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.
These daily
emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Visit us on Facebook at KeystoneStateEducationCoalition
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg
If any of your colleagues would like to be added to the
email list please have them send their name, title and affiliation to KeystoneStateEdCoalition@gmail.com
Keystone
State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for Feb. 2, 2021
This budget season,
lawmakers have to put underserved students first | Opinion
The groundhog in my backyard decided to sleep in this morning. Hope that
doesn’t bode 20 more years without charter funding reform in PA.
Know Your Facts on Funding and Charter Performance. Then
Call for Charter Change!
PSBA Charter Change Website: https://www.pacharterchange.org/
Snow delays Pa.
governor’s budget address a day
Penn Live By The Associated Press Updated 9:06 PM; February 1, 2021
HARRISBURG —
Gov. Tom Wolf will move his annual budget address to Wednesday, amid a
snowstorm that was prompting restrictions on highways across Pennsylvania and
the cancelation of legislative hearings and sessions, his office said. The
release of Wolf’s budget proposal and his address had been scheduled for
Tuesday. Pennsylvania governors typically deliver their messages about state
spending plans and priorities on the Tuesday in the first full week of
February. In 2005, then-Gov. Ed Rendell asked House and Senate leaders to push
back his speech a day to so it would not conflict with him and others returning
from the Philadelphia Eagles’ appearance in the Super Bowl or a potential
Eagles victory parade. Legislative leaders agreed to the request, but the
Eagles lost that year. In any case, the setting for Wolf’s seventh budget
address will be unusual because of the pandemic. Wolf will deliver the address
— usually 30 or 40 minutes long — by a pre-recorded video instead of speaking
in-person to a joint session of the House and Senate.
https://www.pennlive.com/politics/2021/02/snow-delays-pa-governors-budget-address-a-day.html
This budget season,
lawmakers have to put underserved students first | Opinion
PA Capital
Star Commentary By Nelly Jimenez, Deborah Gordon Klehr, Susan Spicka, Patty
Torres, Laura Boyce, and Jennifer R. Clarke, Capital-Star
Op-Ed Contributor February 2, 2021
Nelly
Jimenez, is the executive director and CEO of ACLAMO. Deborah Gordon Klehr is
the executive director of the Education Law Center-PA. Susan Spicka
is the executive director of Education Voters of Pa. Patty Torres is the
organizing director for Make the Road Pennsylvania. Laura Boyce is the
Pennsylvania executive director for Teach Plus. Jennifer R. Clarke is the
executive director of the Public Interest Law Center.
Longstanding,
devastating inequities in Pennsylvania’s education funding system guarantee
that our state continues to mistreat hundreds of thousands of its historically
underserved students, including many students of color, students living in
poverty, students with disabilities, English learners, and others. The problem:
These students attend schools that lack the basic resources to meet their
needs. In the 2021-2022 budget, the Legislature must finally take steps toward
providing additional funding to schools that have the fewest resources
available to meet their students’ needs. It must commit to fully closing the
resource and opportunity gaps that threaten the Commonwealth’s future
workforce, tax base, and economy. It is unacceptable to continue ignoring the
substantial harm that Pennsylvania’s current funding system inflicts on
students and communities throughout the commonwealth. It is no secret that
Pennsylvania has one of the most inequitable school funding systems in the
nation, and that students of color disproportionately experience the
consequences of that neglect. A 2019 study from Research for Action, “Unequal
Access to Educational Opportunity Among Pennsylvania’s High School Students,” found that the size and pervasiveness
of race and income disparities in educational access in Pennsylvania are among
the most severe in the country.
PA School Funding
Case Trial Coming Soon – But Legislators Can Act Now!
Education Law Center Email February 1, 2021
Our historic
school funding lawsuit against Pennsylvania officials will go to trial in
Commonwealth Court this year. While we await the issuing of a scheduling order
by the judge in the case, we continue to work with our partners and our
co-counsel at the Public Interest Law Center to build awareness and support for
the case through webinars, social media, and other activities. It is a
good time to remind our legislators that they do not need to wait for a verdict
to take action on addressing the grossly inadequate and inequitable funding
system that Pennsylvania still uses. Sign up here both to get regular
updates on the case and to volunteer to help spread the word.
“To learn more about this litigation and how to support the
students of Chester Upland, join us for a Zoom meeting on February 4 at 7 p.m.,
Chester Upland Rising: Where Do We Go From Here? “
Center Students Over
Profits in Chester Upland
Education
Law Center Email February 1, 2021
As the
Chester Upland School District faces the potential outsourcing of some or all
of its schools, ELC, along with Public Interest Law Center, continues to
advocate on behalf of Chester parents, students, and the disability rights
group Delaware County Advocacy & Resource Organization. We aim to ensure
that the quality of education provided to students is centered, parent input
and transparency are prioritized, and the needs of students with disabilities
are addressed. The court-appointed
receiver for the district is now implementing a court-authorized request for
proposals (RFP) process that could lead to charter conversion or private
management of some or all district schools by this fall. In response to
our emergency motion to suspend the RFP process, the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas
held a Jan. 11 hearing to consider our challenge that the RFP failed to ensure
that charter operators demonstrate superior academic outcomes to the district’s
and that all bidders establish their ability to improve educational outcomes
and meet the needs of all students. On Jan. 14, Judge Barry Dozor ordered revisions to the RFP and suspended the
RFP process until the district could submit its completed 2019 financial
audits. The new deadline for RFP submissions is March 1. A task force will then
be convened to make recommendations to the receiver, and a public hearing held
where parents and stakeholders can ask questions of the selected bidders prior
to a court hearing on a final plan. To learn more about this litigation
and how to support the students of Chester Upland, join us for a Zoom meeting
on February 4 at 7 p.m., Chester Upland Rising:
Where Do We Go From Here?
‘Why are you
silencing us?’ New Philly school board public comment policy draws ire
“It’s a step
backwards,” said Tatyana Roldan, a senior at Central High School. “If you say
they want to hear us, why are you silencing us?”
Inquirer by Kristen
A. Graham Published Feb 1, 2021
With a
pandemic afoot and a controversial school reopening plan on the table, city
parents, teachers, and concerned citizens have plenty to say to the
Philadelphia school board. Because of changes to the school board’s public
comment policy, there are now limited slots in which to say it. “It’s a step
backward,” said Tatyana Roldan, a senior at Northeast High School. “If you say
they want to hear us, why are you silencing us?” The board recently shifted its
strategy overseeing the Philadelphia School District, shaking up board
meetings, and adding more time on scrutinizing academic achievement. It
also moved to limit the number of speakers — from no limit to 10 students and
30 members of the public — and cut from three minutes to two the amount
of time each can address the board. The changes, board president Joyce
Wilkerson said, aim to amplify diverse voices: Students and new speakers are
prioritized. Wilkerson has said this was in part a reaction to a meeting in
last July, when opponents of in-person school reopening packed a virtual board
session that lasted eight hours and included public comment from more than 100
people. Nearly all of the speakers blasted Superintendent William R. Hite’s
reopening plan, which was ultimately scotched. Wilkerson said those speakers
did not reflect the sentiments of the entire community. “It turns out there was
a whole community that wanted their kids to go back,” she said. “Just relying
exclusively on those people who speak out at board meetings has not been as
effective as we need it to be to make decisions as a board.”
https://fusion.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia-school-board-public-district-20210201.html
Philly leaders lied
for decades about school safety. Why should teachers trust them during a
pandemic? | Opinion
The district
still lacks a robust testing strategy and has failed to provide ventilation
reports for many schools expected to return.
by Adam
Sanchez and Nina Willbach, For the Inquirer Published Feb 1, 2021
Last
November, when the Philadelphia School District aimed to reopen in-person
schooling, the plan was thwarted by a surge in coronavirus cases. So now that
the district is again attempting to reopen schools, the number of cases has
declined, right? Wrong. In November, Thomas Farley, the head of the
Philadelphia Department of Public Health, reported an average of 387
new cases per day, enough to cancel school reopening. But in
his most recent update, Farley explains that for the past week, we averaged 401
cases per day and 518 the previous week. While this seems to be part of a
downward trajectory, our community transmission rate reached “substantial”
according to state guidelines the week of Oct. 18 and has remained there ever since. The first
cases of the more contagious coronavirus variants are being reported near Philadelphia;
without a quicker vaccine rollout, these variants will likely cut short some of
the progress that has been made. So why is now the time to reopen in-person
schools?
PPS proposes school
closures as district seeks significant changes in footprint
ANDREW
GOLDSTEIN Pittsburgh Post-Gazette agoldstein@post-gazette.com FEB 1, 2021 6:44 PM
The
Pittsburgh Public Schools on Monday proposed significant changes to its
physical footprint, including the closure or restructuring of several schools
and possible staff reductions. The moves, some of which could come as soon as
the 2021-22 school year, would affect hundreds of students and staff members. District
administrators asked the school board to vote Tuesday on opening to the public
the discussion of closures and other changes. They said no moves would be made
until the district held conversations with teachers, parents, students and
other stakeholders. “This is only a draft plan,” said Michael McNamara, the
district’s interim chief operations officer. “We are inviting and will
purposefully engage board members, teachers, principals and community members
as we take this journey of modernizing our footprint.” The schools that would
close under the proposal are: Miller PreK-5 in the Hill District; Fulton PreK-5
in Highland Park; Woolslair PreK-5 in Lawrenceville; and Manchester PreK-8 in
Manchester. The only school slated to close for the 2021-22 school year is
Woolslair. All others would close before the 2022-23 school year.
'Black History is
American History': Pa. schools urged to adopt anti-racist curricula
Bucks County
Courier Times by Sam Ruland York Daily Record February 1, 2021
Throughout
her years in the Central York School District, Princess Gabriel never sat in a
classroom where a person of color stood at the chalkboard and lectured. It
didn’t seem that strange, for the most part, she remembers. All her neighbors
were white, all her friends were white — the lead characters in her favorite
television shows were white. As a student, she recalls reading only a handful
of books that featured nonwhite perspectives — titles such as "To Kill a
Mockingbird" or "Huckleberry Finn" come to mind. But even when
those novels featured people of color, she realized, the books were often
written by white authors who failed to portray the Black characters with depth
and thoughtfulness. "It made me realize how important representation in
the classroom is," said Gabriel, who is Black and a senior at Central York
High School. "Talking about the Black, Latino or Asian community from
a removed point of view and reading it from a white author isn’t enough. We
must include and hear other voices." The way to begin fixing it, she said,
is to move toward anti-racist curricula and away from practices that
center only on the experiences of white people. So not only are Pennsylvania
schools trying to reopen during the coronavirus pandemic, but they’re also
opening during a racial reckoning across the country — one largely fueled by
the police killing of George Floyd in May, bullying of Asian-American students
amid the coronavirus and a spike in anti-immigrant rhetoric and
anti-Semitism since the 2016 election.
As virus cuts class
time, teachers have to leave out lessons
Trib Live by
ASSOCIATED
PRESS | Monday, February 1, 2021
12:40 p.m.
English
teachers are deciding which books to skip. History teachers are condensing
units. Science teachers are often doing without experiments entirely. With
instruction time reduced as much as half by the coronavirus pandemic, many of
the nation’s middle school and high school teachers have given up on covering
all the material normally included in their classes and instead are cutting
lessons. Certain topics must be taught because they will appear on exit exams
or Advanced Placement tests. But teachers are largely on their own to make
difficult choices — what to prioritize and what to sacrifice to the pandemic. “I
have to make decisions constantly about what material I’m not going to cover
because it is impossible to get it all done,” said Leigh Foy, a chemistry and
Advanced Placement biology teacher at York Suburban High School in
Pennsylvania.
https://triblive.com/news/as-virus-cuts-class-time-teachers-have-to-leave-out-lessons/
Allentown School
District superintendent Thomas Parker resigning
By ANDREW
SCOTT and JACQUELINE
PALOCHKO THE MORNING CALL | FEB 01, 2021 AT 8:25
PM
Thomas
Parker, the Allentown School District’s fourth superintendent since 2010 and
the first African American in that position, will resign May 1, Parker said in
a letter Monday night. “After much reflection and consideration, I have
accepted a position at the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, where I will work
to help strengthen the education continuum in Flint, Michigan,” Parker said in
the letter. “Ending this chapter in Allentown is not an easy decision,” he
said. “I have poured my heart into serving this community for the past four
years. I am extremely proud of what we have achieved and what we are working to
achieve in the future. This city has embraced my family, and we will be forever
grateful and supportive champions of Allentown.” Under his contract, Parker
must notify the Allentown School Board at least 90 days before resigning. The
district will not be responsible for the remaining year of his contract. Parker
was hired at $175,000 in 2017.
Scranton school
directors to discuss possible return to classrooms
Times
Tribune BY
SARAH HOFIUS HALL STAFF WRITER February 1, 2021
With new
research and guidance that calls for the reopening of schools, Scranton school
directors will likely meet next week to discuss a possible return to
classrooms. A slower-than-expected COVID-19 vaccine distribution could mean
that Scranton schools would not reopen until sometime in April, Director Ro
Hume said during a virtual meeting Monday night. Though four Lackawanna County
districts have been able to offer vaccines to employees due to a medical
provider having extras, the amount needed in Scranton is too large, leaders
said. Educators are included in phase 1B of the state’s plan. Before the state
expanded phase 1A to include people age 65 and older and those with certain
pre-existing conditions, officials hoped to start offering vaccines to Scranton
employees this month. The district is working with Hometown Health Care of
NEPA, which might be able to start offering vaccines to employees who fit
within the 1A category soon, said Robert Gentilezza, chief compliance officer. School
directors decided last month to continue fully remote instruction, with the
hope that vaccines would be made available soon. New state guidance recommends
providing in-person instruction to elementary-age students. Several parents
asked the board Monday night to let their children return to school as soon as
possible.
South Philly’s Andrew
Jackson School is being renamed after years of advocacy
Community
members will have a chance to weigh in on the new name.
Billy
Penn/WHYY by Michaela Winberg Yesterday, 1:50 p.m.
A public
school in South Philadelphia is set to be renamed after three years of advocacy
from parents, teachers and city residents. Andrew Jackson School at 13th and
Federal streets has received the School District’s stamp of approval to begin
the renaming process, according to an email sent to parents from principal
Kelly Espinosa and obtained by Billy Penn. The process will begin with a town hall
meeting on Feb. 25. “We have made the decision to change our school name to one
that will better reflect our school’s values and the diverse students and
families we serve,” Espinosa wrote in the email to parents. Public complaints
surfaced in 2018 about the K-8 school, named for the seventh United States
president. Jackson had no major connection to Philadelphia, owned slaves and
ordered the Trail of Tears that killed
thousands of Indigenous people. Three years ago, an online petition garnered
more than 800 signatures in
support of renaming the Passyunk Square school. The idea? To keep the Jackson
name, but have it rep Fanny Jackson Coppin, who was born into slavery in Washington DC
and went on to become a teacher in Philadelphia.
https://billypenn.com/2021/02/01/philadelphia-school-renamed-andrew-jackson-passyunk-square/
Missing in School
Reopening Plans: Black Families’ Trust
Deep-seated
mistrust among Black families toward their public school districts is holding
back school reopening, even as Black children suffer inordinately from remote
learning.
New York
Times By Eliza Shapiro, Erica L. Green and Juliana Kim Feb. 1, 2021
For Farah
Despeignes, the choice of whether to send her children back to New York City
classrooms as the coronavirus pandemic raged on last fall was no choice at all.
Ms. Despeignes, a Black mother of two, watched in despair as her Bronx
neighborhood was devastated by Covid-19 last spring. She knew it would take a
long time for her to trust that the nation’s largest public school system could
protect her sons’ health — and by extension her own. “Everything that has
happened in this country just in the last year has proved that Black people
have no reason to trust the government,” including public school systems and
her sons’ school building, said Ms. Despeignes, an elected parent leader on the
local school board who has taught at several colleges. She added, “My mantra
is, if you can do it for yourself, you shouldn’t trust other people to do it
for you. Because I can’t see for myself what’s going on in that building, I’m
not going to trust somebody else to keep my children safe.” Even as more
districts reopen their buildings and President Biden joins the chorus of those
saying schools can safely resume in-person education, hundreds of thousands of
Black parents say they are not ready to send their children back. That reflects
both the disproportionately
harsh consequences the virus has visited on nonwhite Americans and the profound lack of trust that
Black families have in school districts, a longstanding phenomenon exacerbated
by the pandemic.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/01/us/politics/school-reopening-black-families.html
How the Biden Team
Will Influence K-12 Education: The President’s Cabinet Picks
Education
Week By Andrew Ujifusa & Evie Blad — February 01, 2021
The U.S.
Department of Education is the natural federal focus of the nation’s school
leaders, as well as the lobbyists, researchers, and lawmakers involved in K-12
education. Yet it’s far from the only powerful federal agency that deals with
important education issues. The Education Department’s primary mission for
elementary and secondary education is to ensure equal access to education and
promote excellence in the field. It investigates potential violations of civil
rights law, and reviews and monitors states’ work to hold schools accountable,
among other responsibilities. (Miguel
Cardona is President Joe Biden’s pick to lead
the department.) Yet from school meals and child care to guidance about
discipline, a host of agencies work either independently or in conjunction with
the Education Department to set policies and priorities for schools.
Education Leaders
Introduce Bills to Reopen and Rebuild America’s Schools, Save Education Jobs,
and Recover Lost Time in the Classroom
House
Education & Labor Committee Website 01.28.21
WASHINGTON – Today, Chairman Robert C. “Bobby”
Scott (VA-03) joined Congressman Donald Norcross (NJ-01), Congresswoman Jahana
Hayes (CT-05), Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernandez (NM-03), and Congressman
Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (CNMI-at Large) to introduce a package of
education bills to reopen and rebuild our schools, save educators' jobs, and
help students recover lost time in the classroom. The Rebuild and
Reopen America’s Schools Act, introduced with Congressman Norcross,
the Save Education Jobs Act introduced with Congresswoman
Hayes, and the Learning Recovery Act, introduced with Congresswoman
Leger Fernandez and Congressman Sablan, are part of the Committee’s response to
the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students, educators, and
parents.
“Prior to
the pandemic, our education system was suffering from crumbling infrastructure,
understaffed schools, and widening achievement gaps. Now, after an
unprecedented disruption in students’ lives as a result of the pandemic, we are
seeing existing inequities exacerbated,” said Chairman Scott. “The package of bills introduced
today reflects our commitment to helping students, educators, and parents
overcome the pandemic, reopen our schools, and finally access a quality, public
education.”
What you need to know
about standardized testing
Washington Post
By Valerie
Strauss Reporter Feb. 1, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. EST
Diane
Ravitch is a former assistant secretary of education and historian. For more
than a decade, she has been a leading advocate for America’s public education
system and a critic of the modern “accountability” movement that has based
school improvement measures in large part on high-stakes standardized tests. In
her influential 2010 book, “The
Death and Life of the Great American School System,” Ravitch explained why she dropped her
support for No Child Left Behind, the chief education initiative of President
George W. Bush, and for standardized test-based school “reform.” Ravitch worked
from 1991 to 1993 as assistant secretary in charge of research and improvement
in the Education Department of President George H.W. Bush, and she served as
counselor to then-Education Secretary Lamar Alexander, who had just left the
Senate where he had served as chairman of the Senate Education Committee. She
was at the White House as part of a select group when George W. Bush first
outlined No Child Left Behind (NCLB), a moment that at the time she said made
her “excited and optimistic” about the future of public education. But her
opinion changed as NCLB was implemented and she researched its effects on
teaching and learning. She found that the NCLB mandate for schools to give
high-stakes annual standardized tests in math and English language arts led to
reduced time — or outright elimination — of classes in science, social studies,
the arts and other subjects.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/02/01/need-to-know-about-standardized-testing/
Broad Street Run
postponed again due to COVID-19
The Broad
Street Run, a Philly tradition for more than 40 years and the country’s largest
10-mile race, has once again been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Inquirer by Rob Tornoe Published Feb 1, 2021
The Broad
Street Run, the country’s largest 10-mile race and a Philadelphia tradition for
more than 40 years, has once again been postponed due to the coronavirus
pandemic. The run, scheduled to take place in May 2021, has been pushed back
until the fall, organizers announced Monday. No final date has been announced. “While
the future trajectory of COVID-19 is still unknown, we are hopeful that we’ll
be able to welcome you all this fall for the 2021 Broad Street Run,” organizers
said in a Facebook post.
Pat Metheny with
Charlie Haden - Cinema Paradiso
YouTube 2,840,464
views •Feb 12, 2010 Runtime 5:14
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEwXcgwzIYE
NPE/NPE Action Conference
In Philly was rescheduled to October 23/24 due to concerns w/ COVID19.
Network for
Public Education
NPE will be
sending information to registrants very soon!
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/
Join PFPS and NPE for
“Fighting Voucher Legislation in 2021: An Update on State Voucher Bills and
Tools to Oppose Them” Webinar Feb. 4th 4 p.m.
Author: PFPS
Posted: Jan 28, 2021
Public Funds
Public Schools resumes our engaging and well attended webinar series begun in
2020 with the first installment of 2021. Join PFPS and the Network for Public
Education on Thursday, February 4, at 4 p.m. EST for an important and topical
webinar, “Fighting Voucher Legislation in 2021: An Update on State Voucher
Bills and Tools to Oppose Them.”
Panelists
will discuss the significant private school voucher bills that have already
been introduced in State Legislatures around the country, additional legislative
action to watch for during 2021 legislative sessions, and tools and resources
made available to advocates by PFPS and others. The webinar will feature
representatives from the SPLC Action Fund and Education Law Center, which
support the PFPS campaign, and from the National Coalition for Public
Education, as well as Carol Burris, Executive Director of the Network for
Public Education.
Use
this link to register for Fighting Voucher Legislation: An Update
on State Voucher Bills and Tools to Oppose Them on February 4 at 4 p.m.
EST.
EDUCATION
CONVERSATION: An Introduction to the Philadelphia School Board’s “Goals and
Guardrails” Initiative
Philadelphia
Education Fund Free Virtual Event Thursday February 4, 2021 9:00
am - 10:15 am
Attend a
typical school board meeting anywhere in the country, and the agenda will
likely be largely made up of financial, contracting, and spending resolutions.
What if, instead of school operations, a school board were to focus its
attention on student achievement? Might that accelerate gains for students?
Could that improve the student experience? Would that deliver educational
equity? Two years ago, the Philadelphia
Board of Education began consulting with education leaders across the country
to explore this question. The answer, announced just last month, is Goals and
Guardrails. The initiative has been described by former board member, Lee
Huang, as both “obvious and revolutionary.” And, Superintendent Bill Hite
called it a “game changer.” To learn more about this approach and what it might
mean for Philadelphia’s schoolchildren, register for this free event here.
Panelists
- Leticia Egea-Hinton, Vice President,
Board of Education
- Mallory Fix Lopez, Member, Board of
Education
- Angela McIver, Member, Board of
Education
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/
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
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/
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.