Daily
postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1875
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
If you support the items in this link you should join the Network for
Public Education
“While Mr. Corbett had
promoted his plan, which would siphon $1 billion in proceeds to education
grants, as a way to invest in schools, the House bill diverts revenue into a
dedicated fund. Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Adolph, R-Delaware, said
it would fall to the Legislature to determine how the money is spent. The absence of a commitment for the revenue
was one of many aspects of the bill criticized by Democrats.
"The bill now offers
nothing to education, nothing to our children," said Rep. Madeleine Dean,
D-Montgomery.”
Governor hails bill, but Senate leaders say
they plan to alter measure
By Karen Langley / Post-Gazette Harrisburg March 22, 2013 12:06 am
“The governor is up for re-election in 2014. He also has campaigned
hard on using privatized liquor sales to help fund education, which under his
tenure has experienced big budget cuts — part of the reason that recent statewide
polls show his approval rating is below 40 percent.”
House passes liquor privatization
bill
But Senate leader warns that his chamber may
not go along with dismantling state store system in favor of privately owned
outlets.
By Steve Esack, Call
Harrisburg
"Today the House of Representatives clearly
made history," the bill's prime backer, Gov. Tom Corbett, said to applause from his fellow Republicans who gathered after the 8:32 p.m.
vote following an 81/2 -hour session. "We are actually doing away with
vestiges of the failed experience of Prohibition." But House Bill 790, which eventually would
replace the 600 state stores with 2,600 privately owned outlets, might be dead
on arrival at its next stop, the Senate.
“- In the 2008-09 school year, there were
$320,561.33 in charter school expenditures and the state reimbursement to the
district was $60,107.01.
- In the 2009-10 school year, there were
$577,901.80 in charter school expenditures and the state reimbursement to the
district was $84,690.40.
- In the 2010-11 school year, there were
$515,867.19 in charter school expenditures and the state reimbursement to the
district was $119,723.77.
- In the 2011-12 school year, there were
$1,714,430.23 in charter school expenditures, but there was no state
reimbursement.
- In the 2012-13 school year, there was an
estimated $1,600,000 in charter school expenditures, but there was no state
reimbursement.”
BY STEPHEN J. PYTAK (STAFF WRITER
SPYTAK@REPUBLICANHERALD.COM)
Published: March 21, 2013
Once upon a time, when the Pottsville
Area School
District
At the school board's March meeting Wednesday, the board in a roll call
vote decided to send a letter to lawmakers in Harrisburg
Despite outcry, school directors OK budget
plan that cuts 144 teachers' jobs.
By Adam Clark, Of The
Morning Call 11:57 p.m. EDT, March 21, 2013
Allentown School Board approved Thursday night what the board president
called a "worst possible scenario" that slashes 144 teachers and
eliminates the remaining art, library and physical education staff from its
elementary schools if the district doesn't find more funding before June 30. The curtailment of programs, which school
board President Robert E. Smith stressed is "procedural" and not
final, was approved about 11:30 p.m. in a 6-3 vote. Before that, parents,
students and teachers spoke passionately against it for more than two hours.
Steelton-Highspire to cut pre-K,
reduce kindergarten to half day
By Julianne Mattera
| jmattera@pennlive.com on March 21, 2013 at 9:19 PM
Steelton-Highspire School Board members decided Thursday night to
eliminate pre-kindergarten classes and cut the kindergarten day in half
starting in the 2013-14 school year. The
change will layoff four elementary teachers and six para-professionals as of
June 30 — saving about $350,000 in salaries, benefits and supplies,
Superintendent Audrey Utley said. But
the changes are necessary, she said. The
school district is facing “severe financial crisis” as a result of a
substantial reduction in available funds next year of about $1 million, as well
as a limited ability to raise taxes based on the tax increase index, Utley
said.
The district also has been placed on the state Department of Education’s
financial watch list.
Testing doesn't improve student
performance: As I see it
By Patriot-News
Op-Ed By Dave F. Brown on March 21, 2013 at 5:00 AM
Dave F. Brown is an author and
education researcher. He lives in Ardmore, Pa.
The Pennsylvania State Board of Education recently approved regulations
requiring students that graduate from high school by 2017 pass the Keystone
examinations. On the same day the Allentown
School District Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh schools end 2012 with
surplus, but tough times lie ahead
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh March
22, 2013 12:10 am
Although Pittsburgh Public Schools started 2012 with a projected
operating deficit of $21.7 million, the district finished the year with a
nearly $7.1 million operating surplus.
The year-end result, contained in documents provided at a school board
meeting Wednesday, was strong enough to change the district's projection of
when it will run out of money.
New York Times By STEVEN YACCINO and MOTOKO RICH Published: March 21, 2013
PA Senate Ed Committee Hearing seeks
students’ views on state legislation
Staff Report news@dailylocal.com
Posted: Wednesday, 03/20/13
12:01 am
DOWNINGTOWN — State Sen. Andy Dinniman announced the Senate Education Committee will hold a hearing Thursday for local students to talk about their views on education inPennsylvania
DOWNINGTOWN — State Sen. Andy Dinniman announced the Senate Education Committee will hold a hearing Thursday for local students to talk about their views on education in
The hearing is set from 3 to 5 p.m. March 21 at the Downingtown S.T.E.M.
Academy 335 Manor Ave.
Stop the
abuse: Rethinking the vending machine model of budget leadership
Multibriefs.com By Dr. Harris Sokoloff
Multibriefs.com By Dr. Harris Sokoloff
Harris Sokoloff is the founder
and director of the Penn Project for Civic Engagement (PPCE) and the director
of the Center for School Study Councils at the University of Pennsylvania's
Graduate School of Education. Dr. Sokoloff has designed and implemented
numerous local and national community engagement projects, and is also
responsible for working with school superintendents, school boards, and
district staff to help them keep pace with state-of-the-art educational and
management theory, research, and practice.
Battles over school budgets have become increasingly vitriolic, with parents treating school administrators and boards like vending machines. Parents put their money in — pay their taxes — and when they don't get the program or service they want and the way they want it, they kick the machine, scream at it and then kick it again. If we are to maintain public support for our public schools, we need to find a way to cut through the acrimony.
By now, administrators and boards of many public schools around the nation have cut as much "fat" as they possibly can, while also cutting some of the "meat" in the form of programs and services that support student learning. Next on the chopping block are essential instructional programs and services — programs and services that students and parents value.
……It's time to break that cycle.
Battles over school budgets have become increasingly vitriolic, with parents treating school administrators and boards like vending machines. Parents put their money in — pay their taxes — and when they don't get the program or service they want and the way they want it, they kick the machine, scream at it and then kick it again. If we are to maintain public support for our public schools, we need to find a way to cut through the acrimony.
By now, administrators and boards of many public schools around the nation have cut as much "fat" as they possibly can, while also cutting some of the "meat" in the form of programs and services that support student learning. Next on the chopping block are essential instructional programs and services — programs and services that students and parents value.
……It's time to break that cycle.
Thanks to PA Congressman Pat Meehan and his staff!
Local School Board Governance and
Flexibility Act introduced in U.S. Congress
The National School Boards Association (NSBA) praised today’s
introduction of the Local School Board Governance and Flexibility Act in the
U.S. House of Representatives that would protect local school district
governance from unnecessary and counter-productive federal intrusion from the
U.S. Department of Education.
…..This legislation, introduced by Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) and Rep.
Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.), would ensure that the U.S. Department of Education’s
actions are consistent with the specific intent of federal law and are
educationally, operationally, and financially supportable at the local level.
This would also establish several procedural steps that the Department of
Education would need to take prior to initiating regulations, rules, grant
requirements, guidance documents, and other regulatory materials. The
legislation is also supported by the American Association of School
Administrators.
Just when you think there are no other ways to pervert the use of
high-stakes standardized test scores, school reformers show just how creative
they are.
Its not enough, apparently, to judge students, teachers, principals,
schools, districts and states, on test scores, not to mention the Education
Department’sproposal to
evaluate education schools based on the test scores earned by the students of
their graduates. (Got that?) Now Louisiana Education Superintendent John White
has come up with a novel idea: He wants to link the funding for students
labeled “gifted” to how well they do on standardized tests. Really. Money for
test scores. The plan, already approved
by the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and set to be
considered by the Louisiana
Senate Republicans Push Federal
Voucher Program in Budget Debate
Education Week Politics K12 Blog By Alyson Klein on March
21, 2013 4:04 PM
Parents would be able to take their child's Title I dollars to any school
of their choice—including a private school—under a budget amendment written by
two very high profile Republican senators: Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, a tea
party darling, and Sen. Lamar Alexander, the top GOP lawmaker on the Senate
education committee. Does the policy
sound familiar? It should if you were following the presidential election. It's
very similar to the policies Gov. Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential
nominee, pushed
during the 2012 election.
The amendment probably won't make much of a difference to the budget
process—it's unlikely to pass the Democratic controlled Senate.
Diane Ravitch’s Blog By dianerav March 21, 2013
A reader in Tennessee comments on the
steady advance of privatization in that state, starting with Memphis America
“Vendor-driven hype and wishful policy
thinking over robots, increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence
software, and expanded virtual teaching feed private and public fantasies about
replacing teachers and schools. Taking a step back and thinking about what
parents, voters, and taxpayers want from schools–the social, economic,
political, and individual goals–makes magical thinking more of a curse in the
inevitable public disappointment and cynicism that ensue after money is spent,
paltry results emerge, and machines become obsolete.”
Magical thinking about technology in
education
To hear some people talk, you’d think technology is going to save public
education. Really? Here’s a caution post from Larry Cuban, a
high school social studies teacher for 14 years, a district superintendent
(seven years in Arlington, Va.), and professor emeritus of education at
Stanford University, where he has taught for more than 20 years. His latest
book is “As Good As It Gets: What School Reform Brought to Austin
PSBA opens nominations for the
Timothy M. Allwein Advocacy Award
PSBA website 3/15/2013
The nomination process is now open and applications will be accepted
until June 21,
2013 .
In 2011, PSBA created a new award to honor the memory of its long-term
chief lobbyist, who died unexpectedly. The Timothy M. Allwein Advocacy Award
may be presented annually to the individual school director or entire school
board to recognize outstanding leadership in legislative advocacy efforts on
behalf of public education and students that are consistent with the positions
in PSBA’s Legislative Platform. The nomination process is
now open and applications will be accepted until June 21, 2013 . The award will be
presented during the PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference in October.
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.
Very long post but I like this post, let me share to my facebook profile. Keep it up :)
ReplyDeleteRegards
Hendynoize