Charter Schools
ICYMI – PA Republicans pass massive charter school & school voucher expansion
Form our friends at Education Voters of PA: Last week in the House, Republicans passed four charter school bills. One bill in the package, HB 357, is the Holy Grail expansion bill that the charter industry has been seeking for years. If HB 357 becomes law, charter school expansion will be turbocharged throughout the commonwealth.…
Read MoreICYMI- New report shows overwhelmingly negative results for PA’s cyber charter students
From Education Voters of PA: MEMO To: Interested Parties From: Susan Spicka, Executive Director, Education Voters of PA Date: June 4, 2019 Re: CREDO’s Charter School Performance in Pennsylvania (2019) report finds overwhelmingly negative results for students in cyber charter schools and mixed results for brick-and-mortar charter schools. Read the full report here. A recent study released…
Read MoreCALL TO ACTION – Act now to push for necessary change to the Charter Appeals Board (CAB)!
Act now to push for necessary change to the Charter Appeals Board (CAB)! As BASD Proud Parents recently posted, of the Pennsylvania Charter Appeals Board’s 5 active members… ALL are serving long past the end-date of their initial term, and NONE are directly affiliated with or bringing the perspective of traditional public schools to CAB…
Read MoreFYI – This is Not How Democracy Should Work – The Underlying Problem with the Charter Appeals Board
from a recent post on Diane Ravitch’s blog: Recently, the elected School Board of Pittsburgh unanimously rejected a charter school called Catalyst Academy because of concern about its proposed disciplinary policy and its ability to meet the needs of students with disabilities. The School Board’s decision was overturned by the state’s Charter Appeals Board, which was appointed…
Read MoreICYMI – Stop the Charter School Expansion Bills!
From Our good friends at Education Voters of PA! Last week Republican members of the House Education Committee advanced two charter school expansion bills that deliver the charter school industry’s wish list. We anticipate that the House will vote on these bills in early June. Click HERE to send a letter to your state representative telling…
Read MoreICYMI–PETITION–End Tom Corbett’s influence over education in PA
From our good friends at Education Voters of Pennsylvania http://educationvoterspa.org/: Tom Corbett was voted out of office more than four years ago, yet his appointees continue to control the Charter School Appeal Board (CAB), a powerful body that can overturn school board decisions to deny charter school applications and strip communities of control over their…
Read MoreCyber Charter Funding Reform Needed Now
Recently, our friends at Education Voters of PA issued a report that examines Pennsylvania’s flawed cyber school funding system and provides recommendations for a new system that will more closely match the funding sent to cyber charter schools with the actual cost of providing students with an online education. This proposal would help control property tax…
Read MoreBackpack Full of Cash Screening
You Are Invited to A Free Screening presented by BASD Proud Parents and the Bethlehem Area School District MARCH 21, 6:30pm – 8:00pm NITSCHMANN MIDDLE SCHOOL Discussion to Follow “BACKPACK FULL OF CASH” DOCUMENTARY – Narrated by Academy Award-winning actor, Matt Damon, BACKPACK explores the real cost of privatizing America’s public schools. Before the 2016…
Read MoreHow a charter school tuition change could cost Pa. districts dearly
This post is a follow up in detail on a previeous article we tweeted a few days ago. By Sara K. Satullo ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com, For lehighvalleylive.com Updated May 1; Posted May 1 Bethlehem Area School District taxpayers are facing another school tax hike that has school board members fired up about Pennsylvania’s charter school funding formula. The school board held a budget workshop Monday night to…
Read MoreHow a loophole let charter schools ‘buy’ buildings and still collect rent from state
A recent Morning Call article detailing how a PA loophole is allowing charter schools to essentially rip of PA taxpayers by allowing them to buy their buildings and still collect state reimbursed rent money. You can read the full article here: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-nws-allentown-executive-education-academy-charter-school-lease-reimbursements-20171204-story.html#nws=true BASD Proud Parents is strictly pro-public education. We are an independent group with…
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