News

from pennlive.com

A third of Pennsylvania’s public schools that serve high school students met or exceeded the graduation rate goal that the state has set for them to achieve 12 years from now.

In the accountability plan that the state submitted to the federal government, it set a 92.4 percent as the minimum rate it wanted schools to reach by the year 2030.

Based on a review of those rates in the recently released Future Ready PA Index report, 230 of the 867 traditional public, charter and career and technical schools had four-year graduation rates that attained the state’s desired mark.

Thirty-six of the 86 high schools in eight southcentral counties – Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry and York – have met or exceeded that goal, a PennLive analysis of the report found.

The statewide average for that year was 86.6 percent. So how do schools of interest to you measure up? You can find out here in this searchable database that relies on graduation rate data from the state Department of Education.

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From whyy.org

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court has tentatively scheduled a hearing in a landmark education funding lawsuit for the summer of 2020, according to a trial schedule released Thursday.

It took four years of legal battles for the plaintiffs to get to this point, but it appears this lawsuit will finally receive a trial on the merits.

In 2014, a group of districts and parents sued the state government, accusing it of underfunding public schools. The level of underfunding and the disparities among districts were so severe, they argued, that the legislature and the governor had violated the state constitution.

The state supreme court reversed decades of precedent in late 2017 when it declared that the courts could get involved in this issue. Through the following year, the Commonwealth Court waded through a series of preliminary objections filed by Republican legislative leaders, ultimately deciding that the case should go to a full trial.

Absent another delay or surprise dismissal, the two sides will present their cases in the summer of 2020. Even after the Commonwealth Court hands down its decision, the losing side will likely appeal to the State Supreme Court, which could stretch the case well into the early part of the next decade.

The stakes are high, though. A win by the plaintiffs could unleash more money for public schools and reshape the way Harrisburg doles out education dollars.

Republican lawmakers say they’ve addressed a lot of the equity concerns raised by the plaintiffs by enacting a new state funding formula that allocates dollars based on factors such as student poverty and accurate enrollment numbers. 

That formula only applies to recent increases in state education aid, and the Commonwealth Court rejected that argument to allow the case to proceed.

From timesonline.com

Hundreds of new jobs could be coming to a vacant swath of land next to Pittsburgh International Airport.

Calling the land “one of Pennsylvania’s marquee development sites,” airport officials stood alongside other local leaders during a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday morning for the development, called the Pittsburgh Airport Innovation Campus.

The land, nestled between Interstate 376 and the world headquarters for Dick’s Sporting Goods, contains 195 acres to the west of the airport terminal.

The open land, which has 1.4 million square feet ready for development, will include a mix of office space, research and development laboratories, and industrial manufacturing, as well as a “town center” that will feature restaurants, retail and other commercial businesses.

Long-range plans call for the Innovation Campus to be connected to the airport terminal.

The three-phase construction plan will include 16 pad-ready sites available by 2023, including three sites that are currently being primed for development. Those sites will come completely equipped for development, with utility hookups and permits already in place.

Full development of the site is expected to take about a decade, with construction of the first building taking place in about two to three years.

Dennis Davin, secretary of Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development, one of several officials to speak at the groundbreaking ceremony, called the Innovation Campus a “big, big deal” for the region.

“This is something we think, I think, can be transformational,” he said, adding that the development is “yet another signal to the domestic and international business community that Pittsburgh is open for business.”

The location of the Innovation Campus is expected to be a main draw for prospective companies. With quick access to interstates 376 and 576, the land is located within 20 miles of downtown Pittsburgh and within 15 miles of the Shell Chemicals ethane cracker plant in Potter Township.

“We haven’t seen a private sector investment like (the Shell plant) in our lifetimes,” state Rep. Mike Turzai, R-28, said during the groundbreaking ceremony, noting the strategic location of the Innovation Campus between Pittsburgh and Beaver County.

For U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, D-18, Mount Lebanon, the project is a perfect example of the public and private sectors working together to spur economic growth.

He also knows that the land surrounding the airport is the first thing travelers see when they land here, and that first impressions often are the most important.

“We’re making a great first impression now, but I think we can do better,” Lamb said.

Christina Cassotis, chief executive officer of the Allegheny County Airport Authority, said the new development has more going for it than just its prime location. The 195 acres are licensed as a World Trade Center site and are located within a foreign-trade zone. That means companies that locate there can import goods, manufacture products and resell them outside the United States while also having relief or exemptions of certain duties and tariffs.

“This is an ideal opportunity for any company that wants to establish a global presence in the Pittsburgh region with access to taxiways and runways while realizing the economic benefits of doing business in a foreign-trade zone,” she said.

Cassotis also said the development will increase “nonaeronautical” revenues for the airport authority, which in turn could help keep costs for airlines stable, potentially creating new air service in the process.

Airport officials will now work with local and state representatives, as well the region’s universities, to identify anchor tenants for the Innovation Campus.

From mcall.com (Allentown Morning Call)

Pennsylvania has experienced a steady uptick in new jobs but the pay that comes with a lot of them hasn’t been enough to push more workers out of poverty or stop them from seeking government aid to eat. That’s according to a newly released report from the U.S. Census Bureau report that examined poverty, income and food stamp rates. The report, released Thursday, offers a socio-economic snapshot into the households of American families from 2013 to 2017.

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