Category: Government Actions

Rollins to lead USDA, Including School Nutrition Programs (November 30, 2024)

President-elect Donald Trump has named Brooke Rollins to be secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), where she would oversee the programs that reimburse schools providing school meals for low-income children.

Rollins, a Texas native, is president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), a conservative think tank launched in 2021. She also served as acting director of the White House’s Domestic Policy Council at the end of Trump’s first term.

Although Trump has yet to reveal his position on school nutrition or universal meal policies, he did roll back Obama-era nutrition standards on grains, milk and sodium content during his first term in office. Meanwhile, Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation policy blueprint developed by former Trump administration officials, has called for Congress to eliminate universal school meal programs like the Community Eligibility Provision.

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PA Health Sec. Touts Importance of Gun Safety (November 28, 2024)

According to Secretary of Health Dr. Debra Bogen, “Firearm injuries are now the leading cause of death for American children, including here in Pennsylvania. Many of these deaths are preventable by implementing consistent, safe storage, especially in homes with children.” She went on to say that Pennsylvania has made significant investments in public health and public safety initiatives across the state in recent years to address this issue, and has seen some positive developments. In addition to homicides decreasing by 16 percent across Pennsylvania in 2023—compared to 12 percent nationally— 29 out of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties saw declines in homicides. Philadelphia’s homicides also decreased 23 percent in 2023 compared to the prior year and are down 40 percent so far in 2024.However, while progress has been made, too many Pennsylvanians are still impacted by gun violence. In fact, firearm-related injuries remain the leading cause of death for children and adolescents, exceeding motor vehicle crashes. In addition, rates of firearm suicide among youth have also increased over the past decade, tripling among Black youth and doubling among Hispanic/Latino youth.

Pennsylvania’s gun death rate for youth is on par with the national average, and its firearm fatality rate overall is significantly higher than surrounding states. That’s why, on September 9, 2024, Governor Shapiro signed Executive Order 2024-02, re-establishing the Pennsylvania Office of Gun Violence Prevention within PCCD.

This year, DOH partnered with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to distribute free gun locks to residents across PA. More than one thousand gun locks have been given out at community events and state health centers. Residents interested in obtaining a free gun lock can contact their local state health center. Each free gun lock includes information regarding suicide prevention and firearm safety, acting as an important safeguard to help prevent gun-related suicides and unintentional firearm injuries.

PDE Improves Licensing Processes to Help Put Teachers in Classrooms, Makes Intern Certificates for Future Teachers Available At No Cost (November 28, 2024)

In efforts to speed up government and cut through red tape, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has announced that aspiring educators can now receive an Intern Certificate for free, enabling them to enter the classroom and teach for up to three years while taking education classes on the path to earning their full teaching certification. The free Intern Certificate opens up an alternative path into teaching careers for Pennsylvanians who have already earned a bachelor’s degree in another field and want to take their knowledge and skills to help educate future generations and puts more teachers into Pennsylvania classrooms, faster.

Individuals with an Intern Certificate have passed the content test demonstrating that they have the knowledge to teach in a content area and must only complete their professional core education work and student teaching before becoming fully certified. Interns have three-year certificates, giving them the chance to complete their student teaching while working and getting paid as a teacher of record. In addition, By waiving the fee for the Intern Certificate, PDE hopes to incentivize more individuals to pursue this option and encourage more schools to hire interns to address their immediate staffing needs.

Intern Certificates are an alternative to Emergency Permits, and PDE has worked with educator preparation programs to expand their teacher intern programs and reduce the number of individuals entering the classroom via Emergency Permit.  Intern Certificates are an example of PDE’s efforts to recruit and retain teachers in PA, as it works collaboratively with leaders in the education field to ensure there is a robust pipeline of educators in place to provide a high-quality education to learners of all ages across the Commonwealth. Other efforts include: reducing teacher certification processing times by more than ten weeks, creating a new Career and Technical Education (CTE) program in Education for high school students, awarding $1.5 million in grant funding to colleges and universities to bolster the Commonwealth’s next generation of special educators, eliminating the Basic Skills Assessment to become an educator, creating and expanding the Student Teacher Support Program to provide a stipend to student teachers, and allowing individuals authorized to work in the United States to earn certification and serve as educators in PA.

Linda McMahon Named to Head the USDE (November 20, 2024)

On November 19th, President-elect Donald Trump named Linda McMahon, who served as administrator of the Small Business Association for two years in his first administration, as his nominee for U.S. Secretary of Education. McMahon is also a former president and CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), a company that develops and produces scripted wrestling events. In addition, she currently serves as co-chair of the Trump-Vance transition team.

According to Trump, “Linda will use her decades of Leadership experience, and deep understanding of both Education and Business, to empower the next Generation of American Students and Workers, and make America Number One in Education in the World.” He also praised McMahon for her advocacy for state-level universal school choice policies: “As Secretary of Education, Linda will fight tirelessly to expand ‘Choice’ to every State in America, and empower parents to make the best Education decisions for their families.”

Trump’s post also referred to his campaign promise to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education. “We will send Education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort,” his post said.

McMahon has served on the Connecticut State Board of Education and also as a trustee at Sacred Heart University, a private Catholic school in Fairfield, Connecticut.

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PA State Board of Ed. Meeting Looks at Sp. Ed. Teacher Shortage and New Benchmark Tool (November 14, 2024)

On November 13 and 14, 2024, the PA State Board of Education held its bimonthly meetings. On Wednesday, November 13th, PDE’s Raymond Fields presented an update on the Implementation of Pennsylvania’s Educator Workforce Strategy, which included a report on special ed. teacher shortages. To view the slides for that report click here.

On Thursday, November 14th, Deputy Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Ed. Dr. Carrie Rowe reported on PA Firefly, a free tool to schools that is being piloted this year by volunteering LEAs and is designed to provide a snapshot of student progress in specific subjects in light of established benchmarks. It is not required that school districts use the tool, but it will be made available to them free of charge. Her report was followed up by a report from PDE’s Dr. Brian Campbell on results from an examination of Future Ready Index data that showed rate increases with regard to graduation, career readiness, attendance, English Language Learning growth, science scores, and math scores. He also touted the advantages of online proficiency testing, which included inclusivity, accommodation, privacy, expedited reporting, and answer misalignment.

Dr Lee Williams reported on behalf of the Academic Standards/Chapter 4 Committee that the most recent Chapter 4 revisions are slated for consideration by the IRRC on December 5, 2024 and are subsequently scheduled to take effect in early 2025. The next Chapter 4 standards review will focus on health, safety, and phys.ed. as well as the arts and humanities.

The lone action item on the agenda was to approve the renewal of Cognia’s authority to act as a private academic schools accrediting organization.