials admit
record-keeping has been sloppy, so the number probably misses many occurrences.
Our City Our Schools coalition reflects on the fight for
equity, justice in the 2010s
The activist group is now focused on
struggles for fair funding and healthy school buildings.
The notebook Commentary by Kristen
P. Goessling and Pep Marie February 3 10:08 am, 2020
The Our City Our Schools (OCOS) coalition
formed in 2016 with a goal of abolishing the School Reform Commission (SRC) and
regaining local control of the School District. The coalition’s work is dynamic
and it responds to pressing education-related issues in the city. It is
important for our movement to take note of the significant gains and recognize
the people and groups that have led successful campaigns toward education
justice in the past decade. The decade got off to an auspicious start when the
newly elected governor, Tom Corbett, announced a staggering $1 billion cut to
education funding. Corbett’s plan disproportionately affected Philadelphia,
causing the District’s budget gap to reach $629 million in 2011. The SRC responded
with austerity measures and mass layoffs. These measures were met with public
outcry and protests locally and in Harrisburg. This gave rise to the
Philadelphia Coalition Advocating for Public Schools (PCAPS), which included
all three school unions and more than a dozen community-based groups.
"Out of the 6,319 students who received EdChoice vouchers,
we found 4,013, or 63.5%, were never enrolled in the district left footing the
bill for their vouchers."
Curmuducation Blog by Peter Greene Friday,
January 31, 2020
I've frequently kvetched that a central
fallacy at the heart of school choice is the notion that several parallel
school system can be run for the cost of one. "Why," I ask,
"can't politicians have the cojones to just say they think school choice
is so important that they are going to raise peoples' taxes to pay for
it?" Well, the legislature of Ohio (motto "We want to be Florida when
we grow up") is coming really close. You will recall that Ohio school districts are facing an explosion
in costs as they enter the next phase of the privatization
program. Phase One is familiar to most of
us--you start out with vouchers and charters just for the poor families who
have to "escape failing public schools." Phase Two is the part where
you expand the program so that it covers everybody. Well, Ohio screwed up its
Phase Two. Basically, they expanded the parameters of their privatization so
quickly that lots of people noticed. The number of eligible school districts
skyrocketed, and that brought attention to a crazy little quirk in their
system, as noted by this report from a Cleveland tv station:
From the National School Boards Action Center:
National Poll Shows Strong Voter Support for Public
Schools
We surveyed likely voters. Here’s what
they said:
"The Walton Foundation is the biggest single private funder
of charters schools and vouchers in the United States."
For Your Browsing Pleasure: Who Got Walton Money for
Education Disruption in 2018?
Diane Ravitch’s Blog By
dianeravitch February 3, 2020
The Walton Family Foundation is the fruit of
the Walmart chain. It was created by the Waltons, one of the richest families
in the world. The three senior members of the Walton family–Alice Walton, Jim
Walton, and Rob Walton–have a collective net worth in excess of $150 billion.
There is a younger generation of Waltons whose wealth is not included in that
total. The Walton family increases its wealth by $4 million an hour, every hour
of every day. The Walton Foundation has a few causes in which it concentrates
its giving. Reforming K-12 education is one of the major areas for giving. The
Walton Foundation is the biggest single private funder of charters schools and
vouchers in the United States. In 2018, it gave $210 million to a long list of grantees to
promote its K-12 goals, especially privatization of
public schools via charters and vouchers. In the same year, it increased that
giving by another $238.6 million, in a section of its
website called “Special Projects,” many of
which went to the same K-12 charters and vouchers, or advocacy for charters and
vouchers.
Wyndham Destinations pulls Florida voucher donations over
anti-gay school policies
The timeshare company joined Wells Fargo and
Fifth Third Bank in saying they’ll stop donating to the program after
discovering some beneficiaries have anti-LGBTQ policies.
NBC News By Brooke Sopelsa and Ryan
Ruggiero, CNBC January 30, 2020
Wyndham Destinations became the third major
company in three days to announce it will stop donating millions of dollars to
Florida’s private school voucher program after a newspaper investigation found
that some of the program's beneficiaries discriminate against LGBTQ students. Wyndham
said that it told the organization last year that it would "halt funding
if concerns about the voucher program were not addressed." "As we
have not seen any further action to address our concerns, we are today
discontinuing our support and funding for Step Up For Students and hope that
the organization will quickly work with the Florida Legislature to immediately
end any discriminatory practices existing within the voucher program," the
company told NBC News and CNBC on Thursday afternoon. The timeshare company
also said it would re-evaluate its support if the concerns are addressed,
adding, "we remain in agreement with the value in providing low income
families with the opportunity to choose the best education for their
children." The Orlando-based hotel company’s announcement comes just two
days after a similar announcement by Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bank and one
day after an announcement from San Francisco-based Wells
Fargo.
House Oversight Committee Threatens to Subpoena Education
Secretary Betsy DeVos
The committee’s Democratic chairwoman
criticized the education secretary for campaigning on behalf of the president
while ignoring Congress.
US News By Lauren Camera, Senior
Education Writer Feb. 3, 2020, at 2:56 p.m.
DEMOCRATS ON THE HOUSE Committee on
Oversight and Reform threatened to subpoena Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on
Monday, citing a long-standing failure to provide members of Congress requested
documents and her refusal to testify. "Ignoring – or defying – requests
for congressional oversight in order to spend your time campaigning for
President Trump is an abuse of your position as Secretary of Education,"
Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney wrote in a letter to
DeVos. "I am not suggesting that you may never campaign for the president,
but you may not do so when it interferes with your official duties, including
your duty to testify before Congress." DeVos is scheduled to appear at a
steakhouse in Cedar Rapids as a surrogate for the president during the Iowa caucuses on
Monday. She's also slated to campaign for him in Pennsylvania on Wednesday.
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:
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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