Monday, December 30, 2019

PA Ed Policy Roundup for Dec. 30: School Leaders: Make a resolution to be a stronger advocate for your students and your schools. Sign up for @PSBA @PASA @PAIU Advocacy Day at the Capitol on March 23rd.


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, Wolf education transition team members, 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
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PA Ed Policy Roundup for Dec. 30, 2019



School Leaders: Make a resolution to be a stronger advocate for your students and your schools. Sign up for @PSBA @PASA @PAIU Advocacy Day at the Capitol on March 23rd. For more information: https://psba.org/event/advocacy-day-2020/… or register at http://mypsba.org


“For decades PA’s school funding model has provided a world-class education for some of our children while others, just miles away, attend crowded schools with no library, no playground, no full-time counselors. A hard-won new funding model applies new funding in a more equitable way but does little to address the fact that some of our schools, both rural and urban, are still among the most under-funded in the nation. Whole generations of children have lost the chance to compete in a global economy while our legislators draft solutions that will never be discussed or debated. Somehow this is cast as a partisan issue: rural against urban, liberal teachers’ union against conservative taxpayers. In reality, failing schools harm us all, yielding intractable challenges for workforce development and hampering the state’s economic growth.”
Please say no to another decade of Harrisburg dysfunction | Opinion
Penn Live Opinion By Carol Kuniholm December 27, 2019
Carol Kuniholm is chair of Fair Districts PA.
As another decade comes to a close, PA voters and lawmakers would do well to pause and consider what hasn’t been accomplished, yet again, in the halls of Harrisburg. For three decades now, groups like the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania have been asking for reform of one of the most partisan redistricting processes on the planet. Not once in those decades has a redistricting reform bill been given a genuine hearing and vote in a House committee, despite several times gathering more cosponsors than almost any other bill in its session. Representative Steve Samuelson watched a bill with 86 co-sponsors blocked in 2008 by a Democratic committee chair, Babette Josephs; then in 2018, with 110 cosponsors, gutted and blocked by Republican Chair Daryl Metcalfe. During the same three decades, ever more distorted districts have made it increasingly difficult for voters to hold legislators in safe districts accountable. The legislative rules, set each session by majority leaders, have put more and more power in the hands of incumbents with most seniority, insulating them further from the will of voters. PA’s legislative rules are among the least fair in the country, allowing just a handful of leaders to block reforms and ignore common sense solutions introduced session after session.

Guest Column: Education funding inequities fuels segregation of poor
DelcoTimes By Rev. Michael Robinson Times Guest Columnist December 28, 2019
State and federal tax dollars allocated for education should be distributed equally among all school districts, but it’s not! Equal funding distribution ensures equitable funding across the board; versus the current tax funding scheme where affluent communities keep their wealthy dollars in their school districts only, and the poorer communities suffer from significantly less funding because they draw from a low income tax base. Thus, the systemic creation and institutionalization of resegregation, an unfair system of public education funding, and inequality of education among the students! It’s The Haves vs. The Have Nots on Steroids! - in other words, the wealthy school districts keep getting the best teachers, resources, and facilities money can buy, while low income school districts are left behind forced to make bricks out of hay. No one seems to want real education reform. Truth is, we have an antiquated tax funding model for public education that’s hindering us as a nation. Tax dollars for public education should equal equitable funding across the board for public schools, but under the current tax funding structure, affluent school districts have super-sized public funding budgets and state-of-the art resources and facilities, while poorer school districts struggle with happy meal budgets and outdated resources and facilities in need of great repair.

Wolf reviews 2019: Progress on voting, criminal justice, education, more
Times Leader By Bill O’Boyle - boboyle@timesleader.com December 29, 2019 
WILKES-BARRE — From the largest expansion of voting rights in 80 years to establishing a state-based marketplace to reduce health care costs to a sweeping executive order targeting gun violence, Pennsylvania “continued its comeback” in the first year of Gov. Tom Wolf’s second term, including the implementation of many of his top priorities and expansions of his key initiatives. So says the governor himself. In 2020, Wolf said he will continue to fight to invest in infrastructure, reduce climate change, raise the minimum wage, tackle poverty, reform our probation system, expand gun safety laws, and even more to improve education, reduce health care costs, and enhance the quality of life for all Pennsylvanians. The governor cited the following 2019 highlights:

In a region that has long accepted pockets of high child poverty, some leaders are no longer resigned to a future without solutions for kids.
Post-Gazette by Rich Lord RLORD@POST-GAZETTE.COM December 30, 2019
Prospects for kids in impoverished neighborhoods — grim as ever just a year ago — may be brighter as 2020 dawns. In late 2018, Allegheny County voters rejected a tax hike for children’s programs. As 2019 ends, though, the county and the city of Pittsburgh are planning multi-million-dollar infusions into child care, early education and after-school activities, likely focused initially on the poorest communities. The region’s corporate leadership is determined to boost standards of living, with an emphasis on struggling populations. And in Harrisburg, where lawmakers have trailed other states in aiding poor families, anti-poverty proposals are percolating. That reflects a growing sentiment that poverty’s effects on children are too extensive and expensive to ignore. “This is really the issue of our time, and if we’re not doing our very best to support children early in life, we’re really laying the groundwork for increases in pain and suffering,” said Lisa Schroeder, president and CEO of The Pittsburgh Foundation. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, in its series Growing up through the Cracks, has focused this year on communities in which around half of kids are living below the poverty line. Thirty interviews conducted in recent months with regional and state leaders, from the public and private sectors, suggest a consensus that it’s time to address the effects of very high child poverty in communities from the Mon Valley to the Kiski Valley to the farms of Fayette County.
“We don’t want this for the future of this region,” said Morgan O’Brien, CEO of Peoples Natural Gas and board chairman of the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce. “I can only do my small part, but if everyone does their small part, we’ll move the needle meaningfully.”

Pittsburgh school board approves budget with small tax increase
ANDREW GOLDSTEIN Pittsburgh Post-Gazette agoldstein@post-gazette.com DEC 27, 2019  8:53 PM
Pittsburgh taxpayers will see a property tax increase in 2020, although it won’t be as much as the city school district had initially proposed. The Pittsburgh Public Schools board, by a 6-3 vote Friday, approved a property tax hike of about 1.2%, rising to 9.95 mills from the current 9.84 mills next year. The increase represents an additional $12 on every $100,000 of a home’s assessed value. District administrators said they would not have to cut programs or jobs, as some had feared if a tax increase wasn’t approved. But the increase, which was less than the 2.3% the district initially had proposed, will force the district to take money from its fund balance, essentially a rainy day fund. It also does not address long-term issues that the district is facing as costs for health care, teacher salaries and charter schools continue to increase. Those costs will need to be addressed in the years to come.

Paul Muschick: Taxpayers will miss the last Republican on Allentown school board
By PAUL MUSCHICK THE MORNING CALL | DEC 29, 2019 | 8:00 AM
For the first time in 16 years, Robert E. Smith Jr. isn’t a member of the Allentown school board, losing unexpectedly in the November election. He was a much-needed contrarian voice at times. He didn’t always get his way. But he always had his say, and at least forced issues to be debated publicly. He challenged points such as the accuracy of medical leave payments and the need for a $100,000-a-year administrator. My fear is there won’t be anyone who picks up that role. Smith, a Republican, was elected in 2003. He served through five superintendents. His absence means the board no longer has a representative from Allentown’s East Side. He fought fiercely for his part of town, but didn’t achieve his goal of having a middle school built there.

What to do about those modern Scrooges who don’t want to pay their fair share for public schools? | Opinion
By John A. Tures  Capital-Star Op-Ed Contributor December 25, 2019
It seems every year that there’s a new movie version of the Charles Dickens’ classic tale “A Christmas Carol.”  Maybe we have so many versions, because we still don’t get it. A story from a mayor, and a debate about the direction of our community, should put things in perspective. As I write this, there’s a movement in our town to exempt seniors from paying taxes to the public school.  I attended a school board meeting, where I heard their complaints, as well as speeches from those who support the public schools. It just so happens that I had written a column about social capital, and it has spread about on the internet.  I received an email from a Georgia mayor, documenting what’s going on in his town. It was like getting a visit from the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future all at once. This mayor of a city I will call “Hagerstown” emailed me, asking for some advice.

Editorial: Are there too many police in school?
TRIBUNE-REVIEW | Friday, December 27, 2019 5:01 p.m.
School safety and discipline are not the same thing. At least, they shouldn’t be. School safety is the odd system of fences and hurdles that strives to protect students. Safety is the omnipresent idea that surrounds schools in a post-Columbine, post-Sandy Hook, post-Parkland world where we know all too well that the place where kids should be safe is also a place where kids have died in terrible explosions of violence. School discipline is a different animal. It’s more like a leash and collar. For some, it’s a gentle lead. For others, it’s a firm grip. It’s the enforcement of rules and reinforcement of policies that keep kids in line. They are different spheres. There can be overlap. In too many instances of violence, the perpetrator is a student. One reaction to calls for increased safety in the wake of mass shootings has been placing police officers, or school resource officers, in the halls. “We’re proactive,” said Pittsburgh Public Schools police Chief George Brown. “A lot more fights would happen if there weren’t officers in the building.”

GoFundMe page nears goal to pay off central Pa. students’ lunch debt
Penn Live By Jana Benscoter | jbenscoter@pennlive.com Updated Dec 28, 6:41 PM;Posted Dec 28, 6:38 PM
Carlisle Area School District is going to receive a financial boost from a GoFundMe page set up by two women fundraising to pay off students’ school lunch debts. Kristi Knox, a real estate agent with the Knox Bowermaster Team at Berkshire Hathaway, and Traer Beaudette, co-owner of Feathers in the Nest in Carlisle, are trying to raise $22,000 to pay the balances owed. District officials told the Carlisle Sentinel that there are 572 students across every municipality in the school district with negative balances. The outstanding debt ranges from a few dollars to around $1,000. Knox kicked off the fundraiser on December 19. As of December 26, the women have collected $19,269.27.

U.S. Public Schools Have Lost Nearly 20% Of Their Librarians Since 2000
Forbes by Adam Rowe Contributor May 21, 2018, 04:15pm
I write about the future of books and the business of storytelling.
The United States can't afford librarians, according to a new analysis of federal data. Between 1999-2000 and 2015-16, U.S. public schools lost 19% of full-time equivalent school librarians, according to a School Library Journal article by researcher Keith Curry Lance that examined National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) data. The shortage in public school librarian employment — which saw the most dramatic drop following the Great Recession of 2008 and hasn't recovered since — has hit districts serving minorities the hardest. Among all the districts that have retained all their librarians since 2005, 75% are white, Education Week reports. On the other end of the scale, student populations in the 20 districts that lost the most librarians in the same time comprised 78% students of color. In other words, while U.S. employment rates are back up in the wake of the Great Recession, the public school librarian sector has not rebounded, and the nation's collective failure to rebuild its public information infrastructure is hitting minorities the hardest.

Cheating Scandals, Charters and Falling Test Scores: 5 Takeaways From the Year in Education
Five big trends, from stagnant student performance to declining faith in colleges.
New York Times By Dana Goldstein Published Dec. 27, 2019Updated Dec. 28, 2019
There was no shortage of news about American education in 2019. Presidential candidates debated school segregation, college costs and charter schools. Federal courts considered the future of college admissions and sentenced wealthy parents to prison for cheating on behalf of their children. Here are five of the biggest education stories of the year — and a look ahead to the issues that will drive 2020.

DeVos, kids, tests: What readers clicked on the most in the past decade
Washington Post Answer Sheet By  Valerie Strauss  Dec. 28, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. EST
Betsy DeVos. Early-childhood education. Kids. Equity. Standardized tests. Teachers. Did I mention DeVos? These are some of the topics that drew the most readers to The Answer Sheet over the past decade. I’ve been authoring The Answer Sheet as a continuing experiment in telling stories about education, of which I take an expansive view. Regular readers know that I write some of the posts — sometimes news, sometimes analysis — and I publish the work of other people, often teachers who have revelatory observations about school and how America treats its children. I don’t always agree with the authors I publish, but I do respect their work and believe that what I present reflects important realities in today’s education world. When this project started, it was called a blog; now it is known at The Washington Post as a “vertical.” I’ve always looked at it as something more of an online magazine that publishes different forms of storytelling. Here are the most popular posts on The Answer Sheet for the past decade. Following that list are the most popular posts of 2019. The most-read may surprise you. It surprised me.



Join us for Advocacy Day in Harrisburg to support public education Monday March 23, 2020!
All school leaders are invited to attend Advocacy Day at the state Capitol in Harrisburg. The Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA), Pennsylvania Association of Intermediate Units (PAIU) and the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators (PASA) are partnering together to strengthen our advocacy impact. The day will center around meetings with legislators to discuss critical issues affecting public education. Click here for more information or register at http://www.mypsba.org/
School directors can register online now by logging in to myPSBA. If you need assistance logging in and registering contact Alysha Newingham, Member Data System Administrator at alysha.newingham@psba.org



PA SCHOOLS WORK: Special Education Funding Webinar Tue, Jan 14, 2020 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM EST

Training: Enhancing School Safety Jan. 9th, 8 am – 1 pm Council Rock High School South
The training is provided by the United States Secret Service and the Office PA Rep Wendi Thomas, in partnership with the Bucks County Intermediate Unit, Bucks County DA Matt Weintraub and PSEA.
Date: Thursday, January 9, 2020, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Council Rock High School South, 2002 Rock Way, Holland PA 18954
This is the region’s first presentation of the National Threat Assessment Center's (NTAC) 2020 research on actionable plans to prevent violence in schools. The training is provided by the United States Secret Service (USSS) and is based on updated operational research conducted by the USSS and the NTAC. The training will offer best practices on preventing incidents of targeted school violence. This workshop will focus solely on how to proactively identify, assess, and manage individuals exhibiting concerning behavior based on USSS methodologies.
At the conclusion of the training, attendees will be able to:
·     Understand operational research on preventing incidents of targeted school violence;
·     Be able to proactively identify, using USSS methodologies, concerning behaviors prior to an incident;
·     Be able to assess concerning behaviors using best practice standards and use identified methods to better manage individuals who exhibit concerning behaviors with the goal of preventing school violence.

Charter Schools; Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
PENNSYLVANIA BULLETIN PROPOSED RULEMAKING DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION [ 22 PA. CODE CH. 711 ]

The award winning documentary Backpack Full of Cash that explores the siphoning of funds from traditional public schools by charters and vouchers will be shown in three locations in the Philadelphia suburbs in the upcoming weeks.
The film is narrated by Matt Damon, and some of the footage was shot in Philadelphia. 
Members of the public who are interested in becoming better informed about some of the challenges to public education posed by privatization are invited to attend.
At all locations, the film will start promptly at 7 pm, so it is suggested that members of the audience arrive 10-15 minutes prior to the start of the screening.   
Backpack Full of Cash hosted by State Representatives Mary Jo Daley, Tim Briggs, and Matt Bradford
Monday, January 6, 2020
Ludington Library 5 S. Bryn Mawr Avenue Bryn Mawr, PA 19010

PSBA Alumni Forum: Leaving school board service?
Continue your connection and commitment to public education by joining PSBA Alumni Forum. Benefits of the complimentary membership includes:
  • electronic access to PSBA Bulletin
  • legislative information via email
  • Daily EDition e-newsletter
  • Special access to one dedicated annual briefing
Register today online. Contact Crista Degregorio at Crista.Degregorio@psba.org with questions.

Register Today for PSBA/PASA/PAIU Advocacy Day at the Capitol-- March 23, 2020
PSBA Advocacy Day 2020 MAR 23, 2020 • 8:00 AM - 2:30 PM
STRENGTHEN OUR VOICE.
Join us in Harrisburg to support public education!
All school leaders are invited to attend Advocacy Day at the state Capitol in Harrisburg. The Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA), Pennsylvania Association of Intermediate Units (PAIU) and the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators (PASA) are partnering together to strengthen our advocacy impact. The day will center around meetings with legislators to discuss critical issues affecting public education.
Registration: As a membership benefit, there is no cost to register. Your legislator appointments will be coordinated with the completion of your registration. The day will begin with a continental breakfast and issue briefing prior to the legislator visits. Registrants will receive talking points, materials and leave-behinds to use with their meetings. Staff will be stationed at a table in the Main Rotunda during the day to answer questions and provide assistance.
Sign up today at myPSBA.org.

PSBA: Required School Director Training
Your trusted and approved source
The Pennsylvania Department of Education has named PSBA an approved provider of required school director training. Your association has more than 100 years of statewide expertise in school law, policy, finance and ethical governance, so you can be sure you’re receiving the highest quality learning, relevant to your role. To learn when you or your board will be required to complete training hours, please refer to PDE’s FAQs here
Act 55 and Act 18
Training requirements specific to you:

•   Newly elected and appointed school board directors –
•   Successful completion of five training hours.
•   Re-elected school board directors –
•   Successful completion of three training hours.
PSBA knows that everyone has unique scheduling requirements and distinct learning styles. Therefore, we have created two pathways in meeting state requirements:

PSBA New and Advanced School Director Training in Dec & Jan
Additional sessions now being offered in Bucks and Beaver Counties
Do you want high-impact, engaging training that newly elected and reseated school directors can attend to be certified in new and advanced required training? PSBA has been supporting new school directors for more than 50 years by enlisting statewide experts in school law, finance and governance to deliver a one-day foundational training. This year, we are adding a parallel track of sessions for those who need advanced school director training to meet their compliance requirements. These sessions will be delivered by the same experts but with advanced content. Look for a compact evening training or a longer Saturday session at a location near you. All sites will include one hour of trauma-informed training required by Act 18 of 2019. Weekend sites will include an extra hour for a legislative update from PSBA’s government affairs team.
New School Director Training
Week Nights: Registration opens 3:00 p.m., program starts 3:30 p.m. -9:00 p.m., dinner with break included
Saturdays: Registration opens at 8:00 a.m., program starts at 9:00 a.m. -3:30 p.m., lunch with break included
Advanced School Director Training
Week Nights: Registration with dinner provided opens at 4:30 p.m., program starts 5:30 p.m. -9:00 p.m.
Saturdays: Registration opens at 10:00 a.m., program starts at 11:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m., lunch with break included
Locations and dates

Congress, Courts, and a National Election: 50 Million Children’s Futures Are at Stake. Be their champion at the 2020 Advocacy Institute.
NSBA Advocacy Institute Feb. 2-4, 2020 Marriot Marquis, Washington, D.C.
Join school leaders from across the country on Capitol Hill, Feb. 2-4, 2020 to influence the legislative agenda & shape decisions that impact public schools. Check out the schedule & more at https://nsba.org/Events/Advocacy-Institute

Register now for Network for Public Education Action National Conference in Philadelphia March 28-29, 2020
Registration, hotel information, keynote speakers and panels:

Any comments contained herein are my comments, alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of any other person or organization that I may be affiliated with.


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