PHILADELPHIA — At a hearing on Tuesday, the state Supreme Court will consider whether courts can determine if the General Assembly is adequately funding public schools.
In 2014, education advocates filed a lawsuit claiming lawmakers violated the Pennsylvania Constitution by failing to adequately and equitably fund public education. In 2015, the Commonwealth Court ruled that it has no jurisdiction to intervene in determining education funding matters.
But Deborah Gordon Klehr, executive director of the Education Law Center, said this isn't just about money.
"We believe that the court has a role to play in interpreting the state constitution,” Klehr explained. "The court's core function is to enforce our constitution and our constitution's education clause and equal-protection provisions."
Lawyers for the Education Law Center and the Public Interest Law Center will ask the Supreme Court to allow their lawsuit to go to trial.
Pennsylvania's school funding is among the most inequitable in the country. And while the Legislature has passed a fair funding formula, Klehr said the formula itself doesn't increase funding, and it only applies to a small portion of the total education budget.
"It only applies to about six percent of basic education funding and one percent of all of the education funding,” Klehr said; "meaning that the vast majority of state education dollars are still being allocated in ways that reinforce Pennsylvania's gross inequities."
Tuesday's hearing will not consider the adequacy of state spending on schools or how that spending should be allocated. Those arguments would be for a trial court.
Klehr stressed that what they are asking the Supreme Court to do is give the plaintiffs their day in court.
"These school districts, these parents, these statewide organizations deserve to have a trial to show that the General Assembly is not currently meeting its constitutional responsibilities,” Klehr said.
More information is available here.
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Education is a major challenge for kids in foster care in Pennsylvania, according to a new report.
Nearly 20,000 children and teens are served by Pennsylvania's foster care system each year.
Maura McInerney, legal director for the nonprofit Education Law Center-Pennsylvania, said the report identifies policy recommendations to improve educational outcomes for them.
"The report shows that academic performance and other outcomes of students in foster care are negatively impacted by systemic failures that are fixable," McInerney outlined. "Including high rates of school mobility, unmet special education needs, higher rates of school discipline and systemic racism."
One recommendation is for child welfare agencies to place kids in foster care closer to their home communities, to help keep them in the same schools. It was released jointly by the Education Law Center and Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children.
The study showed students in foster care are three times more likely to be disciplined through out-of-school suspensions and twice as likely to face in-school suspensions than other students. McInerney pointed out it is important for teachers, educators and staff to understand children in the foster care system have experienced significant trauma and may have "triggers" other students do not have.
"For example, I represented a child in foster care who, if you raised your hands above your head, that child would feel that she was now going to be abused, because she was being threatened in that way," McInerney reported.
McInerney stressed 53% of foster youth graduate from high school on time, compared to 88% of other students. She added kids in congregate care often get lower-quality education with little oversight. She noted many attend on-site or virtual classes through private programs, which are not regularly monitored by the Department of Education.
"Studies show that children who are placed in congregate care settings, such as residential facilities, and educated through on-ground schools often receive an inferior education and exhibit lower academic performance, which we see detailed in this report," McInerney underscored.
The report suggested better data is needed to track school stability and placement for students in foster care. Many are in virtual or out-of-district schools instead of their local community schools.
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The selection of Marva Johnson, a longtime corporate executive and ally of Gov. Ron DeSantis, as the next president of Florida A&M University has sparked fierce backlash over claims of political interference.
The university's board of trustees voted 8-4 last week to appoint Johnson, who lacks traditional higher-education experience but served on DeSantis' education advisory teams and the Florida Board of Governors. Critics have argued the search process was rigged to favor Johnson, who was added as a finalist late in the process.
Chuck Hobbs, a retired attorney, FAMU alumnus and former adjunct professor, pointed to the disconnect between the board's stated criteria and Johnson's background.
"If she isn't qualified from what their criteria indicated, not something in terms of what the alumni or students want but what this board of trustees said they were looking for ... if she doesn't meet those three criteria, then the second question has to be, then why is she there and what is the agenda?" Hobbs asserted.
Johnson dismissed claims she had an agenda or was a 'Trojan horse.' Supporters highlighted her management experience and political ties, while many students and alumni argued her selection threatens FAMU's autonomy as a historically Black university. The Board of Governors will review her appointment in June.
Walter Kimbrough, interim president of Talladega College and a veteran HBCU leader, noted a troubling trend of political influence in public HBCU leadership searches.
"I've gone back now about 15 years and I can't find an HBCU president with her background that's lasted more than five years," Kimbrough pointed out. "History said it's going to be a failure."
Kimbrough talked about the unique culture of HBCUs and the profoundly personal relationships formed on HBCU campuses between university presidents, their students, faculty and staff.
"She's never going to get that," Kimbrough contended. "Why then do you want a job when you're everything you represent is contrary to the idea of an HBCU presidency? It doesn't make any sense to me."
Hobbs sees Johnson's selection as the culmination of a yearslong conservative push to control public education.
Johnson's appointment came over Donald Palm, FAMU's longtime executive vice president; Rondall Allen, a provost at Maryland Eastern Shore; and Gerald Hector, a senior administrator at the University of Central Florida, all of whom met the board's original criteria for the job.
Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.
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Michiganders who left college early might now have a shot at finishing.
The Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential's growing partnership with ReUp Education is designed to help qualified residents with some college under their belt finally get that diploma.
The initiative involves teaming up with community colleges across Michigan to help bring back 21- to 24-year-olds who started college but didn't finish -- many whose education was disrupted by the pandemic.
Sarah Szurpicki, director of MiLEAP's Sixty by 30 office, said they identified 40,000 eligible Michiganders.
"We know that having a talented workforce in Michigan is, in my view, the most important thing we can do to be helping all of Michiganders be set up for a prosperous future," said Szurpicki, "to have choices in what they're doing."
More than 1 million Michigan residents of working age have some college experience, but no degree.
The goal of the Sixty by 30 initiative is for 60% of the state's working-age adults to have a post-secondary degree.
A recent report from MiLEAP shines a light on why so many adults step away from school - which include work and family pressures, mental-health struggles, tight finances -- and housing and transportation issues.
Szurpicki emphasized that this effort is also about equipping colleges with what they need to support students working toward finishing their degrees.
"ReUp also provides that sort of like an outsider's perspective on anything a particular college can do" said Szurpicki. "They provide feedback directly to the colleges of what they're hearing from the students that they're reaching out to."
According to MiLEAP, more than 200,000 Michiganders who left college now have access to ReUp's coaching and re-enrollment support, many of them qualifying for free tuition through the Michigan Reconnect program.
Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.
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