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
Since Corbett took office, Pennsylvania ’s
share of funding for public schools has dropped from 44 percent to 32 percent,
well below the national average of about 48 percent.
Education Voters PA Statewide Call to Action for
Public Education
Pennsylvania ’s 1.76 million public school kids
don’t care whether Rendell backfilled or Corbett cut stimulus money; they now
have 20,000 fewer adults trying to maintain their constitutionally mandated
“thorough and efficient system of public education” than they did a couple
years ago.
Take 10 minutes to
do three things to make a difference!
MEETING OF SPECIAL EDUCATION FUNDING FORMULA
COMMISSION
Thursday, June 13, 2013 10:00 AM Hearing Room 1, North Office Bldg.
To consider
Special Education Funding in PA
Wednesday June 12, 2013 10:00 am Capitol Media
Center
PLUS press event in the Capitol
Media Center
in Harrisburg
on Wed morning at 10 a.m. Hosted by Dauphin County
Democratic Senator Rob Teplitz.
PLUS superintendents expected to attend/speak
include are Bill King from Scranton, Carlinda Purcell from Reading, Steve Butz
from SE Delco, Sybil Knight Burney from Harrisburg and Tamara Willis, assistant
superintendent from York.
Send an email to Harrisburg on school
funding
Education Voters PA
In the
event that you have a few minutes more to spare, please consider contacting the
legislative leadership listed below regarding the education budget ; here’s
part of their job description:
PA Constitution - Public School System Section 14.
“The General Assembly shall
provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of
public education to serve the needs of the Commonwealth.”
PA Legislature Republican Leadership 2013
Senate Majority Leader Dominic
Pileggi
717-787-4712
Senate Appropriations Committee
Chairman Jake Corman
717-787-1377
Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph
Scarnati
717-787-7084
House Majority Leader Mike Turzai
717-772-9943
House Appropriation Committee
Chairman William Adolph
717-787-1248
House Speaker Sam Smith
717-787-3845
Governor
Tom Corbett
717-787-2500, Fax: 717-772-8284
Email: governor@state.pa.us
“House Democrats would have increased spending $378 million
over the Republican budget, mostly on K-12 education but also on colleges and
universities and on various human service programs. The caucus proposed paying for its spending
increases through savings to the state under Medicaid expansion, changes
designed to make the state liquor system more profitable and freezing the
phase-out of the capital stock and franchise tax, among other steps.”
By Karen
Langley / Post-Gazette Harrisburg
Bureau June 11,
2013 12:11 am
State House of Representatives poised to vote on a
$28.3 billion budget
By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com
on June 10, 2013
at 7:49 PM
The House
could vote as soon as Tuesday on a $28.3 billion general fund budget for
2013-14, which raises spending from this year by a $550 million. This plan requires no increase in broad-based
taxes, such as the sales or personal income tax, to support it.
“Since
Corbett took office, education funding has been cut by nearly $1 billion. The
state's share of funding for public schools has dropped from 44 percent to 32
percent, well below the national average of about 48 percent.”
Inquirer Editorial:
Funding crisis is statewide
POSTED: Tuesday, June 11, 2013 , 3:01
AM
Gov.
Corbett and the legislature know Philadelphia
isn't the only school district in Pennsylvania
facing a financial crisis. So why is it taking them so long to come up with a
viable statewide solution? Already there
have been teacher layoffs and other budget cuts. Academic and extracurricular
programs have been eliminated, and class sizes have grown. The situation will
only get worse unless the state lives up to its legal and moral obligation to
provide its children with "a thorough and efficient education."
The end of Philly's
public schools?
Could all
of Philadelphia 's
school-aged kids soon be destined for charters?
As the
district struggles with a serious cash deficit, a top Democratic senator said
Monday there has been talk in Capitol halls of turning all of Philadelphia 's schools into privately-run
charters.
Sen.
Vincent Hughes says he heard from "high-placed sources" over the
weekend of "charterizing Philadelphia 's
school district in its entirety," a plan he likened to "a holy
war."
"That's
untenable, unacceptable," Hughes told reporters during a press
availability. "That abrogates contracts, that changes the entire dynamic
of what would happen in a school environment. And it takes the school
discussion to a whole other level."
He would
not give details on just who those high-placed sources are, or whether they are
even in the Corbett administration.
"They
don't get too much higher," Hughes would only say.
Read more
at http://www.philly.com/philly/education/The-end-of-Phillys-public-schools.html#4GyBf324fPCOIHQY.99
Charterizing
Philly schools could be a fabulous windfall for some lucky management
companies; not so much for students or taxpayers though…..
PA Charter Schools: $4 billion taxpayer dollars with no real
oversight Keystone State Education Coalition
(updated June 10,
2013 )
Charter schools - public funding without public scrutiny; Proposed
statewide authorization and direct payment would further diminish accountability
and oversight for public tax dollars
Senator Vincent Hughes: “Thousands of Philadelphia Teacher
Layoffs Are Unacceptable. Gov. Corbett
Must Expand Medicaid and Invest the Savings in Our Schools”
Philly: Faces of The
Layoffs
A project
by Teacher Action Group Philadelphia
On June 7, 2013 , The
School District of Philadelphia terminated 3.783 employees. Their presence is
essential in our schools. Get to know them here and then take a stand to get
them reinstated.
Nutter facing tough task
in Harrisburg
SEAN COLLINS WALSH, DAILY
NEWS STAFF WRITER WALSHSE@PHILLYNEWS.COM,
215-854-4172 - STAFF WRITERJAN RANSOM CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT.
POSTED: Tuesday, June 11, 2013 , 3:01
AM
AT A
PIVOTAL moment in the push to prevent drastic cuts for Philly schools, Mayor
Nutter is traveling to Harrisburg
today to build support for his plan to plug the district's budget gap, state
lawmakers said. It won't be an easy
task.
Read more
at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20130611_Nutter_facing_tough_task_in_Harrisburg.html#Hfqc01afuZDp3RwD.99
A
spokesman for the state Democratic Party, Marc Eisenstein, said, "Gov.
Corbett is one of America's most unpopular governors because he has cut funding
for education, ignored thousands of Pennsylvanians without health care and
presided over an economy that has gone from 7th to 41st in job growth all while
giving massive tax breaks to donors and special interests."
Schwartz leads Corbett in latest Quinnipiac poll
Schwartz leads Corbett in latest Quinnipiac poll
By Timothy McNulty / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette June
8, 2013 12:05 am
Suburban Philadelphia congresswoman Allyson
Schwartz leads the little-known pack of Democrats seeking to knock off Gov. Tom
Corbett next year, according to the latest Quinnipiac University
poll, as the incumbent Republican's numbers remain in the muck.
The pollsters found Ms. Schwartz, of Montgomery County ,
would beat Mr. Corbett in a November 2014 matchup 45 percent to 35 percent.
Fellow Philadelphia-area Democrat Rob McCord, the state treasurer, would fare
similarly against Mr. Corbett at 43 percent to 35 percent.
Partnership between Penn State , Philadelphia Futures
yields years of success
Nonprofit lauds University for
helping low-income students
“I felt I was breezing through with the knowledge that I already had,” he
said. “Philadelphia Futures, to me, was high school. The work and the
challenges they presented for me were much more challenging than my actual
school work.”
Teachers vie for Grammy
music educator honors
Tribune-Review By Jane Miller Published: Monday, June 10, 2013 ,
8:00 p.m.
For every performer who makes it to the Grammy stage, there is a teacher who played a critical role in getting them there, says the Grammy Foundation, sponsor of the annual music-excellence award. Last fall, Jamie Eisner of McCandless heard the announcement during the Grammy Awards to nominate music teachers for the first ever “Grammy Music Educator of the Year” award.
For every performer who makes it to the Grammy stage, there is a teacher who played a critical role in getting them there, says the Grammy Foundation, sponsor of the annual music-excellence award. Last fall, Jamie Eisner of McCandless heard the announcement during the Grammy Awards to nominate music teachers for the first ever “Grammy Music Educator of the Year” award.
The biggest scandal in
America
22
percent of children in the richest country in the history of the world
live at or below the federal poverty line — and if it weren’t bad enough that
more than 1 in five American children live at or below the
federal poverty line, nearly half live in low-income families that
struggle to meet basic needs, according
to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Double Jeopardy: How
Third-Grade Reading Skills and Poverty
Influence High
School Graduation
A Report by
the Annie E. Casey Foundation 2012
This
revised study finds that students who don’t read proficiently by third grade
are four times more likely to leave without a diploma than proficient readers.
It is notable in breaking down for the first time the likelihood of graduation
by different reading skill levels and poverty experiences. It also updates a 2011
research brief with new data on graduation rates for students living in
concentrated poverty.
“But the
work that would ensure that students can read well by the third grade must
start long before a child steps into a classroom, panel members said.”
Governors, state
education chiefs discuss improving child literacy
Governors
and education chiefs from nine states said Tuesday that a focus on
early-childhood education, the changing dynamic of families and supporting
low-income students could help improve literacy across the country. Discussing the nation’s literacy crisis at a
Washington Post policy forum in the District, the panel of political and
education leaders said states need to do more to help children learn to read by
the third grade, a key educational milestone at which children shift to
“reading to learn.” Those who can’t read proficiently by third grade are more
likely to struggle in later grades.
Teach for America has
$350 million in assets yet requires even the poorest school districts to pay
finder's fees.
Teach for America does not pay any teacher
salaries or benefits; local school districts must do that.
More Vetoes of Teach For America
Needed
Education
Week John Wilson Unleashed Blog By John Wilson on June 3,
2013 6:30 AM
It took a
smart and savvy Governor of Minnesota to figure out that Teach
for America'scurrent funding strategy is not fiscally responsible
for states. Governor Mark Daytonand his staff did their homework. When
they learned that TFA had $350 million in assets, he questioned why precious
funds from Minnesota
should go into an already well-funded program. It is refreshing to know that
there is at least one politician who is not blinded by the Madison Avenue
branding of Teach for America .
Local flexibility is
needed in ESEA reauthorization, says NSBA
NSBA’s
School Board News Today by Alexis Rice June 10, 2013
The
National School Boards Association (NSBA) is asking the U.S. Senate to make
changes in its legislation to reauthorize theElementary
and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), commonly known as the No Child Left
Behind Act (NCLB). On Tuesday, June 11, the Committee on Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions (HELP) will mark-up this bill.
CAPS Forum on Community Schools Saturday June 15, 9 am – 1:30 pm
The Philadelphia Coalition
Advocating for Public Schools (PCAPS)
Over the
past year, in forums, workshops, listening sessions, and through surveys,
thousands of students, parents, community members and school staff voiced their
desire for an educational system that provides a well-rounded education
parallel to what affluent districts offer, but that also addresses the
challenges that come with poverty. We understand that all of our schools must
provide:
- A rigorous academic
curriculum
- Enrichment activities
such as sports, art, music, drama
- Coordinated supports and
services that address the social-emotional as well as the academic needs
of students and their families.
The
Philadelphia Coalition Advocating for Public Schools (PCAPS) has done our
research! After meeting with experts from around the country, we have
concluded that the most equitable, effective, financially sound strategy for
our city is one that embraces community schools for all children.
Please join
us on Saturday, June 15th for the Community Schools Conference
(9am-2pm) at Kensington CAPA High School (Front & Berks St.) to learn more
from national experts and work with others on a strategy to make this a reality
for our city.
Please
encourage your networks to attend and feel free to bring a friend! Lunch will
be provided. Please RSVP at www.eventbrite.com/event/6815949689
EPLC Education Policy Fellowship Program –
Apply Now
Applications are
available now for the 2013-2014 Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP). The Education Policy
Fellowship Program is sponsored in Pennsylvania
by The Education Policy and Leadership Center (EPLC).
With more than 350
graduates in its first fourteen years, this Program is a premier professional
development opportunity for educators, state and local policymakers, advocates,
and community leaders. State Board of Accountancy (SBA) credits are
available to certified public accountants.
Past participants
include state policymakers, district superintendents and principals, school
business officers, school board members, education deans/chairs, statewide
association leaders, parent leaders, education advocates, and other education
and community leaders. Fellows are typically sponsored by their employer
or another organization.
The Fellowship Program
begins with a two-day retreat on September 12-13, 2013 and
continues to graduation in June 2014.
Building One America 2013 National Summit July 18-19, 2013 Washington , DC
Brookings Institution to present
findings of their “Confronting Suburban Poverty” report
Building One America’s Second National Summit for
Inclusive Suburbs and Sustainable Regions will involve local leaders and
federal policy makers to seek bipartisan solutions to the unique but common
challenges around housing, schools and infrastructure facing America ’s metropolitan regions and
its diverse middle-class suburbs. Participants will include local elected and
grassroots leaders from America ’s
diverse middle class suburban towns and school districts, scholars and policy
experts, members of the Obama Administration and Congress. The summit will identify comprehensive
solutions and build bipartisan support for meaningful action to stabilize and
support inclusive middle-class communities and promote sustainable,
economically competitive regions.
Lineup of speakers: https://buildingoneamerica.org/summit/speakers
Information and registration: https://buildingoneamerica.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=1
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