Category: News

Advocacy Update

Pennsylvania Budget Update

The 2017-2018 state budget is finally finished.  While a spending plan for the budget was enacted four months ago, an agreement on how to pay for that spending didn’t come together until just days ago.  Lawmakers were tasked with filling a $2 billion budget shortfall for this year’s spending plan.  The plan adds $100 million to the basic education subsidy.  While any addition is nice, that still doesn’t bring funding back to the level prior to the massive education cuts in 2011.  The spending plan this year used one-time transfers, a gambling expansion and borrowing to fill the budget gap.  Balancing a budget based on borrowing isn’t exactly sound fiscal policy.  However, policy makers saw this as the only way to complete the budget.  Talks of expanding a tax on Marcellus shale drilling have been promised but did not happen in time to be included in this year’s budget talks.

Looking ahead to the 2018-2019 budget (Governor Wolf will deliver his budget address in February), things look tough again.  Projections show a $1 billion budget shortfall.  While that is less than this year, there’s no question that it will be complicated to pass a budget without some type of shale tax or broad based tax – especially in an election year.  We would expect to see Governor Wolf again propose additional funding for education.  Where that money will come from is unknown.  PMEA will continue to advocate for additional education funding in 2018.

Pennsylvania ESSA Plan

There is not much news to report here.  Our state plan has been accepted as complete by the US Department of Education.  It’s currently under review with dozens of other state plans that were submitted in September.  Once a plan is approved, PMEA will provide guidance to members on how to leverage areas of the plan for music and arts education.  An area of particular interest in the law is TItle IV.  We’ve begun conversations with the Pennsylvania Department of Education on how funding will be distributed to school districts.  As the federal government budget season heats up, it’s important for you to pay attention to NAfME advocacy alerts to increase federal Title IV dollars.  That money flows directly to school districts and can be used for music and arts education.  We’ll provide more information as we get further clarification from PDE and once the state ESSA plan is approved.

Pennsylvania School Code

As part of the package of budget related bills, Governor Wolf allowed the school code to become law without his signature.  Changes of note in the school code include:

  • School districts now will be able to cite “economic reasons” as a rationale for furloughing teachers
  • Previously, any layoffs had to be done in inverse order of seniority – last in, first out. Under the new law, schools must instead prioritize the state’s teacher effectiveness rating system, which is based on a mix of classroom observations and student performance on state standardized tests
  • Again pushing back a requirement for students to pass standardized tests to graduate from high school
  • Expanding student education on the opioid crisis
  • Banning the practice of denying school lunch to students without money to pay for it

Property Tax Amendment

You may remember the email I sent to you prior to last week’s election about the proposed amendment to the PA Constiution.  The amendment, which lays the groundwork to change the property tax system in the commonwealth, passed with a majority voting to approve it.  The amendment now allows the General Assembly to create legislation that would allows local taxing authorities, like school districts, to exclude up to 100% of the assesed value of homes from property taxes.  Don’t expect an immediate change to the property tax system.  New revenue would have to be created to make up for the lost property tax income.  Also, it’s not likely that school districts would take advantage of a new law, if enacted, as they can currently exclude up to 50% of the median assessed value of homes and most districts currently exclude a far smaller amount.

Governor’s Race

You may have seen ads on television already touting Governor Wolf’s record while in office.  That is our first reminder that a gubernatorial election is in the horizon. As of today, these Republicans have declared their candidacy to run against Wolf:

  • Laura Ellsworth, attorney
  • Paul Mango, businessman
  • Mike Turzai, Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
  • Scott Wagner, State Senator

Expect to see more attention given to the lieutenant governor’s race this year.  Following the controversy about spending by current lieutenant governor, Mike Stack, three other democrats have already entered the race.

Learn About Pennsylvania’s Proposed Property Tax Constitutional Amendment

On Tuesday, November 7th, we’ll head to the polls to vote on a variety of offices including judicial races.  You’ll see a question on the ballot about a proposed amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution.  It’s important to be aware of this ballot question and potential ramifications it would have on education funding.

First, a quick background. An amendment to the PA Constitution can happen when both chambers of the General Assembly vote affirmatively on the amendment in two consecutive sessions.  After that, the amendment is put to a vote of the electorate.  And, that’s where we are in the process.  The General Assembly has voted in the affirmative in the past two sessions and now you have the chance to have your say.

The proposed amendment would allow the state constitution to be amended to permit the General Assembly to enact legislation allowing local taxing authorities to exclude from taxation up to 100% of the assessed value of each homestead property within a taxing jurisdiction.

What that means is that by voting yes, you are allowing our legislature to pass legislation that would allow any local taxing authority, like a school district, to increase up to 100% of the assessed value of a home as excluded from paying taxes.  Currently, these local taxing authorities can reduce up to 50% of the assessed median value of a home from taxes.  It’s important to note the percent currently reduced by this law is different in every school district.

This amendment is an attempt to reform property taxes which are the main way our schools are funded.  If a majority of Pennsylvanians vote to approve this amendment, nothing changes on November 8th.  Voting yes allows the General Assembly to draft legislation that would then allow local taxing authorities to change the percentage of their local exclusions.

Here’s a very important point to know. Changes to the local exclusion rate can be provided only if enabling legislation is signed into law, and if the state can provide revenue to fund the increased homestead exclusion. It is important to be aware that, even if legislation is enacted, these homestead exclusions are only possible if there is some source of new revenue to fund them. And based on how we’ve seen budgets at the state and local levels play out this year, that’s not a simple task.

Many advocates for voting yes on this amendment see it as eliminating property taxes and thus lowering taxes.  That’s not likely given that any money lost from this legislation would have to be made up to continue education and other public services.  Eliminating property taxes without a way to replace that funding would create a new problem.  Some speculate that it’s possible funding would be made up from increases in broad based taxes like sales or wage tax.

There is a separate bill in Harrisburg already to completely eliminate property taxes and replace them with a sales and wage tax increase.  That bill is separate of this amendment as this amendment does not eliminate property taxes – rather it would allow for their reduction.

Learn More About Property Tax Reform

Text of the Proposed Constitutional Amendment

Text of SB76 to Eliminate Property Taxes

Information On The Pennsylvania State ESSA Plan

Public Policy Update

Pennsylvania Has A Budget (Sort Of)
On Friday, the Pennsylvania General Assembly sent
Governor Tom Wolf a $32 billion budget. However, the House and Senate sent the spending plan to the Governor but did not send the plan with the associated funding plan. It’s unclear if Governor Wolf will sign the budget into law without the spending bill in place. Lawmakers won’t return until at least Wednesday to figure out how to cover the over $2 billion deficit in the budget.
Broad based tax increases seem off the table but finding some sustainable revenue seems to be the goal.  Among the areas still under consideration to find new revenue are: adding video gaming terminals across the state, a tax on gas drilling or borrowing the money.
Highlights of the budget include:
  • A $100 million increase for the basic education subsidy
  • A $25 million increase for special education
  • A $30 million increase for Pre-K
  • Governor Wolf’s proposal of a $50 million decrease for school transportation is not included in the budget which makes the $100 million increase for the basic education subsidy a true increase
  • A 2 percent increase for the 14 state universities in the State System of Higher Education. Penn State, Pitt, Temple, and Lincoln universities and community colleges are flat funded
We will continue to monitor the revenue plan for the budget in the coming weeks.  PMEA joined with many other education organizations in Pennsylvania in advocating for the $100 million increase in the basic education subsidy.Thank you to those of you that added your voice to help make this happen!
Pennsylvania ESSA Plan
We continue to wait for news on Pennsylvania’s ESSA state plan. We expect to see the draft plan in August. You will have a chance to hear a preview of parts of the plan at this year’s PMEA Summer Conference. Beth Olanoff from the Pennsylvania Department of Education will join us at the conference closing session to discuss the ESSA plan. I’ll be moderating the session and plan to make sure we hear about how the arts can fit into Pennsylvania’s plan. You don’t want to miss this conversation with Beth who is truly the architect of the Pennsylvania ESSA plan!
PMEA Visits Capitol Hill
Last week, PMEA members visited Capitol Hill in Washington DC to discuss ESSA funding. The PMEA delegation met with representatives from Senators Casey and Toomey’s offices as well members of the House. We shared our concerns with the funding levels of federal Title IV funds that are designed to support a well-rounded education. Funding for this year was only $400 million. We are advocating for full funding of this program which is $1.65 billion. The difference in that funding stream works out to about $43 million less in funding coming to Pennsylvania. We will continue to work with NAfME to support this funding in the federal budget.

2017 PMEA Music Education Advocacy Day Press Conference

PMEA held a press conference on March 20, 2017 celebrating Music In Our Schools Month and discussing PMEA’s 2017 policy asks.

Speakers Include:

Mark Despotakis, PMEA Advocacy Council Chair Pennsylvania
Representative Eddie Day Pashinski
Dr. John Molnar, Superintendent, Southmoreland School District
Amanda Kan, Plymouth Whitemarsh (Colonial School District) High School Student
Benjamin Wightman, Plymouth Whitemarsh (Colonial School District) High School Student
Tooshar Swain, NAfME Legislative Policy Advisor
Henry Pearlberg, PMEA President

Advocacy Action Alert: Provide Your ESSA Feedback to PDE

The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) is working on drafting the Every Student Succeeds Act state plan.  Following a series of stakeholder sessions over the past few months, PDE is now asking for feedback from the general public.  We’re asking you to help provide feedback directly to PDE.

PDE is considering some very broad topics for inclusion in the state plan.  At this point, PMEA is not staking a postion on any of these suggestions because they are vague and not part of the state plan yet.  However, we’re asking for you to provide feedback directly to PDE on your thoughts on these topics.

Below you will see several topics PDE is considering.  We’d like you to review these topics and think about the value of each suggestion as well as how the suggestion could be implemented.  You can email your responses directly to PDE at RA-edESSA@pa.gov They have assured us they are reading these emails and taking all feedback into account.

AREAS FOR FEEDBACK

Assessments

•Can we reduce the amount of time students spend on statewide PSSA testing (grades 3-8)?
•Is it feasible to test students at multiple times across the school year instead of only once?
•Can we eliminate double testing for middle school Algebra I students (would need to add adv math test in high school for those students)
Accountability – Measures
Future Ready PA Index – a proposed tool to measure school success
•Increased weight on growth in test scores  versus point-in-time achievement
•Local options for additional assessments
•Career ready indicators and meaningful postsecondary student engagement
•More holistic measures of student success
•Measures of both inputs (i.e., course offerings) and outcomes (achievement scores)
Accountability – Interventions
•Tailored to local context and school based needs assessment.
•Intervention for lowest performing schools to include BOTH academic and holistic strategies
•Level of state intervention to be responsive to student progress over time.
Educator Preperation and Evaluation
•What are the best strategies to ensure effective, diverse educators and school leaders for all students?
•What changes in teacher preparation do we need to consider to improve the readiness of new teachers?
•How to promote alternative pathways to teacher certification?
You don’t have to respond to every suggestion, but please feel free to respond to those you can provide opinions and feedback on.  You can submit you comments to PDE at RA-edESSA@pa.gov
Feel free to submit your feedback to PMEA as well so we can monitor the view of our members.  You can email, Mark Despotakis, chair of the PMEA Advacement of Music Education Concil at mark.despotakis@progrmusic.com

Hear from Pennsylvania Senatorial Candidates on Music Education Issues

View PMEA’s Interview with Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera

To all of our valued music educators in Pennsylvania, we welcome you back to another school year!
This school year promises to be a transition to a major change in the education world as we all transition to the new federal education law – The Every Student Succeeds Act.
This month, PMEA Advancement of Music Education Council Chair, Mark Despotakis, sat down with Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera to talk about the transition to ESSA, music education in Pennsylvania and his message to PMEA members.
Please take some time to watch this interview done specifically with you, PMEA members, in mind.
Thanks for all you do for music education in Pennsylvania and we hope you have a fantastic school year!

Advocacy Update

As we’re at about the midpoint of the summer, we wanted to provide you with an update on current public policy news.
Pennsylvania Budget
A state budget, spending plan and school code are all law in Pennsylvania.  The state budget adds $200 million to the Basic Education Subsidy going to school districts. That’s in addition to the $150 in new money that went into the 15-16 budget.  So $350 million in funding will go through the new basic education funding formula for the 16-17 school year.  (PDE provides a breakdown of how much money each school district will receive.) That’s still a relatively small portion of the entire basic education subsidy.  While it is very encouraging to see this $200 million increase to the basic education subsidy, we have two major concerns.  1) Close to $600 million of the $1.3 billion added to the overall budget is not recurring income. That means, next year’s budget will start with that much of a deficit and 2) An increase of $200 million to the basic education subsidy is a good start but a recent study from the Public Interest Law Center shows that Pennsylvania is $3.2 billion short of providing an adequate education to all students.

Charter School Reform – HB530
We’re happy to see the legislature looking at Pennsylvania’s charter school law.  HB530 takes up a wide variety of issues related to charter school reform.  Under the bill, a panel would be created to explore the costs of cyber charter schools as well as brick and mortar charter schools.   We agree there is a wide variety of reform needed in the ways charter schools are funded and operated.  While there are some provision in HB530 we are encouraged by, including the possibility of an estimated $26 million in savings to local school districts, there are a wide variety of concerns.  Among the concerns we have are:
1) Teacher evaluations in charters would not be the same as required of public school teachers.  Evaluations are required but different from a public school and there are no requirements for evaluation of principals.
2) Charters can expand enrollment, add grade levels, and permit out of district students to enroll without local school district approval. This could be an economic disaster for schools districts across the state, many of which are already struggling to make ends meet.  There is a risk of accountability.  This part of the legislation could make it difficult to compare local charters to local school districts.
3) The issue of where charter school growth is regulated is explored in HB530.  It could be a state agency, local school districts or charters themselves. If local school districts are not regulating the growth of charter schools, charter schools could grow and local school districts could be forced to raise taxes.
There are many other issues in the charter school legislation and we will continue to follow it.  Initially, there was a possibility of HB530 being discussed in budget talks. However, it has been delayed until at least the fall.
School Code – HB1606
Some highlights of the school code signed into law include the creation of SchoolWATCH.  PDE will be required to post some financial information related to public school entities.  Total expenditures by category, per student expenditures, charter school tuition rates, average daily membership, average teacher salary, total revenue, general fund balance and other financial information will be posted along with the School Performance Profile.
In response to the substitute teacher shortage, the school code also will allow college students who have completed 60 credit hours and who are enrolled in a teacher preparation program at a four-year college in Pennsylvania to substitute for 20 days per school year.  For every year after the first year of substituting, college students would be required to obtain additional credits to remain a substitute.  The program sunsets in 5 years. PMEA is concerned about this substitute teacher provision.  We will monitor implementation of this portion of the law.
Governor’s Schools
Representative Karen Boback has introduced legislation to reinstate the Governor’s Schools of Excellence including the possibility of the Governor’s Schools for the Arts. Under Boback’s proposal, PDE would have to find a host site for each school and each host site would have to cover at least 50% cost of the school with the state covering the other 50%. The proposal also would require no tuition for attending students.  We’re encouraged to see continued momentum for the reinstatement of the Governor’s Schools.