Legislative Testimony

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SB 1247, Statewide Cable Franchising
July 2006

INTRODUCTION
The Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) would like to thank Chairman Wonderling and Chairwoman Williams for convening this hearing and for allowing PSBA to submit written comments regarding Senate Bill 1247. PSBA does not oppose the intent of this legislation - that is to establish statewide cable franchising. The association recognizes the potential savings such franchising could provide to taxpayers. However, as currently written, Senate Bill 1247 does not ensure that the cable services provided to Pennsylvania's school districts and taxpayers as result of municipal negotiations with cable service providers. PSBA recommends that Senate Bill 1247 be amended to recognize the importance of the cable services provided to students, parents and taxpayers via the school districts.

MUNICIPAL FRANCHISE AGREEMENTS
Many of Pennsylvania 's municipal cable franchise agreements include provisions that require the cable companies to provide free services to municipalities, public libraries, non-public schools, and public school districts. Examples of such services include, but are not limited to, emergency alert systems, service outlets, installation, and basic cable channels. Some companies even provide municipalities and school districts with access channels to be used for educational, governmental and public use. These municipal franchise agreements have not only saved taxpayer dollars and provided invaluable emergency alert services to taxpayers, but they have also allowed some school districts to come into the homes of taxpayers and show people how their tax dollars are being spent.

PSBA believes that any statewide franchise agreement should mirror the municipal agreements already in existence and require cable service providers to offer free services to school districts. The continued deployment of such services to school districts will not only maintain the emergency service systems school districts utilize through preexisting cable service agreements, but it will also continue to promote taxpayers' of awareness of student events, school board meetings, and other community services offered by some school districts. Senate Bill 1247 is an opportunity to promote the expansion of advanced technologies within the Commonwealth that will ultimately enhance students' educational opportunities and facilitate the relationship between school districts and communities.

EMERGENCY SERVICES
It is imperative that Pennsylvania 's school districts continue to have access to the basic cable service that providers impart to schools as a requirement of the municipal franchise agreements. These agreements promote school, student and staff safety. Most municipal service agreements require cable companies to provide free basic service to school buildings. School districts have the option of expanding their cable service beyond the complimentary single service outlet that most cable operators provide to school districts. While school districts must pay for the installation and wiring costs of expanding cable coverage throughout school buildings, the initial service is still provided to districts without charge. School administrators and teachers consequently have access to televised emergency alerts and notices involving weather and traffic conditions, local crises or emergencies that could threaten the well-being of students and school employees. These complimentary cable services enable school administrators to act in a timely and efficient manner to protect students and inform parents of any district actions in response to such emergencies or extraordinary conditions.

Examples of two school districts that have educational access channels for their communities include the Colonial School District , located in Conshohocken, and the North Penn School District , located in Lansdale . Both districts utilize educational access channels to report time-sensitive information to parents. Such information includes school closings, delays, and emergency information. While both school districts have this information available on their Internet websites, the access channels enable the districts to reach parents much faster than news outlets, radio stations or the Internet. Parents know that they have instant access to emergency information via these channels, thus easing the transfer of information between the districts and parents and decreasing the amount of confusion when local emergencies, school closing and/or delays affect school districts and students.

Senate Bill 1247 provides no protection for either of these important cost-saving, emergency services. As currently written, the bill does not include school districts in the definition of a municipality. Further complicating the matter is that Senate Bill 1247 limits the number of access channels based on the population of municipalities and the hourly use of the channels. Therefore, school districts are not guaranteed to be provided educational access channels, thus harming school districts' ability to serve their communities.

A LOCAL COMMUNITY RESOURCE: EDUCATIONAL ACCESS CHANNELS AND THE COLONIAL AND NORTH PENN SCHOOL DISTRICTS' EXPERIENCE
While PSBA believes that the most significant advantage of providing school districts with basic cable access and educational access channels is the ease with which the system allows school districts to communicate with the local community regarding local emergencies, and school closings or delays, some school districts have taken the benefits of the access channels further into their communities and schools. According to Kim Newell, Assistant Director of Colonial Instructional Television (CITV), the real strength of educational access channels is:

"giving residents a glimpse into the classrooms and daily activities of students. Rather than simply reading about improved standardized test scores or the status of the district, relating to No Child Left Behind, cable subscribers have a chance to actually witness students engaged in learning, innovative teaching techniques in action, and the implementation of technology and other tools in classrooms."

Both the Colonial and North Penn School Districts broadcast school board meetings, school concerts, sporting events and graduation. The educational access channels allow residents, parents and grandparents unable to attend such events to still be a part of the culmination of students' hard work and persistence. The Colonial School District has also produced a number of programs to provide taxpayers with information about the benefits of full-day kindergarten, updates on school building improvements, and diversity initiatives within the district (See attachment A for a complete list of productions in 2005-06).

The access channels have proven to be a valuable learning tool for students, as well. Students in the Colonial School District are, in effect, CITV's crew. Students run the cameras at school events, participate in public service announcements and sometimes step into the role as director for sporting events and concerts. CITV has even produced a segment referred to as, Student Shorts, which compiles video of students' projects and presentations throughout the district to air on the access channel. These opportunities further the education of students and provide them with an additional knowledge base to take into post-secondary education or future careers.

And while most information and programming aired on CITV is produced by CITV staff and highlights special events and initiatives taking place in the Colonial School District , CITV also airs government programming. Examples of such programming include the Pennsylvania Report hosted by Chairwoman Williams and the Legislative Report with Rep. Kate Harper. These programs, as well as others, foster taxpayers' knowledge of important legislative issues and enhance the relationships of communities and elected officials.

In effect, the taxpayers in the school districts that have education access channels have the opportunity to see their tax dollars at work everyday and according to school officials, it has become something residents expect in these areas. Bob Gillmer, North Penn School District Coordinator for Communications/Media, not only receives complaints from taxpayers if the district does not air school board meetings, he often finds that residents attend school board meetings to submit comments after watching a previous meeting on television. His school district's experience not only illustrates the need for additional provisions in Senate Bill 1247 to protect school districts, but it also proves that residents are engaged in their schools' decision-making process.

CONCLUSION
Colonial and North Penn School Districts are just two examples of school districts that have engaged their communities and improved the transfer of emergency information between school districts and parents as result of complimentary educational access channels and municipal franchise agreements. Estimates by the Broadband Cable Association of Pennsylvania (BCAP), estimates that over 2,200 public and non-public schools in Pennsylvania receive some sort of free cable service in Pennsylvania from cable providers. However, by stripping local municipalities of the opportunity to negotiate with providers for these services and neglecting to include a provision for school districts to receive complimentary cable services, Senate Bill 1247 fails to provide adequate protection for school districts in a transition from municipal franchise agreements to a statewide franchise agreement.

PSBA does not believe that school districts' efforts to engage their taxpayers, students, and parents should be overlooked as the Senate Communications and Technology Committee considers Senate Bill 1247. Without a provision to require cable service operators to provide service specifically to school districts, this legislation would force the cost of such programs to fall on school districts and, ultimately, property taxpayers. In light of the enactment of Act 1 of the Special Session and its tax revenue restrictions, PSBA maintains that the General Assembly should not knowingly enact legislation that will put additional financial burdens on districts or force school boards to cut valuable educational and community resources that enhance students' learning experience and provide taxpayers with an accessible window to see the importance of their tax dollars. PSBA is willing to work with the prime sponsor and members of the committee to address our concerns with Senate Bill 1247, so school districts, students, parents and taxpayers are afforded the opportunity to expand and maintain advanced cable technologies throughout the Commonwealth.

Attachment A
CITV's Productions for 2005-06
Above and Beyond Update: Full-day Kindergarten, a multi-award-winning half-hour documentary highlighting the success of the full-day kindergarten program after its first year in place - showing kindergarten students demonstrating a better understanding of number concepts, language arts, and social development as a result of the longer school day.

Colonial Conversations: PWHS Library, a half-hour on-location interview program touting the features of the multi-million dollar library overhaul at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School .

A seven-minute video (noted in a national education magazine) that showed the integration of interactive white boards in elementary through high school classrooms - demonstrating how technology is changing the way students learn.

Student-produced public service announcements promoting diversity awareness and the "No Place for Hate" program at the high school - which were used by the Anti-Defamation League to help influence the adoption of "No Place for Hate Day" statewide in May.

Points of Pride, a half-hour program featuring summer facilities upgrades and district improvements - showing taxpayers how the schools are maintained and why the projects are necessary for offering students a comfortable and functional learning environment.

Colonial News Update and Minutes of the Meeting, three-to-five minute monthly news briefs added to longer programming - giving extra value to high school sports and special events by highlighting district success stories, board initiatives, parent involvement and information, facilities upgrades, and other important news.

A half-hour documentary and interview programs related to the "Respect the Difference" diversity initiative in the district. Near the end of the 2004-05 school year, vandals painted hate messages on the high school's tennis courts, prompting the district to create a "Respect the Difference" initiative that integrated diversity education throughout grades K-12. CITV was able to counter negative regional press quickly by announcing the anonymous tip line.