Thursday, May 31, 2012

Only Romania ranks higher, with 25.5 percent of its children living in poverty, compared with 23.1 percent in the U.S.


Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1500 Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators, legislators, members of the press and a broad array of education advocacy organizations via emails, website, Facebook and Twitter.

These daily emails are archived at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg

Catholic Church and new “Fighting Chance PAC”actively lobbying for taxpayer-funded voucher bailout and expanded EITC program that would take another billion dollars away from public schools

“At the same time that parochial schools demand state support, they bristle at the suggestion that they become accountable for their policies and curriculum. The state should only pay for schools that it controls, those that accept every student and teach a state-supported curriculum.”
Letters to the Editor
Philadelphia Inquirer May 29, 2012
No public money for private schools
I disagree with those calling for the state to bail out the parochial schools with our tax dollars ("Catholic students lobby for vouchers," May 21). Parents who send their students to parochial schools, especially in the suburbs, are not fleeing failing public schools. They are making a decision to give their children a religious education. That is their right, but don’t ask the rest of us to pay the freight.

No problem!  Our response to this is to give these same kids more standardized tests, fire their teachers and open more charter schools.  That’s the Obama/Duncan/Gates national policy, the Corbett/Piccola PA state policy and will soon be the Philadelphia SRC policy…….

UNICEF Report: U.S. Child Poverty Second Highest Among Developed Nations

Huffington Post By saki.knafo@huffingtonpost.com
Posted: 05/30/2012 8:03 pm
Can government spending lift poor children from poverty?
A new report from UNICEF suggests it's possible. The latest edition of UNICEF's report on child poverty in developed countries found that 30 million children in 35 of the world's richest countries live in poverty. Among those countries, the United States ranks second on the scale of what economists call "relative child poverty" -- above Latvia, Bulgaria, Spain, Greece, and 29 others. Only Romania ranks higher, with 25.5 percent of its children living in poverty, compared with 23.1 percent in the U.S.

Related chart: Child Poverty Rate % of children living in households with equivalent income lower than 50% of national median:

Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Poverty Level at 144 SB1 Failing Schools is 80.8% vs PA State Avg 39.1%
This chart lists the poverty level (percentage of students receiving free or reduced lunch) for each of the 144 schools on the "failing schools" list under Senate Bill 1.
The Pennsylvania statewide average is 39.1%.  For these 144 schools the average is 80.8%.

American students in schools with less than 10% of students on free and reduced lunch averaged 551, higher than the overall average of any OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development country.

Those in schools with 10% to 25% of students qualifying for free and reduced lunch averaged 527, which was behind only Korea and Finland.

In contrast, American students in schools with 75% or more of children in poverty averaged 446, second to last among the 34 OECD countries.

Posted at 10:11 AM ET, 12/ 9/2010

How poverty affected U.S. PISA scores

Washington Post Answer Sheet Blog By Valerie Strauss
Stephen Krashen, professor emeritus at the University of Southern California, wrote the following, which was posted on the Schools Matter blog.
…..But data available now tells us that poverty, as usual, had a huge impact on PISA reading test scores for American students. American students in schools with less than 10% of students on free and reduced lunch averaged 551, higher than the overall average of any OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development country. Those in schools with 10% to 25% of students qualifying for free and reduced lunch averaged 527, which was behind only Korea and Finland.
In contrast, American students in schools with 75% or more of children in poverty averaged 446, second to last among the 34 OECD countries.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/research/how-poverty-affected-us-pisa-s.html

 

Stephen Krashen: Children need food, health care, and books. Not new standards and tests.

 Anthony Cody  
Decades of research confirm that poverty has a huge impact on student learning. Many studies show that more poverty means lower scores on all measures of school achievement. There are also many studies that show us just how poverty negatively impacts school performance.

Pittsburgh Public Schools sends 285 layoff notices

By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette May 31, 2012 1:11 am
Pittsburgh Public Schools today is sending out 285 provisional furlough notices to teachers and other professionals, a prelude to what is expected to be the largest number of teacher layoffs in the district's history.

Chester Upland OKs $99M tentative budget
May 29, 2012 By Dan Hardy and INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
The school board in Delaware County’s Chester Upland School District passed a $99 million tentative budget Tuesday that leaves it with a $9 million gap between revenues and spending that it has to close by June 30.
The budget woes are only the latest problems for the beleaguered district, which last fall had to lay off about 40 percent of its teaching staff and eliminate arts and music instruction and honors classes. The district almost ran out of money in January; it managed to stay open but ran up millions in debt in the process.

Politically Incorrect: Public Education Financing Flawed
PoliticsPA May 29, 2012 Written by G. Terry Madonna & Michael L. Young
The "Property Tax Independence Act" sponsored by Rep. Jim Cox (R-Berks) may be a solution to our public education woes.
These days, the word “crisis” has become a tedious cliché, much overused and abused by those for whom every problem becomes a looming catastrophe. But the unparalleled challenges now confronting the financing of Pennsylvania’s public education system do comprise a genuine crisis, one that if left unsolved threatens to transform Pennsylvania—educationally, economically, culturally, and even socially—into a permanent backwater.
Across the Commonwealth dedicated teachers are being furloughed, vital programs are being curtailed, entire schools are being shut down, and an entire generation of students may be losing their access to a quality education. That’s just the good news.

“What motivates her?  "I believe strongly that all kids are our kids," Yanoff, the daughter of a barber who emigrated from Latvia, said in an interview Tuesday. "That democracy is not a spectator sport. That people have to be engaged and care enough to tell their elected representatives to do something better."
Posted: Wed, May. 30, 2012, 7:10 AM
Shelly Yanoff leaving a legacy of advocacy for children
By Kristen A. Graham Inquirer Staff Writer
In 1986, Shelly Yanoff accepted a job as executive director of what was then called Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth. She thought she would stay a few months at the organization so tiny the only employees were Yanoff and a secretary.
Plans changed.

Many school districts tapping reserve funds to close budget gaps
Governor says schools must spend such money rather than rely on state
Third in an eight-part series
Reading Eagle by Erin Negley Originally Published: 5/29/2012      
When budgets are tight, school districts sometimes have to dip into reserve funds to make ends meet.  It's not something they like to do, but these are desperate times.
"We can't count on doing this every year," said Dr. Paul B. Eaken, Fleetwood superintendent.

“Corbett’s admonition to local school boards to come clean with taxpayers about money in reserve is a fair assessment, and urging school districts to use their reserves within reason is good advice. But that’s only part of the story. Blaming local districts for not using reserves doesn’t absolve the state of the greater responsibility for fairly funding schools in Pennsylvania.”
School reserve funds are issue, but not the full story
Pottstown Mercury Editorial Posted: 05/30/12 12:01 am
At a time when most school boards are raising taxes or cutting staff and programs, Gov. Tom Corbett is encouraging districts to dip into their reserve funds, statewide totaling $3.2 billion, to cover operating expenses. So far only one district in the Pottstown tri-county area has heeded the advice.  Corbett’s analysis that school districts “are making a concerted effort not to go into those reserves” is apparently being played out locally.

New nutrition regulations force schools to raise prices
By Rossilynne Skena Tribune-Review Published: Monday, May 28, 2012, 11:10 p.m.
Students in a number of local districts will have to shell out a little more cash for school lunch next school year.  District officials attribute the price increases to the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, new federal regulations that dictate requirements for lunches, as well as other commodity cost increases.

In Philly, District rejects Creighton teachers’ proposal
by Benjamin Herold for the Notebook and WHYY/NewsWorks on May 30 2012
District officials have shot down an effort by teachers at Creighton Elementary to stave off charter conversion and lead their own school turnaround effort.
A teacher-led proposal calling for a council of teachers and community members to assume control of the school “does not provide sufficient evidence of the…ability to implement, manage, and sustain a large-scale school turnaround at Creighton,” wrote Chief Academic Officer Penny Nixon in a memo dated May 29.

Commentary: The choice before the Philadelphia SRC on May 31
The Notebook by Ron Whitehorne on May 29 2012
In one community hearing and meeting after another, the School Reform Commission has been told in no uncertain terms that its privatization plan and austerity budget are not acceptable to parents, students, educators, and community members.

CityPaper TUESDAY, MAY 29, 2012

On MSNBC, Daniel Denvir discusses Philly as ground zero for school privatization

Putting Philly's (and Pennsylvania's) school funding crisis in a national context, CP's Daniel Denvir continued his media tour with an appearance on "Melissa Harris-Perry" on MSNBC this weekend. Denvir calls Philly's current situation a "manmade disaster" crafted by the same forces who wish to privatize. Check out the video and refer back to his cover story, "Who's Killing Philly Public Schools?" for the background.

Sneak Attack on Teachers’ Collective Bargaining Rights in Pennsylvania
Friday, 25 May 2012 14:43
Truthout.org By Mike Elk, In These Times
Republican Gov. Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania is pushing a bill that could stealthily strip teachers' collective bargaining rights in some of the state's financially struggling school districts, according to members of the Pennsylvania State Education Association. 
Earlier this week, the Pennsylvania State Senate Education committee passed H.B. 1307, a bill allowing the state to declare school districts financially distressed and subsequently appoint an overseer to approve plans made by the school board. To the dismay of teachers' unions, the bill would also allow public schools to be turned over to private charter companies and give the receiver the power to null and void any collective bargaining contracts.

Broward school board passes anti-FCAT resolution
By Scott Travis, Sun Sentinel 5:12 p.m. EDT, May 30, 2012
Broward County school leaders are speaking out against what they see as a nasty four-letter word: FCAT.
The School Board unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday opposing standardized testing as the primary means for evaluating schools, students and teachers. They say there is so much focus on students doing well on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test that it's thwarting teacher creativity and hindering students' ability to learn.
They say many students are being poorly educated on subjects not directly tested on the FCAT, including history, art and music. At the same time, the tests have become so stressful that kids are staying home sick, skipping school and dropping out, they said.
"This is destroying public education, destroying the teaching profession and destroying children," School Board member Robin Bartleman said. "The classroom should be fun. Kids should be excited about learning and not be afraid they're going to be punished for one test."

Two Polls Show Floridians Want an End to Reliance on High Stakes Test

The Florida Current and the Northwest Florida Daily News have polls which shows that by  61% to 39% and 83% to 17% , respectively,  Floridians want something else for their children.
Rebukes continue for Jeb Bush’s test-based system. Such polling data when combined with the outrage that Bush’s hand-picked education commissioner in Gerard Robinson is facing on his FCAT Listening/Apology/It’s Here to Stay Tour indicate significant opposition by Floridians – voters and taxpayers all.

SAVE UPPER DARBY ARTS 2012
Published on May 21, 2012 by SaveUDArts
Sign the Petition http://ow.ly/b3rR2
This isn't just about the Upper Darby School District. All over Pennsylvania and in many other states as well, WAR has been declared on Public Education, on children.  Our children deserve the very best that we can give them, no matter what test scores say. Help us take a stand and stop school districts from being forced to cut programs which cultivate who our children become.
We will be in Harrisburg on June 6th, 2012 to gather support for the proper funding of education. All are welcome to join us!
Please visit www.saveudarts.org to learn more and join the fight.

STATEWIDE PRESS COVERAGE OF SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGETS
Here are more than 700 articles since January 23rd detailing budget cuts, program cuts, staffing cuts and tax increases being discussed by local school districts
The PA House Democratic Caucus has been tracking daily press coverage on school district budgets statewide:

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

What would you like to ask Gov. Corbett?


Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1500 Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators, legislators, members of the press and a broad array of education advocacy organizations via emails, website, Facebook and Twitter.

These daily emails are archived at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg

The Heron's Nest: What would you like to ask Gov. Corbett?
Published: Wednesday, May 30, 2012
By PHIL HERON, editor@delcotimes.com, @philheron
Ever since the Upper Darby School District announced its controversial - and extremely unpopular - 'realignment' program, including cuts of the special classes in music and art at the elementary level, there is one thing I have heard again and again from parents and others concerned about the effect.
Gov. Corbett is going to sit down with a group of newspaper editors from our Journal Register Company group of newspapers across the Philly region Wednesday in Norristown. I will be there, face-to-face with the governor.  I have some questions for him, but what I'm really interested in is what readers - particularly those in Upper Darby - would like to ask the governor.
Email me your questions for the governor ateditor@delcotimes.com and I'll try to get him to answer them.

“When Gov. Corbett insists that he is simply taking us back to the days before federal stimulus dollars, he is not being truthful. This governor actually spent $372 million less last year on public preK-12 education than the state spent before it started using federal stimulus money. It’s convenient to blame the loss of stimulus dollars for our current budget woes, but these numbers make it clear that Gov. Corbett is using that as a cover story.”
The Truth About the Numbers
YINZERCATION Blog — MAY 30, 2012
Oh those halcyon pre-stimulus days. Governor Corbett and his allies have a habit of making outrageous claims about our state budget, then repeating them over and over again hoping that people will believe them. Lately we’ve been hearing again that the governor is merely returning state education funding to its level before Pennsylvania accepted federal stimulus dollars. (This has been a common claim since January, see “A Shameful Betrayal.”)

Pa. Pension changes proposed
TribLive By Clara Ritger
Published: Tuesday, May 29, 2012, 5:32 p.m.
HARRISBURG - New state employees would get a retirement plan like a 401(k) instead of a guaranteed state pension under legislation Senate Republicans are crafting.
Three members of the Senate Republican leadership said the change they'll propose is intended to reduce the system's cost to taxpayers. The switch from the current defined benefit plan would affect all state and public school employees hired on or after Dec. 1, 2012.

Rep. Mike Fleck to Hold June 4th News Conference on Charter and Cyber Charter School Reform Bill
Press release 5/24/2012
WHAT: Rep. Mike Fleck (R-Huntingdon/Blair/Mifflin) has introduced legislation (House Bill 2364) that ensures greater taxpayer protection and accountability of charter and cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania. There are currently more than 50,000 students enrolled in charter and cyber charter schools throughout the Commonwealth, but regulation and guidance of these schools have gone largely unaddressed. 
WHO: Fleck; other legislators who are co-sponsors of the bill; representatives from the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA), Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA), Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials (PASBO) and Pennsylvania Association for Rural and Small Schools (PARSS). 
WHEN: Monday, June 4, 11 a.m. 
WHERE: Main Rotunda, Pennsylvania State Capitol. 
LIVE WEBSTREAMING: RepFleck.com. 

Digital Notebook Blog by Evan Brandt SUNDAY, MAY 27, 2012
All the news that doesn't fit in print
Welfare for the White and Wealthy
I hate to keep picking on Lower Merion School District (almost), but hey, they're right down the road; they've got buckets of money; and they are a tantalizingly close school district to best illustrate how wealthy constituencies benefit from the current public school funding system in Pennsylvania.

Candidates slated for 2013 PSBA offices
PSBA website 5/29/2012
At its May 19 meeting at PSBA Conference Center, the PSBA Nominating Committee interviewed and selected a slate of candidates for officers of the association in 2013.  They are:
Marcela Diaz Myers -- President (automatically assumes the office of president)
Jody Sperry -- President-Elect
Richard Frerichs -- President-Elect
Mark B. Miller -- First Vice President
Larry Breech -- Second Vice President
Edward J. Cardow -- Second Vice President
The Nominating Committee recommends these candidates to be considered by the entire PSBA membership during the 2012 PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference at the Hershey Lodge & Convention Center, Oct. 16-19.

Posted at 03:01 PM ET, 05/29/2012

Tina Fey protests cuts in her old school district

Washington Post Answer Sheet Blog By Valerie Strauss
It’s not a bad thing when someone who is high-profile lends their name to a good cause. This time it is Tina Fey.
Fey attended public schools in the Upper Darby School District in Pennsylvania. She was in the choir and drama club while an honor student at Upper Darby High School, and performed in plays. She was Frenchie in a performance of “Grease.”
So when the three-time Emmy Award-winner heard that her old school district had proposed eliminating specialized elementary school classes in arts and music (along with library and gym) to help deal with a multimillion-dollar deficit, she decided to join the fight against the changes.

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 05/30/2012

High-stakes testing protests spreading

Washington Post Answer Sheet Blog By Valerie Strauss
Opposition to high-stakes standardized testing is growing around the country, with more parents choosing to opt their children out of taking exams, more school boards expressing disapproval of testing accountability systems and even a group of superintendents joining the fight.
Just last month I wrote about the growing resistance, noting that it wasn’t yet full-fledged but that it seemed to be picking up steam. It has and still is.
A national resolution protesting high-stakes test that was released in Aprilalready has support from more than 300 organizations and more than 8,000 individuals.

No Child Left Behind Law: 8 States Get Waiver From Education-Testing Rules

Huffington Post By DORIE TURNER 05/29/12 03:27 PM ET AP
ATLANTA — Another eight states are gaining flexibility from the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Tuesday.
The Education Department has approved waivers for Connecticut, Delaware, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Rhode Island. Eighteen other states and Washington, D.C., also applied for a waiver and could receive approval in coming weeks.

Are Charter Schools Public Schools?

 Diane Ravitch  
I noted in my blog last week that the visionaries of the charter school idea—Raymond Budde of the University of Massachusetts and Albert Shanker of the American Federation of Teachers—never intended that charter schools would compete with public schools.

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
Albany’s Unkindest Cut of All
New York Times By BILLY EASTON Published: May 25, 2012
IN most states, top-ranked high school seniors are shoo-ins to attend their local state universities. But that’s not how it goes in New York these days. In one recent, glaring case, the valedictorian of a rural school district outside Rochester was rejected by a nearby State University of New York campus — not because her grades were too low, but because her high school didn’t offer the courses needed to compete for college admission.

SAVE UPPER DARBY ARTS 2012
Published on May 21, 2012 by SaveUDArts
Sign the Petition http://ow.ly/b3rR2
This isn't just about the Upper Darby School District. All over Pennsylvania and in many other states as well, WAR has been declared on Public Education, on children.  Our children deserve the very best that we can give them, no matter what test scores say. Help us take a stand and stop school districts from being forced to cut programs which cultivate who our children become.
We will be in Harrisburg on June 6th, 2012 to gather support for the proper funding of education. All are welcome to join us!
Please visit www.saveudarts.org to learn more and join the fight.

STATEWIDE PRESS COVERAGE OF SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGETS
Here are more than 700 articles since January 23rd detailing budget cuts, program cuts, staffing cuts and tax increases being discussed by local school districts
The PA House Democratic Caucus has been tracking daily press coverage on school district budgets statewide:

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

SIZE DOESN’T MATTER……..


Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1500 Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators, legislators, members of the press and a broad array of education advocacy organizations via emails, website, Facebook and Twitter.

These daily emails are archived at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg

SIZE DOESN’T MATTER……..
Student/teacher ratio at Romney's Cranbrook School (Bloomfield Hills, MI) is 5.5:1 
Student - teacher ratio at Arne Duncan's high school, Univ of Chicago Lab School, = 10:1

Posted: Sat, May. 26, 2012, 3:01 AM
Romney sparks a debate on school class size
By Jeff Gammage and Rita Giordano Inquirer Staff Writers
For years, teachers and parents have insisted that smaller class sizes are crucial to children's educational success.  On Thursday, Mitt Romney visited Philadelphia and politely said they were mistaken.  And on Friday, passions erupted among partisans and professionals, from city classrooms to City Hall to Cherry Hill.

Parents Across America
An open letter to President Obama about Romney’s class size
By Leonie Haimson, public school parent and Executive Director, Class Size Matters.

Special-needs education is battleground for charters, other districts in Pa.

May 27, 2012 12:59 am
By Rich Lord / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Charter schools, the vanguard of the educational choice movement, haven't drawn their shares of special-needs students, especially those with the most challenging disabilities. The result: Public school officials fear they are being left with the most challenging students, but with dwindling resources to educate them.
Pittsburgh Public Schools, for instance, has seen 11 percent of its students opt for charters, but has held on to more than 97 percent of its hearing impaired, visually impaired, mentally retarded and autistic students. In two less resource-intensive special-needs categories -- learning disabled and orthopedically impaired -- more than 10 percent of Pittsburgh district students have left for charters.
By contrast, the Midland-based Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School educates 11,300 kids from all over the state, and has a student body that is 12.2 percent special-needs kids -- lower than the statewide average of 15.1 percent, and the Pittsburgh Public Schools' figure of 17.3 percent. It gets more than its fair share of autistic students, but far fewer mentally retarded children.

Posted: Sunday, May 27, 2012 5:50 am
Reserve Funds: Are schools hoarding or planning responsibly?
Phillyburbs.com By Gary Weckselblatt Staff Writer
When the Corbett administration and Republican lawmakers criticized school districts for raising taxes while sitting on fund balances, they were pointing fingers at a district like Bensalem.
The district in the southwest corner of Bucks County with a $121 million budget will have a fund balance of just under $30 million when the 2012-13 school year begins. The money is held in different accounts to pay for things like debt service, future severance and the pension spike that districts were advised to save for.
There’s also an “uncommitted” fund that some people describe as “rainy day” money. Jack Myers, Bensalem’s business director, calls that one-time cash “to help you out of a real jam that is not going to recur.”

Is Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett's administration due for a big shakeup?

Published: Sunday, May 27, 2012, 10:54 AM
Republican lobbyists, legislators and power brokers welcomed Gov. Tom Corbett’s decision to change his top aide.   But they’re also hoping he doesn’t stop there.
Corbett announced Thursday that he was replacing Bill Ward, his chief of staff since becoming governor. He nominated Ward to a post on the Allegheny County bench.
Corbett named Stephen Aichele, previously his chief counsel, as his new chief of staff.
Though close advisers say the governor decided to make the change about two weeks ago, the switch comes days before he is scheduled to meet with a handful of his most influential party patrons.   And the timing has caused many party figures — who mostly spoke on condition of anonymity — to speculate that further shakeups are imminent. 

Posted: Sun, May. 27, 2012, 6:39 AM
Cuts threaten Upper Darby schools’ legacy of arts
By Dan Hardy Inquirer Staff Writer
Upper Darby High School maintains a collec­ion of impressively large trophies, showcasing decades of excellence. This spring, to no one’s surprise, several more were added, top prizes at a national competition.  All this is not a boasting of athletic achievement; Upper Darby High’s trophies are found in the chorus room and represent its outstanding success in music.
Down the hall is the 1,650-seat Performing Arts Center, home to Summer Stage, a theater partnership with the township whose founder, Harry Dietzler, won a prestigious Barrymore Award last fall. Among his proteges: Tina Fey, of 30 Rock and Sat­ur­day Night Live.

Posted: Sun, May. 27, 2012, 3:00 AM
It's Personal: Tina Fey, the arts, and big dreams
Maria Panaritis, Inquirer Columnist
Tina Fey was Frenchie, I was Rizzo. But the real star of our sold-out performances of Grease in high school was the Upper Darby School District — a place where kids like us from humble homes were taught not just English and algebra, but how to dream big, think big, and make big things happen.
Posted: Fri, May. 25, 2012, 8:19 AM
Philadelphia school funding crisis not high on Harrisburg's agenda
By Patrick Kerkstra For the Inquirer
  From Corbett, only words
Relax, Philadelphia! Gov. Corbett's got this.
Sure, those dire headlines and the protests in the street might lead you to think city schools are careering down a seemingly endless fiscal mine shaft. But thanks to an update this week on Corbett's Twitter feed, we now know otherwise: "the number one priority in the #pabudget is education."

What's next for Pennsylvania's public schools?
Published: Friday, May 25, 2012, 5:00 AM
By MONICA VON DOBENECK, The Patriot-News
Already, local districts are slashing programs, furloughing teachers, making students pay for sports, getting rid of tutors, eliminating pre-kindergarten, foreign languages and librarians, and making other changes which West Shore School Board member Ron Candioto said could “chip away at the foundation of what a school district is supposed to do.”
It doesn’t look like it will get better. The pension crisis that is one cause of the budgetary woes is going to get worse. Gov. Tom Corbett is determined to hold the line on taxes, and although Senate Republicans are talking about restoring some of his proposed cuts, district officials don’t expect to get much more from the state.

“… the proposed budget for the 2012-2013 school year is nearly $220 million, cutting 364 jobs, including 170 teaching positions. That amounts to 14% of the district's teaching staff.”

Reading's preliminary budget cuts 170 teachers, closes 5 schools

WFMZ Berks County Regional News by Kimberly Davidow May 23 2012
The Reading School Board has signed off on a preliminary spending plan that eliminates several programs and nearly 15% of the teaching staff.  The vote Wednesday night came after lots of emotional feedback from parents who are against the massive cuts.
The decisions the board has had to make have been the hardest ever, said member Karen McCree.  "If any of you walk out of here today and think that we're okay with this, then something's wrong with every last one of you," said McCree.
It was a packed house at the meeting as members signed off on a preliminary budget that is loaded with job cuts. Parents, teachers and staff were standing for more than two hours just to hear what the potential cuts involved.
As it stands, the proposed budget for the 2012-2013 school year is nearly $220 million, cutting 364 jobs, including 170 teaching positions. That amounts to 14% of the district's teaching staff.

Neshaminy teachers call strike for June 4
Phillyburbs.com By Christian Menno Staff writer Posted on May 27, 2012
The Neshaminy Federation of Teachers has informed the school district that the union intends to strike June 4.  The work stoppage would be the second this school year, as the bitter contract dispute with the school board approaches the four-year mark.
But according to union officials, the strike could be averted if progress is made at an upcoming negotiation session.  State law mandates that teachers must complete 180 days of service, so depending on the length of the strike, the end of the school year could be pushed back as far as June 30, officials said.

LTE: A third-grader’s view of the budget
LehighValleyLive.com May 25th Letter to the Editor
My name is Zachary. I’m in third grade at Francis A. March Elementary school in Easton. My mom and my dad always told me to fight for what I believe in. I believe the school budget is wrong.

RESCUE ME!
Huffington Post by Sen. Daylin Leach State senator from Pennsylvania's 17th District
Posted: 05/24/2012 3:45 pm
Howdy!
Do you remember the song "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?" It was very catchy. The song "How Do You solve a Problem Like Chronically Under-Funded Schools?" is less catchy (except for the Moody Blues version) but still raises an important question. After all, Maria was fine. She de-nunned herself and married Captain Georg Von Trapp. Sadly, marrying into fictional Austrian royalty is rarely an option for Pennsylvania kids whose schools the state has abandoned.
As anyone who cares about public education (plus the Corbett administration) knows, Pennsylvania has a lot of school districts in grave financial distress. You could blame it on the massive budget cuts this administration has pushed through, although, to be fair, you could also blame it on the rain, if you don't care about and facts, and you are a huge Milli Vanilli fan.

Commentary: Put the Boston Consulting Group where it belongs - before the public
The Notebook by Helen Gym on May 24 2012
It’s hard to imagine a worse debut in Philadelphia for the Boston Consulting Group.
The Massachusetts-based multinational firm scored $1.5 million for a six-week gig that produced the publicly and academically scorned “Blueprint for Transforming Philadelphia’s Public Schools.” The hardline rhetoric in the plan around school closings, charter expansion, and so-called “achievement networks” has drawn out thousands of upset parents and community members to gatherings around the city.
And yet, as Dale Mezzacappa reported this week, BCG is continuing its role in Philadelphia for $1.2 million more, money raised specifically from private donors and funneled through the United Way outside public scrutiny.

FRIDAY, MAY 25, 2012 12:26 PM EDT

Cheating runs rampant

No Child Left Behind has unleashed a nationwide epidemic of cheating. Will education reformers wake up?

 
On the Thursday, Mitt Romney made a visit to a West Philadelphia charter school to tout his education platform, which, as it happens, looks pretty similar to President Obama’s: more privately managed schools and a reliance on high-stakes standardized tests to evaluate teachers.
But on the ten-year anniversary of No Child Left Behind, the school-reform movement that both candidates have embraced is in crisis. Rampant and widespread cheating on high-stakes standardized tests has been uncovered in districts nationwide.

SAVE UPPER DARBY ARTS 2012
Published on May 21, 2012 by SaveUDArts
Sign the Petition http://ow.ly/b3rR2
This isn't just about the Upper Darby School District. All over Pennsylvania and in many other states as well, WAR has been declared on Public Education, on children.  Our children deserve the very best that we can give them, no matter what test scores say. Help us take a stand and stop school districts from being forced to cut programs which cultivate who our children become.
We will be in Harrisburg on June 6th, 2012 to gather support for the proper funding of education. All are welcome to join us!
Please visit www.saveudarts.org to learn more and join the fight.

STATEWIDE PRESS COVERAGE OF SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGETS
Here are more than 700 articles since January 23rd detailing budget cuts, program cuts, staffing cuts and tax increases being discussed by local school districts
The PA House Democratic Caucus has been tracking daily press coverage on school district budgets statewide: