• Plan Con – As you may be aware, school districts have not received any payouts for construction projects over the past two years and there has been a moratorium on any new projects. I attended a joint organization meeting at the Capitol with House and Senate aide members to discuss the future of Plan Con. Currently, there is an advisory committee working on coming up with recommendations for a new Plan Con process for the future. While that is going on, the State is getting ready to go out for bonds in order to start making the payments for the projects already in the pipeline. The problem is that the bond process, at this point in time, does not include any borrowing for any future projects which will essentially shut down the State’s funding of school construction projects. With the aging of buildings, etc., we believe that any future borrowing should include funding for school projects. We are working in a joint effort with the other educational organizations to make sure that any borrowing includes an option for future projects.
• House Bill 1858 – This proposed bill would amend the Public School Code and require all high school students (no matter what school they attend) to take and receive a passing grade on the United States Citizenship Test on Civics, produced by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. The test would consist of 100 questions and students would be required to obtain a minimum score of 60%. This test would begin in the 2020-2021 school year and a passing score would be necessary for graduation or a GED.

  The PA Principals Association along with other educational organizations will be opposing this bill and will be providing testimony in the coming week. The reasons for our opposition include but are not limited to the following: a) we do not need another test at any level, b) Chapter 4 outlines standards for civics and citizenship and high school students participate and are assessed as part of the course, c) knowledge on a test does not make a person a good citizen – we need to look at their actions as part of their community engagement, d) the civics courses and standards are far more rigorous than the 100-question test being proposed.

• ESSA – The PA Principals Association continues to be involved in the development of our state’s ESSA plan. PDE has been engaging stakeholders in discussion about four areas: assessment, accountability, certification and educator evaluation. There is one additional meeting of the stakeholder group in October and then PDE plans to hold listening tours around the state about the ESSA plan. We hope that the recommendations made by the stakeholder groups will stay the course when the legislators begin their review and hearings.
• Focus on Education – Dr. Joe Clapper, PA Principals Association Assistant Executive Director, and I recently taped a television program held monthly by the Education Policy and Leadership Center (EPLC) on the PCN network. The half-hour show was a discussion about current topics in education. The broadcast will air this Sunday, Sept. 11, at 3 PM on PCN.

Dr. Paul M. Healey, Executive Director 

PA Principals Association