Berks County superintendents, CTC directors, and Berks County Intermediate Unit officials hosted a Virtual Legislative Roundtable on Friday, December 11, 2020, to provide an opportunity for Berks County legislators to meet with school leaders for an exchange of ideas on key issues regarding education.
During the roundtable, legislators shared information regarding budget and legislative priorities for the upcoming session while superintendents shared challenges faced during the pandemic and its effect on Berks County schools.
Additionally, legislators learned more about the three areas identified by the Berks County Schools Committee on Legislative Action (COLA) to focus their advocacy efforts for the 2021-2022 legislative session.
The three priority areas of COLA’s advocacy focus are:
- Special Education Funding
- Cyber Charter School Reform
- Mandated Training Hours
Dr. Jill Hackman provided an overview of the revisions made to the State Mandates for Public School Districts document. The new draft version of the document lists more than 200 total mandates, including more than 100 additions from the previous version. It is anticipated that the final document will be shared in January 2021.
We are grateful for the continued support and collaboration of our Berks County legislators, and their efforts on behalf of the 70,000-plus students in
Berks County.
Thank you to the legislators who participated in our Virtual Roundtable event:
- Senator Judy Schwank
- Senator David Argall
- Representative Gary Day
- Representative Jerry Knowles
- Representative Ryan MacKenzie