Week of 2-12-2024

Inside this issue

• School funding fast facts: adequacy targets and adequacy payments
• New PSEA resource: PSEA School Nurse Manual
• Voice preview: raising education support professionals’ pay
• Upcoming Center for Professional Learning events and PEARL
• Member Benefits spotlight: Boscov’s Travel

A key part of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed $1.1 billion public school funding increase is a formula aimed at ensuring that every school district ultimately has the resources to spend $13,704 per student. The governor’s proposal, which is based on the Basic Education Funding Commission’s Jan. 11 report, would phase this adequacy funding in over seven years.

How is the state adequacy target calculated?

The governor’s proposal adopts the Basic Education Funding Commission’s recommendation. The Commission examined per student expenditures in 63 “successful” school districts that met the state's goals for the percentage of students scoring proficient or better in math, science, and English and for high school graduation rates. The Commission found that the median per student expenditure in those school districts was $13,704, and recommended that every school district should spend $13,704 per student to achieve academic results similar to these “successful” school districts.

How are adequacy payments calculated in the governor’s plan?

A district is eligible for an adequacy payment if what it spent in 2022 for classroom instruction, support services, and other noninstructional services is less than $13,704 per weighted student. For example, if the hypothetical Anytown School District spent only $10,704 per weighted student in 2022, it has an “adequacy gap” of $3,000. That school district, which had 2,500 weighted students in 2022, will be eligible for an adequacy payment equaling $7.5 million (2,500 X $3,000). This payment would be phased in over seven years, with the school district receiving just over $1 million a year in new funding on top of any new formula-driven funds it might be eligible for each year as the state increases its basic education subsidy.

Just over a third of the school districts with an adequacy gap have the state share of that gap reduced if they have a combination of low tax effort and/or higher than typical local tax capacity.

Hypothetical Adequacy Payment Calculation: Anytown School District

• State Adequacy Target: $13,704 per weighted student
• Anytown SD Spending: $10,704 per weighted student
• Anytown SD Students: 2,500 weighted students
• Anytown SD “Adequacy Gap:” $3,000 per weighted student (2,500 X $3,000)
• Anytown SD Total Adequacy Payment (total over seven years): $7.5 million
• Anytown SD Annual Adequacy Payment (each year for seven years): $1,071,429
  

How many school districts qualify for adequacy funding?

In total under the governor’s proposal, 371 school districts would qualify for a state payment to reduce their adequacy gaps.

School nurses play an absolutely vital role in Pennsylvania’s public schools and are responsible for keeping public school students healthy and safe.

A new PSEA resource prepared by PSEA’s Legal Division details the statutes and regulations related to school nursing, including information on the duties of school nurses, school health programs, and many other issues related to school nurses.

Learn more about the statutes and regulations related to school nursing in the PSEA School Nurse Manual.

Every PSEA member is essential in providing a high-quality education to every one of Pennsylvania’s 1.7 million students. And every member should be paid accordingly. But, incredibly, more than half of our education support professionals currently earn less than $20 per hour. 

In the February issue of Voice, we discuss why PSEA has been so vocal about increasing pay for our support staff and how we're campaigning for a living wage of at least $20 per hour for ESP members.

You can click the button below to read a pdf version of this full story while you wait for your copy of Voice to arrive in the mail.

PEARL

Visit the new, improved PEARL today and choose from more than 95 asynchronous courses available for Act 48 credit and Chapter 14 verification.

Here are just a few of the dozens of courses you can explore right now on PEARL:

• Schoology in Practice: Essentials for Beginners
• Time Management and Organization for Online Learning
• Social and Emotional Learning is for Us, Too!

Webinars

• Social & Emotional Learning (SEL) in the Classroom Today: What is it and what does it look like in the classroom? (ECE Series)
  • Feb. 22, 7-8:30 p.m.
• Implementing & Sustaining Target Language Use in the World Language Classroom
  • Feb. 27, 7-8:30 p.m.
• Fostering a "Growth Mindset" in the Classroom Today: Shifting the Focus to Growth and Development with Assessment & Grades Rather than Measurement for Sorting & Classification (ECE Series)
  • March 13, 7-8:30 p.m.

Book Discussions

• Science Cross-Cutting Concepts Picture Book Study
  • March 5, 7-8 p.m.
• Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day (Revised Edition)
  • April 3, 7-8 p.m.
• Good Different (Poetry)
  • April 11, 7-8 p.m.

Postgraduate Credits

Earn postgraduate credits from PennWest University for $70 each!

More than 150 postgraduate credits are available across a wide range of teaching and learning topics.

These postgraduate credits (microcredentials) can count toward the 24 credits required for a Level II certificate and also may count toward salary advancement.*

For support professionals, these courses may meet Chapter 14 requirements.**

*Check your contract to determine if you can apply standalone postgraduate credits for column movement.
**Seek approval from your employer prior to completing hours to apply toward Chapter 14 requirements.

As a PSEA Member Benefits partner, Boscov’s Travel has many perks and benefits just for you when you book your next vacation. The company’s local, knowledgeable advisors are ready to help you plan your dream vacation – whether it’s a cruise, an all-inclusive island resort, U.S. or global land tours, or Disney and Orlando amusement destinations.

In business for over 46 years, Boscov’s brings its experience and knowledge to you.

Now more than ever, using a professional travel advisor has never been more valuable. As a PSEA member, you get exclusive discounts that can be bundled with the best national offers. Yet another perk – book your travel with your Boscov’s credit card and enjoy 12 months interest-free financing!