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 21, 2021
Why are public
schools footing the bill for substandard cyber-charter education?
Inaugural poet Amanda Gorman delivers a poem at Joe Biden's inauguration
YouTube 1,186,759 views Jan 20, 2021 Runtime 5:57
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp9pyMqnBzk
“In order to right the ship,
comprehensive charter-school reform is essential. We know that the current
charter funding mechanism forces school districts to overpay cyber-charter
schools and overpay for charter special education costs by hundreds of millions
of dollars each school year. Until there is a change to the underlying policy,
school districts and taxpayers will continue to ultimately foot the bill no
matter how you slice it.”
Why are public
schools footing the bill for substandard cyber-charter education?
PA Capital
Star by Art Levinowitz Capital-Star
Op-Ed Contributor January 21, 2021
Art
Levinowitz is president of the Pennsylvania School Board Association and a
school director in the Upper Dublin School District in Montgomery County.
When the
COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States, school districts across the nation saw
a huge
increase in cyber- charter school enrollment, including right here in Pennsylvania
where cyber charter school enrollment
is up by 63 percent to 62,000 students as of Oct. 1, 2020.< This trend
should have Pennsylvania parents and taxpayers extremely concerned because of
the immediate as well as long-lasting financial and academic implications this
enrollment increase will have on school districts and their students. Looking
first at the financial concern; school districts can expect as much as a $350
million increase in their cyber- charter tuition bills this year alone, due to
the pandemic-generated cyber charter school enrollment increases. It’s
important to keep in mind that this massive sum is only part of the overall
$475 million overall charter school tuition increase for this school year that
school districts are facing in addition to navigating through a global
pandemic. The $475 million increase in charter school tuition this school year
effectively nullifies the majority of the federal funds public schools received
under the CARES Act. This means most of those funds will not have their
intended impact – to aid our public schools in a time of crisis.
GASD Recognizes
Board, Voices Concern over Charter School Costs
Gettysburg
Connection January 20, 2021 by Charles Stangor
Noting that
January is School Director Recognition Month, Gettysburg Area School District
(GASD) Superintendent Jason Perrin recognized board members for their service. “This
is a time for us to celebrate and recognize the challenging and vital work
boards do on behalf of our students, schools, and families,” said Perrin. Perrin
said the impact of the coronavirus epidemic had added an extra challenge,
saying “board members are tasked with making critical decisions quickly with
the best information available.” Perrin noted that board positions are unpaid
and the majority of school directors cite their desire to give back to their communities
and contribute to public education as their main motivation for their work. “School
directors are invested engaged in their communities. They are our neighbors,
friends, local leaders, parents, and engaged citizens. The job they do ensures
all our schools continue to provide opportunities for success for every
student,” said Perrin. Perrin noted the substantial work board members do
outside of meetings, saying their “service goes way beyond what people
realize.” Board member Carrie Soliday noted GASD had spent over $150,000 on
charter schools, and particularly cyber charter schools, in December. “It’s a
significant amount,” said Soliday. Soliday asked the board to consider talking
about a strategic plan to help families choose to move back GASD offerings,
saying the cyber charter schools “are the worst performing in the state.”
https://gettysburgconnection.org/gasd-recognizes-board-voices-concern-over-charter-school-costs/
Blogger note: Mr. McAllister previously
worked for the Commonwealth Foundation
End the Blame Game:
Officials should embrace, not attack, public cyber charter schools
NorthCentralPA
Letter by Lenny McAllister, CEO, Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter
Schools Submitted January 19, 2021
In March
2020, Gov. Tom Wolf closed Pennsylvania schools because of the pandemic. Ever
since, many school districts have struggled with providing effective virtual
learning platforms. Some had issues getting students online due to internet accessibility problems and technology deficiencies. Others struggled with gauging academic
progress and attendance. Many students missed key tests, with some receiving blanket passing grades. Recent studies show that some 3
million students nationally may have dropped out of “school learning” due to these shortcomings. A report
showed that roughly one-fourth of the third through eighth grade cohort, including a disproportionate amount of
socioeconomically challenged students, did not take specific annual academic
assessments. In Pennsylvania, these issues have cropped up for months in school
districts despite district officials telling lawmakers for years that they
could provide online academic instruction better and cheaper than public cyber
charter schools. The pandemic has proven otherwise – here at home and around
America. In contrast, public cyber charter families didn't miss a beat.
Pennsylvania's cyber charters have been teaching online for more than 20 years.
These schools know how to use technology to educate large numbers of students
at home. As a result, thousands of families exercised their right under
Pennsylvania law to choose a public cyber charter school for their
children.
Starts Today! All
School Directors: Monthly Exchange (Zoom)
JAN 21, 2021
• 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
Join other
PSBA-member school directors for cross-district networking and discussion on
education hot topics, legislative updates and advocacy strategies. All School
Directors: Monthly Exchange will be held via Zoom at 12:30 p.m. every third
Thursday of the month, January through June. Geographic-based breakout rooms
will be utilized to allow for discussion among school directors in the same
regions of the state. Register here.
PPS board may extend
remote instruction into April
ANDREW
GOLDSTEIN Pittsburgh Post-Gazette agoldstein@post-gazette.com JAN 20, 2021 5:30 PM
The
Pittsburgh Public Schools board may extend the district’s fully remote
instruction model until early April as the school system continues to deal with
challenges posed by COVID-19. A resolution put before the board Wednesday would
delay the return of students until at least April 6, the beginning of the
2020-21 school year’s fourth quarter. Now, the district plans on having
teachers return Feb. 1, and students would be phased in beginning a week later.
“We have people who have very strong feelings on both sides of the issues.
There was a lot of discussion among board members as well,” board President
Sylvia Wilson said while introducing the resolution. “But — as it turns out —
this seems to be in the best interest overall in terms of health not only of
the students, but for their families as well as for the employees.” The board
will accept public comment on the plan Monday and vote on the resolution Jan.
27. Most students in the city have not been in a classroom since schools closed
in March in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Spring-Ford School
Board votes to return to in-person learning Feb. 4
Pottstown
Mercury by Evan
Brandt ebrandt@21st-centurymedia.com @PottstownNews on Twitter January 21, 2021
ROYERSFORD —
For the families who want it, Spring-Ford School District's upper grades will
return to in-person education four days a week starting Feb. 4. The decision
was unanimous and made Tuesday night by the school board during a special
meeting called to consider the question. The district already offers all-day
instruction in the lower grades for those families that want it, but the upper
grades have had to choose between all-virtual online instruction and hybrid
instruction with two days in-person and three days virtual. Robert Rizzo,
Spring-Ford's assistant superintendent, outlined the results of a survey sent
out to district families — a survey to which just over 46 percent
responded. About 44 percent of those who responded to last week's survey
indicated they prefer in-person education to virtual. The results showed that a
majority would prefer the four-day option, even though the six-foot social
distance could not be guaranteed in all classrooms, and definitely not in the
hallways.
Two Lancaster County
school districts eyeing property tax increase
Lancaster
Online by ENELLY
BETANCOURT | La Voz Editor and Staff Writer January 21, 2021
Two
Lancaster County school districts plan to seek exceptions that would allow them
to exceed the maximum property tax increase permitted for the 2021-22 school
year. The Pennsylvania Department of Education each year sets limits on how
much school districts can raise property taxes without either an exemption from
the state or approval in a voter referendum. The percentage, known as the Act 1
index, is calculated by averaging the percent increases in the Pennsylvania
statewide average weekly worker wage and federal employment cost index for schools.
Columbia Borough has the most flexibility, with a 4.5% maximum increase, while
Conestoga Valley, Eastern Lancaster County, Manheim Central, Manheim Township
and Pequea Valley have the lowest allowable increase at 3.0%. Most districts
contacted by LNP | LancasterOnline earlier this week said they are considering
not exceeding their index cap for next school year, with the exception of
Conestoga Valley and Hempfield.
What Biden’s
‘American Rescue Plan’ Would Do for Schools and Students, in One Chart
Education
Week By Andrew Ujifusa — January 20, 2021
PresidentJoe
Biden’s COVID-19 recovery plan includes more than double the aid for K-12
schools that Congress approved in its last coronavirus relief plan, but how
much of it appeals to lawmakers responsible for passing any such blueprint
remains to be seen. The Biden
team unveiled the plan, which has
a $1.9 trillion price tag, roughly a week before his Jan. 20 inauguration. It
got a warm reception from many education groups. The last aid plan signed by
former President Donald Trump in December included
$54.3 billion in direct aid for K-12 public schools.
Yet many officials said that amount isn’t sufficient for the various and acute
needs of educators and students, especially since that December package doesn’t
include aid for state and local governments, much of which could ultimately
help local school budgets.
Learn more
about Biden’s pitch in our chart below:
Amanda Gorman
Captures the Moment, in Verse
The youngest
inaugural poet in U.S. history will read “The Hill We Climb,” which she
finished after the riot at the Capitol. “I’m not going to in any way gloss over
what we’ve seen,” she says.
New York
Times By Alexandra Alter Published Jan. 19, 2021Updated Jan.
20, 2021, 1:08 p.m. ET
About two
weeks ago, the poet Amanda
Gorman was struggling to finish a new work
titled “The Hill We Climb.” She was feeling exhausted, and she worried she
wasn’t up to the monumental task she faced: composing a poem about national
unity to recite at President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s inauguration. “I had this huge thing, probably one of the
most important things I’ll ever do in my career,” she said in an interview. “It
was like, if I try to climb this mountain all at once, I’m just going to pass
out.” Gorman managed to write a few lines a day and was about halfway through
the poem on Jan. 6, when pro-Trump rioters stormed into the halls of Congress,
some bearing weapons and Confederate flags. She stayed awake late into the
night and finished the poem, adding verses about the apocalyptic scene that
unfolded at the Capitol that day:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/19/books/amanda-gorman-inauguration-hill-we-climb.html
In inaugural address,
Biden says it is possible to teach children ‘in safe schools’
Californians
may be touched by executive orders he plans to sign
EdSource by LOUIS FREEDBERG JANUARY 20, 2021
While
President Joseph Biden spent most of his inaugural address pleading for unity,
he also touched on an issue of deep importance to many American families:
getting children back to school during the pandemic. “We can teach our children
in safe schools,” Biden said in his address. He was alluding to his pledge to
make it possible for most elementary school children to return to school for
in-person instruction at least by the end of his first 100 days in office. It
was the only direct reference in his address to his expansive
education agenda. Just how many children could return to
their classrooms, and when, could be affected by what happens to the $1.9
trillion stimulus plan Biden proposed last week in which he called for $130 billion in additional funds for schools to spend on costs related to reopening.
What will happen to the plan is uncertain. Much will depend on his ability to
get Senate Republicans to back it, unless Democrats are able to approve at
least portions of it through a process called budget reconciliation, which requires only a majority vote in the
Senate. The fact that he pointed to it in an inaugural address very short on
policy pronouncements, as is the case in most inaugural addresses, underscored
the importance he is placing on the issue.
13,000 School
Districts, 13,000 Approaches to Teaching During Covid
To assess
how public schools have navigated the pandemic and the impact on students, The
Times examined seven representative districts. The answers were strikingly
different.
New York
Times By Kate Taylor Jan. 21, 2021
What does it
mean to go to public school in the United States during the pandemic? The
answer looks so different in different parts of the country, it is hard to tell
that we are one nation. In some rural and suburban areas, especially in the
South, Midwest and Great Plains, almost all students began the 2020-21 academic
year attending school in person, and they have continued to do so, except for
temporary closures during outbreaks. In many cities, the bulk of students
haven’t been in a classroom since March. And in some districts, like New York
City, only younger students have the option of going to school in person, with
many attending only part-time. With little guidance from the federal
government, the nation’s 13,000 districts have largely come up with their own
standards for when it is safe to open schools and what virus mitigation
measures to use. Those decisions have often been based as much on politics as
on public health data.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/21/us/schools-coronavirus.html
Do you know someone
who is interested in learning more about the role of a school board director?
PSBA will
host free sessions covering the core considerations for candidates who are
contemplating running for school board:
PSBA: Upcoming PA budget
recap webinar Feb. 3rd
POSTED
ON JANUARY 15, 2021 IN PSBA NEWS
On Tuesday,
February 2, Gov. Tom Wolf will present his 2021-22 state budget proposal before
a joint meeting of the Senate and House of Representatives. Following the
governor’s budget address, the Senate and House appropriations committees will
convene hearings beginning March 15 on specific components of the proposal. The
PSBA Government Affairs team will be providing members with complete coverage
of the governor’s budget proposal, budget details and resources for school
boards on February 3 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Claim your spot for the budget
recap here.
https://www.psba.org/2021/01/gov-wolf-to-present-budget-address-february-2/
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/
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
342 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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