Wednesday, December 9, 2020

PA Ed Policy Roundup for Dec. 9: Parents and a community organization in Chester Upland SD have filed an emergency motion to suspend a process to outsource the entire district’s operations and schools to charter operators.

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Keystone State Education Coalition

PA Ed Policy Roundup for Dec. 9, 2020

Parents and a community organization in Chester Upland SD have filed an emergency motion to suspend a process to outsource the entire district’s operations and schools to charter operators.

 

New Pa. data shows how the pandemic gave a big boost to cyber charter schools

WHYY By Avi Wolfman-Arent December 8, 2020

New data from Pennsylvania’s Department of Education shows that the pandemic has caused a small, but significant enrollment decline at traditional public schools, while increasing the share of cyber charter students. It’s also revealed an interesting divide. While public schools in urban and suburban counties have lost students, schools in more rural counties have largely tread water. Overall, preliminary enrollment data shows a 1.7% drop in total public school enrollment, which equates to about 30,000 students statewide. The dip was more pronounced in kindergarten, where enrollment fell from 115,275 students last year to 110,803 students in 2020 — nearly a 4% decline. One type of public school has gotten more popular, though: the state’s cyber charter schools. Enrollment in the publicly funded but privately managed online schools jumped from 38,266 to 60,890. That’s a 59% enrollment spike.

https://whyy.org/articles/new-pa-data-shows-how-the-pandemic-gave-a-big-boost-to-cyber-charter-schools/

 

PARENTS IN CHESTER UPLAND ASK COURT TO SUSPEND CHARTER SCHOOL CONVERSION PROCESS, CONDUCTED IN SECRET

Today, parents and a community organization in Chester Upland School District filed an emergency motion to suspend a process to outsource the entire district’s operations and schools to charter operators. This request for proposals process has taken place in secret, with no public notice and no opportunities for parents and other community members to weigh in.

December 4, 2020 — Today, parents and a community organization in Chester Upland School District (CUSD) filed an emergency motion to suspend a process to outsource the entire district’s operations and schools to charter operators. This request for proposals (RFP) process has taken place in secret, with no public notice and no opportunities for parents and other community members to weigh in—violating court-ordered requirements. In addition, the RFP itself, issued on October 26, does not comply with state law requiring bidders to provide alternatives for students who do not wish to attend charter schools, and it does not require an evaluation of whether or not a bidder will provide a higher quality education than district schools, including for students with disabilities.

https://www.pubintlaw.org/cases-and-projects/parents-in-chester-upland-ask-court-to-suspend-charter-school-conversion-process-conducted-in-secret/

 

Allentown and Bethlehem Area schools should have gotten $4.5 million more in coronavirus relief money, but state shorted neediest school districts, report says

By MICHELLE MERLIN THE MORNING CALL | DEC 08, 2020 AT 9:21 PM

If $174 million in federal coronavirus aid had been allocated to Pennsylvania school districts using the state’s traditional funding formula, then Allentown School District would have received about $5.6 million. Instead, the state allocated the money to public schools by giving them all $120,000 plus additional money based on the number of students they have. Allentown received $1.5 million. The way the $174 million was allocated shorted the neediest districts, a report released Monday said. The Keystone Research Center found that districts with the highest density of poor, Black and Hispanic students received less funding than those with the least density, reinforcing existing inequities. “This is a pretty simple story about getting the allocation of these funds backward,” Keystone Research Center Executive Director Stephen Herzenberg said. He said that within the context of the racial reckoning the country is going through, “there is a tone deafness to the distribution of these funds that is stunning.”

https://www.mcall.com/news/education/mc-nws-education-cares-funding-20201209-x32wfhv7d5ck7mvvrtxpxqxy3y-story.html

 

Philly mayor, school board objected to CARES fund distribution

Chalkbeat Philly By Dale Mezzacappa  Dec 8, 2020, 7:42pm EST

Mayor Jim Kenney and city council president Darrell Clarke sent a letter to Gov. Tom Wolf in August complaining about how the state distributed $174 million in coronavirus relief funds to school districts, saying it denied the Philadelphia school district, the state’s largest, its “fair share” of the money. Letter from Mayor Kenney and Councilman Clarke

A report issued this week by two state education advocacy organizations said that districts serving low-income, mostly Black and Latino students were shortchanged by the process. The groups urged state leaders to distribute any additional federal funds by using the state’s basic education formula, which takes into account factors such as poverty and the number of English language learners. The letter from Kenney and Clarke called the formula the state used “inequitable” and called for Wolf to use his emergency education money to fix the disparity and “ensure Philadelphia students receive their fair share of state funding.” Republican legislative leaders devised the formula used to distribute the health and safety grants — giving each of the state’s 500 school districts a baseline of $120,000 and then allocating the rest based on total enrollment. The result: Philadelphia received less per student than any other district, according to the letter. After the Keystone Research Center and Education Voters PA released the report, Wolf, a Democrat, said he agreed the money should have been distributed using the state’s basic education funding system, also known as the “fair funding” formula.

https://philadelphia.chalkbeat.org/2020/12/8/22164508/philly-mayor-school-board-objected-to-cares-fund-distribution

 

Report: PA shortchanged poor schools in distributing stimulus funds

Lawrence County New Castle News By John Finnerty CNHI State Reporter Dec 8, 2020

Pennsylvania’s move to divide stimulus funding based on enrollment short-changed poor schools, a report released Monday concluded. The last round of federal stimulus funding provided $600 million for schools in Pennsylvania. Members of Congress are negotiating another round of COVID relief --  a proposed  $908 billion plan. Stephen Herzenberg, executive director of the Keystone Research Center, said that he hopes that if the second round of stimulus funding is split to provide a larger share to poorer school districts. The first round of stimulus mandated that $400 million be divided between schools based on a formula spelled out in the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. As a result, the funding was weighted to provide additional help to poorer districts, Herzenberg said. However, the state’s method of dividing the remaining $200 million didn’t take into account the wealth or poverty of the school districts, Herzenberg said. About $25 million went to charter schools and other educational entities. The remainder was split by giving each district a base payment of $120,000 and then adding funding based on the number of students enrolled in the district. That meant larger districts got more funding regardless of how much financial help the district needed, Herzenberg said. “Pennsylvania got the distribution of these funds backward in the sense that the districts with the greatest need received the least funding per student,” he said.

https://www.ncnewsonline.com/news/local_news/report-pa-shortchanged-poor-schools-in-distributing-stimulus-funds/article_835955a2-e767-597c-9249-de7c50e932e0.html

 

Charter schools a concern for Bedford County local districts

Gettysburg Times By Cati Keith Gazette Staff Writer December 9, 2020

The cost of charter schools is a concern to many school districts in Bedford County. Charter schools are public schools that are separate from school districts. There are two types of charter schools: brick-and-mortar, and cyber schools. Charter schools can be in one or more school districts. One brick-and-mortar school in the county is HOPE for Hyndman. Some cyber charters are Agora, PA Cyber, Connections Academy, Commonwealth Charter Academy, and PA Virtual Charter School. Charter schools are free to those who attend like district public schools, but students attend at the expense of taxpayers. School districts use taxpayer money to pay tuition to charter schools. They must pay tuition for every student who lives in the district and attends any type of charter school. Districts must also provide transportation to charters school up to 10 miles from the district’s boundary. The cost for charters goes up every year, and has become a major source of budget pressure for school districts. In 2018-19 total charter school tuition payments were more that $2.0 billion as reported by PA Charter Change. They also reported that $606 million of that was to cyber charter schools.

https://www.gettysburgtimes.com/news/pennsylvania_news/article_5012c839-c52e-5182-bb69-e51983e30593.html

 

Blogger note: In 2005-06, the PSERS rate was 4.7%; in 2011-12 it was 8.7%

PSERS sets employer contribution rate of 34.94% for 2021-22

POSTED ON DECEMBER 9, 2020 IN PSBA NEWS

Last week, the Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS) Board of Trustees certified an annual employer contribution rate of 34.94% for fiscal year 2021-22, which begins on July 1, 2020.  The board also certified and retained the current T-E member contribution rate of 7.5%, T-F member contribution rate of 10.3%, TG member contribution rate of 8.25% (defined benefit rate 5.50% ; DC rate 2.75%) and TH member contribution rate of 7.5% (defined benefit rate 4.5%; DC rate 3%) for the three-year period from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2024 in accordance with the shared risk provisions of PSERS' retirement code.

https://www.psba.org/2020/12/psers-sets-employer-contribution-rate-for-2021-22/

 

Philadelphia’s educators should get vaccine priority, mayor says

Chalkbeat Philly By Dale Mezzacappa  Dec 8, 2020, 5:38pm EST

“We would like to get schools open and have it done safely,” the mayor said at his regular briefing about the coronavirus pandemic. “[Teachers] are a priority for us, not the same as an ICU nurse, but they do have priority from our perspective,” Kenney said. School superintendent William Hite also called last week for educators to be among the first workers to get vaccinated. He and other urban school leaders are pushing the issue nationally, he said. City health commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said he expects Philadelphia will get some vaccines as early as next week from Pfizer and some from Moderna the week after. But he said people should not expect widespread availability until the spring of 2021. The first priority for the city is to vaccinate frontline medical personnel, which are those who work in hospitals, nursing homes, and other facilities, Farley said. After that other “critical workers” would receive the vaccination, but that category of workers has yet to be defined. Farley said it’s “too early to say” whether teachers would fall into that category. He suggested that “critical workers” would be those who have “lots of contact with other people.”

https://philadelphia.chalkbeat.org/2020/12/8/22164092/philadelphias-educators-should-get-vaccine-priority-mayor-says

 

From COVID-19 data to in-person school, Bucks County’s health department goes its own way

Inquirer by Jason Laughlin and Maddie Hanna, Posted: December 9, 2020

For most Southeastern Pennsylvanians, just a few clicks on their county’s web site gets them current local information on COVID-19 cases and deaths. Unless they live in Bucks County.

That county’s health department stopped providing new data on the pandemic’s spread in each of its 54 municipalities about a month ago, saying it was too overwhelmed by the surging number of cases to adequately contact-trace new positives. Other area counties also struggle with tracing, yet still provide daily updates. It’s the latest example of how the county’s health department and its controversial director, David Damsker, have stood apart from, and sometimes at odds with, most health experts throughout the pandemic. When others recommended six feet of social distancing within schools, Damsker said three feet would do. He pushed for schools to keep in-person instruction going as some experts urged virtual lessons. And until recently his department kept its own count of COVID-19 deaths that tallied 100 fewer deaths than the state, in part because of Damsker leaving out cases where his department deemed COVID-19 infection was not the “substantial” cause of death.

https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/bucks-damsker-covid-coronavirus-deaths-school-closings-pennsylvania-20201209.html

 

Departing Trump administration wants to weaken nutrition rules for school meals

Inquirer by Alfred Lubrano, Posted: December 9, 2020

In their last days in office, Trump administration officials are trying to reduce nutrition requirements for school meals, seeking to undo changes initiated by the Obama administration a decade ago. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says it wants to allow school districts to be more “flexible” with rules that previously stipulated 100% whole grains, reductions in sodium levels, and a switchover to fat-free flavored milk. The Trump administration would halve whole-grain requirements to 50%, do away with sodium-reduction targets, and re-introduce 1% chocolate milk. The administration’s stance, which critics say would make school meals less healthy, is seen as yet another slap at President Barack Obama, as well as at former First Lady Michelle Obama, who championed nutrition standards and helped inspire the bipartisan Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, whose 10-year anniversary is next week. Over the last four years, President Donald Trump has made no secret of wanting to reverse his predecessor’s accomplishments. Anti-hunger advocates say the rule change will disproportionately affect low-income children who depend on school meals for balanced nutrition.

https://www.inquirer.com/news/trump-administration-school-meals-usda-whole-grain-healthy-food-20201209.html

 

“The ban on coordination between outside groups like RSLC and traditional political campaigns stems from a landmark campaign-finance decision a decade ago by the U.S. Supreme Court. The case, known as Citizens United, effectively allowed corporations and other outside groups to make unlimited contributions, reversing decades of restrictions on giving.”

Firm ran Pa. senator’s campaign and worked with super PAC to attack opponent, but denies coordination

by Angela Couloumbis of Spotlight PA and Sam Janesch of The Caucus, Posted: December 8, 2020- 3:42 PM

HARRISBURG — As state legislative races go, the one between Republican Sen. John DiSanto and Democrat George Scott was one of the most hotly contested in Pennsylvania’s November election. The Dauphin County matchup was key to Democrats’ hopes of wresting control of the chamber from Republicans for the first time in more than 25 years, an effort that ultimately failed. And it was an all-out political brawl. DiSanto and Scott spent weeks attacking each other’s policies in a barrage of mailers and television ads. In the closing days of the election, a 15-second anti-Scott ad hit the airwaves, paid for by the Washington-based Republican State Leadership Committee.

https://www.inquirer.com/politics/pennsylvania/spl/pennsylvania-election-2020-super-pac-john-disanto-red-maverick-20201208.html

 

The list: Pittsburgh-area school districts extend remote learning as COVID-19 cases surge

PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE DEC 8, 2020 12:51 PM

An increasing number of schools and districts in southwestern Pennsylvania are transitioning to remote instruction as the Pittsburgh region continues to experience a spike in COVID-19 cases.

The districts said they plan to monitor conditions in Allegheny County and adjust their instruction schedules accordingly. Here are the districts that have announced changes (in alphabetical order):

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2020/12/08/Pittsburgh-western-pennsylvania-schools-closings-remote-virtual-learning-COVID-19-cases/stories/202012080102

 

Norwin sees more covid cases; 57 since Thanksgiving

Trib Live by JOE NAPSHA   | Tuesday, December 8, 2020 10:57 p.m.

Norwin continues to a see a surge in covid cases, as another five students and staff reported being infected with the virus, pushing the post-Thanksgiving count to 57, the district said Tuesday. The school district said it learned Tuesday that two high school students, one Hillcrest Intermediate School student and one Stewartsville Elementary student have covid, as well as a Hillcrest staff member. Norwin now has had 141 students and staff infected with coronavirus since school began on Aug. 31.

https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/norwin-sees-more-covid-cases-57-since-thanksgiving/

 

Fox Chapel Area returns to in-person classes, reports 10 active covid-19 cases in district

Trib Live by TAWNYA PANIZZI   | Tuesday, December 8, 2020 1:58 p.m.

As Fox Chapel Area students returned to in-person classes this week, officials said there is no current plan for middle and high school students to be in the buildings on a full-time basis. Elementary students have returned to five-day, in-person classes but older students will remain in a hybrid learning model, Superintendent Mary Catherine Reljac said. “We are living in rapidly changing times,” she said during a Dec. 1 school board meeting. “The last two weeks have been extremely eventful for school districts.” Currently, there are 10 active cases of covid-19 in the district, with a total of 42 cases since the beginning of the school year.

https://triblive.com/local/valley-news-dispatch/fox-chapel-area-returns-to-in-person-classes-reports-10-active-covid-19-cases-in-district/

 

‘Health tops education’: Hempfield Area school officials explain remote learning call during virus surge

Trib Live by MEGAN TOMASIC   | Monday, December 7, 2020 11:09 p.m.

More than 350 people tuned in to a virtual Hempfield Area School Board meeting on Monday to hear the rationale for why the administration chose to move students to remote learning until after the holidays — a decision made days after the board reaffirmed students would return to the hybrid model of learning. Superintendent Tammy Wolicki, along with other administration officials, decided late Friday to have students continue with remote learning until Jan. 4, attributing the decision to a rising number of covid-19 cases in community. Students were scheduled to return to a mix of in-person and remote classes Monday, following a week of remote learning after the Thanksgiving break.

https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/coronavirus-spread-forced-hempfield-to-stick-with-remote-learning/

 

With coronavirus surging, Bethlehem schools remain hybrid but others consider switch

By CHRISTINA TATU THE MORNING CALL | DEC 09, 2020 AT 5:20 AM

Lehigh Valley school districts are weighing whether to go fully remote after a surge in coronavirus cases following Thanksgiving break. The Bethlehem Area School District saw a spike of nearly 100 cases among staff and students this past week, said Superintendent Joseph Roy. There were 70 cases reported last Monday-Friday and another 24 reported this Monday. Fortunately, most of them happened over the holiday break so those who tested positive had not been in the school building for the past two weeks. “Things have picked up drastically,” Roy said on Tuesday afternoon, explaining that the district had been seeing about 10 cases a day before the Thanksgiving break. “It’s like a surge on top of a surge,” he said. Still, Bethlehem plans to continue with its hybrid learning model for now. Others are considering a switch to all-remote learning.

https://www.mcall.com/news/education/mc-nws-bethlehem-schools-corona-surge-20201209-atkpbwmzovbwzoeyrprjq64kdi-story.html

 

Penn-Delco goes back to full virtual learning until after winter break

Delco Times by Pete Bannan Pbannan@21st-Centurymedia.com December 9, 2020

Students in the Penn-Delco School District will go fully virtual for a short time after the winter break to allow district nursing staff to work with officials from the Chester County Department of Health District Nursing Staff to accurately track possible COVID-19 infections diagnosed over the winter break. Penn-Delco is planning to be virtual for just two days, Jan. 4 and 5, upon return from Winter Break. “This is a proactive, precautionary measure that will provide our nurses and administrators with additional time to respond to new reports of potential COVID cases, staff quarantines or other COVID-related absences that could develop over the full break,” Penn-Delco Superintendent George Steinhoff wrote in an email Tuesday. “The goal is to avoid the potential of last-minute surprises as the nurses work through contact tracing on cases that we anticipate will develop during that period of time.” Students will not report to school on Jan. 4 and 5, working virtually. The Penn-Delco School Board approved the change at a special meeting Monday. Steinhoff said the district’s hybrid schedule, which it has been following for the past two months, combined with a virtual/cyber option, has provided options for parents and has worked as well as can be expected, thanks to the efforts of the staff. Penn-Delco has had 17 cases across the district - six at Sun Valley High School and four or fewer at their five other schools, according to its caseload dashboard. There have been 104 students and staff quarantined.

https://www.delcotimes.com/news/penn-delco-goes-back-to-full-virtual-learning-until-after-winter-break/article_c8c5883a-39b5-11eb-bb5e-5b3548340a5c.html

 

School districts shift between in-person, online, and hybrid learning | PennLive letters

Penn Live By Robert Griffiths Updated Dec 08, 2020; Posted Dec 08, 2020

In the 24 hours preceding the writing of this letter, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reports there were 6,339 positive cases and 95 deaths from COVID. Statewide records have been set over the last two weeks. Without doubt, these alarming numbers represent a serious health crisis that is not only impacting our lives, but also our children and their schooling. With more students and staff testing positive and getting sick, school administrators and school boards are forced to choose between online, in-person, or a blend of both. These are difficult decisions forced upon both school superintendents and school boards. These critical decisions forced upon our school leaders places them in the uncomfortable position of making life and death health policy decisions. The core mission of school leaders is to set educational policies not life and death health policies.

https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2020/12/school-districts-shift-between-in-person-online-and-hybrid-learning-pennlive-letters.html

 

“Black and Hispanic students are more likely than white students to be learning remotely, and they are twice as likely as white students to have received no live contact with teachers over the previous week, it found.”

A New Report Confirms Our Fears About Remote Learning's Impact on Students

TIME BY KATIE REILLY  DECEMBER 8, 2020 10:00 AM EST

Students in the U.S. are likely to have suffered up to nine months of learning loss in math, on average, by the end of the academic year because of disruptions caused by the pandemic, and students of color could be as many as 12 months behind, according to a report published Tuesday — the latest analysis of the toll this unprecedented school year has taken on children.

The study released by McKinsey & Company comes as school districts struggle to find a way to educate students while coronavirus cases surge around the country. And as experts have warned all along, it shows that the pandemic has widened existing racial and socioeconomic disparities in education. “While all students are suffering, those who came into the pandemic with the fewest academic opportunities are on track to exit with the greatest learning loss,” said the report, which was released nine months after U.S. schools initially shut down to slow the spread of the virus.

https://time.com/5918769/coronavirus-schools-learning-loss/

 

“The other goal of his 100-day plan, Biden said, is to enable “the majority of our schools” to reopen within that time and to remain open. He called on Congress to devote the funding needed to make it safe for students and teachers to return to classrooms.”

Biden lays out plan to combat covid in first 100 days, including requiring masks on interstate buses, trains

Washington Post By Amy Goldstein Dec. 8, 2020 at 3:57 p.m. EST

President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday laid out a three-point plan to begin defeating the coronavirus pandemic during his first 100 days in office, saying he will sign an executive order the day he is sworn in to require Americans to wear masks on buses and trains crossing state lines, as well as in federal buildings. Biden also pledged to distribute “at least 100 million covid vaccine shots” during that time, singling out educators, who he said should get shots “as soon as possible” after they are given first to health workers and people who live and work in long-term-care facilities under current plans. He did not specify whether he meant 100 million doses or vaccinating that many people; the two vaccines nearing approval both require two doses.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/biden-covid-100-days-plan/2020/12/08/16e0a47e-3965-11eb-98c4-25dc9f4987e8_story.html

 

U.S. Supreme Court denies Republican appeal to block Pa. election results

JULIAN ROUTH Pittsburgh Post-Gazette jrouth@post-gazette.com DEC 8, 2020 5:27 PM

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an emergency appeal by Pennsylvania Republicans that sought to void results of the Nov. 3 election in the battleground state, including Democrat Joe Biden’s win in the presidential race. The nation’s highest court denied Republicans’ request for an emergency injunction, declining to issue one immediately to stop or reverse the certification of election results. The court also did not voluntarily take up the issue of the constitutionality of the state Legislature’s expansion to absentee voting last year — a law the GOP asked the court to strike down. “The application for injunctive relief presented to Justice [Samuel] Alito and by him referred to the Court is denied,” the Supreme Court’s one-line order read.

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-nation/2020/12/08/Pa-officials-kathy-boockvar-tom-wolf-ask-U-S-Supreme-Court-deny-Mike-Kelly-s-election-lawsuit/stories/202012080116

 

Republican Sen. Pat Toomey calls Trump’s campaign to overturn Pennsylvania election ‘completely unacceptable’

Inquirer by Jonathan Tamari, December 8, 2020

Sen. Pat Toomey said Tuesday that it’s “completely unacceptable” for President Donald Trump to pressure state lawmakers to overturn Pennsylvania’s election result, a rare rebuke from a Republican elected official as Trump continues his effort to subvert the will of the voters. “It’s completely unacceptable and it’s not going to work and the president should give up trying to get legislatures to overturn the results of the elections in their respective states,” Toomey, Pennsylvania’s most prominent elected Republican, said in a phone interview. His comments came a day after it emerged that Trump called the Republican state House Speaker to seek help in undoing the outcome. Toomey, one of fewer than 30 congressional Republicans to openly acknowledge the election results, said he spoke with President-elect Joe Biden by phone late last week, congratulated him on his victory, and discussed some of the few areas where they might be able to cooperate, such as on international trade. “We had a very pleasant conversation,” Toomey said.

https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/pat-toomey-pennsylvania-election-results-trump-20201208.html

 

Trump thought courts were key to winning. Judges in Pa. and across America disagreed.

Penn Live By The Associated Press Updated 11:49 AM; Today 11:49 AM

Story By Colleen Long and Ed White, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and his allies say their lawsuits aimed at subverting the 2020 election and reversing his loss to Joe Biden would be substantiated, if only judges were allowed to hear the cases. There is a central flaw in the argument. Judges have heard the cases and have been among the harshest critics of the legal arguments put forth by Trump’s legal team, often dismissing them with scathing language of repudiation. This has been true whether the judge has been appointed by a Democrat or a Republican, including those named by Trump himself. The judicial rulings that have rejected Trump’s unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud have underscored not only the futility of the lame-duck president’s brazen attempt to sabotage the people’s will but also the role of the courts in checking his unprecedented efforts to stay in power.

https://www.pennlive.com/elections/2020/12/trump-thought-courts-were-key-to-winning-judges-in-pa-and-across-america-disagreed.html

 

Pa. Republicans, we are better than this | Opinion

Murray Dickman, For The Inquirer Posted: December 8, 2020 - 10:37 AM

What has become of my party? After a career spent in Pennsylvania and national politics as a Republican, I’m disappointed to see some Republicans’ behavior in the aftermath of the election. Pennsylvania Republicans used to be — and ought to be — better than this. From 1979-1988, I served as the top political aide and Secretary of Administration for Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh and served on the GOP State Committee leadership. When President Reagan asked him to serve as Attorney General and President George H.W. Bush asked him to remain, I served as his principal aide. I was honored to work in an administration that cared so deeply about advancing the conservative agenda, including the selection of federal judges. And like many Pennsylvanians, I felt pride for my state’s role in the American story. Our state was founded on the principles of tolerance for all. It’s no accident that our first city was named for brotherly love. It was here that American unity was born, in the mind of Benjamin Franklin, who admonished the other colonies: Join or Die. It was here that Lincoln spoke of government “of the people, by the people, for the people.” Yet some Pennsylvania Republicans have tried to undo this election. Rep. Mike Kelly introduced a lawsuit that attempted to throw out millions of mail-in ballots and have the certification of the election delayed. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court quickly rejected the lawsuit. Lawsuits brought by the Trump campaign have similarly been tossed by federal judges appointed by Republican presidents, including Trump, for complete lack of evidence. Yet some of the Republicans in the General Assembly are picking up where the lawsuits left off. Sixty-four Republican representatives released a statement demanding the U.S. Congress block Pennsylvania’s electors from voting for Biden at the Electoral College

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/pennsylvania-election-fraud-trump-republicans-lawsuit-20201208.html

 

 

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

 

334 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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