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
“This is about budget priorities. There is
money, but it’s not going to public education”
Send an email to Harrisburg
on school funding
Education Voters PA
In the event that you have a few minutes 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
Here’s a
dozen revenue ideas from Jessie Ramey at Yinzercation
Where’s
the $$$?
Yinzercation Blog June 13, 2013
As
expected, the Pennsylvania House passed a budget yesterday that does next to
nothing to help our public schools. The debate now moves to the Senate, but if
the strict party-line vote in the House was any indication, Republicans in Harrisburg are sticking
to their mantra that the state is broke and can’t afford to adequately fund
education. House Majority Leader Mike Turzai from here in Allegheny County
claims that this proposed budget “lives within our means, just like families
and businesses across the state.” [Penn
Live, 6-12-13] But when Rep.
Turzai or Gov. Corbett and others say we have to “live within our means,” what
they really mean is that our schools must continue to cut into the bone –
ditching art, music, library, tutoring, Kindergarten, books, supplies, field
trips, athletics, and thousands of teachers – while families struggle to make
up the difference. That’s not living within our means, that’s just mean.
This is
about budget priorities. There is money, but it’s not going to
public education (or our other public goods).
“Ward said she believes
the defunding of education has less to do with fiscal necessity than the state
government’s vision of what education should look like.
“Their education
priorities were privatization; they were vouchers and charter schools,” she
said. “So they clearly wanted to move in a different direction, and so public
education was not and is not the administration’s priority.””
State cuts to education spur Philadelphia school budget crisis
MSNBC by
Ned Resnikoff, @resnikoff 4:08 PM on 06/13/2013
State and
municipal governments across the country have been strip-mining their school
districts in an attempt to defray budget deficits. In Michigan , an entire school district temporarily
shut down due to lack of funds, while another fired
all of its teachers. In Illinois , Chicago ’s school board
voted to “consolidate” its resources by permanently
shuttering 50 schools.
And now
it’s Pennsylvania ’s
turn. There the school district is moving forward with plans to lay off some
3,783 education professionals and scrap 23 schools as part of a plan to
reduce its $304 million deficit. Defenders of the new budget have called it
regrettable—but necessary.
Helen Gym: Report from Philadelphia Parents on
the Front Lines of Destruction
Diane
Ravitch’s Blog By dianerav June
13, 2013 //
Hey City Council: You’re
Supposed to Be Better than Harrisburg
ParentsUnited for Public Education June 12, 2013 by REBECCAPOYOUROW
City
Council’s failure to move a liquor-by-the-drink tax yesterday disappointed
parents and school supporters all across the city.
Today over
100 parents, students, and community members packed City Council chambers—in
the middle of a workday afternoon—and testified for over three hours to demand
movement on the liquor-by-the-drink tax. For weeks, parents and other
community members have made thousands of phone calls, sent hundreds of letters,
spent hours on lobbying visits, and gathered countless petition signatures in
support of raising desperately needed funds for our public schools. Opposite us were a handful of lobbyists,
whose sole job is to be paid to gain access to City Council members and state legislators.
WHYY
Newsworks By Kevin McCorry, @byKevinMcCorry June 13, 2013
In an
effort to raise funds for the cash strapped public school system, Philadelphia
City Council unanimously passed a new cigarette tax today that raises prices by
$2 a pack.
Before the
vote, Shawmont Elementary school music teacher Hugh
Williamson — one of the 3,800 district employees to receive a budget-related
pink-slip last week — addressed council with the backing of 20 of his students.
"Our hope is in the members of council, that you will find a way to
adequately fund the schools regardless of the politics, otherwise these
students and thousands of students will be silenced," said Williamson.
When
Council unanimously passed the measure, loud cheers came from Williamson and
the rest of the gallery of onlookers who came to vocalize support for education
funding.
But despite
the cheers, the tax cannot be implemented without a blessing from lawmakers in Harrisburg , a prospect
that at this point seems unlikely.
Are plans to raise money
for Philadelphia ’s
struggling schools unraveling?
WHYY
Newsworks By Holly Otterbein, @hollyotterbein June 13, 2013
Philadelphia
City Council declined to vote on a bill Wednesday that would generate $22
million for the school district by increasing the liquor-by-the-drink tax to 15
percent from 10 percent. For now, it seems that there is not enough support for
it to pass.
But Council
President Darrell Clarke said the drink tax proposal is not dead. It is also
needs state-enabling legislation to become a reality. If that comes through, he
said, Council could theoretically reconsider it.
PUBLISHED: JUNE 13, 2013 12:01 AM EST
Guest Voice: HelpErie youngsters go to preschool
Guest Voice: Help
GoErie.com BY
MICHAEL A. PLAZONY Contributing writer
MICHAEL
A. PLAZONY is a senior vice president of Erie Insurance Group.
Businesses
and families must allocate their resources carefully, choosing investments that
generate the strongest and most solidly measurable returns.
Here in
Erie, the Erie Community Foundation, the United Way of Erie County, Success by
6 in Erie County, Erie Together and the Early Learning Investment Commission
lead a broad coalition called Erie's Future Fund, dedicated to providing
scholarships that give young, at-risk children the benefits of quality early
childhood education. It's that important.
“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.”
The Bottom Line on PA
Education Funding
Keystone
Politics Blog Posted on June 12, 2013 by Jon Geeting #
Starting in
2008, the state’s share of education spending was supposed
to keep increasing, and the local property tax share was supposed to keep
shrinking.
Via KSEC,
that is not what happened:
Pocono charter school
founder admits tax evasion
The Rev.
Dennis Bloom faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison
By Peter
Hall, Of The Morning Call 1:38 p.m. EDT, June 13, 2013
Large urban school
districts creating their own virtual schools
by thenotebook on
Jun 13 2013
Posted in Latest news
This is
a reprint of an article that originally
appeared at Education
Week.
by Sean
Cavanaugh
The Philadelphia school
system will open a new, full-time online school this coming fall, a program
that the district promises will offer the academic flexibility and customized
learning that many students and families demand.
But
district officials also see the virtual program as bringing at least one clear
benefit to the city school system itself: the ability to compete.
Leaders of
the financially troubled district see the online program as a tool to stave off
families' temptation to choose "cyber charters" and other options
outside the district.
Diane
Ravitch’s Blog By dianerav June
13, 2013 //
Rhonda
Brownstein, the executive director of Pennsylvania ’s
Education Law Center ,
says that it is time to stop trusting the claims of cyber charter promoters.
For years, they have promised that students would get “innovative” education
and that wondrous things would happen when virtual charters became reality,
but Pennsylvania
now knows that none of that turned out to be true.
Down to the wire on
charter talks
by thenotebook on
Jun 13 2013
Posted in Latest news
by
Connie Langland
With their
mandates to operate running out in just a matter of days, leaders of 10 charter
schools are deep into negotiations with District
officials determined, at least for now, to defer plans by the
schools to expand. Citing the budget
crisis, Superintendent William Hite last month announced hewould
not recommend any charter expansions in the coming year -- a
setback to the publicized ambitions of 21 charter schools to add
more than 15,000 students over the next five years. Such expansion would
cost the District $500 million.
“But it's not like Pennsylvania does not
have the money to fill the debt. Rather, PA's GOP-controlled Houseof
Representatives recently passed a tax break for corporations that will
cost the state an estimated $600 million to $800 million annually.”
Philly Closes 23 Public Schools, Generously Builds
$400 Million Prison Where Kids Can Hang Instead
Priorities are out of whack in Pennsylvania .
AlterNet / By Kristen Gwynne
June 7,, 2013
“VOYCE
found that the expulsion rate is 7.6 times higher at Noble than in the city's
noncharter public schools, while another network, Perspectives Charter Schools,
had an expulsion rate that is almost 16 times higher than Chicago Public
Schools' traditional public schools.”
Education
Week Rules for Engagement Blog By Nirvi
Shah on June 13, 2013 8:22
AM
By guest
blogger Jackie Zubrzycki. Cross-posted from District Dossier.
A group of
students and advocates in Chicago
are taking their protest against strict disciplinary policies in some charter
schools in the city to the state legislature and the State Board of Education.
The
protesters appeared before the Illinois
state charter commission earlier
this week but got little traction with their concerns, said Emma
Tai, a coordinator for Voices of Youth in Chicago Education, or VOYCE, which is supporting
the protests.
They want
more oversight and consistent regulation of charter schools' expulsion and
discipline policies from both the state commission and the Chicago Board of
Education—especially as those schools are expanding at the same time the school
district is closing
almost 50 of its noncharter schools.
"Charter schools can't claim to be 'nonselective' and
'higher-performing' public schools while relying on expulsion to systematically
choose which students they will educate with taxpayer dollars," says a
VOYCE fact
sheet.
Common Core: Raising the bar
A battle
over school standards
The
Economist Jun 15th 2013 | CHICAGO
HERE’S a
multiple-choice question: if the federal government penalises states where
pupils do badly in school, but lets the states themselves set the pass mark,
will the states a) make the tests harder; or b) dumb them down?
Historically,
the answer has been b). The National Centre for Educational Statistics (NCES),
a federal body, looked at how the states’ definitions of “proficiency” at maths
and reading compared with its own rigorous one. For grade 4 reading in 2009,
not one state held its pupils to as high a standard (see map). Fifteen states
labelled a child “proficient” when the NCES would have called her skills
“basic”; 35 bestowed that honour on children performing at “below basic” level.
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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