Category: Government Actions

State Board Discusses Draft Master Plan for Basic Education (September 14, 2018)

At its September 12, 2018 meeting, the PA State Board of Education presented its Draft Master Plan for Basic Education. Some highlights of the plan included the following:

  • The Board supports the exploration and trial of contemporary and innovative instructional practices that meet local needs and direction.
  • The Board applauds recent changes in testing time, but encourages continued consideration of further testing time reductions consistent with federal guidelines.
  • The Board believes that, for some students, the National Occupational Competency Testing Institute (NOCTI) and National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS) examinations provide suitable assessment alternatives for the high school graduation requirement.
  • The Board encourages periodic review of charter and cyber charter school laws and regulations to ensure these continue to meet the needs of all students.
  • The Board encourages regional approaches and voluntary sharing of resources and model curriculum.
  • The Board encourages a periodic review of the costing out study and an analysis of the suitability of the revised funding formula for possible update as economic conditions and demographic factors change.
  • The Board encourages PDE to review its staffing levels to ensure it has the capacity to support the needs of the educational community throughout the Commonwealth.
  • The Board will monitor the declining teacher supply problem, which is especially problematic in certain regions and subject areas, and make timely recommendations to the legislature and PDE.
  • The Board encourages PDE to monitor unequal investments in technology and infrastructure that could widen the college/career readiness gap for some technology and infrastructure that could widen the college/career readiness gap for some students.

The plan can be viewed in its entirety at https://www.stateboard.education.pa.gov/Documents/Research%20Reports%20and%20Studies/Master%20Plan%20for%20Basic%20Education.pdf

PA School Safety Task Force Report Includes Need for More Pupil Services Personnel (August 29, 2018)

On Monday, August 27th, the PA School Safety Task Force released its report at a press conference in Harrisburg. The report is the culmination of information gathering at six regional listening sessions held since March of this year. Governor Tom Wolf and PA Auditor General Eugene DePasquale co-chaired the task force. On Monday, DePasquale stressed the need for more mental health support for students in schools, physical improvements in buildings (e.g., security cameras, door locks for classrooms, and metal detectors), trained armed professionals in schools (not to include teachers), and better means for information sharing between schools and local and state agencies such as law enforcement and social services.

The report also stressed the importance of adequate staffing in the area of pupil services. For example, the report stated that, as of the 2016-17 school year, the average student to school nurse ratio in PA schools was 809:1, the average student to counselor ratio was 387:1, and the average student to school psychologist ratio was 1,164:1. The National Association of School Nurses recommends a student to nurse ratio of 750:1, the American School Counselor Association recommends a student to counselor ratio of 250:1, and the National Association of School Psychologists recommends a ratio of 1,000:1.

The report can be viewed in its entirety at https://www.governor.pa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/20180827-Gov-Office-School-Safety-Report-2018.pdf or on the PAPSA website by going to the heading “Resources” and its drop-down “Downloads”.

PDE Sends Notification of Amendments to Compulsory Attendance and Truancy Laws Through Act 39 of 2018 (August 26, 2018)

On August 24, 2018 Patricia Hollinger, PDE’s Administrative/Fiscal Officer for the Office for Safe Schools, released a memo via PennLink from Matthew Stem, Deputy Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education, titled Amendments to compulsory attendance and truancy laws through Act 39 of 2018.

The memo informs school entities that Act 39 of 2018 (Act 39), which was signed into law on June 22, 2018, includes multiple amendments to the Pennsylvania Public School Code (School Code) and several of those amendments are related to compulsory attendance and truancy laws.  The definition of “educational entity” in Section 1326 of the School Code was also amended.  

Importantly, because of the changes made to the compulsory attendance and truancy laws through Act 39, each charter school, including each regional charter school and cyber charter school, is solely responsible for enforcing the compulsory attendance laws in accordance with the School Code as they relate to students enrolled in the charter school. Charter school responsibilities include ensuring that students and parents/guardians comply with compulsory attendance laws, ensuring that truancy prevention and elimination efforts are implemented, and taking appropriate action when a student enrolled in the charter school is habitually truant. Additionally, a charter school must develop an attendance policy.

The memo can be read in its entirety by visiting the PAPSA website at https://papsa-web.org/wp-content/uploads/Amendments-to-compulsory-attendance-and-truancy-laws-through-Act-39-of-2018.pdf

USDE Postpones State Compliance with Significant Disproportionality Regulations (August 22, 2018)

On August 15, 2018, Ann Hinkson-Herrmann, PDE’s Director of the Bureau of Special Education released a memo titled Postponement of Significant Disproportionality Regulations via PennLink informing recipients of the postponement of the December 2016 amended regulations to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) pertaining to significant disproportionality.  A copy of the memo can be viewed on the PAPSA website in the “Resources” section under “Downloads.” The final rule implementing this change can be found in the July 3, 2018 Federal Register notice.

Hinkson-Hermann explains that the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) has postponed by two (2) years the date for states to comply with the Equity in IDEA, or significant disproportionality regulations, from July 1, 2018, to July 1, 2020.  The USDE also postponed the date for including children ages three (3) through five (5) in the analysis of significant disproportionality, with respect to the identification of children as children with disabilities and as children with an impairment, from July 1, 2020, to July 1, 2022. The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), Bureau of Special Education (BSE) will be accepting the delay and will continue to provide support to the local educational agencies. Hinkson-Hermann goes on to say that delaying the implementation date does not disregard this important work and that PDE views the two-year delay as an opportunity for our statewide system of support, schools, and community stakeholders to study and work together to address the broad concerns surrounding the issue of, and the root cause of significant disproportionality.  In fact, during the 2018-19 school year, PDE/BSE will offer training and technical assistance for equitable practices in the areas of identification, least restrictive environment, and disciplinary removals for students with disabilities.  Please refer to the monthly calendar located on the PaTTAN website for training dates. Questions regarding this information should be posed to John Gombocz at [email protected] or 717-772-3745.

Homeland Security to Award $1.8 Million in Grants (August 18, 2018)

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security plans to award $1.8 million in grants for the development of “School-Age Trauma Training” programs. These programs are designed to teach students how to respond to traumatic hemorrhaging during mass casualty events.

Reportedly, the focus of the program is to control bleeding in an injured person in order to increase their chances of survival. The training is aimed at preparing bystanders to effectively react to traumatic events, including school shootings, while they await the arrival of first responders. However, the program has stirred controversy with those who support tighter gun restrictions in the wake of school shootings, including some parents who’ve lost children in such attacks and have expressed their displeasure with legislators who do not look at controlling the use of guns and instead appropriate funds for teaching schoolchildren how to stop bleeding for someone who is shot while in school.