PARSS Newsletter

July/August 1999

ARE VOUCHERS GONE?

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER

In a hastily called press conference in the capitol in the wee hours of the morning of Thursday, June 17, 1999, Governor Tom Ridge announced what we already knew, that vouchers would not pass in this session. When asked if this was the end of his efforts, he replied, "Never, Never, Never!"

In fact, the following week, Mr. Ridge and Presidential hopeful, George W. Bush, appeared in Philadelphia, touting vouchers as a solution to school problems and vowing to take the fight even further. Mr. Bush has been unable to get Texas into the voucher column. In Florida, a voucher bill was passed, and subsequently challenged, that will affect two shool districts in the first year.

When the Pennsylvania House appeared to be lost, the House leadership did not bring up the issue for a vote. The administration claimed that it was only a few votes shy of a majority. Most onlookers, and legislators, believed that it was closer to 15 shy of the mark. PARSS wishes to thank all of the many people around Pennsylvania, who called, wrote, e-mailed, faxed and visited legislators, both House and Senate, to express their views about vouchers. At the end of the morning, when the issue was declared finished for this time, the small crowd of anti-voucher supporters shook hands and then left. Knowing that the issue is not dead, still gives this coalition the impetus to involve even more people. It was great to see unaffiliated people who were just interested in the issue coming to the capitol to visit with their legislators. PARSS would like to thank them and thank particularly: John Baugman of PSEA and his staff, Carol Karl, Mike Bortner, Dave Ferris, Steve Dunkel, Laurel McLeaish, Dave Gondak (Pres. - PSEA) and Patsy Tallarico (Pres.-elect - PSEA); Tom Gentzel and Tim Allwein of PSBA; John Fitzpatrick, Barbara Sopinka and Pat Halpin-Murphy of PFT; Bill George and Rick Bloomingdale of the AFL-CIO; Bill Epstein (Government Relations for Philadelphia); Arnold Hillman of PARSS; Fred Brown (private consultant); Bonnie McCarthy (Neiman-May); Larry Frankel of the ACLU; Randy Wenhold of the Pa. Coalition to oppose Tuition Vouchers and so many other legislators and aides.

 GET SOME HELP FROM PSPATR

Two years ago, our webmaster created one of the most comprehensive educational help sites available on the net. It is called Pennsylvania Schools - Policy Administration and Teaching Resources, PSPATR for short. It is filled with sites that spin off the following Headers:

• Education News
• School Board Resources
• Teaching Resources
• Administration Resources
• Distance Learning Resources
• State and Local Government Connections
• State and National Education Organizations
• Regional Education Laboratories
• U. S. Department of Education
• Education Facilities
• Internet Search Engines
• The 1999 Federal Government Budget
• Other Stuff like PA Weather and College Planning

Some of these sites are available on the regular PARSS website, but PSPATR has all of those plus more research based sites and classroom resources. Take a look and give us some more suggestions. We are at WWW.EZONLINE.COM/PSPATR.

 JOE SAYS

NOW IS THE TIME

It is so tempting to use this space to kvetch and complain about the shortcomings of the Ridge administration in regard to education policy, and to flog them for their failure to meet the needs of our rural and urban students that, frankly, I seldom resist.

That does not mean that I wouldn’t rather be writing positive stuff about

Pennsylvania and education. The critical stuff may be more fun to write and to read, but come on Governor, do the job for the public schools and let me bore the bejabbers out of our readers. I expect, however, that you will be far too busy for the next year looking for George Bush’s shadow to stand in, for there to be any paradigm shifts coming from your quarter.

In the spirit of the first paragraph, I would like to draw a moral lesson from the most recent fandango of the Governor’s Office with the members of the General Assembly who support vouchers, but I have no idea what it could be. Maybe something pithy like incompetence breeds incompetence, or if you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there. Any effort to get meaning from the debacle lends it a stature and dignity it doesn’t deserve.

One of the unending bleats of public education’s enemies is for accountability. Those folks put a spin on the term that makes it mean that teachers should get into the classroom and do a better job than they were doing yesterday. By God!

I’m all for accountability too, but my version would hold everyone in a chain of command responsible for results from their area of concern. Coming up short would first require efforts to improve (with support), and then, secondly, negative consequences if standards were not met.

The voters exercise accountability for elected officials, if the official chooses to run for re-election. This concept is one of the pillars of our democratic and representative form of government. But the arrogant and high handed behavior of some legislators, as experienced in the aforementioned voucher debacle, leads one to wish for something more peremptory: like a vaudeville hook, or a trap door.

The only thing underwriting those legislator’s attitudes, and their willingness to act against the best interests of their constituents, is voters not understanding, or caring enough about issues of enormous importance to them, their families and their communities.

Helping them to understand and care, and then urging them to hold their elected representatives accountable, is our job: yours and mine. Finding ways to do that job, and support it financially, is a priority for a number of us with state leadership roles. You will be hearing more, and there will be requests for broader and deeper involvement, but for now, take this as the clarion sounding (albeit a small clarion).

As has been the case for many years: we know what the problems are, and we know what the answers are. The power to make the needed changes must be developed and exercised by using the rules accepted for such work by our society. They are the very same rules used by those who oppose us. Theirs has been the greater investment of time, energy and resource. That must change.

 PROFICIENCY AND DISTINCTION

Within the next few years, students in the 500 school districts in Pennsylvania will have the opportunity to place state "gold seals" on their diplomas indicating that they have either passed the state testing program with proficiency or distinction. A number of school districts in the state believe that graduation requirements are strictly within the purview of the local school board and do not fall within the scope of the State Board of Education or the Department of Education.

These districts have said that this "State Sponsored Diploma" is in direct contravention of the expressed authority granted to the Board of School Directors of each of the school districts in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Notification of their expressed feelings, by resolution, has been sent to the Governor, Secretary of Education, State School Board and the chairs of the Senate and House Education Committees.

WHAT HAPPENDED TO SPECIAL ED FUNDING???

In the wee hours of the last day of the legislative session, special education funding, as well as a larger school code bill, made its way to the rostrum for a vote. It was not until a few days later that the complete picture was told of the close to $40 million dollars of a supplemental special education funding formula. The results of the formula have shown a peculiar distribution pattern that results in some very poor and rural districts getting a minimum 2% increase, while some exceedingly wealthy districts getting over 20% increase. This is not to say that this was always the case. It was not always easy to discern how this was accomplished. The results of the percentage increases will make their way to WWW. EZONLINE.COM/PARSS. Here are the mechanics of the formula:

• Every district to get at least a 2% increase.

• If a district expenditures for 96-97 for special education as a percent of the budget is greater than the average of the state’s and district’s aid ratio is above .54 and equalized mils are greater than 16.5.

Or

• If a district expenditures for 96-97 for special education as a percent of the budget is greater than the average of the state’s and the equalized mils are 20.6 and above.

Or

• If the district satisfies none of the above but has over 10% of its students in low income families and has an aid ratio of .54 and above.

THEN

• Each of those districts will receive an additional 20% above the regular special education payment which is; 15% of ADMS times $1,315

• Additionally a school district with an incidence rate of over 130% of the statewide average of the combined mildly and severely disabled students will get funds calculated this way; take the incidence % above 130 multiply by the district’s ADMS and then multiply that by $1,315.

If you understood that then you will know more than anyone who voted for it. It appears interesting that a .54 aid ratio was chosen, as was a 16.5 and then 20.6 equalized mil, as well as the 10% AFDC (TANF) children. Is it possible that there was some method to this formula? Using the AFR’s from one particular rural school district from 1991-92 to 99-00 budget, one can see how the current funding system has drained already resource poor school districts.

*These expenses do not include local support for transportation or other ancillary costs associates with special education, as they did prior to 1991-92. If those costs were included, local support would far exceed 50%. As it is, total special education expenses increased by 60% in those 8 years.

**Budgeted figures

NEW STANDARDS FOR ENTERING THE FIELD

Section 354. of the Department of Education regulations is presently being changed to upgrade the standards by which students get into, remain and get additional coursework in teacher education. According to these proposed regulations, "Candidates for admission to a professional educator program and for a career in Pennsylvania public schools must have a proven record of high academic achievement, and their professional educator curriculum must prepare them to master both the content and the teaching methodology of their academic disciplines." The regulations attempt to spur teacher training institutions (in this state the State Higher Education System), to "maintain the highest standards of academic excellence in order to receive and maintain Department of Education approval to conduct programs leading to Pennsylvania public school certification."

Hearings are being held in three places in the Commonwealth in July to hear concerns or comments about these new regs. PARSS will have testified at the Harrisburg venue. Some of the highlights of the standards are:

• Pennsylvania’s academic standards will be the base of each content area course.
• Minimum grade point average of 2.6 in first year and 3.0 in succeeding years to remain in the     program.
• Specific courses and liberal arts studies for all students in the program.
• Intensive cooperation with basic education institutions and cooperative teachers to plan and carry out all parts of the program.
• Ongoing support to novice teachers in collaboration with public schools.
• Candidates to teacher preparation programs shall have completed courses before entry into the program with a Grade point average of 2.6 to 3.0 (depending on the year) with a possibility of substituting the Praxis examination (Pre professional Skills Test) with standard grades.
• Admission to advanced (graduate) programs will also be regarded as more stringent.
• In advanced programs there may be 10% exceptions.

PARSS and other groups are pleased that there is an attempt at upgrading teacher training programs to bring them into line with what is happening in schools. However, will these new regulations begin to diminish the supply of teachers to rural and city areas? ETS says in its introduction to the Praxis examination that a study done by ETS cautions, "If minimum passing scores on teacher tests are raised, as many advocates of high standards have recommended, the SAT and ACT scores of the prospective teacher pool will rise dramatically, but the supply and diversity of the pool will fall equally dramatically."

Those of us in education can agree with the following assessment by Chubb and Moe in their landmark pro voucher book, Politics Markets and the American Schools. "People who surmount the nearly countless hurdles that certification places in their paths will probably emerge better equipped to teach than they were when they started. But there is no guarantee that even a reasonable percentage of these survivors will make good teachers — for the true essentials of the job cannot be formally measured through course taking and test-taking. Whether duly certified teachers turn out to be good or bad is ultimately revealed in the classroom through the informal, experience-based judgements of principals, other teachers, students and parents."

LIFE CYCLE CHANGES

Because of the early out passed by the legislature, many school superintendents and IU Directors have decided to go onto the next part of their lives. Many of these staunch supporters of a "thorough and efficient" system of education will have left at the end of June, while some have gone on to other school districts within the Commonwealth. We wish them all a healthy and wonderful "retirement" and hope that they will keep their hands in the wonderful job of educating children in our public schools. To those who have gone to other districts, PARSS extends its congrats and whatever else we can do to help.

Here are just some of those people: Dennis Afton (Somerset); Dave Smith (Northern Bedford); Gordon Snow (Crestwood); Richard Priester (North Clarion); Leo Gensante (Hollidaysburg); John Fitzpatrick (AFT); Dave Gondak (President, PSEA); Frank Marburger (Moniteau); Mike Stefanik (Chestnut Ridge); Steve Trovato (Cambria Heights); Woody Sites (Donegal); Carole Spahr (Annville-Cleona, Perkiomen Valley); Bob McGraw (Eastern York, Stroudsburg); Wayne Boyer (Athens to Northampton); Priscilla Feir (Muncy to Perkiomen Valley); Bill Starr (Lebanon); Dave Smith (Mountainview to Harbor Creek); Hervey Hann (Central Fulton to Huntington); Ben Van Horn Jr. (Mifflinburg); Pete Miller (Salisbury Elk Lick to Panther Valley); Tim Marks (Port Allegany); Maddox Stokes (Reynolds); Chuck Cagno (Valley Grove to Reynolds).

Thanks folks for all that you have done for the children of Pennsylvania.

WWW.EZONLINE.COM/PARSS

If you have not seen the newest edition of the PARSS website, please take a look. There are more resources and current information than ever before. Let us know what you think. Any suggestions that yo have will be appreciated.