Private school advocates lauded Gov. Tom Corbett's education agenda, while public school officials and supporters of public education criticized the plan for relying on taxpayer-funded vouchers and charter schools to improve student achievement.
Corbett unveiled his proposal in York Tuesday, saying the current model for education in Pennsylvania isn't working, and "we have to think and act smarter."
The governor wants to implement a voucher program for students in the state's lowest-performing public schools, adopt a more rigorous teacher evaluation system, loosen restrictions on public charter schools and expand a business tax credit program that funds scholarships and school educational foundations.
None of the ideas is entirely new; the package represents revised versions of legislative proposals that have been debated, without winning legislative approval, over the past 10 months.
The Rev. Joseph McFadden, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, praised the plan, in a prepared statement calling it "a reasonable beginning to address the educational malaise that exists in the state, especially for children living in poverty with few alternatives to often failing schools."
The diocese operates nine Catholic schools in Lancaster County.
A Christian school association representing several other county schools also had kudos for Corbett's proposal.
"(The plan) provides parents the choice and the ability to access a school that best supports the needs of their child," said David Hegedus, associate director of the Northeast Region of the Association of Christian Schools International, based in Lancaster.
Richard Thomas, superintendent of Lancaster Mennonite School system, said he also supports Corbett's plan.
County public school administrators generally favor a more rigorous teacher evaluation process — five school systems here are already piloting the system — but they had concerns about other elements of Corbett's agenda.
The most controversial is the "opportunity scholarship" program that would award state grants to low-income students in school districts with the lowest-performing schools in the state.
A family of four with an income of $29,000 or less would be eligible for vouchers for tuition at a private school or another public school.
Corbett said scholarship recipients would be subject to state-administered assessments to assure the money is being spent wisely, but he provided no details on how that process would work.
County school superintendents said they don't mind the competition the voucher program is designed to create, but believe all schools receiving state funds should be held to the same academic and enrollment standards.
"Right now, parents have no measure to assess whether or not students are performing better than they were when they started at the new school," said Pedro Rivera, superintendent of School District of Lancaster.
SDL likely would be included in the voucher program because its McCaskey High School campus and Phoenix Academy were listed among the lowest-performing schools in the state.
Washington Education Center, an alternative school in Ephrata Area School District, also was on the list.
Rivera said private schools receiving vouchers should be required to accept all students, just as public schools must, instead of picking whom they enroll.
"I have students who take $90,000-plus a year to educate because of their special needs. Are those students going to be included as educational opportunity scholarship students?
"Are schools going to be required to take students in need of English-language learning services or in need of refugee services?
"Until the governor and state Legislature can address those issues of equity, especially in regard to urban school populations, this isn't school choice."
Other county school officials questioned whether the state should be implementing new programs when it's slashing subsidies to public schools.
In addition to implementing vouchers, the governor wants to expand funding for the Educational Improvement Tax Credit, which this year will provide $75 million worth of tax credits to businesses that donate to scholarship funds and other educational programs, mainly at private schools.
"If they're putting money into EITC tax credits, it will mean less money for public schools," said Bill Clark, superintendent of Manheim Central School District.
With public schools still reeling from $860 million worth of state funding cuts this year, now is not the time to implement a new voucher program, said Gerald Huesken, superintendent of Conestoga Valley School District.
"We are in the midst of economic trouble and budget cuts are the order of the day at all levels of government, including school districts," Huesken wrote Wednesday on his school district blog.
"Yet this proposal — and Gov. Corbett's Opportunity Scholarship Program — amounts to new programs and new mandates for schools that will inevitably cost taxpayers money."
Senate Bill 1, a voucher plan proposed last January, was projected to cost $89 million when it would be opened to all students in districts with failing schools, like the Corbett proposal.
State Education Secretary Ronald Tomalis said he could not put a price tag on Corbett's plan because talks with the Legislature about the package are ongoing.
County school administrators also questioned the merit of a proposal to establish a statewide authority to approve, license and oversee public charter schools, which currently are approved by sponsoring school districts.
Taking charter school control out of the hands of districts, which pay tuition for students who attend them, doesn't make sense, they said.
Corbett vowed to "improve the current payment mechanism" of charter schools as part of his plan, but he didn't outline what that would mean.
Like other local school officials, Michael Leichliter is taking a wait-and-see approach on the governor's education agenda.
Leichliter, superintendent of Penn Manor School District, said the details of the plan won't emerge until specific legislation is proposed to implement the proposals.
Already, opposition to those bills is mounting.
The Pennsylvania School Boards Association and the Pennsylvania State Education Association both oppose the voucher and charter school expansion plans.
Research doesn't support the claims that voucher programs and charter schools boost student achievement, the groups say, and opinion polls over the past year have consistently shown the public opposes taxpayer-funded vouchers.
PSBA also has questioned whether vouchers would violate the state Constitution's prohibition on giving state grants to parents to fund their children's pre-college education.
But supporters say the state needs a new approach to public education that will allow students to leave failing schools, forcing those schools to improve.
McFadden, in his prepared statement, said the reforms are "a defining social justice issue of our society."
If implemented, they would "herald an era in which we focus on the ideal educational environment for each student, not a mandatory system in which students are assigned to a school based solely on geographic location."
News By:
lancasteronline.com
Corbett unveiled his proposal in York Tuesday, saying the current model for education in Pennsylvania isn't working, and "we have to think and act smarter."
The governor wants to implement a voucher program for students in the state's lowest-performing public schools, adopt a more rigorous teacher evaluation system, loosen restrictions on public charter schools and expand a business tax credit program that funds scholarships and school educational foundations.
None of the ideas is entirely new; the package represents revised versions of legislative proposals that have been debated, without winning legislative approval, over the past 10 months.
The Rev. Joseph McFadden, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, praised the plan, in a prepared statement calling it "a reasonable beginning to address the educational malaise that exists in the state, especially for children living in poverty with few alternatives to often failing schools."
The diocese operates nine Catholic schools in Lancaster County.
A Christian school association representing several other county schools also had kudos for Corbett's proposal.
"(The plan) provides parents the choice and the ability to access a school that best supports the needs of their child," said David Hegedus, associate director of the Northeast Region of the Association of Christian Schools International, based in Lancaster.
Richard Thomas, superintendent of Lancaster Mennonite School system, said he also supports Corbett's plan.
County public school administrators generally favor a more rigorous teacher evaluation process — five school systems here are already piloting the system — but they had concerns about other elements of Corbett's agenda.
The most controversial is the "opportunity scholarship" program that would award state grants to low-income students in school districts with the lowest-performing schools in the state.
A family of four with an income of $29,000 or less would be eligible for vouchers for tuition at a private school or another public school.
Corbett said scholarship recipients would be subject to state-administered assessments to assure the money is being spent wisely, but he provided no details on how that process would work.
County school superintendents said they don't mind the competition the voucher program is designed to create, but believe all schools receiving state funds should be held to the same academic and enrollment standards.
"Right now, parents have no measure to assess whether or not students are performing better than they were when they started at the new school," said Pedro Rivera, superintendent of School District of Lancaster.
SDL likely would be included in the voucher program because its McCaskey High School campus and Phoenix Academy were listed among the lowest-performing schools in the state.
Washington Education Center, an alternative school in Ephrata Area School District, also was on the list.
Rivera said private schools receiving vouchers should be required to accept all students, just as public schools must, instead of picking whom they enroll.
"I have students who take $90,000-plus a year to educate because of their special needs. Are those students going to be included as educational opportunity scholarship students?
"Are schools going to be required to take students in need of English-language learning services or in need of refugee services?
"Until the governor and state Legislature can address those issues of equity, especially in regard to urban school populations, this isn't school choice."
Other county school officials questioned whether the state should be implementing new programs when it's slashing subsidies to public schools.
In addition to implementing vouchers, the governor wants to expand funding for the Educational Improvement Tax Credit, which this year will provide $75 million worth of tax credits to businesses that donate to scholarship funds and other educational programs, mainly at private schools.
"If they're putting money into EITC tax credits, it will mean less money for public schools," said Bill Clark, superintendent of Manheim Central School District.
With public schools still reeling from $860 million worth of state funding cuts this year, now is not the time to implement a new voucher program, said Gerald Huesken, superintendent of Conestoga Valley School District.
"We are in the midst of economic trouble and budget cuts are the order of the day at all levels of government, including school districts," Huesken wrote Wednesday on his school district blog.
"Yet this proposal — and Gov. Corbett's Opportunity Scholarship Program — amounts to new programs and new mandates for schools that will inevitably cost taxpayers money."
Senate Bill 1, a voucher plan proposed last January, was projected to cost $89 million when it would be opened to all students in districts with failing schools, like the Corbett proposal.
State Education Secretary Ronald Tomalis said he could not put a price tag on Corbett's plan because talks with the Legislature about the package are ongoing.
County school administrators also questioned the merit of a proposal to establish a statewide authority to approve, license and oversee public charter schools, which currently are approved by sponsoring school districts.
Taking charter school control out of the hands of districts, which pay tuition for students who attend them, doesn't make sense, they said.
Corbett vowed to "improve the current payment mechanism" of charter schools as part of his plan, but he didn't outline what that would mean.
Like other local school officials, Michael Leichliter is taking a wait-and-see approach on the governor's education agenda.
Leichliter, superintendent of Penn Manor School District, said the details of the plan won't emerge until specific legislation is proposed to implement the proposals.
Already, opposition to those bills is mounting.
The Pennsylvania School Boards Association and the Pennsylvania State Education Association both oppose the voucher and charter school expansion plans.
Research doesn't support the claims that voucher programs and charter schools boost student achievement, the groups say, and opinion polls over the past year have consistently shown the public opposes taxpayer-funded vouchers.
PSBA also has questioned whether vouchers would violate the state Constitution's prohibition on giving state grants to parents to fund their children's pre-college education.
But supporters say the state needs a new approach to public education that will allow students to leave failing schools, forcing those schools to improve.
McFadden, in his prepared statement, said the reforms are "a defining social justice issue of our society."
If implemented, they would "herald an era in which we focus on the ideal educational environment for each student, not a mandatory system in which students are assigned to a school based solely on geographic location."
News By:
lancasteronline.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment