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 regulatory agencies, professional associations and 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 27, 2013 :
As sequestration looms, leaders in Washington
Roebuck Seeking Co-sponsors for
Comprehensive Charter and Cyber Charter SchoolReform Legislation
As sequestration looms, leaders
in Washington
Obama, Boehner still talking but not
to each other
By JAKE
SHERMAN | 2/26/13
7:29 PM EST
It’s seems like we’ve been here before.
It’s midweek in Washington
No all-night bargaining sessions that have leaders whipping votes over
boxes of freshly delivered pizza. No eleventh-hour breakthrough in closed rooms
in the Capitol basement.
President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner haven’t spoken
since Thursday. Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid haven’t met since
Jan. 21.
School boards prepare for layoffs,
program cuts as federal deadline looms
NSBA School Board News Today by Joetta Sack-Min February 26th, 2013
School boards across the country will be forced to lay off thousands of
teachers and teacher aides in coming weeks as they create their budgets for the
2013-14 academic year because of the federal budget cuts scheduled to take
place March 1. The sequester,
which will require across the board budget cuts for all federal programs on
March 1, will eliminate about 5 percent of funding for K-12 programs and Head
Start. However, representatives from the National School Boards Association
(NSBA) pointed out in a press conference call this week that those cuts
disproportionately affect school districts that are educating large populations
of disadvantaged students
Public Education Could Take Big Hit
From Sequestration
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Sequestration is a fancy name for across-the-board
federal budget cuts — and just about everything is affected. “Police and firefighters that get money from
the federal
government
, infrastructure, health care
programs, environmental programs, anything that receives federal money will be
impacted by sequestration, including defense programs,” said Jamie Baxter,
Director of legislative policy and advocacy for the Allegheny Intermediate
Unit, which represents school districts in Allegheny County.
, infrastructure, health care
programs, environmental programs, anything that receives federal money will be
impacted by sequestration, including defense programs,” said Jamie Baxter,
Director of legislative policy and advocacy for the Allegheny Intermediate
Unit, which represents school districts in Allegheny County.
Among the hardest hit will be public education, Baxter told KDKA money
editor Jon Delano.
“With sequestration, there are no winners or losers, only losers and
bigger losers,” she said.
Every local school district will lose tens of thousands of
dollars, but the biggest losers will be:
- Woodland Hills,
$363,000
- Uniontown, $319,000
- Hempfield Area,
$228,000
- and
“And, finally, if our elected leaders - who
got us to this point - impose cuts and furloughs harmful to even some citizens,
don't forget that salaries of the president and all members of Congress are
exempt from sequestration.”
John Baer: Congress' $85 billion cut
won't crush us
John Baer, Daily News
Political Columnist Wednesday, February 27, 2013 , 3:01 AM
SEQUESTRATION is coming! Sequestration is coming!
The government, assuming Congress remains true to its moribund self
through Friday, won't be able to spend in its usual thoughtful, responsible
way.
And this is bad?
Corbett plan would cut Pa.
WPXI.com Pittsburgh By PETER JACKSON The Associated Press 7:45 p.m. Feb. 26, 2013
The itemized summary marked the first time the administration has
publicly disclosed estimates of the savings and costs associated with the
multifaceted pension reform plan Corbett unveiled in his budget address this
month.
McCord Blasts Corbett Pension Plan
PoliticsPA Written by Connor Kurtz,
Contributing Writer February
26, 2013
Pennsylvania Treasurer Rob McCord continued his criticism Tuesday of
Governor Tom Corbett’s proposal to reform the commonwealth’s pension system.
The plan is a key part of Corbett’s budget plan. McCord hosted a conference call with leaders
of the Keystone Research
Center , a left-leaning think tank
based in Harrisburg
Governor’s Pension Plan Will Cost
the State and Taxpayers More
HARRISBURG, PA (February 26, 2013) – Key components of Governor Tom
Corbett’s massive pension restructuring plan would actually increase costs for
the state, school districts, and ultimately taxpayers, according to the
Keystone Research Center, which released the first two in a series of “pension
primers” today.
In Philly, District
wants up to 13% salary cut, other big changes
Inquirer Philly School Files Blog by Kristen Graham Tuesday, February 26, 2013 ,
It's going to be a long
summer.
The Philadelphia School
District
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/school_files/District-wants-13-salary-cuts-other-big-changes.html
“McDaniel said that he also used the Progressive Agenda PAC to disguise
the source of a $5,900 contribution to Fatimah Muhammad for her Democratic
primary-election challenge to state Rep. James Roebuck. The money originated
from the Students First PAC, a pro-school-voucher group.”
A little city ethics cleansing
Brown aide admits to campaign-finance fibs
CHRIS BRENNAN, Daily News
Staff Writer brennac@phillynews.com
POSTED: Tuesday, February 26, 2013 , 3:01
AM
JOHN McDANIEL, the former campaign manager for City Councilwoman Blondell
Reynolds Brown, has admitted he violated the city's campaign-finance law.
“Here’s where Students First may have violated the law: A woman named
Fatimah Loren Muhammad ran for Pennsylvania ’s
188th state congressional district last spring, representing West
Philadelphia (she lost the Democratic primary to Jim Roebuck).
Students First PAC gave her $25,000 directly. But according to McDaniel,
they also gave her at least $5,900, using Progressive Agenda PAC as a conduit.
That would appear to be a violation of Section 1634 (25 P.S. § 3254) of the state campaign finance reporting law,
which bars people from using middlemen to make contributions.”…… “The McDaniel donation might not be the only
potential violation here. According to information compiled by City Paper and West Philly Local last spring, no fewer than four
other groups appear to have made similar conduit donations to Friends of
Fatimah on behalf of Students First PAC.”
Students First PAC, Powerful School
Privatization Group May Have Violated State Law in Connection to John McDaniel
Affair [Updated]
Phillymag The Scoop by Simon van Zuylen-Wood 2/26/2013
Students First
PAC, a moneyed pro-school privatization group, may have
violated state election law. Backed by Bala Cynwyd hedge fund managers and national pro-voucher
advocate American Federation for Children, it donated close to $5 million to State Senator Anthony Williams
around the time of his 2010 gubernatorial bid, and has contributed to several smaller state and city races since. Its
main goal is to promote publicly-funded private school vouchers.
“In the meantime, though, the governor's current budget proposal
exacerbates the inequities of the broken system. His proposal would cut special
education funding for all 43 of Allegheny
County
Gov. Corbett's special education
proposal exploits a broken system
Post gazette Opinion by Sandy Zelno February 26, 2013 12:06 am
For more than two decades the state has distributed special education
funding based on an outdated calculation that 16 percent of the students in
each school district receives special education services. In reality, some districts serve nearly twice
that percentage and some serve half. Calculating a more accurate number of
special education students in each district and then directing funding based on
those calculations is a basic, commonly accepted budgeting concept. Yet the
Corbett administration and the General Assembly have now twice failed to pass
recent legislation that would implement such a system, fixing the current
broken system and providing accuracy and accountability for special education
funding.
“The Duquesne school board voted that plan down Thursday, an action that
requires Mr. Tomalis to petition the court to appoint a receiver under the
guidelines of new state legislation created to deal with the academic and
financial problems of the state's poorest school districts.”
By Mary Niederberger / Pittsburgh February
26, 2013 11:23 am
Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Ron Tomalis has petitioned the
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas to appoint Paul B. Long as the receiver
for the Duquesne City School District
Mr. Long already serves as chief recovery officer for the district and as
such drafted a financial recovery plan that calls for asking 11 surrounding
school districts to voluntarily take Duquesne students in grades K-6 on a
tuition basis. If appointed receiver he
and not the elected school board will operate the district and move forward
with his recovery plan.
KIPP students show major
improvement, study finds
Martha Woodall, Inquirer
Staff Writer Wednesday, February 27, 2013 , 3:01 AM
A Princeton-based research firm's analysis of the KIPP national network
of charter schools found KIPP middle-school students made substantial gains in
core subjects over a three-year span.
Mathematica Policy Research was scheduled to release a report Wednesday
based on what it called its "most rigorous large-scale evaluation of KIPP
charter schools."
“The Common Core standards have been adopted
in 46 states and the District of
Columbia
Diane Ravitch’s Blog By dianerav
February 26, 2013 //
I have thought long and hard about the Common Core standards. I have decided that I cannot support them. In this post, I will explain why.
Resistance to Common Core standards
growing
Nearly all of the states and the District of
Columbia have adopted the
Common Core State Standards in English language arts and math and are
in the process of getting ready to implement them by 2014. In a number of
states, however, the standards are meeting with growing resistance for reasons
including questions about who was behind the initiative and whether they are
better than previous standards. Alabama
N.M. Bill Seeks to Curb Private
Companies' Role in Schools
Education Week Marketplace K-12 Blog By Sean Cavanagh on February
25, 2013 9:36 AM
Legislation has emerged in New
Mexico Connections Academy
PhilaSoup March 2013 - Sunday Get
together
Sunday, March 3, 2013
from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM (EST) Philadelphia , PA
Teachers Institute of Philadelphia , University of Pennsylvania
3417 Spruce Street , Philadelphia , PA 19104
Philasoup is a monthly microgrant dinner meant to bring
innovative and dynamic Philadelphia-area educators together, highlight the
great work they are doing and fund some terrific projects. The vision for
PhilaSoup is to be a monthly microgrant dinner that starts and ends with
educators but is an access point to education for the whole city.
For more info and RSVP: http://philasoupmarch2013.eventbrite.com/
PSBA officer applications due April
30
PSBA’s website 2/15/2013
Candidates seeking election to PSBA officer posts in 2014 must file an
expression of interest for the office desired to be interviewed by the PSBA
Leadership Development Committee.
This new committee replaces the former Nominations Committee. Deadline
for filing is April 30. The application shall be marked received at
PSBA headquarters or mailed first class and postmarked by the deadline to be
considered timely filed. Expression of interest forms can be found online
at www.psba.org/about/psba/board-of-directors/officers/electing-officers.asp.
Edcamp Philly 2013 at UPENN
May 18th, 2013
For those of you who have never gone to an
Edcamp before, please make a note of the unusual part of the morning where we
will build the schedule. Edcamp doesn’t believe in paying fancy people to come
and talk at you about teaching! At an Edcamp, the people attending – the participants
- facilitate sessions on teaching and learning! So Edcamp won’t
succeed without a whole bunch of you wanting to run a session of some kind!
What kinds of sessions might you run?
What: Edcamp Philly is an"unconference" devoted
to K-12 Education issues and ideas.
Where:University
of Pennsylvania
Where:
Education Policy and Leadership
Center
SUBJECT: Governor Corbett's Proposed
Education Budget for 2013-2014
"Southeastern Region Breakfast Series" Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Continental Breakfast - 8:00 a.m. Program - 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown Hotel - 201 North 17th St. , Philadelphia ,
PA 19103
SPEAKERS: An Overview of the Proposed 2013-2014 State Budget
and Education Issues Will Be Provided By:
Sharon Ward, The Pennsylvania Budget and
Policy Center
Ron Cowell, The Education Policy and Leadership
Center
State and Regional
Perspectives Will Be Provided By:
Mark B. Miller, School Director,Centennial School District
Mark B. Miller, School Director,
Joe Otto, Chief Operations Officer, William Penn
School District
Michael Churchill, Of Counsel, Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia
Dr. Stephen D. Butz , Superintendent, Southeast Delco
School District
Dr. Stephen D. Butz
While there is no
registration fee, seating is limited and an RSVP is required.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.