Monday, December 28, 2020

PA Ed Policy Roundup for Dec. 28, 2020: Same As It Ever Was: PA School Funding 1996/2016

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, 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.

 

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Keystone State Education Coalition

PA Ed Policy Roundup for Dec. 28, 2020

Same As It Ever Was: PA School Funding 1996/2016

 

Blogger note: these two poignant cartoons highlight Pennsylvania’s chronic school funding inequity

Same As It Ever Was: PA School Funding 1996/2016

Inquirer by Signe Wilkinson

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/cartoons/inq/signe-wilkinson-philadelphia-inquirer-cartoonist-best-cartoons-20201226.html#School%20Funding

 

SIGNE: THEN & NOW - 35 YEARS OF CARTOONING PHILADELPHIA

Inquirer BY SIGNE WILKINSON | DEC. 26, 2020

After 35 years drawing cartoons on Philadelphia’s politicians and life, it’s clear. I’ve been an utter failure. Sadly, gunslingers don’t stop to think, “Golly, that cartoon made me decide not to pull the trigger.” Cartoons have yet to make a state legislator exclaim, “Gee, all kids deserve a good education.” They haven’t cured poverty and they certainly haven’t balanced a budget. My only hope is that my drawings have occasionally given a boost to those intrepid citizens who work for a safer, fairer, and more equitable city, state, and region. In the meantime, let me thank the many politicians in and out of prison who have given me so much material. The new crop coming up deserve new cartoonists to keep them honest. And, thanks to you readers who’ve cheered me and to you who’ve so earnestly tried to correct my many idiotic ideas. We’re all in this together. Onward!

Editor’s Note: Signe Wilkinson, the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning, and the cartoonist for The Inquirer and Daily News since 1985, is putting down her pencil at the end of 2020 for daily cartoons (though she'll make occasional guest appearances on our pages through her syndicate). Here, she reflects on the city, and her work.

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/cartoons/inq/signe-wilkinson-philadelphia-inquirer-cartoonist-best-cartoons-20201226.html

 

Pa. education groups say stimulus deal just one step for schools

ANDREW GOLDSTEIN Pittsburgh Post-Gazette agoldstein@post-gazette.com DEC 28, 2020 5:30 AM

Pennsylvania education groups say the stimulus bill passed by Congress last week is a promising start, but that more must be done to help schools recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The $900 billion federal package, which was signed by President Donald Trump on Sunday night, includes $82 billion for educational purposes across the country. Of that, about $54 billion is earmarked for elementary and secondary education and about $23 billion is set aside for higher education. The Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials — which predicted in the spring that schools across the state could face shortfalls of as much as $1 billion — said the additional funding provided in the stimulus bill is welcome but only represents a temporary reprieve.   “[T]his is one-time revenue, and these additional funds — while absolutely critical now — will present new challenges in the future as they disappear,” PASBO said in a statement. 

The state Department of Education will distribute the money to schools similarly to how the federal CARES Act was handled, but it is not yet known what share of the funding Pennsylvania will receive, according to a department spokeswoman.

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2020/12/28/pennsylvania-education-groups-districts-federal-stimulus-deal-money-funding-more-needed/stories/202012260008

 

“Though it may sound counterintuitive, an important first step the new administration can take to improve educational equity is to abandon the regimen of annual standardized tests that has dominated federal educational policy-making, especially under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Under the best circumstances, standardized tests do little to measure actual achievement, let alone improve it; indeed, the relentless focus on English and math in every grade from third through eighth has shortchanged the teaching of science at the elementary level as well as civics. Given the difficulty of administering tests during a pandemic, any results obtained next spring are likely to be more flawed than ever.”

Andrea Gabor: Education secretary’s first task: Curb standardized tests

Post Gazette Opinion by ANDREA GABOR Bloomberg Opinion DEC 28, 2020 12:00 AM

President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for education secretary, Miguel Cardona, will face a host of pandemic-related challenges that have disproportionately affected the nation’s neediest students. In addition to learning setbacks, the prolonged isolation has caused social and emotional trauma. The challenges will continue to mount once the COVID-19 crisis is over. Government resources will be strained at all levels, and continued Republican control of the Senate would likely limit extra funding available for K-12 education. In the absence of significant support for state and local governments, beyond the money included in any year-end stimulus package, Mr. Cardona, who has been Connecticut’s education commissioner, will need to concentrate on closing funding inequities between poor and affluent school districts in order to avoid the kind of educational setbacks that followed the 2008 recession.

https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/2020/12/28/Andrea-Gabor-Education-secretary-s-first-task-Curb-standardized-tests/stories/202012280011

 

A Cheerleader’s Vulgar Message Prompts a First Amendment Showdown

A Pennsylvania school district has asked the Supreme Court to rule on whether students may be disciplined for what they say on social media.

New York Times By Adam Liptak Dec. 28, 2020, 5:00 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON — It was a Saturday in the spring of 2017, and a ninth-grade student in Pennsylvania was having a bad day. She had just learned that she had failed to make the varsity cheerleading squad and would remain on junior varsity. The student expressed her frustration on social media, sending a message on Snapchat to about 250 friends. The message included an image of the student and a friend with their middle fingers raised, along with text expressing a similar sentiment. Using a curse word four times, the student expressed her dissatisfaction with “school,” “softball,” “cheer” and “everything.” Though Snapchat messages are ephemeral by design, another student took a screenshot of this one and showed it to her mother, a coach. The school suspended the student from cheerleading for a year, saying the punishment was needed to “avoid chaos” and maintain a “teamlike environment.” The student sued the school district, winning a sweeping victory in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in Philadelphia. The court said the First Amendment did not allow public schools to punish students for speech outside school grounds. Next month, at its first private conference after the holiday break, the Supreme Court will consider whether to hear the case, Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., No. 20-255. The Third Circuit’s ruling is in tension with decisions from several other courts, and such splits often invite Supreme Court review.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/28/us/supreme-court-schools-free-speech.html

 

‘Our kids deserve nothing less’: A few wishes for Philadelphia education in 2021

COVID-19 vaccine, ventilation, and a safe return to school top concerns

Chalkbeat Philly By Johann Calhoun and Dale Mezzacappa  Dec 23, 2020, 5:03pm EST

Like those everywhere, students in Philadelphia have been hit hard this year. The coronavirus pandemic has changed the nature of their education. Deprived of attending school in person, they missed the closeness of their friends and peers, not to mention comforting chats with teachers and mentors. Keeping them safe from the virus has endangered their safety in other ways, challenging their mental health and their academic growth. The pandemic has laid bare long troubling and intractable inequities – and deepened resolve to tackle them. Educators and political leaders embraced the talk of social justice and racial equity. The killings of George Floyd and then Walter Wallace in Philadelphia at the hands of police roiled the city and deepened the resolve to take action.  The school district tried twice to open schools on a hybrid schedule, only to abandon the effort. It is spending millions in an effort to upgrade the ventilation and rid aging school buildings of toxins. Leaders are determined to open them to some students in some way before the end of this school year. How and when this will happen is still uncertain, and building public trust in the buildings’ safety will be a tall order. In this holiday season, it is a lot to wish for. Chalkbeat reached out to education, community and government leaders to get their views on what’s needed in 2021. Here’s what they had to say:

https://philadelphia.chalkbeat.org/2020/12/23/22197945/a-few-wishes-for-philadelphia-education-in-2021

 

Despite non-renewal, one Philadelphia charter school remains hopeful

Chalkbeat Philly By Johann Calhoun  Dec 23, 2020, 6:53pm EST

Administrators at Universal Daroff Charter School in West Philadelphia are appealing the decision by the city’s Board of Education to not renew its charter status. Though it’s unclear when the Charter Appeals Board in Harrisburg will rule, the school is optimistic about the outcome. Penny Nixon, superintendent and CEO of schools at Universal, said their students are learning. “This notion that we cannot educate our children is false and must be addressed.” Daroff prides itself in educating students who come from some of the city’s most impoverished neighborhoods. Located at 56th and Vine in West Philadelphia, it’s one of two charter schools under the Universal umbrella slated for closure. The other is Universal Bluford, at 57th and Media in the Carroll Park section of West Philadelphia. Universal has joined a coalition of Black-run charters in Philadelphia claiming systemic bias has led the school district to recommend their closure or non-renewal, at a much higher rate than other schools. They say that Black and Latino charter leaders operate 19% of the charter schools in the city, yet account for 87% of those recommended for closure or non-renewal in recent years.

https://philadelphia.chalkbeat.org/2020/12/23/22197963/despite-non-renewal-one-philadelphia-charter-school-remains-hopeful

 

The travesty of America’s failed coronavirus response as seen from the steps of a school | Maria Panaritis

Inquirer by Maria Panaritis @panaritism | mpanaritis@inquirer.com Posted: December 24, 2020

I pulled up to Darby Township School for a reality check.

After months of hearing and seeing parents elsewhere shame-scold one another on Facebook over pandemic learning protocols and pressures all day long from their far more white-collar bubbles, I had been longing for a glimpse into true need. I got a sliver of it Wednesday morning at the grades 1-through-8 school in Delaware County. Darby Township is in a school district, Southeast Delco, where COVID-19 positivity rates the week earlier had been logged at about 30%, according to the assistant principal. It’s in a zip code full of Northeast Philadelphia-style rowhouses. A place where many parents seem to work service-sector jobs, are frontline workers, or are poor. For many of us, tallying the costs of this terrible pandemic year begins and ends by gazing inward. This once-in-a-century crisis has been extraordinary and heartbreaking in ways large and small. But it is time to look beyond our own navels and see the travesty in our nation’s failure to manage the coronavirus impact on schools a full nine months after it exploded in America.

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/coronavirus-covid-virtual-school-pennsylvania-darby-township-maria-panaritis-20201224.html

 

They lived in rental cars for a year. Now, these students have the Christmas present they wanted most.

Inquirer by Kristen A. Graham, Posted: December 25, 2020

Elijah Johnson spent his entire childhood in foster care and then most of the last year homeless, sleeping in a series of rental cars. But he finds himself in an unfamiliar place these days: feeling optimistic, looking forward to a Christmas he couldn’t have imagined a few months ago. Johnson, 19, reenrolled in high school recently, then wrote an essay about his plight that attracted the attention of city officials, who helped Johnson and his “godbrother” Mark Holly find something that feels miraculous: a home of their own. “It’s so good,” Johnson said. “So good to be able to take showers, and change — to be a person again, to sleep better.” Johnson was small when the Philadelphia Department of Human Services deemed his mother unfit to care for him. He cycled through different houses, struggling. “I got tired of going from placement to placement, making friendships with people, then having to leave after so many months,” he said. Johnson eventually aged out of the foster-care system. With no safety net, he found himself living in rental cars with Holly, who also grew up in foster care and met Johnson through family and friends. The pandemic has squeezed millions, but for the most vulnerable, it’s been excruciating. Things got more expensive for Johnson and Holly, and the pressure felt relentless, Holly said.

https://www.inquirer.com/education/elijah-johnson-mark-holly-homelessness-home-christmas-20201225.html

 

School District of Lancaster may consider closing schools if coronavirus-fueled enrollment decline continues [Lancaster Watchdog]

Lancaster Online by ALEX GELI | Staff Writer December 27, 2020

First, the coronavirus pandemic attacked education through instruction, upending the ways teachers, especially those who serve students with the most needs, facilitate learning. Now, the virus is targeting school finances. Across the country, school districts are beginning to feel the financial impact many predicted the coronavirus pandemic would bring, and Lancaster County’s largest — and poorest — school district is no exception. School District of Lancaster, a 10,880-student school district serving mostly low-income and Hispanic students surrounded by suburbs in central Lancaster County, projects a $13.7 million budget deficit for the 2021-22 fiscal year starting next July. The deficit, which doesn’t factor in a potential tax increase or additional funding the upcoming state budget might offer, comes as the school district faces an unprecedented student exodus to charter schools and new costs related to virtual education due to COVID-19. “We’re going to have a bumpy road,” Matt Przywara, chief financial and operations officer at School District of Lancaster, said at a Dec. 8 school board meeting.

https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/school-district-of-lancaster-may-consider-closing-schools-if-coronavirus-fueled-enrollment-decline-continues-lancaster/article_c527fa98-4566-11eb-9254-6b0da4aa3ba8.html

 

Environmental task force provides guidance to Scranton School District

Times Tribune BY SARAH HOFIUS HALL STAFF WRITER Dec 28, 2020 Updated 57 min ago

In the midst of widespread environmental problems in the Scranton School District 10 months ago, parents and other community members demanded transparency and greater communication. The district’s environmental task force has helped with those goals. As the district abated asbestos and turned off any fixture with lead-tainted water, a group of parent volunteers received input and offered recommendations. Now, nearly a year since the district revealed the environmental issues, the parents will continue to meet quarterly to discuss long-range plans for making buildings safer for students and staff. “The task force gave us an enormous opportunity to take in a wide variety of viewpoints and work toward a plan that we can see moving forward,” said Scranton school Director Ro Hume, chairwoman of the board’s operations committee and a member of the task force. “We think it’s a model for other community task forces moving forward … so we as a district can be responsive to stakeholders.”

https://www.thetimes-tribune.com/news/education/environmental-task-force-provides-guidance-to-scranton-school-district/article_48814440-ac4c-599a-8c57-75aedfc7014d.html

 

Long ignored, private online schools see golden opportunity in pandemic

WHYY By Avi Wolfman-Arent December 25, 2020

As she entered her senior year this fall, Kayla Shenk felt ready for a change. She adored the small Quaker school she’d attended since 6th grade. But because of its size, the school didn’t offer all of the advanced science courses she wanted to take as she prepared for college. And with the coronavirus pandemic still smoldering, she and her mom, Patti, figured she’d be better off at an online school that could offer a big course catalog and grant Kayla some of the independence she craved. “School’s gonna be kind of messed up this year,” said Patti Shenk, who lives with her family just outside Reading. “Why don’t we consider it? Why not? We have nothing to lose.” A Google search led them to a place called Laurel Springs School, a virtual private school that charges about $13,000 annually for a full high school course load. Laurel Springs is widely regarded as the nation’s first virtual school, with roots dating back to the early 1990s, when the internet was in its infancy. One of its two physical headquarters is in West Chester, Pennsylvania. If you haven’t heard of Laurel Springs, you’re probably not alone. Historically, it hasn’t served the average student. “Many of our students come to us for flexibility,” said head of school Megan O’Reilly Palevich. “They’re athletes. They’re actors.” Only a sliver of kids needs a school that fits around intense training, working, or travel schedules.

https://whyy.org/articles/long-ignored-private-online-schools-see-golden-opportunity-in-pandemic/

 

PIAA files suit in Commonwealth Court, saying Pa. Right-to-Know Law should not apply to it

Tom Reisenweber Erie Times-News December 23, 2020

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association is suing to no longer have to provide information to the public under a 12-year-old law that it has been following. he PIAA has a filed petition asking the state Commonwealth Court to declare that it is exempt from the Right-to-Know Law. The suit is against the state and the state Office of Open Records, which handles appeals of the Right-to-Know Law requests. The PIAA also wants Commonwealth Court to find that the Office of Open Records has no jurisdiction over the PIAA. The PIAA, which sued on Friday, will have to overcome what will likely be a number of challenges to win its case. Among them is that the state's Right-to-Know Law unequivocably includes the PIAA, and that the PIAA for years has been providing information via Right-to-Know Law requests. The PIAA's  executive director, Bob Lombardi, said the organization has been fulfilling Right-to-Know requests, but a few recent requests have caused the PIAA to take action against its standing under that law. Lombardi indicated that the PIAA believed that at least two requests were frivolous or overly burdensome to fulfill.

https://www.goerie.com/story/sports/2020/12/23/piaa-files-lawsuit-over-status-regarding-right-know-law/4016885001/

 

Hempfield, Penn Manor, other schools temporarily switching instructional models after holiday break

Lancaster Online by ALEX GELI | Staff Writer December 28, 2020

Several Lancaster County school districts are reducing or delaying in-person instruction at the start of the New Year to prevent COVID-19 outbreaks in schools following the holiday break. Among the school districts making a move are Cocalico, Hempfield, Lancaster, Manheim Township, Octorara Area and Penn Manor. The decisions mirror those made at numerous school districts before Thanksgiving break as students and employees take the risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19 by traveling or gathering with family over the holidays. At Cocalico, the entire district is moving to remote instruction from Jan. 4 to 6, with students expected to return in-person Jan. 7. As LNP | LancasterOnline previously reported, elementary students will resume full-time, in-person learning while secondary students will follow a hybrid schedule with both online and in-person instruction for the remainder of the first semester.

https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/hempfield-penn-manor-other-schools-temporarily-switching-instructional-models-after-holiday-break/article_d34c0bc8-4561-11eb-b10b-9b133dcb6e73.html

 

Bucks cyber charter students, teachers offer keys to sound virtual learning

Chris English Bucks County Courier Times December 28, 2020

With 54% of students in Pennsylvania still engaged in all-remote instruction because of the coronavirus pandemic, it's clear virtual learning will remain a big part of education for many more months, if not longer. And there are ways to make it better, say those involved in at-home education by choice, not just because of the virus. Creating a comfortable workspace and removing distractions are two of the biggest keys to getting the most out of virtual instruction, local cyber charter school students, teachers and administrators advise. "While cyber education won't be the right fit for everyone, hopefully this experience has proven that it must be available for everyone," said Perkasie native Rich Jensen, CEO of Agora Cyber Charter School and a member of the Public Cyber Charter School Association. "Parent/guardian involvement is crucial to ensure students stay on task. When possible, keep schooling isolated to one room to try and take away any potential distractions."

https://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/story/news/2020/12/28/developing-good-habits-one-big-key-sound-virtual-learning/3904989001/

 

New Bucks-based group calls for all-virtual instruction amid COVID spike

Chris English Bucks County Courier Times December 24, 2020

Like many other parents across Pennsylvania and the nation, Lynn Rutecki feels that providing a full or close to full-time in-person instructional choice amid spiraling COVID-19 case numbers is very misguided. So when the Neshaminy School District replaced its hybrid option at the elementary schools with a four-days-a-week classroom choice on Nov. 30, forcing her to enroll her third-grade son Jake in the four-days option if he wanted any in-person learning time, Rutecki felt compelled to take action. The Middletown resident formed a Facebook group called Bucks County Parents Advocating Safety that has since attracted more than 1,000 members from all 13 school districts in the county, she said. "This is about me reaching out to find like-minded concerned parents and community members who do not agree with what is happening in their respective school districts," said Rutecki, a teacher in another Bucks County district who isn't able to work from home.

https://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/story/news/2020/12/24/new-bucks-based-group-calls-all-virtual-learning-schools/3991393001/

 

Rebuilding America’s schools: The new secretary of education will need to prioritize both access and breadth of skills

Brookings by Elias Blinkoff and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek Wednesday, December 23, 2020

We congratulate Miguel Cardona, Connecticut’s current education commissioner, on his nomination to serve as secretary of education under President-elect Biden. Following Senate confirmation, it will benefit children, teachers, and families alike to have an experienced public school educator at the helm of the U.S. Department of Education. Reactions to Cardona’s nomination are laudatory, with support from public education advocatespolicymakers, and the nation’s major teachers’ unions, respectively stating that they were “delighted” by the decision, “applauded” Cardona as “an experienced educator and visionary leader,” and appreciated his “deep respect for educators.” Cardona’s nomination reflects a vital federal investment in educational equity. Drawing on his own experiences growing up in a Meriden, Connecticut housing project with parents who arrived from Puerto Rico and as an English language learner, Cardona aims to narrow the opportunity gap through a comprehensive approach that supports schools and communities. His top priorities “inside the schoolhouse” include ensuring that all students read by third grade and providing all students with access to a high-quality curriculum. Beyond the school walls, Cardona is eager to collaborate with other federal agencies to assist students struggling with housing and food insecurity. He offers a strengths-based approach, recognizing resources that students bring from their communities.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2020/12/23/rebuilding-americas-schools-the-new-secretary-of-education-will-need-to-prioritize-both-access-and-breath-of-skills/

 

 

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.

Resolution for charter funding reform (pdf)

Link to submit your adopted resolution to PSBA

 

337 PA school boards have adopted charter reform resolutions

Charter school funding reform continues to be a concern as over 330 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.

The school boards from the following districts have adopted resolutions calling for charter funding reform. 

https://www.psba.org/2020/03/adopted-charter-reform-resolutions/

 

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

PSBA Charter Change Website:

https://www.pacharterchange.org/

 

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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