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
Roebuck Seeking Co-sponsors for
Comprehensive Charter and Cyber Charter School
The Institute for a Competitive Workforce, an affiliate of the United
States Chamber of Commerce, found in a 2010 report that “for every dollar
invested today, savings range from $2.50 to as much as $17 in the years
ahead.”
Capitalists for
Preschool
New York Times Opinion By JOHN E. PEPPER Jr. and JAMES M.
ZIMMERMAN Published: March
1, 2013
John E. Pepper Jr. is a former chairman and chief executive of Procter
& Gamble and a former chairman of the Walt Disney Company. James M.
Zimmerman is a former chairman and chief executive of Macy’s.
IN his State of the Union
address, President Obama called for
making preschool available to every 4-year-old in America, opening a welcome
discussion on whether and how to make the investments needed to realize this
vision. As two longtime corporate
executives who have been engaged in education for decades, we have no doubt
about the answer to this question. Children who attend high-quality preschool
do much better when they arrive in kindergarten, and this makes an enormous
difference for their later success. The data on preschool is overwhelmingly
positive. Although some studies suggest that the positive impact decreases over
time, this is mainly attributable to differences in the quality of preschool
and of the schooling that follows — not a deficiency in preschool itself.
Federal spending cuts: Pennsylvania
By Ivey
DeJesus | idejesus@pennlive.com on March 01, 2013 at 5:07 PM , updated March 02, 2013 at 12:28 AM
U.S. Rep. Scott Perry is walking around with two pennies in his pocket. The Republican freshman congressman uses the
coins to illustrate how he feels about the impending mandatory federal spending
cuts. “If anybody asks me, I pull out my
two cents and say, ‘Do you think you are really getting every penny’s worth of
your taxes that are spent by the federal government and do you think we really
can’t take out two cents of a dollar the federal government spends and still
operate it?’” Perry said. ….Perry,
like almost every other one of the congressional lawmakers from central Pennsylvania Washington
D.C.
Education consumes the lion’s share of the
state budget, yet thus far there has been virtually no press coverage of these
hearings…….
Video of February 27th PA
House Appropriations Committee Budget Hearing for the Department of Education
Video Runtime: 3:15:59
"I do intend to run for governor in 2014," Ms. Schwartz told
The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Schwartz to create PAC for 2014
governor bid
The Associated Press March 2, 2013 12:10
am
U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, D-Philadelphia, said Friday she is preparing
to set up a state fundraising committee as her first official step toward a
likely 2014 campaign for Pennsylvania governor.
The fifth-term Democratic congresswoman stopped short of declaring her
candidacy, but said she will file papers to create a political-action committee
"in the next few weeks or a month or so."
Some Dems irked at linking Pa.
WHYY Newsworks By Mary Wilson March 1, 2013
Critics see an inconsistency in Gov. Tom Corbett's plan to create
education grants with liquor privatization funds. The Pennsylvania Capitol is where the sausage
is made, or so the saying goes. So
perhaps it makes sense that, with so many big proposals to negotiate, there's
been a lot of talk about links -- including the Corbett liquor privatization
plan that's been linked to education funding. The governor's proposal would put
money raised through privatization toward one-time grants for schools -- a program
called "Passport to Learning."
Education Week Politics K-12 Blog By Michele McNeil on March
1, 2013 11:00 AM
Three more states, including two with large student populations, have
applied for waivers under the No Child Left Behind Act. Longtime holdouts Pennsylvania ,
Texas , and Wyoming
Back to 1965: Evaluating the
District’s contract proposal
The Notebook by Ron Whitehorne on Mar 01 2013 Posted in Commentary
The Philadelphia
School District
- Wage cuts of up to 13
percent next year and no raises for five years. Step increases eliminated.
- Benefits cut. Health
and Welfare Fund eliminated.
- Seniority eliminated.
District can transfer teachers at whim. Principals will have discretion to
hire, fire, and lay off.
- Class-size caps gone.
District's obligation to provide supplies gone. All but a handful of
certified librarians gone. Even teachers' lounges gone.
This would essentially take teachers and school employees back almost 50
years, to 1965, before there was a union contract. The gains that
Philadelphia Federation of Teachers members worked so hard to get would be
wiped out.
Kristen A. Graham, Inquirer
Staff Writer POSTED: Friday, March 1, 2013 , 6:01 AM
William R. Hite Jr. wants you to know: He does not want to drive teachers
out of the Philadelphia
School District
"We believe teachers are professionals, just like architects,
lawyers, doctors," Hite said Thursday in an interview. "We want a
contract that reflects that. I truly believe that in order for teachers to be
effective, there needs to be some flexibility, and we need to treat them as
professionals."
Hite: Contract proposals are not
anti-teacher
The Notebook by Dale
Mezzacappa on Feb 28 2013
Superintendent William Hite wants to make it clear: He is an
educator, a former teacher, and principal himself. "I have the greatest
respect for teachers and the teaching profession because we know the incredible
impact teachers have on student outcomes," he said.
So the details of the District's
opening position in its contract talks with the Philadelphia
Federation of Teachers -- leaked out over the last few days -- have caused a
lot of "misconceptions" of his and the District's intentions, he
said.
“He said his group believes Catholic schools
are an important component of the partnership's effort to increase the number
of seats in high-performing schools for city children. "This is a significant grant, in that
Catholic schools are part of the solution," he said. "Not the solution, but they need
to be part of the solution."
Partnership to offer grant for
independent Catholic elementary schools
Martha Woodall, Inquirer Staff Writer POSTED: Friday, March 1, 2013 , 3:01 AM
The Philadelphia School Partnership will announce a $500,000 grant Friday
to help a new network of independent Catholic elementary schools in low-income
neighborhoods.
“If everyone is looking for a way to avoid
paying, that is just not going to happen,” Jeff Clay, executive director of
PSERS, told members of the General Assembly. ”It’s about figuring out how to pay
it.”
The state’s two public pension systems — the State Employees Retirement
System, or SERS, and the Public School Employees Retirement System, or PSERS —
are a combined $41 billion in the red, thanks to years of underfunding by the
state coupled with historic investment losses in the 2008 financial collapse. And while attempts at overhauling the system
can create savings down the road, that $41 billion has to be paid one way or
the other.
Mt. Pleasant elementary students
salute Seuss, appreciate reading
TribLive By Marilyn
Forbes Freelance Reporter Daily Courier March
2, 2013, 1:41 a.m.
In recognition of the birthday of children's author Theodor Seuss Giesel — better know as Dr. Seuss — children acrossAmerica
In recognition of the birthday of children's author Theodor Seuss Giesel — better know as Dr. Seuss — children across
Elementary schools in Mt.
Pleasant
“They made red and blue Jello for ‘One Fish, Two, Red Fish, Blue Fish'
Day. They also made green eggs and ham on Thursday for ‘Green Eggs and Ham'
Day. It didn't look very appetizing, but the kids just loved it.”
Read more: http://triblive.com/news/westmoreland/3582133-74/students-elementary-pleasant#ixzz2MNoCLMGw
Chester beats Lower Merion, wears
district crown for third straight year
Published: Saturday, March 02, 2013
Delco Times By MATT CHANDIK mchandik@delcotimes.com,
@MattChandik
RADNOR — Take a step into the hallowed halls of the Chester
Why Are Walmart Billionaires
Bankrolling Phony
School
For years, Los Angeles Southern California , but have
gained significant influence in local school politics. New York Mayor Michael
Bloomberg's recent contribution of $1 million to a political
action committee created to influence next week's LAUSD school board elections
is only the most recent example of the billionaire blitzkrieg.
For more than a decade, however, one of the biggest of the billionaire
interlopers has been the Walton family, heirs to the Walmart fortune, who have
poured millions into a privatization-oriented, ideological campaign to make LA
a laboratory for their ideas about treating schools like for-profit businesses,
and treating parents, students and teachers like cogs in what they must think
are education big-box retail stores.
School boards look for more ways to
cut budgets as sequester becomes reality
NSBA School Board News Today by Joetta Sack-Min March 1, 2013
With across-the-board federal cuts taking effect today through
sequestration, school boards will need to make tough budget decisions to
account for the decrease in federal education funding. As school boards begin
to craft budgets for the 2013-14 school year, the National School Boards
Association (NSBA) is calling for Washington leaders to work out a deal to
ensure schools are able to continue programs and avoid teacher and staff
layoffs.
“Congress and the Obama administration must act now to alleviate these
cuts to education before school districts have to issue pink slips and inform
parents that vital programs and resources are going to be cut,” said Thomas J.
Gentzel, NSBA’s Executive Director. “These new federal cuts to education will
push back the progress our school districts have made in student achievement.
School districts are going to have to make difficult choices as they develop
their budgets for the next school year, and for years to come as the cuts
continue.”
A Review of the Latest Gates’ MET
Study
Diane Ravitch’s Blog By dianerav March 2, 2013
Jesse Rothstein, one of our premier economists and an experienced analyst
of teacher evaluation studies, reviewed the
latest MET study. MET (Measures of
Effective Teaching) is the Gates Foundation’s premier effort to show that
someone has finally figured out a formula to measure teacher quality. Rothstein says that the MET study did not
succeed at its stated task.
Public hearing - Cyber
Charter Funding Reform
Thursday, March
14, 2013 10:00 AM Room 140 Main Capitol
Here’s some background on these two bills:
Charter and Cyber Charter Funding Reforms Proposed
Charter and Cyber Charter Funding Reforms Proposed
House Majority Leader Mike Turzai’s website 1/25/2013
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:
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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