Thursday, June 11, 2020

PA Ed Policy Roundup for June 11, 2020: Turzai to step down as House Speaker, resign on June 15


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PA Ed Policy Roundup for June 11, 2020
Turzai to step down as House Speaker, resign on June 15


PCCY Teen Town Hall: Race – Let’s Talk About It
Friday, June 12th at 11 am, we invite the region’s teens to join in a virtual conversation focusing on the most important issue of our time - RACE. We are inviting adults to join the conversation to hear what our young people have to say.


Mike Turzai to step down as Pa. House Speaker, resign office on June 15
PA Capital Star By  Stephen Caruso June 10, 2020
In an abrupt end to a six-year-long reign as one of Pennsylvania’s leading power brokers, Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, said he will resign from office on June 15. Turzai made the announcement at the end of a 40-minute long address before a packed Pennsylvania House Wednesday. An early exit had been rumored ever since he announced plans to retire at the end of his current term in January.  “The job, the position is not mine. I am a steward,” Turzai said. “I get to sit in that beautiful office and meet people of all walks of life. But now it will be someone else’s job. And that’s good.” A spokesperson confirmed that Turzai would resign both the speakership and his office on June 15. Spotlight PA, a nonprofit news outlet, reported Tuesday that he is expected to resign before the end of his term in November. When he announced his retirement in January, he did not rule out leaving office early. Turzai will be replaced atop the chamber by House Majority Leader Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster, as a temporary speaker, before the chamber holds a new election for the position. Cutler, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Stan Saylor, R-York, and House Majority Whip Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre, are all seen as candidates, though Cutler is considered a favorite. House Republican rank-and-filers have also floated a placeholder speaker to manage the next six months of legislating before 2021, when the chamber could look markedly different. Rep. Marcy Toepel, R-Montgomery, is frequently mentioned as a potential candidate to hold the gavel.

“Whoever succeeds Turzai will have the office only through November, when the current legislative session ends.”
A Lancaster County rep. likely to be the next Pa. House speaker
Penn Live By Charles Thompson | cthompson@pennlive.com June 10, 2020 2:59 PM
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives needs a new Speaker, and they will likely elect one as one of the first orders of business on the first day that it returns to session after Rep. Mike Turzai’s mid-term retirement takes effect. The speaker, as presiding officer of the House, is elected by the full, 203-seat assembly, and is almost always a member of the majority party. The broad consensus as of Wednesday morning is that the Republicans at this point will nominate Rep. Bryan Cutler of Lancaster County, their current floor leader, and that he will accept. “If Bryan Cutler wants to be Speaker, he’s going to be Speaker,” said Rep. Greg Rothman, R-Camp Hill, during a break in Wednesday’s action at the Capitol. “That’s his decision.” A Cutler election would set off a chain of dominoes within the House Republican caucus that would start with the need to elect a new majority leader. That election, a contest played out solely within what would be a 109-member GOP majority after Turzai’s departure, will likely come down to a choice between the current Appropriations Committee Chairman Stan Saylor, of Red Lion, York County, or Kerry Benninghoff, the current Republican whip who is from Centre County, sources said.

Black Lives Matter protests swept small towns in Pa. this week. Here’s why that matters.
PA Capital Star By  Elizabeth Hardison June 11, 2020
The crowd of concerned citizens splayed out across the village square, where they prayed with local leaders; painted signs with protest slogans; and observed nine minutes of silence in honor of George Floyd, the Texas man who died in the custody of Minneapolis police officers last month. The scene has been typical of dozens of Pennsylvania cities in the weeks since Floyd’s death, as thousands of people protest racism and police brutality. But this particular event unfolded against a seemingly unlikely backdrop: the town of St. Marys, a Catholic stronghold in rural Elk County, where 98 percent of the 12,260 residents are white. “In St. Marys, protests or any sort of active demonstration is not common at all – and I’ve lived here 27 years,” said Dani Catalano, a public school teacher who, along with a group of fellow educators, organized the community gathering against racism. “But if not now, when? I think we’ve all sort of reached the point where enough is enough.” Protests in Pennsylvania’s largest cities gained national attention in the early days of June, when crowds looted and destroyed property and police arrested, beat and pepper sprayed peaceful demonstrators. But the Black Lives Matter movement has spread far and wide across the Commonwealth, spawning peaceful protests in more than 100 municipalities in at least 61 counties, a Capital-Star analysis of social media posts and local media reports has found.

Addressing systemic racism means equitably funding schools | Opinion
Scott Gordon, For the Inquirer Updated: June 10, 2020 - 9:07 AM
Scott Gordon is CEO of the Mastery Schools network.
This is an extraordinary moment in our nation’s history. Black people and white people, suburban residents and city dwellers, young people and business executives, have linked arms throughout our region to call for an end to systemic racism. Our black neighbors and friends have asked white people to break their silence and fight for justice. As a white man who leads a network of public charter schools that serve black and brown communities, I have seen that the way Pennsylvania funds, engages, and operates public schools is one of the most pernicious pillars of systemic racism. Here are two ways we can act now to change it:
Demand equitable public school funding. Most public schools are funded from local property taxes. In a resulting system that has the effect of ensuring that rich people and poor people, black and white people don’t educate their kids together, we’ve divided the Commonwealth into 501 school districts. This means that even within the same county, children receive an inequitable education. A student who attends a public school in Philadelphia receives $15,000 in funding and in Norristown $17,000, while a student in Strath Haven receives over $20,000 and in Lower Merion $25,000. In fact, Pennsylvania’s spending gap between rich and poor school districts is among the widest in the nation.

Polito speeds up Erie School District’s anti-racism efforts
GoErie By Ed Palattella @etnpalattella Posted Jun 10, 2020 at 6:48 PM Updated at 6:15 AM
National, local events “have been a wake-up call for me,” superintendent says. Review includes role of district police.
The Erie School District for the past two years has worked on programs to increase inclusion and eliminate racial bias in its classrooms. The death of George Floyd and the nationwide protests that followed, including Saturday’s massive march in Erie, have prompted Erie schools Superintendent Brian Polito to expedite the district’s efforts. At the Erie School Board’s first meeting since the May 25 death of Floyd, Polito on Wednesday night unveiled an aggressive plan to speed up the district’s anti-racism initiatives. The changes include reworking the role of the Erie School District’s police force, fixing racial disparities in student discipline and training teacher and staff to help address racism. “The events that have occurred over the last two weeks, both nationally and locally, have really been a wake-up call for me,” Polito said during the virtual School Board meeting. “As a district, we are not moving fast enough to address these issues. We really need to put our actions behind our words.” Polito’s plan calls for the district to focus on three main areas during the 2020-21 school year, which starts July 1.
‒ Reviewing the operations of the district’s police department, with the ultimate goal of shifting its primary role from enforcement to community and relationship building, similar to the function of school resource officers.
‒ A revision of the district’s student handbook and code of conduct to shift to a more proactive approach to addressing racial inequity. The changes will focus on emphasizing positive student behavior.
‒ Providing training to district employees to identify and eliminate racism in the district. Such training has been integral to Polito’s plan to eliminate racial disparities in discipline.

Should police be in Pittsburgh schools? Advocates call for removal reignited in wake of Floyd’s death
Public Source by TyLisa C. Johnson | June 10, 2020
When news came that the Minneapolis Public Schools proposed to cut ties with their local police force, local lawyer Tiffany Sizemore saw an opportunity for kids across the Pittsburgh Public Schools district. So, Sizemore, who leads the Juvenile Defender Clinic at Duquesne University, alongside Jeff Shook, an associate professor of social work at the University of Pittsburgh, penned an open call for Pittsburgh Public Schools to stop using police to manage children in their schools. Instead, they want to see an investment in restorative practices, along with counseling and mental health services. In the wake of the death of George Floyd, a Minneapolis man who died May 25 after a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, Minneapolis Public Schools terminated its contract with the Minneapolis Police Department in a unanimous school board vote in early June. In recent weeks, school board members, parents and community members in several cities across the nation — including DenverRochester and Charlottesville — have called for similar change in their hometowns.

Wolf Administration Provides Guidance to Resume High School and Other Summer Sports
Governor Wolf’s Website Press Release June 10, 2020
The Wolf Administration today issued preliminary guidance for high school and recreational sports teams to resume voluntary workouts and other in-person activities in the state’s yellow and green phases. The guidance includes college and professional sports. “Pennsylvania has some of the best athletes and teams in the country and they can now begin to safely return to organized sports,” said Gov. Wolf. This guidance balances keeping student athletes safe from COVID-19 while allowing them to participate in an important part of their lives. “This is another step toward reopening our state and getting things back on track. As students and teammates get ready to train and compete, it’s important that they follow precautions to protect each other and their community from the risk of COVID-19.” The preliminary guidance is a starting point for summer sports teams and the Wolf Administration will continue to work with stakeholders. The guidance for fall, winter and spring sports seasons may be updated.
Public and private K-12 schools under the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) and the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association (PISAA) in the yellow and green phase can resume voluntary sports-related workouts. Schools must first develop an athletic health and safety plan in alignment with the Department of Education’s Preliminary Guidance for Phased Reopening of Schools guidance, that is approved by the local board of directors and posted on the school’s website.

Educators protest asbestos, over-policing in Philly schools
The notebook by Neena Hagen June 10 — 10:03 pm, 2020
This past academic year, several schools in the Philadelphia School District closed due to asbestos exposure. This past week, Philadelphia and 40 other cities erupted to protest the police killing of yet another unarmed black man in the United States. Those two issues came together in a protest at District headquarters Wednesday, where a cohort of teachers from the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers’ Caucus of Working Educators and teachers from Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary in North Philadelphia demonstrated against systemic racism and health hazards in Philadelphia schools. The crowd held signs that said “black lives matter” and “I can’t breathe,” which were George Floyd’s last words as he was killed by a Minneapolis police officer.  Organizer Herman Douglas, a seventh grade teacher at Bethune, said the quote “I can’t breathe” resonated in Philadelphia schools, citing teacher Lea DiRusso, who contracted mesothelioma, a respiratory disease linked to asbestos exposure. “We will not stand for asbestos in our black and brown schools,” Douglas said. Asbestos was a common insulation used in buildings for much of the 20th century, but is dangerous if it becomes loose and fibers enter the air. It was banned in the 1970s. Douglas and other educators made their demands very clear. They want a formal apology from the District, free healthcare for students and staff who have been exposed to loose asbestos, and a new Bethune school building designed by the community.

OP-ED: York City kids' future will determine York County's future
York Dispatch by Bill Swartz, Spring Garden Township Published 10:17 a.m. ET June 9, 2020
As a citizen of York County, I am deeply concerned with the severe program cuts and furloughs that are being proposed by the York City School District’s administration.  For the past year, we have heard about the progress made since the district was almost taken into receivership in 2013 and all York city children were nearly pushed into corporate charter schools.  This would have been the first time in the nation that an entire school district was handed over to a corporation. We don’t want to jeopardize the progress made by returning to those difficult days.  But the proposed cuts to programs and staff could have similar consequences by driving students from the district and compounding the problems that the district has worked so hard to overcome. The administration proposes major cuts to art, music, physical education and Spanish language classes, as well as other programs that benefit some of our most vulnerable student populations in York County.  Many of these cuts would directly impact class size and reduce the number of adults who directly interact with students. Teacher aides and behavioral support positions would be cut, further reducing vital one-on-one instruction for students. 

PIAA Press Release – Preliminary Sports Guidance
PIAA Revised - PRESS RELEASE – Mechanicsburg, PA – Wednesday, June 10, 2020
Today, the Governor’s Office and PA Department of Education (PDE) issued Preliminary School Sports’ Guidance for schools. This information will allow each school to resume voluntary sports’ related activities and to develop their own Athletics, Health and Safety Plan. This plan is to be approved by the school’s governing board and posted upon the school’s website. “Allowing voluntary activities to commence at PIAA member schools as early as the approval by the local board is a significant move to allow students to be students, said PIAA Executive Director, Dr. Robert A. Lombardi. “We are very appreciative and supportive of the Governor’s staff and PDE for allowing our input and having discussion of opening schools for voluntary workouts and activities”. The approval of the Athletics, Health and Safety Plan by the school governing body and posting of the plan to the schools’ website allows schools to begin out-of season activities and replaces the July 1st stipulation previously adopted by the PIAA Board. The guidance stipulates each school in Yellow and Green phase counties is to have a RTP plan

Pottsgrove Keeps No-Tax-Increase Promise For 2020-2021
Sanatoga Post By Joe Zlomek  June 10, 2020
LOWER POTTSGROVE PA – As expected, a zero-tax-increase Pottsgrove School District 2020-2021 general budget of $68,704,579 was unanimously approved by its school board Tuesday (June 9, 2020). It spares property owners, many of whom are without jobs or struggling economically because of the coronavirus pandemic, any additional school taxes for the next 12 months. The district tax rate of 38.102 mills, which translates into a tax cost of $38 on every $1,000 of a property’s assessed value, remains unchanged. Rates for so-called “nuisance” taxes that bring in additional revenue – the earned income tax, per capita tax, and real estate transfer tax – also remain unchanged. However, as Business Administrator David Nester explained early last month, the district projected revenue losses of $1.4 million in the coming year. That gap was closed in part by heavily drawing on district savings. It pulled $1 million from money set aside years ago to pay down teacher retirement obligations, another $512,000 from the district’s unassigned fund balance, and $83,000 from its vocational education reserve. Additionally, the district found ways to cut expenses without sacrificing educational “integrity,” Superintendent Dr. William Shirk said. It also will buy new buses with capital reserves to eliminate another $260,000 and it will take an allowed “premium holiday” for one month to reduce insurance costs by another $465,000, both to reduce general fund expenses, according to Nester.

Erie School District budget in flux over tax increase
GoErie By Ed Palattella @etnpalattella Posted Jun 10, 2020 at 6:15 PM
School Board also honors former School Director Eva Tucker Jr., who died April 30.
The Erie School Board will vote on a 2020-21 budget on June 30, but whether the budget includes a tax increase remains unsettled. A majority of the nine school directors said as recently as a week ago, at a board study session, that they would follow Erie schools Superintendent Brian Polito’s recommendation and hold off on a tax hike in 2020-21 due to the pandemic-related financial hardships on taxpayers. At another study session on Wednesday night, however, three board members — Darlene Feeney, Sumner Nichols and Rosemary Sheridan — continued to advocate for a tax increase, and a fourth director, Angela McNair, said she was open to having a further discussion on the issue. The study session was before the regular board meeting. Board President John Harkins raised the possibility that the board could hold another meeting before June 30 to discuss the budget and a possible tax increase. The board scheduled the June 30 meeting to give members enough time to review the 2020-21 budget, which goes into effect July 1 and which the board must approve by June 30. Feeney, Nichols and Sheridan said they feared the district would fall behind financially if the board did not increase taxes, even slightly, in 2020-21. They recommended that the board follow the district’s state-mandated five-year financial improvement plan, which calls for tax increases of 2.46% a year for the foreseeable future to keep the district stable.

East Penn passes budget with 1.2% tax increase
By MICHELLE MERLIN THE MORNING CALL | JUN 10, 2020 | 7:12 PM
Taxpayers in the East Penn School District will see their bills rise 1.2% next year. School board members Monday voted 7-2 to approve next year’s $157.2 million budget. The 1.2% tax increase amounts to $46.75 for the average homeowner. District officials for weeks have been reviewing options for next year’s budget, which they predicted would be $6 million short with a 1.5% tax increase thanks to the financial impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Ultimately, the district was able to reduce that increase to 1.2% and balance the budget through a number of measures: wage freezes for teachers, administrators and custodians saving $1.75 million, building and department cuts totaling $800,000 and $1.27 million in staffing reductions, including two elementary school teachers, four high school teachers and other positions. The losses are through attrition. The district also restructured debt for a $950,000 savings next year, will use $500,000 in fund balance and made a few other cost-saving changes.

Room for moderates: Pennsylvania race shows Republicans don’t have to blindly support Trump to win
By PAUL MUSCHICK THE MORNING CALL | JUN 09, 2020 | 8:00 AM
Don’t overlook Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick’s easy win in last week’s primary election. This wasn’t just another incumbent coasting to victory. This wasn’t just a race between him and challenger Andy Meehan. It was a referendum on whether a moderate candidate still was viable in today’s hyperpolitical world. Fitzpatrick is a Republican who thinks for himself. He refuses to stand with President Donald Trump a lot of the time. Meehan campaigned on being a Trump man. That wasn’t enough to win. It shouldn’t have been. Fitzpatrick collected 63% of the vote, moving on to the November general election in Pennsylvania’s 1st congressional district representing all of Bucks County and part of Montgomery County. He will face Democrat Christina Finello. We need to elect more free-thinkers like Fitzpatrick, who weighs issues on their merits and refuses to rely on his party’s playbook and a blind commitment to the president. The same goes for Democrats when a Democrat is in the White House. And for politicians on both sides of the aisle in the Pennsylvania statehouse, too. It’s tough being a moderate these days. A lot of them have bailed on Washington, including the Lehigh Valley’s former Republican Congressman, Charlie Dent. The moderates got fed up and packed up. But their reasonable voices are needed more than ever.

Delco 2020 cyber school grad families offer tips for virtual-distance learning success
ALDAN— Years of questioning the value of virtual education suddenly went out the window as families from across Delaware County were forced to quickly adapt to a new normal this spring in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. As people tried to navigate the waters of virtual-distance learning, two local graduates not only had already mastered the alternative educational opportunity, but were already about to graduate and get their high school diplomas from Agora Cyber Charter School.  The brick-and-mortar traditional school experience was not always a positive one for Bobby Capo of Aldan. When his grades plummeted as a result of his victimization of bullying, his mother Stefaine D’Amico could see that her outgoing son was not happy. After bullying forced him out of a second school, Bobby and his mom knew a change was necessary — a change that meant switching his schooling environment altogether. Now, with friends across the state to accompany straight A’s, Bobby is looking forward to college — a sentence he never thought would be used to describe him before switching to Agora. “After six months, Agora found my son — he was buried under there,” D’Amico said about how they allowed Bobby to grow and flourish into the student he was meant to be.

Conrad Weiser school directors censure board member over social media posts
The Conrad Weiser School Board on Wednesday voted 8-1 to censure a board member following online messages and memes that many in the community have called racist, and which spurred thousands to sign a petition calling for his removal. Those messages were on the Facebook page of 10-year board member William Carl Jr., who cast the lone dissenting vote on the censure, which included a request for his resignation. District administrators have said it’s clear that the district has no ability to regulate his speech or writings or remove him from the board, so it instead asked for him to step down. Carl did not resign during the committee meeting, which was held via Zoom. He also did not comment on the censure, which removed him from representing the district on the boards of the Berks Career and Technology Center and the Berks County Intermediate Unit. The motion calling for Carl’s resignation said he posted “incendiary and denigrating remarks” on social media, failed to use respectful discourse on issues of public interest, and did not follow the board’s policies and code of ethics.  The posts to his account over the last few weeks referred to the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police and the subsequent marches, protests and looting occurring nationwide. In addition to drawing criticism from district administration and now the board, the posts spurred an online petition which has gained more than 2,800 signatures since it was posted Sunday. The posts criticize the Black Lives Matter movement and support those who shoot looters and drive over protesters.

Delaware County school board president apologizes for ‘tasteless’ Facebook posts
Inquirer by Maddie Hanna, Updated: June 10, 2020- 3:39 PM
A Delaware County school board president has apologized after acknowledging he shared “tasteless” social media posts, including memes mocking Mexican immigrants and people objecting to mistreatment by police. Leon Armour, president of the Penn-Delco school board, posted those memes to his Facebook page in previous years. More recently, he minimized the risks of the coronavirus — asking why people were “cowering in their homes” — and referred to Muslim head coverings while expressing opposition to wearing masks during the pandemic. “Since it’s against my religious beliefs … i will not need to wear a mask when visiting stores or out in public,” Armour wrote in April. In another post, he wrote, “If the Muslims can wear them due to religious beliefs, we can refuse to wear them for religious belief.” Armour said in an email, “Although some of the memes that I have shared in the past could be considered 'tasteless,’ they were only meant to be humorous and not as offensive. If they were interpreted as offensive, I offer an apology to anyone that was affected by them.”

Pandemic-Stricken Schools Tell Senate They Need Help to Reopen
The Senate Education Committee held a hearing on returning to “normalcy” this fall, but education leaders said they were struggling with budget cuts and demands to meet health guidelines.
New York Times By Erica L. Green June 10, 2020
WASHINGTON — Without a large federal investment in the nation’s public school system, districts hit hard by the coronavirus will struggle to meet the needs of their pupils this fall as they try to reopen their doors, educators told a Senate panel on Wednesday. In testimony before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, education leaders from around the country said budget challenges were among their chief concerns as they drafted plans to resume in-person classes. That is particularly true for students who have borne the brunt of the economic, educational and racial injustices that have been exacerbated by the pandemic. Across the country, school leaders are beginning to roll out plans to welcome more than 50 million students back, which include procuring 50 million masks; flooding schools with nurses, aides and counselors; and staggering schedules to minimize class size. But the high-dollar demands to meet public health guidelines and make up for setbacks that have disproportionately affected low-income students, students of color and those with disabilities could cripple their budgets.

Elementary Teacher Defeats West Virginia's State Senate President in Primary
Education Week By Madeline Will on June 10, 2020 1:07 PM
After a couple years of clashes with teachers in the state, West Virginia Senate President Mitch Carmichael was ousted in Tuesday's primary election—by a teacher. Amy Nichole Grady, a 4th-6th grade math teacher, won the Republican primary with about 39 percent of the vote, compared with Carmichael's 35 percent. She will now run against Democrat Bruce Ashworth, a roofing business employee, in November and is expected to win. Grady describes herself as a "pro-life, pro-2nd Amendment conservative teacher who is fed up with self-serving elected officials." Meanwhile, Carmichael, a longtime state politician, had been the target of many teachers' ire during a tumultuous couple of years with two statewide strikes and a battle over charter schools. During the campaign, Carmichael sought to align himself with President Donald Trump in his advertisements. Grady said she supports the president, too.  West Virginia teachers first went on strike over low pay and rising health care costs in 2018 and stayed on the picket lines for nine days. They won a 5 percent pay raise, and inspired teachers across the country, including in Arizona, Oklahoma, and Colorado, to walk out of their classrooms in protest as well. The strike inspired Grady to run for the state legislature, she told Education Week.  


Adopt the 2020 PSBA resolution for charter school funding reform
In this legislative session, PSBA has been leading the charge with the Senate, House of Representatives and the Governor’s Administration to push for positive charter reform. We’re now asking you to join the campaign: Adopt the resolution: We’re asking all school boards to adopt the 2020 resolution for charter school funding reform at your next board meeting and submit it to your legislators and to PSBA.

Over 250 PA school boards adopt charter reform resolutions
Charter school funding reform continues to be a concern as over 250 school boards across the state have adopted a resolution calling for legislators to enact significant reforms to the Charter School Law to provide funding relief and ensure all schools are held to the same quality and ethics standards. Now more than ever, there is a growing momentum from school officials across the state to call for charter school funding reform. Legislators are hearing loud and clear that school districts need relief from the unfair funding system that results in school districts overpaying millions of dollars to charter schools.

Know Your Facts on Funding and Charter Performance. Then Call for Charter Change!
PSBA Charter Change Website:

The Network for Public Education Action Conference has been rescheduled to April 24-25, 2021 at the Philadelphia Doubletree Hotel


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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