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 Feb. 17, 2021
Pennsylvania needs
charter school reform [opinion]
Congratulations to #359 Wattsburg Area School District
for passing the charter funding reform resolution. Thank you @HeatherBScott, Representative Curt Sonney, @senatorlaughlin and Senator Michele Brooks. https://t.co/7FIA9NQ95i
Pennsylvania needs
charter school reform [opinion]
Lancaster
Online Opinion by DAMARIS RAU and EDITH GALLAGHER | Special to LNP |
Lancasteronline February 17, 2021
We
appreciate LNP | LancasterOnline’s recent editorial (“Children first,” Feb. 5) calling on state lawmakers to “fairly,
equitably and adequately fund education.” We have been advocating for this for
many years. And, like the Editorial Board, we recognize the political
challenges of finding sustainable revenue sources to meet this need. One-time
boosts will not help the School District of Lancaster deal with its structural
deficit. That’s why we are writing today in support of a secondary element in
Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposal, but one that can have a significant long-term impact
— charter school reform. First, we want to reiterate what we have long said: We
are not opposed to school choice. Our school district has a long partnership
with a charter school in our community, La Academia, and we have considered
others. We believe every child deserves an excellent education. However,
Pennsylvania’s 25-year-old charter school law is failing children, parents and
taxpayers. Charter schools are public schools, funded by local school
districts, and the costs of these schools are skyrocketing. It is draining
funding from traditional schools at a time when we can least afford it. Our
district is facing a deficit of about $13 million for the 2021-2022 school
year, and we project this deficit to continue to grow in the coming years. Our
charter school payments are up $2.5 million this year alone, driven by a 65%
increase in students attending cybercharter schools.
Scranton school
directors plan to strengthen fight for fair funding from state
Times
Tribune BY
SARAH HOFIUS HALL STAFF WRITER Feb 16, 2021 Updated 1 hr ago
When it
comes to fair education funding, it’s time to fight. With the Scranton School District
facing a funding inequity of more than $3,200 per student and the issue now in
the spotlight thanks to the governor’s budget proposal, school directors said
they will increase advocacy efforts and community involvement. “Each one of us
can have a voice, but it’s more powerful when we can come across as a united
force,” board Vice President Catherine Fox said during a virtual funding
workshop Tuesday night. Volunteers from the Pennsylvanians for Fair Funding
coalition outlined why many advocates call the state’s funding system the worst
in the country. Those issues include using district demographics from 1992 to
distribute nearly 90% of state funding, and the over reliance on local property
taxes, which leads to large disparities in funding in high-wealth and
low-wealth districts. Pennsylvania created a fair funding formula six years ago
to distribute money in a way that reflects a district’s needs, factoring in
student enrollment, the needs of the student population and district wealth and
capacity to raise local revenues. But that formula only applies to new
investments the state makes in basic education funding. In his 2021-22 budget
proposal this month, Gov. Tom Wolf proposed putting all funding through the
formula. Since that would cause more than half of the state’s 500 districts to
receive a lower allotment, Wolf seeks another $1.15 billion so no school
receives less next year. The proposal is funded through an increase in the
personal income tax rate.
Fair funding would
level field for NEPA schools
Yahoo News
by Sarah Hofius Hall And Kent Jackson, Standard-Speaker, Hazleton, Pa.Tue,
February 16, 2021, 1:09 AM
Feb. 16—Fair
funding in Hazleton Area School District could mean a larger career center,
smaller classes, a special education program for local students who now travel
beyond the district for instruction and a field house for indoor sports and the
prom. Scranton School District with fair funding could update its curriculum,
create a science and math academy and attract and retain a high-quality staff. In
Carbondale, the district could offer more electives, provide tutoring and
restore cuts made to art and family and consumer sciences. At Riverside,
libraries could become innovative labs and the district could find additional
ways to help students prepare for life after graduation. The way Pennsylvania
funds school districts, which Gov. Tom Wolf and public education advocates call
one of the most unfair systems in the country, makes it difficult for districts
to achieve those goals. The 2021-22 state budget proposed by the governor this
month aims to fix that. Just the proposal and the debate surrounding it
highlights and exposes the inequities in a way not done before on a statewide
level, experts say. Wolf's plan would provide an additional $159 million to
school districts in Northeast Pennsylvania by putting all funding through a
formula designed to increase equity and assist the students who need the most
help.
Funding formula is
the problem (letter)
Lancaster
Online Letter by Lauren VonStetten, School board director, Columbia Borough
School District Feb 16, 2021
Regarding
the Feb. 8 LNP | LancasterOnline article “Columbia school district calls for reform after it says it could have
saved $300,000 in cybercharter tuition”: The district did not wastefully spend that
money. In reality, the district was required to pay an extra $300,000 because
the state has neglected to change the 24-year-old charter school funding
formula. Cybercharter tuitions are based on a school district’s expenses. This
then creates huge discrepancies in the tuition amount paid from district to
district for the exact same charter school education. Perhaps a better headline
would have been “Columbia Borough School District, already shortchanged $5,330
per student in Basic Education Funding, calls for reform after being forced by
the state to pay an extra $300,000 in cybercharter tuitions.”
New Philly Charter
Application: Empowerment Charter School
Alliance for
Philadelphia Public Schools Opinion by Deborah Grill February 2021
There are 86
charter schools in Philadelphia. Despite their claims, few if any can be
described as” innovative”. The majority perform academically as well as or
worse than District schools despite their
ability to cherry-pick students. They boast that they provide choice for
parents or students, but in reality the choice lies in the schools’ ability,
through barriers to enrollment and lack of due process, to choose who
they admit and who they allow to stay. They service
fewer students with severe disabilities than the District but are compensated according to the
District’s average costs to educate its larger population of needier, more
expensive special-education students. District students will never get
the resources they need as long as the District is spending a large portion of
its budget on charter schools. The District cannot afford this charter
school.
https://appsphilly.net/new-charter-application-empowerment-charter-school/
Pa. legislature
bickers over budget plan
Sharon
Herald By JOHN FINNERTY CNHI State Reporter February 16, 2021
HARRISBURG —
State lawmakers kicked off budget hearings on Tuesday bickering over whether to
act upon Gov. Tom Wolf’s signature budget proposal -- a revamp of the personal
income tax that would generate about $3.5 billion by increasing taxes on those
who earn more and cutting taxes on lower-income individuals and families. Stan
Saylor, R-York County, the chairman of the House appropriations committee,
dismissed the proposal as “unrealistic.” Republicans hold majorities in both
chambers of the General Assembly and have dismissed Wolf’s plan as unworkable. Democrats
countered that the proposal is needed to provide tax relief for more working
people while also generating a needed infusion of state funding for schools.
State Rep.
Matt Bradford, D-Montgomery County, said that the current year’s budget was
balanced with one-time revenue and even if the federal government provides
another round of COVID relief, lawmakers need to come up with a plan to balance
the state budget without a federal bailout. Bradford is the Democratic chairman
of the House appropriations committee.
Pennsylvania’s
current personal income tax law provides for tax forgiveness for families of
four with income up to $34,500, but those income levels were set in 2003, said
state Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler, D-Philadelphia.
Guest Column:
Governor Tom Wolf explains his budget priorities
Delco Times By
Tom Wolf Times Guest Columnist February 17, 2021
I want to
lower taxes for working families in Pennsylvania. I know that in the days since
my budget address you’ve probably heard a whole lot from other
people about my plan – what they like, what they hate, what they wish I
had said instead. This year, because of the pandemic, I
pre-recorded my budget address. Usually I give the speech live, to the members
of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, but this year it just wasn’t the safe or
right thing to do. And when
I thought about it, I realized that recording my budget address this year gave
me an opportunity to speak directly to the people of Pennsylvania, not just to
legislators in Harrisburg. This budget address is for you, and I
hope you’ve seen it. But I also know that long-winded speeches
about budgets and legislative agendas aren’t exactly everyone’s idea of a good
time. So for those who haven’t seen my address, I want you to hear it from
me: this year, I think lawmakers in Harrisburg need to lower taxes
for businesses and working families in Pennsylvania.
York County schools
in dark about teacher vaccinations
Erin
Bamer York Dispatch February 16, 2021
Nearly a
year after the COVID-19 pandemic turned public education on its ear and about
two months after the first U.S. vaccine was administered, several York County
school districts say they're in the dark about when their staffs will get the
shots. Officials from at least seven local school districts said they
have received little or no word from state officials so far about the vaccine. Northern
York County School District Superintendent Steven Kirkpatrick said a
vaccination provider estimated educators wouldn't have access to the vaccine
until about April 1. York Suburban School District appears to be the only
district in the county that is making any progress toward securing
the vaccine. Superintendent Timothy Williams said during a board
meeting this month that he is working with a local pharmacy company to get
the vaccine distributed to staff members. Williams would not mention the
name of the company at the meeting, and he said he did not know when the
district would receive the vaccine. A York Suburban official said Tuesday that
there are no updates on the process.
Mayor says
Philadelphia teachers should not be disciplined if they don’t show up
Chalkbeat
Philly By Johann Calhoun Feb 16, 2021, 4:51pm EST
Mayor Jim
Kenney strongly suggested during a news conference Tuesday that teachers should
not be disciplined if they do not show up to work for the proposed reopening
Monday over COVID-19 safety concerns. “I don’t want to see anybody
disciplined,” Kenney said during the virtual press conference, providing
updates on the city’s handling of the virus. “I don’t want to do this in a
punitive way. We’ve all been through a lot within the last year and everybody
is scared, everybody is stressed. And you’re more likely to add to that stress
by disciplining people. I don’t think that gets us anywhere and maybe forebodes
a longer term problem with managing staff personnel.” Kenney’s comments Tuesday
appeared to conflict with Superintendent William Hite’s statement earlier this
month that “disciplinary action will be taken” against teachers who don’t
return to work in school buildings. The declaration was made after Philadelphia
Federation of Teachers President Jerry Jordan told teachers not to show up to
work on Feb. 8 over safety concerns around the vaccine and ventilation. The
details of Hite’s punishment were not made clear.
3 ways teachers can
address their students’ trauma when school is virtual | Opinion
Crystal
Peralta, For The Inquirer Posted: February 16, 2021 - 10:37 AM
Crystal
Peralta is a sixth-grade ELA teacher in her eighth year teaching at KIPP
Whittier Middle School in Camden. She attended New Jersey City University,
where she completed an undergraduate teaching degree, and has a master’s degree
from Liberty University.
In
classrooms across the U.S. — virtual or in-person — teachers are faced with an
enormous challenge: foster the academic learning process while also addressing
the social-emotional needs of students during a highly traumatic period in
history. With the continued pandemic and racial tensions, students are
experiencing higher levels of stress than in previous years, and their
emotional well-being undoubtedly influences their ability to focus and engage
in their learning. As a longtime educator, I have realized that effective
teaching relies on my knowledge of how to address the many forms of trauma my
students experience outside of the classroom as much as within the school. In
Camden, where I have the privilege of teaching, nearly 37% of residents live below the poverty
level, and the pandemic has exacerbated the area’s food insecurity, leaving
more than 60,000
local residents without a stable source for nourishment
— more than 17,200 of those being children. How are students supposed to focus
on learning when their stomachs are grumbling for a meal?
https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/trauma-education-teachers-students-camden-20210216.html
How public schools
fail to recognize Black prodigies | Opinion
By Donna
Ford Capital-Star
Op-Ed Contributor February 17, 2021
Donna Ford
is a special education professor at Ohio State University. She wrote this piece
for The Conversation, where it first appeared.
Amid numerous
articles about how Black students lag
behind others in educational achievement,
occasionally you may hear about a young Black “prodigy” who got
accepted into college at an early age. According to Donna Y. Ford, an education
professor at Ohio State University, there could be far more Black prodigies.
But it would take the right support from families, who may not be familiar with
some of the characteristics of gifted students and the existence of gifted
programs, and educators, who often overlook the talents of Black students.
Indeed, while Black students represent 15.5 percent of the student population in the U.S.,
they represent only 9.9 percent of all students in gifted
and talented programs. In the following interview with education editor Jamaal
Abdul-Alim, Ford – who has been a consultant for Black families thinking about
sending their gifted children to college early – argues that public schools are
holding back Black talent rather than cultivating it. The interview has been
edited for clarity and brevity.
Superintendent:
Greater Latrobe no longer bound by strict school closure benchmarks
Trib Live by
JEFF
HIMLER | Tuesday, February
16, 2021 11:51 p.m.
Greater
Latrobe School District officials say they’ll have greater flexibility in
assessing the need for covid-related school closures now that Westmoreland
County has completed two consecutive weeks in the moderate level for community
transmission of the coronavirus. According to Superintendent Georgia Teppert,
the county’s return to a moderate transmission level after many weeks at
substantial levels means the district no longer is bound by a state-determined
minimum number of covid cases requiring closure of schools that offer some
level of in-person instruction.
Pennsylvania
Interscholastic Esports Association opens registration for 2021 season
Trib Live by
JULIA
FELTON | Tuesday, February
16, 2021 6:10 p.m.
The
Pennsylvania Interscholastic Esports Association (PIEA) announced registration
is open for its 2021 season, which will offer high school esports teams the
opportunity to compete for Pennsylvania’s first high school esports
championship. The PIEA was established in 2019 as the only
statewide interscholastic esports league. “The PIEA is the first organizational
governing body that focuses solely on esports competitions in high schools in
Pennsylvania,” said Bill Thomas, a member of PIEA’s board of directors. Thomas
said it offers regulatory structure for high school esports competitions and
serves as the only entity with a path to a state championship.
Biden reframes his
goal on reopening of elementary schools
Delco Times By
AAMER MADHANI and ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press February 17, 2021
MILWAUKEE
(AP) — President Joe Biden is promising a majority of elementary schools will
be open five days a week by the end of his first 100 days in office, restating
his goal after his administration came under fire when aides said schools would
be considered open if they held in-person learning just one day a week. Biden's
comments, during a CNN town hall in Milwaukee, marked his clearest statement
yet on school reopenings. Biden had pledged in December to
reopen “the majority of our schools” in his first 100 days but has since faced
increasing questions about how he would define and achieve that goal, with
school districts operating under a patchwork of different virtual and in-person
learning arrangements nationwide. “I said open a majority of schools in K
through eighth grade, because they’re the easiest to open, the most needed to
be open in terms of the impact on children and families having to stay
home," Biden said.
Disowning Past White
House Remarks, Biden Says He Wants Many Schools Open Five Days a Week
Education
Week By Andrew Ujifusa — February 16, 2021 3 min
read
President
Joe Biden made the case on a national stage Tuesday for schools to reopen their
doors with appropriate safeguards against the coronavirus through smaller class
sizes and proper protective equipment, and also pushed for teachers to get high
priority for receiving the vaccine. In a town hall event in Milwaukee broadcast
by CNN, Biden also repudiated comments
from White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki last week that schools holding
in-person classes one day a week would count toward the Biden administration’s
goal of having most K-8 schools open by April 30 (a goal that data indicate
might have already been met under that standard). Calling her comments “a mistake
in the communication” that did not accurately reflect his administration’s
position, Biden stressed that his goal is for those schools to open five days a
week after 100 days and said he thinks schools will get “close to that.” He
also raised the possibility that schools might operate during the summer to
help students recover from the pandemic’s effects. That’s an idea that tracks
with key
elements of congressional Democrats’ latest
COVID-19 relief bill, although the extent to which districts end up expanding
summer school or other extended learning programs will depend on several
factors.
All School Directors:
PSBA Monthly Zoom Exchange Feb 18 12:30 - 1:30 PM
Join other
PSBA-member school directors for cross-district networking and discussion on
education hot topics, legislative updates and advocacy strategies. All School
Directors: Monthly Exchange will be held via Zoom at 12:30 p.m. every third
Thursday of the month, January through June. Geographic-based breakout rooms
will be utilized to allow for discussion among school directors in the same
regions of the state. Learn more or register: http://ow.ly/rW4F50DrrCq
Join Education Voters
for "PA School Funding and Advocacy 101" for an overview of school
funding issues, an update on the school funding lawsuit and more.
Education Voters
PA February 2021
Click HERE to register for one of our webinars.
Fri, Feb 19, 12:00pm–1:00pm EST
Tue, Feb 23, 7:00pm–8:00pm EST
Questions we
will answer include:
- How are schools funded in PA?
- Who decides how much funding my local
schools get?
- What is the Basic Education Funding
Formula (fair funding formula)?
- Why does Pennsylvania have the widest
funding gap between wealthy and poor school districts of any state in the
country?
- How are charter schools funded and how
can the current system be reformed?
- How can I most effectively advocate for
the school funding students in my district and throughout Pennsylvania's
need and deserve?
We will also
provide a brief update on Pennsylvania's school funding lawsuit, which is
scheduled to go to trial this year. (Visit www.FundOurSchoolsPa.org to learn more!) And we'll have plenty
of time for Q&A. I hope that you'll join us and/or share this invitation with people in your network who are
interested in learning more and getting involved.
Virtual Town Hall on
education fair funding co- sponsored by Avon Grove Charter School and
Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools set Feb. 24
West Chester
Daily Local by MediaNews Group February 6, 2021
WEST GROVE—There
will be a virtual Town Hall Meeting on Fair Funding in Education on Wednesday,
Feb. 24 at 7 pm. The public is invited. The Town Hall is being co- sponsored by Avon Grove Charter School and Pennsylvania
Coalition of Public Charter Schools. Topics include: problem solve fair
funding solutions; learn how public schools are funded in PA.; learn
about the differences between charter & district schools funding.
All are
welcome. RSVP Link - https://forms.gle/8of8ARxr7Zfdfmp97.
PSBA Spring Virtual Advocacy Day - MAR 22, 2021
PSBA Website January 2021
All public school leaders are invited to join
us for our spring Virtual Advocacy Day on Monday, March 22, 2021, 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
spring 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: Complimentary
for members
Registration: Registration
is available under Event Registration on myPSBA.org.
https://www.psba.org/event/psba-spring-virtual-advocacy-day/
Attend the NSBA 2021
Online Experience April 8-10
NSBA is
pleased to announce the transformation of its in-person NSBA 2021 Annual
Conference & Exposition to the NSBA 2021 Online Experience. This experience
will bring world-class programming, inspirational keynotes, top education
solution providers, and plentiful networking opportunities. Join us on April
8-10, 2021, for a fully transformed and memorable event!
https://www.nsba.org/Events/NSBA-2021-Online-Experience
The 2021 PA
Educational Leadership Summit, hosted by the PA Principals
Association and the PA Association of School Administrators
(PASA), is being held from August 1-3 at the Kalahari Resorts and
Convention Center, Poconos.
PA
Principals Association Thursday, February 11, 2021 8:54 AM
PIL Hours
Available! See links below to register and for further information.
Click here for the informational flyer and details.
NPE/NPE Action
Conference In Philly was rescheduled to October 23/24 due to concerns w/
COVID19.
Network for
Public Education
NPE will be
sending information to registrants very soon!
https://npeaction.org/2021-conference/
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
358 PA school boards have
adopted charter reform resolutions
Charter school funding reform continues to be
a concern as over 350 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.
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/
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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