10 results for author: Ceaera McDermott

Racial disparities abound in school funding formulas

By Crystal Echeverria I am writing to you in hopes that this letter will be published, shared, and read by not only the First Lady Frances Wolf, but by the people of Pennsylvania, who deserve to know there is racism in our school funding, and nothing is being done about it. Presently, I am a student who had the opportunity to intern with a firm that does research, marketing, and outreach for fair school funding, called Support Equity First. During the internship, I learned about the blatant racism in Pennsylvania school funding. It was so horrific that I shared this information with my friends. Needless to say, my friends were equally shocked...

Why Landing On The ‘Best Schools’ List Is Not Something To Celebrate

September 04, 2020 | Neema Avashia Randolph Public School buses parked behind the high school. Randolph High School ranked 114th in Boston Magazine's most recent ranking. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR) This week, Boston Magazine released their annual list of the “Best Public High Schools in Greater Boston” — or rather, the best schools in the geographic vicinity in and around 495. The list measures 149 schools on the basis of things like class size, test scores and student-teacher ratio. Number 1 on the list this year? Acton-Boxborough. Number 149 on the list? Madison Park Technical Vocational High School. (Madison Park is in the Boston ...

A Rosh Hashanah ritual calls out alleged public school failings in Philly

by Sam Wood, Posted: September 20, 2020 There is no lake, sea, or stream outside the headquarters of the School District of Philadelphia. That wasn’t going to stop the performance of a Jewish purification ritual that usually calls for handfuls of breadcrumbs, representing sins or failings, to be cast into a body of water that carries them away. A trio of rabbis led a Tashlich ceremony Sunday in front of the School District offices, marking the Jewish new year by calling out a litany of ways state and local government have failed city schoolchildren. “Traditionally, Tashlich is a personal ritual,” said Rabbi Linda Holtzman of the ...

My Turn: Separate and unequal: The problem with Pennsylvania’s public school funding

Crystal Echeverria | October 8, 2020 In 1896, the Supreme Court established separate, but “equal”, public schools for black and white students. Almost a century later in 1954, the Supreme Court struck down the doctrine of “separate but equal”, and ordered an end to school segregation. If you know anything about the landmark case of Brown vs. the Board of Education, you would know that Black students were denied the same opportunities that white students had when it came to schooling. Furthermore, if you know anything about the time before 1896, you would know that it was against the law for African American people to attend school. There ...

If #BlackLivesMatter, why does Pennsylvania have the most racist school funding in the nation? | Opinion

Posted Aug 22, 2020 By Crystal Echeverria I am a student in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. I am not blind to what has been happening for decades in my state. School districts with large minority populations are under-funded by millions of dollars every year in basic and Special Education funding. Some of the most underfunded school districts include Harrisburg School District (the capital city) which was underfunded by $37 million, Reading by $101 million, Scranton by $29 million, City of Philadelphia by $440 million and York by $59 Million, every year! Even though they signed school funding formula laws, the Governor and General Assembly ...

Delaware settles education lawsuit, more than doubles funding to address equity

By Zoë Read October 12, 2020 The state of Delaware has settled a 2018 lawsuit that accused the state of being complicit in the disparities experienced by students who are low income, have disabilities or are English language learners. As part of the settlement between Gov. John Carney, the NAACP of Delaware and Delawareans for Educational Opportunity, the state will allocate millions of dollars in funding to support students who are most in need. “Delaware’s current educational resource allocation system does not recognize the additional needs of children living in poverty and English learners. That system is outdated and inequitable,...

Renewed push to change education formula; York would see benefits

by Michael Gorsegner | Friday, February 22nd 2019 There is a renewed push at the state capitol to change the way school districts receive state funding. And that could mean a huge shift in where the money is heading. “It would be huge. Not just for York city which is underfunded but for West York as well as York Suburban,” said Representative Carol Hill-Evans, (D) York. Estimates show that the York City School District is underfunded by nearly $52 million. That’s the result of the current fair funding formula which went into effect three years ago. A new proposal would change that formula again meaning a big win for schools and ...

Hill-Evans, House Democratic Policy Committee explore Fair Education Funding Policy Committee

Policy Committee    March 7, 2018 | 3:48 PM YORK, March 7 – State Rep. Carol Hill-Evans, D-York, today hosted a House Democratic Policy Committee hearing at the York City School District Administration Building on fair education funding in Pennsylvania. Members of the House Democratic Policy Committee hearing, including Chairman Mike Sturla, D-Lancaster, joined Hill-Evans for the discussion on how funding education in an equitable manner will benefit students, educators and the commonwealth as a whole. “All Pennsylvania children should have access to a quality education experience, regardless of their zip code. It’s ...

WE JOIN PA SCHOOLS WORK TO CALL FOR $175 BILLION IN EMERGENCY FEDERAL AID TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS

On July 1, the PA Schools Work coalition sent a joint letter to Pennsylvania Senators Casey and Toomey, calling for federal funding for K-12 schools facing deep revenue shortfalls due to COVID-19 July 1, 2020 Dear Senators Casey and Toomey: There is no clearer example of the uncertainties created by the COVID-19 pandemic than the challenges public schools are facing as they close out this school year and look towards reopening in the fall. It is a tense time, and we are trying to teach our children about what to do and how to be safe, including showing them the proper way to wear a kids face mask, as well as how to properly wash ...

If #BlackLivesMatter: Why Does Pennsylvania Have the Most Racist School Funding in the Nation and They Repeatedly Refuse to Fix It

After Five (5) Years of No Action, it’s Time for Governor Tom Wolf and the Pennsylvania General Assembly to Invest $1.22 Billion in Emergency Funding to bring the 138 Underfunded School Districts to their Baseline Funding Level Harrisburg, PA – The nation’s first public protest of slavery occurred in Pennsylvania in 1688. In 1835, Thaddeus Stevens led passage of the Free Education Bill.   Since Pennsylvania’s founding, it has been a leader among nations.   But Pennsylvania didn’t enact school funding formula laws until Act 126 of 2014 established the Special Education Funding formula law and Act 35 of 2016 established the Basic ...