Eyes on the SRC: January 18, 2018

src by Karel Kilimnik
January 15, 2018

Change is in the wind this month as we look forward to the end of the SRC, await the pronouncement of the fate of the six Priority Schools, and see how many of the nine applicants for new charters will hit the taxpayer lottery. Both Dr. Hite and Mayor Kenney have said that the district will need to close more neighborhood schools every year for at least the next five years in order to balance the budget.

APPS members who testified last month at the first round of hearings for new charter applicants reminded the district that it cannot ignore the financial health of the district when considering new charters. District CFO Uri Monson has testified at the SRC and in City Council that charters are the single biggest item in the District’s budget. Philadelphia is fast approaching the 50/50 tipping point of district to charter schools.

Is the SRC deliberately pushing the District toward the New Orleans Model, which Commissioner Green has often lauded despite evidence that it has been a disaster for that city’s students and teachers?

Approving any new charter comes with the understanding that no matter how well or poorly that school may perform, the city is stuck with it for a long time. The five-year charter term has become meaningless. On the rare occasion that the SRC votes not to renew a charter, a long and expensive hearing process must take place, followed by a possible legal appeal. This can take years—while the school continues to operate. But when Dr. Hite targets public schools for closure, there is no appeal. In fact, there is not even a legal requirement for a hearing.

Despite the fact that the SRC agreed in a court-ordered settlement to post resolutions two weeks before action meetings, after APPS sued them for a pattern of violations of the PA Sunshine Act, the SRC just posted two new resolutions last Friday. Two concern renewal resolutions: the Memphis Street Academy resolution has been tabled since April 2017, the Universal Vare resolution since April 2016. Both were recommended for non-renewal by the district Charter School Office. APPS has asked at every meeting when the SRC would be deciding on these renewals; of course, we never got an answer.

In the face of predictions of more financial problems for the district, the SRC continues to sell school buildings at prices far below market value. This month, Resolution A-24 proposes the sale of the former Ada B. Lewis Middle School to an unknown out-of-state buyer. This raises questions about the effect of closing public schools, not just on the students but on the community as a whole, and about how little the community gets to say about it. Lewis was closed over ten years ago despite strong opposition from parents, teachers, students and community members. The district allowed the building, once home to the largest middle school in the city, to become an eyesore. In 2013, the District closed Smith Elementary in the rapidly gentrifying Point Breeze area. Many of the same community members who fought to keep Smith open formed the Save Smith School Committee to stop the sale of the building. Their long legal battle was lost when a judge ruled in favor of the district, thus enabling an out-of-state real estate investor to purchase the building, who quickly flipped the property to a local developer of high-priced housing.

Last month, the SRC approved the sale of the Beeber Wynnefield Annex. Neighbors had attempted to buy the building to convert it to a community center when the district closed it in 2002, but the District’s asking price of $300,000 was beyond their means. The building stood as an eyesore for almost twenty years, when Iron Stone Capital Partners bought it last month for $140,000—less than the original asking price.

Is this what the people of Philadelphia want—for the District to shut down schools, then sell the buildings to satisfy the financial interests of developers and investors? The SRC offered little opportunity for the community to express its own needs, neither in Point Breeze nor in Wynnefield. Hite shut down Bok even though it was a thriving high school in a beautiful building; now that building is lost to the community. The SRC should consider the wishes of the community before it votes, not just the bottom line of developers and real estate investors.

Dr Hite’s pronouncement on the fates of this year’s cohort of Priority Schools may be made this month. He announced in a September press release that Penn Treaty will be “partnered” with the Institute for Student Achievement (ISA)—even before Cambridge Education and Temple University started to do their “School Quality Review”. The District told members of the six school communities that they would not be closed or charterized, but only for the next two years. Parents have repeatedly demanded a seat at the table where the future of their school is being decided, but have only gotten the usual dog-and-pony show of District-run meetings where no real decisions are made.

Catapult Learning reappears this month in two resolutions that propose lucrative contracts for the company. Since 2015 the company has shared in contracts totaling over $60 million for programs for high-needs students. In 2017, the District proposed awarding Catapult a $54million contract to run a stand-alone school for former Wordsworth Academy students; the District had to withdraw students from Wordsworth after the murder of a student at the facility. After strong pushback from The Coalition of Special Education Advocates, which is comprised of over fifteen organizations including APPS and represented by attorneys from the Public Interest Law Center (PILCOP) and the Education Law Center (ELC), the proposal was cut back to $10 million to provide for the 100 returning Wordsworth students. [See Lynda Rubin’s summary of the July 6, 2017 meeting for more details.]

Even after the SRC approved that Catapult contract, there were still concerns about Catapult’s record, about the fact that no contract has been made available to the public, and the exclusion of parents, teachers, and advocates from the process. Dr. Hite attempted to reassure Coalition members by having Chief Academic Officer Cheryl Logan address those concerns. Logan said that the District would be carefully monitoring Catapult’s new schools, beginning with weekly visits. To date, neither Dr. Hite nor Dr. Logan has provided any account of visits or any type of oversight of Catapult.

What If…

…instead of spending $490,000 on some kind of undefined direct marketing campaign, and another $68,600 to a vendor for professional development, that half million plus went directly into classrooms? Students could have necessary supplies like paper, pencils, and crayons—as students in suburban districts do—and teachers would not have to beg for funds online.

Next SRC meeting: Thursday January 18 at 4:30 PM. To register to speak, call 215-400-4180 before 3:30 PM Wednesday January 17.

Click here for the complete Resolution Summary.

Resolutions of Note

SRC-3
Authorization for the Continuation of the Accountability Review Council
RESOLVED, that the School Reform Commission amend resolution SRC-3 dated November 19, 2008 and authorize the continuation of an Accountability Review Council, which shall analyze and evaluate the findings and recommendations of the School District related to student achievement, so as to validate the results of student and school achievement and to communicate its findings, in a user-friendly format, to the School District’s stakeholders.

Description: To address the need to monitor the progress of the District’s reform measures, the partnership agreement between the then Governor Schweiker and Mayor Street called for the created of an “independent assessment and reporting center.” The Pennsylvania School Code was then amended to provide for an independent educational assessment and reporting center, to provide for the evaluation, analysis, and communication of school performance. This independent reporting center was named the Accountability Review Council.

APPS Analysis: The Accountability Review Council (ARC) was put into place in 2008, nominally for the purpose of providing some type of oversight for the SRC. For ten years they have been responsible for being the “independent educational assessment and reporting center” for school performance. If this body were actually monitoring the SRC and the district in any meaningful way, they would have had regular public meetings to present and discuss their reports. On July 1 the District returns to local control when the SRC is dissolved. ARC should go with it.

Will the SRC ignore its own Charter Office—Again?

SRC-5 (Added 1.12.18 – Pending)
Application for Charter Renewal – Memphis Street Academy Charter School at J. P. Jones
Consideration of the Application for Charter Renewal (SRC-5) by the School Reform Commission would be a quasi-judicial action. Please refer to the Charter Schools Office Renewal Recommendation Report and Renewal Supplement Memo available on the Charter Schools Office website here.

SRC-6 (Added 1.12.18 – Pending)
Application for Charter Renewal – Universal Vare Promise Neighborhood Partnership Charter School
Consideration of the Application for Charter Renewal (SRC-6) by the School Reform Commission would be a quasi-judicial action. Please refer to the Charter Schools Office Renewal Recommendation Report and Renewal Supplement Memo available on the Charter Schools Office website here.

Apps Analysis: The SRC posted these resolutions, without any description of explanation, just five days before the meeting; Universal Vare’s resolution had been tabled for almost two years, Memphis Street Academy’s for nine months. The Charter School Office recommended non-renewal for both. Neither of these Renaissance charters, which were supposed to make “dramatic improvements” to the schools they took over, met the standards in any of the major categories—Academics, Organization, or Finances. Auditors found evidence of misuse of taxpayer funds with one Universal school using grant money to make loans to another Universal school. Memphis Street Academy is one of the schools in the district managed by the American Paradigm company. Will the SRC accept the recommendation of its own staff and vote not to renew these substandard charters?

A-2
Operating Budget: $24,000 Contract with Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown – Meeting Space Rental
RESOLVED, that the School Reform Commission authorizes the School District of Philadelphia, through its Superintendent or his designee, to execute, deliver and perform a contract with The Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown Hotel to provide meeting site rental during the March 1-2, 2018 Benchmarking, Analytics and Management meeting for Principals and school leaders, for an amount not to exceed $24,000, for the period commencing January 19, 2018 through March 8, 2018.

Description: During the 2017-18 school year, The School District of Philadelphia (the District) will deliver a series of meetings entitled Benchmarking, Analytics and Management (BAM) meetings for principals and school leaders. The purpose of these meetings is to advance school improvement and increase academic outcomes for students through four key activities: 1) data review, 2) implementation review of evidence-based strategies and actions, 3) professional development, and 4) collaborative work time.

During the March BAM meeting, principals and school leaders will review their results through the end of the second quarter and also participate in planning sessions to develop their budgets and school plans for 2018-19. Each meeting is attended by 450-500 participants, including the District¿s 221 principals, an additional leader from each school, all Assistant Superintendents, central office leaders, meeting facilitators and speakers. Successfully executing on such a meeting requires a mix of meeting spaces to accommodate up to 500 participants in plenary style sessions and up to 16 concurrent breakout sessions where participants review actionable data points for their school while receiving relevant and timely professional development. The Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown is one of few venues in Philadelphia with the availability and space to accommodate such a meeting.

APPS Analysis: With the battle for the future of public education raging around us, let us not forget what a true quality education looks like. If several hundred administrators are meeting to discuss how to improve achievement, they should be considering issues that go much deeper than data review. A convening of school administrators could and should discuss: focus on improving school climate through increasing collaboration within the school community across grades and disciplines; how to support the wealth of learning styles our students bring with them; building community within the school. This administration views children as data points awaiting harvesting. Our students need school to be a place where they are respected and provided with what they need, not regarded as subjects to be tested and evaluated.

Missing Information

A-15 (Pending)
Operating Budget: $490,000 Contract with TBD – District Recruitment Marketing Campaign

APPS Analysis: This resolution, which just days ago gave nothing more than the title, was updated over the weekend (it was not updated on January 5). It now states that the money will be paid to an unknown vendor to develop a recruitment campaign to hire new teachers. Didn’t the district throw a party last year to celebrate the fact that they had filled all vacancies for this school year? Of course, creating an environment of respect and collaboration would go a long way to keep experienced teachers in district schools. Last month the District shelled out $50,000 (Resolution A-5) to an advertising agency “ to develop a strategic, public communications plan to increase parent, family, and stakeholder understanding of district goals, plans, and initiatives to improve student achievement”. Can we afford to pay advertising companies almost half a million dollars when classrooms don’t have basic resources?

A-16
Capital Fund: $143,867 Authorization of Net Cost Change Orders
RESOLVED, that the School Reform Commission authorizes The School District of Philadelphia through the Superintendent or his designee, to execute, deliver and perform amendments of the attached contracts, for an aggregate amount not to exceed $143,867.00.

Description: This resolution seeks approval for various revisions to the on-going construction project as detailed on the attached Modification of Contract document. Changes include items designated as errors or omissions, differing site conditions, unforeseen conditions and revisions requested by School District representatives. Change orders approved to rectify errors or omissions will be further reviewed by the Offices of Capital Program and General Counsel for possible recovery of costs through the professional liability insurance policies of the design professionals, negotiations , and filing of claims or lawsuits against the design professionals.

APPS Analysis: The SRC is a governmental body controlling a $3 billion budget. If a document is cited as “attached” then it should be attached. Will the SRC release the attachment before the meeting so the public can know where its money is going?

A-17
Capital Fund: $5,152,927 Capital Awards
RESOLVED, that the School Reform Commission authorizes the School District of Philadelphia, through the Superintendent, or his designee, to execute, deliver and perform contracts with the lowest responsible bidders identified in the attachment for an aggregate amount not to exceed $5,152,927.00, for the period commencing January 18, 2018 through completion of the projects. Description: Â Â Â Spec:B-010 General Contract – Structural RepairsÂ of 2017/18 Hill, Leslie Pinckney Elementary School – 3133 Ridge Avenue *Robert Michaels and Associates, Inc. 140 Chestnut Dr.R
Richboro, Pennsylvania 18954

$277,777.00

This work covers the labor, material, and equipment necessary for the selective restoration of the building concrete interior slab at this location.

The bids for this project were publicly advertised on 10/25/2017, 10/30/2017, and 11/1/2017 in several local newspapers and posted on the School District’s Capital Programs Website. The award is recommended to the responsive and responsible bidder who met the technical and construction specifications. Bids were publicly opened on 11/28/2017. After review of the bids and a de-scoping meeting it was determined that Robert Michaels and Associates, Inc. was the lowest responsible bidder with a bid of $277,777.00.

The Facilities Condition Index (FCI) at this location is 41.91%. The School Progress Report (SPR) at this location is 12.

APPS Analysis: L.P. Hill Elementary closed in 2013 along with 23 other neighborhood schools. It is adjacent to Strawberry Mansion High, a historic institution that barely survived that round of closures. There is a Police Athletic Center serving Strawberry Mansion residents in the building. Is the City leasing space from the district? Is the building being used for education purposes at all? This resolution proposes the District spend $277,777.00 to “cover the labor, material, and equipment necessary for the selective restoration of the building concrete interior slab at this location.” Why? Does the District have other plans for the building?

Missing Information, Part 2

A-16
Capital Fund: $143,867 Authorization of Net Cost Change Orders
RESOLVED, that the School Reform Commission authorizes The School District of Philadelphia through the Superintendent or his designee, to execute, deliver and perform amendments of the attached contracts, for an aggregate amount not to exceed $143,867.00.

APPS Analysis: This resolution is incomplete, and there are no attachments. This should be considered a resolution from the floor if no more information is provided prior to the meeting.

Who Is Buying District Properties?

A-24
Declaration of Unused and Unnecessary Land & Buildings; Sale of former Ada Lewis School to Green Star, LLC
RESOLVED, that the School Reform Commission declares that certain approximately 7.40 acre parcel of ground, including a three-story building containing approximately 187,000 square feet, located at 6199 Ardeligh [sic] Street, Philadelphia, known as the former Ada Lewis School (“the Property”), to be unused and unnecessary to the present and future needs of the School District of Philadelphia within meaning of Section 707 of the Public School Code; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, that the School Reform Commission accepts the recommendation of The Flynn Co. made pursuant to its contract for the marketing and sale of 9 surplus properties, and after receipt and review of this offer for this property to accept the offer of Green Star, LLC for the Property; and be it

Further Resolved, that the School Reform Commission authorizes The School District of Philadelphia, as Seller, through the Superintendent or his designee, to:

Execute, deliver and perform an Agreement of Sale (the Agreement) for the sale of the Property on an AS IS basis to Green Star, LLC, or its affiliate, for consideration of $2,418,000 by cash to be wired at closing and under certain terms and conditions which may be negotiated between the parties, subject to the requirements of Pennsylvania law and the further provisions of this Resolution; and
Hold a closing in which the School District will convey clear fee simple title via a special warranty deed to be executed at closing, require the Buyer to pay for certain expenses incurred in connection with the transaction, including, but not limited to, the payment of all state and local real estate transfer taxes, if applicable, and to execute such other documents as may be necessary to accomplish the foregoing, it being conclusively presumed from any action thereby that is authorized on behalf of the School Reform Commission; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, that this private sale of real estate is subject to Court approval, pursuant to section 707 (3) of the Public School Code.

Description: The School District owns the property known as the former Ada Lewis School, which was closed in June, 2007 and is currently vacant.

The Buyer has offered to purchase the Property for $2,418,000. The Buyer has agreed to buy the Property on an “As Is” basis. The Buyer has proposed a 90-day due diligence period after an executed Agreement of Sale and a Closing 60 days following the end of Due Diligence. Buyer will deposit $60,450 upon signing the Purchase & Sale Agreement and will deposit an additional $60,450 after the expiration of the 90-day due diligence period; total deposit therefore will be $120,900. The Zoning of this building is RSD- 3 Residential. The Buyer has indicated their development plan is by-right and deal is not contingent on a zoning change.

APPS Analysis: This once grand “suburban school in the inner city”, neighbor to both Awbury Arboretum and Awbury Recreation Center, closed in 2008 despite a fierce struggle by parents and community members. Part of the problem was dwindling enrollment due to CEO Paul Vallas’ efforts to dismantle middle schools and insert grades 7 and 8 in elementary schools. This policy created two big problems: dwindling enrollment at middle schools and behavioral issues at elementary schools who were given no supports to deal with older students. Vallas claimed that Ada Lewis needed extensive structural repairs. The school community hired its own experts to conduct an independent review of the building; they came up with different results. To add insult to injury, the district allowed the building to become an eyesore for almost ten years.

Several things need to be understood about this resolution. Green Star LLC ‘s offer to purchase the building and the over seven acres of land has been accepted. However, the only information to be found about the company is that Green Star LLC, based in Phoenix, started in 2013 and “operates in the real estate industry”. Their address seems to be a UPS store in Phoenix. They or their “affiliate” are buying the property in “as-is condition” and are not seeking any zoning variance. Ada Lewis is zoned ZSD-3. According to the Philadelphia Zoning Commission “RSD-3 districts are primarily intended to accommodate detached houses on individual lots. It is intended that RSD zoning applies in areas where the land-use pattern is characterized predominately by detached houses on individual lots or where such a land use pattern is desired in the future. Single-family dwellings do not require zoning approval.” Is this property the future home of market value single family housing units where once stood a vibrant school ? Once again we ask: has the community been involved in any of these transactions that directly affect their community?

More Outsourcing of Professional Development

B-2
Categorical/Grant Fund: $68,600 Contract with Solution Tree – Professional Development
RESOLVED, that the School Reform Commission ratifies the execution, delivery and performance by The School District of Philadelphia, through the Superintendent of a contract with Solution Tree, to provide training and professional development for School District staff at Roosevelt Elementary School to improve school and staff climate, for an amount not to exceed $68,600, for the period commencing January 31, 2017 through September 30, 2018.

Description: Roosevelt Elementary School is proposing to enter into a contract with Solution Tree. Solution Tree will provide an overview of our school culture. They will conduct a climate/culture review and on-going embedded professional development that aims to improve school and staff climate. This will include 5 day-long trainings for all staff along with 4 embedded coaching sessions to develop collaborative practices and provide all staff with tools to improve student performance in a healthy and safe learning environment.

APPS Analysis: Germantown was one of the neighborhoods hit hardest in 2013 with the closures of Germantown High and Robert Fulton Elementary in Central Germantown. Roosevelt Middle School was placed on the list, but at the last minute, with little planning or deliberation, the SRC decided to convert it to an elementary school. Converting a school from a middle school to an elementary takes planning and discussions with all members of the school community; that did not happen. Rather than add supports for displaced students, the district actually cut staff at Roosevelt. In 2016 Dr. Hite placed Roosevelt in the Turnaround Network with a promise of smaller class size; most of the faculty was forced to leave. What is Dr. Hite’s rationale behind overhauling the faculty every couple of years, then spending money on professional development for the new teachers? Has the District asked members of the school community how they think this $68,600 should be spent? Doubtful that parents would ask for precious funds to be spent on outsourcing professional development.

Another Contract for Catapult

A-12
Categorical/Grant Fund: $17,000,000 Contracts with Catapult Learning LLC, CORA Services Inc., Elwyn, FACTS Education Solutions LLC, and Learn It Systems LLC – Non-Public School Program Services
RESOLVED, that the School Reform Commission authorizes The School District of Philadelphia, through the Superintendent or his designee, to execute, deliver and perform contracts separately with Catapult Learning, CORA Services, Elwyn, FACTS Education Solutions and Learn It, to provide federal Title I, Title II, Title III and Title IV instructional, professional development, parental involvement and related services to non-public schools, as equitable share of The School District of Philadelphia’s Title I, Title II, Title III and Title IV awards from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, for an aggregate amount not to exceed $17,000,000, for the period commencing July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019.

Description: Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), provides Federal financial assistance to local educational agencies (LEAs) to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging academic standards. Accordingly, Title I, Part A requires each participating LEA to provide Title I services to eligible non-public school children. These services must be equitable to those provided to public school children in each LEA. The target population is non-public school children identified as failing or most at risk of failing to meet challenging academic content and student academic achievement standards as adopted by each participating student’s non-public school, and who live in the City of Philadelphia and who are enrolled in participating non- public schools.

Title II, Part A provides assistance for preparing, training, recruiting, and retaining highly qualified teachers. The amount of funding available for services to private school personnel is governed by Section 9501(b)(3) of ESEA, as amended by ESSA which requires equitable participation for private school education personnel. The activities allowed under the law are summarized as follows: (1) Providing professional development activities that improve the knowledge of teachers, principals, and paraprofessionals; (2) Developing and implementing initiatives to promote retention of highly qualified teachers and principals, particularly within schools with a high percentage of low-achieving students, and initiatives, to improve the quality of teachers, principals, and superintendents; (3) Staff advancement initiatives that promote professional growth and emphasize multiple career and pay differentiation; and (4) Developing and implementing mechanisms and initiatives to assist in recruiting, hiring, and retaining highly qualified teachers for the purpose of reducing class sizes. Private schools can only participate in the first three activities above.

Title III provides services to eligible students in non-public schools to improve English language proficiency and academic achievement and to provide family literacy and parent activities.

The School District of Philadelphia transfers Title IV funds to Title I as is allowed in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

The School District of Philadelphia typically provided Title I, Title II and Title III services to Philadelphia non-public school students through its teaching personnel. In many other large school districts, these services are outsourced to vendors. Given that the School District of Philadelphia’s cost structure is more expensive for most activities than the cost of vendors, the District was asked in 2014 to issue an RFP to determine if vendors could provide qualified services at a lower cost. Given the District is required to provide a specific dollar amount of equitable share of services to non-public school students each year, a lower cost of service equates to more service to students than otherwise would be provided. The District first issued an RFP in the fall and winter of 2014 to seek qualified vendors at competitive hourly rates for services in non-public schools. As a result of that RFP, non-public schools have been able to choose their service provider since the 2015-16 school year. In the fall of 2017, the District issued another Request for Proposal (RFP #565) to again seek qualified vendors at competitive hourly rates for service. The RFP Review Committee comprised representatives of the School District of Philadelphia and non-public schools. Hourly rate quotes were requested and provided for instructional services, professional development, parental involvement, extended day, and summer programs. All vendor personnel must be appropriately state certified and have all of the requisite background and health checks. In nearly all cases, the hourly rates of service proposed were less than the equivalent hourly rate of service cost incurred by the District. However, the hourly rate of service for extended day and summer program activities were less costly when provided by the District. Many private schools only receive an equitable share allocation such that the only service received is for the District to pay their teachers to provide extended day learning opportunities. In addition, some schools have expressed a desire to retain District provided personnel. To allow schools the ability to maintain continuity of instruction and provide the greatest programming and cost options possible, the District provides non-public schools a choice model. Five vendors are qualified to provide Title I, Title II and Title III services. In consultation with the District, non-public schools or associations of schools may choose each year vendors to provide those services, or retain existing District provided services. Therefore, it is not known at this time the dollar value of service each vendor will provide. The District seeks authorization to enter into contractual agreements with each proposer selected to provide services to non-public schools for an aggregate amount for the five vendors not to exceed $17 million.

INTERMEDIATE UNIT

IU-1
Categorical/Grant Fund: $15,000,000 Contracts with Catapult Learning LLC, CORA Services Inc., Elwyn, and Learn It Systems LLC – Act 89 Services to Non-Public Schools
RESOLVED, that the School Reform Commission acting in its capacity as the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Intermediate Unit, authorizes Intermediate Unit #26, through the Executive Director or his designee, to execute, deliver and perform contracts separately with Catapult Learning LLC., CORA Services, Elwyn Inc., and Learn It LLC., for Act 89 auxiliary services to non-public students, for an aggregate amount not to exceed $15,000,000, for the period commencing July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019.

Description: Act 89 was enacted in 1975 to address equitable educational issues for non-public school students throughout Pennsylvania. The Declaration of Policy in the legislation stated that “The welfare of the Commonwealth requires that the present and future generation of school-age children be assured ample opportunity to develop to the fullest, their intellectual capacities. It is the intent of the General Assembly by this enactment to ensure that the Intermediate Units in the Commonwealth shall furnish on an equal basis auxiliary services to all pupils in the Commonwealth…”. Auxiliary services are defined in the legislation as remedial reading and mathematics, counseling, psychological services, speech and mobility training. Act 89 services are provided to non-public students in Philadelphia through the Office of Non-Public Programs acting as Intermediate Unit #26. Intermediate Unit #26 engaged in a Request for Proposal process (RFP #565) in the fall of 2017 to seek qualified vendors at competitive hourly rates from which non-public schools could choose for services. The RFP review Committee comprised representatives of Intermediate Unit #26 and non-public schools. Non-public schools may choose each year among vendors with no geographic boundaries, selecting the vendor they believe provides the best service model for their schools at a competitive hourly rate. It is possible that only one, or up to all four, vendors may be selected by schools to provide service. Therefore, it is not known at this time the dollar value of service each vendor will provide. Intermediate Unit #26 seeks authorization to enter into contractual agreements with each vendor selected to provide auxiliary services to non-public schools for an aggregate amount for the four vendors not to exceed $15 million.

APPS Analysis: We wrote about the creation of Catapult Learning in our June 2017 edition of Eyes on the SRC:

“Catapult Learning was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1976 under the name READS as an educational services business for private and religious schools. The company was co-founded by Stephen K. Freeman, who was the Executive Director and later President and CEO, serving in that role until 2011. READS was acquired in 1995 by Sylvan Learning Systems, Inc., and the company’s name was changed to Sylvan Education Solutions. In 2003, Sylvan sold its K−12 businesses to Apollo Management LP, which formed Educate Inc.

In 2004, Educate renamed the Sylvan Education Solutions division as Catapult Learning to distinguish the in-school unit from Sylvan’s retail unit, Sylvan Learning Centers. In 2008, the Catapult Learning division was sold to private investors, making Catapult Learning a private, independent company. In 2010, the firm began a series of acquisitions— including Literacy First(2011), Nonpublic Education Services, Inc. (NESI)(2012), Newton Alliance, LLC (2014), and Drop Back in Academy (2014) —and in 2015, the company merged with Specialized Education Services, Inc. (SESI).”

Catapult has become a major vendor of Special Education services as the District shifts its responsibilities to the private sector. Of course, that is where the oversight ends. Again we ask: Who is monitoring Catapult?

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