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
School
Directors, I strongly urge you to read the details
of this bill, which directly addresses funding, transparency and accountability
- and come show your support at the
Capitol on Monday…..LAF
Stand in Support of Charter
School
PSBA Website May 31, 2012
Join Rep.
Fleck at 11:00 am on
Monday, June 4 in the Capitol Rotunda to Introduce Charter School
School officials are
welcomed and encouraged to join Rep. Mike Fleck (R-Huntingdon/Blair/Mifflin) on
Monday, June 4, by gathering on the Capitol steps as he conducts a news
conference to announce the introduction of HB 2364, legislation supported by
PSBA that ensures greater taxpayer protection and accountability of charter and
cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania.
Speaking at the news
conference in addition to Fleck will be other legislators who are co-sponsors
of the bill as well as PSBA Executive Director Thomas J. Gentzel, and
representatives from the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials
(PASBO) and Pennsylvania Association for Rural and Small Schools (PARSS), and
the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA). The news conference will be held at 11 a.m.
in the Main Rotunda of the Capitol.
School officials who attend will be invited to stand behind the speakers
to show support of HB 2364. Those who
cannot attend can view the event through live webstreaming at RepFleck.com.
Details on HB 2364: http://capwiz.com/psba/issues/alert/?alertid=61400476&queueid=[capwiz:queue_id]
Lawmakers to battle Gov.
Corbett on cuts to schools, human services
Published:
Sunday, June 03,
2012 , 12:00 PM
By Jan
Murphy, Harrisburg
When lawmakers return to the Capitol this week, the bulk of
their work will center around passing a new state budget. If Republican legislative leaders in the
GOP-controlled General Assembly have their way, the 2012-13 budget will invest
more money in education and social services than Gov. Tom Corbett proposed.
Overall spending will be
higher, too, though, still below the state’s high-water mark of $28 billion
seen in the last year of former Gov. Ed Rendell’s administration.
Republican legislative
leaders will meet tonight to reach a meeting of the minds on shared priorities.
Then they will take them to a meeting with Corbett on Tuesday to gauge his
reaction to their proposal.
Memo to Editors & Reporters: With Final Push
for State Budget On, Here’s Where We Stand
To: Editorial Page Editors, Editorial Board Members, Capitol
Reporters & Columnists
From: Sharon Ward, Director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy
Center
Date: June 1, 2012
Re: With Final Push for State Budget On, Here’s Where We Stand
Next week begins the final push in Harrisburg
Watch Gov. Tom Corbett
field questions on the budget, school funding and property taxes at forum with
regional editors (VIDEO runtime
58 minutes)
By Evan Brandt Journal
Register News Service
NORRISTOWN — Gov. Tom Corbett likes to describe Pennsylvania
This observation was among many made during an hour-long meeting Wednesday afternoon with editors and reporters from Digital First Media, the company which oversees The Advance of Bucks County and other local newspapers in the region.
This observation was among many made during an hour-long meeting Wednesday afternoon with editors and reporters from Digital First Media, the company which oversees The Advance of Bucks County and other local newspapers in the region.
Pizza and Silver Bullets
Yinzercation Blog — JUNE 1, 2012
This governor is full
of metaphors. He’s very fond of comparing the state budget to pizza, saying
helpful things like, “we had an 8-inch pizza and now we’re down to a 6-inch
pie, but we … have an increase in demands.” [Delco Times,
5-30-12] Back in March, he explained to an unhappy audience of
University of Pittsburgh students that public education accounts for 40% of the
state budget: “Pennsylvania looks at education as its No. 1 priority … When the
pizza pie goes from an 8-inch pie to a 6-inch pie, you still have that
percentage, but not enough money.” [Pitt News,
5-31-12]
………Here
are some ideas for rolling the crust back out to a real size pizza:
- Close the
- Impose a severance tax on
Marcellus shale: most states with major mineral resources like ours have a
severance tax and not having one has cost
- Get rid of the new bonus
depreciation rule: The state itself estimates that more than half of
the current budget gap is due to a huge shortfall in corporate tax
revenues – to the tune of $260 million. (See “We Have a Priority Problem.”)
- Keep the capital stock and
franchise tax: Corbett wants to eliminate these as a gift to corporations,
costing the state $200 million in revenue every year.
- Eliminate sales tax
exemptions:
helicopters and gold bullion top the list of hard-to-swallow exemptions.
And what about smokeless tobacco?
- Rescind the new Voter ID bill: it solves no actual problem
in the state, will most certainly face expensive legal challenge, and will
cost taxpayers an estimated $11 MILLION to implement. (See “There Goes $11-million for Our Schools.”)
- Fix the cyber-charter
funding formula: Taxpayers and school districts could have saved approximately $86
million in 2009-2010 if cyber charter schools received funding based on
what they actually spent per student. (See “Trouble Seeing the Money.”)
- Shut down the EITC program: it costs us $75 million per
year by funneling corporate tax money that should have gone to the state
for our budget needs into the hands of private schools instead. (See “EITC: No Credit to PA.”)
Area schools focus on increasing revenue
Struggling to balance budgets, districts are
looking for ways to make more money.
By Adam Clark, Of The
Morning Call 10:14 p.m. EDT, June 2, 2012
It had everything a
benefit dinner should have. Sport jackets and dresses, musical performances,
coconut shrimp and fancy hors d'oeuvres.
Bidders could win a
trip to Las Vegas Parkland
School District
PISA 2009 Results: What
Makes a School Successful?
Resources, Policies
and Practices (Volume IV)
OECD 2010
Gauging Charters' Impact on Catholic Schools
Are charter schools siphoning students from
Catholic schools?
A recent analysis out of New York
Notorious P.H.D.
A long-time, much-valued reader of Teacher
in a Strange Land, Carl Rosin of
Radnor, Pennsylvania, sent me one of those Emperor-has-no-clothes stories this
weekend: The school board in nearby Tredyffrin-Easttown--citing a budget
shortfall--is proposing that the most expensive teachers (those with a
Ph.D.) be demoted to part-time.
Ravitch on MSNBC’s Ed Show: Attack on Public Education
Video Runtime 5:20 http://video.msnbc.msn.com/the-ed-show/47654288#47654288
For the sake of public education,
Walker
If you are concerned
about the future of public education in Wisconsin Walker
He is wrong on every
count. In his role as governor, he has a constitutional duty to preserve,
protect and strengthen the state's democratic institutions. He has violated
that trust by his ongoing efforts to undermine public education, which is a
cornerstone of our democracy.
(Reuters)
- Louisiana
Starting this fall, thousands of poor and
middle-class kids will get vouchers covering the full cost of tuition at more
than 120 private schools across Louisiana
15 critical questions
about school reform
This was
written by educator Anthony Cody, who worked for 24 years in the Oakland
By Anthony Cody
Educators in the United States
In Lists of Best High Schools, Numbers Don’t Tell the Whole Story
New York Times By MICHAEL
WINERIP Published: June 3, 2012
This is the time of year
when the lists of best high schools in the United States
Tina
Fey Fights to Save the Arts in Pa.
The school district,
which is currently facing a $13 million deficit according to thePhiladelphia Inquirer, will vote this summer on making
significant cuts to extra-academic programs, commonly referred to as
“specials.”
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
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:
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