STATE NEWS

 Legislative Schedule: The House is not scheduled to come back to voting session until after the elections. The Senate is not scheduled to return to any voting session unless called back by the President Pro Temp should any compromises be reached on issues such as the pension bill or a Marcellus Shale tax.

 State Revenues: Pennsylvania collected $2.3 billion in General Fund revenue in September, which was 3.1% more than anticipated. Fiscal year-to-date General Fund collections are 1.3% above estimate.

 2010-11 State Budget: Auditor General Jack Wagner warned that the next administration will be faced with a potential $5 billion budget gap as a result of the loss of $2.5 billion in federal stimulus funding, $3 billion owed in unemployment payments to the federal government and at least $800 million for pension costs.

 Education is a major issue with the two candidates for governor. Onorato has committed to major increases in K-12 basic education funding annually and the goals and direction of the costing-out-study. Corbett has said that the costing-out study is not affordable and has suggested cuts to the current level of basic education funding may be needed.

 Right-to-Know: Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court dismissed a lawsuit brought by PSEA to prevent the state’s Office of Open Records from ordering the release of school employee addresses under the Right-to-Know laws. This means that should individuals seek addresses from school districts, PSEA must challenge each disclosure request in local courts on a case-by-case basis.

 AYP Results: Eighty-two percent of Pennsylvania schools met the required academic goals for the federal “No Child Left Behind” law for 2010. A record number of students performed at grade level in reading and mathematics on the state’s PSSA tests. Governor Rendell announced, “Student achievement has increased in every subject, at all tested grade levels and for all ethnic, racial and economic subgroups of students since 2002 – the eight straight year of student performance gains.”

 SAT Scores: High school students nationwide scored an average combined score of 1500 in the 2010 SAT, nearly identical to the 2009 level. Average scores were 501 in reading, 516 in math and 492 in writing. Pennsylvania students averaged 492 in reading, 501 in math and 480 in writing.

 Keystone Exams: The State Board of Education approved a policy change in the use of the Keystone Exams. If a district chooses to use a Keystone Exam as part of the district’s local assessment system, in lieu of using the complete slate of Keystone Exams, and the district requires student to score “proficient” or above on the Keystone Exams used (as part of the local assessment system), then the district does not have to count the Keystone Exam score as one-third of the course grade.

 Chapter 12 Regulations: The State Board of Education is planning on submitting its recommended changes in the Chapter 12 regulation in its current form that includes the school nutrition and physical activity/physical education provisions. In order to meet the requirements for approval in this legislative session it must be submitted by the first week of November. Once the regulations are submitted to the legislative education committees the regulatory review process begins. The regulatory review process involves accepting comments, a review by the legislative committees, return to the State Board for revision, and then resubmission as a final regulation subject to further review. If this deadline is missed the State Board must wait until next January to submit the regulation. 

 Charter Schools: Auditor General Jack Wagner has called for a statewide moratorium on the creation of new charter and cyber charter schools until the General Assembly fixes “a flawed funding system that bears no connection to the actual cost of educating children and is costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year in additional questionable spending.”

 HB 101- the Omnibus School Code is a compilation of a wide range of bills that have been passed by at least one chamber in the 2009-10 legislative session and are considered “non-controversial.” The House concurred to the Senate’s amendments and sent the bill to the Governor for his signature. The Governor has until Friday, October 22, 2010 to take action on it. He opposes one provision concerning a property exemption that would benefit one charter school operator in Delaware County. Provisions under the bill would:

• Revise existing requirements for reporting incidents of school violence;

•  Ensure residency status for a child living outside of the state due to the parent being called to active military duty;

• Streamline the required components of the annual financial report to be filed by school districts and intermediate units;

• Permit medical examinations for certification to be performed by a nurse practitioner;

• Exempt school property owned by a nonprofit corporation or leased to a cyber or charter school from state and local taxes, including payments in lieu of taxes;

• Establishes provisions to enhance affordability and accessibility for college textbooks;

• Allow approved private schools and chartered schools for the deaf and blind to apply directly to PDE for emergency permits for teacher certifications;

• Allow school boards to award high school diplomas to honorably discharged veterans of the Vietnam War who did not graduate from high school due to entering military service;

• Require school boards to develop a policy that permits students of school age to possess and self-administer an epinephrine auto-injector (epi-pen) while in a school setting;

• Establish the Science Technology Partnership Program (known as Science in Motion) to provide grants;

• Require institutions of higher education and private licensed schools to establish a sexual violence awareness education program;

• Would permit state colleges and universities to establish a program to permit older Pennsylvanians to take college courses on a tuition-free basis;

• Require school entities to include food allergy reaction management in their local wellness policies;

• Require PDE to report graduation and dropout rates in the state (disaggregated by various demographic characteristics) and implement a data collection and reporting system;

• Require school districts to develop a dating violence policy, conduct dating violence training for staff, and incorporate dating violence education into the health curriculum in grades 7-12.  Students can be exempt from the education program if their parents do not wish for them to participate.

 HB 1572 outlines specific nutrition standards in school law for all foods sold individually outside of school lunch and breakfast programs. The bill passed out of the House and was sent to the Senate.

HB 2497 would defer for three years the liabilities in both PSERS and SERS system, cap increases in employer contributions, restrict withdrawal of lump-sum contributions, change the superannuation for new employees from 62 to 65, change the vesting period for new employees from five to ten years and reduce the multiplier for new employees from 2.5% to 2%. The House passed the bill but the Senate amended it to include language creating an independent fiscal office. The Legislative Reference Bureau has stated that inserting a non-related issue into a bill is unconstitutional. Previous court decisions have ruled that this practice is not in fact constitutional and in some decisions have stripped the unrelated issue from the law. The House leaders are continuing to negotiate to see if they can pass the amended bill. The Senate Republican leadership is adamant about retaining the fiscal office language.

HB 2540 would prohibit a deduction in salary when a professional employee or a temporary professional employee is absent to attend the funeral of a grandchild. The bill passed out of the House and was sent to the Senate.

HB 2728 establishes standards for managing concussions and head injuries to student athletes. Bill passed in the House and was sent to the Senate.

HB 2733provides special temporary aid to districts experiencing at least a 25% loss in payment in lieu of taxes from local sources due to relocation of a local business. Amendments added require that a school district have an undesignated, unreserved fund balance of no more than 5% of its total operating budget to qualify for the aid. The amendment also requires districts to offer CPR/AED training at least once every three years and to have at least five AED certified persons and one CPR certified person at each school during regular school hours. The bill was sent to the Senate for consideration.

SB 890 requires annual reports of gender equity in school athletic opportunities, participation and expenditures including expenditures made by booster clubs. Bill passed by the Senate and was sent to the House.

SB 1379 requires schools to utilize certified textbook recycling facilities for the collection and recycling of discarded textbooks. The bill was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

SB 1469 amends the Open Records law to force school boards to make draft statements of policy or management directives available regardless of whether a vote occurs at the meeting.

House Education Committee held a public hearing on Advanced Placement (AP). According to the testimony 18.8% of the Class of 2009 in Pennsylvania took an AP Exam as compared to 26.5% nationally, 40% in Maryland, 36.8% in New York and 27% in Delaware. Pennsylvania ranks last in the nation for the percentage of African American students who are achieving success in the AP Program. Similar results were reported for Hispanic and Native American students.

Senate Education Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on school choice during the PSBA/PASA annual leadership conference. PSBA sent a letter to Senator Piccola asking him to change the date so that PSBA and others could participate. Senator Piccola responded through the Harrisburg newspaper with the following comment:

“To think I pay any attention whatsoever to the junket schedule of the PSBA or their attendant organizations is ridiculous,” Piccola said. Nonetheless, he added, “We have invited them to provide their predictably negative views on this issue and if they can’t find someone to take several hours away from their luxury-filled junket in Hershey, they may submit them in writing.”

NATIONAL NEWS

Grants for Charter School Networks: U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that the U.S. Department of Education will give $50 million in grants to twelve charter management organizations to expand their reach within state. Those receiving grants include two organization with charter schools in Pennsylvania – the KIPP Foundation and Propel.

Child Nutrition: The Senate passed the “Healthy Hungry Free Kids Act of 2010” (S 3307). The bill provides for direct certification for eligible students based on family income registered via the Medicaid and Food Stamp rolls, and the possibility of reimbursement to districts which serve meals free to all children (40% of whom must be eligible for free/reduced), and includes a 6-cent increase in the reimbursement rate.

However, the 6 cents will only cover half of the increased costs schools would incur in complying with the standards. And, the reimbursement increase will not go into effect for three years. The bill calls for mandatory yearly training for all food staff personnel without provision for funds, requires certification of all school food service directors and limits the flexibility of school districts to set school lunch prices.

Vouchers: The Senate Armed Services Committee passed the FY2011 National Defense Authorization Act (S 3454). The bill has an amendment that would provide $7,500 in government funds to military families with special needs children to use to pay for tuition tat a private or a different public school. Studies of state with these special education vouchers show that private schools often lack the ability to serve special needs children and frequently fail to meet the requirements of a public school IEP. Parents accepting the voucher would have no legal recourse for poor service, as they would at a public school under IDEA