Chester County School Board s Legislative Council

Transcription

1 Chester County School Board s Legislative Council Meeting Notes January 23, 2019 Members in attendance: 1. Blake Emmanuel, Phoenixville Area School District 2. John Murphy, Unionville-Chadds Ford School District 3. David Kring, Downingtown Area School District 4. Lisa Bowman, Octorara Area School District 5. Charlie Beatty, Chair, Avon Grove School District 6. Rebecca Britton, Downingtown Area School District 7. William Brown, Kennett Consolidated School District Guests in attendance: 1. Larry Feinberg, Haverford School District, PSBA Regional Rep. CCIU Staff in Attendance: Mary Jeanne Curley, Melissa Smith, Tonia Farnum and Anthony Saraceno 1. Chairman Charlie Beatty called the meeting to order. 2. Blake Emmanuel raised the possibility of issuing a collective approach for all 12 Chester County School Districts to advocate around a single issue (such as school funding). a. Members will report back to their board to see if their school boards would support this approach, what topics would be of interest and what these tactics might look like. b. Members are also exploring having each CCSBLC member report out at each Legislative Committee meeting about what topics their boards are looking at to see if there are common topics being discussed for potential collaboration. 3. Larry Feinberg, Haverford School District and PSBA regional representative, discussed the PSBA Advocacy Program. a. Mr. Feinberg s overview included information about: i. Receiving the Advocacy Influencer which is a resource that send out legislative updates and alerts regarding education. If you or a colleague would like to sign up please send your name, title, school district and address to Larry Feinberg at lfeinberg@advocacypsba.org. ii. Mr. Feinberg shared more information about PSBA Advocacy Day at the Capitol in Harrisburg on Monday, April 29, To register please visit iii. Mr. Feinberg also spoke about signing-up to receive the Daily PA Ed Policy Roundup by the Keystone State Education Coalition. To sign-up, please your name and affiliation to lfeinberg@thelocalgroup.com.

2 iv. Public school officials are encouraged to post stories on Success Starts Here website which is a multi-year free advertising opportunity to share the positive impact of public education. Please visit for more information and make sure to share these stories with your legislators. v. The Show Them What It Takes Program is an initiative that invites legislators to visit your schools. Please reach out to Mr. Feinberg for more information on how your school can get involved. 4. CCSBLC Meeting Calendar a Meeting Schedule: i. February 27,2019 ii. March 15, Legislative Breakfast iii. April 24, 2019 iv. May 22, 2019 v. June 26, Ms. Curley then provided a legislative update. Ms. Curley updated the committee on the change in legislators after the 2018 elections and current and pending legislation. a. Mark Your Calendar: i. Governor s Budget Address - Tuesday, February 5 b Legislative Schedule i. House Session Schedule: January 28, 29, 30 February 4, 5, 6, 19, 20, 21 March 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27 April 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 29, 30 May 1, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 22, 23 June 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 ii. Senate Session Schedule: January 28, 29, 30 February 4, 5 March 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27 April 8, 9, 10, 29, 30 May 1, 6, 7, 8 June 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 c. Leadership- Education Committees i. House Education Committee Majority Chair: Curt Sonney, Erie, District 4 a. Priorities: CTE education; visit classrooms around the state; cyber charter school funding.

3 Minority Chair: James Roebuck, Philadelphia, District 188 a. Priorities: Bullying programs; technology education programs; fair funding; investments in public schools; CTE education; college affordability; charter school reform. ii. Senate Education Committee Majority Chair: Ryan Aument, Lancaster, District 36 a. Priorities: CTE education; education savings accounts; charter reform; school safety; property tax dependence; student loan debt. Minority Chair: Andy Dinniman, Chester, District 19 a. Priorities: Equitable school funding; school safety; replacing Keystone exams with SATs d. Chester County Delegation i. U.S. Congress House of Representatives a. Chrissy Houlahan (D) - U.S. 6 th District (fills Ryan Costello s vacant seat) b. Mary Gay Scanlon (D) - (fills Patrick Meehan s seat) Senate a. *Bob Casey (D) b. Pat Toomey (R) (not up for re-election) ii. PA General Assembly House of Representatives a. *John Lawrence (R) - 13 th District b. *Tim Hennessey (R) - 26 th District c. Dan Williams (D) - 74 th District (fills Harry Lewis open seat) d. Danielle Friel Otten (D) -155 th District (unseats Becky Corbin) e. *Carolyn Comitta (D) th District f. Melissa Shusterman (D) th District (unseats Warren Kampf) g. Christina Sappey (D) th District (unseats Eric Roe) h. *Stephen Barrar (R) -160 th District i. * Kristine Howard (D) th District (unseats Duane Milne) Senate a. Tim Kearney (D) - 26 th District (unseats Tom McGarrigle)

4 b. Katie Muth (D) - 44 th District (unseats John Rafferty) c. *Andy Dinnimin (D) - 19 th District (not up for reelection) e. Charter School Legislation i. SB 34 Schwank, Judy (D) (PN 11): Amends the Public School Code, in charter schools, further providing for funding for charter schools. The bill establishes that funding for a charter school shall be provided except in the following: if a public-school district offers a cyber-based program equal in scope and content to an existing publicly chartered cyber charter school, and a student in that district shall not be required to provide funding to pay the student s attendance at a cyber charter school. Effective in 60 days. ii. HCO 665 DeLuca, Anthony (D): Prohibits payments to charter schools unless they adopt a budget that includes an unreserved fund balance less than 5 percent of total budgeted expenditures. f. Property Tax Legislation i. HCO 665 DeLuca, Anthony (D): Freezes school property taxes on the primary residences of older Pennsylvania citizens. ii. HCO 642 Caltagirone, Thomas (D): Eliminates school property taxes for seniors who qualify for the property tax rebate. g. Other i. SCO 384 Phillips-Hill, Kristin (F)(R): Repeals Section 1112 of the Public School Code, which did allow teachers to wear any garb, mark or emblem of their religion at school. 6. Ms. Curley then provided a legislative update of legislation that became law at the end of the last session: a. Act 158- Keystone Exams- formerly SB 1095 i. Provides alternative pathways for graduation for students who do not demonstrate proficiency on a keystone Exam. b. Act 105- Sunscreen Use- formerly HB 1228 i. Requires school entities to allow the outdoor use by a student of sun-protective clothing and the possession, application or use by a student of a non-aerosol topical sunscreen product without a physician s note under certain circumstances. The bill would also direct the Department of Education to develop guidance for school entities. c. Act 82- Certificate Grade Spans- formerly HB 1386

5 i. Establishes in statute the grade spans for which types of instructional certifications a teacher preparation program may offer and the Department of Education may issue. The bill would change the grade spans of teacher instructional certifications that are currently under PDE Regulations (i.e. prek-12 special education certificate with no additional content area required). Reported as amended. d. Act 155- Assessment Procedures- formerly SB 1007 i. Provides for training and qualifications of assessment appeal board members, ii. Prohibits personnel from revaluation companies or county assessment offices from making adjustments to market value or assessed value during an informal review, iii. Requires the chief assessor to compile a list of the names of and mailing addresses of all taxing districts in the county. e. Act 155- Executive Session- formerly SB 1078 i. Amends the Open Meeting law to extend permissions extended to school districts in the School Code bill passed with the state budget. ii. Allows municipalities and other public entities to meet in executive session to discuss, plan or review matters and records necessary for emergency preparedness, protection of public safety and security if disclosure of these records and plans would jeopardize or threaten public safety or preparedness. This would include discussions relating to collaboration with local school districts on safety and security plans. f. Act 159- School Bus Cameras- formerly SB 1098 i. Amends Vehicle Code to allow for the installation of automated side stop signal arm enforcement systems (that include cameras) on school buses to capture information on vehicles that fail to stop. Information recorded by the systems will be sent to police and citations will be issued. g. Act 111- Worker s Compensation- formerly HB 1840 i. Amends the Worker s Compensation Act to reestablish the Impairment Rating Evaluation process, following a 2017 Pa Supreme Court ruling that invalidated a provision of the evaluation process. To address the Supreme Court ruling, the bill specifically references the sixth edition of the American Medical Association Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment as the basis for impairment rating evaluations. h. Act 119- Student Services- formerly HB 2052

6 i. Requires school districts to offer families the option of communicating that a parent or guardian is a member of one of the armed forces, and, if a school district is notified that a child s parent or guardian has been activated or deployed, the district would be required to provide the student with access to school guidance counselors and existing federal or state military support services. The Department of Education and Military & Veterans Affairs would be required to coordinate and provide guidance to districts and parents. i. SR 417- Study on School Start Times: i. Requires the Joint State Government Commission to conduct a comprehensive study of issues, benefits and options related to instituting a later start time to the school day at secondary schools. ii. Outlook: Approved 7. Ms. Curley then provided a legislative update of legislation that did not pass in the previous session but may be brought back up: a. Senate Bill 2- Education Savings Accounts (vouchers) i. Amends the School Code to establish education savings accounts for eligible students. ii. Eligible students: Students currently enrolled in a public school, which has been designated to low-achieving public school Students entering kindergarten or the first-grade who reside in the attendance area of a public school which has been designated a low-achieving public school (lowest 15% percent of performing public schools) Must enroll in Non-public school or other approved education provider iii. Unused funds may be rolled over to following school year; returned to State or District; or used for higher education approved expenses. b. HB 1213 Reverse Appeals i. Places additional restrictions on when taxing districts have the right to appeal an assessment. Under the bill, a taxing district may not appeal the assessment of a property based on the following: Purchase or sale of the property; Purchase or sale of a partial or total interest in the entity holding the title; Financing or refinancing of the property; Investments in the property. Appeals may be sought for reassessments completed prior to enacted legislation Taxable persons are not entitled to refund for appeals won on reassessments prior to enacted legislation

7 ii. A taxing district has the right to appeal an assessment only when one or more of the following are met: The appeal is from a countywide assessment; A parcel of land is divided and conveyed in smaller parcels; or A change has occurred in the productive use of the property by material alteration. c. Charter School Bill HB 97 i. Extensively revises and adds charter school provisions contained in the Public School Code of 1949 (School Code), including Changes the cyber charter tuition calculation to save school districts approximately $27 million, Implements transparency and accountability provisions for charter school administrators/trustees, Permits charter schools to form multiple charter organization with school district/pde approval, Expands the Charter Appeal Board Institutes caps on unassigned fund balances for charter schools, Requires the development of academic performance matrix for renewal/revocation decisions, Extends the term of the renewal of a charter from 5 to 10 years, Requires an annual independent audit process for charter schools. Creates a separate evaluation system for charter school teachers and principals Creates a Performance Matrix that exclusively compares charter school entities to one another. ii. Passed the House, 108/84 on 4/25/17; Passed the Senate as amended on 7/9/17; Received as amended in House and referred to House Rules, 7/10/17. d. The Property Tax Independence Act SB 76 i. This act: Provides for tax levies and information related to taxes; Authorizes the imposition of a personal income tax or an earned income tax by school district subject to voter approval; Provides for the imposition of and exclusions from a sales and use tax for the stabilization of education funding, for increase to the personal income tax, for certain licenses, for hotel occupancy tax, for procedure and administration of the

8 tax, for expiration of authority to issue certain debt and for reporting by local government units of debt outstanding; Establishes the Education Stabilization Fund; provides for disbursements from the Education Stabilization Fund and for senior citizen property tax rent rebate assistance; and makes repeals. The bill authorizes school districts to levy, assess and collect a tax on personal income or a tax on earned income and net profits as a means of abolishing property taxation by the school district. The tax shall be the Sales and Use Tax for the Stabilization of Education Funding and shall be a replacement for the sales and use tax authorized under Article II of the Tax Reform Code and that is repealed by the act. This bill also provides senior citizens with assistance in the form of property tax and rent rebates.