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Posted: Thu, Jul. 5, 2012 , 3:00 AM
EITC:
Education tax credits a good idea, but at what cost?
Daily News Editorial Philadelphia
DO THE DOLLARS we spend on
vacation really count? Most of us spending money on cheap trinkets and
overpriced T-shirts don't believe they do — until we get the credit-card bills.
Similarly, it appears state
lawmakers believe that the money earmarked for tax-credit programs don't really
count, either. That might explain the ease with which they doubled the amount
of tax credits earmarked for corporate contributions to education.
…..And the tax-credit program
builds in additional protections from scrutiny. The program is overseen and
administered not by the Department of Education, but the state Department of
Commerce and Economic Development. A legislative committee's detailed review
revealed a number of problems with oversight, including the fact that the DCED
doesn't even staff its program-monitoring units. And there is no monitoring of
outcomes for students who get scholarships to non-public schools. It's like the
kids get public money to go off the grid and we never get to find out if that
money actually improved achievement.
Posted: Thu, Jun. 28, 2012 , 3:00 AM
EITC:
Pa. taxpayers underwrite Sandusky
By Will Bunch Daily News
Staff Writer Philadelphia
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
Why
Elected Local School Boards Matter
Diane Ravitch’s Blog July 3, 2012 //
Lance Hill in New
Orleans knows what it is like to have no democratic control of
schools funded with taxpayer dollars (so do people in New York City
Local democratic control of
schools is the last remaining obstacle to the complete privatization of public
education. For that reason alone, the movement to save public education needs
to make this a central program tenet.
Locally elected boards are the
only entity that has the mission of keeping public schools public. They have a
vested interest in retaining public control of schools and ensuring quality
education since their actions directly impact local community life. That don’t
always live up to that mission, but democracy allows us to hold them
accountable.
Delco
Times EDITORIAL: School funding remains uneven playing field
Published: Wednesday, July 04, 2012
Much has been made about the
so-called “uneven playing field” when it comes to education funding in Pennsylvania
Last week the William Penn School Board approved its spending plan. In a 5-4 vote that was described as “gut wrenching” and that moved one board member to tears, the board rejected a call for a 1.8 percent tax hike and decided to hold the line on spending.
Now all the board has to figure out is what else to cut in order to close a $754,000 funding gap.
Last week the William Penn School Board approved its spending plan. In a 5-4 vote that was described as “gut wrenching” and that moved one board member to tears, the board rejected a call for a 1.8 percent tax hike and decided to hold the line on spending.
Now all the board has to figure out is what else to cut in order to close a $754,000 funding gap.
Taxpayers
paying more for lawmakers’ benefits
Health benefits and annual
cost-of-living adjustment could total $6,000 per-member increase
By Jared Sichel | PA Independent July 3, 2012
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania taxpayers,
who are struggling with tough economic decisions, will be paying Houseand Senate lawmakers
more for their prescription and dental benefits this year. And those same lawmakers also are expecting a
salary increase in December just in time for the holidays.
The recently approved $27.656
billion budget includes $1.7 million, mostly for prescription and dental
benefits with $1.4 million going to the House’s 203 members and $300,000 to the
state Senate’s 50 members.
If lawmakers receive the
cost-of-living increase, House and Senate members’ annual compensation,
including salary and benefits, could increase by at least $6,000 per member,
according to Senate Chief Clerk’s Office.
Posted at 04:00 AM ET, 07/05/2012
Is
‘filling the pail’ any way to train teachers?
This was written by Carol
Corbett Burris, principal of South Side High School
in New York New York State Outstanding Educator by the School
Administrators Association of New
York State
By Carol Corbett Burris
“Education is not the filling of a
pail, but the lighting of a fire.” I keep this quote on my
desk. No one knows who authored it — it is often misattributed to William
Butler Yeats. Whoever created it was wise indeed for those whose vocation is
educating students upon hearing it, recognize its truth.
I reflect on that quote often
these days. I worry that the pail fillers are determining the fate of our
schools. The ‘filling of the pail’ is the philosophy of those who see students
as vessels into which facts and knowledge are poured. The better the teacher,
the more stuff in the pail. How do we measure what is in the pail? With a
standardized test, of course. Not enough in the pail? No excuses. We must
identify the teachers who best fill the pail, and dismiss the rest.
Credit Card Education is very essential in nowadays.
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