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.
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emails are archived at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
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HB618: Why should charter schools have the same number of appointees to
a funding panel as school districts?
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.
Mark your calendar
today for Monday, June 10th – remember it just takes 10 minutes to do three
things to make a difference!
Here’s a dumb question regarding the composition of the proposed funding
panel in HB618
from a school board member (me):
School districts educate more than 90% of the kids. They are governed by 4500 locally elected
volunteer school board members who are responsible for levying taxes on their
neighbors in order to adequately fund the schools.
Charters receive their funding conveniently sanitized, shrink-wrapped and
accountability-free; charter operators are not elected and never have to face
taxpayers or voters.
So why
should charter schools have the same number of appointees to a funding panel as
school districts?
H.B.
618 Analysis
H.B. 618
is a major revision of Pennsylvania’s current charter school/cyber charter school
law that would permit the unchecked expansion of charter schools throughout the
state, redirecting millions of dollars of
public funding away from traditional public schools – without any examination of
the fiscal impact on local public schools and communities. A comprehensive funding study, which examines
all of the fiscal implications of charter schools, including impact on local school
districts’ ability to adequately serve all students, should be conducted before
any further expansion of charterschools.
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
are paying attention to input from real people. Here is where we stand: The
Governor proposed a mere $90 million increase and did NOT propose improvements
to the funding formula. House leaders proposed just a little more than the
Governor (and when we say a little, we mean a little), proposing just $10
million more than the Governor (and by the way, they proposed more money for
their own operations!)
“Over the
past two years, school districts across Pennsylvania have reduced teacher and
support staff by 20,000 through furloughs and unfilled positions, cut course
offerings and extra-curriculars, increased class sizes, reduced tutoring
programs and field trips and eliminated summer school programs because of tight
funding, according to a report issued today by two school business officials'
organizations.”
PASBO/PASA Report show sharp cuts in Pennsylvania school
programs due to funding shortfalls
By Mary
Niederberger / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette June
5, 2013 11:24 am
Over the
past two years, school districts across Pennsylvania have reduced teacher and
support staff by 20,000 through furloughs and unfilled positions, cut course
offerings and extra-curriculars, increased class sizes, reduced tutoring
programs and field trips and eliminated summer school programs because of tight
funding, according to a report issued today by two school business officials'
organizations. The trend is expected to continue for the 2013-14 school year
with 75 percent of school districts surveyed statewide reporting they plan to
reduce instructional programming, according to the survey done by the
Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators and the Pennsylvania
Association of School Business Officials.
Financial woes continue to take toll on Pennsylvania school
districts
By Josh Fatzick|For PennLive.com on June 05, 2013 at 6:50
PM
Weakened
financial conditions over the past three years has left dozens of school
districts struggling to make ends meet and still provide an education to the
children who show up at their school doors.
An annual survey released today
by the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials and the
Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators shows declines in financial
conditions will force school districts across the state to make more cuts to
personnel, course offerings, and other educational programs next year.
Here’s the PASBO/PASA
Report noted above:
THIRD CONSECUTIVE YEAR OF CUTS TO STUDENT LEARNING
OPPORTUNITIES AS SCHOOL DISTRICT FINANCES CONTINUE TO WEAKEN
PASBO/PASA
REPORT: JUNE 2013
For a third
consecutive year, Pennsylvania’s public school finances continue to weaken,
forcing school districts to once again cut course offerings, increase class
size, delay textbook purchases, reduce tutoring programs for struggling
students, eliminate summer school, reduce field trips, and cut extracurricular
activities, including sports and close school buildings. The proposed,
relatively modest increase in state basic education funding and continued
stagnant local revenues are not keeping pace with substantially increased
pension, health care and energy costs. With three-quarters of school districts
having balanced their budgets in the past two years by using savings, as
districts exhaust their savings, they have no choice but to continue to cut
programs and staff. A recent survey of school districts shows these cuts will
cause additional harm to already reduced educational opportunities available to
Pennsylvania ’s
students.
Diane
Ravitch’s Blog By dianerav June
5, 2013 //
Good News: Illinois Enacts Moratorium on Virtual
Charters
Diane
Ravitch’s Blog By dianerav June
4, 2013
Cerf Denies Approval for Online Charters in
New Jersey
Diane
Ravitch’s Blog By dianerav June
5, 2013 //
In a
sign that informed opposition makes a difference, New Jersey State Commissioner
Chris Cerf denied
approval to two virtual charter schools.
Is Pennsylvania next? It should be.
Fleck Bill to Place Moratorium on New Cyber
Charter Schools Advances
News
Talk 1240 WRTA June
5, 2013
Legislation
authored by state Rep. Mike Fleck (R-Huntingdon/Blair/Mifflin) that would
maintain the current number of cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania until funding issues are
addressed, was approved Monday by the House Education Committee. House Bill 980 now heads to the full House for
consideration. “The appropriate manner
of funding cyber charter schools is a complex issue on which there is
significant disagreement.” said Fleck. “Allowing the number of approved cyber
charter schools to increase before the General Assembly addresses this issue
would only exacerbate the pressures on the funding system. My bill would give
us ample time, to develop and consider funding solutions.”
“The
board consists of representatives from each of LCCC's sponsoring school
districts, as well as two at-large members. Like Marcus, who co-chairs the Keystone State Education Coalition, some of the
trustees also serve on their local school boards.”
By Precious
Petty | The Express-Times
onJune 05, 2013
at 8:52 PM ,
updated June 05, 2013 at 8:53 PM
on
Parkland school
director Roberta
Marcus is replacing Robert Cohen on the Lehigh
Carbon Community College Board of Trustees.
PennDesign plan puts
vacant Philly school buildings to use
Penn
Current By Jeanne Leong May 30, 2013
At the end
of the school year in June, Philadelphia
will have nearly three dozen vacant school buildings. Some are small- or
medium-sized structures, while others are gargantuan, like Germantown High School ,
which is four stories high and more than 350,000 square feet.
PennPraxis, the applied
research arm of PennDesign, has
developed a model for how the City of Philadelphia
can reuse vacant school buildings for purposes such as housing for senior
citizens or recreational space.
“I am
telling you all this because nothing major is going to happen for
early-childhood education without an enormous groundswell of public demand.”
Power to the Preschoolers
New York
Times OP-ED By GAIL COLLINS Published: June 5, 2013 15
Comments
“Spread the word about President Obama’s plan
to provide high-quality preschool for every kid in America ,” twittered the White House
on Wednesday. We all know that nothing on the planet compares to the awesome
power of social media. But it may require more than a hashtag to bring this one
home. You may remember that earlier this
spring, the president unveiled a budget plan that included a big initiative on
early childhood education. Universal pre-K for 4-year-olds! More programs for
low-income infants and toddlers! Big push for higher quality! And to help pay
for it all, a new 94-cents-per-pack tax on cigarettes.
THE WHITE
HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary Press Release June 4, 2013
Increasing Access to High-Quality Early Childhood
Education in Pennsylvania
What You Need to Know About President
Obama's Plan to Provide High-Quality Early Education for All Children
The
White House Blog by Megan Slack February 14, 2013
“In states that make it a priority to educate our youngest children…studies show students grow up more likely to read and do math at grade level, graduate high school, hold a job, form more stable families of their own. We know this works. So let’s do what works and make sure none of our children start the race of life already behind.” President Barack Obama, State of theUnion , February 12, 2013
“In states that make it a priority to educate our youngest children…studies show students grow up more likely to read and do math at grade level, graduate high school, hold a job, form more stable families of their own. We know this works. So let’s do what works and make sure none of our children start the race of life already behind.” President Barack Obama, State of the
The
beginning years of a child’s life are critical for building the early
foundation needed for success later in school and in life. Leading economists
agree that high-quality early learning programs can help level the playing
field for children from lower-income families on vocabulary, social and
emotional development, while helping students to stay on track and stay engaged
in the early elementary grades. Children who attend these programs are
more likely to do well in school, find good jobs, and succeed in their careers
than those who don’t.
TFA Grooms a Néw Elite
Diane
Ravitch’s Blog By dianerav June
5, 2013 //
Teach
for America
began with a worthy goal: to supply bright, idealistic college graduates to
serve in poor children in urban and rural districts. But then it evolved into something with grand
ambitions: to groom the leaders who would one day control American education. This article
describes the little-known political arm of TFA. TFA alums have begun
the long march through the institutions, and the organization’s political goals
are clear. James Cersonsky, the
article’s author, foresees “a massive proliferation” of Michelle Rhees, and
wonders whether the political arm of TFA might actually be “the Trojan horse of
the privatization of public education.”
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
Foundation with the support of generous sponsors.”
The Pennsylvania Education Summit : Building a Pathway to College and
Career Success will gather business leaders, teachers, school
superintendents, curriculum specialists, state lawmakers, legislative staff,
executive agency professionals, workforce investment board members and staff,
and other education stakeholders for a civil conversation on the public policy
required to ensure our Commonwealth's young people are "college and career
ready." The Pennsylvania
Education Summit will highlight and support the efforts of the Corbett
Administration and Pennsylvania General Assembly to design and implement education
reforms that increase student achievement and accountability in Pennsylvania 's K-12
education system.
Agenda
and registration here: http://educsummit.eventbrite.com/
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.
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.
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
PA Charter Schools: $4 billion taxpayer dollars with no real
oversight Keystone State Education Coalition
(updated 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
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