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
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg
Ravitch Reprise: Why I Cannot
Support the Common Core Standards
NAACP 2013
Conference on the State of Education in Pennsylvania
A Call for Equitable and
Adequate Funding for Pennsylvania
Media Area Branch NAACP Saturday, May 11, 2013 9:00 am – 2:30 pm (8:30 am registration)
Marcus Foster Student
Union 2nd floor, Cheyney University of PA, Delaware County Campus
Information and
registration at: http://www.naacpmediabranch.org/2013_conference.html
Shippensburg schools' preliminary budget
includes tax hike, staff cuts
By BRIAN HALL @bkhallpo
SHIPPENSBURG - The Shippensburg
Area school board passed a preliminary budget Monday night that will reportedly
result in a half-million dollars in cuts and real estate tax increases.
By a 9-0 vote, the board
approved a preliminary $42.883 million budget.
Board President Herb Cassidy
said the budget included about $500,000 in budget cuts that are mostly of a
personnel nature. Cassidy said those cuts will be announced once personnel
affected by the changes are notified.
The educational testing challenge
Children opting out of PSSA
tests may create funding problem but won’t change school culture. Parents
should opt out of voting for lawmakers who ignore educational problems.
Public schools may be failing
by teaching to the test — focusing on coaching students to score well on
standardized exams. But savvy parents think they've found a way around test
culture.
As a Lancaster Newspapers story
reported last Sunday, growing numbers of parents are claiming an obscure
exemption from the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests, or PSSAs.
They're opting their children out of taking the PSSAs for reasons of religion.
Word of the religious exemption has been spreading virally this year through social media. While only 260 students statewide were exempted in 2012, that number could grow.
Word of the religious exemption has been spreading virally this year through social media. While only 260 students statewide were exempted in 2012, that number could grow.
“Home school districts pay a fee set by the state for each
resident enrolled in a charter school. Pittsburgh
In 2011-12, district payments to cyber charter schools
totaled $11 million.”
District set to expand grade offerings
By
Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh April
22, 2013 12:10 am
In
their first year of operating their own online school, Pittsburgh Public
Schools officials learned what many cyber charter school operators already
know: There is lots of student turnover.
While
the Pittsburgh Online Academy
"I
think it has to do with fit," said Mark McClinchie, district coordinator
of virtual learning. "I think in Pennsylvania
He
said those who fare best are independent learners with home support.
Education
Week Marketplace K-12 Blog By Sean Cavanagh on April
19, 2013 5:09 PM
The
Philadelphia school district, which has been plagued by budget
woes and declining enrollment, has announced plans to open a virtual
academy in an effort to lure students and families back to the system. Superintendent William Hite predicted this
week that the district could offer a "superior online educational
experience."
The
goal is to make the Philadelphia
Virtual Academy the "preferred choice for parents and students
who want a quality online education," Hite said in a statement.
Despite grim district budget, Philadelphia
thenotebook on
Apr 22 2013
by Benjamin Herold for NewsWorks, a Notebook news
partner
Twenty-one
city charter schools are seeking to add over 15,000 new students during the
next five years. If granted by the School Reform Commission, the charters'
requests would eventually mean a new $110 million annual hit to the District's
already fragile bottom line.
District
officials say a vote on the expansion requests, originally scheduled for April
18, is now expected to take place on May 16. The District's charter schools
office has not yet made its formal recommendations to the SRC.
Some
of the charters' seat requests are staggering.
Hite vows to work with faith-based
organizing group to improve schools
thenotebook by
Bill Hangley Jr. on Apr
22 2013
At a
rousing interfaith rally of thousands, Superintendent William Hite vowed to
support the community organizing group POWER’s newly-launched campaign to
organize public school parents into an effective citywide force. At the rally, held Sunday in the massive Deliverance Evangelistic
Church in North
Philadelphia , Hite agreed to meet regularly with POWER and
encourage principals to let it to organize in their schools. In return, Hite
asked POWER’s members to help lobby for education funding in Philadelphia
and Harrisburg
Penn leads the way in helping Philly schools
REGINA
MEDINA, Daily News Staff
Writer medinar@phillynews.com,
215-854-5985
POSTED: Tuesday,
April 23, 2013 ,
3:01 AM
IN THE LATE 1990s, the kids at Henry C.
Lea Elementary
School University
of Pennsylvania
The university, which had a
relationship with Lea dating to 1960, secured donors to fund construction of a
space and procure books, computers and audiovisual equipment for the K-to-8
school. The Lea affiliation is one of
seven that Penn has with district schools, including its best-known partnership
with the Penn Alexander School Spruce Street
Penn's program of helping
schools in West Philly is by far the most extensive of any of the city's large
universities. The others - Temple , Drexel, La
Salle, Saint Joseph
All of which raises a couple of
important questions: Are the city's universities doing enough as tax-exempt
citizens? Can they do more to help out the city's schools, which are in
financial crisis?
Founder of
two area arts charter schools creating autism charter facility
By Sara K. Satullo | The Express-Times
on April 22, 2013
at 8:34 PM
After being told their 2-year-old
autistic son could never be potty-trained, Annette Hickey and her husband
refused to accept that as his future. The
couple spent $160,000 a year on early intervention treatment and moved their
family from Chicago to Minnesota Pennsylvania Autism
Charter School
Charter schools are free,
public schools funded by taxpayer dollars funneled from a student's home
district. Hickey is partnering with her
stepfather, Tom Lubben, who is experienced at creating charter schools. Lubben
is the founder and former superintendent of the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the
Arts in Bethlehem and he recently
helped create the Arts Academy Charter School in Salisbury Township.
East Penn School Board hears prediction of
no tax hike, won't censure Stolz over tweet
He thanks fellow board members for their
'character and respect for the First Amendment,' pledges to be 'more
circumspect.'
By Margie Peterson, Special to
The Morning Call 12:41 a.m. EDT, April 23, 2013
Thanks in part to some good
news on revenue, East Penn School District Superintendent Thomas Seidenberger
predicted the district's proposed final 2013-14 budget will contain no tax
increase. "At this point it is our
intent to submit to you a budget that includes no tax increase for next
year," Seidenberger told the school board Monday night. "We've done,
I think, a marvelous job of arresting spending in our district."
School Director Julian Stolz
said, "Thank you for finally giving me a budget I can vote for," and
also thanked board members for not voting to censure him for a comment he made
on Twitter.
Lawmaker: Pa.
A state lawmaker wants every
school in the commonwealth required to stock pre-filled injections designed to
treat severe allergic reactions. Rep.
Bob Freeman, D-Northampton, told The (Easton
The devices such as EpiPens are
used to inject epinephrine into someone showing signs of a serious allergic
reaction such as hives, throat tightening and decreased blood pressure.
The proposal would build on a
2010 law that allows students to carry such devices with parental and doctor
approval. Freeman said the shots would ideally be administered by a school
nurse, although he acknowledges that not all schools have full-time nurses.
The Bethlehem Area
School District
Meetings
in Antietam, Exeter
Reading Eagle by Becca Y. Gregg
Originally Published: 4/22/2013
Results of a study on a
possible merger between the Antietam and Exeter
school districts will be released to the public during a special meeting at Antietam this week.
"The main document is
almost 300 pages long," Dr. Larry W. Mayes, Antietam
superintendent, said of the study and its findings, conducted by Civic Research
Alliance and set to be presented Wednesday night. "We really feel they've
taken a very intense look at all of our various options."
This article includes several Pennsylvania
Ed. Companies Exert Public-Policy Influence
Some observers are alarmed at what they see as
increasingly aggressive moves by companies
Education
Week By Michelle
R. Davis April
22, 2013
The online education
provider K12 Inc.—a publicly traded company with $708 million in
revenue in 2012—had 39 lobbyists around the country on the payroll last year to
work for state and local policies that would help expand the use of virtual
learning. Pearson
Education—an offshoot of the publishing giant Pearson—has spent more
than $6 million over the past decade lobbying at the federal level. And the charter school operator White
Hat Management and its employees contributed more than $2
million in campaign support between 2004 and 2012 to mostly Republican
politicians in Ohio
Ravitch Reprise: Why I Cannot
Support the Common Core Standards
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.
Parent trigger: Who’s for it and who’s
against it tells the story
You can learn pretty much
everything you need to know about the controversial “parent
trigger” legislation now before the Florida Legislature by looking at who
is for it and who is against it.
American Teens Doing Better On Science
Tests Than Public Realizes: Pew
Research Center
Huffington Post By PHILIP ELLIOTT 04/22/13
04:25 PM ET EDT
Is School
Funding Fair? A National Report Card
US News
and World Report
Best High
Schools In Pennsylvania
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
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.
Sign Up
Today for PILCOP Special Ed CLE Trainings
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.
For seminar details and
registration: http://pilcop.org/sign-up-today-for-special-ed-cle-trainings/
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
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