With the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), new funding opportunities are available that could directly benefit music education.  One of those is in Title IV of the law and known as Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants (SSAEG).

ESSA eliminated what we knew as “core” academic subjects and created what we now know as “well-rounded” subject areas.  Music has, for the first time, been called out in federal law as a well-rounded subject.  The SSAEG grants are designed to be used to ensure a well-rounded education and that means music is a part of it.

It’s important for music educators to explore using these funds because:

1. Any additional funds can be helpful to music education programs
2. Proving the value of this new funding stream may serve to increase the amount of funding in the future
3. By asking for funding, you may find your administration will find ways to fund your program, even if it’s isn’t through these federal funds

Each state will have a different process to gain access to these funds.  We have reviewed the way the Pennsylvania Department of Education will distribute these funds and compiled a to do list for music educators to attempt to use some of this funding for music education in their district.

We’ve spelled out the process in detail to help you get money for your music program.  You can download a PDF of the process below.  Here’s a quick rundown:

1. Conduct a “needs assessment” to determine in what areas your program can be improved
2. Present a case to your administration that you can use this SSAEG money for things or experiences that your district’s regular budget doesn’t support
3. Provide supporting information to your adminsitration so they can include it on their Pennsylvania federal funds application

A list of suggested areas for funding and more on the specific process is available on the PDF below.

How To Use Federal Title IV Funds for Music Education in Pennsylvania – July 2019 Update (PDF)

Mark Despotakis

Director of Market Development, Progressive Music
Advocacy Chair, Pennsylvania Music Educators Association

In response to articles on Goerie.com and in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, we offer the following response to to proposal to disolve the music education program at Edinboro University.

Disturbing news came out of Edinboro Univeristy last month.  The school plans to phase out their music education program.  Edinboro has graduated some of Pennsylvania’s finest music educators over the years and a suggestion that there is a lack of jobs for current graduates leaves a question about the conclusion to disband the program.

First, some background on where we are when it comes to music education in our current economic and political climate.

We find ourselves in the midst of a sea-change in K-12 education policy and practice.  In December of 2015, President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) into law.  The law is a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, most recently known as No Child Left Behind.  It took nearly a decade to get ESSA as the law of the land.  It took input from stakeholders from every corner of the education world.  And now that the law is in place, states are working to implement the law.  Pennsylvania spent over a year working on a plan that was released in August.  The plan now awaits federal approval before implementation starts.

Like the federal government, Pennsylvania sought feedback from many areas of the education world.  A tour around the state earlier this year explained what the Pennsylvania plan would do and the public was able to provide input at many stages of the plan’s journey to its completion.

We won’t explain all the parts of ESSA here (after all the federal plan is over 1,000 pages and the state plan is over 100) but we use the story of ESSA to illustrate the importance of K-12 education and the importance of getting it right.  Lots of voices have debated, provided input and been heard to come up with the plan we know today as ESSA.  Why?  Because, it’s clear education is important.  It’s clear a strong K-12 education is important to our society and it’s clear many people care enough about that to lobby and advocate for many of the changes made as we moved from No Child Left Behind to the Every Student Succeeds Act.

One of the changes of particular importance in ESSA is the move from the term “core academic subjects” to “well-rounded education.”  That change signifies that we need to prepare students for an ever-changing world as they enter the work force as well as prepare them to become an active member of society and culture.  In creating the “well-rounded” term, Congress did another important thing, among 17 subjects listed under this banner, one sticks out to us – music.

By naming music as a well-rounded subject, Congress reminds us of what we already know: 1) every child should have access to a complete education that includes music and 2) in order to become a well-rounded citizen, students should participate in some form of music education.

This is all good news for the music education community which is why we’re surprised and concerned to hear that Edinboro University plans to phase out their music education degree.  As we move into the ESSA era for education, we anticipate there will be a greater demand for music education in our K-12 schools.  Not only through language in federal and state law, but also with dollars that follow the law, schools will have the chance to enhance their well-rounded offerings and that will include music.  The demand for highly-qualified music educators will be greater than ever.

In addition, schools across Pennsylvania are facing a teacher shortage. And beyond that, they’re facing a substitute teacher shortage.  It’s a hidden fact, but all across Pennsylvania, there just aren’t enough teachers.  In many schools, teachers are pulled to cover other classes when another teacher is absent for the day.  This tends to adversely affect music, arts, computer science and physical education teachers.

The problem of teachers being pulled from their subject area to cover classes in another subject area is concerning on its own.  But, it serves to illustrate a very important point.  The teaching profession is in need of qualified teachers graduating from colleges and universities.

Some have argued that shuttering the music education program at Edinboro University is necessary because there aren’t teaching jobs available.  That simply isn’t the case.  Between the 2012-2013 school years and the 2014-2015 school years, the Pennsylvania Department of Education saw a 62 percent drop in Pennsylvania residents seeking teacher certifications — from 16,361 to 6,215.  School officials routinely report how difficult it is to find candidates to fill full-time teaching positions and substitute positions.

And while that might be anecdotal for the state of Pennsylvania, we have documented need for music educators in 20 states in the country through the subject area statewide shortage list maintained by the U.S. Department of Education in order to determine student loan forgiveness eligibility. That list includes several states right next to PA – Ohio, Maryland, and Delaware – where music education students could find employment immediately due to systematic documented teacher shortages. 

Here is a full list of states with documented music teacher shortages in 2016/2017:
Alabama
Arizona
Colorado
Delaware
Idaho
Louisiana
Maryland
Mississippi
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
West Virginia
Wisconsin

In short, let me make this clear: if you have your music education license and you are willing to move for a job, THERE IS A JOB FOR YOU IN THE UNITED STATES. 20 states currently have documented teacher shortages and we sense Pennsylvania isn’t far off from being added to the list – so you may also get some of your student loans forgiven.  For how many other undergraduate degrees can you make that claim – unequivocally? While we as a country like to joke about “the starving, unemployed artist” that is not the case for music educators. The jobs are there. The number of jobs is projected to grow. And this is a wonderful profession to join – to bring music into the lives of children and help them embrace their creativity, their expressive joy, and engage with their fellow students, school and community.

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.

On Tuesday, November 7^th, 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 8^th.  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

• 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

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