Tuesday, January 28, 2020

PA Ed Policy Roundup for Jan. 28, 2020: PA superintendents join to demand charter school reform ahead of Wolf’s budget proposal


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PA Ed Policy Roundup for Jan. 28, 2020


Mifflin/Huntingdon County Superintendents call for charter school reform
Officials declare laws unfair
Lewistown Sentinel by ERIN THOMPSON Education/religion editor ethompson@lewistownsentinel.com JAN 28, 2020
McVEYTOWN — School officials across the region joined in solidarity on Monday.
Superintendents from seven area school districts met for a press conference at Tuscarora Intermediate Unit 11 to bring attention to the need for reforms to the Pennsylvania charter school law and to share the impact of inflated charter and cyber school tuition payments in their communities. The press conference came during National School Choice Week, which promotes the concept of school choice. Since 2010, Mifflin County taxpayers alone have spent more than $14.4 million to fund tuition bills for cyber and charter schools, said Mifflin County School District Superintendent James Estep, who organized the press conference.
“The real irony is — at Mifflin County — we already offer online and blended learning programs to 500 students through our Alpha and MCO programs. I shudder to think how much more burden our taxpayers would shoulder for cyber and charter tuition if we didn’t run our own programs — it would likely double to current taxpayer burden to pay for cyber and charter school tuition.”
Estep referenced “slickly produced” advertisements run by the cyber and charter school lobby which say they offer a free high-quality education.
“Let me tell you, it’s not free. You’re paying for it each and every time you get your school tax bill and because of the way in which the law is currently written, it guarantees that the price will continue to grow with each passing year.”
He said studies have shown that students who attend cyber and charter schools lose the equivalent of about a year’s work of instruction in math and nearly the same in reading and language arts.

LEARN, Leaders for Educational Accountability and Reform Network
30 Public School Superintendents in Greater Philadelphia Call for Charter Reform
YouTube Video by Norristown Area School District January 27, 2020 Video Runtime: 41:13

“The formation of LEARN comes as even some Republican legislators are becoming increasingly concerned about the poor academic performance of the state’s 15 cyber charter schools, with average graduation rates barely exceeding 50% and scores on state tests that consistently place them among the lowest-achieving schools in the Commonwealth. About 35,000 students are enrolled in the cyber charters in Pennsylvania, more than in all but two other states. Virtually all the state’s 500 districts pay for students to attend these schools, which receive more than $500 million in funds that would otherwise go to the districts.”
District leaders call for moratorium on new charters until law is changed
The new coalition, called LEARN, is statewide, showing that charter reform is not just an "urban" issue.
The notebook by Dale Mezzacappa January 27 — 10:23 pm, 2020
In what they called an “unprecedented” coalition, more than 30 superintendents and other school district leaders in Southeast Pennsylvania — joined by several from the center of the state — are calling for a moratorium on new charter schools and charter seats until Harrisburg thoroughly revamps the 23-year-old charter law. They want to reform the formula for sending payments to these publicly-funded, privately-managed schools, and strengthen measures for holding the them accountable for financial integrity and academic success. “It’s time that this happens … the charter school law is badly broken, and something has to change,” said Frank Gallagher, superintendent of the Souderton Area School District. “It simply cannot wait any longer.” The push comes a week before Gov. Wolf, who has said he wants to reform the charter school law, gives his budget address to the legislature. At a press conference held Monday at a Norristown elementary school, Gallagher and other school leaders repeated longstanding complaints about charters — how they are not required to have a fully certified staff and have “different rules” when it comes to providing health benefits to employees, for example. And they said that in 20 years, they have not fulfilled promises that they would be hubs for educational innovation and produce competition that would lead traditional schools to improve. Instead, they said, charters have drained money from the district schools while avoiding transparency and accountability. The superintendents detailed how “excess” payments to charters, especially for special education services, were draining their schools of needed services.

“Representatives from the following school districts were present during Monday’s press conference: Avon Grove School District, Bensalem Township School District, Bethlehem Area School District, Bristol Township School District, Centennial School District, Central Bucks School District, Cheltenham School District, Coatesville Area School District, Colonial School District, Downingtown Area School District, Ephrata Area School District, Interboro School District, Lower Merion School District, Methacton School District, Norristown Area School District, North Penn School District, Owen J. Roberts School District, Oxford School District, Perkiomen Valley School District, Phoenixville Area School District, Pottstown Area School District, Quakertown Community School District, Radnor Township School District, Rose Tree Media School District, School District of Haverford Township, School District of Philadelphia, Souderton Area School District, Southeast Delco School District, Upper Darby School District, West Chester Area School District, and William Penn School District.”
Delco Times By Rachel Ravina rravina@thereporteronline.com @rachelravina on Twitter Jan 27, 2020 Updated 11 hrs ago
NORRISTOWN — More than 30 superintendents from districts in five counties across the greater Philadelphia area announced their intentions to tackle charter school reform during a press conference Monday at the start of National School Choice Week.  “We are a coalition of school leaders who are standing up for public education and fighting for charter school reform,” said Frank Gallagher, superintendent of Souderton Area School District. “It is time that this happens.” LEARN, or Leaders for Educational Accountability and Reform Network, is a new coalition of educators whose "first priority is to urge lawmakers to reform Pennsylvania's outdated charter school law," stated a press release announcing Monday's forum. Officials from five counties stood together at Whitehall Elementary School in Eagleville to speak about changing the current state of charter schools. Jim Scanlon, superintendent of the West Chester Area School District, said he’s had experience dealing with charter school law for nearly 20 years. “The only revisions to charter school law in that time have further undermined the local control and reduced our ability to hold schools accountable,” Scanlon said. “That has to change.”

How did these public school leaders kick off National School Choice Week? By advocating for charter school reform
Lancaster Online by ALEX GELI | Staff Writer January 28, 2020
Dozens of public school leaders kicked off National School Choice Week Monday by advocating for charter school reform. The group — which goes by Leaders for Educational Accountability and Reform Network, or LEARN — are calling for a moratorium on new charter school applications and a freeze on charter school enrollment until changes are made to the state’s decades-old charter school law. Monday’s event in Philadelphia struck a chord with charter school advocates. “It is unfortunate that Pennsylvania’s school district leaders chose this week to attack public charter schools, rather than work with them to find solutions,” said Ana Meyers, executive director of the PA Coalition of Public Charter Schools. Meyers said funding cuts or a moratorium on charter school applications would disproportionately harm low-income students and students of color who "benefit most from Pennsylvania’s public charter schools." Among LEARN’s members are School District of Lancaster Superintendent Damaris Rau and Ephrata Area Superintendent Brian Troop. Troop attended Monday’s event. Rau said she joined the group because she believes “it’s important for superintendents to advocate together on these important issues and on behalf of our students, staff and taxpayers.” She said charter school reform could “help ease the burdens on public schools.”

Pa. superintendents join to demand charter school reform ahead of Wolf’s budget proposal
Inquirer by Maddie Hanna, Updated: January 27, 2020- 5:41 PM
As school districts send increasingly larger shares of their budgets to charter schools, nearly 30 superintendents from across the Philadelphia area joined Monday to call for changes to Pennsylvania’s charter law in a collaboration they described as unprecedented. District leaders said they hoped Gov. Tom Wolf — who pledged charter change last year — would make the issue a priority in his budget address next week, including by calling for a moratorium on new charters and expansion of existing schools. "It simply cannot wait any longer,” Souderton Area School District Superintendent Frank Gallagher said Monday at the news conference in Norristown. He said "charter school costs are growing faster than our own district costs” and “hurting public education.” Charter leaders argued that costs are increasing because students are rejecting traditional schools in favor of charters. They accused district leaders of “attacking” charter schools and families during National School Choice Week.

Pennsylvania: Superintendents Form Coalition to Fight Privatization
Diane Ravitch’s Blog By dianeravitch January 27, 2020 //
The Resistance grows!
Press Advisory: Thirty Regional School Superintendents To Come Together to Defend Public Education, Joining Public District Leaders from Across the State to Urge Reform of Pennsylvania’s Charter School Law
When: Monday, January 27, 2020 10 a.m.
Where: Whitehall Elementary, 399 North Whitehall Road Norristown, PA 19403
Leaders Form Coalition and Support a Moratorium on New Charter Enrollment Until Laws Can be Reformed
Leaders from public school districts in the five-county Greater Philadelphia region are joining with others from across the state in calling for meaningful, substantive reform of Pennsylvania’s charter school laws. They also support a moratorium on new charter school applications and a freeze on additional seats for students at existing charters until reform is enacted. Public school superintendents and other top school administrators recently formed LEARN, Leaders for Educational Accountability and Reform Network, as a way to coalesce around urgent issues impacting public schools, such as charter reform. They are calling for reform to the way charters are funded, as well as an improvement in accountability and oversight. Citing an extremely inequitable funding system, LEARN says charter schools, which are often among the worst performing schools in the state, are straining public systems. Extreme increases in charter costs are sending an increasingly greater amount of public tax dollars to charters, over which locally elected school boards have little-to-no authority or oversight. LEARN wants to bring charter tuition payments in line with actual school district costs and provide more accountability.

Teachers are refusing to enter a Philadelphia elementary school because of asbestos fears
Inquirer by Kristen A. Graham, Updated: January 27, 2020- 7:57 PM
Teachers and staff at an elementary school in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood refused to enter their school building Monday amid fear that damaged asbestos has not been properly contained. Dozens of them stood outside Lewis Elkin Elementary School, bundled up in jackets and hats against the cold, holding signs and occasionally chanting. They said they would remain outside until Philadelphia School District officials presented evidence that the building was safe. Some parents left their children at home and stood with the teachers in solidarity. Others dropped their children off at the school at D Street and Allegheny Avenue, where administrators and some central office staff were present.  “It’s unfortunate that they would even want children to be put in there, into a place that’s not safe,” said Gerry Schmidt, a veteran Elkin teacher. “And if it’s safe, show us the proof, open the doors, and we’ll get to work.”

“The film will be shown at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 28 in the Quakertown Community High School’s Performing Arts Center. The screening is free and intended for high school students as well as seventh and eighth graders. The high school is at 600 Park Ave. in Quakertown.”
Quakertown school district presenting film on racial profiling
By JACQUELINE PALOCHKO THE MORNING CALL | JAN 27, 2020 | 8:19 PM
The Quakertown Community School District will screen a documentary examining racial profiling Tuesday night, with a discussion following the showing. The documentary, “Walking While Black: L.O.V.E. is the Answer,” sheds light on racial profiling among police officers, and looks at ways to improve relationships between communities of color and police officers. The movie by A.J. Ali and Errol Webber includes interviews with law enforcement officers, as well as members of minority communities who share their experiences. L.O.V.E. is an acronym for “Learn about the community and the people in it, Open your heart to the humanity of people in the community, Volunteer yourself to be part of the solution, and Empower others to do the same," according to a news release from the district. Quakertown school resource officer Bob Lee worked with Bucks County District Attorney Matthew D. Weintraub to bring the film to the district.

Which Lehigh Valley schools are among Pa.’s highest achieving and most improved?
By Rudy Miller | For lehighvalleylive.com Updated Jan 27, 2020; Posted Jan 27, 2020
It’s not easy to be named a Title 1 Distinguished School.
Only 94 out of the roughly 3,000 public schools in Pennsylvania have earned that distinction. To get there, your school must be in the top 5% for achievement for school years 2017-18 and for 2018-19. Or, it must be in the top 5% for growth for those academic years. Or, it must have made the greatest gain in achievement in the school’s “all students group," according to information provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. It’s an exclusive club. Only 14 schools in the Lehigh Valley made the cut. All public schools in Pennsylvania with Title 1 programs are eligible. Title 1 is the federal program that evenly distributes education subsidies from wealthy communities into the ones that need more support. Here’s the list of Title 1 Distinguished Schools in the Lehigh Valley. The list was furnished to lehighvalleylive.com on Monday, Jan. 27:


Walton Family Foundation expected to invest $200M in charters by mid-2020
Education Dive by AUTHOR Naaz Modan@NaazModan PUBLISHED Jan. 27, 2020
Dive Brief:
  • The Walton Family Foundation, through it's Building Equity Initiative, has spent $185 million over three years to renovate charter facilities, according to a report released Monday by the foundation, and that number is expected to reach $200 million by mid-2020. 
  • The foundation also said it expects $264 million to be available in the form of loans for small and emerging charters in high-needs communities to construct, acquire or renovate facilities.
  • In addition, the foundation announced 26 recipients of its Spark Opportunity Grant Program, 10 of which are located in Opportunity Zones created by Congress in 2017. The first round of grants are expected to create 20,000 additional seats for public charter students. The foundation also opened a second round of grants for the program. 

The 5 most serious charter school scandals in 2019 — and why they matter
Washington Post Answer Sheet By  Valerie Strauss  Reporter Jan. 27, 2020 at 4:12 p.m. EST
The new year is bringing calls for new scrutiny of the charter school sector as the bipartisan support it once enjoyed has been fracturing, with many Democrats turning against the movement they had supported. In Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Wolfe (D) had pledged to tighten lax ethics rules and give school districts the right to limit enrollment at charters that don’t offer a high-quality education — and now nearly 30 superintendents are calling on him to fulfill that promise, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. In Oklahoma, legislation has been filed for the 2020 session to limit funding for virtual charter schools and tighten regulation of them at a time when the state’s largest virtual charter is under investigation over fraud allegations, News4 reported. That’s not to say that scrutiny is increasing everywhere, but there has been growing acknowledgment that charter schools have drained resources from public school districts in some areas and have operated with little oversight, leading in some cases to scandal. This post looks at the most egregious scandals in the charter sector in 2019 — and explains why they matter. This was written by Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education, a nonprofit organization that advocates for traditional public education and opposes charters. Burris is a former award-winning principal in New York who has been chronicling the charter school movement and the standardized-test-based accountability movement on this blog for years.

PSBA Announces Completion of Commonwealth Education Blueprint
We are happy to announce the Commonwealth Education Blueprint is complete! The project is a statewide vision for the future of public education in Pennsylvania and is a collaborative effort of individuals that represent the many faces of public education.

School Finance & Budget Town Hall
This event is set for Jan. 28 at Bensalem High School
By  Lower Bucks Times January 21, 2020
The Bensalem community is invited to a Town Hall Forum to learn about school funding, finance and the district’s budget on Tuesday, Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. at Bensalem High School North Wing Audion, 4319 Hulmeville Road, Bensalem.
Speakers include:
Susan Spicka, executive director, Education Voters of PA
Dr. Samuel Lee, district superintendent
John Steffy, director of business operations.
Everyone is welcome to attend this interactive presentation and question and answer session.

PARSS Annual Conference April 29 – May 1, 2020 in State College
The 2020 PARSS Conference is April 29 through May 1, 2020, at Wyndham Garden Hotel at Mountain View Country Club in State College. Please register as a member or a vendor by accessing the links below.

Allegheny County Legislative Forum on Education March 12
by Allegheny Intermediate Unit Thu, March 12, 2020 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM EDT
Join us on March 12 at 7:00 pm for the Allegheny Intermediate Unit's annual Allegheny County Legislative Forum. The event will feature a discussion with state lawmakers on a variety of issues impacting public schools. We hope you will join us and be part of the conversation about education in Allegheny County.

Five compelling reasons for .@PSBA .@PASA .@PAIU school leaders to come to the Capitol for Advocacy Day on March 23rd:
Charter Reform
Cyber Charter Reform
Basic Ed Funding
Special Ed Funding
PLANCON
Register at http://mypsba.org

School Leaders: Register today for @PSBA @PASA @PAIU Advocacy Day at the Capitol on March 23rd and you could be the lucky winner of my school board salary for the entire year. Register now at http://mypsba.org

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

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

PSBA Sectional Meetings
Hear relevant content from statewide experts, district practitioners and PSBA government affairs staff at PSBA’s annual membership gathering. PSBA Sectional Advisors and Advocacy Ambassadors are on-site to connect with district leaders in their region and share important information for you to take back to your district.
Locations and dates

Sectional Meetings are 6:00 p.m. -8:00 p.m. (across all locations). Light refreshments will be offered.
Cost: Complimentary for PSBA member entities.
Registration: Registration is now open. To register, please sign into myPSBA and look for Store/Registration on the left.

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

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

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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