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
Obligation
Education Voters PA
website MONDAY, JUNE
11, 2012
Last week, Rep.
Christiana (R-Beaver) proposed legislation that would create a new Education
Improvement Scholarship Credit (EISC). EISC would authorize a total of $450
million in tax credits over the next three years.
This program would
re-direct dollars away from revenue collections, therefore reducing the amount
of revenue the Commonwealth has to use for programs and services. In addition,
the proposal calls for an increase in the current EITC program from $75 million
to $100 million next fiscal year and $200 million for subsequent years. So
money would be taken out of our coffers, and directed at private schools, even
as we cut current funding for our public schools, which serve the vast majority
of our children.
Commentary -
E.I.S.C: How do you spell Chutzpah?
Commentary
and a couple of press reports about Rep. Christiana introducing a bill today
that would take another $450 million away from constitutionally mandated public
education and give it to private and religious schools via a new Supervoucher
- Educational Improvement Scholarship Credit program.
Yinzercation blog
by YinzerThing June 12, 2012
Problem solved!
Apparently, Rep. Jim Christiana, a Republican from our neck of the woods over
in Beaver County
Ah, but wait – Rep.
Christiana wants to give those public tax-dollars to private schools
under a new scheme that he may introduce today in the House. Seriously? We
can’t find enough money for the block grant program that lets school districts
all acrossPennsylvania fund Kindergarten, but he wants to talk about
taking more money out of our state coffers for private and parochial schools?
Republicans weighing new Corbett budget pitch
Talks are to continue today as the June 30 budget deadline approaches.
By John L. Micek, Call
Harrisburg June 12, 2012
HARRISBURG—— Efforts
to reach an agreement on how much Pennsylvania should spend in fiscal 2012-13
inched along Tuesday, with legislative Republicans leaving a negotiating
session loaded down with a Corbett administration budget proposal that would
spend about $27.4 billion starting July 1.
Neither side would
discuss specifics, but Gov. Tom Corbett did lay "out in more detail what
the possibilities were that he would support, different levels of spending,
different spending lines, Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware,
said as he left a morning session.
"I think we get a
greater level of clarity at each meeting," Pileggi continued. "We're
going to take the information the governor provided to us today and prepare a
more formal, comprehensive response for a meeting scheduled for [Wednesday] at
2 p.m."
Anger, frustration envelop Philadelphia
The Atlanta
12:16 p.m. Tuesday, June 12, 2012
"Save our
schools! Save our schools!"
More than 200
protesters had packed the Philadelphia
The City of Brotherly Love Philadelphia
"For 10 years
we've lived with promises that privatization and choice options would be the
magic bullet to a lot of the problems," said parent Helen Gym. "What
we found is chasing after these silver bullets has really drained schools of
resources and starved them to the point of dysfunction."
Posted: Wed, Jun. 13, 2012 , 3:00 AM
State proposal to control distressed schools needs scrutiny
Daily News Editorial Philadelphia
A PROPOSAL recently
passed by the Senate Education Committee that would allow immediate state
takeover of four distressed school districts — Chester-Upland, Duquesne,
Harrisburg and York — could be interpreted as the state taking last-ditch
responsibility for the educational lives of students.
We fear the reality,
though, makes this move more akin to the Mad Hatter in Alice
Posted: Tue, Jun. 12, 2012 , 6:26 AM
Bill would put Chester Upland schools under state oversight
By Dan Hardy INQUIRER
STAFF WRITER
In a proposal
reminiscent of the 2001 state takeover of the Philadelphia
public schools, Delaware County ’s Chester Upland and three other financially
distressed districts in Pennsylvania
The bill would give
"chief recovery officers" broad powers to recommend, for instance,
converting schools to charters, handing them over to education management
organizations, and cutting teachers’ pay. It would suspend the right to strike
while a district is insolvent. It also would establish an interest-free loan
fund for school systems that Harrisburg
Yet another suggested state pension fix.
Capitol Ideas Blog From
Clara Ritger:
A Chester County
Republican says he wants to fix the state's pension system by switching current and future state and school employees from the
current defined benefit system to a defined contribution plan similar to a
401(k).
The bills sponsored by
Rep. Warren Kampf would set up defined contribution funds in which an employer
annually contributes 4 percent and the employee contributes a minimum of 4
percent. The contributions pool in an individual account, controlled by the
employee.
Kampf adds H.B. 2453
(state) and H.B. 2454 (school) to the pot which already includes a defined
contribution proposal backed by Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi,
R-Delaware.
PA: GOP pension plan
would give incentive for current workers to leave state system
All new employees would be forced into 401(k)-style system
By
Eric Boehm | PA Independent
The
proposal is contained in House Bills 2452 and 2453, which state Rep. Warren Kampf, R-Chester,introduced Tuesday in the
state House, will not reduce the unfunded liability in the state's two major
pension systems, but promises long-term savings by moving employees out of the
unsustainable pension systems.
Education funds ruling splits court
By Zack Needles / The Legal
Intelligencer
The ruling comes nearly
two years after the court found the department must first withhold funds from a
district accused of underfunding a charter school before it can hold a hearing to
sort out whether those claims are true.
“In Pennsylvania Pennsylvania
Standardized Testing
Protests By Parents, Teachers, Administrators Growing Nationwide
Huffington Post By
Stephanie Simon Reuters | Posted: 06/12/2012 5:59 am
June 12 (Reuters) - A
backlash against high-stakes standardized testing is sweeping through U.S.
school districts as parents, teachers, and administrators protest that the
exams are unfair, unreliable and unnecessarily punitive - and even some
longtime advocates of testing call for changes.
The objections come even as federal and state authorities pour hundreds of millions of dollars into developing new tests, including some for children as young as 5. In a growing number of states, scores on standardized tests weigh heavily in determining whether an 8-year-old advances to the next grade with her classmates; whether a teen can get his high school diploma; which teachers keep their jobs; how much those teachers are paid; and even which public schools are shut down or turned over to private management.
The objections come even as federal and state authorities pour hundreds of millions of dollars into developing new tests, including some for children as young as 5. In a growing number of states, scores on standardized tests weigh heavily in determining whether an 8-year-old advances to the next grade with her classmates; whether a teen can get his high school diploma; which teachers keep their jobs; how much those teachers are paid; and even which public schools are shut down or turned over to private management.
Education Voters PA @EdVotersPA
Please take 2 minutes to send an email to
your state reps; ask them to restore public ed funding:
Is your State Rep. on the cosponsor list for HB 2364? Charter
school funding, accountability and transparency
More info on HB 2364
from PSBA: http://www.psba.org/news-publications/headlines/details.asp?id=3469
Diane Ravitch on PBS Newshour June 5th,
2012
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,
PSBA accepting nominations for the Timothy M. Allwein Advocacy
Award
Last year, PSBA created a new award to honor the memory of its long-term chief lobbyist, who died unexpectedly. The Timothy M. Allwein Advocacy Award may be presented annually to the individual school director or entire school board to recognize outstanding leadership in legislative advocacy efforts on behalf of public education and students that are consistent with the positions in PSBA's Legislative Platform. The nomination process is now open and applications will be accepted untilJune 22, 2012 . The award
will be presented during the PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference in October.
For more information and criteria details, see the Allwein Advocacy Award page. To obtain an application
form, see the Allwein Advocacy Award Nomination Form. Completed
forms should be returned no later than June 22 to: Pennsylvania School Boards
Association, Advocacy Award Selection Committee, PO Box 2042 , Mechanicsburg ,
PA 17055-0790
Last year, PSBA created a new award to honor the memory of its long-term chief lobbyist, who died unexpectedly. The Timothy M. Allwein Advocacy Award may be presented annually to the individual school director or entire school board to recognize outstanding leadership in legislative advocacy efforts on behalf of public education and students that are consistent with the positions in PSBA's Legislative Platform. The nomination process is now open and applications will be accepted until
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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