SPECIAL PROJECT
Low-Wage Living: Joey, a Deaf man, struggles to advance in the workforce
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Joey D’Auria is Deaf. He believes the related societal barriers have stalled his professional life.
EDUCATION
Pittsburgh school district to review contracting, ethics policies after vendor took Hamlet, administrators to Cuba
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Now there are three official probes into the propriety of a vendor-paid trip to Cuba taken by Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Anthony Hamlet and four other administrators. On Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Public Schools board unanimously approved a resolution authorizing solicitor Ira Weiss to conduct a review of district policies relating to procurement, contracts, ethics and conflicts of interest. This review compounds another prompted by the district and one launched by the state auditor general. The inquiries come in the wake of media reports about an April trip to Cuba on the tab of an educational technology company called Flying Classrooms.
The company had a one-year $73,000 contract with the district, which had expired at the time of the trip. Board member Sala Udin, City Controller Michael Lamb and state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale have questioned whether the trip violated the state ethics law that prevents district officials from accepting gifts from vendors.
EDUCATION
Allegheny County charter schools struggle to close racial achievement gaps
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Experts who study the achievement gap between black and white students told PublicSource the disparities are more an issue of equity than ability. They cite such contributing factors as socioeconomics, implicit teacher bias, disparate discipline and lower expectations projected on black students.
EDUCATION
Allegheny County schools with reported racial achievement gaps
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See how proficiency rates compare between black and white students at 23 Allegheny County school districts.
EDUCATION
New data shows racial achievement gaps at more than half of Allegheny County school districts
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Of the 42 Allegheny County school districts outside the City of Pittsburgh, 23 had one or more schools with achievement gaps between black and white students in the 2017-18 school year.
EDUCATION
Pittsburgh school board rejects Imani Christian Academy’s bid to become a charter school
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The Pittsburgh Public Schools board voted unanimously on Feb. 27 to deny a charter that would have transformed Imani Christian School in East Hills into the secular Imani Academy charter school.
The vote at the board’s legislative meeting follows a report earlier this month by the district’s charter review committee that found Imani’s charter application did not include all of the information required under Pennsylvania’s Charter School Law.
EDUCATION
Without new funding sources, the Pittsburgh Promise scholarship faces an uncertain future
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The Pittsburgh Promise scholarship has only committed to paying for college through Pittsburgh’s class of 2028 — with $61 million still needed to fulfill the pledge. That means qualified students currently in grades 3-12 in Pittsburgh Public Schools, Wilkinsburg schools and charter schools in the city can count on Promise funds to help pay for college or trade school. But students in grades K-2 don’t have that assurance.
EDUCATION
Pittsburgh district cites flaws in Imani school charter application, questions if it can shed its Christian mission
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Officials of Imani Christian Academy made it clear to the Pittsburgh Public Schools board on Tuesday evening that should their application to convert to a charter school be approved, they would remove all religious aspects of the education it provides.
EDUCATION
In charter school bid, Imani Christian Academy looks to become a publicly funded, secular school
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Imani’s charter application appears to follow a trend by other religious schools nationally in recent years. After struggling financially to stay afloat, some have chosen to transform into charter schools to create a steady revenue flow, even though it requires giving up their religious mission.
Failing the Future
As PA’s education funding lawsuit waits for 2020 hearing, here’s how similar lawsuits nationally have fared.
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In all but three states, courts have fielded lawsuits seeking to force states to increase education funding and to distribute it more equitably.
