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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Keystone
State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for January 15, 2021
“In 2018-19,
Coatesville paid Collegium $13.2 million for special education tuition, which
excludes regular funding for 443 students. Collegium's financial reports show
the school only spent $6.7 million for special education for students”
Coatesville faces
severe financial hardship as students flock to charters
West Chester
Daily Local Fran Maye
fmaye@21st-centurymedia.com January 14,
2021
COATESVILLE—Coatesville
school officials may need to make further cuts to programs and staff unless
there is a solution to the district's funding battle with Collegium Charter
School, school directors said. By a vote of 7-1, Coatesville school directors
adopted a resolution this week calling for a fair charter school funding
formula, and authorizing the director of business administration to pay
Collegium $2.7 million by Jan. 13, and another $2.7 million no later than March
1. The root of the problem, school officials said, is that school districts are
required to pay charter schools based on enrollment. In the past few years,
parents have elected to send their children to Collegium and Avon Grove charter
school in droves. Coatesville pays $11,500 per pupil per year for students who
opt to attend Collegium or Avon Grove Charter. More than 3,000 students from
the Coatesville Area School District now attend charters, up from about 1,700
five years ago. In that time, Coatesvillle's payments to charters has expanded
by $33 million, to about $54 million per year. And much of that problem is the
price the district must pay charters for special education students, said
Robert Fisher, Coatesville school director. Coatesville must pay charters more
than $40,000 per special education student, even if that student only needs
minimal classes for a hearing impediment.
Biden Calls for $130
Billion in New K-12 Relief, Scaled Up Testing, Vaccination Efforts
Education
Week By Evie Blad — January 14, 2021 5 min
read
President-elect
Joe Biden is calling for $130 billion in additional COVID-19 relief funding for
schools, ramped up testing efforts, and accelerated vaccine distribution
strategies to help reopen “the majority of K-8 schools” within the first 100
days of his administration. The proposals, which Biden announced in a speech
Thursday night, are part of a $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan” that also
seeks $350 billion in aid to state, local, and territorial governments. “We can
[open schools] if we give school districts, communities, and states the clear
guidance they need as well as the resources they will need that they cannot
afford right now because of the economic crisis we are in,” Biden said. “That
means more testing and transportation, additional cleaning and sanitizing
services, protective equipment, and ventilation systems in the schools.” The
plan will require approval from Congress, both chambers of which are narrowly
controlled by Democrats, who have called for larger relief efforts. But some
components, like a proposal for additional direct relief payments to
individuals, may be sticking points for some members in both parties.
Advocates call for
postponement of test for English learners
Advocates
from the Philadelphia-based Education Law Center and other groups are pushing
to postpone the exam, which is administered in-person.
WITF by Alanna
Elder JANUARY 14, 2021 | 6:36 PM
(Lebanon) —
Pennsylvania students who are learning English typically spend the beginning of
the calendar year preparing for a standardized test to determine their
proficiency. The test, called WIDA-ACCESS, can take up to four hours and is the
primary way teachers who specialize in this area understand students’ skills in
speaking, reading, writing and listening, according to Amber Abreu, director of
English Language Development for Lebanon School District. “Unfortunately, every
year, ACCESS starts right after the Christmas holiday,” she said, which means
students start practicing almost right away in the new semester. This year,
advocates from the Philadelphia-based Education Law Center and other groups are
pushing to postpone the exam, which is administered in person, since COVID-19
numbers remain high and the disease has disproportionately impacted immigrant,
Black, and Latino families. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
adjusts its data to account for the average
age of White Americans being higher than
other racial or ethnic groups. That data shows Black and Latino Americans are
nearly three times more likely to die from COVID-19. According to an August report from the agency, hospitalization from
COVID-19 was eight times more likely for Latino children and five times more
likely for Black children, compared to White children.
https://www.witf.org/2021/01/14/advocates-call-for-postponement-of-test-for-english-learners/
Philadelphia to offer
in-person special education testing to 600 students
Chalkbeat
Philly By Dale
Mezzacappa Jan 14, 2021, 7:22pm EST
The
Philadelphia school district will open six high schools on Jan. 25 as regional
centers for evaluating 600 high-needs special education students,
Superintendent William Hite announced Thursday. West Philadelphia High School,
Edison High School, Martin Luther King High School, Strawberry Mansion High
School, The Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush, and the High School for the Creative
and Performing Arts will design new or updated individualized education
programs. The district will help families with transportation to and from the
centers, if necessary, and will offer meals at the sites. The 600 students
initially identified by the district are mostly those with complex needs and
are a subset of the 21,000 district students with IEPs. They have disabilities
that require some in-person therapy or interventions, said ShaVon Savage, the
district’s deputy chief of specialized services. For now, the centers will
offer only special-education testing, not services. “It is our intent to open
the centers for purposes of assessment first,” Savage said. “There is a strong
possibility that we will be able to provide additional supports and services to
special education students in these centers moving forward.”
Ciresi appointed to
Education Committee, highlights goals for term
Rep. Joseph
Ciresi January 14, 2021
HARRISBURG,
Jan. 14 –
State Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-Montgomery, today announced he was appointed to serve
on the House Education Committee as part of his committee assignments
for the 2021-22 legislative session. “As a school board member for 12 years and
in my first term as a legislator, it’s clear that education has been a top
priority of mine,” Ciresi said. “I am grateful to be given the opportunity to
serve on the Education Committee and look forward to working on many important
priorities, including achieving real fair funding for education, charter school
reform, comprehensive education reform, cost savings and shared services, and
more.” During the 2019-20 legislative session, Ciresi worked with Gov. Tom Wolf
to craft a comprehensive charter school reform bill and introduced legislation
to incentivize cost-saving shared services for school districts (H.B. 2760),
extend budget deadlines for school districts during state budget impasses (H.B.
1227) and the COVID-19 pandemic (H.B. 2482), and create a Student Bill of Rights
for Off-Campus Housing (H.B. 2761). Ciresi also co-sponsored multiple bills to
achieve more equitable funding of education statewide; located in the 146th
Legislative District represented by Ciresi, Pottstown School District is one of
the most underfunded school districts in the state.
Scranton School
District to wait for vaccines before starting in-person instruction
Times
Tribune BY
SARAH HOFIUS HALL STAFF WRITER Jan 14, 2021 Updated 1 hr ago
The Scranton
School District will wait for employees to have the opportunity to receive
COVID-19 vaccinations before students return to school. With the state updating
recommendations for in-person learning last week, school directors discussed
options for the city’s 9,300 students late Thursday night. The new state
guidance, which is not a mandate, calls for districts to offer in-person instruction
for elementary school students as soon as possible. Vaccines for staff could
come next month, as the district works with Hometown Health Care of NEPA to
secure the doses. The district hopes to administer the doses at Scranton High
School on a weekend. During the special meeting and operations committee
meeting, teachers urged the district to remain virtual for now. “Now is not the
time to abandon common sense,” said Rosemary Boland, president of the Scranton
Federation of Teachers. “We have to follow the science. We’ve been doing that,
and I hope we can continue to do that.” One option presented by Superintendent
Melissa McTiernan included the youngest students returning as early as Feb. 22
for a hybrid schedule. All intermediate and high school students would remain
fully virtual. Directors said they would rather wait for the vaccine to be
available.
Allentown School
District to remain in online learning through third quarter
By KAYLA
DWYER THE MORNING CALL | JAN 14, 2021 AT 3:06
PM
The
Allentown School District will remain in remote learning through at least the
end of the third quarter, with a new target date for reopening in mid-April,
the district’s board of school directors announced Thursday. This means
students will continue to learn online through April 13, school directors said,
citing increasing coronavirus spread in Allentown and Lehigh County. “Please
know that we are taking this action to protect our students, staff, and
families,” the school board wrote in a statement posted to the district website. The district is developing a hybrid
instructional model for students who choose to return to school in person. When
that time comes, families will still have the entirely virtual option.
“Online-only classes have been the Erie
School District's mode of instruction for most students so far this school year
due to the pandemic.”
Erie School District
uses new state guidelines to start Feb. 1 hybrid learning for pre-K-5
Ed
Palattella Erie Times-News January 14, 2021
The plan for
hybrid learning for the Erie School District's 4,900 elementary school students
is finally going into action. The district on Feb. 1 intends to launch the
plan, which will bring the pre-K-5 students back
to school for in-person classes one week and online-only classes the next.
Families can also choose to keep students in online-only classes. Online-only
classes have been the Erie School District's mode of instruction for most
students so far this school year due to the pandemic. As part of its
state-required health and safety plan, the Erie School District months ago
developed the hybrid plan, designed to limit the number of students in a
building at one time to curb the spread of COVID-19. But the district has
kept the plan on hold as coronavirus cases have risen in Erie County.
Some Philly students
will likely return to in-person learning in February, superintendent says
“Our return
is not conditioned on vaccines,” Hite said at a Thursday news conference,
“however, naturally we support expediting the vaccines.”
Inquirer by Kristen
A. Graham January 14,
2021
Philadelphia’s
youngest public school students can likely return to in-person learning sometime
in February, Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said Thursday. Families of
prekindergarten through second-grade students — more than 32,000 kids, roughly
a third of district’s students — will have the option of sending them back to
school two days a week on a yet-to-be determined date, though the
superintendent said it would probably be next month. About 10,000 children have
signed up to return. Students will have the option to remain fully virtual. Teachers
in those early grades would likely need to return to buildings a week to 10
days before students come back. Based on the city’s current plans, it’s likely
educators will have access to the coronavirus vaccine the first or second week
in February.
Bucks County schools
find ways to honor MLK in pandemic
Chris
English Bucks County Courier Times January 15, 2021
Martin
Luther King Day has become synonymous with service.
But in
a pandemic things had to change this year as local school districts need
to keep safe while still honoring the civil rights pioneer. Pennsbury,
Quakertown Community and Council Rock are among the districts that will be
holding virtual events, collections and other initiatives leading up to
and following Monday's holiday. In Pennsbury, the district's 10 elementary
schools have been collecting hats, gloves, socks, tissues, toilet paper and
many other items to be distributed to the Bucks County Emergency Homeless
Shelter, Falls Township Senior Center and Trenton Area Soup Kitchen.
When will snow geese
arrive at Middle Creek, elsewhere in Pennsylvania?
Penn Live By Marcus Schneck | mschneck@pennlive.com Posted Jan 14, 5:00 AM
Flocks of
snow geese, even some with thousands of birds in them, are being spotted across
eastern Pennsylvania. Gatherings of several thousand to tens of thousands have
been seen in the Allentown area. And some of the large waterfowl are now at the
Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area on the
Lancaster-Lebanon county line near Kleinfeltersville, but the time of the great
snow goose hordes there is likely more than a month in the future. The current
flocks are nowhere near the accumulations that gather at Middle Creek later in
the winter and hit a record of 200,000 on February 21, 2018. The numbers at the
commission site aren’t even close to the relatively meager peak of 125,000 last
year on February 18. Previous peaks were seen on March 12, 2019, (150,000),
February 22, 2017, (more than 70,000) and February 29, 2016 (more than 65,000).
Tundra swan numbers peak at Middle Creek a bit earlier than those of the snow
geese: February 3, 2020, 3,000; March 4, 2019, 5,000; February 22, 2018, 5,500;
February 6, 2017, more than 4,500; and February 29, 2016, more than 3,500. Middle
Creek will begin posting its annual Waterfowl Migration Update in late January or early February when
snow geese start to make their migration north. A live stream of Middle Creek’s lake is live
year-round during the day.
New Allentown Art
Museum exhibit offers a deeper look at Rembrandt’s ‘Portrait of a Young Woman’
By JENNIFER
SHEEHAN THE MORNING CALL | JAN 15, 2021 AT 6:47
AM
Allentown
Art Museum’s “Portrait of a Young Woman” is more than a painting by one of the
greatest visual artists in history. A new Rembrandt exhibit is going to help
you find out why. “There’s a lot to tell about this one painting, and it’s
place in the world and how it came to be here, " said Elaine Mehalakes,
vice president of Curatorial Affairs at Allentown Art Museum. “Rembrandt Revealed” will open on Jan. 24
and the new exhibit will offer a rare, deep dive into the conservation and
re-attribution of the well-known painting that’s been a part of the museum’s
collection for the past six decades.
Somehow Paul Simon has turned into an
old guy. This tune resonates with the times. Have a great weekend.
Paul Simon - American
Tune (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHZ72yHQ0K8
PA SCHOOLS WORK: New
Tools for Public Education Advocates in PA
Thu, Jan 21, 2021
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EST
PA Schools
Work partner Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials will hold a
digital workshop to roll out their new suite of tools on their Data Dive
website to show parents, educators, and public education advocates how they can
use the site (including interactive data maps and graphic visualizations) when
talking to other members of their community, legislators, media, etc. Don't
miss this first-look at these innovative tools for PA public school advocates!
Register
here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register
Attend the NSBA 2021
Online Experience April 8-10
NSBA is
pleased to announce the transformation of its in-person NSBA 2021 Annual
Conference & Exposition to the NSBA 2021 Online Experience. This experience
will bring world-class programming, inspirational keynotes, top education
solution providers, and plentiful networking opportunities. Join us on April
8-10, 2021, for a fully transformed and memorable event!
https://www.nsba.org/Events/NSBA-2021-Online-Experience
PSBA Spring Virtual Advocacy Day - MAR 22, 2021
PSBA Website January 2021
All public school leaders are invited to join
us for our spring Virtual Advocacy Day on Monday, March 22, 2021, 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
spring 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: Complimentary
for members
Registration: Registration
is available under Event Registration on myPSBA.org.
https://www.psba.org/event/psba-spring-virtual-advocacy-day/
PSBA Webinar: New
Congress, New Dynamics
JAN 14, 2021
• 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
The 2020
election brings significant changes to the 117th U.S. Congress. How will the
newly sworn-in senators and representatives impact public education? What
issues will need to be addressed this session? To become an effective
legislative advocate you’ll need to understand the new players and dynamics.
Our experts will profile key new members, discuss what big trends you can
expect and highlight the issues that will be debated over the next two years.
Presenters: Jared Solomon, senior public advisor,
BOSE Public Affairs Group
John Callahan, chief advocacy officer, PSBA
Cost: Complimentary for members.
Registration: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CQkk1Sd0QmOhdJ3VmlSzGg
https://www.psba.org/event/new-congress-new-dynamics/
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
337 PA school boards have
adopted charter reform resolutions
Charter school funding reform continues to be
a concern as over 330 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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