Senate voted 33-16 to concur with amendments to SB1115
See how your Senator voted - click here for the roll call vote
SB1115 goes to the House for consideration tomorrow.
Click here to email your State Representative asking them to oppose SB1115
Send a Letter to the
President on October 17
Diane Ravitch’s Blog October 3, 2012 /
I got some excellent
suggestions.
To begin with, this is
not an online petition, but an invitation to join together to write your own
individual heartfelt letter to the President and to email the White House on
the same day.
Daily
postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1650
Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators,
legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, PTO/PTA officers, teacher
leaders, members of the press and a broad array of P-16 education advocacy
organizations via emails, website, Facebook and Twitter.
These daily
emails are archived at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us
on Twitter at @lfeinberg
The Senate Rules Committee amended and approved
SB1115 by
a vote of 14-2 with only Senators Hughes and Tartaglione opposing. Here
is a link to the latest version of the bill as reported out of the Rules
Committee.
SB1115 as amended may be considered by the full
Senate as early as 1:00 pm
today and for concurrence by the House in short order. SB 1115
could reach the governor’s desk by Wednesday.
While the explicit statewide authorizer, parent
trigger and right-to-know exemption for vendors have been removed, the amended
bill still contains a “de facto” statewide authorization provision that would
be a clear end-run around local school boards.
PSBA reports that the Multiple Charter
Organization provision would allow the formation of a
multiple charter organization by granting a single charter to operate two or
more charter schools under the oversight of a single board of trustees.
The state,
and not the local school district has the
authority to receive, review and act on multiple charter school organization
consolidation and transfer applications. This allows charter schools to
circumvent local school districts as a charter school authorizer and
consolidate their charter with the Department of Education.
There is no
change in the tuition and local school districts would be responsible for funding
multiple charter organizations. A multiple charter organizer does not
need the permission of the local school board to reconstitute as a multiple
charter organization under state authority.
Please take
a minute and call
your state senator and your
state representative this morning and urge
them to vote NO on the SB1115 charter reform bill.
- Vote NO on de facto statewide
authorization via the multiple charter organization provision that is an
end run around local school boards.
- Vote NO on direct pay by the Department
of Education to Charter and Cyber operators that would deny local school
districts any ability to monitor the validity of charges and payments of
taxpayer funds before they are paid.
- Vote NO on a Statewide Charter
Funding Advisory Commission where three quarters of the members are
Charter and Cyber operators/advocates and gubernatorial or political
appointees. Even though traditional
public schools educate more that 4 out of 5 PA students, of 17 members on
this panel, only 3 would represent school districts.
- Vote NO because SB1115 does not
address the pension double dip
Pa.
A state Senate panel
Monday approved a set of changes to the regulation of charter schools that
legislative leaders say is headed to the governor's desk.
The legislation would
create a commission to examine charter school funding, mandate annual
independent audits and require the state to directly pay charter schools,
unless the schools opt to continue collecting payments from school districts
that send students there. It does not contain provisions, such as the creation
of a statewide authorizing board, that make it easier for charter schools to
form.
Posted: Tue,
Oct. 16, 2012 ,
3:01 AM
By Dan Hardy Inquirer Staff Writer
The U.S. Department of Education says the
Pennsylvania Education Department "acted prematurely" when it changed
rules for how charter schools can meet academic-performance standards on the
annual PSSA achievement test. The change
makes it easier for most charters to meet the state benchmarks, known as
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Public school advocates call it an unfair way
to make charters look better than regular public schools, to which they have
typically been compared.
Where are the
Real Republicans?
Yinzercation Blog — OCTOBER 15, 2012
Real Republicans don’t
vote to take away local control. Real Republicans don’t try to concentrate
power in the hands of the state and with small groups of political appointees.
Real Republicans don’t thumb their noses at public accountability. Yet this is
exactly what Governor Corbett and the legislature are trying to do with the
latest charter school “reform” bill that goes before the Senate Rules Committee
today. [Senate Bill 1115]
PA Cyber board votes to reorganize
By Rich Lord / Pittsburgh
The Pennsylvania Cyber
Charter School
PA Cyber CEO Michael
Conti also bemoaned recent reports that have stemmed from a federal probe
believed to focus on former or current executives of the school.
"This brand is
taking a beating every day," he said after the board meeting, adding in
response to questions that he's "absolutely confident that no moneys were
spent inappropriately" on a former executive's Florida
Write Your Letter to the President Now
Diane Ravitch’s Blog October 13, 2012
It’s time to write your letter to President
Obama to let him know how he should change Race to the Top.
Join the Campaign for Our Public Schools.
Should schools compete or collaborate?
Should teachers compete or collaborate?
Is education a “race” or a process of
development?
Share your thoughts with the President, your
Governor, and all your elected officials.
Here are the instructions.
Here are the instructions.
School Choice: A Subject
Both Candidates Support (corrected web link)
NPR.org October 13, 2012
The right to choose the school you want your
child to attend has been the subject of court battles and bitter political
debates. Still, both President Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney have made
school choice a cornerstone of their efforts to reform public education.
Commentary: PA charter school reform
should protect taxpayers, not just K12, Inc. CEO Ron Packard and CSM
CEO Vahan Gureghian
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