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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.
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on Twitter at @lfeinberg
WHAT WORKS: Full-day
kindergarten lauded in Franklin Regional presentation
By Renatta
Signorini, TRIBUNE-REVIEW Tuesday, February 21, 2012
The Franklin Regional
school board plans to decide on March 19 whether to maintain the district's
full-day kindergarten program or revert to half-day. Sloan Elementary kindergarten teacher Libby
Carr presented the board last night with an analysis of the full-day program
and its benefits.
"This is powerful
data," she said.
Read more: Full-day kindergarten lauded in Franklin Regional
presentation - Pittsburgh Tribune-Reviewhttp://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_782674.html#ixzz1n1oJaQxc
Research study gives good marks to Phila.'s
school turnaround effort
By
Kristen A. Graham Inquirer Staff Writer Posted: Wed, Feb. 22, 2012 , 3:01 AM
Philadelphia Philadelphia
http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20120222_Research_study_gives_good_marks_to_Phila__s_school_turnaround_effort.html
“Of course,
we have a rich history of lawmakers' involvement: Until last year, state Sen.
Anthony Williams served as chairman of the board of the Hardy Williams
Charter School
Lawmakers
who are committed to improving education can, and should, do it the
old-fashioned way - through budget allocations. They should stay far away from
the obvious conflicts of interest that stem from starting their own schools.”
DN Editorial: Lawmakers should drop out of
charter involvement
Philadelphia Feb. 22, 2012 , 3:01 AM
WHEN
the School Reform Commission next votes to approve new charter schools, it'll
review one application that carries two familiar names - State Reps. Bill
Keller and John Taylor. Keller and
Taylor are part of the "founding coalition" of Philadelphia Polytechnic
Charter School
There
is no prohibition against lawmakers and elected officials or heads of public
agencies being associated with charter schools. But there should be.
http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20120222_DN_Editorial__Lawmakers_should_drop_out_of_charter_involvement.html
Corbett’s budget foreshadows surge in PA pension costs
Increases begin this year, but the big numbers are a few years
away
By Eric Boehm | PA Independent February 17, 2012
“Standardized tests may be lucrative for
educational publishers and useful for politicians who want to control school
resources, but they seldom improve learning. …. Although accountability and
data-driven instruction are often the stated goals of educational testing,
politicians may be eager to expand it for other reasons. The most obvious one
is control: The easier it is to label schools as failing, the easier it is to
take them over - at which point politicians can influence their policies and
curriculums and dole out more of the associated money and resources to whomever
they want.”
The mighty testing juggernaut
Philadelphia Feb. 21, 2012 , 9:00 AM
Christopher Paslay is a Philadelphia
There's
an old saying that weighing a cow doesn't make it fatter. When it comes to
educational testing in Pennsylvania
http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20120221_The_mighty_testing_juggernaut.html
An open letter to Gov. Tom Corbett: Now is the
time for meaningful mandate relief
PSBA
Executive Director Tom Gentzel 2/21/2012
Dear
Governor Corbett:
Last
week, you presented to the General Assembly a challenging budget for 2012-13.
It reflects the continued concerns related to the economy and the need to
carefully select priorities for state spending. Certainly, in times like these,
tight budgets mean that difficult choices must be made.
In
your budget address, you emphasized that the state's revenues do not match
mandated, escalating costs. You proposed the use of block grants to "give
school districts the flexibility to adjust to their own, unique needs" You
said that "right now, education spending is bound up in a thicket of
outdated and time-consuming regulations and mandates."
Governor,
we couldn't agree more, and the time to address this problem is now.
http://www.psba.org/news-publications/headlines/details.asp?id=2446
Parkland school district approves ads inside buses
http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2012/02/22/news/doc4f44c481acbf4798608968.txt
Financial Collapse Threatens Pennsylvania
District
No rescue yet for Chester Upland schools
Education Week By Christina A. Samuels Published February 21, 2012
The financially troubled Chester Upland school district in Pennsylvania
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/02/22/21chester_ep.h31.html?tkn=LLTFULXDu%2FvkIcZ0k2iAIembFVjDULhZRcV5&cmp=clp-edweek
Cumberland Valley
Published: Tuesday, February 21, 2012 , 7:10
AM
By DAVID N. DUNKLE, The Patriot-News
Both the elementary strings and band programs are
slated to be eliminated as district officials try to close an anticipated $2.7
million budget deficit for the 2012-13 school year.
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/02/cumberland_valley_officials_ta.html
About Yinzercation:
Outraged by the $1 BILLION state cuts that are
now hitting our schools, a group of Pittsburgh
Colfax K-8 parents formed a “Harrisburg
You can signup
for emails at: http://yinzercation.wordpress.com/about/
Yinzercation Blog — FEBRUARY 21, 2012
The letter wars
continue on the editorial pages of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Today’s letter-to-the-editor (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12052/1211504-110.stm)
is a spot-on rebuttal to two of the most commonly repeated, and false, claims
about the budget cuts to public education. But it is also an excellent example
of how Yinzer Nation is growing through our personal networks — and how this
most basic strategy of networking is working.
http://yinzercation.wordpress.com/author/burghersabroad/
State to switch from PSSA to
Keystone Exams
By Barbara Phillips Long, Shippensburg Bureau Chief, Posted: February 20, 2012
7:00 am
Pennsylvania will switch from using the
PSSA exams in high school to using the Keystone Exams on specific subjects,
despite a tight state budget for education, Assistant Superintendent Beth
Bender told Shippensburg
Area School
District
Read more: http://cumberlink.com/news/local/education/state-to-switch-from-pssa-to-keystone-exams/article_d634c8f6-5bb5-11e1-a0bc-0019bb2963f4.html#ixzz1n1aiC0ST
The
authors suggest a multifaceted response to Obama’s agenda, including that
Congress “should immediately pass legislation clarifying that the department
cannot impose conditions on waivers requested by states under ESEA.”
Obama imposing national school
curriculum
‘The department has simply paid others to do what which it
is forbidden’
A new report compiled
by several former Education Department insiders for the Pioneer
Institute warns that
the Obama administration is imposing a national school curriculum, even though
the law doesn’t allow it, by making trades with districts seeking waivers from
other program requirements. “In three
short years, the present administration has placed the nation on the road to a
national curriculum,” said the authors of the reported called “The Road to a National Curriculum: The
Legal Aspects of the Common Core Standards, Race to the Top, and Conditional
Waivers.”
http://educationviews.org/2012/02/21/obama-imposing-national-school-curriculum/
“But
what we cannot support is reshaping the program into one that caters to the
middle class - and that's where the voucher program is headed after last year's
revamp.”
Choice enrollment boost
shows a worrisome trend
Milwaukee February 20, 2012
At least some of the growth in the voucher program
came from kids already enrolled in private schools. Poor students should be the
priority.
More than 2,000 new students
entered the school voucher program this year after the Legislature relaxed
requirements. That's the good news. The bad news? Much of that growth came from
kids whose parents already were paying out-of-pocket for their children to
attend private or religious schools, according to a new study by the Public Policy Forum. The trend is the result of
a misguided shift in philosophy that we warned against when lawmakers were
considering these changes last year.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/choice-enrollment-boost-shows-a-worrisome-trend-as46693-139763423.html
“If legislators give charter schools the construction money,
in many cases they will be transferring dollars out of classrooms and onto the
bottom lines of for-profit firms. That's not innovation. That's traditional
corporate welfare.”
Cash grab by big
business
By THE PALM
BEACH POST-
Jac Wilder VerSteeg, for The Palm
Beach
Posted: 6:04 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 19, 2012
Charter schools supposedly are great innovators. They promised better
academic results than traditional public schools, and they promised to do it
for less money. Taxpayers, for example, would not have to underwrite their
budgets for construction and maintenance.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/editorials/cash-grab-by-big-business-2186521.html#.T0OssLX6aaY.email
Santorum’s children went
to a cyber charter school
Republican presidential
candidate Rick Santorum has said some pretty provocative things about public education on the campaign
trail recently, declaring that it is not the job of government to educate children
but rather the responsibility of parents.
That didn’t stop him from enrolling his children for a time in a Pennsylvania
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/santorums-children-went-to-a-cyber-charter-school/2012/02/20/gIQArAwhRR_blog.html
February 23: 9 am to 3 pm Harrisburg
Hilton 2012 Budget Summit :
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center
Join the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy
Center for our 2012 Budget Summit on Thursday,
February 23, 2012 for an in-depth look at the state and federal budget
plans and what they mean for communities and families across Pennsylvania Summit
Time: February 23, 2012 from 9am to 3pm
Location: Harrisburg Hilton
City/Town: Harrisburg
Website or Map: http://org2.democracyinaction…
Click here to RSVP
February 29th: Partners for Public
Education at 6PM in the
South Fayette High School Theater
Statewide
kickoff meeting of PSEA's Partners for Public Education (PPE) Program
PPE is all about connecting parents,
community leaders, elected officials, and teachers together for one goal - the
support of public education. State
Senator Wayne Fontana, State Representative Jesse White, PSEA President Mike
Crossey, along with
members of the SFEA Representative Council, SF School Board, SF Administration,
and SF Student Government will stand together to recruit parents and other
interested parties add their voices to the chorus of those who care about
public education.
http://partnersforpubliced.org/
http://www.facebook.com/SouthFayettePPE
SAVE THE
DATE: March 8, 7 pm Lehigh County
Thursday, March 8th,
7:00 pm at Lehigh Carbon
Community College , Community Services
Center
All public education stakeholders are
invited to this special event. Join us on Thursday, March 8th at Lehigh Carbon
Community College at 7PM for an evening with several key
state legislators from Lehigh
County
State Representatives and Senators
representing surrounding school districts have been invited to attend and
discuss their positions on public education as they head into negotiations over
next year’s budget. This event will be
moderated by the League of Women Voters.
The
Education Committee of the League of Women Voters of Chester County
March 19th LWV Chester
County
PA Auditor
General Jack Wagner
Monday
March 19th 6:30 pm
at Stetson Middle
School , West Chester
Location: Stetson Middle School Auditorium
The Auditor General will speak to the public followed by Q & A Session.
The Auditor General will speak to the public followed by Q & A Session.
THIS EVENT IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
March 26th: Last day to register to vote in the
April 24th PA Primary Election
You do have the power to change the direction of
education policy in Pennsylvania
The
last day to REGISTER before the primary is March 26 , 2012. Make sure that you, your family, friends,
neighbors and co-workers are all registered to vote in the April 24th
Pennsylvania Primary. Ask your incumbent
state representative and state senator for their positions on public
education. Let them know how important
these issues are to you. Forward this
reminder to any and all public education stakeholders.
PA SENATE
APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE
Budget Hearing -
Department of Education
Monday, February 27, 2012 9:30
AM Hearing Room 1 North
Office Bldg.
PA HOUSE
APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE
BUDGET HEARINGS:
EDUCATION
Monday, March 5, 2012 10:00 AM Room
140 Main Capitol
Education Voters PA –
Take action on the Governor’s Budget
The Governor’s proposal starts the process,
but it isn’t all decided: our legislators can play an important role in
standing up for our priorities. Last year, public outcry helped prevent
nearly $300 million in additional cuts. We heard from the Governor, and
we know where he stands. Now,
we need to ask our legislators: what is your position on supporting our
schools?
At The Chalk Face - Education Talk
Radio – Listen Anytime
Educated Educators Talking Education.
A new one hour talk show dedicated to education. Hosts Tim Slekar and Shaun Johnson cover the
biggest issues in education. From
standardized testing to No Child Left Behind.
PA House Democratic
Caucus Website
UPDATED DAILY –
STATEWIDE PRESS COVERAGE OF SCHOOL DISTRICT
BUDGETS
As districts consider their preliminary budgets and we await the
Governor’s February 7th budget
announcement, the PA House Democratic Caucus has begun daily tracking of press
coverage on school district budgets statewide:
http://www.pahouse.com/school_funding_2011cuts.asp?utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=http%3a%2f%2fwww.pahouse.com%2fschool_funding_2011cuts.asp&utm_campaign=Crisis+in+Public+Education
Latest Updates on Chester
Upland February 22, 2012
District is
slated to lose an additional $980,000 under the Governor’s proposed 2012-2013
budget
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