Started in November 2010, daily postings from the Keystone State
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PA Ed Policy Roundup July 31, 2019
Taxpayers in Senate Majority Caucus Chair Bob Mensch’s
school districts had to send over $12.3 million to chronically underperforming
cyber charter schools for 2017-18.
“For Duquesne, the reckoning started last summer with the
initiation of the Bring Your Kids Home campaign. Since then, 18 students have
returned to the district from charter schools. Those students brought about
$340,000 in lost “tuition” payments back to Duquesne with them. In the 2017-18
school year, Duquesne spent about $3.4 million on tuition for students
attending charter schools. That’s about $13,700 for each student enrolled in
regular ed-ucation versus about $32,800 for each special-education student.”
Good for Duquesne: School district challenges charters
for kids
Now more than ever, it’s time for public
schools to market themselves
THE EDITORIAL BOARD Pittsburgh Post-Gazette JUL
30, 2019 6:30 AM
For every child who walks away from his own
school district, dollar bills follow.
Pennsylvania’s system for funding public
education boils down to the concept that the money follows the student. That’s
why school districts must work hard to strut their stuff — to actually compete
for the enrollment of their own students within their own districts. A group of
educators from Duquesne City School District has taken the battle to the
streets with a “Bring Your Kids Home” campaign. Launched a year ago, it has
proven impactful and is being copied in concept, from Pittsburgh to Erie. The
Duquesne team went to the homes of students who live within the district but
who attend charter schools. Brick-and-mortar or cyber, charter schools are
privately run but publicly funded schools that compete with the public school
system for students and the state-funded “tuition” they bring. The Bring Your
Kids Home team has a mission: to convince students and their families to leave
their charter schools and to return to their neighborhood public schools. There
is debate over the value of charter schools: Do they spark healthy competition
with the public school system or do they siphon limited resources away from
that system. The answer is yes and yes.
Trump plan failed to note that it could jeopardize free
school lunches for 500,000 children, say Democrats
The administration failed to include its
analysis of how many schoolkids would be affected by food stamp changes in its
formal proposal, according to a lawmaker who was briefed on the figures.
NBC News By Suzy Khimm July 29, 2019, 4:33
AM EDT
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration
determined that more than 500,000 children would no longer be automatically
eligible for free school meals under a proposed overhaul to the food stamp
program, but left that figure out of its formal proposal, according to House
Democrats. The U.S. Department of Agriculture wants to crack down on
eligibility for food stamps, estimating that 3.1 million Americans would lose
benefits under the proposed rule that the agency unveiled on Tuesday. The
proposal, however, did not include the USDA’s own estimate that more than
500,000 children would lose automatic eligibility for free school meals under
the proposed change, according to
Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., chair of the House Committee on Education and Labor. Under
current law, children whose families receive food stamps are automatically
enrolled in a federal program that
offers free breakfast and lunch at school. The two benefit programs are linked
to reduce paperwork and help ensure that children receive all the food
assistance they qualify for. The agency declined to respond to questions about
the rule’s impact, saying that it “cannot provide additional information during
the public comment period,” a USDA spokesperson told NBC News.
Taxpayers in Senate Majority
Caucus Chair Bob Mensch’s school districts had to send over $12.3 million to
chronically underperforming cyber charter schools for 2017-18.
The table below lists the school district
name, total 2017-18 cyber tuition paid and the percent of the district’s budget
that was spent on cyber tuition.
Data Source: PDE via PSBA.
|
Boyertown Area SD
|
$959,365.66
|
0.9%
|
|
Brandywine Heights Area SD
|
$181,063.44
|
0.7%
|
|
Easton Area SD
|
$2,218,433.09
|
1.6%
|
|
North Penn SD
|
$104,655.23
|
0.0%
|
|
Oley Valley SD
|
$371,453.14
|
1.3%
|
|
Palisades SD
|
$583,986.00
|
1.5%
|
|
Perkiomen Valley SD
|
$670,841.88
|
0.7%
|
|
Pottsgrove SD
|
$1,101,102.00
|
1.9%
|
|
Pottstown SD
|
$2,221,936.49
|
3.9%
|
|
Quakertown Community SD
|
$1,921,999.10
|
2.1%
|
|
Souderton Area SD
|
$867,599.27
|
0.8%
|
|
Upper Perkiomen SD
|
$1,123,616.91
|
2.1%
|
|
|
$12,326,052.21
|
|
Register for Federal Focus: Fully funding IDEA at William
Tennant HS Wednesday August 21st, 7-9 pm
PSBA News July 30, 2019
Join U.S. Representative Brian
Fitzpatrick (R-01) and other IDEA Act co-sponsors at this complimentary focus meeting to
talk about the critical need to modernize and fully fund the federal
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Learn about bipartisan
efforts now in the U.S. Congress to ensure that special education funding is a
priority in the federal budget, and how you can help bring this important
legislation to the finish line. Bring your school district facts and questions.
This event will be held Aug. 21 at 7:00 p.m. at Centennial School District in
Bucks Co. There is no cost to attend, but you must register through myPSBA.org. Questions
can be directed to Megan McDonough at (717) 506-2450, ext. 3321. This
program is hosted by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) and the
Centennial School District.
Commentary: Testing craze is fading in U.S. schools.
Good.
Morning Call By ANDREA GABOR BLOOMBERG |JUL
30, 2019 | 8:00 AM
America’s decades-long infatuation with
standardized testing is finally waning, and for good reasons. Despite years of
training students to do better on tests, the performance of 17-year-olds on
the National Assessment of
Educational Progress has flatlined. At the same time,
the focus on testing produced unintended consequences, including inattention to
important educational priorities and growing teacher shortages. That’s in part
because test performance became a goal in many districts instead of a means to
an end and, thus, a prime example of Campbell’s Law, which points to the
corrupting influence of using a single measurement as a target, thus ensuring
that “it ceases to be a good measure.” The federal “No Child Left Behind”
initiative introduced by President George W. Bush imposed a battery of
high-stakes testing mandates, which continued under President Barack Obama. If
children failed to meet proficiency goals for math and English, schools faced
closure, teachers were shamed and fired and children were held back.
Consequently, many schools and districts focused on test prep, often
sacrificing untested but important subjects such as civics and neglecting the
classroom give-and-take that nurtures critical thinking and creativity. At the
peak of testing mania in the 2014-2015 school year, the average U.S. student
was taking 112 standardized tests in the course of a K-12 education. Now states
from Arizona to Wyoming are retreating from high-stakes testing. The
announcement last month that New York’s education commissioner, a testing
proponent, will resign in August, signals another reversal.
New plan for Pennsylvania: School property taxes out.
Retirement income taxes in
By FORD TURNER THE MORNING
CALL | JUL 30, 2019 | 7:25 PM
A 68-year-old certified public accountant who
got elected to the Pennsylvania Legislature for the first time two years ago
has an outside-the-box approach to getting rid of the school property tax: Put
a new tax on retirement income. Republican state Rep. Frank Ryan said this week
he soon will file a bill that would eliminate the much-despised school property
tax completely through shifts to several other taxes, with a major focus on
keeping the money in the same locale where it was paid. One of his ideas for
raising revenue is a 4.92% tax on retirement income, which currently is not
taxed in Pennsylvania. Social Security income, though, would be exempt. Ryan, a
retired Marine Corps Reserve colonel who represents Lebanon County, anticipated
big pushback from senior citizens ― he jokingly said he expected death threats.
But he said that since he started floating the idea informally the negativity
has been less than anticipated. “I am optimistic that it will get heard,” he said
of his bill. “The real key to this is my fellow senior citizens.” Other aspects
of Ryan’s plan include a new 1.85% local personal income tax that will go
directly to school districts, and an increase of the sales tax from 6% to 8%,
with the additional 2% going to school districts. Landlords would be required
to pass along savings to renters from the eradication of property taxes. School
districts this month began the annual ritual of issuing bills for what will
amount to more than $14 billion of school property taxes across Pennsylvania.
This Pa. school suspended fewer students by using a
restorative model
WHYY By Sara Schneider, WESA July 29, 2019
Suspensions among 4th-6th graders are down at
Woodland Hills School District. That can be attributed, in part, to a
restorative practice program created by the University of Pittsburgh, according
to school district administrators. The team supporting the work recently
released a report reviewing the past two years of the
strategy’s implementation. School staff were trained to think of discipline
differently. They were asked to find out why students are disruptive rather
than remove them from school. Managing behavior relies on community building
and conflict resolution instead of suspensions, they found. The approach has
many names: Pittsburgh Public Schools calls it Restorative
Practice. Woodland Hills uses Just Discipline, created by
Pitt’s Center on Race and Social Problems. James Huguley, an assistant
professor of social work, said it’s all about building and repairing
relationships when there’s a conflict. That mediation often happens in meetings
called “circles” that bring the offender and victim together.
How Drexel’s public school experiment could change West
Philadelphia
WHYY Podcast Air Date: July 31, 2019 Listen 13:28
Listen to The Why wherever you get your
podcasts:
Drexel University’s plan to build a new public school building on the edge of its campus is giving some West Philadelphia residents Déjà vu. Almost 20 years ago, nearby University of Pennsylvania also created a public school, Penn Alexander, that transformed the surrounding neighborhood in the process. WHYY education reporter Avi Wolfman-Arent explains why universities create public schools and what that can mean for local communities.
Drexel University’s plan to build a new public school building on the edge of its campus is giving some West Philadelphia residents Déjà vu. Almost 20 years ago, nearby University of Pennsylvania also created a public school, Penn Alexander, that transformed the surrounding neighborhood in the process. WHYY education reporter Avi Wolfman-Arent explains why universities create public schools and what that can mean for local communities.
Schooled: Season Three Trailer
WHYY Podcast Air Date: July 31, 2019 Listen 2:10
What does it really mean to get a good
education? What is educational success?
The third season of WHYY’s Schooled podcast
explores these questions and more through stories of different students
fighting to escape poverty in Philadelphia. The four episode season will be
released weekly starting on August 7. Listen to the season trailer above.
High schoolers get paid to learn solar in Philly. It’s
about to become a program of study.
Inquirer by Ellie Rushing, Updated: July 29, 2019-
5:09 AM
Eighteen high school students gathered around
a makeshift utility box as Micah Gold-Markel offered a brief introduction to
electricity. “This is where the meter tells the utility company how much to
bill you,” he said, giving a thumbs down. “Everyone say, ‘Boooo!’" The
students giggled and booed in unison. Gold-Markel, the owner of Solar States, a
local company that designs, engineers, and installs solar panels, uses dad-like
humor to engage the students enrolled in Find Your Power, a six-week paid
training program teaching Philadelphia youths the basics of solar installation
and clean energy. The program was started in 2017 by the Philadelphia Energy
Authority (PEA), an independent city agency, to provide jobs in the growing
solar workforce and bridge wage and education gaps for the city’s youth. About
14.4% of Philadelphians 16 to 24 are neither in school nor working, according to a 2018 city
report. “This is a job that doesn’t require
a college degree, so this could really create a pathway for people coming out
of high school who don’t want to go to college," said Laura Rigell, the
PEA’s solar manager. After receiving a $1.25 million award from the Department
of Energy, the PEA is about to announce a clean energy program at a local
technical high school starting in fall 2020. This program would be for 1,080
hours, compared with the program now, which is 120 hours. If its application
for permanent funding from the state’s Department of Education is approved,
more programs could pop up across the state, Rigell said.
Receiver shows there will be changes in Harrisburg
schools, and it’s long overdue | PennLive Editorial
By PennLive Editorial Board Updated Jul
29, 9:52 PM; Posted Jul 29, 9:58 AM
It’s no longer business as usual in the
Harrisburg School District.
That message came across loud and clear as
receiver Janet Samuels presided over the first meeting of the Harrisburg School Board following
the dismissal of Superintendent Sybil Knight
Burney, solicitor James Ellison and a
slew of others deemed not up to the job. The Harrisburg School District monthly
board meeting with receiver Dr. Janet Samuels was held on Monday, June 17,
2019. And if the tone set at the school board meeting is any indication of how
Samuels will run the school district, we’re off to a very good start. The
meeting was run professionally and efficiently, with a minimum of drama,
especially when compared to the meetings over the past few months. Several
board members were noticeably absent – Roy Ellis, Lola Lawson, Patricia
Whitehead-Myers, Lionel Gonzalez and Joseph Brown. And those that attended sat
quietly as Samuels took charge. Samuels’ buzzwords were “full disclosure” and
“transparency,” as she ticked off her list of approvals and decisions since her
37 days as receiver. The list seemed exhaustive.
Scranton School District Gets Recovery Plan
WNEP POSTED 9:51 PM, JULY 25, 2019, BY PEGGY LEE
SCRANTON, Pa. -- The financially struggling
Scranton School District was given a recovery plan to get the district fiscally
sound over the next five years. The district has been on state watch and was
given a chief recovery officer after the state auditor general blasted the
district's spending. The recovery plan covers everything from property tax
increases to rebidding of contracts and the closings of elementary schools. The
school board has 30 days to approve or deny it. If it does nothing the district
could be taken over by the state. The Scranton School District has been on
state watch since the state auditor general blasted the district for decades of
reckless spending.
Compiled by the state-appointed Chief
Recovery Officer Dr. Candis Finan and her team, the plan calls for raising
school taxes, freezing salaries, rebidding vendor contracts, and closing some
elementary schools which need repair.
WASD to help more preschoolers
Record Herald By Andrea Rose / arose@therecordherald.com Posted
Jul 29, 2019 at 9:30 AM
WAYNESBORO — More good things are coming for
Waynesboro-area preschoolers.
The Waynesboro Area School District was
recently awarded an increase of $283,000 in Pre-K Counts grant funding for
early childhood classes, bringing the district total funding to about $1.03 million
over the next four years. The money will allow the district to provide seven
Pre-K Counts classrooms — two at the high school, two at Mowrey Elementary and
three at the Waynesboro Day Care Center — with the ability to hold 20 students
per classroom, potentially serving 140 preschool students each year. “This
additional grant opportunity for our district will provide two preschool
classrooms to our community on top of the five the district currently
provides,” said Erica Nemzek, early learning coordinator for the district.
“Additionally with the funds, we are able to supply families with training
opportunities that will generate a shared language, provide home resources and
create a support system for families.” Nemzek said the early learning
classrooms provide opportunities for families who may not otherwise be able to
provide high-quality preschool education for their children.
E-cigarettes spawn a form of teen addiction that worries
doctors, parents and schools
Record Herald By The Washington Post Posted
Jul 26, 2019 at 8:08 PM
As e-cigarettes have skyrocketed in
popularity among teenagers in the past two years, pediatricians report seeing
teens who behave less like tobacco users and more like patients with
substance-abuse disorders. When her son was a high school freshman, Kristin
Beauparlant noticed a change. The hockey player began getting gassed more
easily on the ice. Beauparlant could hear her son’s coughing and wheezing from
the stands. But it was his demeanor that scared her most. Cade Beauparlant’s
anxiety and mood swings worsened, his outbursts so sudden and so explosive that
his mother said she came to fear him. It took more than three years - and help
from a renowned pediatrician - to understand what was going on: Her son was
addicted to nicotine, delivered by a Juul, a sleek e-cigarette that looks like
a USB drive.
As e-cigarettes have skyrocketed in
popularity among teenagers in the past two years, pediatricians report seeing
teens who behave less like tobacco users and more like patients with
substance-abuse disorders. Some young people have resorted to stealing from
their parents or selling e-cigarette paraphernalia to support their habits,
addiction treatment specialists said. And even though many teens assume
e-cigarettes are safe, some turn up with signs of nicotine toxicity, a
condition previously seen in young children who accidentally ingested nicotine
gum. Others are reporting respiratory problems. After more than three years of
vaping daily, Beauparlant was diagnosed with restrictive lung disease. His
mother said she is working with an attorney to file a class-action lawsuit
against Juul that would force it to set up treatment centers.
Testing Resistance & Reform News: July 24- 30, 2019
Fairtest Submitted by fairtest on July 30,
2019 - 2:26pm
Believe it or not, a new public school year
begins in less than two weeks in several states! Fortunately, testing
reformers have not been relaxing over the "summer vacation."
Parents, educators, students, and community activists are ready to promote
better assessment systems and fight schemes to impose even more high-stakes
standardized exams. Check out this week's news . . .
“From Weston, Conn., to Mercer Island,
Wash., word has spread on parenting message boards and in the stands at home
games: A federal disability designation known as a 504 plan can help struggling
students improve their grades and test scores. But the plans are not doled out
equitably across the United States. In the country’s richest enclaves, where
students already have greater access to private tutors and admissions coaches,
the share of high school students with the designation is double the national
average. In some communities, more than one in 10 students have one — up to
seven times the rate nationwide, according to a New York Times analysis of
federal data.”
Need Extra Time on Tests? It Helps to Have Cash
Demand for
disability accommodations for schoolwork and testing has swelled. But access to
them is unequal and the process is vulnerable to abuse.
New York Times By Dana Goldstein and Jugal
K. Patel July 30, 2019
The boom began
about five years ago, said Kathy Pelzer, a longtime high school counselor in an
affluent part of Southern California. More students than ever were securing
disability diagnoses, many seeking additional time on class work and tests. A
junior taking three or four Advanced Placement classes, who was stressed out
and sleepless. A sophomore whose grades were slipping, causing his parents
angst. Efforts to transfer the children to less difficult courses, Ms. Pelzer
said, were often a nonstarter for their parents, who instead turned to private
practitioners to see whether a diagnosis — of attention-deficit hyperactivity
disorder, perhaps, or anxiety or depression — could explain the problem. Such
psychological assessments can cost thousands of dollars, and are often not
covered by insurance. For some families, the ultimate goal was extra time — for
classroom quizzes, essays, state achievement tests, A.P. exams and ultimately
the SAT and ACT. “You’ll get what you’re looking for if you pay the $10,000,”
Ms. Pelzer said, citing the highest-priced evaluations. “It’s a complicated
mess.”
DeVos Seeks to Align Education Grants With Trump-Backed
Economic Initiative
Education Week
Politics K12 Blog By Andrew Ujifusa on July 29, 2019 3:11 PM
U.S. Secretary of
Education Betsy
DeVos wants to put a priority on competitive grants that square with the Trump administration's initiative to
improve economic opportunities in distressed areas. In the Federal
Register, which is where the U.S. government publishes agency rules and public
notices, DeVos' proposed priority is to "align the Department of
Education's ... discretionary grant investments with the Administration's
Opportunity Zones initiative, which aims to spur economic development and job
creation in distressed communities." Perhaps the best-known program to get
funding through discretionary grants is the Expanding Opportunity Through
Quality Charter Schools Program, which gets $440 million and supports new
charters as well as those seeking to expand. In fact, the department announced
at the start of this month in a rule that a priority for distributing these
charter school grants will
be to fund charters that are in Opportunity Zones, which provide tax breaks to investors in exchange for long-term
investment in identified areas. (More on that below.) But the department's proposed rule, published
on Monday, could broaden
the extent to which these competitive federal grants are tied to the zones.
It's possible federal grants to magnet schools, arts education, and programs
like TRIO and GEAR UP that help bridge gaps between K-12 and higher education could also
prioritize Opportunity Zone investments in the future.
Take the four-week PSBA advocacy challenge
POSTED ON JULY
22, 2019 IN PSBA NEWS
Calling all public
education advocates! Even though students are out for the summer, we need you
to continue your efforts to share your district's story, and the needs of
public schools across the state, with your legislators. Follow the four easy
steps on the challenge to increase your engagement with lawmakers this summer
and you'll receive some PSBA swag as a thank-you. We've also included some
talking points to help inform you on the latest issues. Contact Advocacy Coordinator
Jamie Zuvich at jamie.zuvich@psba.org with questions. Click
here to see the challenge and talking points.
In November, many boards will be
preparing to welcome new directors to their governance Team of Ten. This event
will help attendees create a full year on-boarding schedule based on best
practices and thoughtful prioritization. Register now:
PSBA: Start Strong:
Developing a District On-Boarding Plan for New Directors
SEP 11, 2019 • 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
In November, many boards
will be faced with a significant transition as they prepare to welcome new
directors to their governance Team of Ten. This single-day program facilitated
by PSBA trainers and an experienced PA board president will guide attendees to
creating a strong, full year on-boarding schedule based on best practices and
thoughtful prioritization. Grounded in PSBA’s Principles for Governance and
Leadership, attendees will hear best practices from their colleagues and leave
with a full year’s schedule, a jump drive of resources, ideas for effective
local training, and a plan to start strong.
Register online at MyPSBA: www.psba.org and click on “MyPSBA” in the upper right corner.
The deadline to
submit a cover letter, resume and application is August 19,
2019.
Become a 2019-2020 PSBA Advocacy Ambassador
PSBA is seeking applications
for two open Advocacy Ambassador positions. Candidates
should have experience in day-to-day functions of a school district,
on the school board, or in a school leadership position. The purpose of the
PSBA Advocacy Ambassador program is to facilitate the education and engagement
of local school directors and public education stakeholders through the
advocacy leadership of the ambassadors. Each Advocacy Ambassador will
be responsible for assisting PSBA in achieving its advocacy goals. To
achieve their mission, ambassadors will be kept up to date on current
legislation and PSBA positions on legislation. The current open
positions will cover PSBA Sections 3 and 4, and
Section 7.
PSBA Advocacy
Ambassadors are independent contractors representing PSBA and serve
as liaisons between PSBA and their local elected officials. Advocacy
Ambassadors also commit to building strong relationships with PSBA members with
the purpose of engaging the designated members to be active and committed
grassroots advocates for PSBA’s legislative priorities.
PSBA: Nominations for The Allwein Society are open!
This award program
recognizes school directors who are outstanding leaders & advocates on
behalf of public schools & students. Nominations are accepted year-round
with selections announced early fall: http://ow.ly/CchG50uDoxq
EPLC is accepting
applications for the 2019-20 PA Education Policy Fellowship Program
Education Policy & Leadership Center
PA's premier education policy leadership program for education, policy
& community leaders with 582 alumni since 1999. Application with program
schedule & agenda are at http://www.eplc.org
2019 PASA-PSBA School
Leadership Conference Oct. 16-18, 2019
WHERE: Hershey Lodge and
Convention Center 325 University Drive, Hershey, PA
WHEN: Wednesday, October
16 to Friday, October 18, 201
Registration is now open!
Growth from knowledge acquired. Vision inspired by innovation. Impact
created by a synergized leadership community. You are called upon to be the
drivers of a thriving public education system. It’s a complex and challenging
role. Expand your skillset and give yourself the tools needed for the
challenge. Packed into two and a half daysꟷꟷgain access to top-notch education and
insights, dynamic speakers, peer learning opportunities and the latest product
and service innovations. Come to the PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference to
grow!
NPE Action National
Conference - Save the Date - March 28-29, 2020 in Philadelphia, PA.
The window is now open for workshop proposals for the Network for Public
Education conference, March 28-29, 2020, in Philadelphia. I hope you all sign
on to present on a panel and certainly we want all to attend. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NBCNDKK
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.
