Daily
postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1850
Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators,
legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, PTO/PTA officers, parent
advocates, teacher leaders, education professors, 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
For February
4, 2013
Follow the
Money: Walton Family Foundation Grants 2009-2012: 250 avenues to privatize
democratically governed American public education
Combined Foundation
reports from 2009 through 2012 sorted by grantee name. The gang’s all here……
Missed our weekend posting?
EITC 2.0 Pennsylvania February 1, 2013
(Commentary)
EITC 2.0
The Other List of Pennsylvania Failing Schools for 2013-2014:
Schools
that fail to have any public fiscal or performance accountability and will
receive $50 million in diverted tax dollars
List of PA schools (mostly religious schools)
eligible to receive $50 million diverted tax dollars with virtually no fiscal
or performance accountability under PA EITC 2.0 Super Voucher program.
No PSSAs, no AYP, no Keystone Exams, no common
core, no state teacher evaluations, no public budgets, no public check
registers, no public salary schedules, no public meetings, no sunshine laws, no
right-to-know laws - just diverted tax dollars, free and clear.
Governor's Budget Address Tuesday 11:30 am on PCN
Calendar: PCN
Public Affairs: Start Time: 11:30
am End Time: 12:15 pm
(LIVE) Gov. Tom Corbett's
2013-2014 Budget Address
Location: State Capitol in Harrisburg
Closed Captioning: Yes
BUDGET: Education politics will be
key in Corbett's plans
By MARC LEVY, Associated Press Saturday, February 2, 2013
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The plight of Pennsylvania's public schools will
dominate many of the Legislature's debates this spring as educators face even
tighter budgets and the politics of education grows
increasingly precarious. It will
start Tuesday when Gov. Tom
Corbett releases his budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins
July 1. Many details of the plan were being kept under wraps by the governor's
office. But Corbett's top budget maker has been frank that rising costs for
public employee pensions and health care for the poor will be difficult to
absorb and the Legislature's political willingness to cut spending
is gone.
“Education Secretary Ron Tomalis
told reporters last week that he expects public school officials will be
"pleased" with the amount of funding for districts. He also previewed
a boost to programs focused on math and science education and an effort to
reduce mandates on school districts.”
BUDGET: Gov. Corbett sees reason for
optimism
Governor talking up budget he'll unveil
Tuesday
By Laura Olson / Post-Gazette Harrisburg February 3, 2013 12:20 am
BUDGET: Op-ed: Don't use students as
a bargaining chip
Patriot-News Op-Ed By Mike Crossey on February 03, 2013
at 12:00 AM
Mike Crossey is president of the Pennsylvania
State Education Association, the state's largest public school teachers' union.
Using public school students as a political bargaining chip is a bad
idea. But it’s even worse when our own governor does it. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what Gov. Tom
Corbett is doing as he prepares to unveil his state budget proposal. Gov. Corbett has threatened to use state
funding for the public schools as leverage to get his way on other issues. In
fact, he and his staff have said that legislative success on extreme ideas -
like privatizing state services and attacking public employee pensions - is
“inextricably linked” to increases in public school funding.
BUDGET: Corbett expected to present
plan for pension changes in budget address
WHYY Newsworks By Mary Wilson February 4, 2013
Some type of pension change package is likely to figure into Gov. Tom
Corbett's budget address to Pennsylvania
BUDGET: Corbett taking open policy
points to budget address
BUDGET: Education Facts from
The Pennsylvania Budget & Policy Center
The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center
Inquirer Editorial: Can't avoid
closing schools
POSTED: Sunday, February 3, 2013 , 3:01
AM
Parents and other opponents of plans to close 37 city schools have been
asking the right questions, and they deserve answers, but it shouldn't take the
yearlong moratorium they want to get the answers. Indeed, if Superintendent William R. Hite Jr.
expects to get the public support he needs to make the plan he announced last
month work, he must offer more assurances than he has that transferred students
will be safe, both on the way to their new schools and within them, and that
children won't be leaving one poorly performing school only to be dumped into
one no better.
Make honest pension reform a
priority in Pa.
Inquirer Letter to the Editor By Richard C. Dreyfuss February 4, 2013 , 3:01 AM
As Gov. Corbett's fiscal year 2013-14 state budget proposal is finalized,
the familiar challenge of balancing finite resources against ever-increasing
spending requests begins. This year, expect debates over special initiatives
ranging from liquor privatization to transportation funding.
But there is one recurring and unresolved challenge that only seems to
become worse with each passing year - public pensions costs, specifically those
of two statewide plans, the Public School Employees' Retirement System (PSERS)
and the State Employees' Retirement System (SERS). It is a good sign that the
governor and other elected officials seem interested in making sustainable
pension reform a policy priority in 2013.
Former superintendent Ackerman dies
of cancer
Inquirer Philly School Files Blog by Kristen Graham February 2, 2013 , 9:57 AM
Arlene C. Ackerman, 66, a lifelong educator who led the Philadelphia School District
for three years, died of pancreatic cancer Saturday in Albuquerque , N.M.
Dr. Ackerman was as a colorful, controversial figure during her tenure in
Philadelphia
She was a firm believer that all children could achieve, and pushed an
agenda that focused on funneling resources to the neediest students.
Though her superintendency ended bitterly, Dr. Ackerman won praise - even
from those she publicly battled - for her strong personal commitment to
children.
Districts Adopt Effective Governance
Standards
PSBA website 2/2/2013
PSBA's thanks are extended to all school entities that adopted PSBA's
Standards for Effective School Governance and Code of Conduct for Members of
Pennsylvania School Boards. Remaining entities continue to be encouraged to
notify PSBA when the standards are adopted.
“The "charter movement" has recently recognized that they are
vulnerable to charges of hypocrisy if they demand that traditional public
schools be closed for poor performance, but fail to enforce the same standards
on charters.”
Churn for Charters is No Solution
Education Week Living in Dialogue Blog By Anthony Cody on February
2, 2013 2:31 PM
The latest report from the research team at CREDO could be seen as solace
to some critics of charter schools. This article from the New York Times
summarizes the report's message:
Despite a growing number of studies showing that charter schools are
generally no better -- and often are worse -- than their traditional
counterparts, the state and local agencies and organizations that grant the
charters have been increasingly hesitant to shut down schools, even those that
continue to perform abysmally for years on end.
If the [charter] movement is to maintain its credibility, the charter
authorizers must shut down failed schools quickly and limit new charters to the
most credible applicants, including operators who have a demonstrated record of
success.
School turnarounds prompt community
backlash
Inquirer by CHRISTINA HOAG , The
Associated Press, February 3, 2013 , 1:25
PM
LOS ANGELES - The federal government's push for drastic reforms at
chronically low achieving schools has led to takeovers by charter operators,
overhauls of staff and curriculum, and even school shutdowns across the
country.
It's also generated a growing backlash among the mostly low-income,
minority communities where some see the reforms as not only disruptive in
struggling neighborhoods, but also as civil rights violations since turnaround
efforts primarily affect black and Latino students.
"Our concern is that these reforms have further destabilized our
communities," said Jitu Brown, education organizer of Chicago
The inconvenient truth of education
‘reform’
Several important things happened in the education world in the last
week. Here’s an analysis of why what happened matters, by Jeff Bryant, a
marketing and communications consultant for nonprofits. He is a marketing and
creative strategist with nearly 30 years of experience – the past 20 on his own
– as a freelance writer, consultant, and search engine marketing provider. He’s
written extensively about public education policy. This appeared on the Campaign for America’s Future website.
Dismantling Public Accountability
& Transparency in the Name of Accountability & Transparency?
SCHOOL Finance 101 Blog by Bruce Baker Posted
on February 2,
2013
This post comes about as a follow up to a previous post where I critiqued
the rationale of the Students
First policy agenda. It should be noted that the Students First
policy agenda is anything but unique. Like DFER, SFER, ALEC or any policy
advocacy organization, the SF policy agenda is little more than an aggregation
of largely non-original, template policy prescriptions.
Now, I’m not one who goes all in for the lingo of “corporate reform” or
one who perceives “privatization” or “market” mechanisms to be inherently evil
and contrary to the public good. However, I am someone who believes we should
consider carefully the multitude of tradeoffs involved in shifting between
publicness and privateness in the governance and provision of schooling.
The institute aims to defend the tax credit against a legal challenge
filed Jan. 9 in Strafford County Superior Court by Americans United for
Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union and the New
Hampshire Civil Liberties Union.
Attorneys from The Institute for Justice have
testified at PA school choice legislative hearings, including SB1. Pennsylvania’s StudentsFirst PAC principal Arthur
Dantchik is listed as a Director of the Institute for Justice on 990’s.
IRS 990 forms for 2008, 2009 and 2010 list
total revenue of $10M, $12.9M and $18.8M respectively; the Walton Foundation’s
funding for the Institute for Justice over the past four years:
2009: $400,000
2010: $400,000
2011: $443,885
2012: $525,568
IJ Seeks to Defend New Hampshire School
Institute for Justice Moves to Intervene on Behalf of the Network for
Educational Opportunity and Parents To Defend Against Lawsuit Challenging the
State’s Education Tax Credit Program
WEB RELEASE: January
29, 2013 CONTACT: John Kramer: (703) 682-9320
Institute for Justice website
Yinzercation Blog January 28, 2013
Come RALLY FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION on Sunday,
February 10, 2013 . 3PM at
the Kelly Strayhorn Theater in East
Liberty (5941 Penn
Avenue , Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania 15206
SAVE THE DATE: 2013 Pennsylvania
Budget Summit
Many Pennsylvanians have
sent a clear message to Harrisburg Policy Center
for an in-depth look at the Governor's proposal and an update on the federal
budget -- and what they mean for communities and families across Pennsylvania
2013 Pennsylvania
Budget Summit
Thursday, February 21, 2013 ,
9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
HiltonHarrisburg , 1 North Second Street, Harrisburg , PA
Hilton
EPLC 2013 REGIONAL WORKSHOPS
FOR SCHOOL
The Education Policy and Leadership Center, with the Cooperation
of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) and Pennsylvania
Association of School Business Officials (PASBO), will conduct A Series of Regional Full-Day
Workshops for 2013
Pennsylvania School Board Candidates. Registration is $45 and includes
coffee/donuts, lunch, and materials.
Harrisburg Region Saturday, February 9,
2013– 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Pennsylvania School Boards Association Headquarters, 400 Bent Creek Boulevard, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050
Pennsylvania School Boards Association Headquarters, 400 Bent Creek Boulevard, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050
Pittsburgh Region Saturday, February 23, 2013 – 8:30
a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Doubletree Hotel Pittsburgh/Monroeville, 101 Mall Blvd., Monroeville, PA 15146
Doubletree Hotel Pittsburgh/Monroeville, 101 Mall Blvd., Monroeville, PA 15146
2013 PSBA Leadership Symposium on
Advocacy and Issues
April 6, 2013 The Penn Stater Convention Center Hotel; State College, PA
Strategic leadership, school budgeting and advocacy are key issues facing today's school district leaders. For your school district to truly thrive, leaders must maintain a solid understanding of these three functions. Attend the 2013 PSBA Leadership Symposium on Advocacy and Issues to ensure you have the skills you need to take your district to the next level.
April 6, 2013 The Penn Stater Convention Center Hotel; State College, PA
Strategic leadership, school budgeting and advocacy are key issues facing today's school district leaders. For your school district to truly thrive, leaders must maintain a solid understanding of these three functions. Attend the 2013 PSBA Leadership Symposium on Advocacy and Issues to ensure you have the skills you need to take your district to the next level.
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