Monday, August 29, 2011

Vouchers could take another billion away from these kids

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School districts must make do after funding cuts of $1 billion
Sunday, August 28, 2011
By Mary Niederberger, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
As school starts across the region, the full impact of the approximately $1 billion in state cuts to education funding is becoming apparent.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11240/1170451-455-0.stm

Back to school with less

The 2011-12 school year opens with fewer teachers and programs in many districts but also new ideas amid a national debate on money's impact on education in the 21stcentury.

By Steve Esack, Of The Allentown Morning Call
11:00 p.m. EDT, August 27, 2011
Perhaps not since the 1980s has this financial yin and yang of education been more evident than in the 2011-12 school year, which begins for some students Monday and for others next week.

Back to the drawing board: A Promise Academy struggles to move forward

Thenotebook by Dale Mezzacappa on Aug 25 2011
The Promise Academy program directs extra resources and attention to the lowest-achieving schools and the most disadvantaged children. Under the model, teachers have to reapply for their jobs, and no more than half can be rehired, on the theory that these troubled schools needed to clean out dead weight and start with a new, cohesive team. They get an infusion of extra personnel, a longer day and year, enrichment activities, and extensive remediation. (The Notebook estimated the additional investment in the first year at $3,600 per pupil.)

Posted on Mon, Aug. 29, 2011
Buyout packages becoming common for departing school superintendents
By Amy Worden, Inquirer Staff Writer
From Massachusetts to California, a rising number of school superintendents who find themselves at odds with their boards of education are enjoying softer landings thanks to generous farewell fees tucked into their contracts.
The $905,000 golden parachute announced with the departure last week of Philadelphia School Superintendent Arlene C. Ackerman is by all accounts the biggest buyout bonanza to date, at least in Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia Inquirer Opinion, Posted on Sun, Aug. 28, 2011

How to avoid malaise after the tumult

In search for great leadership, we must act on lessons learned.

Helen Gym is a Philadelphia public school parent and a cofounder of Parents United for Public Education
I can't count the number of times I've heard conversations about the next leadership of our schools start with: "Who would ever want to 


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