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
DN Editorial: EDUCATION
BUCKET The state adds a drop of funding to it. Schools are ready to kick it.
Education
Voters PA Statewide Call to Action for Public Education
Mark your calendar today for Monday, June 10th – remember it just takes 10 minutes to do three things to make a difference!
Mark your calendar today for Monday, June 10th – remember it just takes 10 minutes to do three things to make a difference!
Education Voters PA Statewide Call to Action for Public
Education Monday June 10
Mark your calendar today for Monday, June 10th – remember it just takes 10 minutes to do three things to make a difference!
Mark your calendar today for Monday, June 10th – remember it just takes 10 minutes to do three things to make a difference!
As we
enter the final stretch of the 2013-14 budget discussions, it is critical that
parents, voters, taxpayers, community members make one more push to ensure that
our elected officials in Harrisburg
“When
Corbett first made the cuts, he bragged about keeping the lid on state spending
so that he could live up to his no-new-taxes pledge. What the governor really did was push off the
cost of education from the state to local governments, forcing them to increase
taxes and cut programs.”
DN Editorial: EDUCATION
BUCKET The state adds a drop of funding to it. Schools are ready to kick it.
EARLIER
this year, Gov. Corbett proposed a $90 million increase in aid to basic education.
This week, in their version of the budget, the House Republicans added $10
million to the pot.
Combined,
they amount to a 1 percent increase. The phrase "a drop in the
bucket" comes to mind. These increases do little to restore the deep cuts
the Corbett administration has made to education funding over the past three
years. As the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center
Philly, Allentown , Shippensburg, Harrisburg , Pittsburgh
Buzzing with Action
It’s
June and Pennsylvania
"This isn't a Republican or Democrat issue," said Ronald
Williams, a GOP member of the Pottstown school board in Montgomery County
WHYY
Newsworks By Holly Otterbein, @hollyotterbein June 4, 2013
A
group of unlikely allies descended upon Harrisburg Pennsylvania
Nutter, Butkovitz push Pa.
AMY
WORDEN, INQUIRER HARRISBURG June 4, 2013 ,
5:45 PM
At
separate news conferences, Mayor Nutter and City Controller Alan Butkovitz
called on lawmakers to find money to stave off the school funding crisis as
they head into the frenzied final lap toward the June 30 budget deadline. "We cannot and will not let the students
down," said Nutter, who was joined by School Superintendent William R.
Hite Jr. and representatives of charter schools in a show of support for all
public schools.
Prioritize Schools and Communities Over New
State Tax Cuts, Local Officials Urge Harrisburg
Better
Choices for Pennsylvania June 4, 2013
- 1:10pm
Local
officials from across Pennsylvania came to Harrisburg
Storm imperils Philly schools
Inquirer
Opinion By David Bradley Tuesday, June 4, 2013 , 3:01 AM
David Bradley is a theater director, arts
educator, arts consultant, and School
District of Philadelphia
As theSchool District of Philadelphia
As the
Read
more at http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/inquirer/20130604_Storm_imperils_Philly_schools.html#8MqKu6K5SFrfEBO0.99
Charter reform bills gain House Education
Committee approval
By
Josh Fatzick|For PennLive.com on June 04, 2013 at 6:35 AM
The
House Education Committee on Monday passed legislation to address school
district concerns surrounding charter school funding and it also moved a bill
to increase funding for the popular Educational Improvement Tax Credit program.
The
measures now will advance toward full consideration by the full House.
Efforts
to move charter school reform legislation last year fell short when
the House and Senate couldn't reach an agreement on details surrounding the
reforms.
Rep. Truitt has two sons who have attended cyber charters and is a
member of the House Education Committee.
On May 30 he attended and spoke at a legislative meeting with over 70
school board members and administrators from school districts in Chester and Delaware
Counties
Guest Post: Charter Funding “Reform” Bill
is Logically Bankrupt
Citizens
Alliance of Pennsylvania
I
don’t think anyone who has been paying attention to education funding in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Grant to encourage students to take
advanced placement classes
Heinz Endowments' gift will
help city schools foster advanced learning
By
Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh June
5, 2013 1:01 am
Jordan
Tyler, a junior at Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy
"I
found myself working harder than ever to be the best I can be," he said.
A
$930,367 three-year grant from The Heinz Endowments is expected to make it
possible for more city students to get that edge in science, math and English
AP courses.
Inquirer
by Jessica Parks Tuesday, June 4, 2013 , 1:46
PM
The
panel, "Stalwart Stakeholders: 20 Years of Energy Independent
Leadership," is part of the department's Clean Cities 20th
Anniversary Celebration on June 24.
In
addition to Lower Merion 's Jerry Rineer, the
panel will include fleet managers for agencies such as UPS, Schwan's, the New
York City Department of Transportation and the National Park Service. In 1995, Lower Merion
began swapping out its diesel-fueled buses for vehicles that run on Clean
Natural Gas. Today, 58 of the district's 113 buses run on CNG. The
district has its own fueling stations and also uses bio-diesel fuel in the
non-CNG buses.
It
was one of the first districts in the country to begin using CNG, and it has the
largest alternative-fuel school bus fleet on the East Coast, according to the
district's website.
Read
more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/montco_memo/Lower-Merions-green-buses-earn-.html#iwHIzJIoyQwwS7xQ.99
New Common Core Standards or not, kids that are not reading on grade
level by third grade are very likely to be “not proficient” eight years later.
First Book
With
the school year winding down at Bonne Ecole Elementary school ,
a Title I school in Slidell ,
Louisiana
You can help. Donate today to put new books into the
hands of a child in need before school lets out for the summer. Click here to donate today.
“We had to
destroy the village in order to save it”… distorted quote attributed to CNN
reporter Peter Arnett during the Vietnam War….
Broad Foundation: School Closure Guide
Closing Schools as a Means for
Addressing Budgetary Challenges
The
Broad Education Foundation May 2009
This
is a guide for school district operators considering school closures to address
significant
budgetary
challenges. Note that this tool was not designed to assist with school closures
as part
of a
periodical closing and opening of schools for academic performance, though a
subset of
the
strategies may still be applicable.
Harkin, Senate HELP Committee Democrats
Introduce Bill to Prepare All Children for Success and Fix “No Child Left
Behind”
US Senate Committee on Health, Education, labor and
Pensions Tuesday, June
04, 2013
Bill to Reauthorize ESEA Would Provide America
All 11 HELP Committee Democrats Sign on as Original
Sponsors of Bill Introduced by Chairman Harkin, the “Strengthening America’s
Schools Act of 2013”
Harkin Announces That HELP Committee Will Begin
Markup on Tuesday, June 11
Don’t expect Congress to end
test-and-punish core of NCLB
Democratic
Sen. Tom Harkin just introduced a new bill that would rewrite
No Child Left Behind, which nearly all people in the education world
believe to be fatally flawed. Here’s a piece on why the Harkin bill and the
likely Republican counterpart in the House won’t fix the problems of NCLB. It
was written by Monty Neill, executive director of the National Center
Bill to Alter Bush-Era Education Law Gives
States More Room
New
York Times By MOTOKO RICH Published: June 4, 2013
Renewing
the effort to revise No Child Left Behind, the signature Bush-era federal education
law, Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, introduced a new version on Tuesday
that he said would “replace the failed tenets” of the law. Less than two years after Congress last tried
to update the law, which governs public schools that receive federal money to
support the country’s most disadvantaged students, Mr. Harkin, chairman of the
Senate education committee, opened what is likely to be a fierce debate over
the proper role of the federal government in public education.
No Child Left Behind Reauthorization
Revived By Harkin Bill
Huffington
Post by Joy Resmovits, Posted: 06/04/2013 10:31 am EDT
After
more than a year of near-dormancy in the Senate, the rocky process of rewriting
No Child Left Behind is getting a new start.
On Tuesday, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the retiring chairman of the Senate
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, released a new 1,150-page bill
to update the law.
Senate introduces No Child Left Behind
replacement
TribLive
By The Associated Press Published: Tuesday, June 4, 2013 ,
11:33 a.m.
WASHINGTON — The one-sized-fits-all national requirements of No Child Left Behind would give way to standards that states write for themselves under legislation Senate Democrats announced Tuesday.
WASHINGTON — The one-sized-fits-all national requirements of No Child Left Behind would give way to standards that states write for themselves under legislation Senate Democrats announced Tuesday.
The
state-by-state approach to education standards is already largely in place in
the 37 states that received waivers to the requirements in exchange for
customized school improvement plans. The 1,150-page proposal from Senate
education committee chairman Tom Harkin would require some of those states to
tinker with their improvement plans and force the other remaining states to
develop their own reform efforts. Education Secretary Arne Duncan would still
have final say over those improvement plans, and schools would still have to
measure students' achievements.
Senate Democrats to Unveil NCLB Reauthorization
Bill
U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, the chairman of
the Senate education committee, unveiled a bill to reauthorize the No Child
Left Behind Act that would require states to set achievement and growth targets
for students, including subgroup students. The proposal, which faces steep
political hurdles, mirrors the Obama administration's NCLB
waiver system but
is a marked departure from the bipartisan measure that was approved by the
education committee back in 2012. All
eleven other Democrats on the committee have signed onto the legislation, which
will be considered by the full panel on June 11. But the bill has no Republican
sponsor, and it seems unlikely to garner GOP support, given that it outlines a
more robust role for the federal government than the 2011 measure, which got the support of
just three (relatively reluctant) Republicans.
The Pressing Need for Preschool
Huffington
Post by Jonah Edelman,
Co-founder and CEO, Stand for Children 06/03/2013 3:28 pm
I've
written about the need for universal early childhood education before and I'll write about it again. This time I'll
assume that you, like 70 percent of Americans, support increasing access to
high quality preschool. My goal, then, is to arm you with the facts so you can
contact your Congressperson and senators about supporting President Obama's
preschool plan today.
Need to feel good about the Common Core and Keystone Exams?
What would it take for us to see similar events focusing on high quality
early childhood education and community
schools? Generous sponsors?
“The Pennsylvania Education Summit is
co-sponsored by the Pennsylvania Business
Council Education Foundation, Pennsylvania Partnerships for
Children and Team Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Education Summit Pennsylvania
Agenda
and registration here: http://educsummit.eventbrite.com/
“What’s the least bad option going forward?
Who should bear the brunt of this legacy of fiscal irresponsibility? Current
retirees? Today’s teachers? New teachers? School districts? Taxpayers? The
students themselves?”
Live
or Webinar June 6, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. EDT
The
Thomas B. Fordham Institute, 1016
16th Street NW
America’s teacher-pension systems (with up to a trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities according to some estimates) present a raging public-policy dilemma. Career teachers absolutely deserve a secure retirement, but lawmakers promised them benefits that the system cannot afford, as those promises were based on short-term political considerations and bad math. Now the bill is coming due, and someone’s going to get soaked.
America’s teacher-pension systems (with up to a trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities according to some estimates) present a raging public-policy dilemma. Career teachers absolutely deserve a secure retirement, but lawmakers promised them benefits that the system cannot afford, as those promises were based on short-term political considerations and bad math. Now the bill is coming due, and someone’s going to get soaked.
Panelists:
- Sandi Jacobs, vice president
and managing director of state policy, National Council on Teacher Quality
- Josh B. McGee, vice president of
public accountability, Laura and John Arnold Foundation
- Charles Zogby, secretary of
the budget,
- Leo Casey, executive director,
Albert Shanker Institute
Moderator:
Chester
This event will be webcast.
Visit our website,www.edexcellence.net, at 10:00 a.m. EDT on Thursday,
June 6, to watch the proceedings live.
Register
now to join the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and the National Council on
Teacher Quality for a timely look at the teacher-pension crisis and various
state efforts to address it.
Info
and registration: http://www.edexcellence.net/events/no-way-out.html
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
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.
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 320 S. Broad Street
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 America
Information and registration: https://buildingoneamerica.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=1
PA Charter Schools: $4 billion taxpayer dollars with no real
oversight Keystone State May 2,
2013 )
Charter schools - public funding without public scrutiny; Proposed statewide
authorization and direct payment would further diminish accountability and
oversight for public tax dollars
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.