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 22, 2021
Ten Months in, COVID
Focus Shifting to Vaccinations
342 locally elected school boards have now adopted charter reform
resolutions. Has your district?
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/
During the 2018-19
school year approximately 86% of the children in the Commonwealth’s public
schools did not receive adequate funding according to state law. That’s why we’re
taking the state to court.
Fund Our
Schools PA Website
William
Penn School District et al. v. Pennsylvania Department of Education et al.
The Education Law Center of Pennsylvania, the Public Interest Law Center and O’Melveny filed suit in Pennsylvania Commonwealth
Court in 2014 on behalf of six school districts, two statewide organizations,
and a group of parents against legislative leaders, state education officials,
and the governor for failing to uphold the General Assembly’s constitutional
obligation to provide a "thorough and efficient" system of public
education. A trial
will take place in PA Commonwealth Court in the coming months. Read up on the case throughout this website,
or check out our documentation in full:
https://www.fundourschoolspa.org/students-vs-pennsylvania-department-of-education
Biden announces
executive actions meant to help reopen schools
WHYY/NPR By Anya
Kamenetz Elissa
Nadworny January 21, 2021
President Biden
has called reopening schools a “national
emergency” and said that he wants to see most K-12
schools in the United States open
during his first 100 days in
office, which would be between now and April. On Thursday he
announced he would sign several executive
actions, including measures meant to push the process along. These come after
actions signed on Wednesday geared toward improving college access and
providing relief for student loan borrowers. Here are the details of Thursday’s
actions, as announced by the White House:
https://whyy.org/npr_story_post/biden-announces-executive-actions-meant-to-help-reopen-schools/
Biden Launches New
Strategy to Combat COVID-19, Reopen Schools
Education
Week By Evie Blad — January 21, 2021 5 min
read
President
Joe Biden launched a new, more
centralized strategy to combat COVID-19 and reopen schools
Thursday, formalizing pledges he made during the campaign and the transition. Biden
has set a goal of “getting a majority of K-8 schools safely open” in the first
100 days of his administration. The 200-page federal plan, and executive orders
he signed Thursday, call for “sustained and coordinated” efforts with the
cooperation of states and new resources, guidance, and data for schools as they
continue to respond to the pandemic. Biden’s school reopening pledge comes as
states and districts around the country take a patchwork
of approaches. While many school districts have held
in-person learning with modifications like mask wearing a social distancing,
some large urban school districts have remained in or switched back to remote
learning amid new surges in virus rates.
Lack of COVID
vaccines has Delco school districts fuming
Delco Times
by Pete
Bannan Pbannan@21st-Centurymedia.com January 22, 2021
As schools
in Delaware County struggle to complete a full year of teaching through the
COVID-19 pandemic, there was a ray of hope that normalcy could return with
plans for a mid-February rollout of vaccinations for staff and faculty. That hope
has now hit a roadblock. The 15 School Districts in Delaware County, working
with the Chester County Health Department and the Delaware County’s COVID Task
Force, had a tentative plan for faculty and staff to be vaccinated against the
COVID-19 virus at four school-based vaccination sites located in Garnet Valley,
Radnor, Ridley, and Upper Darby. The sites would be opened concurrently
throughout three to four weekends beginning as early as Feb. 13. A number of
events intervened to make that date now unlikely, say county officials. On
Tuesday, new guidance from the Pennsylvania Department of Health added two
additional categories of eligible individuals to Phase 1A vaccinations. Under
the state’s new categories, all individuals 65 and older, and individuals ages
16-64 with certain medical conditions, as defined by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention that increase the risk of severe illness from the virus,
are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccination. Rosemary Halt, director of the
Covid-19 Task Force for Delaware County said the new categories changed the
numbers substantially, doubling or tripling the number of eligible residents in
Phase 1A, while school personnel are currently in Phase 1B of the vaccination
roll out plan.
Bucks, Montco
officials: Without quicker supply, it could take year to vaccinate first phase
Marion
Callahan Bucks County Courier Times January 22, 2021
When it
comes to the Covid-19 vaccine rollout across Pennsylvania, frustrations
are high. Officials are frustrated, as the state qualifies
more people for vaccine when there is not enough to go around. Pennsylvania
Medical Society leaders are frustrated that front-line health care
workers — who were supposed to be at the front of the line — may be left out as
the pool of eligible recipients more than doubles with the addition of those 65
and older.Consumers are frustrated that they simply can’t get it, and
don't know where to turn. "It is very frustrating that the federal
and state governments keep identifying more and more citizens who are
priorities for the vaccine without providing the vaccine or even any dates for
possible deliveries," said Diane M. Ellis-Marseglia, chair of the Bucks County
Commissioners. "There are clearly supply chain issues that are beyond
the control of county governments, but we are being left to explain this to a
public that is growing increasingly frustrated," Marseglia said. "The
federal and state governments need to tell the truth to citizens: they do not
have anywhere near an adequate supply of vaccines." On Tuesday state
health officials added millions more Pennsylvanians immediately eligible for
the COVID-19 vaccine, moving residents over 65 and those with high-risk
medical conditions to the front of the line along with health care providers,
emergency medical workers, and long-term care residents and employees. Bucks
County officials said Tuesday's announcement "widened the already large
gap between the number of eligible residents and the available supply of
vaccine." In Montgomery County, Commissioner Valerie Arkoosh
estimates that 250,000 additional people now qualify to be in the
first-priority group.
COVID vaccine hard to
come by in Beaver County
Despite 12
additional distribution sites in Beaver County, appointments to receive a COVID
vaccination are scarce.
Daveen
Rae Kurutz Beaver County Times January 20, 2021
Sis Thompson
just wants to see her grandchildren and great-grandchildren — and not through a
glass door. That's why she's called everywhere she can to try to find a
slot to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Thompson, 78, of Big Beaver, hasn't
left her home since March other than for medical appointments and can't wait
for the day she can see and hug her six granddaughters and 10
great-grandchildren. "I can't wait to get it," she said.
"I don't care if it makes me feel tired, sore or whatever. The most
important thing to me is to be able to spend some time with my granddaughters
and great-grandchildren again." One day after state officials expanded the
first phase of vaccine distribution to include Pennsylvanians 65 and older and
those age 16 to 65 with a series of health issues, vaccine slots in Beaver
County are near impossible to come by. Heritage Valley Health System announced
plans this week to offer vaccination appointments beginning later this month to
residents 65 and older. In total, there are 12 sites in Beaver County
where Pennsylvanians can conceivably receive a vaccine, according to a map on
the Pennsylvania Department of Health website. Predominantly pharmacies, none
had appointments available Wednesday afternoon, with several websites stating
that the pharmacy hasn't received enough vaccine to offer appointments.
Dahlkemper: Not
enough COVID-19 vaccine in Erie for all Phase 1A people
GoErie by David
Bruce Erie Times-News January 19, 2021
Pennsylvania
on Tuesday added hundreds of thousands — perhaps millions — of people to
Phase 1A of the COVID-19 vaccination plan, but it doesn't mean most of them
will soon be receiving shots. Though a couple of county hospitals
expanded their vaccination programs Tuesday to specific groups, most of
the people in Phase 1A will have to wait, Erie County Executive Kathy
Dahlkemper said. "It's going to take quite a while for all of the
people in Phase 1A," Dahlkemper said. "There just isn't the supply,
nor the manpower, nor the systems to handle that type of
vaccination." Pennsylvania health officials announced Tuesday that the
state is expanding its first vaccine priority group to include residents 65 and
older, and those 16 and older with high-risk medical conditions. But COVID-19
vaccine remains in short supply.
Lackawanna County
teachers begin receiving vaccines
Times
Tribune BY
KATHLEEN BOLUS STAFF WRITER Jan 21,
2021 Updated 33 min ago
The 134
staff members from the Mid Valley School District on Wednesday were among
the first large group of educators in Lackawanna County to receive their first
dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Abington Heights School District staff also
had the option to receive the vaccine Wednesday. And on Saturday, more than
half of Forest City Regional's employees and bus contractors and drivers who
requested to be included in the district's vaccination plan will receive their
first doses at a clinic sponsored by the Wayne Memorial Community Health
Center, said Superintendent Jessica Aquilina, Ed.D. "We've all mastered
the idea of being socially distanced but our job is interacting with kids in
large numbers. We want to protect the kids, which is ultimately going to
protect their families and the community," said Cynthia Weiss, a high
school math teacher at Forest City who will receive the vaccine.
Philly teachers union
wants all staff vaccinated before students return to school
WHYY By Avi Wolfman-Arent January 21, 2021
Union
leadership in Philadelphia is pushing back on plans to reopen schools, implying
that it will resist any attempts to bring students back into the classroom
before school staff are fully vaccinated. In a Thursday letter to district
leaders obtained by WHYY Philadelphia Federation of Teachers President Jerry
Jordan said that “it seems foolish to attempt a reopening without…vaccination.”
The district recently
implied it would unveil a reopening plan in January.
But PFT pushback could derail those plans. During negotiations for a new
contract, the PFT and district leaders agreed to a memorandum of understanding
that would govern school reopening. The PFT letter suggests that the union
wants to amend that agreement because of several contextual changes.
Ciresi Named to House Education, Policy Committees
Digital
Notebook Blog by Evan Brandt Thursday, January 21, 2021
Blogger's
Note: The
following was submitted by the office of State Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-146th Dist.
State Rep.
Joe Ciresi, has been 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).
http://evan-brandt.blogspot.com/2021/01/ciresi-named-to-house-education-policy.html
Superintendents'
forum: A resolution for resilience
Reading Eagle
Opinion by Dr. Jill Hackman Executive Director, Berks County Intermediate Unit January
21, 2021
We view the
beginning of a new year as a fresh start, an opportunity to work toward new
goals and a time to refocus our efforts on our health and well-being. Oftentimes,
as we reflect on what we would like to accomplish in the year ahead, our
resolutions are centered on our physical health. However, our physical and
mental health are so closely connected; this can be a fitting time to commit to
making our mental health a priority. It impacts how we feel, think, and react
to everyday situations; how we cope with stress and how we relate to others in
our lives. Like physical health, mental health is important in every stage of
life. In working to keep our own cups full as parents, educators, and
caregivers, we can also support mental and emotional well-being and encourage
resilience in our children and others we care about. According to
Merriam-Webster, the definition of resilience is “an ability to recover from or
adjust easily to change.” There are many circumstances that can cause anxiety
in children and adults, but we cannot assume the stressors are the same or that
everyone will react similarly. Change is an essential part of growth; learning
how to positively respond to change is essential for life-long success. The
Berks County Intermediate Unit offers student programs focused on promoting the
importance of building resilience in children to give them tools to help them
cope with difficult situations. In addition, the BCIU provides training in
Youth Mental Health First Aid, Trauma Informed Practices, School Climate, and
Social and Emotional Learning for educators to support students. Resilient
children tend to be happier, more motivated and engaged and adopt a more
positive attitude when challenges occur.
Get Philly’s kids
back in classrooms as soon as possible, Kenney and City Council tell School
District
“Our
children are suffering the most without in-person access to their teachers,
classmates and extracurricular activities," Kenney said.
Inquirer by Kristen
A. Graham Published Jan 21, 2021
City
students urgently need to be back in classrooms as soon as it’s safe, Mayor Jim
Kenney and members of City Council told Philadelphia’s school board and
Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. on Thursday. COVID-19 has kept 120,000
Philadelphia School District pupils out of school buildings since March, and
there’s not yet a target date for any students to return. Every Philadelphian
has struggled with the pandemic, the mayor said, but no one has been hit harder
than the poor. Many children enrolled in the district live below the poverty
line. “Our children are suffering the most without in-person access to their
teachers, classmates, and extracurricular activities,” Kenney said. “We must
now embrace the next challenge facing our city — helping students return to
school safely and as quickly as possible.”
Questions, concerns
raised after school board floats plan to extend PPS remote learning
ANDREW
GOLDSTEIN Pittsburgh Post-Gazette agoldstein@post-gazette.com JAN 21, 2021 4:34 PM
Members of a
group of more than 70 local organizations concerned with equitable learning in
the Pittsburgh Public Schools during the COVID-19 pandemic want to know why the
school board might extend its fully remote learning model into the spring. The
Pittsburgh Learning Collaborative said it will urge the school board to provide
transparency as well as a rationale for introducing legislation that would
delay the start of in-person instruction in the district until early April. “The
communication about what the expectations are for getting back to open for some
populations of children are just nonexistent, or it’s muddled, or it’s
inconsistent,” said James Fogarty, executive director of A+ Schools, the
organization that spearheaded the collaborative. “We’re looking for greater
clarity.”
Does reopening
schools cause COVID-19 to spread? It’s complicated | Opinion
Penn Live By The Conversation Scott
A Imberman, Michigan
State University; Dan
Goldhaber, University
of Washington, and Katharine
O. Strunk, Michigan
State University Updated Jan 21, 2021; Posted Jan 21,
2021
The Research
Brief is a short take about interesting
academic work.
The big idea:
We found
that schools
can reopen for in-person instruction without further
spreading COVID-19 in nearby communities if the number of people with the
disease is relatively low. But if there are more than 21 cases per 100,000
people, COVID-19 spread may increase. To reach this conclusion, we used data
from September through December 2020 in Michigan and Washington states – both
of which allowed
districts to decide whether or not to offer in-person
schooling at that time – to analyze how these different instructional decisions
affect COVID-19 case rates. It’s hard to figure this out because other factors,
such as social distancing and the use of masks, could be to blame. So it might
appear that going to school in person makes COVID-19 spread, but really it is
due to safety habits – or the lack thereof – especially if those same
communities are more likely to send students back to school in person. We tried
to address this concern by including information in our statistical analyses on
such practices as mask-wearing in a community and how a county voted in 2016.
Political preference was an important factor to consider, because Republicans
appear less likely than Democrats to comply with COVID-19
safety measures. Republicans are also more likely to encourage in-person
instruction during the pandemic. Despite our findings, coronavirus very likely
does transmit in schools to some degree. But the spread of COVID-19 there may simply
reflect what’s going on in the surrounding community. Kids and educators may be
just as safe in school buildings – or possibly even safer – than they would be
elsewhere.
“Banko said that because of the
pandemic, the district has seen a $500,000 increase in its cost for cyber
charter schools, pushing it over $2 million. Enrollment in the schools has
increased by another 40 to 60 students.”
New Kensington-Arnold
considers property tax increase to address ‘bleak’ financial picture
Trib Live BRIAN C. RITTMEYER | Thursday, January
21, 2021 5:00 p.m.
New
Kensington-Arnold School District’s financial picture for the coming school
year looks “bleak,” with officials considering raising taxes and burning
through the district’s reserves but still facing a deficit, according to Acting
Superintendent Jon Banko. “We’ve been about as fiscally responsible as we
possibly could be,” Banko said. “We closed two schools, we’ve reduced our
faculty, we’ve done a lot of things to keep the budget under control.”Property
owners in New Kensington-Arnold could see their school property taxes go up
nearly 7% for next school year. At the same time, the district’s preliminary
budget shows it spending more than $1 million than it would take in, depleting
its reserves and ending the 2021-22 school year in the red with a nearly $400,000
deficit. “It’s looking bad, but it’s not any different than it has been the
last four or five years,” Banko said. “We still want to be able to provide the
best education possible.” In a legal ad, the district said it might need to
increase property taxes by more than its state-imposed inflation limit, which
is 4.4%.
PSBA Issues
Legislative Victory Report
POSTED
ON JANUARY 21, 2021 IN PSBA NEWS
PSBA has
issued its 2019-20 legislative Victory Report that highlights the advocacy
efforts and accomplishments of the association and our members during the
two-year session of the General Assembly. The association advocated for greater
state funding and won passage of critical new laws focusing on safety issues as
well as prioritizing the needs of schools and students during the pandemic. PSBA
also worked to fight new mandates and to defeat proposals that were bad public
policy, including voucher programs and restrictions on assessment appeals, and
heightened its call for reforms to the charter school law. PSBA provided
regular legislative updates and special reports and offered various
opportunities and assistance for members to connect with their
legislators. Read
the report.
https://www.psba.org/2021/01/psba-issues-legislative-victory-report/
“The Susquehanna Foundation is deeply
invested in reforming education through school choice, bolstering charter
options and providing tuition vouchers for low-income families. Yass actively
sought to influence education reform locally when he and business partners
Arthur Dantchik and Joel Greenberg threw millions behind Pa. Sen. Anthony Williams’ unsuccessful gubernatorial and
mayoral bids.”
Who is Jeffrey Yass?
The Philly-area billionaire whose cash supported election challengers
A look at
his philanthropic history reveals consistent support for organizations
connected to extremism and white supremacy.
Billy Penn
by Layla Jones January 21, 2021
It’s
understandable if you hadn’t heard of Bala Cynwyd billionaire Jeffrey Yass
before this month.
Often
referred to as secretive or “stealthy
and mysterious,” he owns Susquehanna International Group, a
powerful financial and tech trading firm just across the Philly border on City
Avenue. Poker is considered a big part of their corporate culture, and the
firm reportedly
holds a $15 billion stake in
TikTok. CEO Yass was recently linked
to conservative political action committee Club for Growth in a report from
British news outlet The Guardian. What’s Club for Growth? The PAC threw
substantial support behind electing Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Sen. Ted
Cruz of Texas. The two senators were leaders of the movement to challenge
certified electoral votes for President Biden, elevating the unfounded claims
of voter fraud that helped incite the pro-Trump
insurrection at the Capitol in
early January.
State Supreme Court
denies Dover's appeal; some students will go to Northern York
Shelly
Stallsmith York Daily Record January 20, 2021
More than a
couple hundred students will be trading in their Dover red and white for the
purple and white of Northern York. That became official on Wednesday when the
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania announced it would not hear an appeal that could
have kept Washington Township a part of Dover Area School District. The state
department of education and Dover have been fighting the secession of the
township to Northern York School District for nearly 10 years. The fight
went to the state Supreme Court after Commonwealth
Court ruled in June that “the Pennsylvania State Board of
Education incorrectly interpreted standards and should have approved the
transfer.” Ralph McGregor, president of the Washington Township Education
Coalition, said that approximately 73 percent of the township’s taxpayers signed
a petition to leave Dover Area School District and join Northern York.
Central Valley adds
all-day kindergarten, despite concerns about cost
Dani
Fitzgerald Beaver County Times January 21, 2021
CENTER TWP.
–– All-day kindergarten will be a reality at Central Valley in the coming
years.
The school
board was split during Thursday evening’s voting meeting, which took
approximately an hour and a half for public comment and discussion surrounding
the implementation of all-day kindergarten. The board voted 5-4 in favor
of implementing all-day kindergarten beginning in the 2023-2024 school year.
School board members Thomas Mowad, Joe O'Neill, Dr. Nick Unis and George
Zaritski voted against the measure. Comments were also conflicting Thursday
night. Most residents who spoke said they like the idea of all-day kindergarten,
but don’t feel now is the right time. Several residents believe more discussion
should have been held with the community before the board voted.
Rural Schools Have
Battled Bad Internet, Low Attendance and Academic Decline Through the Pandemic.
Now the Push Is On to Return Students to Classrooms — Safely
This
piece is part of a collaborative pandemic
reporting project led by
the Institute for Nonprofit News and member newsrooms. (See more rural
case studies at The 74)
The74 by Peter
Cameeron January 21, 2021
Andy and Amy
Jo Hellenbrand live on a little farm in south-central Wisconsin where they
raise corn, soybeans, wheat, heifers, chickens, goats, bunnies, and their four
children, ages 5 to 12. For the entire fall semester, the quartet of grade
school students learned virtually from home, as their district elected to keep
school buildings closed. That has put a strain on the family, as well as the
childrens’ grades and grammar. “I definitely feel like they’re falling behind,”
said Amy Jo Hellenbrand. “You just notice certain things as far as their
language and how they talk. You’re constantly correcting them.” As the first
full semester for U.S. schools during the pandemic comes to an end, education
experts and parents alike are concerned about its effects on children’s
academic progress. From the Mexican border to the Upper Midwest, Oregon to
Virginia and on Native American reservations across the West, that anxiety is
magnified in rural areas, which are far less likely to have access to
high-speed or even consistent internet in a time of extensive virtual
schooling.
Free Market Facts and
School Choice
Forbes by Peter Greene Senior Contributor Jan 19, 2021,03:32am EST|634
views
Last week in
the New York Times, Timothy Snyder, historian and Yale professor,
became one more writer trying to make sense of the perils of post-truth
America. The essay is long and thoughtful about the power of big lies to tear
down a country and build up totalitarian government, and it works its way, in
part, to this conclusion:
America will
not survive the big lie just because a liar is separated from power. It will
need a thoughtful repluralization of media and a commitment to facts as a
public good.
Treating
facts as a public good doesn’t just involve the media. It also involves public
education. The idea of facts as a public good runs counter to the philosophy of
school choice, which starts with the premise that schools provide a private
service for parents, not society at large, and that those parents should be
able to pick and choose. For Betsy DeVos, giving parents their choice of
schools in a free market system of education was
a major policy goal, and many other choice advocates share her
belief in such a system.
What the Capitol riot
means for civics education
Fordham
Institute by Dale
Chu 1.21.2021
Still
reeling from the assault on the Capitol and the subsequent impeachment effort
against Former President Trump, the education sphere’s attention has
understandably returned to the need to resuscitate the teaching of civics and
history. If schools did a better job of grounding our students in the
principles of a free society and a basic understanding of U.S. history, laws,
and institutions, the thinking goes, the body politic might be less susceptible
to the inflamed passions animating today’s self-destructive behavior. Calls for
addressing America’s civic ignorance are nothing new, but they’ve taken on
heightened urgency in the dark shadow of sedition and insurrection. Sadly,
Americans’ thumbless grasp of civics and history is well documented and nearly a
cliché. According to the Institute for Citizens and Scholars, as of 2018, fewer
than one
in three adults could pass the U.S. Citizenship
Test (the
old, easier version). A survey by the Annenberg Public Policy
Center found that only
a quarter of Americans can name all three branches
of government—a task that my daughter, who is in kindergarten, has already
mastered. And the National Assessment of Educational Progress reminds us that
students’ knowledge of civics remains dismal
and underwhelming. Indeed, former talk show host Jay Leno
famously made a mockery of all of this in his “Jaywalking” segments, where ordinary Americans provided
cringeworthy responses to questions from the nation’s naturalization exam.
https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/what-capitol-riot-means-civics-education
When will snow geese
migrate to Middle Creek in 2021? Here's what you should know
Lancaster
Online by MICKAYLA MILLER |
Website Producer January 22, 2021
As February
approaches, one question is on the minds of many wildlife enthusiasts. When
will the snow geese flock to Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area? Every year,
hundreds of thousands of talkative snow geese and other winter birds flock to
Middle Creek, an area nestled on the border of Lancaster and Lebanon counties
in Kleinfeltersville. During 2020's peak, upward of 125,000 snow geese made a
mid-migration pit stop at Middle Creek. The geese typically start to show up in
late January, with more and more gathering until the usual peak time of
mid-February to early March, said Lauren Ferreri, Middle Creek manager.
Billie Holiday - Good
Morning Heartache
YouTube Runtime
3:05
Billie
Holiday recorded Good Morning Heartache #onthisday in 1946
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdFrzL3qOGE
PA School Funding
Lawsuit Overview for the Lehigh Valley Community
Jan 27, 2021 07:00 PM
Join
attorneys from the Public Interest Law Center and Education Law Center for an
overview of Pennsylvania's historic school funding lawsuit and learn how you
can help support the school funding Pennsylvania's children need.
Registration:
https://krc-pbpc-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwsdeqprzwoGtcpyrCS8bfh4Qet_qvthfjL
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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