Tuesday, June 7, 2016

PA Ed Policy Roundup June 7: Cuts and Tax Hikes a Result of Mandated Pension, Health Care, Special Ed, Charter Payment Increases

Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 3900 Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, Governor's staff, current/former PA Secretaries of Education, Wolf education transition team members, Superintendents, 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 and LinkedIn

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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup June 7, 2016:
Cuts and Tax Hikes a Result of Mandated Pension, Health Care, Special Ed, Charter Payment Increases



Joint public hearings of the PA Senate and House Education Committees dealing with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) are scheduled for 9:00 am on June 7th and June 22nd in Hearing Room #1, North Office Building



Tonight at 7 on PCN: Education Funding with Sen. Lloyd Smucker and Sen. Andy Dinniman, PCN LIVE Tuesday at 7 pm
Pennsylvania has a new funding formula for basic education that will more fairly distribute money to school districts based on their unique needs. The new formula figures out how the state will divide $5.5 billion in basic education funding each year, using factors such as the number of students in poverty, the district's wealth and ability to raise revenue, and the number of students who speak English or attend charter schools. Senate Education Committee Chairs, Lloyd Smucker and Andy Dinniman, will be our guests to discuss the new formula and how it will work with the budget. Call 1-877-PA6-5001 with your questions.
https://pcntv.com/2016/06/05/education-funding-live-tuesday-at-7-pm-with-sen-lloyd-smucker-and-sen-andy-dinniman/

PASA-PASBO - Of 334 surveyed districts:
100% report increased mandated costs for pensions in 2016-17
84% report increased mandated costs for health care in 2016-17
88% report increased mandated costs for special education in 2016-17
77% report increased mandated costs for charter schools in 2016-17
Continued Cuts: Losing Confidence, Losing Learning
The PASA-PASBO Report on School District Budgets June 2016
http://www.pasa-net.org//Files/SurveysAndReports/2016/PASA-PASBOReportSpring2016.pdf

Write-in votes cast in April primary change complexion of some legislative, congressional races
Penn Live By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on June 06, 2016 at 7:11 PM, updated June 06, 2016 at 8:00 PM
The write-in votes cast in the April 26 primary have been counted. With one exception, the outcome is now known and has changed the complexion of some state legislative and congressional races.  Incumbents who may have thought they could rest on their laurels now realize they may have to hit the campaign trail if they want to return to their elected post.
Among them are two powerful Republican legislative leaders: House Speaker Mike Turzai and Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati.
http://www.pennlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/06/write-in_votes_cast_in_april_p.html#incart_2box_politics

A June 30 budget? Gov. Wolf isn't saying: Tuesday Morning Coffee
Penn Live By John L. Micek | jmicek@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on June 07, 2016 at 6:09 AM, updated June 07, 2016 at 6:13 AM
THE MORNING COFFEE
Good Tuesday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
With little more than three weeks to go before the deadline to pass a new state budget, Gov. Tom Wolf isn't saying whether Pennsylvania will have an on-time spending plan.  On Monday, Wolf said administration budget negotiators are "trying to get things to the point where we're not here for a long time this year," The Associated Press reports.  But the York County Democrat didn't say whether that meant the state would hit the June 30 mark, The AP noted.  Leaders in the Republican-controlled House and Senate have said they plan to get a budget onto Wolf's desk before the new fiscal year begins at July 1 at 12:01 a.m.
http://blog.pennlive.com/capitol-notebook/2016/06/a_june_30_budget_gov_wolf_isnt.html#incart_river_index

Wolf declines to say whether state will meet budget deadline
AP State Wire By MARK SCOLFORO June 6, 2016
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvania lawmakers returned to work in Harrisburg on Monday with just weeks left to avert a repeat of last year's budget fiasco, a process that wasn't resolved until Gov. Tom Wolf let budget legislation become law without his signature in March and April.  Wolf, a Democrat, won't predict whether talks with the Republican-controlled Legislature will produce a new budget by the time the coming fiscal year kicks off on July 1.  "I wouldn't be someone to make a prediction," Wolf said as he left his Capitol offices. He said negotiators were "moving" and "trying to get things to the point where we're not here for a long time this year."
http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_268748/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=9lLqgX65

Deadline looming, will state budget be on time this year?
ABC27 By Dennis Owens Published: June 6, 2016, 6:23 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – T-minus 25 days and counting.
The Pennsylvania budget is due June 30. Last year, it was a historic nine months late.
“I can’t sit here with a straight face and say we’re gonna get this done on time because I don’t even know if there is an on time anymore,” Representative Mike Vereb (R-Montgomery) said.  Last year, there was much to divide Democrats and Republicans. This year, they both agree, at least, on one point.  “We can’t have a repeat of what happened last year,” Senator Lisa Baker (R-Luzerne/Pike/Susquehanna/Wayne/Wyoming) said. “The budget is a core mission and a core function and we’ll be working diligently over the next few weeks to have something in place. I don’t want to go home without a vote and I’d certainly prefer to have a budget done on time.”  “Nobody wants to go through a protracted impasse like last year,” agrees Jeff Sheridan, Governor Wolf’s spokesman. “It did damage to human service agencies. It did damage to our schools. We don’t want to go through that again. We can’t go through that again.”
OK, so neither side wants a protracted standoff. Both sides also generally agree that the books don’t balance to the tune of at least $1.2 billion.
http://abc27.com/2016/06/06/deadline-looming-will-state-budget-be-on-time-this-year/

Retiree’s Capitol vigil puts legislators on the clock with his pension reform
Post Gazette By Carley Mossbrook / Harrisburg Bureau June 6, 2016 12:00 AM
HARRISBURG — On any given day, hordes of state Capitol visitors pass Barry Shutt.
The 68-year-old Harrisburg-area resident with bifocals and white, wispy hair sits quietly in a lawn chair outside the statehouse cafeteria.  Next to him rests what he calls the “Doomsday clock,” one showing the ever-growing total of the state’s pension debt — adding $158 each second, according to calculations that Mr. Shutt said he received from two pension experts.  For nearly two years, the retired state employee and Army veteran has maintained his one-man “vigil” a few days a week to lobby against a state pension system that he says has reached $66 billion in 15 years — and provides even him with generous retirement benefits.  But unlike the well-paid lobbyists who pass his post on their way to lunch, Mr. Shutt makes his case for hours, without pay, because he says he cares about the state’s fiscal health and the effect the growing debt could have on future generations.
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/state/2016/06/06/Retiree-s-Capitol-vigil-puts-legislators-on-the-clock-with-his-pension-reform/stories/201606060056?utm_campaign=echobox&utm_medium=social&utm_source=Twitter#link_time=1465246356

“School officials say cuts and tax increases are necessary to counter the fact that a growing share of their budgets is being eaten by mandated expenses.
"Districts project increases in mandated expenses for pensions (100 percent), health care (84 percent), special education (88 percent), and charter schools (77 percent), higher in every category than in previous reports," the study stated.
Pension obligations have risen rapidly over the last few years as a consequence of state policy decisions and too-sunny market projections.  This year, districts expect a staggering 24 percent increase in their pension payments.”
Survey of Pa. school officials predicts widespread staff cuts and property tax hikes
Forty-six percent of districts say they will reduce staff in 2016-17.
by Kevin McCorry Newsworks June 6, 2016 — 12:53pm
A survey of Pennsylvania superintendents and school business officials offers a bleak portrait of the state of education in the commonwealth.  With mandated costs growing faster than revenues, districts across the state report that they are planning to cut staff, increase class sizes, and curtail programs and extracurriculars — all while raising local property taxes.  The Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators (PASA) and Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials (PASBO) started conducting surveys of their members in 2010-11, as a way to document the effects of budget cuts.  This year's survey offered "the worst outlook."  "No one imagined that in all this time, state policymakers would still have failed to take meaningful action to curb growing expenses or that the state share of school funding would still be declining," said the report. "No one imagined that our school leaders would be losing confidence in state policy makers and students would still be losing learning opportunities."
http://thenotebook.org/articles/2016/06/06/survey-of-pa-school-officials-predicts-widespread-staff-cuts-and-property-tax-hikes

Survey Finds Budget Impasse, Cost Increases Stress School District Finances
PA Capitol Digest by Crisci Associates June 6, 2016
As Pennsylvania’s school districts work to balance and finalize their 2016-17 budgets on the heels of the nine-month state budget impasse, unchecked mandated cost increases and unpaid state school construction reimbursements are forcing school districts across the Commonwealth to cut instructional and extracurricular programs, reduce classroom and other staff and increase local property taxes.  These findings are revealed in the latest school budget survey conducted by the PA Association of School Business Officials and the PA Association of School Administrators, and represent the most current, comprehensive financial picture for Pennsylvania’s public schools.  The report, titled “Continued Cuts: Losing Confidence, Losing Learning,” documents the ongoing impact of the 2015-16 budget impasse and cumulative effect of six years of mandated expenses outpacing state funding, resulting in shifting the tax burden to local property taxpayers combined with cuts to staff and educational programming.
http://pacapitoldigestcrisci.blogspot.com/2016/06/survey-finds-budget-impasse-cost.html

“The two associations blame the problem on the cumulative impact of six years of mandated expenses in areas like pension payments and charter school payments outpacing state funding. Schools still feel the impact of the nine-month state budget impasse that wasn’t fully resolved until April.”
Schools survey shows budget woes
Standard Speaker BY ROBERT SWIFT, HARRISBURG BUREAU CHIEF PUBLISHED: JUNE 7, 2016
HARRISBURG — Public school officials warned Monday of a double punch of program cuts and property tax hikes across Pennsylvania as lawmakers returned to wrestle with state budget challenges.  Eighty-five percent of school districts plan to increase property taxes for fiscal 2015-16, 50 percent plan to cut or eliminate academic and extracurricular programs and 46 percent plan to reduce staff, according to a survey released by the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials and Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators.  The survey is based on responses by 355 of the 500 school districts spread throughout all 67 counties between April 4 and April 29.  Schools are on a “march backward,” said Jay Himes, PASBO executive director, describing the survey results at a Capitol news conference.
http://standardspeaker.com/news/schools-survey-shows-budget-woes-1.2051962?utm_campaign=educationtt&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=twitterfeed

Districts detail budget dilemma
Public Opinion Staff report 6:37 p.m. EDT June 6, 2016
WAYNESBORO -  A new education funding formula may be on the books in Pennsylvania, but local school districts must first flex some budgeting muscle just to make sure they pull in the money needed to operate in the coming school year.  In a statement issued Monday by the office of Rep. Paul Schemel, R-Franklin County, Greencastle-Antrim School District Superintendent Greg Hoover and Waynesboro Area School District Superintendent Sherian Diller, along with Schemel, detailed the dilemma that the state's 2015-16 budget crisis further placed on school districts and how it extends into the current budget season.
http://www.publicopiniononline.com/story/news/education/2016/06/06/local-officials-education-funding/85499540/

School districts 'marching backward' in revenues keeping up with expenditures, report shows
Penn Live By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on June 06, 2016 at 1:39 PM
Pennsylvania school district officials paint a picture of a sinking ship when they discuss the financial outlook ahead unless the state pursues a new path when it comes to funding public education.  Mandated pension, health care, special education and charter school payments are outpacing the additional funding provided through state funding and higher property taxes, according to a report released on Monday based on the findings from a survey of 371 of the state's 500 school districts conducted in April.  Luzerne County school official talks about his district's financial situationCipriano profiles his district's financial situation including the impact of this year's nine-month budget impasse. The district stayed open but he and other school officials say $400 million more is needed for next year to cover mandated cost inc...  It showed 50 percent of districts plan to reduce or eliminate academic and extra-curricular programs, 46 percent plan to reduce staff; and 73 percent plan to increase elementary class sizes, which now are approaching 25 students or higher in many school districts, said Jim Buckheit, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators.

Report forecasts Pa. education funding perils
Trib Live BY JACOB TIERNEY  | Monday, June 6, 2016, 11:00 p.m.
Taxes are rising and programs are shrinking in more school districts than ever, and there's widespread doubt among administrators that things will improve soon, according to a new report.  School administrators are all too familiar with the findings of the survey recently released by the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators and the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials.  “This is, by far ... the toughest budget situation I've ever had to deal with,” Jeannette schools business manager Paul Sroka said. “It has never been this chaotic.”
According to the survey:
• 85 percent of school districts plan to raise property taxes this year, and in most cases, those increases won't be enough to cover rising costs.
• 83 percent plan to dip into reserves to make ends meet.
• 41 percent reduced staff in 2015-16, and 46 percent plan to this year.
• More than half of the districts will cut academic or extracurricular programs.

Layoffs, tax hikes loom, Pa.schools say
Inquirer by Karen Langley, HARRISBURG BUREAU Updated: JUNE 7, 2016 1:08 AM EDT
HARRISBURG - As the state prepares for what could be another tumultuous budget season, at least 60 percent of Pennsylvania school districts plan to raise property taxes and nearly a third expect to cut staff, according to a survey of districts across the commonwealth.
The Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators and Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials released the results of its survey Monday. It came as lawmakers and Gov. Wolf opened a month in which they will strive to avoid the battle that led to last year's historic stalemate, one that forced some districts to borrow tens of millions of dollars to stay open.  More than two-thirds - or 355 of the state's 500 school districts - responded to the survey, including Philadelphia, the associations said. Among respondents, 85 percent reported plans to increase property taxes, 46 percent said they would reduce staff and 34 percent said they would increase class size.

Tread water, and progress is high, dry
Times Tribune BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD / PUBLISHED: JUNE 7, 2016
Given the inability of the state Legislature to reach a consensus on the state assuming a larger and fairer share of education funding, state Sens. Vincent Hughes and John Blake must be counted as optimists in pressing another important element of school funding.  Mr. Hughes, Philadelphia, is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. Mr. Blake, a Lackawanna County Democrat, is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee. Together, they hope to build consensus among their colleagues to address a burgeoning backlog of public school infrastructure needs statewide.  The pair toured West Scranton High School last week, where the gym is more reminiscent of “That Championship Season” than a modern high school, to the point of being dangerous. The roof leaks and some lavatories need significant work.  Mr. Hughes wants to help districts statewide deal with similar problems with borrowing through a $2 billion bond issue. But, since the state government suspended guaranteed payments to school districts for more than a year to help cover its own inability to pass a budget, such an ambitious proposal as Mr. Hughes’ likely would find fallow ground.

Erie schools plan Harrisburg rally
By Erica Erwin  814-870-1846 Erie Times-News June 2, 2016 05:27 AM
ERIE, Pa. -- Many of the more than 450 people who crowded into a meeting about the Erie School District's financial troubles said they want to make their voices heard in Harrisburg.
They'll have the chance.  The school district will hold a rally in the rotunda of the state Capitol on Tuesday at 2 p.m. The district has secured two buses, donated by local businessman Dale McBrier, with about 115 seats to transport parents, students and community members to the rally, said Daria Devlin, district grants and community relations coordinator.  The district expects to fill the seats with people who already have expressed interest in attending, Devlin said.  "We heard loud and clear at our board meeting last week that students and parents and community members are all very concerned about this," Devlin said. "Our intent is to give them the opportunity to express their concern in the place where we believe a solution should come from."

“Pashinski and Spicka both stressed the need for the state to increase education funding so school boards don’t have to face the budget woes that prompted the Wilkes-Barre Area Board to vote to cut art, industrial art, library services and Family and Consumer Sciences. Studies determined the district could be up to $70 million in debt within five years if changes weren’t made.”
Residents rally on Public Square against W-B Area cuts
Times Leader By Mark Guydish -mguydish@timesleader.com - @TLMarkGuydish - 570-991-6112 JUNE 4TH, 2016 - 6:45 PM
WILKES-BARRE — She spoke last but provoked the loudest applause.
Coughlin High School junior Rachel Benczkowski stepped to the microphone on Public Square after education advocates and politicians had championed art education and condemned the Wilkes-Barre Area School District.  “We were told our whole entire life to be happy, and happiness to people can be art and music and to learn and gain more knowledge,” Benczkowski said. “How can the people who told us to be happy be the same ones to take our happiness away?”
Benczkowski had arrived at the last minute of a Saturday rally to push for restoration of program cuts by the Wilkes-Barre Area School Board.

School district merger study in the works
The Morning Call by Colt Shaw Call Harrisburg Bureau June 6, 2016
HARRISBURG —In an effort to trim taxpayer costs, a Montgomery County lawmaker has entered a long line of legislators looking to merge some of the state's 500 school districts.  The House Education Committee on Monday voted unanimously on a resolution calling for a study on the pros and cons of consolidating school districts. The study would be done by the Legislature's Joint State Government Commission and the Independent Fiscal Office.  The resolution was sponsored by Rep. Mike Vereb, R-Montgomery.  Vereb is looking for administrative savings by dissolving school district boundaries. During the committee hearing, he framed the resolution as a chance to cut the number of administrators and use the savings to hire more teachers or invest in classrooms.  Merging school districts could help taxpayers in counties where student populations are dropping, said Rep. Kathy Rapp, R-Warren, whose district covers vast rural areas of northwest Pennsylvania.

Gerald L. Zahorchak | Do tests matter? Not that much
Johnstown Tribune Democrat June 6, 2016 By Gerald L. Zahorchak
Gerald L. Zahorchak of Johnstown recently retired as superintendent of the Greater Johnstown School District. He is a former Pennsylvania secretary of education.
Pennsylvania has placed far too much emphasis on state test results when providing each of its schools a performance profile score.  Nearly all of the scores come from a single test. And while tests matter for purposes of determining a student’s strengths and weaknesses, grade level or entire building, there are areas that, in my view, matter a great deal more.   As well, often a school is set up to fail with tests as single measures because of the state’s woefully inadequate and inequitable funding schemes.  A case in point is the Greater Johnstown School District, where I recently served for three years as superintendent.
In 2007, the district was told by the state that it was $9 million underfunded in terms of having the capacity to bring all students to grade-level on state tests.   Then in 2011 and 2012, the state took more than $900 per student ($3 million) from the district, forcing it to reduce its workforce by more than 25 teachers (more than 10 percent of total professional staff).  Of course, scores fell during that time period.
However, understanding the dismal context, I led an effort from day one to de-emphasize (or not emphasize at all) test results – knowing we were not given the opportunity to build capacity by the state.   Instead, we would focus on several things we could do.

Mahanoy Area talks charter school funding
BY JOHN E. USALIS / PUBLISHED: JUNE 7, 2016
Mahanoy Area School District Business Administrator John J. Hurst provided an overview to the school board of the financial burden from charter schools and other issues during last week’s board meeting.  During the meeting, Hurst presented to the board the proposed final budget for the 2016-17 school year that includes a 1.7-mill real estate tax increase. The budget will be formally adopted at the June meeting.  Hurst spoke of the costs of charter schools as a major part of a school district’s budget.  “We’ve been talking about this for many, many years, and it’s really killing us and other schools financially,” Hurst said. “Back in 2007, we were paying a little over $30,000 for charter schools, and this year we’re projecting around $785,000. Had those kids been here (in district schools), we’d be obviously in a positive situation budget-wise.”  An option that the school district has taken to bring students back is partnering with eBridge Academy. Hurst said the partnership “will significantly save us money if we can get all the kids go to that cyberschool.”

Letters: ASPIRA proud of record with Olney, Stetson charter schools
Inqiorer Letter by Alfredo B. Calderón Santini, President & CEO, ASPIRA, Inc. of Pennsylvania Updated: JUNE 6, 2016 — 3:01 AM EDT
YOUR RECENT editorial, "Charter Schools Office rightly exercising its power," (May 23) demands a response in the interests of fairness. ASPIRA acknowledges the legitimate concerns of the School Reform Commission and the Charter Schools Office in taking all necessary steps to ensure renewed confidence in ASPIRA's business model and practices going forward.  But these concerns have no bearing on ASPIRA's success in educating our community's students. Ours is a record of outstanding achievement.  Both Olney and Stetson have earned the confidence and trust of the families they serve, thanks in large part to the fact that ASPIRA's leaders and much of its staff have roots in this community.


Five eye-opening figures from the U.S. Education Department’s latest civil rights data dump
Washington Post By Emma Brown June 7 at 1:19 AM 
The U.S. Education Department on Tuesday released a trove of data drawn from surveys of nearly every single one of the nation’s 95,000 public schools. This latest installment of the Civil Rights Data Collection, from the 2013-2014 school year, offers a sobering look at the wide disparities in experience and opportunity that divide the nation’s 50 million students.  By the fall, anyone will be able to look up data on a specific school or school district online. GreatSchools, the website that provides information about school test scores and demographics, also is planning to incorporate the civil rights data into its school profiles.
Meantime, here are five eye-opening figures from the overview that the Education Department released Tuesday:

“At P.S. 188, teachers and staff members grapple with problems that stretch the very idea of what a school is supposed to be. Their efforts are visible even in the school’s supply closets, where toothbrushes and deodorant are stored along with pencils and paper. A school like P.S. 188 strives to be social worker, advocate, therapist and even Santa Claus.”
Where Nearly Half of Pupils Are Homeless, School Aims to Be Teacher, Therapist, Even Santa
New York Times By ELIZABETH A. HARRISJUNE 6, 2016
There are supposed to be 27 children in Harold Boyd IV’s second-grade classroom, but how many of them will be there on a given day is anyone’s guess.  Since school began in September, five new students have arrived and eight children have left. Two transferred out in November. One who started in January was gone in April. A boy showed up for a single day in March, and then never came back. Even now, in the twilight of the school year, new students are still arriving, one as recently as mid-May.  At Public School 188, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, students churn relentlessly in and out. Administrators estimate that nearly half the students enrolled at the school do not last the full year. And how could it be otherwise?  Last school year, 47 percent of the students there were homeless. The percentage was higher at only two schools in New York City.  The number of homeless people in the city has never been larger, and to spend months in the classrooms of P.S. 188 is to see that this crisis does not play out just in the grown-up world of streets and shelters. It is lived in lunchrooms and libraries, in science labs and math classes, or while perched at a tiny desk trying to learn to read.

Charter and Traditional Public Schools Fight Over Money
Amid shrinking school budgets, charter and traditional public schools are increasingly at loggerheads over the bottom line.
American Prospect by Rachel M. Cohen June 6, 2016
Last month, a teachers union-funded study in Los Angeles sparked a furor when it reported that the city’s charter sector—which educates 16 percent of L.A.’s public school students—drains upwards of $500 million a year from the district’s school budget.  In a brief accompanying the report, the teachers union and its allies charged that L.A.’s charter school explosion “limits educational opportunities” for more than 500,000 public school students, and “imperils the financial stability” of the district. Education reform advocate Peter Cunningham shot back in a blog post that the study’s premise that charters siphon money from traditional public schools “is like arguing that a younger child deprives an older child of parental attention.”  Such school budget fights are not just happening in Los Angeles. In cities all over the country—from Massachusetts, to Missouri, from Florida toPennsylvania, from Washington state to Maryland—charters and local school districts are clashing fiercely over who gets what funding. Districts say charters steal their money, leaving them unable to properly educate the students who remain at their schools—very often those who are the most expensive to educate, like children with disabilities.  Charter advocates counter that districts’ financial woes began long before charters came on the scene, and students who seek alternatives shouldn’t have to suffer just because districts and unions face budget and organizational crises. Money should “follow the child” school choice supporters say, meaning per-pupil tax dollars should be directed towards whichever school system a student wishes to attend.


EPLC's 2016 Report:  High School Career and Technical Education: Serving Pennsylvania's Workforce and Student Needs
PENNSYLVANIA EDUCATION POLICY FORUM Thursday, June 23, 2016 
Allegheny Intermediate Unit - 475 East Waterfront Dr., Homestead, PA 15120
Coffee and Networking - 9:30 a.m.  Program - 10:00 a.m. to Noon   
 RSVP by clicking here. There is no fee, but a RSVP is required. Please feel free to share this invitation with your staff and network. Similar forums will be held later in the Philadelphia area and Harrisburg. 
SPEAKERS:
An Overview of the EPLC Report on High School CTE will be presented by:
Ron Cowell, President, The Education Policy and Leadership Center
Statewide and Regional Perspectives Will Be Provided By: 
Dr. Lee Burket, Director, Bureau of Career & Technical Education, PA Department of Education
Jackie Cullen, Executive Director, PA Association of Career & Technical Administrators
Dr. William Kerr, Superintendent, Norwin School District
Laura Fisher, Senior Vice President - Workforce & Special Projects, Allegheny Conference on Community Development
James Denova, Vice President, Benedum Foundation

Nominations now open for PSBA Allwein Awards (deadline July 16)
PSBA Website POSTED ON MAY 16, 2016 IN PSBA NEWS
The Timothy M. Allwein Advocacy Award was established in 2011 by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association and may be presented annually to the individual school director or entire school board to recognize outstanding leadership in legislative advocacy efforts on behalf of public education and students that are consistent with the positions in PSBA’s Legislative Platform. The 2016 Allwein Award nominations will be accepted starting today and all applications are due by July 16, 2016. The nomination form can be downloaded from the website.
https://www.psba.org/2016/05/nominations-now-open-allwein-awards/

Join the Pennsylvania Principals Association at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, June 21, 2016, at The Capitol in Harrisburg, PA, for its second annual Principals' Lobby Day.
Pennsylvania Principals Association Monday, March 21, 2016 9:31 AM
 To register, contact Dr. Joseph Clapper at clapper@paprincipals.org by Tuesday, June 14, 2016. If you need assistance, we will provide information about how to contact your legislators to schedule meetings.  Click here for the informational flyer, which includes important issues to discuss with your legislators.
http://www.paprincipals.org/news/2016-03-21/Join_the_PA_Principals_Association_in_June_for_Second_Annual_Principals_Lobby_Day?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

2016 PA Educational Leadership Summit July 24-26 State College
Summit Sponsors: PA Principals Association - PA Association of School Administrators - PA Association of Middle Level Educators - PA Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development 
The 2016 Educational Leadership Summit, co-sponsored by four leading Pennsylvania education associations, provides an excellent opportunity for school district administrative teams and instructional leaders to learn, share and plan together at a quality venue in "Happy Valley." 
Featuring Grant Lichtman, author of EdJourney: A Roadmap to the Future of Education, Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera (invited), and Dana Lightman, author of POWER Optimism: Enjoy the Life You Have... Create the Success You Want, keynote speakers, high quality breakout sessions, table talks on hot topics and district team planning and job alike sessions provides practical ideas that can be immediately reviewed and discussed at the summit before returning back to your district.   Register and pay by April 30, 2016 for the discounted "early bird" registration rate:
https://s3.goeshow.com/seee/PAEdLeadershipSummit/ereg312499.cfm?clear

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