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RE: Opposition to Senate Bill 1192, PN 1871:
Reauthorization of the Education Empowerment Act
Dear Senator:
Over the last decade, Pennsylvania public schools have shown remarkable
academic progress, with test scores significantly increasing for even the most
disadvantaged students. The undersigned organizations recognize that more
improvements must be made in order to provide every student the
opportunity they deserve for academic success. Unfortunately Senate Bill
1192 as currently written does not accomplish these improvements and, in
fact, may even undermine some of the significant advances made thus far.
Accomplishing the shared vision of academic success for all students requires a
more innovative and customized approach than simply enacting legislation like
Senate Bill 1192 which imposes Harrisburg‐based bureaucracy and top‐down
state control into our local schools. Instead, we should look to the significant
number of successful schools throughout Pennsylvania whose best practices
and models for academic success could be expanded and replicated in the
struggling schools of our Commonwealth. This could and should be done
through a system of supports and incentives but that is not the model
employed by Senate Bill 1192.
Public schools throughout the state are improving academic achievement by
investing in proven, research‐based strategies – such as early childhood
education, smaller class size, individualized supports for students at risk of
academic failure, enhanced parental involvement, transition programs for
middle school and 9th grade, effective curriculum and instruction, maximizing
instructional time, improving student assessment measures, improving
programs for special education students and English Language Learners,
enhanced career and technical education, and improving out‐of‐school
learning opportunities. In addition, these schools recognize that for students
to learn to their maximum potential, they also need to be educated in a
positive and safe school climate where their health and wellness is nourished.
Adequate funding and resources are needed to support and sustain these
reforms, especially in school districts with high numbers of children in poverty
and other students who are relatively expensive to educate.
Rather than focusing on these proven strategies for helping increase student
achievement, Senate Bill 1192 instead provides the state with immediate
control over hundreds of individual schools and dozens of school districts and
authorizes the state to turn them over to charter companies or private
education management organizations who do not have a proven record of
success, to close or dissolve the schools and districts, to fire teachers and
administrators, and to take other far‐reaching actions. This could all occur over the
objection of locally elected school officials. Accountability is important; but truly
effective education accountability systems must include a realistic balance of state
incentives and local authority. Senate Bill 1192 simply takes the wrong approach, is
much too far out of balance, and would radically increase state power and bureaucracy
over the Commonwealth’s public schools.
If Senate Bill 1192 were to become law, over 80 schools in Allegheny County, over 30 in
Delaware County, 25 in Lancaster County, 17 in Westmoreland County, 26 in York
County, and hundreds more throughout the state could be affected.
We believe that Senate Bill 1192 contains the wrong framework for improving
Pennsylvania’s struggling public schools. It does not incorporate solutions to address
the reality that most of Pennsylvania’s struggling schools are located in the state’s
poorest communities, already have high property taxes, and face complicated social and
economic community‐based challenges. The state has a crucial role to play in providing
support for local school districts to build on the promising education reforms already
being made in their communities. State support should include training, technical
assistance, accountability measures, and adequate funding and resources. But the state
cannot successfully operate hundreds of failing schools or make management decisions
for dozens of school districts, as would be the effect if Senate Bill 1192 were enacted.
When Senate Bill 1192 comes up for a vote, we strongly urge you to vote against it.
Thank you for your consideration of this important matter and we stand ready to work
with you to develop the right solution for helping our struggling public schools.
Sincerely,
Ted Kirsch, President Baruch Kintisch, Policy Director
AFT Pennsylvania Education Law Center
Susan Gobreski, Executive Director Janis Risch, Executive Director
Education Voters of Pennsylvania Good Schools Pennsylvania
Joan Duvall‐Flynn, Ed.D., President Jim Buckheit, Executive Director
Media Area Branch, NAACP Pennsylvania Association of School
Administrators
Joe Bard, Executive Director Marianne T. Bartley, Ed.D., President
Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Pennsylvania League of Urban Schools
Small Schools
Tom Gentzel, Executive Director Jim Testerman, President
Pennsylvania School Boards Association Pennsylvania State Education Association