Friday, December 9, 2011

What's on your lawn?


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.

Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg

 

The Sharon Herald and our good friends at the Scaife –funded Commonwealth Foundation have mistakenly attributed these blue and white lawn signs to PSBA.  They have actually been purchased out of pocket in boxes of 100 by school parents and members of the Keystone State Education Coalition.  Just in time for your holiday gift-giving, they are now also available individually from Education Voters PA.

School board homework: Stop vouchers

Sharon Herald By Joy Leiker Herald Staff Writer December 4, 2011
MERCER COUNTY — Public school leaders have taken their fight against Gov. Tom Corbett’s vouchers to the streets.  More precisely, to Pennsylvanians’ front yards.

http://sharonherald.com/local/x1612757665/School-board-homework-Stop-vouchers

 



Would you like to have one (or more) lawn signs?

Order one from Education Voters PA-here

 

School vouchers debated during forum

Posted: Wednesday, December 7, 2011 11:00 pm
Demonstrating that few issues are as hotly contested - and as divisive - as school vouchers, more than 200 people braved the thunder/snow storm Wednesday night to attend a town hall meeting on education reform hosted by state representatives Glen Grell, R-87 and Rep. Sheryl Delozier, R-88.
Read more: 
http://www.cumberlink.com/article_a9ffd20c-2150-11e1-a9cc-001871e3ce6c.html#ixzz1fwxsoVv3

Amended Teacher Evaluation Bill Would Apply to All Public Schools, including Charters and Cybers
PA Partnerships for Children December Cap Watch
The House Education Committee has approved legislation to create a statewide educator evaluation system in public schools, after amending the measure to ensure charter and cyber charter schools would not be left out of the evaluation system
Text of the bill: HB 1980 

Charter School for dyslexic pupils proposed in North Hills
Thursday, December 08, 2011
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette By Shellie Petri Budzeak
A proposal to open a charter school for dyslexic students drew mixed reviews Monday at a public hearing sponsored by the North Hills School District, which must decide on the application within 75 days.
If the proposal wins approval, it will be the first school in the western half of the state wholly dedicated to addressing dyslexia, which is a learning disability characterized by difficulty with skills such as word recognition, decoding and spelling

“(Western Beaver) ranked 4th in Beaver County on the 2011 PSSA test scores. PA Cyber ranked 14th (scoring below the state average).”
 “Western Beaver invests $12,600 per student with a certified teacher-to-student ration of 12:1; PA Cyber spends $6,677 instructional dollars per student with a certified teacher-to-student ratio of 100:1 ... (PA Cyber has) “a profit margin of nearly $4,000 per student.”

Backyard brawl? Western Beaver brochure criticizes PA Cyber 

Posted: Saturday, November 12, 2011
Beaver County Times By Bill Utterback
OHIOVILLE — Superintendent Robert Postupac says the Western Beaver School District wasn’t trying to ignite a backyard brawl when it mailed residents a brochure that targets the Midland-based Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, along with state legislators and media sources.

Posted at 01:43 PM ET, 12/06/2011

Revealed: School board member who took standardized test

Washington Post Answer Sheet Blog By Valerie Strauss
This is a follow-up to Monday’s guest post about a school board member who took a version of a state standardized test and was horrified at what he found.

Cuts could be coming to federal funding
by thenotebook on Dec 06 2011 Posted in Latest news
The Notebook recently began sharing content with Education Week, where this piece originally appeared.
Education Week by Alyson Klein
Education advocates and local school officials are nervously eyeing a series of draconian cuts set to hit just about every federal program in 2013—including Title I, special education, and other key K-12 priorities—in the wake of a special congressional committee’s failure to come up with long-term recommendations for how to cut the federal deficit.

Education Voters PA has Legislative Guides available online for the following counties, with more to come:

Catholic Schools in Pittsburgh Link Kids’ Tuition Assistance to Parents’ Lobbying for Voucher Legislation

NONPROFIT QUARTERLY DECEMBER 06, 2011, BY RICK COHEN
December 3, 2011Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Post-Gazette is reporting that the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh is promoting legislation for school vouchers in a very distinctive—and coercive—manner. No question that the Diocese knows which side its bread is buttered on.

Thanks everyone for your submissions and feedback that enable this forum and blog.
Thanks for your nominations.  Thanks to Tim Allwein for his inspiration and constant good humor.  He is sorely missed….

Haverford School Director Larry Feinberg chosen for PSBA’s Timothy M. Allwein Advocacy Award

Published: Wednesday, December 07, 2011
News of Delaware County By Lois Puglionesi CORRESPONDENT
HAVERFORD TWP. —The Pennsylvania School Boards Association recently selected Haverford school director Larry Feinberg to receive the first Timothy M. Allwein Advocacy Award, in recognition of Feinberg’s ongoing efforts on behalf of public education.
School Boards Association immediate past president Roberta Marcus presented the award to Feinberg at a meeting in Haverford last week. Marcus noted the award was established in honor of Allwein, the Association’s former assistant executive director for governmental and member relations, who passed away unexpectedly earlier this year.

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