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postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1650
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leaders, members of the press and a broad array of P-16 education advocacy
organizations via emails, website, Facebook and Twitter.
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emails are archived at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
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“The public be damned”
SB1115, the charter school reform bill
scheduled to be considered by the PA Senate Rules Committee on Monday October
15thincludes a provision that would exempt companies (“vendors”)
doing business with charter schools (“local education agencies”) from Pennsylvania
No vendor who performs a governmental function and
receives public taxpayer dollars should be exempted from PA’s Right-to-Know
law. Ask your state
legislators why this provision is in this bill and urge them to vote NO on
SB1115.
What possible reasons could there be for including such a provision in the
charter school reform bill? Why would anyone lobby for that exemption?
http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-public-be-damned-sb1115-charter.html
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 this egregious
proposal to exempt charter school management companies from PA right-to-know
laws.
- 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. Of 17 members, only 3 would
represent school districts.
- Vote NO on a statewide charter
authorizer.
Got three
minutes more?
Call the offices
of the Governor 717-787-2500, Senate Majority Leader
Pileggi (717) 787-4712 and House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (717)
772-9943 and ask them why we would
exempt charter management companies from Pennsylvania
Editorial:
Charter school proposals should be rejected
……..This newspaper has been in
a legal tug of war for years with Vahan Gureghian, whose firm operates Chester Community Charter
School
NowHarrisburg
Guess what the charter schools are listed as? If you said local agencies, you get an A-plus, students. Somewhat surprisingly, the proposal is the work of local state Rep. Tom Killion, R-168, ofMiddletown
Now
Guess what the charter schools are listed as? If you said local agencies, you get an A-plus, students. Somewhat surprisingly, the proposal is the work of local state Rep. Tom Killion, R-168, of
Posted: Thu, Oct. 11, 2012 , 3:01 AM
DN Editorial: We need more info, not less, about
Pa.
SINCE ACT 22 enabled charter schools in the
state 15 years ago, charters have expanded exponentially; Pennsylvania
taxpayers now spend about $1 billion a year on 73,000 students enrolled in
"bricks and mortar" and cyber-charter schools. With charters
championed by lawmakers as a key alternative to traditional public schools,
expect even more.
But we are also at a particular tipping point
for charters, since more voices are expressing concern that charters are a path
to dismantling the traditional public system to put education - and lots of
public money - in the hands of private companies with little or no
accountability.
That itself is a questionable move, but more
disturbing is a provision in a House bill that would exempt for-profit
education providers from right-to-know laws. Such laws currently apply to
charters, but a proposed amendment would exempt "vendors of local
agencies," which could include private management groups that run charter
schools. That means operators of schools funded with public dollars would be
closed to scrutiny.
“Should public education be the
responsibility of locally elected officials who are responsible and accountable
to their neighbors and the communities they live in, or should public education
be a business opportunity for friends, political allies and financial
supporters of a sitting governor?”
Let school boards make
call on public education policy
Published:
Monday, October
15, 2012 , 1:00 AM
While there are great charter schools, 16 years of charters in
This week, the state
Legislature is expected to consider charter school reform legislation that,
among other things, would give a state-appointed body the power to create
charter schools without approval by the local communities and school districts
that they might be in.
For now, charter approval isn't a Pennsylvania
By Karen Langley / Post-Gazette Harrisburg
Proponents of charter
schools want to allow the authorization of new schools by a statewide board,
rather than requiring the approval of local school districts.
In June, discord over a
statewide authorizer was among the charter-related disagreements that pushed
state budget negotiations to the deadline. Days after the budget's signing --
without changes to charter regulation -- Gov. Tom Corbett said of the charter
reforms that negotiators had been "within a sentence of getting it
done."
Legislative leaders and
the governor's office now have agreed to set aside the statewide authorizer for
future consideration and aim to push through an agreement on other regulatory
changes, said Erik Arneson, a spokesman for Senate Republicans.
Those changes include
forming a commission to examine funding, mandating annual independent audits
and requiring the state to directly pay charter schools, unless the schools opt
to continue collecting from their sending districts. Steve Miskin, a spokesman
for House Republicans, confirmed the components of the agreement.
Posted: Sun, Oct. 14, 2012 , 5:17 AM
By Dan Hardy Inquirer Staff Writer
The Pennsylvania Department of Education has
closed its investigation of the Chester
Community Charter
School
“Parents do have a
choice,” Watkins said. “We’ve got to make them choose us. That becomes our challenge.”
Recovery
officer: Chester Upland School District
Published: Friday, October 12, 2012
By JOHN KOPP jkopp@delcotimes.com
@DT_JohnKopp
CHESTER — Chester Upland School District Chief Recovery
Officer Joe Watkins said the district must regain many of the students it has
lost to charter and private schools if it is to establish financial stability
and begin a path toward prosperity.
Speaking at a public meeting Thursday night, Watkins stressed that Chester Upland can no longer continue losing students to other educational institutions, noting that critical funding follows those students from the district.
http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2012/10/12/news/doc50779b2ab7e13654197294.txt?viewmode=fullstory
Speaking at a public meeting Thursday night, Watkins stressed that Chester Upland can no longer continue losing students to other educational institutions, noting that critical funding follows those students from the district.
http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2012/10/12/news/doc50779b2ab7e13654197294.txt?viewmode=fullstory
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.
“The corporate reform movement that brought us charter
schools in the name of parental choice has led to a situation where students
who are a little better off and come from more stable homes are segregated from
students who come from more dire, unstable situations due to low wages and
unemployment. These students are left in the underfunded regular system,
further concentrating the effects of poverty.”
Commentary: Film perpetuates myths about education
by thenotebook on
Oct 12 2012
Posted in Blogger
commentary
This guest blog comes from Ken Derstine, an
award-winning retired teacher who spent 37 years in the Philadelphia School
District Philadelphia
by Ken Derstine
On Monday, Oct. 8, Helen Gym of Parents United
for Public Education and Matthew Brouillette of the Commonwealth Foundation in Harrisburg Bad
School
“The Pennsylvania County Commissioners Association,
Pennsylvania League of Cities and Municipalities, Pennsylvania Boroughs
Association and the Pennsylvania School Boards Association are examples of the
other organizations that could be affected, said Gedid, director of the
school’s Law and Government Institute.”
Lobbyists could be
subject to Pennsylvania
Published:
Friday, October
12, 2012 , 3:35 PM
Organizations that lobby
on behalf of townships and other political bodies could be subject to the
state’s open records law and forced to publicly share documents that pertain to
those associations and state government.
The decision by the
state’s Open Records office that the Pennsylvania State Association of Township
Supervisors is a “local agency” and subject to complying with requests for
records that are filed by residents, the media and others spurred an appeal in
Cumberland County Court by the East Pennsboro Twp.-based association.
Should the Open Records
office’s opinion be upheld, it could lead to a host of similar associations
that represent the interests of political bodies before state legislators
having to open up their records and documents to Right to Know requests, to the
extent these documents pertain to communications between these associations and
state government, said John L. Gedid, a professor at Widener Law School.
In
Harrisburg
Capitol Ideas Blog by
John Micek October
13, 2012
Outside the Market Square Café in the Harrisburg Hilton, Knowles
greets lobbyists, fellow lawmakers and other supporters entering his
fundraising breakfast. Nearby, at a folding table, an aide ticks off their
names. The price: $250.
“Come on in,” the Schuylkill County Republican
tells a colleague, stateRep. Gene
DiGirolamo of Bucks
County
Allentown School
Troubled charter school seeks Allentown 's
OK for Bethlehem
9:25 p.m. EDT, October 12, 2012
After losing his west Bethlehem
He could try to find a new building
immediately for Vitalistic Therapeutic Charter
School or wait until he had the
blessing of the Allentown
For his students' sake, DeIaco told Allentown
School Board's Education Committee on Thursday, he chose to find a school
immediately, which he knew technically violated Vitalistic's charter.
School Choice: A Subject
Both Candidates Support
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.
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
Want to Ruin Teaching? Give Ratings
New York Times OP-ED By DEBORAH KENNY Published: October 14, 2012
AS the founder of a
charter school network in Harlem , I’ve seen
firsthand the nuances inherent in teacher evaluation. A few years ago, for
instance, we decided not to renew the contract of one of our teachers despite
the fact that his students performed exceptionally well on the state exam.
Homeless Students Top 1
Million, U.S.
Huffington Post by Saki Knafo and Joy Resmovits
Posted: 06/28/2012 6:34 pm
The U.S. Education
Department reported that,
for the first time, the number of homeless students in America
"The number is
horrifyingly high but it probably is half of what the number really could be if
the kids could be counted," said Nilan. The count doesn't include homeless
infants, children not enrolled in school, and homeless students that schools
simply failed to identify.
New data on public
education released by the U.S.
Here’s
an infographic with some new data about public education enrollment and
spending, student achievement and other related issues just released by the
U.S. Census Bureau.
Dear Teacher, Johnny Is Skipping the Test
New York Times By SONI SANGHA Published: October 12, 2012
LATER this month, children
at 169 New York City
Lori Chajet’s daughter
will not be among them, though the tests are scheduled to be given at her
school, Public School 321, in Park Slope, Brooklyn .
Nor will many students at Public School 261 in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, or
children at schools across District 6 in northern Manhattan
Ms. Chajet’s objection
is not to testing itself, but to the way tests are being used to evaluate
schools and teachers.
“I want my school to use
tests to help instruction, to help find out if kids don’t know fractions,” she
said. “I don’t want my child to feel like her score will decide if her teacher
has a job or not.”
Commentary: PA charter school reform
should protect taxpayers, not just K12, Inc. CEO Ron Packard and CSM
CEO Vahan Gureghian
The PA Legislature is in recess until October 15th
Please contact your state
senator and state rep regarding charter school reform during this break
You can bet that the charter school lobbyists are not taking a
break
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