State of Education in PA 2018

https://www.psba.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018-StateofEducation.pdf

After reviewing this year’s state of public education (2018) produced by PSBA, I have a few takeaways:

Introduction

·         90% of all school age children in PA are enrolled in a public school.

·         The overwhelming challenge is funding.

·         Pension costs are the biggest reported source of budget pressure.

·         The largest challenge for principals and teachers is preparing for the standardized tests.

·         4 year graduation rates surpassed 88%.

·         PA has a large achievement gap between its richest schools and highest poverty schools remains a challenge.

The public education landscape

·         Over 1.5M children were enrolled in school districts for 2016-2017 (4% decrease over the last 5 years).

·         Rural schools make up 26.3% of public school population.

·         Urban schools represent 20.7% of public school population.

·         Suburban schools represent approximately 53% of school aged population.

·         Rural school districts remain heavily white.

·         Urban school districts, students of color are a plurality (black, multiracial, Hispanic).

·         Suburban schools are predominantly white.

·         CTCs are predominantly white.

·         Brick and mortar charter schools are predominantly students of color (black, multiracial, Hispanic).

·         White enrollment in the state is decreasing.

·         Hispanic enrollment in the state is increasing.

Student Achievement

·         By 4^th grade suburban students out score rural and urban students in ELA, math, and science as measured by the PSSA.

·         Rural schools score at the state average for 4^th grade PSSA.

·         Urban schools score at ½ of the state average for the 4^th grade PSSA.

·         4^th grade is the transition from learning to reading to reading to learn.

·         It is hard to move away from teaching to the test when teachers and schools are evaluated based on the results.

·         Students tend to score at higher rates of proficiency on the Keystone Exams as compared to the PSSA.

·         The state needs to figure out what they/we are doing with the Keystone Exams and graduation.

·         Nearly 2/3 of principals were confident that at least 80% of their graduates are ready for life after high school.

·         Over 77% of principals believe that critical skills are most necessary for life after graduation.

Challenges

·         Chief school administrators rate budget pressure/lack of funding as the primary challenge.

·         Everything costs more each year and the local real estate revenue along with the state revenue does not come near covering expenses so everything else is reduced, thus giving less to the students.

·         As the need and interest for more students to complete career and technical programs, our sending districts’ financial pictures are bleak. Therefore, this impacts our ability to grow or expand as they cannot financially support expansions.

School Finances

·         The largest pressures on school budgets are pension costs, charter school tuition payments, and special education costs.

·         To solve the problem of budget pressure schools are drawing from fund balances or raising local real estate taxes.

·         The 2 largest areas of expenditure that were cut; staffing levels and building/maintenance upgrades..

·         School districts receive $28.5B from the state in 2015-2016 (3.3% increase over the previous year).

·         When compared to other states, Pennsylvania ranks 47^th out of 50 states for the state % of educational funding and 3^rd out of 50 states for the % of educational funding from local sources.

·         In a nut shell, SE PA suburban school districts are wealthy enough to pay for themselves. As one moves north and west, the picture becomes more bleak with schools relying on the state for up to 80% of total revenues.

·         Property taxes are the single largest source of local revenue for school districts.

·         In 2015-2016 PA school districts collected $12.6B in taxes accounting for 44.3% of total revenue.

·         For 2018-2019, 87% of the state is expected to have a tax increase.

·         School Districts spent $28.3B in 2015-2016 which was a 3.4% increase from 2014-2015.

·         58.8% of all expenditures were on instruction.

·         Since 2009-2010 pension costs have increased 434%.

·         Pension costs now consume more than 10% of all school district spending.

·         More than 2/3 of brick and mortar charter schools are located in urban areas.

·         6.8% of all school districts have NO fund balance

Special Education

·         85% of special education students were educated in the regular education classroom at least 40% of the time.

·         Over the last 5 years special education expenses have outpaced state revenue increases by 7X.

·         90% of special education students receive programming less than $25K per student per year.

·         1% of special education students receiving programming in excess of $75K per student per year.

Transportation

·         Transportation constitutes 5% of spending.

·         Only 8.8% of districts provide their own transportation.

Educational Equity

·         Poverty contributes to limited access to technology at home, a lack of permanent housing, and struggling to keep food on the table.

·         An estimated 328K PA children between ages 6-17 live in households below the federal poverty limit in acute poverty.

·         The achievement gap between the highest and lowest poverty school districts is considerable.

·         School districts with the highest poverty do not have the same level of revenue and expenditures as their lowest poverty peers.

·         33.5% of PA students are students of color (black, multiracial, Hispanic).

·         5.5% of teachers are minorities.

Career and Technical Education

·         Over 80% of career and technical education students are proficient on the NOCTI.

·         CTC directors believe that at least 90% of their graduates were ready for the next steps in their educational or vocational lives.

·         The biggest challenge in attracting students to ctc programs is the perception of the school.

So Now that You Walked Out What Has Changed

            I write these personal thoughts. Obviously, these thoughts are impacted by my chosen vocation of professional education.

            Thousands of schools across the country had to navigate the waters of disruption this week. The National School Walkout Sponsored by the Women’s March was held on March 14^th. Some schools embraced it, some condemned it, others tolerated it. According to https://www.womensmarch.com/enough-faq , part of the purpose of the event was to “refer to gun violence, we do not overlook the impact of police brutality and militarized policing, or see police in schools as a solution. We also recognize the United States has exported gun violence through imperialist foreign policy to destabilize other nations. We raise our voices for action against all these forms of gun violence.” Regardless after 10:17 a.m. on March 14^th, what has changed?

            The short answer is; NOTHING!

            After the protest, the students walked back to class and resumed life. Something the 17 victims of Parkland cannot do. If we want to show respect for Parkland, if we want to make a change, we need to unify not divide. The protest did not embrace, the protest divided. Students were divided against students. What were the social repercussions of participation? What were the social repercussions of nonparticipation? School administration was put into a conundrum. How do they embrace a desire for students to be heard without disruption of the school day and without engaging in radical political behavior? The desire to show sympathy for Parkland and the desire for common sense change was prostituted by a radical political agenda. A 17 minute remembrance does not constitute a change in behavior. Since 10:17 a.m. on March 14^th how many cyberattacks have occurred? How many social media warriors have taken to their text and post ill against another human being? How many of the protestors ignored the isolated troubled student sitting by themselves alone in the corner of the cafeteria? Imagine the despair of being totally alone amongst a crowd of hundreds.

            If we want to stand with Parkland, if we have had enough perhaps Ryan Petty, the father of Alaina, one of the students killed in last month's shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, has the answer. He has proposed an alternative to the school walkouts being held around the country. "Instead of walking out of school in March 14, encourage students to walk up," he posted on Twitter. "Walk up to the kid who sits alone at lunch and invite him to sit with your group; walk up to the kid who sits quietly in the corner of the room and sit next to her. ... Walk up to your teachers and thank them; walk up to someone who has different views than you and get to know them -- you may be surprised at how much you have in common."

            Retired teacher, David Blair, writes; “Walking out of school is easy compared to what this letter will challenge you to do.” He adds; “First of all, put down your stupid phone. Look around you at your classmates. Do you see the kid over in the corner, alone? He could likely be our next shooter. He needs a friend. He needs you. Go and talk to him, befriend him. Chances are, he won’t be easy to like, but it’s mainly because no one has tried to like him. Ask him about him. Get to know him. He’s just like you in that respect; he wants someone to recognize him as a fellow human being but few people have ever given him the chance. You can.” Encouraging engagement over the long-term does more than 17 minutes of division. Blair correctly identifies that the students themselves are the answer when he writes: “Look past yourself and look past your phone and look into the eyes of a student who no one else sees. Meet the gaze of a fellow human being desperate to make contact with anyone, even just one person. You. If you really feel the need to walk, walk toward that person. Your new friendship can relieve the heartache of one person and in doing so, possibly prevent the unjustifiable heartache of hundreds of lives in the future. I know you. I trust you. You are the answer.”

            The unfortunate reality is that the 17 minutes of division has not solved the problem. It was not a step in the right direction. It was easy to do a one-time act, stick it to the authority under the guise of protest, be utilized as a pawn of a radical political agenda and then return to class to re-establish adolescent higharchies of popularity and social status.

            Another unfortunate reality is change takes time. Beyond laws, we are looking for societal behavior to change. We are asking student to engage, not disengage. We are asking students to engage the lonely and isolated.

            I pray for peace. I pray for understanding. I pray for Parkland and all the victims of gun violence. I pray for common sense legislation based on compromise. I pray for the treatment of our mentally ill. I pray that our nation return to prayer to our Creator and not moments of silence. I pray that we take the time to go beyond the headlines and use our powers of intellect to analyze these complex issues that face our society. In conclusion, social media warriors get your thumbs ready! I am convinced that analysis and reflection will be rejected and replaced with electronic vitriol. Or maybe I’m wrong and we can think before we act. As Mahatma Ghandi said; “Be the change we want to see in the world.”

Open Letter from a Teacher to Students Walking Out.....

http://www.ktsa.com/open-letter-teacher-students-walking/

“Dear Students,

I know you. I am a retired teacher of 24 years. I have taught you as 7th graders all the way through 12th grade. This is not a tweet or a text. It’s called a letter; lengthy and substantial. Do you really want to make a difference? Are you sincere about making your schools safe? Don’t walk out, read this instead. Walking out of school is easy compared to what this letter will challenge you to do.

First of all, put down your stupid phone. Look around you at your classmates. Do you see the kid over in the corner, alone? He could likely be our next shooter. He needs a friend. He needs you. Go and talk to him, befriend him. Chances are, he won’t be easy to like, but it’s mainly because no one has tried to like him. Ask him about him. Get to know him. He’s just like you in that respect; he wants someone to recognize him as a fellow human being but few people have ever given him the chance. You can.

Next, see that kid eating lunch all alone? He could likely be our next shooter. Invite him to eat lunch with you. Introduce him into your fold of friends. You’ll most likely catch a lot of flack from the friends you eat with because they don’t want him upsetting the balance of their social order. After all, who you hang out with is critical to your status, is it not? If status is important to you, don’t you think it’s important to him also? The only difference being that he has no status because generally, shooters have no friends. Are you serious about wanting to make your school safe? Invite him to your lunch table and challenge your friends to do something meaningful with thirty minutes of their lives each day.

Lastly, are you completely frustrated by that kid who always disrupts your class and is consistently sent to the principal’s office? He could likely be our next shooter. Do you know why he causes so much trouble? He initiates disruption because that’s the only thing he does that gets him attention, and even bad attention is better than the no attention he receives from you and your classmates. You secretly wish he would get kicked out of school or sent to the alternative disciplinary school so that he wouldn’t disrupt your classes anymore, that somehow, he would just disappear. Guess what? He already feels invisible in a school of thousands of classmates, you included. So, before he acts out in your next class, why don’t you tell him you’d be willing to help him with the assignment that was just given? Or why don’t you ask him to join your study group? If you really want to blow his mind, ask him for help on the assignment. He’s never been asked that. Ever.

If you’ve read this far, you probably really do care about the safety of your school. Don’t trust that walking out of school will bring an answer. Gun control or more laws is not, and will not, be the answer. You are the answer. Your greeting, your smile, your gentle human touch is the only thing that can change the world of a desperate classmate who may be contemplating something as horrendous as a school shooting. Look past yourself and look past your phone and look into the eyes of a student who no one else sees. Meet the gaze of a fellow human being desperate to make contact with anyone, even just one person. You. If you really feel the need to walk, walk toward that person. Your new friendship can relieve the heartache of one person and in doing so, possibly prevent the unjustifiable heartache of hundreds of lives in the future. I know you. I trust you. You are the answer.

And teachers, my fellow guardians of our youth, I know you too. I know the desire of wanting to make a difference in a young person’s life. I know the thrill of stepping in front of a classroom of students but simultaneously intimidated by the trust bestowed upon you. I also know the crushing, sometimes unbearable responsibility that your shoulders are asked to carry. But that’s why you got into teaching, because you have big shoulders. And a big heart. You’re overworked (I would add underpaid, but you didn’t get into teaching for the pay, so it needn’t be said), underappreciated and exhausted. May I add one more item to that list? You’re also a miracle waiting to happen in the life of your worst student. He could likely be our next shooter. The next time (and there’s always a next time) he’s ready to wreak havoc in your classroom, I challenge you to pull him aside and ask him if he’s ok, if there is something bothering him and is there anything you can do to help? Your genuine concern for him may be just the miracle he’s looking for. The miracle we’re all looking for. I know you. I trust you. You are the answer.

A former teacher who is as heartbroken as you and trusting you not to walk out on the real answer,
David (yes, teachers really do have first names) Blai

Guns, Mental Health, and God

            As we discuss the latest school shooting in the United States, I am compelled to share my thoughts. I have been in public education for over 26 years. My career precedes Columbine. Since Columbine, the United States has endured 25 school shootings. Before we have time to grieve or bury the dead, the political pundits advocate for their side of the aisle. The national discussion about school safety has no singular cause or solution. Reasonable gun control, addressing the mental health needs of society, and acknowledging we have lost our faith are pillars of this debate.

            I am a believer in the 2^nd amendment. My personal gun safe has several handguns, shot guns, and hunting rifles. I am not anti-gun. That being stated, our freedoms are not unlimited. Our latest school shooter could not legally purchase a 6 pack of beer, but could legally purchase an assault rifle. The government is within its right to regulate the sales of weapons. According to a February poll conducted by Quinnipiac, support for universal background checks is itself almost universal, 97 - 2 percent, including 97 - 3 percent among gun owners. It also makes sense to delay purchases of all guns until 21. A younger individual would not be precluded from possessing or utilizing the weapon. The individual would be precluded from purchasing the weapon.

            According to the Washington Post, the United States spends over $100 billion on mental health treatment. That works out to about 5.6 percent of the national health-care spending. Mental health dollars mostly go toward prescription drugs and outpatient treatment. States cut $1.8 billion from their mental health budgets during the recession. As we have cut our mental health dollars, services, and institutions more of our mentally ill end up in prison. The departments of corrections are ill-equipped and not designed to treat mental illness. We may profess otherwise but the primary purpose of prison is to warehouse those individuals who have broken the norms of society.

            We must also acknowledge that the United States is now a secular country. In short, we have lost our faith. God was officially removed from schools in the early 1960s. In the Engel v. Vitale case in 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court made its first-ever decision on prayer in public schools. This was the first in a series of cases in which the Supreme Court of the United States used the establishment clause to eliminate religious activities in schools. These activities were traditionally a part of public school activities. It made its second in 1963—the Abington School District v. Schempp ruling, which made the corporate reading of the Bible and recitation of the Lord's Prayer unlawful in public schools. Although I understand that the government should not endorse one religion, in this case Christianity, over another religion, I believe the court went too far. Americans are promised a freedom of religion, not a freedom from religion. Any religion, be it Judaism, Christianity, Hindu, Buddhism, etc. provide a code of conduct. This moral code guides the believer. Certain things are right. Certain things are wrong. Over the last half century, those certainties and standards have been eroded.

            Do you remember when school was a sacred place? Do you remember when a teacher was revered/respected? Would you have ever gone home and complained about the actions of a teacher, that they were “mean” to you? Do you remember having your “school clothes” as compared to your play clothes (fyi- we also had bed clothes called pajamas and didn’t think to wear them to school)? In addition to the erosion of the sanctity that was our place of worship and our God, the school has become less ideal. Due to a change in societal attitude, we place the word of a child at the same level as the word of an adult. We question and challenge the role and authority of the teacher.

            We have devalued what it means to be an adult. People half my age have no problem addressing me by my first name. All too often I have heard adults of my generation, encourage the practice. We were raised to address adults with appropriate courtesies. If we put minors on the same level as adults, why would students not feel they are on the same level as teachers?

            Let the criticism begin. In today’s partisan society there is no room for compromise. If I express a desire for background checks, the right will condemn me. If I refuse to surrender my weapons, the left will condemn me. To say we have lost our faith, this sinner may be condemned as a religious zealot. Regardless we must understand that complex problems require serious solutions. No political purity test will solve the problem Tip O’Neil and Ronald Reagan used to argue during the day and eat dinner together at night. I ask us to acknowledge common sense compromise. I ask us to treat our mentally ill rather than imprison them. Finally, it is the duty of all believers to spread the word.

What is the ROI for an education?

            If education is an investment, then what is the return? Business asks itself all the time, what will be the return on these invested capital resources? As a father of 3 children ages 16-21, I challenge my children to look at their educational choices and get the best ROI that they can. My children are of different abilities, interests, etc. I expect different career pathways for each of them. What should be the constant is that if we are going to pay for the education, then that education needs to pay off.

            No one single pathway is correct. The skilled trades are not for everyone. Neither is college. Young people need to answer, what do I like to do? What skills and/or knowledge to I need to have to do that job? How much will that cost? What can I expect to make after investing the resources of time, effort, energy, and money?

            Skilled trades are occupations that require special skills and work that is typically done with your hands. Skilled trade jobs can be found in construction, service and industrial areas. Training for skilled trades often combines classroom time with on the job training. Some examples of skilled trade occupations include electrician, auto mechanic or machinist.

At LCCTC, we offer 14 different vocational programs that lead to entry level work in a variety of careers. Students pick and area of interest and over a 3 year curriculum gain the skills and knowledge necessary to enter the workforce. This education comes at no cost to the student. The student enters the workforce with no debt.

Many skilled trade workers are in high demand! Someone looking for work in the skilled trades will find large increases in online job postings from just a year ago. Many skilled trade industries showed tremendous growth in our area: construction, machining, welding, fabrication, health care occupations to name a few. The need for some skilled trades is expected to continue not only in Lawrence County, but across the nation.

According to the Pennsylvania Center for Workforce Information and Analysis (http://www.workstats.dli.pa.gov/Products/HPOs/Pages/default.aspx), ten of the top 15 jobs in our area do NOT require a college degree. They require skills, experience, and training.

 Education does pay. Getting a degree does pay. In its most recent survey, the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that for 10 broad degree categories ranging from engineering to communications, 2016 graduates are projected to have an average salary of $50,556. That's up 5% from 2014, when new grads earned an average of $48,127.

College degrees to have a cost. According to their Project on Student Debt, 68% of 2015 bachelor's degree recipients graduated with student loan debt. The average was $30,100 per borrower. One-quarter of graduate students borrow nearly $100,000, and another 1 in 10 borrow more than $150,000. Before any other expenses, students will have to address that debt.

I currently have one child who is currently in the workforce, one child currently pursuing post-secondary education, and one child still in high school. I encourage them to follow their dreams. But also understand if your passion does not produce a good paycheck, your dream will be a financial nightmare.