Tuesday, June 23, 2020

PA Ed Policy Roundup for June 23, 2020: State education funding is a textbook example of structural racism


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 June 23, 2020
State education funding is a textbook example of structural racism


PSBA Webinar: Building the Foundation for Equity and Trauma-Informed Approaches Through Policy JUN 25, 2020 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Learn more and register today: https://www.psba.org/event/webinar-building-the-equity-foundation-through-policy/


Failing cyber charter schools waste taxpayer money: Letters to the editor
GoErie Letter by Susan Spicka, executive director, Education Voters of PA June 23, 2020
Every Pennsylvania cyber charter ranks among the lowest-performing schools in the state.
In her letter to the editor, the Commonwealth Foundation’s Colleen Hondrich lauds “school choice” and specifically Pennsylvania’s cyber charter schools. However, Hondrich fails to mention cyber charters’ abysmal academic performance and the vast amount of taxpayer money that they waste. While the COVID-19 economic downturn is forcing school districts to raise taxes, lay off teachers, increase class sizes and eliminate programs and services for students, Pennsylvania’s outdated charter law guarantees cyber charter schools will receive an increase in funding this fall.
And cyber charters have been luxuriating in excess funding for years. Think Scrooge McDuck in his pool of coins. Because state law mandates that school districts pay cyber charter schools tuition that exceeds the cost of educating students at home on a computer, cyber charters have millions in excess funding to waste on billboards, TV commercials, internet ads and more. And Nick Trombetta, founder and former CEO of PA Cyber, went to jail for fraud after spending more than $8 million in taxpayer money on a private airplane, vacation homes and other luxuries.
If cyber charter schools improved student academic achievement, Hondrich could make a case for sending them excess funding. But every Pennsylvania cyber charter ranks among the lowest-performing schools in the state. They graduate, on average, just 50% of their students.
In 2018-19, Erie city taxpayers spent nearly $6 million on cyber charter tuition.
Lawmakers must reform charter school funding. Taxpayers can no longer afford the luxury of overpaying for the “choice” of failing cyber charter schools.

POWER: State education funding is a textbook example of structural racism
A member of the interfaith grassroots organization expresses support for Philadelphia Student Union's calls to redirect resources from security to support.
The notebook Commentary by Roseann Liu June 22 — 9:50 am, 2020
The Philadelphia Student Union (PSU), a youth organizing group, recently circulated an online petition to demand the removal of all police from Philadelphia schools. In less than 24 hours, the petition gathered close to 2,500 signatures, and today it’s approaching the 13,000-signature mark. Like many movements to end state violence against Black people, calls to defund the police are not just about what we don’t want. They are also about building the kind of world we want to live in. Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Global Network, told WBUR in Boston: “It’s not just about taking away money from the police; it’s about reinvesting those dollars into Black communities.” The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) spends $31 million on its security force — money that PSU wants to put toward training community members in “de-escalation, restorative justice, and other skills that support healthy schools and communities” for an Office of School Safety, the petition says. At a time when SDP’s budget has been decimated by the coronavirus pandemic, with an expected shortfall of at least $800 million over the next five years, PSU’s youth-led campaign offers an important model for investing in the kind of high-quality education Philadelphia students need and deserve. But to ensure a serious and sustained investment in Philadelphia schools, we must also pressure state legislators to restructure the way school districts are funded in Pennsylvania. Doing so would give Philadelphia students $400 million more every year.

Guest Column: Chester Upland students deserve opportunity to learn in public schools
Delco Times By Dariah Jackson Times Guest Columnist June 23, 2020
Dariah Jackson is a Chester resident and teaches third- to fifth-grade life skills support at Stetser Elementary School in the Chester Upland School District.
If I could tell you one story about Chester Upland’s public schools, it would be about our students who, despite the adversities they face, come into school every day with a burning desire to learn and grow. These students are strong and brilliant — and they deserve success. I am proud to teach them and to work alongside colleagues who bring an unmatched enthusiasm to the classroom as we introduce students to new worlds of learning. That is why we are so troubled by the push to convert some or all of our neighborhood schools to charter schools. Charterization of our district would upend the work of dedicated teachers and support staff in our public schools, and that could undermine the academic progress our students are making. This is the last thing we should be doing. Many of Chester Upland’s educators grew up in this community and are committed to it.  They are making a difference for our community’s children and are dedicated to their success. That connection between teachers and students is incredibly important. A charter takeover of Chester Upland will force those students to switch schools, either by physically changing buildings or by substantially changing the character of a school within the same building. This will disrupt key relationships with teachers and peers. Researchers tell us that even one school move can decrease student achievement scores and graduation rates.

With Cutler at the helm, Pa. House GOP promises new ideas, hands-off style
PA Capital Star By Stephen Caruso June 22, 2020
After a sudden midterm resignation, the Pennsylvania House Republican leadership has undergone a shake up. The biggest promotion is for Bryan Cutler, who at 45 years old, is now the newest speaker of the Pennsylvania House. In a closed door meeting his Republican colleagues picked Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre, to be the new majority leader. Rep. Donna Oberlander, R-Clarion, will be his second-in-command at whip. They take over the lower chamber in the middle of turbulent political times. The state is still slowly reopening amid the specter of COVID-19, and faces a multi-billion dollar budget shortfall that still must be filled. Meanwhile, protesters continue to march in the street asking for policing reform, all with less than five months until the 2020 election, with both the presidency of Donald Trump and control of the General Assembly potentially up for grabs.

Centre County Republican Kerry Benninghoff elected as Pa. House majority leader
Penn Live By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com Updated Jun 22, 2020; Posted Jun 22, 2020
Centre County Republican Kerry Benninghoff was elected on Monday as the majority leader in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives. Benninghoff, 58, has served as majority whip in the House since last year. He is in his 24th year of service in the House. Prior to his election as whip, Benninghoff served two terms as Republican Policy Committee chairman for two terms as well as chaired the finance and state government committees. He succeeds floor leader Rep. Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster County, who was elevated on Monday to become speaker and now presides over the chamber. The mid-term caucus elections were triggered by former House Speaker Mike Turzai’s mid-term resignation on June 15 from his House seat to take a job as general counsel at Peoples, a Pittsburgh-based gas utility. Rep. Donna Oberlander, R-Clarion County, was elected to serve as majority whip to fill the vacancy created by Benninghoff’s election as majority leader. Oberlander had been serving as majority policy committee chairwoman. These newly elected leaders will serve for the remainder of the legislative session, which ends in November. With Benninghoff’s election, that means Centre County will now have two members of its delegation in majority leader positions. Sen. Jake Corman is the majority leader in the GOP-controlled Senate.

Activists rally in the streets, then at a school board meeting, against police presence at Pittsburgh schools
Public Source by  TyLisa C. Johnson | June 22, 2020
While some students see school as a safe haven, “where you get that one meal a day, where you get to have mentors who don't judge you,” other students — mostly Black or brown and disproportionately impacted by the presence of school police — live in fear. “No one should ever feel as if they have a target on their back in school,” 18-year-old Rebekah Chikuni said. Chikuni is a 2020 graduate of Upper St. Clair High School who on Monday was among hundreds of students, parents and schools advocates who called on Pittsburgh Public Schools’ board of directors to remove police from its schools, first at a rally, then in public testimonies at a school board public hearing.  School should be a place that nurtures students, promotes self-growth, Chikuni said, but with police in schools, “whether or not they're armed or not, their presence in schools is toxic to Black and brown students.” Chikuni is a member of GirlGov, a program of The Women and Girls Foundation, where she helps lead the racial justice committee.  Nearly 300 people attended the school board’s Monday public hearing, where much of the public concern swirled around removing police from schools. Almost 250 people signed up to speak at the hearing, which prompted the board to split the meeting into two days. The second part of the public hearing will be held virtually June 23 at 2 p.m.

Dieruff student joins national call to remove police officers from schools
By JACQUELINE PALOCHKO THE MORNING CALL | JUN 22, 2020 AT 6:43 PM
Dieruff High junior Nasheera Brown believes school shouldn’t be a place where middle school students worry they could be arrested by an armed officer for acting out. “You go to school to learn,” Brown said. “You shouldn’t have to fear being threatened by a cop. School is for education.” That’s why Brown is calling on the Allentown School District to remove eight armed school resource officers among its secondary schools. Brown is organizing a community discussion at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Arts Park in Center City Allentown. “Police officers shouldn’t be in schools at all,” Brown said. “They should be outside fighting crime. That’s what they’re for.” Brown said the discussion, which joins a national conversation on armed officers in schools, is not a personal attack on the Allentown Police Department, which contracts with the district for the school resource officers. Brown said she has had a positive relationship with the officers in school, but said she’s heard from other students who felt they were wrongly treated. “I’m giving others a voice,” she said. “I have a close relationship with the police in Allentown, but other students might not. A lot of students feel they shouldn’t have to have police on their backs.”

Penn will offer public high school seniors in Philly a free four-week college and career prep program
Inquirer by Susan Snyder, Updated: June 22, 2020- 4:47 PM
This spring was tough on high school students, particularly those beginning their college searches. Campus tours went virtual. SAT testing was largely shut down. And there was the transition to virtual learning, something that proved especially challenging for Philadelphia public school students, some of whom lacked internet access and computers. At the University of Pennsylvania, administrators wanted to do something to help rising seniors in Philadelphia’s public high schools close any gap that may have been opened by the coronavirus pandemic. Penn is offering a free, four-week virtual summer academy — including college and career preparation and academic enrichment — for up to 2,500 seniors in the city’s district and charter high schools. For students unable to commit to the three hours a day of instruction, Penn also is offering a free “How to Apply to College” course that students can take on their own time and at their own pace during the summer. That is open to all 14,000 public school seniors in Philadelphia.

“Valley Day School, located a couple miles from the New Jersey state line in Morrisville, Pa., is classified as an Approved Private School, a special designation for schools in Pennsylvania that serve children whose needs, due to severe or complex disabilities, cannot be adequately met in a traditional public school’s special education program. Pennsylvania’s approximately 30 Approved Private Schools (APS) serve students who qualify under one or more of the 13 disability categories identified under federal IDEA regulations.”
How One School Is Delivering Trauma-Informed Care From Afar
EdSurge By Emily Tate Jun 9, 2020
MORRISVILLE, Pa. / Zoom — Every morning at Valley Day School starts off the same way.
After the kids have arrived at school, passed through the metal detectors with their see-through bags and backpacks in tow, and received their morning greetings from up to a dozen staff members, they head into homeroom and begin what’s known as a “community meeting. During a community meeting, the kids go around and, with their teachers’ coaxing, answer several questions: How are you feeling? What is your goal for today? Who can help you with that goal? The ritual creates consistency and establishes a daily connection between teacher and pupil, which for Valley Day’s approximately 90 students—all of whom have special needs—is important for building trust and communicating to the staff what kind of mental and emotional state the student is in that day. In late February, as the coronavirus was silently beginning to spread through the United States, I observed a community meeting in Sean Matthews’ high school classroom. As Matthews, a special education teacher, went around the room and posed the questions to each of his students, one answered that he was feeling energetic. Another said rushed. A third responded that he was in despair. Each interaction cued to Matthews where his students were internally and what they needed from him to have a successful day. From there, they were able to dive into their school work, which, on that day, involved a discussion of the final chapters of Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.” He didn’t know it at the time, but that was one of the last community meetings Matthews would have face-to-face with his students this school year.

Blogger note: according to spreadsheets from the Department of Community and Economic Development, which administers Pennsylvania’s education tax credit programs, for the 2018-2019 school year $160.1 million in diverted tax dollars was spent via the EITC program, with an additional $54.7 million going to fund the OSTC program.  There are virtually no fiscal or student performance reporting requirement for either program.
LETTER: Let families — not zip codes — determine children's future
York Dispatch Letter by Stefani Klaves, Harrisburg Published 12:37 p.m. ET June 22, 2020
Sarah, a minority graduate of York’s Logos Academy, defied all the statistics Mr. Bill Swartz noted in his recent op-ed. She finished second in her class, speaks three languages, and hopes to be a sociologist or lawyer. The reason: A school choice program called the Educational Improvement Tax Credit made it so Sarah’s zip code did not determine her future. Mr. Swartz recognizes the problem these "little boxes” cause. Zip-code-based education maintains our children’s educational separation. Unfortunately, he avoids calling for changes that would liberate children from those boxes. Instead, Swartz worries about making our educational separation well-funded. But York City already spends over $19,000 per student, far above national and state averages. If under-funding and crowded classrooms are a concern, school choice solves both issues. Logos Academy is a private school that saves the district around $3.9 million and helps reduce classroom sizes — important for social distancing at school in the fall.

Eyes on the Philly Board of Education: June 25, 2020
Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools by Karel Kilimnik June 22, 2020 appsphilly.net 
The people of Philadelphia continue their struggle to survive, personally and financially, under the weight of the Covid-19 pandemic.  We witness the social upheaval as people demand an end to  police brutality and systemic racism. But at 440, not much has changed. The Board, despite public demands for months, continues to conduct non-essential business in remote meetings with a minimum of public participation. At its June Committee meeting, most Board members offered personal statements about what Black Lives Matter meant to them.  But as APPS members reminded them in their testimony, how the Board votes will prove whether these statements carry any weight. At the June 11 Joint Committee meeting, few substantial questions were raised about District business by these eight government officials. Almost no deliberation took place about the Items to be voted on at this Action meeting. Planning the  next school year is fraught with obstacles never faced in our lifetimes. District families will be dealing with even higher rates of unemployment and evictions. All of these issues must be addressed with genuine parent, staff, and community engagement–not just the perfunctory distribution of surveys. 


PSBA Fall Virtual Advocacy Day: OCT 8, 2020 • 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sign up now for PSBA’s Virtual Advocacy Day this fall!
All public school leaders are invited to join us for our fall Virtual Advocacy Day on Thursday, October 8, 2020, via Zoom. We need all of you to help strengthen our advocacy impact. The day will center around contacting legislators to discuss critical issues affecting public education. Registrants will receive the meeting invitation with a link to our fall Virtual Advocacy Day website that contains talking points, a link to locate contact information for your legislator and additional information to help you have a successful day.
Cost: As a membership benefit, there is no cost to register.
Registration: School directors can register online now by logging in to myPSBA. If you have questions about Virtual Advocacy Day, or need additional information, contact Jamie.Zuvich@psba.org.

Apply Now for EPLC's 2020-2021 PA Education Policy Fellowship Program!
Applications are available now for the 2020-2021 Education Policy Fellowship Program
The Education Policy Fellowship Program is sponsored in Pennsylvania by The Education Policy and Leadership Center (EPLC).  The 2020-2021 Program will be conducted in briefer, more frequent, and mostly online sessions, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The content will be substantially the same as the traditional Fellowship Program, with some changes necessitated by the new format and a desire to reduce costs to sponsors in these uncertain fiscal times.
The commitment of EPLC remains the same. The Fellowship Program will continue to be Pennsylvania's premier education policy leadership program for education, community, policy and advocacy leaders! The Fellowship Program begins with two 3-hour virtual sessions on September 17-18, and the Program ends with a graduation event in June 2021.
The application may be copied from the EPLC web site, but it must be submitted by mail or scanned and e-mailed, with the necessary signatures of applicant and sponsor.
If you would like to discuss any aspect of the Fellowship Program and its requirements, please contact EPLC Executive Director Ron Cowell at 412-298-4796 or COWELL@EPLC.ORG

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 260 PA school boards adopt charter reform resolutions
Charter school funding reform continues to be a concern as over 260 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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