Source: http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.blogspot.com/2019/04/pa-ed-policy-roundup-april-12-12-pa.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 06:35:58+00:00

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“It’s also time to stop kicking the can down the road on charter funding reform. Pennsylvania’s charter law needs an overhaul, including setting the bar higher for charter operators. It’s not about district schools versus charter schools. It’s about high-quality schools, period. The Commonwealth’s charter funding model needs to reflect that. One example is the chronic underperformance of cyber charter schools, which are costly to taxpayers and fail to deliver for students. Thirteen of the Commonwealth’s 14 cyber charter schools are on the list of the lowest performing schools in Pennsylvania. School district-operated cyber charters perform better and operate at a fraction of the cost.
There is a lot of talk in Harrisburg, from Republicans and Democrats, about growing Pennsylvania’s economy. They agree on some approaches such as infrastructure investment and workforce development, and diverge on others such as college affordability and higher wages. The end game is largely the same -- bringing jobs and investments to the Commonwealth and building wealth for Pennsylvania citizens. Whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, one thing is clear: For Pennsylvania to prosper, its largest cities must thrive. As school superintendents from the Commonwealth’s largest urban areas, our 12 school districts are responsible for educating one in every seven children in Pennsylvania’s public schools. That means one of every seven future workers, business owners and entrepreneurs who graduate from Pennsylvania’s public schools is in one of our classrooms today. The success of Pennsylvania’s pro-growth strategy - and its future - will be determined by the quality of education we provide, and the quality of education that Harrisburg is willing to invest in.
· “The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the Commonwealth.” Pa. Const. art. 3, § 14.
· “No money raised for the support of the public schools of the Commonwealth shall be appropriated to or used for the support of any sectarian school.” Pa. Const. art. 3, § 15.
· “[T]he General Assembly shall not pass any local or special law: 1. Regulating the affairs of counties, cities, townships, wards, boroughs or school districts.” Pa. Const. art. 3, § 32.
Blogger Commentary: The legislature did a great job developing a basic education funding formula a couple years back. However, the formula only applies to new appropriations. It may take 20 years for students in our high poverty districts to receive the funding they need as prescribed in the legislature’s own formula. Instead of helping to fund the formula, the state’s EITC and OSTC programs currently divert up to $210 million in tax dollars annually to private and religious schools, including prestigious Main Line private schools. There are virtually no fiscal or student performance accountability reporting requirements under the EITC and OSTC programs, which are run by the PA Department of Community and Economic Development.
The Rev. Charles J. Chaput is archbishop of Philadelphia.
The lack of a quality education is a chronic problem for persons in poverty, severely limiting their future. Once stuck in poverty, it’s very hard for anyone to escape due to the lack of skills needed to secure and hold employment. This makes education a vital issue for Pennsylvania politics, including our metropolitan region. While Philadelphia has some of the best performing schools in the Commonwealth, unfortunately, we also have some of the most troubled. Despite the efforts of many excellent teachers and administrators, many Philadelphia District public schools are on the Commonwealth’s list of most challenged learning environments. The children who attend these schools are overwhelmingly poor and from minority backgrounds. Their chances of finding a way out of poverty as they mature are slim. Catholic social teaching is built on a commitment to the poor. Few things are more important to people in poverty than ensuring their children’s education as a path to a better life. If the future of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania depends on an educated, productive public – and it obviously does – then providing every means to ensure a good education system becomes a matter of justice. Prudent lawmakers from both major parties have understood this for years. They need to feel our support in the voting booth and throughout their public service. The point is this: Proper funding for public schools is clearly important. But experience has already shown that this can’t be the only strategy because it doesn’t work for many of the students who most urgently need a good education. It’s therefore vital that our elected officials serve the education needs of the poor by also supporting school choice.
A tax-break program that routes millions to Pennsylvania private schools could grow much larger if a new bill becomes law. The proposal has powerful support in the State Senate, but Governor Tom Wolf’s spokesman calls it an “unfunded mandate.” At issue is one of the state’s signature school choice programs, one that already provides nearly 50,000 students with scholarships to attend private schools. Through the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program and the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) program, Pennsylvania offers a maximum of $210 million in tax credits.
In 2016-17, taxpayers in Senate Majority Leader .@JakeCorman’s school districts in Blair, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Huntingdon, Juniata, Mifflin & Perry Counties had to send over $6.3 million to chronically underperforming cybers that they never authorized. #SB34 (Schwank) or #HB526 (Sonney) could change that.
When Dodd Elementary in south Allentown opened its doors in 1956, it was considered one of the district’s most modern schools because it was handicap accessible and included an elevator. But more than 60 years later, little has changed. A number of classrooms, some that haven’t seen a coat of fresh paint in more than 30 years, remain the industrial blue or green familiar to many baby boomers. Superintendent Thomas Parker said the building has a “number of needs.” Second grader Ashley Cabral-Taveras learns in a classroom that needs its windows and paint upgraded. As she sat on the floor of a classroom with flaking paint on Thursday afternoon with her classmates, she had a question for Gov. Tom Wolf as he toured her school building. “When can you start fixing our school?” Ashley, 7, asked the governor. Wolf told Ashley he’s working on it by seeking statewide support for his Restore Pennsylvania initiative, a four-year $4.5 billion infrastructure plan that would be funded by projected future tax revenues on natural gas companies and would fix schools like Dodd. Wolf toured Dodd on Thursday afternoon to outline his plan.
Pennsylvania, no stranger to dire demographic news, received more of it Wednesday in a forecast about future college-going rates in this state and nationally that could be summarized in two words: Buckle Up. That said, an impending drop approaching 15 percent over five years starting in 2026 will be felt differently by different types of institutions, said Nathan Grawe, a labor economist and expert on demographic trends. He told a legislative hearing in Harrisburg that a birth rate decline following the Great Recession of 2008 will begin to affect campuses that year, exacerbating other population trends that already are a drag on enrollment in the Northeast and Midwest. Mr. Grawe specializes in effects that population trends including migration have on colleges. His 2018 book, “Demographics and the Demand for Higher Education,” may well keep some admissions directors up at night.
For the first time in more than a decade, voters in the state House district encompassing the city of Butler will see candidates from both major parties on their ballots this May. That's because — as with many political opportunities across Pennsylvania that were once considered out of reach for anyone but a Republican — Democrats are throwing their hats in the ring. As a result, the special election May 21 for the 11th state House District will pit a longtime Republican committeewoman, Marci Mustello, against a pro-union, pro-gun Democrat, Sam Doctor, in a race to replace Republican Brian Ellis, who resigned the seat in March following accusations of sexual assault.
Last year nearly 2,000 students never earned a single credit across Indiana’s six virtual charter schools, according to new data — even though most of them were enrolled nearly all year and the schools received funding to educate them. That works out to almost $10 million in state funding paid to the online schools for students who didn’t complete any work or got failing grades in their classes. The majority of those students attended Indiana Virtual School and Indiana Virtual Pathways Academy, two schools at risk of losing their charters amid allegations raised in February by their authorizer that they enrolled thousands of students who did not complete or sign up for courses, among other issues with test administration and serving students with disabilities. But the course completion data, self-reported by schools and provided to Chalkbeat by the state education department, shows that other Indiana virtual charter schools also enroll hundreds of students who never earn credits. With online schools, it’s easy for students to sign up and fall through the cracks, possibly losing semesters of their education or not graduating.
“It is alarming that this many students are literally earning zero credits,” said Brandon Brown, CEO of The Mind Trust, a nonprofit that advocates for charter schools but has been critical of virtual schools. “It raises very serious questions, in particular around how these schools are being held accountable.
Such suits can make a difference, said Michael Rebell, co-founder of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity. In 2006, this nonprofit organization won the landmark CFE v. New York lawsuit, resulting in a state commitment to spend billions more on education statewide. The state has not fully fulfilled its CFE commitment and Rebell has returned to court with another lawsuit. "We are trying to keep the pressure on," he said. Though litigation can be a long road, it can lead to lasting change. Rebell points to the Abbott v. Burke lawsuit filed in 1981, on behalf of children in 28 poorer school districts in New Jersey. It charged that the state's school funding law was unconstitutional because it caused major disparities between poor and wealthy districts. As a result of the suit, New Jersey's high-needs districts, on average, get more resources per capita than its wealthy districts. "I can't think of any other state in the country where that is true," Rebell said.

References: art. 3
 § 14
 art. 3
 § 15
 art. 3
 § 32
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