The Senate concurred in amendments made by the House of Representatives to omnibus School Code provisions under House Bill 178. The bill has been sent to the governor for his consideration. The bill includes provisions for the distribution of state subsidies as provided for under the budget. In addition, House Bill 178 includes language regarding:

• Postponing the use of Keystone Exams as a graduation requirement for one additional year until 2019-20.
• Continued review of Pennsylvania’s ESSA Consilidated State Plan Mandated school director training programs
• PlanCon moratorium extension
• Superintendent contract renewals
• Economic furloughs/reinstatement of employees
• Prohibition of school lunch shaming
• Teacher preparation test scores/application for certification
• School security drills
• Classroom instruction for the prevention of opioid abuse
• Multiple charter organizations
• $10 million boost for EITC/OSTC

The PA Senate has formally rejected a conservative budget plan passed by the House. This, in essence, restarts the negotiation process. Republicans in the House and Senate must now attempt to work with Governor Wolf, who wants the budget passed by the first of October.

On Monday, September 18, Governor Wolf signed off on the commonwealth’s compliance plan for complying with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. The plan – which was formulated after 18 months of meetings with educators, parents, and other stakeholders across the state – was submitted to U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for her approval. Now state officials must wait for USDE’s response to the plan. Initially, USDE will conduct a compliance and completeness check, followed by a peer review, an informal phone discussion; and then a formal letter will be sent laying out the federal department’s recommended revisions to the plan. All of this is expected to happen within the next 120 days. The plan establishes what PDE has described as “ambitious yet attainable” goals. Those goals include raising student performance, increasing graduation rates, having English learners move toward achieving English language proficiency, shortening state exams for third through eighth graders, establishes a new school report card that expands the indicators used to measure performance and places less emphasis on state test scores.

At its September meeting, the State Board of Education reported that PA will be filing its ESSA plan with USDE on September 18. The plan is the culmination of two years of work. USDE will review the plan and PDE will then have a 15-day window to make any necessary revisions. Subsequently, USDE will provide a written determination within 120 days. Highlights of the plan include academic proficiency goals. One goal aims to cut in half the percentage of non-proficient students on PSSA and Keystone exams by 2030. Another goal is to cut in half the number of students who fail to graduate, with cohorts being both four and five years. The plan also includes a reduction in time required for standardized testing. Beginning in Spring 2018, testing time will be reduced by up to 20% across all affected grades. In Spring 2019, testing windows will be condensed from three weeks to two weeks to minimize disruption to the instructional program. Testing will also be moved to later in the school year.