Daily
postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1900
Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators,
legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, PTO/PTA officers, parent
advocates, teacher leaders, education professors, members of the press and a
broad array of P-16 regulatory agencies, professional associations and education
advocacy organizations via emails, website, Facebook and Twitter.
The Keystone State Education Coalition is
pleased to be listed among the friends and allies of The Network for Public
Education. Are you a
member?
These daily
emails are archived at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg
How much is your school district spending on cybercharters?
Help spread the message of the Pennsylvania School
Funding Campaign for the 2013-2014 State Budget
Contact
your state legislators during the Memorial Day recess
http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.blogspot.com/2013/03/help-spread-message-of-pennsylvania.html
At over 21%, the U.S.
Study confirms poverty hits the
suburbs, too
By Alfred Lubrano, Inquirer Staff Writer POSTED: May 21, 2013
Say poverty in the Philadelphia
area, and it conjures images of North Philadelphia
or Kensington, not the suburbs. But the
suburbs on both sides of the Delaware River
are becoming steadily poorer, part of a national trend that confounds long-held
beliefs that life is always better in greener pastures beyond urban limits.
"People have this cliched notion of poverty being based in the inner
city," said Adele LaTourette, director of the New Jersey Anti-Hunger
Coalition, which has offices in Trenton and North Jersey . "But it's been moving into suburbia
for some time.
Madonna Poll: Majority of
Pennsylvanians give local schools A or B grade
PSBA News Release by Steve Robinson, Director of Publications and PR 5/23/2013
According to a recent public opinion poll, a majority of Pennsylvanians
grade their local school with an A or B on performance. The poll presents the findings of a survey of
807 Pennsylvania
Educational policies for lawmakers
to reconsider (Guest Essay)
An open letter to our state lawmakers who have supported Gov. Corbett's
past two budgets.
I am a parent of two little girls who attend a public school in
Shippensburg. In a few weeks, you will make decisions in Harrisburg
that will have an impact on Pennsylvania
Open Records chief flunks Pa.
ABC27.com By Dennis Owens May
22, 2013 5:54 PM
The head of Pennsylvania
"The number one violators are charter schools," said Executive
Director Terry Mutchler.
She said her office has existed for five years and has handled 7,000
cases. Overwhelmingly, charter schools have been the most non-compliant
group.
"In 87 percent of the cases, charter schools ignored citizens,"
she said. "In 76 percent of the cases, charter schools ignored us. That's
brazen."
Charter schools in Pennsylvania
PennCAN:
Follow the money……
Can or Con
It must be all the spring rain – new corporate-style reform groups are
popping up like weeds. The latest one just appeared in Pittsburgh Connecticut
How
much is your school district spending on cybercharters?
Great
interactive map shows detail per district in 2010 and 2013 with % change:
Estimated payments to cybers, Cyber charter
enrollment, % of students attending cybers
Per pupil payment to charters/cybers for
regular ed student
Per pupil payment to charters/cybers for
special ed student
Rising cyber charter costs fuel push
for statewide reform [map]
WHYY Newsworks By Benjamin Herold May 23, 2013
Interactive map by Michelle Schmitt and Todd Vachon
Even as funding for Pennsylvania public
schools has dwindled, the cost of sending students to independent, online
charter schools has risen in more than three-quarters of Pennsylvania
State Rep. McCarter, joined by
Roebuck, unveils the CLASS Act; legislation aimed at reforming Pa.
GLENSIDE, May 23 – State Rep. Steve McCarter,
D-Montgomery/Phila., today was joined by the Democratic chairman of the House
Education Committee, Rep. James Roebuck, D-Phila., to announce a new charter
school reform proposal, the Charter Learning Accountability School
Sustainability Act, or CLASS. The CLASS Act is aimed at achieving greater
academic accountability, funding equalization and transparency within the
charter and cyber charter school system.
McCarter’s legislation would offer several key revisions to the current
charter school law to provide much needed relief to local taxpayers by creating
one statewide cyber charter school district to be administered by the state
Department of Education. It is estimated that this component of the CLASS Act
could eventually save school districts approximately $230 million to $250
million annually statewide.
PCCY: More Effort, More Resources
Needed To Address Issues In NCTQ Teacher Quality Report
Public Citizens for Children and Youth (PCCY) Press Release May 23, 2013
The recent report by the National Council for Teacher Quality is evidence
that the School District of Philadelphia needs much more effort from its
management and more resources to train, attract, support and keep quality
teachers for Philadelphia
PCCY Executive Director Donna Cooper says, “It is impossible for the
School Reform Commission and Superintendent Hite to carry out the report’s best
recommendations if the District is forced to make $300 million in budget cuts.“ The well-researched report presents compelling
data about the challenges the District faces with hiring, pay scale, evaluation
and support for teachers. The report can be found at: http://www.nctq.org/tr3/districtStudies/viewStudy.jsp?id=11
Philly Charter schools join Nutter,
Hite in funding plea
MARTHA WOODALL, INQUIRER
STAFF WRITER Thursday, May 23, 2013 , 2:36 PM
Leaders from more than 20 Philadelphia charter schools today joined the
school district's campaign to obtain more state and city aid to cover a looming
$304 million shortfall. "We have
got to share in the advocacy and share in the fight to ensure Philadelphia's
public schools are adequately funded," Lawrence Jones, president of the
Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools," said at a rally at Boys
Latin of Philadelphia Charter School in West Philadelphia.
Do we have the leaders to solve the
Philly school funding mess?
WHYY Newsworks By Dave Davies @DaveDaviesWHYY May 24, 2013
It's beginning to dawn on more of us that Philadelphia
The school district's financial situation is as dire as the one the city
faced in 1991, when Philadelphia
“The more the state moves away from carrying its appropriate share of
school funding, the more it rolls the tax burden down the hill to the poorest
communities.”
Who’s Still Killing Philly Schools?
The status quo is now state control and permanent crisis.
By Daniel Denvir City 12:00
AM
“Our young people will suffer under a devastating bare-bones
budget,” Mayor Michael Nutter warned at a press conference last week. “The
quality of education in Philadelphia Philadelphia School
District of Philadelphia
“The people in this room voted you in and I
think everyone is saying now — raise taxes and stop cutting programs and
teachers,” said Brian Owens, of Rosecliff Drive, Douglassville, repeating,
“Since everyone voted you in to do your job — raise our taxes and stop cutting
the programs.”
Daniel Boone School Board goes
forward with cuts, ignores parent pleas
By Denise Larive 21st Century Media Posted: Tuesday, 05/21/13 12:58 pm
AMITY — Parents, teachers and taxpayers in the Daniel Boone School District told the school board Monday night that history keeps repeating itself as board members ignore their pleas and continue to cut programs. While some programs were saved by using $2.4 million of the district’s fund balance in the preliminary budget of $52.45 million, many other programs were approved to be cut in June with the final budget. The public made it clear to the board at the beginning of the meeting (as they have in previous years) that they want a tax increase to save their programs.
AMITY — Parents, teachers and taxpayers in the Daniel Boone School District told the school board Monday night that history keeps repeating itself as board members ignore their pleas and continue to cut programs. While some programs were saved by using $2.4 million of the district’s fund balance in the preliminary budget of $52.45 million, many other programs were approved to be cut in June with the final budget. The public made it clear to the board at the beginning of the meeting (as they have in previous years) that they want a tax increase to save their programs.
Corbett signs bill to devise a formula for
funding special education services
The
notebook by Brett Schaeffer Summer 2013 Edition
Brett Schaeffer is the communications director
for the Education
Law Center
“This
is historic,” said ELC executive director Rhonda Brownstein.
“The
commission will outline a much-needed approach for funding special education in
Pennsylvania
State Issues New Guidelines to Improve
Early Education Access for Homeless Children
New policy guidance issued last week by the Pennsylvania
Office of Child Development and Early Learning improves access to early
learning opportunities for homeless children under the age of six. This policy sets new standards for
interagency collaboration at state and local levels to identify young children
experiencing homelessness across service systems and ensure access to quality
early learning programs, such as Head Start and Early Intervention.
“We
are so pleased that OCDEL has stepped forward to provide important vision and
leadership that will help ensure that young children experiencing homelessness
get the supports and services to which they are entitled and desperately need,”
said the Education Law Center’s Nancy A. Hubley, Managing Attorney for ELC’s
Pittsburgh office.
"Local and state leaders -- those who
have direct interaction with parents and teachers in their communities -- are
best positioned to determine policies that affect Alabama Washington
By Evan Belanger |
ebelanger@al.com on May 22, 2013 at 4:15 PM
"The
executive branch has exceeded its appropriate reach where state education
policy is concerned, and it's time to rein it in," Roby said in a press
release. The Defending State Authority
Over Education Act, Roby said, will "prevent undue influence by the
federal government."
“We urge Congress to develop a plan that not
only protects education as a civil right but also as a national security
interest,” said NSBA President David A. Pickler, who added that while
“federal dollars are going away, the mandates remain.”
Sequestration Gets Real: NSBA, Impact Aid
districts warn of consequences of federal budget cuts
Federal
budget cuts are coming for every school district this fall—but the reality of
teacher layoffs and program cuts already are here for school districts that
receive Impact Aid.
Two
district officials who already have endured the first round of scheduled cuts
shared their experiences in a teleconference organized by the National School
Boards Association (NSBA) and the National Association of Federally Impacted
Schools (NAFIS).
NSBA
is continuing to lobby Congress through its grassroots network to stop or
mitigate sequestration, the automatic, across-the-board cuts that took place
when Congress failed to pass a budget in March.
EPLC Education Policy Fellowship Program –
Apply Now
Applications are
available now for the 2013-2014 Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP). The Education Policy
Fellowship Program is sponsored in Pennsylvania
With more than 350
graduates in its first fourteen years, this Program is a premier professional
development opportunity for educators, state and local policymakers, advocates,
and community leaders. State Board of Accountancy (SBA) credits are
available to certified public accountants.
Past participants
include state policymakers, district superintendents and principals, school
business officers, school board members, education deans/chairs, statewide
association leaders, parent leaders, education advocates, and other education
and community leaders. Fellows are typically sponsored by their employer
or another organization.
The Fellowship Program
begins with a two-day retreat on September 12-13, 2013 and
continues to graduation in June 2014.
Search underway for PSBA Executive Director
The Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA)
is a nonprofit statewide association of public school boards, pledged to the
highest ideals of local lay leadership for the public schools of the
commonwealth. Founded in 1895, PSBA has a rich history as the first
school boards' association established in the United States Pennsylvania
Search
by Diversified Search, 1990 M St NW, Suite 570Washington , DC
Sign Up
Today for PILCOP Special Ed CLE Trainings
Spots are filling up for the
final two trainings in our 2012-2013 Know Your Child’s Rights series with
seminars on ADAAA, Pro Se Parents and Settlement Agreements.
For seminar details and
registration: http://pilcop.org/sign-up-today-for-special-ed-cle-trainings/
Turning the Page for Change
celebration, June
11, 2013
Please join us for the Notebook’s annual Turning the Page for
Change celebration on June 11, 2013 , from 4:30 - 7 p.m. at the University of The Arts 320 S. Broad Street
Building One America 2013 National Summit July 18-19, 2013 Washington , DC
Brookings Institution to present
findings of their “Confronting Suburban Poverty” report
Building One America’s Second National Summit for
Inclusive Suburbs and Sustainable Regions will involve local leaders and
federal policy makers to seek bipartisan solutions to the unique but common
challenges around housing, schools and infrastructure facing America America
Information and registration: https://buildingoneamerica.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=1
PA Charter Schools: $4 billion taxpayer dollars with no real
oversight Keystone State May 2,
2013 )
Charter schools - public funding without public scrutiny; Proposed
statewide authorization and direct payment would further diminish
accountability and oversight for public tax dollars
