The House Education Committee met this week to hear presentation on the state of rural school districts in Pennsylvania. Dr Arnold Hillman, a former superintendent, made the presentation to the committee. Dr Hillman pointed out many of the problems faced by rural schools. He did this so that committee members will be better informed when later this year they are faced with deciding legislative and budget issues that may have a negative impact on rural school districts.
The committee also heard a presentation from Dr. Ted Hershberg, a professor of public policy and history at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Hershberg discussed how value-added assessment, developed by William Sanders for the state of Tennessee, could be used in Pennsylvania. Value-added assessment uses the student’s prior achievement information to date to predict how well they will do in a particular classroom setting. The Pennsylvania Department of Education is currently running a pilot project with 32 school districts. Editorial note: While it is too soon to determine what the new administration will do with this project, many members of the House Education Committee were interested in knowing more about this research and it is expected to be an issue in the upcoming months. Your association will continue to monitor this project and be involved in how it may affect principals.
The United States Senate passed several amendments providing additional funding of $6.6 billion to be used by school districts for No Child Left Behind implementation. A total of $1.6 billion of that money would be available for the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). However, the House version provides only about one-third of the money, as does the Senate version. A joint committee of legislators from the House and Senate has been named to meet and work out a possible compromise. Arlen Specter (R-PA) is the only member of Congress from Pennsylvania appointed to the committee. Members are asked to contact Senator Arlen Specter, 711 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington D.C. 20510, Fax (202) 228-0604. They should ask his support for the $6.6 billion because:
Ø Current Title I funding only allows for the about one-third of students needing this assistance to be served.
Ø Unless funding is provided it will be impossible to meet all the requirements Congress has imposed by its No Child Left Behind legislation.
At the state level, two bills were introduced that are of interest to principals. Senate Bill 25 that could provide retirement credit for unused sick leave, and Senate Bill 56, which would allow members to retire with no penalty after 30 years of service. Both bills were referred to the Senate Finance Committee where they will linger in the foreseeable future. It is not expected that legislators will even consider any type of legislation on retirement until the Governor introduces the budget.
As of the date of this writing, the Senate had not scheduled a Senate confirmation hearing for Secretary of Education nominee, Dr. Vicki Phillips.