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
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These daily emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
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If any of your colleagues would
like to be added to the email list please have them send their name, title and
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Letter: Underfunding urban schools is a form of racism
PSBA Webinar:
Building the Foundation for Equity and Trauma-Informed Approaches Through
Policy JUN 25, 2020 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Learn more and register
today: https://www.psba.org/event/webinar-building-the-equity-foundation-through-policy/
Three tweets yesterday….
@HanoverPublic board of school
directors becomes the 263rd locally elected Pennsylvania school board to adopt
a resolution calling for charter school funding reform. Has your district?
#DanvilleAreaSD board of school
directors becomes the 264th locally elected Pennsylvania school board to adopt
a resolution calling for charter school funding reform.
Has your district?
@SouthEastern_SD board of school
directors becomes the 265th locally elected Pennsylvania school board
submitting a resolution calling for charter school funding reform. Has your district?
261 Pennsylvania School Boards Adopt Resolutions for
Charter Funding Reform
Pennsylvania School Boards Association Press
Release June 19, 2020
Mechanicsburg, PA (June 19, 2020) – Last
year, Pennsylvania school districts spent over $2 billion in taxpayer money on
mandatory payments to brick-and-mortar and cyber charter schools. The school
boards from over 261 school districts across
Pennsylvania have now adopted resolutions calling for the General Assembly to
enact significant charter funding reform. This represents more than half of all
school districts in the Commonwealth. The current charter school funding
formula was established in 1997 under the state's Charter School Law and has
not been changed in the 23 years since it was first created. Because the
tuition rate calculations are based on the school district’s expenses, they
create wide discrepancies in the amount of tuition paid by different districts
for the same charter school education and result in drastic overpayments to
charter schools. These discrepancies in tuition rates for regular education
students can vary by almost $13,000 per student and by $39,000 for special
education students.
The costs of charter schools for school
districts continue to grow significantly each year with charter tuition paid by
school districts up 185% over the last 10 years. On a statewide basis are the
most identified source of pressure on school district budgets. The latest data
from the PA Department of Education (PDE) shows that in 2018-19, total charter
school tuition payments (cyber and brick-and-mortar) were more than $2.0
billion, with $606 million of that total paid by districts for tuition to cyber
charter schools.
“On behalf of all public schools across the Commonwealth, I
earnestly request the public to contact their local senators and
representatives to express their grave concern of the flawed cyber charter
school funding model and the financial damage it is wreaking upon are public
schools. Cyber charter School overpayment has always been a well growing
problem before the COVID-19 crisis, now it is an issue Pennsylvania cannot
afford to overlook for one more year.”
Why attention to huge cyber charter payouts?
Wyoming County Press Examiner Letter By
MATTHEW RAKAUSKAS Jun 24, 2020
Rakauskas is superintendent of Lackawanna
Trail School District.
Due to the economic implications of the
COVID-19 pandemic, Pennsylvania’s public school districts face declining local
revenue collection that is projected to range from $850 million to more than $1
billion for 2020-21. At the same time, Pennsylvania cyber charter schools are
entitled to over $70 million in federal education stimulus funds this fiscal
year to help them weather the financial crisis when they have not experienced
any revenue cuts.
Pennsylvania’s flawed charter school funding
formula already results in overpayments to charter schools and in a time when
school districts are facing significant financial issues as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic, this concerning waste of taxpayer money should not be
allowed to continue. These valuable resources should be utilized to keep public
school districts running rather than overfunding cyber charter schools that are
receiving additional financial gains by other means.
Oberlander Becomes First Woman to Ascend to House Republican
Whip Position
Explore Clarion Posted by Aly Delp Tuesday,
June 23, 2020 @ 12:06 AM
HARRISBURG, Pa. – Rep. Donna Oberlander
(R-Clarion/Armstrong/Forest) was chosen on Monday to become the first woman to
serve as Republican Caucus whip during leadership elections held at the state
Capitol in Harrisburg. Oberlander succeeds Rep. Kerry Benninghoff
(R-Centre/Mifflin), who was selected as majority leader, and Majority Leader
Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster), who became Speaker of the House. “I’m honored and
humbled that my colleagues have chosen me to serve as their majority whip,”
said Oberlander, who also becomes the first state representative from the 63rd
District to ascend to the position, which is considered the third highest in
the House Republican Caucus. “I will continue to represent the members at the
leadership table and ensure that their concerns from all over the Commonwealth
are listened to. We have a unified leadership team, which is imperative during
this critical time in our state, as we work toward a strong recovery from the
COVID-19 crisis.” As majority whip, she will be responsible for tracking House
votes and informing her other 109 Republican colleagues on upcoming issues and
legislation. This is Oberlander’s third role in House Republican leadership.
She was elected as caucus secretary in 2014 and majority Policy Committee
chairman in 2018, a position she has most recently held.
Meet Speaker Cutler: A look at the Lancaster County leader's
approach to his powerful role in the Pa. House
Lancaster Online by SAM JANESCH AND GILLIAN
MCGOLDRICK | Staff writers June 24, 2020
Tuesday was back-to-school day for Bryan
Cutler.
After being unanimously elected to the
highest-profile post in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Monday,
the Peach Bottom Republican was spending his morning in “speaker school,”
meeting with the chamber’s parliamentarian to read through a binder of rules
and past precedents on how to run the chamber. “It's more of an umpire,” Cutler
said of his new job wielding the speaker’s gavel to control the floor debate --
instead of participating as majority leader. “I think I'll miss the debating,
because that was something that I did enjoy. In terms of the legislative
process, I'll get to view that from a different perspective now.” Cutler’s
election comes just as legislators are wrapping up in Harrisburg. Legislators
typically would not return in the fall to pass major legislation just before an
election with their names on the ballots, but 2020 is different. The pandemic
has delayed important budget decisions, and Cutler said Tuesday in his first
official interview since becoming speaker that he believes there will be time
for significant policy discussions left in his shortened term.
Readers' Views: Underfunding urban
schools is a form of racism
Pottstown Mercury Letter by John Barnett, Chester
Springs June 23, 2020
On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania House Education
Committee voted on several resolutions regarding people of color. One
resolution honored Cheyney University, another the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority,
another established a “Historically Black Colleges Week.” The committee is good
at recognizing worthy accomplishments. But it could have ended the systemic
racism of our commonwealth’s funding of public schools. If you compare school
districts in Pennsylvania of similar wealth levels, the pattern is
unmistakable. Whiter school districts receive more money from the Pennsylvania
Basic Education budget per student than the less white districts.
This year, Purchase Line School District,
Indiana County, received over $10,000 per student from State Basic Education
Funding. Pottstown School District, Montgomery County, received less than
$4,000 per student. Both districts have similar wealth levels. The Purchase
Line student population is 98% white. The Pottstown student population is 34%
white. This is one of many examples. The Pennsylvania House Education Committee
could have enacted a bill that it has had in its possession many months. This
bill would have eliminated Pennsylvania’s shameful and unintelligent method of
distributing state education money. HR 961 calls for the full implementation of
PA Act 35 of 2016, distributing state education funds through a
student-weighted fair funding formula. Currently only 10% of the funds are
distributed through the formula.
I urge everyone in the commonwealth to tell
their state representative that now is the time for a rational student-weighted
Fair Funding Formula. Demand that the House Education Committee move forward on
HR 961.
“Before the coronavirus, Black and Latino children were already
less likely to have access to high-quality preschool. School districts with
higher populations of students of color often have less money than majority
white districts. And Black male students experience disproportionate
suspension. In the majority Black Philadelphia schools, Black students are 3.1 times more likely than white
students to be suspended, according to a Pro
Publica analysis. And in the majority white Council Rock School
District in Bucks County, Black students
are 4.3 times as likely as white students to be suspended, the same Pro Publica
analysis concluded.”
Top Obama official says it’s up to Congress to address
racial disparities in public education exposed by COVID pandemic
PA Capital Star By Allison Winter June 23,
2020
WASHINGTON — The COVID-19 pandemic has
exacerbated racial inequities in education, a disparity that Congress needs to
help fix, the former education chief under President Barack Obama told a
congressional panel Monday. “Our education system is fraught with inequities
that existed before COVID-19,” John King Jr., who served as Secretary of
Education in 2016-2017, told lawmakers on the House Education and Labor
Committee. He is president and CEO of The Education Trust, a
nonprofit organization that focuses on opportunity and achievement gaps in
education. During school closures, researchers found that Black, Latino and
Native American students were disproportionately less likely to have access to
devices and home internet service and parents who were able to telework. Researchers
estimated that students could lose seven months of learning on average during
the pandemic. But they found Black students may fall behind by more than 10
months, and Hispanic students by nine months, according to an analysis by
research firm McKinsey & Co.
“Each of you are playing a critical role in changing the narrative in
Philadelphia, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and in the nation. A racist reality that keeps our
children from being highly literate. A racist reality where 96% of Pennsylvania’s teachers are white. A racist reality where almost half of
Philadelphia’s Black boys don’t graduate from high school within four
years. A racist reality where only eight out of
every 100 of our city’s Black male high school graduates goes on to
graduate from a four year college.
Each one of you can help change this racist reality.”
AN OPEN LETTER TO TEACHERS WHO BEGAN TEACHING DURING THE
AMERICAN SPRING
7th Ward Blog BY SHARIF EL-MEKKI JUNE 23, 2020
Dear Freedom School Literacy Team 2020,
Across the nation, we started the summer of
2020, lighting up the streets with rage.
We rage for George Floyd’s senseless
strangulation.
We rage for Ahmaud Arbery, who was hunted
down.
We rage for Eric Garner, who was suffocated.
We rage for Walter Scott, who was shot five
times in the back.
We rage for Michael Brown, who was shot six
times in the back.
We rage for Philando Castile, who was gunned
down for legally carrying a gun.
We rage for Jamar Clark, who was shot in the
head while handcuffed.
We rage for Freddie Gray, who was handcuffed
and shackled screaming in pain.
We rage for Tamir Rice, who was shot dead
after playing in the park with his sister.
We rage for Stephon Clark, who was shot for
being in his grandmother’s backyard.
We rage for Botham Jean, Aiyana Jones and
Breonna Taylor, all three shot dead for being Black in their own home.
We rage for Tony McDade, who reminds us that
Black Lives Matter applies to all Black people in our communities.
We rage against state-sanctioned brutal
murders of Black men and women whose families and friends will never ever get
to see them, hold them and love on them.
Educating children with disabilities during COVID-19: 5
things to know
The rights of students with disabilities
stemming from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) largely
remain intact.
The notebook Commentary by Margie
Wakelin June 23 — 4:36 pm, 2020
This column was written for the Notebook’s
May print edition. With the continuation of online education this summer and
possibly in the fall as well (potentially as part of staggered schedules), the
impact on special education students and their families continues. In this
commentary, the Education Law Center outlines the rights that caregivers have
when advocating for their children.
Over the last few months, education has been
turned upside down. Classes have been cancelled and schedules disrupted.
Classmates have been minimized to images on a screen. Children with
disabilities, who are arguably the most dependent on consistent routines and
have the least ability to access remote learning, have been uniquely harmed by
these changes. At the Education Law Center (ELC), we have spoken frequently
with families who are worried that the losses their children are experiencing
will never be recovered. We are advocating to ensure that their stories and
concerns inform strategic decisions of local, state, and federal leaders. For
example, a mother of three children with disabilities contacted ELC during the
first week that schools were closed in Philadelphia. She explained that she
worked two jobs and was not able to pick up work for her children before
schools closed. She did not have any computer or internet in her home, so she
struggled to learn about educational opportunities at all. She communicates
only in Spanish, and she was not getting a response from her children’s
teachers about what additional support was available for her children with
disabilities. After just five days, she was already observing regression in her
children’s social and communication skills. She asked, “What can I do? What
hope do I have to stop this slide from happening?” As a parent of children with
disabilities, there is a lot that she can do.
Philly students secure historical marker commemorating
1967 school walkout notorious for Rizzo brutality
WHYY By Sojourner Ahebee June 24, 2020
Though Alison Fortenberry was born in 2003,
she wants you to remember 1967.
“[The 1967 student walkout] is not really
something that’s really known in Philadelphia for this generation,” she said.
“If we don’t have something tangible there, it’s just going to be another
hidden part of Philadelphia’s history.” Fortenberry is one of five Julia R.
Masterman high school students who recently won approval from the Pennsylvania
Historical and Museum Commission to honor the 1967 Black student walkout with a
state marker. During the walkout, over 3,000 Philadelphia students protested
racial injustice within the education system. In the summer of 2019,
Fortenberry was joined by fellow classmates Tatiana Bennett, Nia Weeks, Taryn
Flaherty, and Aden Gonzales as they embarked on a three-month long research
journey to learn more about the 1967 demonstration. Their ultimate goal was to
prove the statewide and national significance of the event, which the
historical commission requires of applicants seeking a state marker. Their
project culminated in a 104-page document, which includes letters of
endorsement from historians, oral history interviews with key participants, and
an essay on the lasting impact the event had in the quest for racial justice.
PPS police officers defend their jobs before school board
ANDREW GOLDSTEIN Pittsburgh Post-Gazette agoldstein@post-gazette.com JUN 23,
2020
Numerous Pittsburgh Public Schools police
officers defended their jobs in written testimony that was read before the
school board Tuesday amid calls to remove law enforcement from the district. The
officers’ statements were read aloud during the second day of a public hearing
in which board members heard comments from nearly 250 people, many on the topic
of whether police should be removed from city schools. Officers told the board
about times they caught students trying to bring weapons and drugs into
schools, provided first aid, and stopped armed adults attempting to intrude.
They also spoke about the positive relationships they have built with students
over the years.
Long-time elementary teacher prepares for seeing students
in person again
From hand-washing schedules to spare masks,
Mattie Davis has started getting ready for an unusual back-to-school
season.
The notebook by Dale
Mezzacappa June 23 — 2:18 pm, 2020
Since mid-April, Notebook Contributing Editor
Dale Mezzacappa has spoken to 1st-grade teacher Mattie Davis nearly every day.
She would call faithfully at 1 p.m. to recount her experiences of the prior day
as she worked to keep in touch with families and make sure her children
progressed. The first article was part of a project with WHYY to
highlight how teachers were adjusting to the new reality of online learning.
The second piece appeared
in the Notebook’s spring print edition on
educating during a pandemic. This story focuses on Davis’ plans and hopes for
the future.
Mattie Davis has already figured out how long
it will take her class of 23 or 24 6-year-olds to wash their hands before
lunch. She has three faucets in the long sink in her spacious 1st-grade
classroom at William Dick Elementary School, 25th and Diamond Streets, and
she has a plan to make it quick and orderly. It will take four, maybe five
minutes, she said.
A week ago, she bought herself a face shield.
She shopped on Amazon to find a good one. It is her job and privilege to teach
her students to read, she said, “and when it comes to them seeing you, when
you’re having a small group and you’re having phonemic awareness activities,
they need to see how you’re forming your mouth when you’re doing blends, and
digraphs, and those types of things.” A regular mask would cover her mouth,
making those observations impossible.
She also bought face masks for her children
“as a precaution, because what’s going to happen when we get back to school,
and little so-and-so doesn’t have a mask, or” – and here she does her best
imitation of a tiny child peering up at her – “Miss Davis, at recess I lost my
mask!”
“I believe that parents should have the right to choose between
attending traditional public school – and it’s interesting how people always
talk about charters as if they’re not public schools, but they are – they
should have the right to choose between public schools and charter schools,”
said Birks Tuesday. “But I have no preference. I think parents should have the
opportunity to choose what is the best learning experience for their children.”
Birks said she formerly sat on a charter school board on behalf of Hartford
Public Schools and was able to leverage that into a partnership as a “sister
school” for the district. She does not yet know if the same could be done here.”
Chester Upland welcomes new superintendent
Delco Times by Alex Rose June 24,
2020
CHESTER — Dr. Carol D. Birks officially took
up her position as the new superintendent of the Chester Upland School District
Tuesday following her appointment by Receiver Dr. Juan Baughn on Monday. “I am
extremely grateful, humbled and honored to have been selected to serve as
superintendent for Chester Upland School District,” said Birks. “I look forward
to working closely with Receiver Baughn, board members, students, families,
staff, faculty, and administration to continue to move Chester Upland School
District on a path of continuous improvement.” Birks replaces Baughn, who had
served as superintendent since January 2017. Baughn, who recently replaced
former CUSD Superintendent Gregory Thornton as receiver, said Birks will
receive $215,000 per year in compensation under the four-year contract. Birks,
who holds a bachelor’s degree from Hampton University, master’s degrees from
the University of Bridgeport and Columbia University Teachers College, and a
doctoral degree from Columbia University Teachers College, said that she wants
to begin her tenure with a comprehensive “Entry Plan” that includes listening
and learning tours, virtual meetings and focus groups.
Parent-circulated petition seeks ‘meaningful and systemic
change’ to address racism, bias in SCASD
Centre Daily Times BY
BRET PALLOTTO JUNE 23, 2020 03:51 PM
The State College Area School District has
made racial inequities and disparities a focus the past few years, but some
parents are pushing for “meaningful and systemic change” sparked by national
and local events. Parents Cynthia Young and Mandy Vactor, co-chairs of the
district’s Race and Marginalized Populations Committee, crafted in the past
week an online petition addressed
to SCASD Superintendent Bob O’Donnell and the district’s school board. The
petition included several requests based on “data, personal experience,
community complaints” and conversations over the past two years with SCASD’s
Equity and Inclusivity Director Seria Chatters, Young and Vactor wrote.
Under pressure, Lancaster school board considers
stripping Edward Hand Middle School of its name before start of school year
Lancaster Online by ALEX GELI | Staff Writer June 24,
2020
A growing group of residents is urging School
District of Lancaster to change the name of Edward Hand Middle School because
of its namesake’s participation in slavery. In response, the Lancaster school
board has asked Superintendent Damaris Rau to develop a plan by mid-July to
bring together students, parents, employees and community members together to
brainstorm a new name for the 96-year-old school. The call for action comes as
schools and businesses nationwide face intense pressure to reevaluate their
racially offensive names following the death of George Floyd and subsequent
Black Lives Matter protests. “Why should we send Black and brown kids to schools
like this ever again if we know we shouldn’t be doing this?” said Kearasten
Jordan, a 2007 Hand graduate and author of an online petition to
change the school’s name. “Why another year? There is no reason.” State data
shows more than 90% of Hand's student body is Black or Hispanic. More
than 80 individuals have signed the petition. Jordan — who is co-director of
Safehouse Lancaster, which provides resources to activists of color working to
eliminate racism — said she wrote the petition after learning more about Hand’s
history. Hand, a Revolutionary War general, owned slaves at Rock Ford, his
home-turned-museum in Lancaster. A Black man who was enslaved escaped from the
33-acre property shortly before Hand’s death in 1802.
Highlands School Board approves $48.5M budget with no tax
increase
Trib Live by BRIAN C. RITTMEYER | Tuesday, June
23, 2020 2:49 p.m.
Highlands School Board has approved a $48.5
million budget for the 2020-21 school year that leaves the district’s property
tax rate unchanged. The district’s property tax rate remains 24.88 mills. The
annual school tax bill on a home assessed at $100,000 would stay at $2,488. Administrators
whittled down the budget as they worked on it this spring. It had been as high
as about $49 million in an earlier proposal and stood at $48.7 million last week.
In one deranged press release, Metcalfe gets everything
wrong about mask-wearing | Wednesday Morning Coffee
PA Capital Star By John L. Micek June 24,
2020
Good Wednesday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
We thought long and hard about calling your
attention to the latest histrionics by state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe,
R-Butler. Initially, we were going to err on the side of ignoring the western
Pa. lawmaker for much the same reason that you never feed a raccoon — they just
keep coming back for more. But the deranged jeremiad that Metcalfe delivered
at the start of Tuesday’s session of the House Environmental Resources
& Energy Committee is an object lesson in the way the fight over
mask-wearing has been weaponized by some on the right, even as COViD-19
infections and deaths continue to rise nationwide.
Spring Grove school official: Sometimes you have to say
'F you' to the government
Lindsay C VanAsdalan, York
Dispatch Published 1:56 p.m. ET June 23, 2020 | Updated 2:38 p.m. ET June
23, 2020
A vocal group of Spring Grove Area residents
on Monday night emphatically opposed any school reopening plan that requires
district students and staff to wear masks. And at least two school board
members backed their demands, with one calling the coronavirus pandemic and
efforts to mitigate it "a crock of s—." At a Monday board meeting,
several residents argued that no one is afraid of the virus and cited
a petition with 400 signatures in support of their plan for a regular
reopening of the district's schools that doesn't follow state and federal
health guidelines. Health experts have said masks are a key component to
stemming the spread of the coronavirus. But the issue has become increasingly
political nationally. The petition's signers did not want students or
faculty wearing masks when school resumed and did not want children to be
forced into a “rushed” COVID-19 vaccine in order to attend. “If you look at the
statistics, there’s nothing concrete that exists.” said resident Debbie Harris,
citing the discrepancies between deaths reported to the coroner and the state
and the numbers changing week to week.
55 new COVID-19 cases in York County mark highest
increase to date
Logan Hullinger, York
Dispatch Published 11:58 a.m. ET June 22, 2020 | Updated 3:45 p.m. ET June
22, 2020
York County had 55 new cases of COVID-19 as
of noon Monday, the largest single-day increase the county has seen
since the state Department of Health began reporting data in March.. The
unusually high single-day increase pushed the total to 1,351. The closest York
County has come to such an increase was April 17, when 50 additional cases were
reported. The large increase came as the state reported 82,186 cases since the
outbreak began, an increase of 456 over the day prior. There were three
additional deaths statewide linked to the virus. The death toll now stands
at 6,426. There was one new death in York County, pushing the death toll
at 36. There have been 585,662 patients in the state who have tested
negative for COVID-19, 19,782 of whom reside in York County.
Districts face accusations of racists posts by an
educator and a board member
The events have raised questions about the
First Amendment issues at play.
WITF by Julia Agos JUNE 23, 2020 | 6:38
PM
(Harrisburg) — At least two midstate school
districts are facing criticism over comments they made on social media
concerning recent protests and civil unrest. A Conrad Weiser School board member
in Berks County was asked to resign after he was accused of posting racist
comments on his Facebook page, while a Northeastern elementary principle in
York County could lose his job after he shared a Facebook video titled’ “Black
Lives Matter is a leftist Lie.” The events have raised questions about the
First Amendment issues at play. Michael Forman, Director of the Civil Rights
Appellate Clinic at Penn State Law, said courts will use the Pickering test to
determine the outcome of the cases. The Pickering test refers to Pickering v.
Board of Education, a 1968 Supreme Court case involving a science teacher who
wrote a letter to a newspaper criticizing the school board’s distribution of
funds.
PSBA Fall Virtual Advocacy Day: OCT 8, 2020 • 8:00 AM - 5:00
PM
Sign up now for PSBA’s Virtual Advocacy Day
this fall!
All public school leaders are invited to join
us for our fall Virtual Advocacy Day on Thursday, October 8, 2020, via Zoom. We
need all of you to help strengthen our advocacy impact. The day will center
around contacting legislators to discuss critical issues affecting public
education. Registrants will receive the meeting invitation with a link to our
fall Virtual Advocacy Day website that contains talking points, a link to
locate contact information for your legislator and additional information to
help you have a successful day.
Cost: As a membership benefit, there is no
cost to register.
Registration: School directors can register
online now by logging in to myPSBA. If you
have questions about Virtual Advocacy Day, or need additional information,
contact Jamie.Zuvich@psba.org.
Apply Now for EPLC's 2020-2021 PA Education Policy
Fellowship Program!
Applications are available now for the 2020-2021 Education
Policy Fellowship Program.
The Education Policy Fellowship Program is
sponsored in Pennsylvania by The Education Policy and Leadership Center
(EPLC). The 2020-2021 Program will be conducted in briefer, more
frequent, and mostly online sessions, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The content
will be substantially the same as the traditional Fellowship Program, with some
changes necessitated by the new format and a desire to reduce costs to sponsors
in these uncertain fiscal times.
The commitment of EPLC remains the same. The
Fellowship Program will continue to be Pennsylvania's premier education policy
leadership program for education, community, policy and advocacy leaders! The
Fellowship Program begins with two 3-hour virtual sessions on September 17-18,
and the Program ends with a graduation event in June 2021.
The application may be
copied from the EPLC web site, but it must be submitted by mail or scanned and
e-mailed, with the necessary signatures of applicant and sponsor.
If you would like to discuss any aspect of
the Fellowship Program and its requirements, please contact EPLC Executive
Director Ron Cowell at 412-298-4796 or COWELL@EPLC.ORG
Adopt the 2020 PSBA resolution for charter school funding
reform
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.
Over 260 PA school boards adopt charter reform
resolutions
Charter school funding reform continues to be
a concern as over 260 school boards across the state have adopted a resolution
calling for legislators to enact significant reforms to the Charter School Law
to provide funding relief and ensure all schools are held to the same quality
and ethics standards. Now more than ever, there is a growing momentum from
school officials across the state to call for charter school funding reform.
Legislators are hearing loud and clear that school districts need relief from
the unfair funding system that results in school districts overpaying millions
of dollars to charter schools.
Know Your Facts on Funding and Charter Performance. Then
Call for Charter Change!
PSBA Charter Change Website:
The Network for Public Education Action Conference has
been rescheduled to April 24-25, 2021 at the Philadelphia Doubletree Hotel
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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