Newsroom

House passes charter school package, but funding conundrum remains

State House lawmakers have passed a slate of bills aimed at reforming the commonwealth's 22-year-old charter school laws. Two sparked impassioned debate — but a larger discussion about funding is still brewing… More

Gov. Wolf signs bill creating CPR curriculum for PA schools

Gov. Tom Wolf signed into law a bill that would require high school students to learn CPR prior to graduation. Act 7, formerly Senate Bill 115, requires the Pennsylvania Department of Education to create curriculum teaching CPR… More

State Senate backs bill to expand armed school security options

Pennsylvania's Senate is backing legislation that supporters say give school districts and private schools more options to hire armed security guards. The bill passed 32-17 on Tuesday, with a handful of Democrats joining the Republican majority to send it to the House of Representatives. WITF, Jun… More

With new tip line in place, lawmakers push schools to address reported threats

In the wake of the Parkland shooting, Pennsylvania’s Legislature last year poured $60 million into school safety funding while also creating a statewide tip line to report threats of violence. Now, the House and Senate are advancing legislation to mandate school districts use that information for prevention… More

$100M private schools bill starts budget season fight

Legislation to substantially expand taxpayer support for private and religious schools in Pennsylvania won passage Tuesday in the Republican-controlled Legislature, although Gov. Tom Wolf is signaling that he will block it… More

New report on virtual education: ‘too good to be true’

The NEPC report found that, overall, virtual schools enrolled substantially fewer low-income and minority students than public schools. Fewer than 50% of virtual and blended schools that had state performance ratings were rated as having acceptable performance. District-operated virtual schools performed better than charter-school virtual schools… More

‘It’s horrifying to think about:’: How can schools combat sudden cardiac arrest?

J.T. Kuhn is one of hundreds of young athletes to fall victim to a heart attack or sudden cardiac arrest because of undiagnosed warning signs. It's an issue that schools across America are battling, searching for ways to both find the undetected conditions lingering in students and respond if those conditions manifest themselves… More

PDE announces additional school safety grant awards

The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) announced the awarding of an additional $919,000 in Safe Schools Targeted grants to 39 school districts to purchase safety and security-related equipment. This is in addition to the other PDE and Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) school safety grants awarded in 2018-19… More

Schools receive Breakfast Initiative grants

Governor Tom Wolf’s School Breakfast Initiative is providing 151 schools, including three in this region, with grants up to $5,000 to help more children start their day with a healthy meal… More

2019 Education Excellence Fair: Accepting Applications

Your school is invited to apply to the 21st Annual Pennsylvania Public Education Excellence Fair! Be one of a select group of Pennsylvania public schools to share your successful programs on Wed., Oct. 16 or Thur., Oct. 17 at the 2019 PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference in Hershey… More