If you thought being a public school superintendent is tough, try being a superintendent during a pandemic. In your first year. In a poor, underfunded school district with high administrative turnover.
Thatâs the situation Ashley Rizzo, who took over as Columbia Borough School District superintendent in January, finds herself in.
Columbia, Lancaster Countyâs smallest school district, has the second-highest percentage of low-income students in the county. School funding advocates say itâs chronically underfunded. And Rizzo, 36, the former principal at Wickersham Elementary School in the School District of Lancaster, represents Columbiaâs eighth superintendent change in 15 years.
Despite the challenges in front of her at Columbia, Rizzo, in an interview with LNP | LancasterOnline Friday, said sheâs already come to appreciate the small, urban school district and its community.
Facing intense budgetary pressure from the coronavirus pandemic and years of being severely underfunded, a handful of Lancaster County schools received a semblance of hope Wednesday as Gov. Tom Wolf proposed what some school officials say is a long-overdue shakeup of education funding in Pennsylvania.
The democratic governorâs 2021-22 budget proposal, which some Republicans say is dead on arrival, builds on previous education funding increases by calling for a historic, $1.35 billion, or 21.6%, increase in basic education funding. Wolf is also asking for all basic education funding to flow through the stateâs Fair Funding Formula that presently is used for new money only. That translates to a $59.5 million, or 32%, boost for Lancaster County schools.
Attestation form: In accordance with a new requirement from the Pennsylvania departments of Health and Education, school districts in counties with high COVID-19 rates must fill out and submit an attestation form, which is a formal agreement that administrators will adhere to the stateâs latest health and safety guidelines. The district, according to its official attestation, has reviewed the most recent âpublic health guidance,â affirmed its administration âis complying and will continue to comply with and enforceâ state mitigation strategies, and met the Nov. 30 submission deadline. A digital copy of the attestation form is available on the districtâs website.
Columbia suspends in-person instruction at its secondary campus through holiday break due to COVID-19 lancasteronline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lancasteronline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Lancaster Countyâs two poorest school districts were left out of a combined $1.5 million in the latest batch of federal coronavirus relief, expanding funding inequities at a time when school districts with high percentages of low-income students needed it most, according to a new report.
Because the latest batch of federal coronavirus aid was distributed based on enrollment, not poverty, school districts with the most need received less than they should have compared to their more affluent peers, the report states.
The report, published Monday by the Keystone Research Center, a left-leaning think tank based in Harrisburg, suggests the funding should have flowed through Pennsylvaniaâs basic education funding formula, which the state uses to fund new money to school districts each year and considers poverty and other factors.