Keystone State Education Coalition

Established in 2006, the Keystone State Education Coalition is a growing grass roots, non-partisan public education advocacy group of several hundred locally elected, volunteer school board members and administrators from school districts throughout Pennsylvania. Our mission is to evaluate, discuss and inform our boards, district constituents and legislators on legislative issues of common interest and to facilitate active engagement in public education advocacy.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

PA Ed Policy Roundup for April 30, 2013: A bunch more on the Common Core…..

Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1900 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.

The Keystone State Education Coalition is pleased to be listed among the friends and allies of The Network for Public Education. Are you a member?

These daily emails are archived at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org

Visit us on Facebook at KeystoneStateEducationCoalition

Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg

The Pennsylvania School Funding Campaign will hold a press conference in the Capitol Rotunda at 10:00 a.m. on April 30 to let the legislators and the Governor know that they should prioritize support for public education in the 2013-2014 state budget and make a commitment to restore the nearly $900 million of cuts in state support for K-12 education during the next three years.

Keystone State Education Coalition:

Pennsylvania Education Policy Roundup for April 30, 2013:

A bunch more on the Common Core…..

“We haven’t had a meeting of substance on the budget yet and it’s almost May,” Scarnati said. He noted such a meeting is past due compared to prior years.”

Scarnati frustrated by the fixation on liquor privatization instead of the state budget

By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com on April 29, 2013 at 3:44 PM

It’s two months and a day away from the June 30 deadline for getting an on-time state budget as so many lawmakers and Gov. Tom Corbett pledged to do.

But revenue growth has slowed. And Corbett’s 2013-14 budget proposal of $28.4 billion could be rendered out of balance as a result. That is even without adding in the legislative priorities that annually get restored during the budget negotiations. Barring a sudden spurt of revenue growth, lawmakers could face some difficult decisions in bringing that spending plan into balance.

But all people seem to want to talk about is liquor privatization, a frustrated Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson County, told the Pennsylvania Press Club luncheon crowd today. And that’s not the only meaty issue that Corbett has put on the Legislature’s plate that he wants done by June 30. He also wants a transportation funding plan and pension reform enacted as well.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/04/scarnati_frustrated_by_the_fix.html

Leading Dems beat Corbett in new Quinnipiac poll: Monday Morning Coffee

By John L. Micek | jmicek@pennlive.com on April 29, 2013 at 7:56 AM

Good Monday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
The gray skies and unremitting rain today set a pretty appropriate note for the start ofGov. Tom Corbett's morning, which brings with it nothing but bad news from a new Qunnipiac University poll. That's because the incumbent Republican comes out at the wrong end of head-to-head matches from each of the three leading Democrats looking to challenge him in 2014. They all lead him by margins of 9 percentage points or more.

http://blog.pennlive.com/capitol-notebook/2013/04/leading_dems_beat_corbett_in_n.html

Harrisburg School District financial recovery plan: Raise taxes, sell buildings, restructure schools

By Emily Previti | epreviti@pennlive.com on April 27, 2013 at 12:31 AM

HARRISBURG — The tax increase, salary cuts and continued annual $20 million debt payments suggested to avert financial ruin for the capital city’s public school system sounded good to, well, close to no one, judging by the community’s response Friday night.

More than an hour of questions, pleas, crying, shouting and heckling were heard from some of the 100 or so people who attended Harrisburg School District Chief Recovery Officer Gene Veno’s presentation of the financial recovery plan.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/04/community_critical_of_harrisbu.html#incart_river

Why the School District of Lancaster is financially thriving when similar districts in Pennsylvania are failing

Lancaster Online By BRIAN WALLACE Staff Writer bwallace@lnpnews.com Apr 28, 2013 06:00

Times are tough for urban school districts in central Pennsylvania.
Saddled with stagnant tax bases and serving large numbers of low-income and special-needs students, they're struggling to stay afloat in the face of steep cuts in state and federal education funding. But School District of Lancaster isn't experiencing the economic woes of its neighbors.

DN Editorial: Disenfranchised: State needs to support crucial business tax

Philly Daily News Editorial POSTED: Monday, April 29, 2013, 3:01 AM

WE ALL KNOW the school district is in bad shape. But it could actually get worse, because Gov. Corbett's assumptions about revenue coming into the state have not panned out. That could jeopardize the $120 million in state aid the schools are counting on to help fill its own $300 million hole. Unlike the schools, though, the state has an easy fix for the revenue shortfall - though whether it is willing to act is another story.

Corbett assumed a $250 million budget surplus that has not materialized. It is too early to tell for sure, since there are still three months of revenue to come, but it could dwindle to $50 million.

Corbett also counted on $175 million savings in state-pension payments based on the notion that the Legislature would approve changes he wants to make in the state employee and teacher pensions plans. So far, his proposals landed with a thud in Harrisburg, and legislators are wary about tampering with the existing pension-benefit packages. That means the $175 million may go poof. There is a relatively painless way, though, to add money to the pot either with additional subsidies or a partial return to the aid the state once gave districts with charter schools.

http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20130429_DN_Editorial__DN_Editorial__Disenfranchised__State_needs_to_support_crucial_business_tax.html

Hite to Philly City Council: $60M would simply fill a hole

Troy Graham and Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman, Inquirer Staff Writer

POSTED: Monday, April 29, 2013, 10:47 AM

Schools Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. presented to Council today the "cold, harsh scenarios" facing the district unless the city and state contribute $180 million in new money and the teachers' union agrees to enough concessions to cover a $304 million budget shortfall. He said the district would have to ax such fundamentals as athletics, guidance counselors, librarians and summer programs. He noted that he was asking for funds to fill "a hole, a gap."

"They will not allow us to provide the education that our young Philadelphians deserve," he said. "It will not allow us to fully invest in our teachers and principals, and improve their working conditions."

http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20130430_Protest__march_precedes_schools_budget_hearing.html

School District at brink of collapse

Inquirer Opinion by Senator Anthony Hardy Williams Monday, April 29, 2013, 3:01 AM

The School District of Philadelphia is tipping toward the brink of absolute collapse. That's reality.

Yet that hasn't jostled most of us from our assumptions about the district's budgeting process as a Chicken Little-style extortion attempt that will feature a miraculous recovery. That's unconscionable. Still, the respective corners - City Hall, Harrisburg, and the union halls - remain as ideologically entrenched as ever. But we all will bear responsibility if the district goes belly up.

http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20130429_School_District_at_brink_of_collapse.html

Philly: The big budget book: 10 things to consider

The notebook by Paul Socolar on Apr 29 2013 Posted in Latest news

With City Council convening Monday morning for its annual hearings on the School District and its finances, at least a few journalists and local activists spent part of the beautiful spring weekend preparing by trying to make sense of the District’s just-released 350-page “consolidated budget” for the coming year. It’s dense and dry, but the document does give a detailed picture of what the District looks like now and what’s ahead. A somewhat easier read is the District's "budget in brief," but that got posted online too late on Sunday to be previewed.

http://thenotebook.org/blog/135934/big-budget-book-10-things-consider?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=twt&utm_campaign=social

Under the microscope: How special education is funded in Pennsylvania

Intelligencer Journal Lancaster New Era

By BRIAN WALLACE Staff Writer bwallace@lnpnews.com Apr 28, 2013 17:24

Local school officials say they're pleased the state is taking a closer look at special-education funding, but they are leery about whether a new bill signed by Gov. Tom Corbett will produce results. Corbett last week signed into law House Bill 2, which will create a commission to recommend a new formula for distributing special-education funds to Pennsylvania's 500 school districts. The funds currently are distributed based on 16 percent of students in each school district requiring specialized instruction. Funding based on that formula has been essentially frozen for the past six years.

Two Steps Forward, One Back

Yinzercation Blog April 29, 2013

This is how you make progress. One step at a time. Last week, we saw two steps forward, and one giant step back for public education. The good news first:

On Thursday, Governor Corbett signed a much-needed new law that will help to fix the state’s special education funding formula. Sponsored by Republicans Rep. Bernie O’Neill and Sen. Pat Browne with strong bi-partisan support in both the House and Senate, House Bill 2 creates a new commission that will develop a formula taking into account actual numbers of special education students and their needs. Rhonda Brownstein, Executive Director of the Education Law Center, called the legislation “historic.” [Education Law Center, 4-26-13]

http://yinzercation.wordpress.com/2013/04/29/two-steps-forward-one-back/

Pa. secretary of education takes tour of Springfield School District

By SUSAN L. SERBIN Times Correspondent Tuesday, April 30, 2013

SPRINGFIELD — When Pennsylvania Department of Education Secretary Ron Tomalis met with Delaware County superintendents recently, Springfield’s James Capolupo issued an invitation.
“Come to Springfield. We have a story to tell,” Capolupo said.
Tomalis spent several hours in the school district to hear about success on several levels, achieved by a unified effort of administration, staff, students and the overall school community.
The Springfield School Board room held a gathering of federal, state and local officials, including U.S. Rep. Pat Meehan, R-7, of Upper Darby, state Rep. Bill Adolph, R-165, of Springfield, township commissioners President Jeff Rudolph, Delaware County Community College President Jerry Parker, and several other school board members.

http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2013/04/30/news/doc517f1179640b8346540684.txt?viewmode=fullstory

Per-student pre-K spending lowest in decade

Delco Times By Philip Elliott Associated Press Published: Monday, April 29, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) — State funding for pre-kindergarten programs had its largest drop ever last year and states are now spending less per child than they did a decade ago, according to a report released Monday. The report also found that more than a half million of those preschool students are in programs that don't even meet standards suggested by industry experts that would qualify for federal dollars. Those findings — combined with Congress' reluctance to spend new dollars — complicate President Barack Obama's effort to expand pre-K programs across the country.

http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2013/04/29/life/doc517e3df44a73b357114168.txt

Here’s the link to more info on the report covered in the above article….

The State of Preschool 2012

NIEER - The National Institute for Early Education Research

The 2012 State Preschool Yearbook is the newest edition of our annual report profiling state-funded prekindergarten programs in the United States. This latest Yearbook presents data on state-funded prekindergarten during the 2011-2012 school year as well as documenting a decade of progress since the first Yearbook collected data on the 2001-2002 school year. Tracking trends long term is key to understanding the progress of early childhood education across the country and improving educational opportunities for

America

’s children.

Twenty-eight percent of

America

’s 4-year-olds were enrolled in a state-funded preschool program in the 2011-2012 school year, the same percentage as the year before. This stagnation in enrollment growth was compounded by an unprecedented funding drop of $500 million nationwide. The findings in this Yearbook raise serious concerns on the quality and availability of pre-K education for most of American young learners.

http://nieer.org/publications/state-preschool-2012#.UX7ZnOoUOeU.twitter

Report: The State of Preschool 2012

The National Institute for Early Education Research – Rutgers Graduate School of Education

http://nieer.org/sites/nieer/files/yearbook2012_executivesummary.pdf

The PA Senate Education Committee is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the Common Core on Wednesday, May 15, 2013 at 1:00 p.m. in Hearing Room 1, North Office Building. Several pieces follow with varying perspectives on the Common Core.

If anyone can tell me how diverting resources to address the Common Core will help students in our struggling urban districts – I’m all ears; please enlighten me……..

The Common Core Standards: Truths, Untruths and Ambiguities

Huffington Post by Patte Barth Director, Center for Public Education 04/25/2013 5:58 pm

Educators in 46 states and DC are deep in the process of implementing new "common core" standards into their classrooms. But an emerging anti-core backlash may render their efforts moot in several states. For readers who may not know, the common core state standards are intended to define the knowledge and skills in English language arts (ELA) and math that high school graduates will need for success in college and 21st century jobs. The standards were drafted by associations representing the nation's governors andstate education chiefs through a process involving experts and stakeholders and included a two-part public review. They have been endorsed by business leaders, teachers unions, and a bipartisan array of policymakers including President Obama and Jeb Bush. Within two years of their finalization, they were voluntarily adopted by all but four states.

Despite their high-profile supporters, not everyone is feeling the common core love and a handful of early adopting states are experiencing second thoughts.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/patte-barth/the-common-core-standards_1_b_3149738.html

Bill to 'Pause' Common Core in Indiana Heads to Governor

Education Week State EdWatch Blog By Andrew Ujifusa on April 29, 2013 8:29 AM

Opponents of the Common Core State Standards have scored a significant victory—an Indiana bill that would slow down implementation of the standards pending a series of public hearings this summer has been approved by the state legislature. The bill now heads to the desk of Gov. Mike Pence, a Republican, for his signature.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/state_edwatch/2013/04/bill_to_slow_common_core_in_indiana_heads_to_governor.html?cmp=SOC-SHR-TW

Growing corps anti-Common Core

Naysayers seek to nullify new nationwide education standard

Cinncinnati.com by Denise Smith Amos Apr. 28, 2013 6:46 PM

New Common Core reading and math standards are heading to a classroom near you. And trailing along is a growing chorus of critics and skeptics. These opponents are hosting public forums, organizing phone trees and emailing elected officials. They’re texting and tweeting and signing Internet petitions.

And they’re having some impact:

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130429/NEWS/304290016

Jeb Bush: Students need challenge of Common Core standards

Columbus Dispatch Opinion by Jeb Bush Saturday April 27, 2013 6:26 AM

Despite bold reforms and critical progress made by governors such as Ohio’s John Kasich, America’s education system remains in a state of crisis. That is the staggering, painful reality, backed by statistic after statistic, that should concern every single individual concerned about the future of our country’s economy and national security and the quality of life our children and grandchildren will enjoy. For decades, the entrenched establishment, which dominated K-12 public education for far too long, enabled a status quo that dumbed down expectations for students — even as government spending on schools increased exponentially year by year. As a result, American students are falling further and further behind their peers in countries across the world as they languish in classrooms with mediocre standards and minimal accountability.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/editorials/2013/04/27/students-need-challenge-of-common-core-standards.html

Critics join common cause to block latest school reform

The Washington Times By Deborah Simmons Sunday, April 28, 2013

Education

Secretary Arne Duncan would be a very wise man if he started paying close attention to the sticks being poked in the eyes of the Obama administration regarding those one-size-fits-all Common Core State Standards. Not all states and localities bought into his “absolute game changer” claim — and for absolutely good reasons, including a “very large, very permanent federal footprint.” Common Core was and is being sold as a set of academic standards that would improve teaching and learning and better prepare young people for college

and careers.

“There are very legitimate reasons for very reasonable Americans, conservative and liberal, progressive and libertarian, to be concerned about increasing top-down control of Education.”

Paul Horton: Of Common Core, Conspiracies and Coups d'Etat

Education Week Living in Dialogue Blog By Anthony Cody on April 26, 2013 12:00 AM

Guest post by Paul Horton.

To those defending the Obama administration's Race To the Top and Common Core Curriculum initiatives, opponents tend to be placed in one very tidy box: "conspiracy theorists."

Long a critic of overzealous federal intervention in education, Chester Finn, President of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute that promotes educational excellence and supports the president's education agenda, charged opponents of these initiatives as conspiracy theorists and flippantly suggestedthat the United Nations might be behind the Common Core as a part of its efforts, apparently, to create a one world government .

As if taking his cue from Finn, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, has recently made similar accusations in a Department of Education Press release: "The idea that the Common Core Standards are nationally imposed is a conspiracy theory in search of a conspiracy."

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2013/04/paul_horton_of_common_core_con.html

“While improved reading skills would lower the need for remedial classes in college, there is no evidence that giving elementary students more difficult tests will make them better readers. Giving students access to excellent literacy-rich pre-school experiences and intensive, research-based reading programs in the first years of schooling, on the other hand, will.”

Have standardized tests really helped kids learn more?

Washington Post Answer Sheet Blog by Valerie Strauss on April 30, 2013 at 4:00 am

An award-winning principal looks at the growing resistance to standardized testing in NEw York and beyond. This was written byCarol Burris, principal of South Side High School in New York. She was named 2013 High School Principal of the Year by the School Administrators Association of New York and the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and the 2010 New York State Outstanding Educator by the School Administrators Association of New York. She is one of the co-authors of the principals’ letter against evaluating teachers by student test scores, which has been signed by 1,535 New York principals.

By Carol Burris

How have New York parents greeted the new Common Core-aligned tests that were just given to their children? With skepticism, doubt, and in some cases, outright resistance.

This year, ‘opt out’ parent groups popped up across the Empire State. Long Island Opt Out did not exist a month ago; now its Facebook group has nearly 9,000 members, among them many who told their children to say “thanks but no thanks” to the recent Common Core exams. During the first days of testing, 135 students at the Icabod Crane Elementary and Middle School opted out—by the end of testing, the number exceeded 200. Twenty percent of Grade 3-8 students in the Rockville Centre School District did not take the exams, while a school board member in Rochester announced that her child would not be tested. Local school boards are passing resolutions of concern regarding high stakes testing, and the Niagara Regional PTA submitted an anti-testing resolution to the New York State PTA.

Oddly, however, there appears to be little interest by the press in investigating why this growing rebellion is occurring. Instead, New York editorial boards from the conservative New York Post to the liberal New York Times echo the argument that tougher testing is a public good.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/04/30/have-standardized-tests-really-helped-kids-learn-more/

LETTER: ‘No Child Left Behind’ cheating children in public education system

Delco Times Letter to the Editor by Joseph Batory Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Joseph Batory is former Superintendent of the Upper Darby School District

During the past 13 years, since the adoption of the No Child Left Behind legislation, elected officials at state and national levels have relentlessly argued that standardized test score results are the keys to improvement for American education. And this political pressure has crumbled the educational resistance from far too many school districts which have now bought into testing preparation rituals and teaching to the test as the number one priorities for public education.

http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2013/04/30/opinion/doc517f0e0b1402c098930478.txt?viewmode=fullstory

PSBA Bylaws amendment proposals due May 15

PSBA website 2/15/2013

As stated in Article XII, proposals for amending the PSBA Bylaws must be submitted "in writing, mailed first class and postmarked or marked received at PSBA headquarters prior to May 15 of each year." Proposals should be addressed to the Bylaws Committee Chair or the Executive Director and sent to PSBA headquarters by the May 15, 2013, deadline.

The procedures for submitting proposed bylaws changes are outlined in Article XII and can be found online atwww.psba.org/about/psba/2013_psba_bylaws.pdf.

Search underway for PSBA Executive Director

The Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) is a nonprofit statewide association of public school boards, pledged to the highest ideals of local lay leadership for the public schools of the commonwealth. Founded in 1895, PSBA has a rich history as the first school boards' association established in the United States. Pennsylvania's 4,500 school directors become members by virtue of election to their local board -- the board joins as a whole. Membership in PSBA is by school district or other eligible local education agency such as intermediate unit, vocational school or community college……..

Search by Diversified Search, 1990 M St NW, Suite 570, Washington, DC. Questions may be directed to PSBA@divsearch.com. Interested parties should email their resume and cover letter to PSBA@divsearch.com. Please apply by June 1, 2013 for best consideration.

More info: https://www.psba.org/about/psba/executive_director_search-2013.asp

Superintendents, Business Managers, School Board Members, Union Leaders, Any Others interested in PSERS and wanting to learn more about Pension Reform . . .

Tuesday, May 14, 2013 Registration: 6:30 p.m. Presentation: 7:00 p.m.

Allegheny Intermediate Unit 475 East Waterfront Drive Homestead, PA 15120 McGuffey/Sullivan Rooms

Jeffery B. Clay, Executive Director for the Pennsylvania Schools Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) will present on the topic of pension reform. Mr. Clay’s presentation will review the increases in retirement contributions and the Governor’s proposal on pension reform. As one concerned about public education, we are sure that you will find this meeting enlightening and a valuable investment of your time.

In order to accommodate those attending and prepare the necessary materials for the meeting, please register using the following link: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/6252177431 by May 7, 2013.

If you have any questions regarding the registration process, please contact Janet Galaski at 412.394.5753 or janet.galaski@aiu3.net.

NAACP 2013 Conference on the State of Education in Pennsylvania

A Call for Equitable and Adequate Funding for Pennsylvania's Schools

Media Area Branch NAACP Saturday, May 11, 2013 9:00 am – 2:30 pm (8:30 am registration)

Marcus Foster Student Union 2^nd floor, Cheyney University of PA, Delaware County Campus

Information and registration at: http://www.naacpmediabranch.org/2013_conference.html

Sign Up Today for PILCOP Special Ed CLE Trainings

Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia

Spots are filling up for the final three trainings in our 2012-2013 Know Your Child’s Rights series with seminars on ADAAA, Pro Se Parents and Settlement Agreements.

April 30, 2013: ADAAA, 504 and Chapter 15: Services Needed, Discrimination Avoided

May 29, 2013: PRO SE Parents: Doing It on Your Own

May 30, 2013: Settlements: Signing on the Dotted Line (OR NOT)

For seminar details and registration: http://pilcop.org/sign-up-today-for-special-ed-cle-trainings/

Turning the Page for Change celebration, June 11, 2013

Please join us for the Notebook’s annual Turning the Page for Change celebration on June 11, 2013, from 4:30 - 7 p.m. at the University of The Arts, Hamilton Hall, 320 S. Broad Street. We will be honoring a member of the Notebook community for years of service to our mission as well as honoring several local high school journalists. Help us celebrate another year of achievement that included two awards from the Education Writers Association and coverage of other critical stories like the budget crisis and the school closing process.

More info: http://thenotebook.org/content/turning-page-change-celebration-2013

Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School FAST FACTS

Quakertown Community School District

http://www.markbmiller.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Pennsylvania-Cyber-Charter-School-FAST-FACTS-1.pdf

PA Charter Schools: $4 billion taxpayer dollars with no real oversight

Charter schools - public funding without public scrutiny; Proposed statewide authorization and direct payment would further diminish accountability and oversight for public tax dollars

http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.blogspot.com/2012/05/pa-charter-schools-4-billion-taxpayer.html

Monday, April 29, 2013

PA Ed Policy Roundup for April 29: PA School Funding Campaign Budget Press Conference April 30 10 am Capitol Rotunda

The Keystone State Education Coalition is pleased to be listed among the friends and allies of The Network for Public Education. Are you a member?

These daily emails are archived at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org

Visit us on Facebook at KeystoneStateEducationCoalition

Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg

Keystone State Education Coalition:

Pennsylvania Education Policy Roundup for April 29, 2013:

PA School Funding Campaign Budget Press Conference April 30 10 am Capitol Rotunda

EPLC Education Notebook – Friday, April 26, 2013

Education Policy and Leadership Center

EPLC Education Notebook — Friday, April 26, 2013

Missed our weekend posting?

Pennsylvania Education Policy Roundup for April 27, 2013: PA School Funding Campaign seeks commitment to restore student funding

http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.blogspot.com/2013/04/pennsylvania-education-policy-roundup_27.html

Lawmakers need to cash out their $140.7 million surplus: Editorial

By Patriot-News Editorial Board on April 26, 2013 at 10:55 AM

What would you do if you were sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars of someone else’s money? You’d give it back, right? It’s only commonsense.

But that very basic rule of conscience does not apply to the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

Already one of the nation’s largest and most expensive law-making bodies, the 253-member Legislature ended the 2011-2012 fiscal year with an eye-watering $140.7 million in surplus funds, according to an audit released this week.

http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013/04/lawmakers_need_to_cash_out_their_1407_million_surplus_editorial.html#incart_m-rpt-2

As I See It: Eliminating prevailing wage will make government more efficient

By Patriot-News Op-Ed By Matthew Rousu on April 28, 2013

Matthew Rousu is an associate professor of economics at Susquehanna University

In Pennsylvania, we have a “prevailing wage” law. While a reasonable definition for a prevailing wage would be “whatever wage we can pay in which someone will accept the work,” that’s not what the law says. Prevailing wage laws require government entities to pay union-scale wages on any project for any job that costs more than $25,000. Legislators are considering changing the law to minimize its impact. That is a great idea that should receive bipartisan support.

http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013/04/eliminating_prevailing_wage_will_make_government_more_efficient_as_i_see_it.html#incart_river

“Last April, the programs that had set up these students for musical and academic success in high school were under siege thanks to statewide budget cuts against our public schools,” Kennedy wrote. “This, combined with our country’s obsession with testing above any meaningful learning opportunity, were a direct harm to students across the commonwealth and the country, and our community rose up to protect the programs that helped students the most.”

….Kennedy invited citizens to get involved by going to the website, to view the video and take the SUDA Pledge at www.standupdemandaction.org.

Upper Darby SD facing tough decisions on budget

Delco Times By LINDA REILLY Times Correspondent Published: Sunday, April 28, 2013

UPPER DARBY — Taxpayers were already told there will be a tax increase from the Upper Darby School District business manager but they won’t know what will be affected until the tentative 2013-2014 budget is revealed Tuesday. Business Manager Ed Smith previously announced the certainty of a tax hike in February when preliminary figures and a $9.7 million shortfall were announced with his “best-guess estimate.”
“This preliminary budget has been developed with the goal of maintaining our current programming,” Smith said at the meeting earlier this year.

http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2013/04/28/news/doc517dd7a3100ab495335643.txt?viewmode=fullstory

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: Banging the drum for music at Upper Darby

By PHIL HERON editor@delcotimes.com Published: Monday, April 29, 2013

It was just about this time last year that all hell was breaking loose in the Upper Darby School District. Now we know why. As usual, the school district was swimming in red ink. The balance sheet was only slightly off — $13 million to be exact.
Tough decisions had to be made. Jobs would be cut. Curriculums would be juggled. Priorities would be adjusted. The administration knew the proposal would not be well-received. They weren’t wrong about that. People went ballistic.

http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2013/04/29/opinion/doc517dd8cddbfb5459363162.txt?viewmode=fullstory

Philly District releases detailed budget proposal

by thenotebook on Apr 26 2013 Posted in Latest news

As City Council's school budget hearings approach, the District has released its detailed financial plan for next year, showing line by line the withered financial health that the city's schools are in.

http://thenotebook.org/blog/135933/district-releases-consolidated-budget-next-year

How do you fix the District's budget crisis?

by thenotebook on Apr 26 2013 Posted in Commentary

Craig Robbins, executive director of ACTION United

Donna Cooper, executive director of Public Citizens for Children and Youth

Helen Gym, co-founder of Parents United for Public Education

State Rep. James Roebuck, Democratic chairman of the House Education Committee

The School District is in bleak fiscal straits. Staring at the possibility of a deficit of $242 million by the end of 2013-14, District leaders are looking to the city and state to contribute $180 million in aid while also looking to reduce labor costs by 10 percent.

As City Council prepares for school budget hearings next week, the Notebook asked prominent folks in Philadelphia education to offer their take on what else could be done to address the gap. What solutions to the District's budget crisis are there, beyond the plea to the city and state for more funding and the plan to cut employee salaries and benefits? We received the following four responses.

http://thenotebook.org/blog/135901/how-do-you-fix-district-budget-crisis

Philadelphia School District to seek $60 million more

Troy Graham and Kristen A. Graham, Inquirer Staff Writers

POSTED: Monday, April 29, 2013, 5:04 AM

School District of Philadelphia leaders are expected Monday to ask Council to open the municipal wallet again - this time for $60 million - two months before the members have to pass a budget.

That request - or "ask," in political parlance - could spark bruising negotiations over school funding for the third year in a row, as Council is already grappling with taxpayer angst over Mayor Nutter's property-tax reform.

http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20130429_Philadelphia_School_District_to_seek__60_million_more.html

Hearing to probe Philadelphia's oldest charter school

Martha Woodall, Inquirer Staff Writer POSTED: Monday, April 29, 2013, 3:01 AM

Community Academy of Philadelphia opened in 1997, but the School Reform Commission said in January the school's operating charter should not be renewed because of low test scores and financial problems. The hearing, set to begin at 9 a.m. at the district's administration building, was scheduled after the SRC voted, 4-0, in January to take the first step toward revoking the charter. A second session is expected to be held May 6.

http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20130429_Hearing_to_probe_Philadelphia_s_oldest_charter_school.html

LTE: PSSA pressures

Post Gazette Letter to the Editor by Joe Tighe April 28, 2013 12:15 am

The writer is a teacher.

Despite what "Practical Tests" (April 14 letters) argues, the PSSAs are nothing to "lighten up" about. Depending on how a district preps for and administers them, the PSSAs can take months, not a week, to complete. Furthermore, the PSSAs determine a school's Adequate Yearly Progress: how much funding it receives and, potentially, whether its staff will be retained. The pressure districts feel from these tests is enormous. This pressure is transferred directly to the students.

Broad school bully?

WILL BUNCH, Daily News Staff Writer bunchw@phillynews.com, 215-854-2957

POSTED: Monday, April 29, 2013, 4:55 AM

IN 1939, a 6-year-old boy moved to Detroit with his working-class parents - Lithuanian Jewish immigrants - and walked into the remarkable engine that propelled so much of America's prosperity in the 20th century, his neighborhood public school. That kid, Eli Broad, graduated from Detroit Central High School in 1951 and went on to become one of the world's richest people, a billionaire who made his fortune first in the post-World War II housing boom and later in insurance.

Today, the 79-year-old Broad (it rhymes with "road"), who lives in Los Angeles, is spending a good chunk of his fortune on education reform - steadfast in his belief that applying the same data-driven, free-market principles that made him so wealthy can also make U.S. schools great again. Yet a small but growing band of critics say his Broad Foundation could actually destroy the kind of schools he's trying to save - the public schools that once trained first- and second-generation Americans like him.

http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20130429_Broad_school_bully_.html

“Over the past two years, Science Leadership Academy has already lost a librarian, a science teacher and a Spanish teacher. Now, the school is looking at losing a quarter of the staff it has left, its gifted program, and all of its extracurriculars. Lehmann, who has coached everything from basketball to Ultimate Frisbee, says that last one would be particularly painful for his kids.”

Philly principal urges pro sports teams to save school athletics

WHYY Newsworks By Benjamin Herold, @BenjaminBHerold April 29, 2013

Philadelphia School District officials are headed to City Council today to plead for more money.

With the district staring down a $300 million budget deficit, one high school principal says it's time for everyone, including the city's four professional sports teams, to chip in.

"We really are at a moment where there's no fat being cut," said Christopher Lehmann, principal of the nationally renowned Science Leadership Academy in Center City. "This is the very fabric of our schools that are being put in jeopardy right now. And I think when you're talking about that kind of moment of distress, it requires creative solutions and it requires everyone who see a way to help, to help."

http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/homepage-feature/item/54070-philly-principal-urges-pro-sports-teams-to-save-school-athletics?Itemid=1&linktype=hp_impact

“The district was losing more than $1 million each year because about 150 former Easton students enrolled in nondistrict cyber schools. It costs the district about $10,000 for each regular-education student who attends a cyber school and about $20,000 per special-education student.

The district paid a one-time fee of $16,750 for professional development and marketing and now pays about $5,000 per student for its in-house cyber school. There are 21 students enrolled, Furst said.”

Easton teachers union files complaint over cyber school employees

By Peter Panepinto | The Express-Times on April 28, 2013 at 7:30 AM

District teachers aren't being employed by the cyber school recently contracted with the districts, union officials say.Express-Times File Photo

The Easton Area School District teachers unionpresident says the district broke an agreement to hire district teachers to staff its cyber school.

A court date is scheduled for 10 a.m. Aug. 8. before the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board in Harrisburg to argue the unfair labor practice complaint filed Jan. 11 by the teachers.

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/easton/index.ssf/2013/04/easton_area_education_associai.html#incart_river

“State Rep. Rick Saccone, R-Elizabeth, attended the final Origins class to announce his support for such a bill. Afterward, he said legislators are being recruited to sponsor the bill.”
Is evolution missing link in some Pennsylvania high schools?

Some 20 percent of science teachers in survey say they believe in creationism

By David Templeton / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette April 28, 2013 12:25 am

During an Advanced Placement biology course in Easton Area High School, Jennifer Estevez's teacher sped through the large chapter on evolution, focusing on one formula for the AP exam and the basics: survival of the fittest and natural selection.

In those high school years in Northampton County, she also would attend a Baptist leadership retreat where a speaker denounced evolution as false, unproven science.

Seemingly unimportant and even discredited, evolution fell off her radar. So the Easton student, who is a Baptist, arrived at Duquesne University last fall considering herself a creationist, a person who generally believes God created the world as described in the Bible.

But a college biology course convinced her that evolution was valid science with overwhelming evidence that all living things, including humans, evolved most likely from a common ancestor -- over a period of millions, even billions, of years longer than that described in Genesis.

PSBA Bylaws amendment proposals due May 15

PSBA website 2/15/2013

The procedures for submitting proposed bylaws changes are outlined in Article XII and can be found online atwww.psba.org/about/psba/2013_psba_bylaws.pdf.

Search underway for PSBA Executive Director

More info: https://www.psba.org/about/psba/executive_director_search-2013.asp

NY Parents File Class Action Lawsuit Against State Testing

Diane Ravitch’s Blog By dianerav April 28, 2013

Parents in Rochester, New York, filed a federal class action lawsuit against the state and their son’s school, which punished him for refusing to take the tests in accordance with his parents’ wishes. The school not only punished the boy, but sent the sheriff’s office to the ballfield to make sure he was not allowed to play baseball.

Good for them! I would sue too.

http://dianeravitch.net/2013/04/28/parents-file-class-action-lawsuit-against-state-testing/

No Rich Child Left Behind

New York Times Opinion By SEAN F. REARDON April 27, 2013, 6:15 pm

Here’s a fact that may not surprise you: the children of the rich perform better in school, on average, than children from middle-class or poor families. Students growing up in richer families have better grades and higher standardized test scores, on average, than poorer students; they also have higher rates of participation in extracurricular activities and school leadership positions, higher graduation rates and higher rates of college enrollment and completion.

Whether you think it deeply unjust, lamentable but inevitable, or obvious and unproblematic, this is hardly news. It is true in most societies and has been true in the United States for at least as long as we have thought to ask the question and had sufficient data to verify the answer.

What is news is that in the United States over the last few decades these differences in educational success between high- and lower-income students have grown substantially.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/27/no-rich-child-left-behind/?smid=tw-share

Obama’s big second-term education problem

Washington Post Answer Sheet Blog by Valerie Strauss on April 28, 2013 at 12:48 pm

President Obama has a big problem in his second term in terms of education policy: his first term.

Obama and his education secretary, Arne Duncan, pushed hard in their first term to have a major impact on changing public schools with a larger-than-ever federal role in school policy issues that affected every single classroom in the country. And they did, with rare bipartisan support.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/04/28/obamas-big-second-term-education-problem/

State spending per preschooler hits lowest level in decade, programs face questions on quality

Washington Post By Associated Press, Published: April 28 | Updated: Monday, April 29, 3:25 AM

WASHINGTON — State funding for pre-kindergarten programs had its largest drop ever last year and states are now spending less per child than they did a decade ago, according to a report released Monday. The report also found that more than a half million of those preschool students are in programs that don’t even meet standards suggested by industry experts that would qualify for federal dollars. Those findings — combined with Congress’ reluctance to spend new dollars — complicate President Barack Obama’s effort to expand pre-K programs across the country.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/state-spending-per-preschooler-hits-lowest-level-in-decade-programs-face-questions-on-quality/2013/04/28/ee5de50a-b057-11e2-9fb1-62de9581c946_story.html