Tuesday, August 7, 2012

More details emerging on PA’s new EITC 2.0 program funding private and religious schools with diverted tax dollars


“Only public schools, operated by school districts with elected school boards are open to all children and fully accountable to all taxpayers.”
Baruch Kintisch, Director of Policy Advocacy, Education Law Center, in testimony before the PA House Democratic Policy Committee, July 17, 2012

Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1600 Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, 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

More details emerging on Pennsylvania’s new EITC 2.0 program funding private and religious schools with diverted tax dollars
EITC 2.0 DCED’s Updated list of Scholarship Organizations

EITC 2.0: Businesses get OK to offer scholarships

Money would help students transfer from low-performing schools
By Mary Niederberger / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette August 7, 2012 12:11 am
The state Department of Community and Economic Development has approved a list of 10 organizations that can start accepting applications from parents of students residing in the lowest-performing 15 percent of school districts for scholarships to attend other public or private schools.

EITC 2.0: Here’s your $50 million voucher program for the 2012-2013 school year Pennsylvania.

PA EITC 2.0 Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit Program FAQ
PA Department of Community and Economic Development

Details on Act 85 of 2012, PA’s new EITC 2.0 Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit “Supervoucher” Program.
Click here for a detailed report from PSBA regarding the new EITC 2.0 program.

EITC 2.0: Pennsylvania’s "Failing Schools" List For the 2012-2013 school year.
Here the list of low achieving schools released by PDE
http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.blogspot.com/2012/07/pennsylvania-failing-schools-list-for.html


Posted: Mon, Aug. 6, 2012, 3:00 AM
Philly BCG Report has public-school advocates enraged. But why?
Daily News Editorial Philadelphia Daily News
A report authored by the Boston Consulting Group for the School Reform Commission and paid for by the William Penn Foundation provides interesting reading on the state of the school district and school reform in general.
……People looking for demons should look elsewhere: For example, to Harrisburg, where elected officials have been starving schools for years — not just in dollars, but in policies, such as stopping reimbursement to districts for charter enrollment. A bill in Harrisburg proposes moving authority of charters to the state. That could flood the city with more charters and disembowel the district even further.
Building a secondary system divorced from the current system that is still expected to pay for it — that's the kind of conspiracy that should worry everyone. Those who believe in keeping "the public" in public education should battle with those who they've elected to represent them, who have done, and could continue to do, far more damage than any privately funded study could ever do.

To Increase Learning Time, Some Schools Add Days to Academic Year
New York Times By MOTOKO RICH Published: August 5, 2012
According to the National Center on Time and Learning, a nonprofit research group in Boston, about 170 schools — more than 140 of them charter schools — across the country have extended their calendars in recent years to 190 days or longer.

Posted: Mon, Aug. 6, 2012, 6:56 AM
AP Interview: Duncan on reform and back to school
CHRISTINE ARMARIO and CAROLE FELDMAN
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - A more well-rounded curriculum with less focus on a single test. Higher academic standards and more difficult classwork. Continued cuts to extracurricular and other activities because of the tough economy.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan says those are some of the changes and challenges that children could notice as they start the new school year.

2012 PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference Oct. 16-19, 2012
Registration is Now Open!
Hershey Lodge & Convention Center, Hershey, PA
www.psba.org/workshops/school-leadership-conference/

EPLC’s 2012 Arts and Education Symposium: Save the Date, Thursday, October 11

Education Policy and Leadership Center
Please mark your calendars and plan on joining EPLC, our partners, and guests on October 11 in Harrisburg for a full day of events.  Stay tuned to aei-pa.org for information about our 2nd Arts and Education Symposium.  Scholarships and Act 48 Credit will be available.  Outstanding speakers and panelists from Pennsylvania and beyond will once again come together to address key topics in the arts and arts education and related public policy advocacy initiatives.  This is a networking and learning opportunity not to be missed!

http://www.aei-pa.org/


PSBA 2013 Officer Candidates Slated
If you are not planning to attend the October Leadership Conference and would like to vote for any of these candidates please see the absentee ballot information below and note the August 15 deadline for absentee ballot requests
At its May 19 meeting at PSBA Conference Center, the PSBA Nominating Committee interviewed and selected a slate of candidates for officers of the association in 2013.
They are:
Marcela Diaz Myers, Lower Dauphin SD, Dauphin County
President (automatically assumes the office of president)
Jody Sperry, Conneaut SD, Crawford County
President-Elect
Richard Frerichs, Penn Manor SD, Lancaster County
President-Elect
Mark B. Miller, Centennial SD, Bucks County
First Vice President
Larry Breech, Millville Area SD, Columbia County
Second Vice President
Edward J. Cardow, Chichester SD, Delaware County
Second Vice President

Absentee ballot procedures for election of PSBA officers
Absentee ballot requests must be received no later than August 15
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 home 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 or e-mail administrativerequests@psba.org.

NSBA Federal Relations Network seeking new members for 2013-14
School directors are invited to advocate for public education at the federal level through the National School Boards Association’s Federal Relations Network. The National School Boards Association is seeking school directors interested in serving on the Federal Relations Network (FRN), its grass roots advocacy program that brings local board members on the front line of pending issues before Congress. If you are a school director and willing to carry the public education message to Washington, D.C., FRN membership is a good place to start. 
Click here for more information.
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