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, 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.
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State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for Nov. 19, 2020
Here’s 4 good reasons for Pa. to reject any new
cyber-charter school applications | Opinion
PCCY Working to Block Cyber Charter Viruses
Public Citizens for Children and Youth Website
November 18, 2020
“This application fails to describe how
teachers will deliver instruction, assess academic progress and communicate
with students to provide assistance.” This tough critique concluded PCCY’s
testimony last week at the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s (PDE) hearing
to consider permitting yet another cyber school to operate in the commonwealth.
Tomea Sippio-Smith, PCCY’s Education Policy
Director, urged the Department to act cautiously because “all 14 of
Pennsylvania’s cyber charters scored below the statewide average in English and
math assessments and all 14 have been identified as needing support under the
state’s ESSA School Improvement and Accountability plan.” Over the last two
weeks, as most Pennsylvanians focused on the election, Tomea testified before
the PDE to urge the state to reject two new cyber school applications. As more
parents experience the considerable pitfalls of online learning for their
children, PCCY is doing the work of challenging the state to do a much better
job protecting students from failed cyber education.
https://www.pccy.org/news/pccy-working-to-block-cyber-charter-viruses/
Here’s 4 good reasons for Pa. to reject any new
cyber-charter school applications | Opinion
PA Capital Star By Lawrence A. Feinberg Capital-Star Op-Ed Contributor November
19, 2020
The Pennsylvania Department of Education held
public hearings this month regarding the proposed authorization of two new
cyber charter schools. I had the opportunity to present comments at both
hearings. I am a school director serving in my 21st year as a
member of the Haverford Township school board. For the past dozen years or so,
I have also served as chair of the Delaware County School Boards Legislative
Council with school board representatives from each of the fifteen districts in
Delaware County. In 2007, I presented “Testimony on Cyber-Charter School
Funding, Oversight and Accountability’ to the Pennsylvania House Education
Committee. And I have been following cyber charter issues closely ever since. Cyber-charters
may be a great fit for some highly motivated, self-disciplined students or
those with very involved parents or guardians. But generally speaking, cyber
students are not learning, and taxpayers are paying twice what they reasonably
should, with the excess funds being taken away from all the other students
remaining in a school district when a parent chooses to send their child to a
cyber charter.
As record number of students seek cyber charter school
options, school districts struggle with costs
Times Tribune BY SARAH HOFIUS HALL STAFF WRITER Nov 15,
2020 Updated Nov 16, 2020
School districts in Northeast Pennsylvania
expect to pay an additional $36.2 million in charter school costs this academic
year. The rising costs for the 37 school districts in Lackawanna, Luzerne,
Monroe, Pike, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming counties put more pressure on
already-strained budgets, according to a report from the Pennsylvania
Association of School Business Officials.
The bills come as the coronavirus pandemic creates uncertainty and
families seek safety, stability — and a cyber charter school education for
their children. In Lackawanna County alone, districts expect to spend an
additional $6 million for cyber charter school tuition this academic year.
Since the pandemic began in March, an additional 469 students left their
traditional public schools to learn online through charter schools, according
to a Sunday Times analysis. Last year, the 10 school districts paid cyber
charter schools about $14 million to educate 1,002 students. Two months into
this academic year, school leaders project to pay a combined $20 million in
tuition bills this year for the 1,471 students enrolled. For districts
struggling with pandemic-related revenue shortfalls, the added expenses
strengthen the calls for charter school funding reforms. In Scranton, the
additional $2.6 million in cyber bills makes up more than half the district’s
$4 million budget deficit for 2021.
Reprise Oct 15: State to consider two new cyber charter
schools amidst enrollment boom
PA Capital Star By Elizabeth Hardison October 14,
2020
*This story was updated on Thursday, Oct. 15
with additional comment from the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
As thousands of new students flock to online
education during a historically difficult academic year, state officials are
being asked to grant charters to two new cyber charter schools. The
Allentown-based Executive Action Charter School and Harrisburg-based Virtual
Preparatory Academy aim to open their doors next year and enroll a combined
3,100 students by 2025, according to charter applications they submitted to the
Department of Education last month.
The schools first must receive approval from
the Pennsylvania Department of Education, which is the sole authorizer of
charters for cyber schools in the state. Pennsylvania hasn’t granted a new
cyber charter since 2012. And while it accepts cyber charter applications
annually until Oct. 1, this is the first time since 2015 that it’s been asked
to consider more than one in a single year.
STATEMENT: PA Schools Work Urges Immediate Action on
School Funding
Calls for Continued Bipartisan Federal and
State Action to Keep Students on Track and Address Dire Needs of PA School
Districts
HARRISBURG, PA (November 17, 2020) – The
statewide education advocacy campaign PA Schools Work issued
the following statement on funding for public schools in
Pennsylvania in the midst of an ongoing pandemic:
“As Coronavirus cases spike across the
commonwealth, school districts are again facing difficult decisions about
creating learning environments that are both conducive to educating students
and are safe for students, teachers, support staff and administrators.
“Many districts are returning to distance
learning to mitigate the community spread of the virus, but this comes with
increased costs for districts, even as they continue to deal with shortfalls in
local revenue. Earlier estimates showed Pennsylvania school districts could
expect to lose upwards of $1 billion as a result of the COVID-driven economic
downturn. A second spike in cases could result in even greater losses.
“It has been more than seven months since
Congress responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by passing the Coronavirus Aid
Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Pennsylvania still has $1.3 billion
of its CARES funding left. PA Schools Work is calling on the
Pennsylvania legislature and Governor Wolf to work together to prioritize
public school students, teachers, and administrators in immediately
distributing the state’s unspent CARES Act pandemic-response money. And PA
Schools Work urges leaders in Harrisburg to equitably distribute
remaining CARES Act money and any future federal stimulus to the state’s 500
public school districts, either based on districts’ actual costs or through the
state’s fair funding formula.
With $1.3 billion in COVID-19 cash left to spend, the Pa.
government might be the big winner
Penn Live By Ed Mahon of Spotlight PA Updated
5:00 AM; Today 5:00 AM
HARRISBURG — For months, Mark Davis has urged
lawmakers to spend $270 million in coronavirus relief dollars to support groups
that serve people with autism and intellectual disabilities. Without more aid,
he said, providers will be at risk of shutting down for good. But as
lawmakers and Gov. Tom Wolf face a looming deadline to pass a budget for the
back half of the fiscal year, Davis and other interest groups are growing
worried the remaining $1.3 billion in federal money will instead be spent on
propping up the state government.
President Lincoln was asked for ‘a few appropriate
remarks;’ he delivered the Gettysburg Address
Penn Live By Deb
Kiner | dkiner@pennlive.com Updated 6:00 AM; Today 6:00 AM
Today is the 157th anniversary of President
Abraham Lincoln delivering what became known as the Gettysburg Address at the
dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg on
Nov. 19, 1863. More than 3,500 Union soldiers are buried there. The 272-word
speech became one of the best known in American history.
Smart Talk: School districts face tough coronavirus
decisions
COVID-19 resurgence forcing many to go fully
virtual
WITF by Scott LaMar NOVEMBER 18, 2020 |
3:00 PM
The Pennsylvania Department of Health
reported 6,339 positives cases of COVID in the 24 hours ending at midnight
Wednesday. Daily statewide records have been recorded often over the past two
weeks. These increasing number of positive cases is having a substantial impact
in many areas of our daily lives, including at schools. With more people
testing positive and getting sick, schools and their administrators have had to
make tough decisions on whether to hold in-person classes for their students,
have a hybrid combination of in-person and virtual or go all on line. On
Thursday’s Smart Talk, we’ll study how those decisions are
made with guests Chambersburg Area School District Superintendent Dion Betts
and Chris Lilienthal, Assistant Director of Communications, Pennsylvania State
Education Association.
https://www.witf.org/2020/11/18/smart-talk-schools-districts-face-tough-decisions/
As COVID-19 cases surge, should schools stay open? Around
the Philly region, approaches vary wildly.
Inquirer by Maddie Hanna and Kristen A. Graham, Posted: November
18, 2020- 1:43 PM
Jennifer Ross was stunned when her school
district announced it was ending its option for younger students, like her
first and sixth graders, to attend school in person part-time during the
pandemic. A fully virtual option was still open, but if Central Bucks parents
wanted their kids back in classrooms, the only choice was five-days-a-week
instruction, the district said — a shift that officials said would accommodate
the most families but that worried Ross, a nurse and educator who has been
tracking the rising rate of positive coronavirus tests in her community. Then
she saw that Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia PolicyLab had recommended
that all schools in the area,
at least for older grades, revert to virtual programs. “Are you
kidding me?” Ross said. “How did we go from ‘Let’s send everyone back
full-time,’ to CHOP saying everyone should be closing in the Philadelphia
area?” As coronavirus cases surge, schools across the region — and the elected
officials, health departments, and outside experts guiding them — are taking,
in some cases, vastly different approaches, and in the process leaving parents
and staff confused if not confounded about the best strategy.
Blogger note: status of 26 districts listed here….
More Pittsburgh-area school districts switch back to
remote learning as COVID-19 cases surge
PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE NOV 18, 2020 1:24 PM
An increasing number of schools and districts
in southwestern Pennsylvania are transitioning to remote instruction as the
region continues to experience a spike in
COVID-19 cases.
Here are the districts that have announced
changes:
Parents sue to block Montgomery County's two-week virtual
school order
Pottstown Mercury By Carl Hessler Jr.
chessler@21st-centurymedia.com @MontcoCourtNews on Twitter November
19, 2020
NORRISTOWN — A group of parents has gone to
court to prevent a Montgomery County Board of Health order that would require
all public and private schools to move to an all-virtual learning model for a
two-week period around the Thanksgiving holiday from taking effect next week. “We
can no longer sit by while our children are used as guinea pigs in this virtual
learning experiment. Virtual learning isn’t working,” the parents wrote in an
email in which they announced the filing of the court action on Wednesday. “Schools
across the county have been opened, some 5 days a week, with no real outbreaks.
Our schools have done the hard work of preparing and have been doing an amazing
job for our kids. School exists for kids. Schools are doing their jobs. The
kids have suffered enough. It’s time for them to go back,” the parents added.
Residents file suit, seek to overturn Montco schools
closure decision
Bucks County Courier Times From staff reports
November 18, 2020
Three Montgomery County residents have filed
a lawsuit claiming various violations of the state's Open Meetings Law, also
called the Sunshine Act, in connection with two meetings of the
county Board of Health last week that resulted in an order closing all
schools for two weeks. The suit filed in county court by John Niehls of Barto,
Elizabeth Weir of Lower Gwynedd and Kaitlin Derstine of Telford names the
county boards of commissioners and health, commissioners Chairwoman Valerie
Arkoosh and various other officials. Among its many claims is that the public
was not properly notified of the continuation of a virtual meeting that started
Thursday and concluded Friday with the approval of an order that closed all
county private and public schools for two weeks starting Monday because of
spiking COVID-19 case counts in the county and state.
Teaching music over Zoom is hard, but Drexel app makes it
easier for Philly high school students
Inquirer by Tom Avril, Posted: November 19, 2020
Jay Fluellen moved his hands in a graceful,
downward sweep as Breyanna Hernandez, a senior in the Northeast High School
choir, began to sing:
What a goodly thing/if the people of the
world
all lived to-ge-eth-er/iii-in peace
She sounded great, as far as Fluellen could
tell. But as with so many interactions during the pandemic, teacher and student
were miles apart, connected through Zoom. The audio quality was limited by the
speaker in Fluellen’s laptop. And because of the time lag on the connection,
Hernandez was seeing his hand movements a split-second after each beat, as were
her classmates watching from their homes. Not ideal for conducting music. As
Fluellen and other music teachers realized from the start of the first shutdown
in March, remote learning is a particular challenge for their field — perhaps
as much as in science classes deprived of lab equipment. It is hard enough to
guide one musician using video conferencing software. When multiple people try
to perform in unison, with delay upon slight delay across every broadband
connection, it is worthless.
Reporting on a pandemic while living through it? Student
journalists and Chalkbeat Philly weigh in.
Chalkbeat Philly By Caroline Bauman Nov
18, 2020, 4:36pm EST
Ace Orion and Jordyn Williams, two high
schoolers, are chronicling how fellow classmates are navigating the virtual
learning world. As student journalists, they have spent their free time in
Discord chats and Zoom calls to listen and tell the stories of how students are
navigating going to school with teachers and peers they have never met in person.
And while it’s been a very difficult year, they want the public to know it
hasn’t been all bad. “I recently did a story about a freshman and asked her:
‘In a virtual space, how are you finding friends?’” said Williams, a senior at
George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science. “She was open
and honest that she is making some friends – and she is even talking to people
online she normally wouldn’t think to walk up to. There is a brighter side of
things.” Orion, a sophomore at the Franklin Learning Center High School, agreed
and said students are also using social media to keep each other current on
assignments and to keep “morale up between everyone.” Orion and Williams joined
two veteran education journalists on Tuesday for a panel discussion hosted by
Chalkbeat about reporting and learning during the coronavirus pandemic.
Chalkbeat Philadelphia’s Johann Calhoun and Dale Mezzacappa also weighed in on
the big questions surrounding school reopening in Philadelphia, which was
recently postponed again,
and talked about their big stories.
“American Education Week is Nov. 16-20. Please take time to say
thank you to the education professionals in your community’s schools.”
Pennsylvania’s educators deserve a round of applause |
PennLive letters
Penn Live Opinion By Rich Askey Updated Nov
18, 2020; Posted Nov 18, 2020
Rich Askey, President of the Pennsylvania
State Education Association, Harrisburg, Pa.
Every November, the nation marks American
Education Week as a time to celebrate our great public schools and the
dedicated professionals who work with our students. This year, Pennsylvania’s
educators and support professionals deserve a special round of applause. The
pandemic has put a tremendous amount of stress on them and their students. The
school day looks and feels a lot different. Health and safety measures have
disrupted the daily routine, but through it all, our educators and support staff
are holding our schools together, helping students succeed.
Individual schools must decide if athletes wear masks for
competition, PIAA says
Trib Live By: Chris
Harlan Wednesday, November 18, 2020 | 11:28
AM
Could wearing a mask during a football game
or soccer match be considered an unsafe condition? How about for a wrestler or
swimmer? The PIAA strongly opposes a mandate from Gov. Tom Wolf’s
administration ordering athletes across Pennsylvania to wear masks during
competitions indoors and out, but will leave the decision to individual
districts. The PIAA board met Wednesday and urged school solicitors to consider
the exceptions written into the mandate implemented Tuesday by state Secretary
of Health Rachel Levine. The universal mask mandate was ordered as a mitigation
effort for coronavirus spread. Athletes won’t require masks if their school
decides they fit an exception, PIAA executive director Bob Lombardi said. If
they don’t fit, then athletes must wear them immediately, according to the
mandate, starting with teams taking part in various state playoffs and
championships this week.
Two more Catholic high schools closing: Hallahan,
McDevitt to shut in June
Inquirer by Kristen A. Graham, Posted: November
18, 2020- 5:09 PM
Two more Catholic high schools will close at
the end of the school year. John W. Hallahan Catholic Girls’ High School in
Center City and Bishop McDevitt High School in Wyncote will shut at the end of
the 2020-21 school year. Hallahan was the first all-girls’ Catholic diocesan
high school in the United States. The decision was made after a sustainability
study examined enrollment, demographic trends, finances, and more, officials
said. Hallahan is currently operating at 36% capacity and McDevitt at 40%
capacity. Enrollment at both is under 360 students.
https://www.inquirer.com/education/catholic-school-closing-hallahan-mcdevitt-20201118.html
East Penn, Saucon Valley announce plans to temporarily
close schools after Thanksgiving
By MICHELLE MERLIN THE MORNING
CALL | NOV 18, 2020 AT 4:00 PM
Two Lehigh Valley school districts will
temporarily switch to all-remote learning after Thanksgiving in an attempt to
keep COVID-19 cases to a minimum amid an explosion of infections across the
state and region. District officials in the Saucon Valley and East Penn school
districts announced their planned closures this week. Saucon Valley schools
will reopen Dec. 7, and East Penn schools will reopen Dec. 14. “The reason for
the closure is strictly precautionary relative to preventing any potential
spread of the virus in schools following the Thanksgiving holiday,” Saucon
Valley Superintendent Craig Butler wrote in an email to the school community.
“Providing this hiatus of in-person instruction will hopefully curtail any
potentially heightened spread of the virus.”
Midland schools go virtual amid county COVID-19 rise
Midland Borough School District will
transition to all-virtual instruction Nov. 19 through at least Dec. 4,
officials announced Tuesday.
Chrissy Suttles Beaver
County Times November 18, 2020
MIDLAND — Another local school district is
moving to remote learning as COVID-19 cases spike regionally. Midland
Borough School District will transition to all-virtual instruction Nov. 19
through at least Dec. 4, officials said Tuesday, just a day after Ambridge Area
School District staff said their schools would go remote, too. Beaver
County reached a “substantial” level of COVID-19 transmission last week,
according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, alongside 59 other counties
statewide. Beaver County had 162 positive COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people
between Nov. 6 and Nov. 12 — an 8.3% positivity rate, according to the health
department’s COVID-19 Early Warning Monitoring System.
https://www.timesonline.com/story/news/2020/11/18/midland-schools-go-virtual/6339596002/
UPDATE Milton middle, high schools shift to remote
learning until Dec. 1
Daily Item By Justin Strawser jstrawser@dailyitem.com November
18, 2020
MILTON — The Milton Area School District will
move its high school and middle school to virtual learning only starting
Thursday after two more confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to Superintendent
Cathy Keegan. Two confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported at the Milton High
School and Milton Middle School today. Because two positive cases were reported
in the high school and middle school within 14 days, instruction will move to
100 percent virtual starting Thursday with both buildings to re-open for
instruction on Tuesday, Dec. 1, Keegan said in a prepared statement.
Bethel Park, Chartiers Valley schools returning to remote
learning
Post Gazette by DEANA CARPENTER NOV 18, 2020 2:50
PM
At the recommendation of school
administrators, the Bethel Park and Chartiers Valley school district are moving
to fully remote learning for several days around the Thanksgiving holiday. “As
you well know, conditions have changed significantly involving COVID since we
first began making plans at the end of the last school term,” Joseph Dimperio,
interim superintendent at Bethel Park, said at a Tuesday school board meeting. The
same evening, Chartiers Valley Superintendent Johanna Vanatta recommended going
remote for all district students for Nov. 23, 24 and 25 as well as Dec. 2 and
3.
Gateway school buildings to shut down Monday
Post Gazette by ABBY NICKOLS NOV 18, 2020 4:05
PM
The Gateway School District will close its
buildings and move to an online learning plan beginning Monday after three
students at Gateway High School tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this
month. The shutdown is expected to last until at least Dec. 4. Assistant
Superintendent Dennis Chakey said that the students had not been in the school
since Nov 4. Following Allegheny County Health Department guidelines, the
students were subject to an isolation period. The school remained closed for
five days and was scheduled to reopen Nov. 16.
Plum High School closed until Dec. 1 as 3 more students
test positive for covid-19
Trib Live by MICHAEL DIVITTORIO | Wednesday,
November 18, 2020 10:22 p.m.
Plum High School will be closed and students
will learn online until the start of December after three more students tested
positive for covid-19. All sports and activities at the school are also
canceled through Tuesday, Dec. 1, according to a letter to district
families Wednesday. The district spoke with Allegheny County Health Department
officials about the new cases, and made the call to shutdown the school to be
extra cautions, school board President Mike Devine said Wednesday night. The
district letter said two of the three students recently attended a
parent-sponsored event.
New covid-19 cases reported at Hempfield Area High School
Trib Live by MEGAN TOMASIC | Wednesday,
November 18, 2020 7:51 p.m.
New covid-19 cases were reported at Hempfield
Area High School Wednesday afternoon. The additional cases brings the school’s
total to eight among students for the period between Nov. 4 and Wednesday,
according to a covid-19 tracker posted on the district’s website. That’s an
increase from five students at the high school during the period of Nov. 2 and
Monday.
https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/new-covid-19-cases-reported-at-hempfield-area-high-school/
Leechburg Area goes to all remote learning for next two
weeks in response to covid-19 surge
Trib Live by MADASYN
LEE | Wednesday,
November 18, 2020 6:56 p.m.
Leechburg Area School District will reinstate
fully remote learning over the next two weeks in response to rising covid-19
cases, Superintendent Tiffany Nix said Wednesday in an email to district
parents. Students have been attending school in person and online on
Wednesdays. Leechburg Area students live in Westmoreland and Armstrong counties
— both of which are deemed by the state Department of Health to have a
“substantial” risk of covid-19 transmission. A county with a “substantial” risk
level has an average incidence rate of more than 100 cases per 100,000 for a
span of seven days.
County’s covid surge prompts Shaler to switch to remote
learning for 3 weeks
Trib Live by TONY LARUSSA | Thursday,
November 19, 2020 5:36 a.m.
The Shaler Area School District is
switching to all-virtual instruction for three weeks because of the increase in
the community transmission rate of covid-19. The change takes effect on Nov.
23. Students are scheduled to return to a blend of online and in-person
instruction on Dec. 14. Schools are closed Nov. 26 to 30 for the Thanksgiving
holiday.
Sunnyside public school closes after 2nd staffer tests
positive for covid
Trib Live
by NATASHA LINDSTROM | Wednesday,
November 18, 2020 8:02 p.m.
Pittsburgh Public School’s Sunnyside campus
in the city’s Stanton Heights neighborhood will close for the next two weeks
after a second staffer tested positive for covid-19, officials said Wednesday. The
employee at the Stanton Avenue school — which enrolls pre-schoolers through
eighth-graders — was last at the Sunnyside building on Friday and was wearing
protective gear, according to officials with Pittsburgh Public Schools. Staff
as well as students are prohibited from entering the campus until Thursday,
Dec. 3, according to district spokeswoman Ebony Pugh.
Fleetwood School District delays decision to increase
in-person instruction for youngest students
Reading Eagle By David Mekeel dmekeel@readingeagle.com
@dmekeel on Twitter Nov 18, 2020
The Fleetwood School District has delayed a
decision on increasing in-person instruction for its youngest students. The
school board at its meeting Tuesday night tabled a motion to increase in-person
instruction to four days a week from two days a week for students in
grades kindergarten through second. The motion will be revisited by the board
at its January meeting. The shift to four in-person days would have taken
effect Dec. 7 for kindergarten and first grade and Dec. 14 for second grade, if
the motion had passed. Dr. Greg Miller, superintendent, said a decision on the
motion was postponed because of recent increases in COVID-19 cases in Berks
County.
New York City schools closing because of rising
coronavirus rates — and so are all schools in Kentucky
Washington Post By Valerie Strauss November
18, 2020 at 5:36 p.m. EST
New York City public schools are closing
Thursday and returning to remote learning for all 1.1 million students because
of rising coronavirus infection
rates, Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) announced Wednesday. The city joins a rising
wave of school closures around the country which are causing new disruptions to
the tumultuous 2020-21 academic year. In a separate announcement, Kentucky Gov.
Andy Beshear (D) became the first governor to announce a statewide school
closure, saying that all public and private schools must close Nov. 23 and that
all public universities must do the same. Middle and high schools are staying
shut until Jan. 4, and only elementary schools in areas without soaring
infections will be allowed to reopen Dec. 7.
Major Tensions Flare Over Education Secretary Before Joe
Biden Even Picks One
Education Week By Andrew Ujifusa on November
18, 2020 2:47 PM
The pandemic is ravaging education, but
speculation about President-elect Joe Biden's nominee for education secretary
is competing for attention as well. And a recent social-media fracas over
potential picks has made one big-city schools leader the latest lightning rod
for arguments about leadership, race, and "education reform." It also
serves as a reminder that such divisions predate—and will extend far
beyond—U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her tenure. Biden has
said his education secretary would be someone with experience as a public
school educator, and we don't know a great deal beyond that. Among the names to
surface recently as potentially a good fit for the role is Baltimore City Schools CEO Sonja Santelises. Santelises
has led that 79,000-student school system since 2016, has worked in Boston
public schools, the Education Trust, and Teach For America, among other
positions in education. She's also a member of Chiefs for Change and gotten
support from Democrats for Education Reform. Those groups focus in different
ways on issues ranging from test-based accountability systems and changes to
traditional labor practices, to charter schools and equitable funding. But to
their critics, the organizations Santelises is associated with have pushed in
one way or another to undermine the idea of well-funded traditional public
schools and teachers' autonomy.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/11/biden-education-secretary-tensions-flare.html
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.
Resolution for charter funding reform (pdf)
Link
to submit your adopted resolution to PSBA
324 PA school boards have
adopted charter reform resolutions
Charter school funding reform continues to be
a concern as over 300 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.
https://www.psba.org/2020/03/adopted-charter-reform-resolutions/
Know Your Facts on Funding and Charter Performance. Then
Call for Charter Change!
PSBA Charter Change Website:
https://www.pacharterchange.org/
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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