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administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, PTO/PTA
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These daily emails are archived at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
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Pennsylvania Education Policy Roundup for March 26,
2013: “They need to fix their formula, and make sure that all children get what
they need. And right now that’s not happening.”
If you support the items in this link you
should join the Network for Public Education
EDITORIAL: Pa.
education funding full of inequities
Delco Times Published: Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Attention families and taxpayers in William Penn and
other struggling eastern Delaware County school districts: The Education Law
Center feels your pain.
A recent report from the Pennsylvania education advocacy group calls the state’s funding system for public schools a failure. The Education Law Center goes so far as to say Pennsylvania violates the state’s constitutional requirement for a system of public education that benefits all.
A recent report from the Pennsylvania education advocacy group calls the state’s funding system for public schools a failure. The Education Law Center goes so far as to say Pennsylvania violates the state’s constitutional requirement for a system of public education that benefits all.
In Steelton-Highspire
schools, tight budgets prompt tough choices: John L. Micek
By John L. Micek |
jmicek@pennlive.com on March 26, 2013 at 6:00 AM
So here’s one of the choices you have to make when
you’re superintendent of a troubled district that’s short on cash and you can’t
find $350,000 to cut anywhere else in your budget:
You get rid of, or cut back, on the very programs
that are proven to lead to student successes down the line. In the case of the
Steelton-Highspire public schools, that’s
voting last week to eliminate pre-kindergarten and to cut back from full day to
half-day kindergarten.
“I want all children to get what they
need, but the way the legislation sets up this funding formula is they take
money from one group of children and give it to another. It puts parents on
opposite sides, but they should work together. They need to fix their formula,
and make sure that all children get what they need. And right now that’s not
happening.”
Shippensburg
residents claim cyber school funding led to $4.6M wasted
March 22, 2013 9:00 pm • By
Debbie Chestnut, The Sentinel
Shippensburg residents Susan Spicka and Erica Burg,
co-founders of Education Matters in the Cumberland Valley, claim a broken
funding formula for cyber charter schools has led to $4.6 million in wasteful
spending in Cumberland County. Spicka
and Burg say the problem can be fixed, but they urge local residents to contact
their legislators and voice their support for a change. “The legislators need to hear from the people
they represent,” said Spicka, who last week attended the House Education
Committee hearing on cyber charter schools in Harrisburg. “They’re not going to
worry about this on their own.”
Apollo-Ridge school
board approves resolution calling on lawmakers to reform state’s cyber charter
school funding
TribLive By Brian
C. Rittmeyer Published: Tuesday, March 26, 2013, 12:06 a.m.
Payments to cyber charter schools are making a “big hit” on the Apollo-Ridge School District's budget, Superintendent Matt Curci says. To address that, the school board Monday approved a resolution calling on lawmakers to reform the state's cyber charter school funding formula.
Payments to cyber charter schools are making a “big hit” on the Apollo-Ridge School District's budget, Superintendent Matt Curci says. To address that, the school board Monday approved a resolution calling on lawmakers to reform the state's cyber charter school funding formula.
Lawmaker releases harsh
report on charter schools
Written by Tribune
Staff Report Friday, 22 March 2013 17:00
State Representative James Roebuck – long a critic
of the manner in which the state’s charter schools are managed and financed,
and the lack of comprehensive oversight – has issued a scathing, top-down
report on the dozens of charter schools throughout the state that are involved
in ongoing investigations or have other pertinent issues.
Roebuck’s 41-page report, “Charter and Cyber Charter
School Reform Update and Comprehensive Reform Legislation,” provides and update
on the charter schools’ irregularities and also includes the Roebuck-authored
House Bill 934, a comprehensive charter school reform legislation that will
reorganize that system’s governance, financial reporting and accountability.
Overall, Roebuck’s legislation is aimed at recouping
$365 million in overpayments made to the state’s charter school operators.
Research for Action Issue Brief
Charter School Authorization and Accountability:
an Overview for State Policymakers
December 2011
This PACER Issue Brief — the second in a series — examines
the national research on charter school authorization,
and highlights what other states are doing in this area of school reform.
Online education gets
boost from Aument
Proposed legislation
would establish database of computer-related courses
Intelligencer Journal Lancaster New Era
By BRIAN WALLACE Staff Writer Originally Published Mar 24, 2013 19:10
Ryan Aument believes online learning is the future
of public education in Pennsylvania.
That's why Aument, a Republican state House member from Landisville, is proposing legislation to establish a database of state-approved computer-based courses in all subjects for students in grades three to 12.
That's why Aument, a Republican state House member from Landisville, is proposing legislation to establish a database of state-approved computer-based courses in all subjects for students in grades three to 12.
Finalists for Philly Renaissance
charter providers announced
The notebook by Dale
Mezzacappa on Mar 25 2013
Mastery, Universal Companies, and Scholar Academies
will vie to operate three additional Renaissance turnaround schools put on the
list for next year, the School District announced Monday. In making the announcement, Superintendent
William Hite said in a statement that all three had made progress in the
elementary-level turnarounds that they now operate. Mastery has five, Universal
three, and Young Scholars one.
The District said that eight organizations had
submitted applications.
PENN-FINN LEARNINGS
2013: SHARING OUR INQUIRIES – MARCH 23-30
A group from the Penn Graduate School of Education
is visiting Finland to see their education system. Follow their blog…..
Crazy Crawfish's Blog Posted on March 24, 2013
Zesty Politics with a Dollop of Louisiana Goodness
A Confederacy
of Reformers
Connecting the dots on “school reform”……..
A Different School
Bus
Public School Supporters Seek to Shape New York City
Education Policy
A repainted school bus spreads word of an education
group’s campaign.
New York Times By SONI SANGHA Published: March 22, 2013
Earlier this month, a beat-up school bus from
Wassaic, N.Y., rolled into Queens Village, and a team of public school
students, parents and members of advocacy groups descended upon it. They
covered its sun-washed green paint with sky blue, ripped out its seats and any
traces of its former life — which at one point included transporting a 30-piece
marching band and dance ensemble to play at demonstrations and other social-
justice activities.
In its new incarnation, the bus will carry the
message of a coalition of public school supporters called A+ NYC to New York
City’s mayoral candidates, in hope of shaping their positions on the future of
the nation’s largest public school system.
Rand Paul pushes
federal school vouchers
Washington Post Answer Sheet Blog by Valerie Strauss on March 25,
2013 at 10:00 am
Sen. Rand Paul, a rising star in the Republican
Party, is pushing for a federal voucher program that sounds similar to one
advanced by Mitt Romney when he was running for president.
Paul, from Kentucky, co-sponsored an amendment to
Senate budget legislation with Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Republican from
Tennessee who was once secretary of education. The “school choice” amendment
calls for using $14.5 billion in current Title 1 funds,
which are targeted to students who attend high-poverty schools, to cover 11
million students, at $1,300 per child. The money would follow a student at any
accredited public or private student a family chooses.
Luring Young Web
Warriors Is Priority. It’s Also a Game.
New York Times By NICOLE PERLROTH March 24, 2013
WASHINGTON — In the eighth grade, Arlan Jaska
figured out how to write a simple script that could switch his keyboard’s Caps
Lock key on and off 6,000 times a minute. When friends weren’t looking, he
slipped his program onto their computers. It was all fun and games until the
program spread to his middle school. “They
called my parents and told my dad I was hacking their computers,” Mr. Jaska, 17
years old, recalled. He was grounded and got detention. And he is just the type
the Department of
Homeland Security is looking for.
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.
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