Friday Education Update: Armstrong tax hikes, work study cuts and charter schools
Good morning! It's finally Friday. In today's education update: Armstrong tax hikes, work study cuts and charter schools.
I'm passing the baton to TribLIVE Education Team member Emily Balser. She'll be taking over the daily education update next week. Follow her on Twitter: @emilybalser
Questions? Story ideas? Send them to schooltips@tribweb.com or call 724-226-4680.
LOCAL
ARMSTRONG TAX HIKES: The Freeport School Board didn't raise taxes for next school year, but the district's Armstrong County residents still will see a 2 percent tax increase. That's because the school district is split between Butler and Armstrong counties, which assess properties differently.
LOCAL BUSINESS GRANTS : Penn State New Kensington is offering funding for local businesses to make improvements to buildings along the “Corridor of Innovation” in New Kensington. The school's Entrepreneur Center is located in the same area, between the 700 and 1100 blocks of Fifth Avenue. Building owners are eligible to receive up to $1,000 to make improvements such as painting, murals, repairs, restoration and signage.
300K UP FOR GRABS: Carnegie Mellon University wants to bring its top-tier transportation innovation and research to municipalities in Western Pennsylvania. The university's Traffic21 institute announced the Smart Mobility Challenge on Thursday, making up to $300,000 available to CMU faculty and students to pilot transportation projects in select communities.
HARRISBURG
CYBER CHARTERS: An amendment establishing the Task Force on Cyber Charter Student Achievement within the state Department of Education was referred to the Senate Education Committee yesterday. Read SB 766, here. Co-sponsors include local Senators Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland) and James Brewster (D-Allegheny and Westmoreland).
EARLY ED: State Departments of Education and Human Services will call for support of the governor's proposed investment in early childhood education at a press event Friday.
Executive Deputy Secretary for the Department of Education David Volkman and Deputy Secretary for the Office of Child Development and Early Learning Suzann Morris will hold the press event at the Hansel and Gretel Early Learning Center in Harrisburg.
Governor Tom Wolf's proposed budget includes a $75 million increase in early childhood education. The proposed House budget plan reduces that number by $50 million and includes $62.9 million in cuts to Child Care Services and Child Care Assistance appropriations.
Read more about how early childhood education--preschool and pre-k--prepares students for success and the challenges local schools are facing, here.
STATE
AGORA GRADS: The Agora Cyber Charter School awarded about 800 diplomas to the Class of 2017 on Thursday. Of the 800 graduates, 26 are from Allegheny County and 16 are from Westmoreland. The cyber charter serves about 7,600 students in grades kindergarten through 12th grade across the state.
NATION
TRUMP CUTS WORK STUDY: The Trump administration's 2018 budget seeks to cut funding for work-study nearly in half from $990 million to $500 million, leaving 300,000 students without access to the program.
The Education Department says the change will make the program better targeted by focusing on undergraduate students who would benefit most. The reductions are part of a 13 percent funding cut for the department, which involves student aid and K-12 programs.
DEVOS AND CHARTERS: Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos met with thousands of charter school educators and advocates in Washington, D.C. this week.
EdWeek explains why this is important: While the Trump administration's proposed budget increases funding for charter schools, it also cuts funding for programs that serve both traditional public schools as well as charters.
“Charter schools, just like traditional public schools take advantage of many of the same programs that Trump wants to cut in his budget in order to boost funding for choice, including grants for teacher quality and afterschool programs,” EdWeek reports.
In her address, DeVos told charter school leaders, “Charters are not the one cure-all to the ills that beset education,” reports Chalkbeat.
U.S. News & World Report described DeVos' remarks as “tough love” for charter schools, and offers a play-by-play analysis of the speech here.
DeVos also warned charters against becoming “the man,” reports EdWeek. “Many who call themselves reformers have become just another breed of bureaucrats,” DeVos said in a speech.
EXTRA CREDIT
WESTMORELAND DRUG COURTS: On Thursday, 58-year-old Jeffrey Patterson of Greensburg and Chris Andring, 44, of New Kensington became the first two graduates of the Westmoreland County drug court program.
The special court was initiated in 2015 as county officials struggled with a growing drug epidemic that has flooded courtrooms with cases and prisons with addicted defendants. The number of fatal drug overdoses in Westmoreland County has set record highs every year since 2009.
Their stories, here.
CALLING ALL MYSTERY LOVERS: Seton Hill University and the Westmoreland Library Network are calling all mystery lovers. The university and the library network have joined forces to bring award-winning novelist and Boston-based investigative journalist Hank Phillippi Ryan to Greensburg on June 24 for a 7 p.m. lecture at the Seton Hill Performing Arts Center. The event is open to the public. Tickets are free through the Seton Hill University box office at 724-552-2929 or www.setonhill.edu/tickets.
