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
Framework for $27.656B budget reached.
Morning Call Capitol Ideas Blog by John Micek June 20, 2012
Gov. Tom
Corbett and legislative Republicans said Wednesday that they’d arrived at a
“framework” for a $27.656 billion state
budget for 2012-13 that adds money to some state programs that had originally
been targeted for cuts.
The spending
plan’s bottom line is a roughly $500
million increase from the $27.14 billion budget that Corbett presented to
lawmakers in February.
The increase
was partly fueled by what are expected to be healthy June tax collections. It
also roughly matches the bottom line of an amended version of the spending plan
approved by the Senate earlier this spring.
Posted: 10:35 p.m. Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Corbett,
lawmakers announce budget agreement
By MARC LEVY The Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. —
An agreement on a nearly $27.7 billion budget deal
announced Wednesday evening by Gov. Tom Corbett and top Republican lawmakers
appears to be nearly identical to what lawmakers had proposed several weeks
earlier, a plan that would cut taxes for businesses while squeezing programs
for the poor and disabled.
It also includes a meeting of the minds on legislation to
create a tax credit sought by Corbett in his pursuit of bringing an integrated
petrochemical industry to Pennsylvania, anchored by a multibillion-dollar
refinery planned in the Pittsburgh area by a subsidiary of Netherlands-based
oil and gas giant Royal Dutch Shell PLC.
PA Auditor General: Taxpayers overcharged $365 million annually for
charter schools
Auditor General Jack Wagner says state's charter school
system most costly in nation.
By Steve
Esack, Of The Morning Call 5:08 p.m. EDT, June 20, 2012
Pennsylvania
taxpayers could save $365 million a year if state officials fixed a charter
school funding formula that is the most costly in the nation, Auditor General
Jack Wagner said Wednesday. The state's
15-year-old funding formula is so flawed and out-of-date, Wagner said,
Pennsylvania spends more on its 162 charter schools than other states that have
a similar number of students enrolled in independent charter and cyber schools.
He called on
Gov. Tom Corbett, the Legislature and state Education Department to immediately
reduce charter and cyber charter funding by more than $3,000 per student to
match the $10,000 per-pupil national average his office calculated. He also
wants them to plug a loophole that costs taxpayers $50 million a year in
unnecessary pension payments for charter employees.
"The
most valid point I want to make today is Pennsylvania taxpayers are paying too
much," Wagner said at a Harrisburg news conference announcing findings in
a special report. "There is no common sense to what taxpayers are paying
to educate children."
|
Auditor General Jack Wagner Says Fixing PA’s Charter
School Formula Could Save $365 Million a Year in Taxpayer Money
Says Department of Education and General Assembly must take leadership role Press Release from Auditor General’s website HARRISBURG, June 20, 2012
Auditor General Jack Wagner said today that
Pennsylvania could save $365 million a year in taxpayer money by adopting
separate charter and cyber charter school funding formulas similar to those
used in other states, and by closing an administrative loophole that permits
double-dipping in pension payments through the calculation of tuition rates.
See the Auditor General’s Cyber Charter Special Report |
Posted: Thu,
Jun. 21, 2012, 3:01 AM
Pa. auditor again blasts funding formula for cyber and charter schools
By Martha
Woodall Inquirer Staff Writer
Pennsylvania
taxpayers could save $365 million each year if the state fixed its flawed
formula for funding cyber and charter schools, state Auditor General Jack
Wagner said Wednesday.
Wagner
released a report saying the state has spent "substantially more"
than the national average on the charter and cyber charter schools that educate
more than 100,000 students.
"With
the tightening of school budgets and funding available to school districts
throughout the state," Wagner said, "Pennsylvania's flawed and overly
generous funding formula for charter and cyber charter schools is a luxury
taxpayers can no longer afford."
Pennsylvania
Bill Boosts Charter Schools In Ailing Areas
By Romy
Varghese - Jun 20, 2012 12:01 AM ET
Pennsylvania’s Senate passed a
measure to let the state take over fiscally distressed school districts and
make charter conversions easier, a provision that spurred opposition from
teachers.
The bill, which would permit the appointment of a
chief recovery officer to develop a plan for a school district whose finances
trigger oversight, passed 27-21 yesterday. A receiver would be named if
district leaders reject the blueprint, and conversions to charter schools could
be implemented based solely on the recovery proposal, if they provide savings.
“This bill is ideologically
driven, hidden under the name of distressed schools that is about driving an
agenda for charters and hurting unions,” Mike Crossey, president of the
187,000-member Pennsylvania
State Education Association, said by telephone. The bill passed theHouse of
Representatives earlier.
Charter schools can ignore
district union contracts. Provisions easing charter conversions don’t often
show up in laws aimed at helping right the fiscal affairs of local boards, Mike
Griffith, a senior policy analyst at the Education Commission of the States, said by
telephone.
Let's ease school
districts' pain
Published: Thursday, June
21, 2012, 5:41 AM
By Thomas J. Gentzel
Thomas J. Gentzel is executive director of the
Pennsylvania School Boards Association.
The end of the school
year has come for most Pennsylvania schools. The tests and assignments are done
and graduation ceremonies are complete. But behind the scenes, boards of school
directors are trying desperately to balance budgets for the coming year that,
in many cases, are in deficit by millions of dollars. Sadly, this scenario
is becoming more frequent each year as Pennsylvania pulls back on its
obligation to adequately fund public education. Money might be tight, but the
state’s priorities must be set straight.
Early education:
State must play catch-up on kindergarten
Published: Thursday, June
21, 2012, 6:07 AM
It is hard to fathom a child starting school at age 8 and even more difficult to imagine her not ever attending kindergarten.
Yet in Pennsylvania,
there is no requirement for children to begin school until age 8 and even
worse, there is no mandate that a district must provide kindergarten. …l.Pennsylvania
is one of only five states that does not require school districts to offer
kindergarten, according to the national Education Commission of the States.
Capitolwire: Senate GOP impatient with House progress on education
reform
Peter L. DeCoursey,
Capitolwire Bureau Chief 6/20/2012
PSBA website REPRINTED
WITH PERMISSION
HARRISBURG (June
19) -- After this morning's budget meeting, House GOP leaders and Gov. Tom
Corbett's staff intensified negotiations and work on a proposed education
reform plan.
The hope is to have
the language of that plan at least in an advanced draft form, for review by key
groups and Senate Republicans within a day or two, negotiators said.
But a top Senate
leader expressed a growing level of frustration with the House and the
governor's office and the progress of the talks.
Charter School Reform:
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:
Those 857 Desks? A Message for the Candidates
New York Times By ADESHINA EMMANUEL Published:
June 20, 2012
WASHINGTON — Tourists trying to figure out how to
reach the capital’s monuments and museums on Wednesday found something on the National
Mall that was not on
their maps: 857 student desks arrayed near the Washington Monument.
Each desk
represents one of the 857 students who drop out of high school in the United
States every single hour, every single school day, according to the College Board, which arranged
the display to
underline its effort to urge presidential candidates to put education at the
top of their to-do lists.
Diane Ravitch on PBS
Newshour June 5th, 2012
STATEWIDE PRESS COVERAGE OF SCHOOL
DISTRICT BUDGETS
Here are more than 800
articles since January 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
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.