Daily
postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1700
Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators,
legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, PTO/PTA officers, parent
advocates, 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
Accountability: Seeing
your neighbors, who elect you and whose local property taxes you are
responsible for, at the supermarket, the bank and the barbershop, 365 days per
year.
Lincoln
Here is
the first page of the Thanksgiving proclamation that
Abraham Lincoln issued on Oct. 3, 18 63, setting the precedent for the national holiday
we celebrate today.
Feds: Pennsylvania
Measuring progress on standardized test scores at issue.
9:31 p.m. EST, November 21, 2012
The federal government has shot down state
Education Secretary Ron Tomalis' unilateral PSSA rule change that made it
easier for charter schools to meet federal testing benchmarks than traditional
public schools.
Tomalis had said the state could treat charter
schools the same way it treats school districts in calculating student test
scores to come up with so-called Adequate Yearly Progress grades.
But The U.S. Department
of Education said
because charter schools are individual school buildings, they must have their
own separate AYP grades under the No Child Left Behind Act. The federal order,
dated Nov. 19, was released by the state Wednesday
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia-based nonprofit says state Education Department lacks
manpower to oversee more cyber charter schools.
9:31 p.m. EST, November 21, 2012
A legal advocacy group is calling on the state
Department of Education to temporarily stop approving more cyber charter schools,
saying there is little evidence the schools improve student learning, but a lot
of evidence they drain tax dollars.
The Education
Law Center ,
headquartered in Philadelphia Allentown
The state does an inadequate job of reviewing
the academic and financial performance of the 16 existing cyber charter
schools, said Marnie Kaplan, a lawyer for center, which advocates for student
and parental education rights.
If the new applications are approved, she said,
the agency would be in jeopardy of violating the state charter school law
because it would not have the manpower to oversee 24 cyber charter schools,
many of which are run by for-profit companies and overcharge taxpayers for
services.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Pennsylvania
Department of Education is in jeopardy of violating state law if it approves
eight new cyber charter schools in the coming weeks, according to the Education Law Center
Want to privatize
schools? You might want to buy up an election cycle or two first.
"If people
follow the money trail, they'd learn a lot about what's really going on."
State Rep. James Roebuck has been in politics for a quarter-century, but
he'd never before faced the kind of primary fight he had this spring. His
challenger, Fatimah Muhammad, was a political upstart with little history in
the district. Yet she was able to raise more than $230,000 for her campaign,
seemingly overnight.
"I felt like the money was being poured on my head," recalls
Roebuck, a Philadelphia Democrat. Muhammad "put up billboards all across
the district, and had six or seven people working at every polling place."
And then there were the mailings……
Charter Advocates Lobby to Restore New Markets Tax
Credit for Facilities
A coalition of nearly 60 charter school
organizations is urging members of Congress to revive a recently expired
federal tax credit, one that the advocates say has proved critical to helping
the independent public schools secure funding for building space.
In a letter to
Rep. Dave Camp, a Michigan Republican who chairs the House Ways
Here’s a 2010
piece from the NY Daily News on the New Markets Tax Credit…
Albany
Wealthy investors and major banks have been
making windfall profits by using a little-known federal tax break to finance
new charter-school construction.
The program, the New Markets Tax Credit, is so
lucrative that a lender who uses it can almost double his money in seven years.
A distorted reality
An ex-principal says inflated test scores skewed
decision-making and hurt students. The problem isn’t fixed.
by Benjamin Herold for NewsWorks, a Notebook news
partner, December 2012 Issue
In 2010, math scores at Communications Technology
High in Southwest Philadelphia jumped an
astonishing 40 points and reading scores rose 22 points. Adult cheating is
suspected. While a state-led investigation goes on, the questionable test
results continue to have an impact.
In July 2010, when Saliyah Cruz was named principal
of Communications Technology High, state test scores said the small citywide
admission school in Southwest Philadelphia was
one of the best in the city.
Everything else said something different.
The Pennsylvania General Assembly has failed again
in its attempt to provide financial and academic accountability to charter
schools. The 11th hour attempt to pass charter school reform failed on June 30
and the General Assembly struck out again on October 17 as both chambers
adjourned without passing legislation. The June 30 failure was due to a
controversial portion that would have excluded charter school management and
vendors from the Right-To-Know Law, which would have allowed charter schools to
conceal their expenditures from the public that funds them.
Building One Pennsylvania
Join us at our first fundraiser and awards
ceremony to celebrate our progress in promoting inclusive, sustainable and
economically prosperous communities.
Austin Room at IBEW
Electrical Union 654
3729 Chichester Avenue, Boothwyn PA 19061
Thursday, November 29th from 6:00 –8:00 PM
$100 per person • $75 for Building One Pennsylvania Member
3729 Chichester Avenue, Boothwyn PA 19061
Thursday, November 29th from 6:00 –
$100 per person • $75 for Building One Pennsylvania Member
HONOREES:
U.S. Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr.
U.S. Congressman Patrick Meehan
Estelle Richman, Senior Advisor to the Secretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Isaac Dotson, Yeadon Economic Development Corporation
Tom Gemmill, St. James Episcopal Church, Lancaster
Rev. Marlon Millner, Norristown Municipal Council and McKinley Memorial Baptist Church
U.S. Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr.
U.S. Congressman Patrick Meehan
Estelle Richman, Senior Advisor to the Secretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Isaac Dotson, Yeadon Economic Development Corporation
Tom Gemmill, St. James Episcopal Church, Lancaster
Rev. Marlon Millner, Norristown Municipal Council and McKinley Memorial Baptist Church
PLEASE RSVP TO ATTEND
CELEBRATE Pennsylvania
Budget and Policy
Center
Friday November 30th
12 pm – 1:30 pm
Join us in celebrating 5 years of providing a
strong, independent voice for working Pennsylvanians and their families in the
halls of the state Capitol and beyond.
Friday~November 30th, 12 pm - 1:30 pm
Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown Hotel
www.pennbpc.org/5thanniversary
Registration begins at 11:30
LEGISLATIVE
LEADERSHIP AWARD
Hon. Gene DiGirolamo & Hon. Thomas Murt
BE THE
CHANGE AWARD
Voter ID Plaintiff Legal Team
The Public
Interest Law
Center of Philadelphia
The ACLU of Pennsylvania
The Advancement Project
Arnold and Porter
HOST COMMITTEE
Hon. Edward G. Rendell | Hon. Vincent Hughes
Hon. Blondell Reynolds Brown | Hon. Maria
Quiñones Sánchez | Hon. W. Wilson Goode II
Hon. Diane Ellis-Marseglia | Willig, Williams,
& Davidson | Dianne & Ted Reed | Donna Cooper
Public Citizens for Children and Youth | Women
Against Abuse
Education Policy and Leadership
Center | Education Voters of Pennsylvania
Project H.O.M.E | Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania
Honoring Len Rieser
Welcoming Rhonda Brownstein
And celebrating public education champions
Mary Gay Scanlon, Harold Jordan, Arc of PA,
The Bridges Collaborative and School Discipline Advocacy Services
Food, Drink and Silent
Auction
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