Keystone State Education Coalition

Established in 2006, the Keystone State Education Coalition is a growing grass roots, non-partisan public education advocacy group of several hundred locally elected, volunteer school board members and administrators from school districts throughout Pennsylvania. Our mission is to evaluate, discuss and inform our boards, district constituents and legislators on legislative issues of common interest and to facilitate active engagement in public education advocacy.

Friday, December 30, 2011

Imagine a high school where students can take classes as early as 7 a.m. or as late as 9 p.m. Some of the courses are taught face-to-face in the school, with others delivered online and still others taught through a mix of classroom and computer-based instruction.

Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1000 Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators, legislators and members of the press via emails, website, Facebook and Twitter.

Visit us on Facebook at KeystoneStateEducationCoalition

Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg

Chester Community Charter sues CUSD for $3.8 million

Published: Thursday, December 29, 2011

Delco Times By JOHN KOPP, jkopp@delcotimes.com

CHESTER – Chester Upland School District and the district’s school board are among the defendants being sued by Chester Community Charter School for more than $3.8 million in delinquent funding.

http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2011/12/29/news/doc4efcaabc95e99803120681.txt?viewmode=default

Florida Bill would require transparency in charter school management

The measure, submitted by state Sen. Larcenia Bullard, D-Miami, would require the schools to be transparent about who manages them and how much they are paid.

Miami Herald on 12/22/11 BY KATHLEEN McGRORY and SCOTT HIAASEN kmcgrory@MiamiHerald.com

A Miami lawmaker wants public charter schools to be more transparent .State Senator Larcenia Bullard, D-Miami, filed a bill Wednesday that would require charter schools to post information about their management companies on their school websites.

Hey Pennsylvania Legislators - How about something similar in a Pennsylvania Charter School Reform Bill?

Here’s a link to the one-page bill described above:

Senate Bill 1338 (2012) - The Florida Senate

www.flsenate.gov › Session › 2012 Bills

Dec 21, 2011 – GENERAL BILL by Bullard. Charter Schools; Requiring each charter school to maintain an Internet website with information about the school,

MICEK - The Top 5 Political Stories of 2011:

No. 3 The Fight Over Education Funding.

Allentown Morning Call Capitol Ideas Blog by John Micek 12/29/11

The Kids May Have This Week Off for the holidays (Yes, holidays.), but the fight over funding for Pennsylvania's 500 school districts and whose vision for public education would win the rhetorical high ground rarely took a day off in 2011.

http://blogs.mcall.com/capitol_ideas/2011/12/the-top-5-political-stories-of-2011-no-3-the-fight-over-education-funding.html

SCHOOL CHOICE: Three school districts will merge teaching efforts

Penn Manor, Hempfield and Manheim Township plan to unveil an “open campus” project that is believed to be the first collaborative effort of its kind in Pennsylvania

Intelligencer Journal Lancaster New Era Dec 28, 2011 23:01, BRIAN WALLACE, Staff Writer

Imagine a high school where students can take classes as early as 7 a.m. or as late as 9 p.m.

Some of the courses are taught face-to-face in the school, with others delivered online and still others taught through a mix of classroom and computer-based instruction.

At this school, tuition is free and students can enroll in specialty courses such as Latin and business Spanish that their home schools don't offer.

http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/558484_Three-school-districts-here-will-merge-teaching-efforts.html

“In addition to shutting the Promise Academy office and cutting some of the schools' extra instructional time, there's also been cuts in enrichment programs, mentoring programs and the elimination of school-based instructional specialists, summer professional development, centrally-funded supplemental academic programs and centrally-funded library upgrades.”

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2011

Cuts to Philly's Promise Academies

Philadelphia Inquirer Philly School Files Blog by Kristen Graham

Tucked in today's story about "Occupy 440" - a group of school nurses' protest against the Philadelphia School District's latest round of budget cuts - was a line you may have missed:

District spokesman Fernando Gallard said the Promise Academies had had "significant cuts," including the elimination of the entire central office staff that supervised those schools, which was also axed as of Dec. 31.

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/school_files/Cuts-to-Phillys-Promise-Academies.html

The School Lunch Barometer

New York Times EDITORIAL Published: December 29, 2011

The economic downturn is driving more and more families into the ranks of the poor and the “near poor” who barely make it from paycheck to paycheck. This pattern is chillingly clear from the rising numbers of formerly middle-class children now qualifying for free or low-cost meals under the federally financed school lunch program.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/30/opinion/the-school-lunch-barometer.html?src=rechp

EDUCATION WEEK’S 2011: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

The editors at Education Week have handpicked memorable articles from 2011. Below are collections of ten of the most significant stories from our coverage of education over the past year.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/collections/2011-in-review/index.html

Posted at 04:00 AM ET, 12/30/2011

10 education predictions for 2012

Washington Post Answer Sheet Blog By Valerie Strauss

This was written by Larry Ferlazzo, who teaches English at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, California. He writes a popular blog for teachers and is the author of three books. He is a member of the Teacher Leaders Network. A version of this excerpt appeared on his blog, “Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/10-education-predictions-for-2012/2011/12/29/gIQAB2PbPP_blog.html

Lopsided Debate Over Education Reform Reveals a Broken System

Education Week Living in Dialogue Blog By Anthony Cody on December 29, 2011 11:20 AM

Follow me on Twitter at @AnthonyCody

Donations flow from the Gates Foundation to the right wing American Legislative Exchange Council, whose conference attracts legislators from around the nation. The billionaire philanthropists' foundations help write the laws that tie teacher pay to test scores, destroy due process, erode pensions, and lower standards to enter the profession.

The Department of Education directs billions in taxpayer dollars to states, but only if they are willing to implement these very same terrible policies.

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2011/12/lopsided_debate_over_education.html