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Capitol
Ideas Blog by John Micek June 28,2012
Thursday
Morning Coffee: Three days and counting.
Good
Thursday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
The state House convenes at 9:30 a.m. this morning to finally begin consideration ofthe 2012-13 state budget.
The state House convenes at 9:30 a.m. this morning to finally begin consideration ofthe 2012-13 state budget.
The chamber broke for the night last night without beginning an expected
debate on the $27,66 billion spending plan for the new fiscal year that begins
Sunday. Legislative leaders and the Corbett administration spent much of the
night engaged in shuttle diplomacy trying to lock down the key parts of the
spending plan that remain unresolved.
…..SCHOOL REFORM: The debate over charter school reform remained very
much in flux last night. The long-standing idea of creating a statewide
authorizing panel that would approve all or some new charter applications
appears to be a non-starter. Instead,
budget negotiators are weighing a proposal that would vest new powers in the
Pennsylvania Charter School Appeals Board. While the panel would not be
authorized to approve charter applications, it would have more power on the
back end.
The House advanced new teacher evaluation legislation, sponsored by Rep.
Ryan Aument, R-Lancaster, positioning it for a vote Thursday or Friday. The
proposal would allow local districts to adopt their own evaluation tests from a
menu of predetermined benchmarks with the approval of the state Department of
Education.
Efforts to expand the Educational Improvement Tax Credit and what's become
known as EITC 2.0 appear to be locked down. The former would be increased by
$25 million from $75 million now to $100 million next year, while EITC 2.0,
advanced by Rep. Jim Christiana, R-Beaver, would receive $50 million to pay for
scholarships for kids in the poorest and worst-performing districts.
Posted: Thu, Jun. 28, 2012 , 3:00 AM
Philadelphia Daily News
By Will Bunch Daily News Staff Writer
PENNSYLVANIA TAXPAYERS have underwritten nearly $1.4 million in contributions to the Second Mile, the disgraced charity founded by convicted pedophile Jerry Sandusky where testimony showed he groomed some of the boys he later molested.
PENNSYLVANIA TAXPAYERS have underwritten nearly $1.4 million in contributions to the Second Mile, the disgraced charity founded by convicted pedophile Jerry Sandusky where testimony showed he groomed some of the boys he later molested.
The taxpayer-subsidized donations
— which support the Second Mile's summer camp and an annual Leadership
Institute — come through a controversial scholarship program called the
Educational Improvement Tax Credit, or EITC, that may be dramatically expanded
as lawmakers in Harrisburg
Critics of EITC — currently a $75
million program that mainly underwrites scholarships for kids to attend
religious and private schools — say that the Second Mile is a glaring example
of a shocking lack of oversight of what the Pennsylvania tax subsidies actually
pay for.
"There really is very minimal
accountability," said Stephen Herzenberg, executive director of the Keystone Research Center
Despite that study and a
recent New York Times report tracking political influence in the
tax-credit program, lawmakers in Harrisburg — aided by lobbying from the
Philadelphia Archdiocese and big-bucks proponents of vouchers — are debating
several proposals that would increase EITC funding from the current $75 million
to somewhere between $100 million and $200 million.
Critics
say Auditor General Wagner's report on PA charter funding is misguided; what do
you think?
http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.blogspot.com/2011/06/follow-money-contributions-by-vahan.html
PA
Charter funding formula is great for CEO whose cyber never made AYP
Auditor General's Charter School Funding Special Report
Early Evening Budget Update: House delays #pabudget debate until Thursday.
Capitol Ideas Blog by John Micek June 27, 2012
The state House is poised to begin
debate as soon as Thursday on a $27.656 billion, no-tax hike budget plan that spares Pennsylvania
The proposed 2012-13 spending plan
keeps the Accountability Block Grant and basic education subsidy at the same
levels as this year for school districts. That means the final budget includes
about $139 million more for public education than Corbett had initially
proposed.
The decision to level-fund the
public schools was similar to leaders in the post-Civil War South deciding to
reconstruct at “post-Sherman levels,” Rep. Steve Samuelson, R-Northampton,
said, referring to Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s devastating march
across Georgia in 1864.
Legislative leaders and the
administration were still working to reach agreement on components of the
administration’s school reform agenda, which includes changes in the way the
charter schools are authorized and the expansion of a popular tax credit
program for businesses that donate to private school scholarship organizations.
The House advanced teacher evaluation
legislation, sponsored by Rep. Ryan Aument, R-Lancaster, positioning it for a
vote Thursday or Friday. The proposal would allow local districts to adopt
their own evaluation tests from a menu of predetermined benchmarks with the
approval of the state Department of Education.
Crunch
time with Pa.
Committee moves $27.7 billion budget
to House floor for consideration
Published:
Wednesday, June
27, 2012 , 11:40 AM
Following a two-hour debate, the House Appropriations Committee approved by a 24-12 party-line vote a nearly $27.7 billion spending plan that includes no tax increases and grants a $288 million in business tax breaks. Several Republican lawmakers stepped to the microphone during the committee meeting to hail the proposed spending plan as reasonable and sustainable.
Rep. Mauree Gingrich, R-Cleona,
called it a "realistic budget for this time."
Rep. Glen Grell, R-Hampden Twp.,
said, "I believe this (plan) does a very good job allocating the
resources, establishing priorities based on what we have available this
year."
Both Republican and Democratic
members voiced appreciation for the restorations made by lawmakers to
line-items that Gov. Tom Corbett had cut or eliminated in his $27.1 billion February budget
proposal.
Posted: Wed, Jun. 27, 2012 , 7:43 PM
Three Phila.-area school districts get a funding break
By Dan Hardy
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
School funding in the
new Pennsylvania budget will likely be about the same as this year for most
area districts, but three - Chester Upland, Coatesville, and Upper Darby - will
get millions more, thanks to onetime special allocations added by legislators.
The news was greeted
with cheers by the favored districts. Critics said a funding plan that singles
out some for extra money while leaving out others in need is unfair.
Posted: Thu, Jun. 28, 2012 , 3:01 AM
4 more cyber charters set to open as lawmakers debate charter
funding
By Martha Woodall
Inquirer Staff Writer
While debate continues
in Harrisburg
After rejecting seven
new cyber applications earlier this year, the Pennsylvania Department of
Education has given tentative approval to four that reapplied.
The green light for
the new cyber charters - which typically provide online instruction to students
in their homes - will boost the number of those schools in the state by 30
percent.
City
schools take on cyber rivals with Pittsburgh
Online Academy
New online school
includes lure of Promise scholarship
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh
The Pittsburgh Public Schools board
has approved a new school, a full-time online program aimed at competing with
cyber charter schools that have been draining students and money from the
district. The board Wednesday voted to
open the school -- now known informally as the Pittsburgh Online
Academy
The new school was packaged with a
series of other resolutions that the board unanimously passed, although board
member Mark Brentley Sr. expressed opposition.
Unlike other public schools that
have created their own cyber schools, the Pittsburgh
Submitted by thenotebook on
Wed, 06/27/2012
- 00:57
by Dale Mezzacappa, Benjamin Herold, and Katie
McCabe
If hired as Philadelphia
As he made the rounds
in a day-long series of meetings Tuesday, Hite painted a picture of himself as
an engaged and focused educator, which got a warm response from parents,
teachers and community members.
Submitted by thenotebook on
Mon, 06/25/2012
- 23:09
by Dale Mezzacappa, Benjamin Herold and Katie
McCabe
Pedro Martinez is on
board with the need to “increase quality seats” in Philadelphia schools, endorsing
the primary
reform strategy of the School Reform Commission that is considering
whether to hire him as the next superintendent.
Column: Voters aren't buying school choice snake oil
Despite mounting anger
and frustration over the glacial pace of school improvement, voters
consistently turn thumbs down on plans to give parents wider choice. The
results have emboldened reformers to try an end run around their will. In the
process, they've made a travesty of the separation of church and state.
Is your State Rep. on the cosponsor list for HB
2364? If not, why not?
If they tell you that we should make it easier
to authorize charters or that they are already accountable enough have them
read this:
PA
Charter Schools: $4 billion taxpayer dollars with no real oversight
More details on HB
2364 from PSBA:
http://www.psba.org/news-publications/headlines/details.asp?id=3469
Education Voters PA @EdVotersPA
Please take 2 minutes to send an email to
your state reps; ask them to restore public ed funding:
STATEWIDE PRESS COVERAGE OF SCHOOL DISTRICT
BUDGETS
Here are more than 800 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:
June 29 is deadline to submit proposals for PSBA’s 2013
Legislative Platform
Your school board is invited to submit proposals for consideration for PSBA’s 2013 Legislative Platform. The association is accepting proposals now until Friday,June 29, 2012 . Guidelines for platform submissions are posted on PSBA’s
Web site. The PSBA Platform Committee will review proposals and
rationale submitted for the platform on Aug. 11. The
recommendations of the committee will be brought before the Legislative Policy
Council for a final vote on Oct. 18.
Your school board is invited to submit proposals for consideration for PSBA’s 2013 Legislative Platform. The association is accepting proposals now until Friday,
Absentee ballot procedures for election of PSBA officers
PSBA website 6/1/2012
All school directors
and school board secretaries who are eligible to vote and who do not plan to
attend the association's annual business meeting during the 2012 PASA-PSBA
School Leadership Conference in Hershey, Oct. 16-19, may request an absentee
ballot for election purposes.
The absentee ballot
must be requested from the PSBA executive director in accordance with the PSBA
Bylaws provisions (see PSBA Bylaws, Article IV, Section 4, J-Q.). Specify the
name and mailing address of each individual for whom a ballot is requested.
Requests must be in
writing, e-mailed or mailed first class and postmarked or marked received at
PSBA Headquarters no later than Aug. 15. Mail to Executive Director, P.O. Box 2042 , Mechanicsburg ,
PA 17055
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