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
Posted:
Thu, May. 3, 2012, 12:00 AM
Who's Killing Philly Public Schools?
Underfunded.
Overburdened. About to be sold for scrap.
Thomas Knudsen, the man
who was temporarily put in charge of Philadelphia
Knudsen, paid $150,000
to hold the newly created post of Chief Recovery Officer through June, made a
point of shaking the hand of every single reporter in the room before beginning
his presentation. "Philadelphia
He got to it, using
terms like "portfolios," "modernization,"
"right-sizing," "entrepreneurialism" and
"competition." In short, it was a plan to shutter 40 schools next
year, and an additional six every year thereafter until 2017. The remaining
schools would be herded into "achievement networks" of 20 to 30 schools;
public and private groups would compete to manage the networks. And the central
office would be reduced to a skeleton crew of about 200. (About 1,000-plus
positions existed in 2010, and district HQ has already eliminated more than a
third of those.) Charter schools, the plan projects, would teach an estimated
40 percent of students by 2017.
Posted:
Thu, May. 3, 2012, 7:18 AM
Tough cuts on table for Upper
Darby schools
By
Dan Hardy INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Gearing
up for Tuesday’s Upper Darby school board vote on a proposed 2012-13 budget
that includes the elimination of elementary school music and art classes,
physical-education teachers and librarians, more than 500 parents, students,
and supporters turned out at a board meeting to protest. District administrators at the Tuesday night
meeting presented a sobering budget picture. They blamed a $13 million budget
shortfall on state funding cuts, increased payments to charter schools, and
eroding local revenues. Cutting elementary school arts and other programs would
save about $3 million; eliminating middle school foreign language and
technology classes would save an additional $645,000. The cuts would terminate
52 jobs.
Legislative boost for open campus
Intelligencer
Journal Lancaster
Updated
May 02, 2012
22:59
By
TOM KNAPP Staff Writer
Legislation paving the way for a new style of
schooling got a boost Tuesday in Harrisburg
Senate Bill 1492, which amends the Pennsylvania
school code to provide for an open-campus initiative in the works by three
Lancaster County school districts, "passed unanimously out of committee,
and now will go to the Senate floor," according to Hempfield district
superintendent Brenda Becker. Hempfield,
along with Manheim
Township Pennsylvania
More than 150 students from the three districts
have signed up for the courses.
Read
more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/640437_Legislative-boost-for-open-campus.html#ixzz1ttTmSjOq
“In Pennsylvania
·
A $50.8 million cut to
Title I, impacting 47,646 disadvantaged students and resulting in a loss of 622
jobs.
·
A $24.7 million cut to
Head Start, impacting 3,399 students and resulting in a loss of 1,313 jobs.
·
A $39.2 million cut to
IDEA state grants, impacting 24,287 students with disabilities and resulting in
a loss of 481 jobs.
·
A $3.9 million cut to
Perkins Career and Technical
Education Basic
State
We must avoid sequestration: Savage cuts in education funding would
cripple our schools
Jamie
Baxter, director of legislative policy and advocacy for the Allegheny
Intermediate Unit, is president of the Committee for Education Funding, a
coalition of more than 90 education organizations.
In Washington
and in Harrisburg
New
Annenberg report: School closings don't lead to improved school quality.
The Way Forward: From Sanctions to
Supports
Report
of the New York City Working Group on School Transformation, April 2012
With
support from the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University
Ten Steps in the Right Direction:
How Feds Can Strengthen Public Education
Nothing
is simple in the process of strengthening our national approach to public
education. These ten steps,
however, provide a framework for invigorating our schools and creating an
environment for positive change.
“We
don’t need under-trained teachers in our schools. We don’t need the costs
of the infrastructure for charter schools for the low number of positive
outcomes from them. We especially don’t need the for-profit charter management
organizations to come into our state and help to make education into a profit center
instead of the public service it is to the young citizens of Washington
A state that just says
‘no’ to charters, other reforms
This was written
by Melissa Westbrook, a public education activist and co-writer of the Seattle Schools Community Forum blog, based in Seattle
By Melissa Westbrook
Quietly marching to its own drummer, Washington State
“…accountability
has morphed into The Thing That Sucks Life Out of Public Schools”
Spring
Branch board is fed up with testing monster
Chron.com By Patricia Kilday Hart
Published
07:39 p.m., Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Adopting
a resolution imploring the Texas Legislature to control the testing monster it
created, Spring Branch joined a national movement of parents and educators who
believe the benign idea of "accountability" has morphed into The
Thing That Sucks Life Out of Public Schools.
From Alamo Heights
to Anahuac, from Highland Park to Huntsville , from Katy to Karnes
City , school boards representing a
great swath of Texas
Flood of Texas school districts staging revolt against
high-stakes standardized tests
Posted: Monday, April 30, 2012 3:46 pm | Updated: 9:09 am , Wed May 2, 2012 .
Perland News By KRISTI NIX
A backlash against the state’s
standardized testing system is taking shape as hundreds of school districts are
now backing a resolution by the Texas Association of School Administrators that
says high-stakes testing is "strangling our public schools." In addition, parents are also speaking out in
opposition.
STATEWIDE PRESS COVERAGE OF SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGETS
Here are more than 400 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:
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
Has your board considered this draft resolution yet?
PSBA Sample Board
Resolution regarding the budget
Please consider bringing this sample resolution to
the members of your board.
http://www.psba.org/issues-advocacy/issues-research/state-budget/Budget_resolution-02212012.doc
PA Partnerships for
Children – Take action on the Governor’s Budget
The governor’s budget plan cuts funding for proven
programs like Child Care Works, Keystone STARS and the T.E.A.C.H. scholarship
program, Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts and the Head Start Supplemental Assistance
Program. These are among the most cost-effective
investments we can make in education. Gov. Corbett’s budget plan also runs counter
to a pledge he made when he ran for governor in 2010. He acknowledged the
benefits of early childhood education and promised to increase funding to
double the number of children who would benefit from early learning
opportunities.
We need your help to tell lawmakers: if you cut
these programs – you close the door to early learning! Click here to tell your state legislators to fund early childhood education programs
at the same level they approved for this year’s budget.
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?
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