Daily postings from the Keystone State Education
Coalition now reach more than 3000 Pennsylvania education policymakers – school
directors, administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers,
Governor's staff, the acting PA Secretary of Education, 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
These daily emails are archived at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg
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?
Where’s the funding?
Here’s $520.5 million in Pennsylvania school funding budget lines
that existed pre-ARRA/stimulus (FY 2008-2009) that no longer exist:
High
School Reform $
10.7 million eliminated
Accountability
Block Grant $171.4
million reduction
Tutoring $
65.1 million eliminated
Dual
Enrollment $
10.0 million eliminated
Science:
It’s Elementary $
13.6 million eliminated
School
Improvement Grants $ 22.8 million eliminated
Charter
School Reimbursement $226.9
million eliminated
Key Education
Subsidies Chart FY2006-07 thru 2012-13
Senator Hughes’ website
PA No Child Left Behind Waiver Request Approved
by U.S.
Department of Education
Acting Sec’y Harner Attends Town Hall Meeting at DCIU
Thanks very much to PA Acting Secretary of
Education Dr. William Harner who attended a Town Hall meeting last evening at
the Delaware County Intermediate Unit.
More than 80
superintendents, administrators, school board members, parents and community
members from Delaware and Chester Counties
attended the meeting, where Dr. Harner took questions from the floor for over 2
hours. Topics included adequate school
funding, the Common Core, raising standards without providing adequate funding,
lack of an education funding formula in PA, Keystone Exams, unfunded mandates
including special education and PSERS, charter schools, the NCLB waiver and new
school profile/report card, the impact of poverty and the need for quality
early childhood education.
The meeting was
sponsored by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association and the DCIU.
PDE Press Release August 20, 2013
Pennsylvania’s No Child Left Behind Waiver Request Approved by U.S. Department of Education
Harrisburg – Governor Tom Corbett today announced that the U.S. Department of Education has approved the state’s No Child Left Behind waiver request that will help make our Pennsylvania’s public schools better for our children and their families.
Pennsylvania’s No Child Left Behind Waiver Request Approved by U.S. Department of Education
Harrisburg – Governor Tom Corbett today announced that the U.S. Department of Education has approved the state’s No Child Left Behind waiver request that will help make our Pennsylvania’s public schools better for our children and their families.
“This is welcome news
for students, parents, taxpayers, educators and public schools across the
state,” Corbett said. “This waiver allows Pennsylvania to focus on improving schools
by directing resources to areas that help students academically succeed. We now
have a better way of guiding improvement efforts in schools by establishing
ambitious, yet attainable, goals.”
The approved waiver is
designed to improve Pennsylvania
education in three areas: making sure all our students are ready for careers or
college; developing recognition and accountability standards by the state for
all public schools; improving and supporting effective teachers and principals
in all our classrooms.
PDE: Overview of Pennsylvania ’s
Approved No Child Left Behind Waiver
By Eleanor
Chute / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette August
20, 2013 11:41 pm
The measure used for
public school performance throughout Pennsylvania
for more than a decade -- adequate yearly progress, or AYP -- is being replaced
by a new accountability system.
The U.S. Department of
Education and Gov. Tom Corbett announced Tuesday that the federal government
has granted the state a waiver to the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which
was enacted in January 2001. The new
system is called School Performance Profile. Each school will be given a
profile score, based on test participation, performance, graduation or
attendance rates and closing certain achievement gaps.
Education Week
Politics K12 Blog By Michele McNeil on August
20, 2013 4:25 PM
“Tim Eller,
a spokesman for the state Department of Education, said School Performance
Profiles would replace Adequate Yearly Progress if the U.S. Department of
Education approves the state’s
application to a waiver to the federal No Child Left Behind Act.”
School performance profiles to provide scores based on academic
achievement, growth
By Julianne Mattera
| jmattera@pennlive.com on August 19, 2013 at 9:50 PM , updated August 20, 2013 at 12:27 AM
School across the
state are set to receive individual scores based on students’ academic
achievement and growth as part of anticipated school performance profiles.
Shirley F. Hunter,
Central Dauphin’s director of curriculum, instruction and assessment, explained
to Central Dauphin School Board members Monday night the scores would be
available for public information. They also would factor into teachers’
evaluations going forward.
By Eleanor
Chute / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette August
21, 2013 12:08 am
Since the beginning of
2013, eight top central office administrators in Pittsburgh Public Schools have
resigned or retired. The latest
departure is Cate Reed, executive director of strategic priorities, who is
leading the district's efforts to "envision" its future along with
consultants paid by a $2.4 million foundation grant. The school board is expected
to vote on her resignation tonight.
“The state must make education funding a
priority, Mr. Hanger said. Job creation must be another priority, and the gas
industry must be taxed, he said. "This
governor is making the wrong choices," Mr. Hanger said. "You can't
skimp on education and have a successful economy. We're on the edge of
destroying public education in the state of Pennsylvania ."
Michael Barley, campaign
manager for the Corbett campaign, said the governor has committed more state
resources to education than any other governor.”
Governor candidate touts tuition plan, education funding
High school graduates
could attend one year at a public college or two years of community college
with no immediate costs, according to a plan by a Democratic gubernatorial
candidate.
John Hanger, a former
state Department of Environmental Protection secretary under Gov. Ed Rendell,
pitched his Keystone Opportunity Fund on Tuesday morning at Lackawanna County Courthouse Square .
“Pennsylvania is just one
of three states that do not use a funding formula to appropriately distribute
funds among its numerous school districts. Further, the proportion of funding
for public education contributed by the state is among the lowest in the
nation. In Philadelphia ,
83% of children go to underfunded schools. This is not only an embarrassment,
but a tragedy of epidemic proportions that will impact the city and state for
generations to come.”
State Rep. Sims toPa. : Put
your money where your kids are
State Rep. Sims to
LAST UPDATED: Tuesday,
August 20, 2013 ,
11:21 AM “
Brian Sims represents the 182nd Legislative District in the Pennsylvania House of
Representatives
State budgets are not just checkbooks, they are moral documents. They reveal
whether our values of fairness, our national reputation as a leader for equity
and inclusion, and our policy outcomes match our state’s egalitarian tradition
and vision.” – Jermaine Toney Vice President Joe Biden has famously said,
“don't tell me what you value. Show me your budget and I'll tell you what you
value.” Unfortunately, the budget Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett has
signed into law—that maintains nearly 81% of the $1 billion in cuts he imposed
in 2011 and 2012—demonstrates that supporting Pennsylvania ’s youth is simply not among his
values or priorities. This budget of skewed priorities has caused the
Commonwealth to become a national embarrassment as Governor Corbett’s lack of
leadership has placed politics over pupils and has unfairly shifted the burden
and blame from the state to the city.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/Brian_Sims_to_PA_put_your_money_where_your_kids_are.html#y1sCz2KCMfBO7MkJ.99
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/Brian_Sims_to_PA_put_your_money_where_your_kids_are.html#y1sCz2KCMfBO7MkJ.99
Student Letter to Mayor Nutter: All Philly school children need
your help
WHYY Newsworks Letter By Mary
Conrad August 21,
2013
Mary Conrad is a
graduate of Central High School, a mechanical engineering and
mechanics student at Drexel University, and a Central High School RoboLancers Team 321 mentor.
Dear Mayor Nutter,
This past year, your
daughter, Olivia, graduated from Masterman. There were secretaries on staff to
help run the school office or to give Olivia an early dismissal if she needed
one. There were counselors to send Olivia's transcripts to colleges or to talk
to if Olivia needed advice. There were nurses if Olivia felt sick. There were
teachers who were qualified to teach in that subject and who were well educated
in it. There were librarians in case Olivia wanted to read a book or needed
help doing research for a project. There were a variety of extracurricular
activities that Olivia could have participated in. There was security in the
halls and at the front doors to make sure Olivia was safe. Olivia had
everything she could possibly expect from a public school education at her
fingertips, not to mention the best Philadelphia
could offer in public education, given Masterman's excellent reputation.
Michelle
Rhee’s StudentsFirst weighs in on Philly fiscal situation…
District leaders' recent actions set schools on the right path
thenotebook by
Ashley DeMauro on Aug 20 2013 Posted in Commentary
Ashley DeMauro is the
state director for StudentsFirst in Pennsylvania .
The fiscal situation
in the School District
of Philadelphia demands
our immediate attention, and it has been encouraging to see Gov. Corbett,
Superintendent William Hite, Mayor Nutter, and the City Council work together
to find a solution that allows all schools to open Sept. 9.
It may be tempting to
think that a quick fix to keep the District afloat is sufficient. But it would
be irresponsible to not implement long-term reforms that help to ensure schools
in Philadelphia
– and across the state – will be effective and financially
sustainable.
Countdown, Day 20: Schools bring back staff, but many can only
afford aides
Notebook by Dale
Mezzacappa on Aug 20 2013 Posted in Countdown to calamity?
Less than three weeks
left. The good news: Each school is staffed for student registration. Either a
secretary who has been called back from layoff or a temp worker is at each
school. Hours are 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on all weekdays but Wednesday, when the
hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The bad news:
Principals have been confronted with difficult personnel decisions, and it is
becoming increasingly apparent that the $50 million accepted from the city last
week with such fanfare is not going very far.
“To my mind what was almost
as shocking about this story as the fact that it should be happening in the
United States of America, rather than say, Chad, was that the paper consigned
it to its education section, downplaying it by reassuring its readers that
although Philadelphia might be "edging toward a financial precipice"
the situation" is not as dire yet as Detroit".
Now, when a city the size of
Philadelphia can't afford to pay its school teachers and America's so-called
newspaper of record treats the story as a ho-hum
"nothing-much-to-see-here" yarn for the inside pages, it's fair to
say we are entering uncharted waters, to put it mildly.”
Painting grim picture of how life can change
JAMES CAMPBELL SUNDAY
(Melbourne Australia ) HERALD SUN AUGUST 18, 2013 12:00AM
TAKING a well-earned break this week from
reading about our fascinating election campaign, I chanced upon something in
the New York Times that really puts our problems in perspective.
According to a story
in that paper, the city of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania had last
week been forced to borrow $50 million so it could reopen its schools at the
end of the summer holidays.
Without the emergency
loan, the paper reported, the man in charge of the system was threatening to
delay the start of the school year because there was not enough money to pay
the staff. Apparently Philadelphia 's school system is so broke that
over the summer "the district closed 24 schools and laid off 3783
employees, including 127 assistant principals, 646 teachers and more than 1200
aides, leaving no one even to answer phones".
Even with the $50
million emergency cash injection, Philadelphia 's
school children will be returning to schools with a minimum of staff and
"sharply curtailed" extra-curricular activities.
ABCs Common Core: Amid political squabbles, schools prepare for
new Common Core standards
PhillyBurbs.com By
Natasha Lindstrom and Freda R. Savana Staff Writers August 18, 2013
For the first time in U.S.
history, a majority of the country’s schools will soon be teaching students
based on a uniform set of national academic standards known as Common Core.
But in Pennsylvania , Gov. Tom
Corbett has put final approval of the new school standards on hold, in response
to a wave of backlash that erupted over Common Core this past spring.
Diane Ravitch’s Blog By dianerav August 20, 2013 //
The public schools of Philadelphia are
being slowly, surely strangled by Governor Tom Corbett and the Legislature of
Pennsylvania.
Or, maybe, not so
slowly.
The state has a constitutional
responsibility to maintain a public school system in every district but the
state leaders don’t believe in what the state constitution says.
Settlement in charter school whistle-blower suit
Inquirer by Martha
Woodall, Inquirer Staff Writer LAST UPDATED: Wednesday, August 21, 2013 , 1:08 AM POSTED: Tuesday, August 20, 2013 ,
6:23 PM
A former charter
school administrator who alleged that she was wrongfully fired the day after
the school was raided by federal agents has settled her whistle-blower suit.
Court documents show that Adorable Harper reached a settlement with Community
Academy of Philadelphia Charter School in Juniata Park
this month. The terms were not disclosed.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20130821_Settlement_in_charter_school_whistle-blower_s_suit.html#TvgZS1Q5HhM0oXpq.99
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20130821_Settlement_in_charter_school_whistle-blower_s_suit.html#TvgZS1Q5HhM0oXpq.99
How the Charter Formula Games Special Education
While the Charter
formula for regular education students is relatively straightforward, the
formula for special education students has several provisions that cause
unintended consequences which are extremely detrimental to districts and which
give charters unexpected windfalls, entirely unrelated to reimbursing them for
their costs.
The current Charter
formula is based on equalizing the playing field with the district from which
the student comes, rather than on a basis of reimbursing the charter for its
actual cost. But on that basis—equalizing funding with that of the District—the
charter/special education funding interaction is especially deficient, for it
in fact gives the charter school a large bonus over what is available for the
district special education student.
“Justice—the
idea that society needs to ensure that its institutions distribute access and
opportunity for all, not just for some—cannot be accomplished one school at a
time for the children whose parents know how to play the system to advantage
their own children.”
Creating Public School Districts of Last Resort
In The
Architect of School Reform Turned Against It, Sara Mosle, an education
writer and charter school teacher, reviews Diane Ravitch’s new book, Reign
of Error (to be released September 17)
I urge you to read
carefully the first half of Mosle’s piece. It is among the tightest and most
accurate summaries I’ve read of education reform during the past twenty
years—the kind of test-and-punish reform that aims to use standardized test
scores to motivate teachers to work harder to close achievement gaps and that
emphasizes parental choice. Mosle correctly concludes that such school
reform has failed to realize its goal of narrowing achievement gaps.
Student test scores now linked to teachers’ licenses
We should have seen
this coming.
School reformers who
love using student standardized test scores as the chief accountability measure
in education have found yet a new way to use them against teachers.
“Hundreds
of millions of public dollars are funneled, year after year, into top-down, corporate-driven
"solutions" like vouchers and for-profit charters that simply do not
work. Meanwhile, schools that are serving our most vulnerable students
are threatened with closure or sanction because they do not meet some arbitrary
test score cutoff; administrators spend most of their days meeting mountains of
regulations; and too many good teachers, who have had profound, positive
effects on the lives of children, are leaving the field.”
Summer of Discontent
In Steinbeck's The
Winter of our Discontent, the well-meaning Ethan Hawley compromises his
ethical compass to fix his family's economic distress. Recent revelations
regarding similar ethical lapses in the education community make me wonder if
we have not seen a summer of discontent.
The signs are
everywhere. In Florida, new state
superintendent Tony
Bennet resigned soon after it was revealed that he 'fixed' the
education accountability system in Indiana--when he was state superintendent
there--to make a charter school look good. That charter school, sponsored
by a major campaign contributor, was held up as a model of how privatizing
public schools would save the system. In Ohio , legislators have put in place a new
two-year budget that rewards
failing charter schools with more funding even as it makes punishing
cuts to successful charters and traditional public schools. The big
winner in this budget owns the most powerful for-profit charter management
organization in the state and contributes
serious campaign moneyto the majority Republican Party's leadership.
Common Core debate highlights rifts among Florida Republicans, tea party groups
The new Common Core
State Standards are more than just a roadmap for teachers and students. They’re a political football causing a rift
among Republicans.
In Florida, conservative
moms and tea party groups have mounted fierce opposition to the national
standards, saying decisions about teaching and learning should be made by state
governments and local school boards — not the federal government. Their efforts
attracted significant attention this summer, thanks to well-attended rallies,
social media blitzes and the support of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio.
SPECIAL EDUCATION FUNDING FORMULA COMMISSION PUBLIC MEETING – Allentown August 22, 10 AM
(to consider costs of
special education)
Thursday, August 22, 2013 10:00 AM
Board Room - Allentown
School District Central
Administration Bldg.
Monday, August 26, 2013 , 9:30 AM ,
Tredyffrin-Easttown
School District
Pennsylvania Senate Education Committee Public
hearing on Common Core
Thursday, August 29, 2013 , 9:30 AM
Capitol, Hearing Room 1, North Office Bldg.
Save the Date: Diane Ravitch will be
speaking in Philly at the Main Branch of the Philadelphia Free Library on September 17 at 7:30
pm ..
Diane Ravitch | Reign
of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's
Public Schools
When: Tuesday,September 17,
2013 at 7:30PM
Where: Central Library
Cost: $15 General Admission, $7 Students
Ticket and Subscription Packages
Tickets on sale here at 10:00 a.m. onAugust 23, 2013
When: Tuesday,
Where: Central Library
Cost: $15 General Admission, $7 Students
Ticket and Subscription Packages
Tickets on sale here at 10:00 a.m. on
Yinzers - Save the Date: Diane
Ravitch will be speaking in Pittsburgh on September 16th at 6:00 pm at Temple Sinai
in Squirrel Hill.
The lecture is
being hosted by Great Public Schools (GPS) Pittsburgh, which is a new coalition
of community, faith, and labor organizations consisting of Action United, One
Pittsburgh, PA Interfaith Impact Network, Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers,
SEIU, and Yinzercation. Co-sponsors for
the event include the University of Pittsburgh School of Education, the PA State
Education Association, Temple Sinai , and First
Unitarian Church
of Pittsburgh
Social Justice Endowment. More details
to come.
Join the National School Boards
Action Center
Friends of Public Education
Participate
in a voluntary network to urge your U.S.
Representatives and Senators to support federal legislation on Capitol Hill
that is critical to providing high quality education to America ’s schoolchildren
PILCOP 2013 Symposium on Equality: Privatization
This year’s
day-long Symposium will be held on Thursday, September 12th and will explore
the debate over privatizing government services such as healthcare, land
management and education. The Symposium
on Equality annually convenes thought leaders and outstanding advocates
to engage in meaningful discussion and exploration of the day’s most
pressing civil rights and social issues. This year’s event will foster
conversation, collaboration and exploration of the debate over privatizing
government services such as healthcare, land management and education.
PILCOP Know Your Child’s Rights! 2013-2014 Special
Education Seminars
The Law Center ’s
year-long Know Your Child’s Rights! seminar series on special
education law continues in 2013-2014 with day and evening trainings
focused on securing special education rights and services. These seminars are intended for parents,
special education advocates, educators, attorneys, and others who are in a
position to help children with disabilities receive an appropriate education.
Every session focuses on a different legal topic, service or disability and is
co-led by a Law Center staff attorney and a guest
speaker.
This year’s
topics include Tips for Going Back to School; Psychological Testing, IEEs and
Evaluations; School Records; Children with Autism; Transition Services;
Children with Emotional Needs; Discipline and Bullying; Charter Schools;
Children with Dyslexia; Extended School Year; Assistive Technology;
Discrimination and Compensatory Education; and, Settlements. See below for
descriptions and schedules of each session.
PSBA is accepting applications to fill vacancies in NSBA's grassroots
advocacy program. Deadline to apply is Sept. 6.
PSBA members: Influence
public education policy at the federal level; join NSBA's Federal Relations
Network
The
National School Boards Association is seeking school directors interested in
filling vacancies for the remainder of the 2013-14 term of the Federal
Relations Network. The FRN is NSBA's grassroots advocacy program that provides
the opportunity for school board members from every congressional district in
the country who are committed to public education to get involved in federal
advocacy. For more than 40 years, school board members have been lobbying for
public education on Capitol Hill as one unified voice through this program. If
you are a school director and willing to carry the public education message to Washington , D.C. ,
FRN membership is a good place to start!
PSBA members will elect
officers electronically for the first time in 2013
PSBA 7/8/2013
Beginning
in 2013, PSBA members will follow a completely new election process which will
be done electronically during the month of September. The changes will have
several benefits, including greater membership engagement and no more absentee
ballot process.
Below is a
quick Q&A related to the voting process this year, with more details to
come in future issues of School Leader News and at
www.psba.org. More information on the overall governance changes can be found
in the February 2013 issue of the PSBA Bulletin:
Electing PSBA Officers:
2014 PSBA Slate of Candidates
Details on each candidate, including
bios, statements, photos and video are online now
PSBA Website Posted 8/5/2013
The 2014 PSBA Slate of Candidates is being officially published to the
members of the association. Details on each candidate, including bios,
statements, photos and video are online at http://www.psba.org/elections/.
October 15-18, 2013 | Hershey Lodge & Convention Center
Important change this year: Delegate Assembly (replaces the
Legislative Policy Council) will be Tuesday Oct. 15 from 1 – 4:30 p.m.
The
PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference is the largest gathering of elected
officials in Pennsylvania
and offers an impressive collection of professional development opportunities
for school board members and other education leaders.
Registration:
https://www.psba.org/workshops/?workshop=17
The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, State College , PA
The state
conference is PAESSP’s premier professional development event for principals,
assistant principals and other educational leaders. Attending will enable you
to connect with fellow educators while learning from speakers and presenters
who are respected experts in educational leadership.
Featuring
Keynote Speakers: Charlotte Danielson, Dr. Todd Whitaker, Will Richardson &
David Andrews, Esq. (Legal Update).
Not content bypassing taxpayers, charter
schools seek to bypass PA House, Senate and State Board of Education too….
Charter schools asking Corbett
administration to change funding formula in their favor.
By Steve Esack, Call Harrisburg Bureau 10:59
p.m. EDT, August 14, 2013
Now charter
schools — which since 1997 have evolved from independent, isolated institutions
into a united, powerful political force — are fighting back. They have launched
a coordinated effort to gain up to $150 million annually in additional funding
from local school districts in the Lehigh
Valley and across the
state. In hopes of doing it, charter
schools are bypassing the House, Senate and state Board of Education and going
right to Gov. Tom Corbett's administration in a bid to change the
funding formula in their favor.
A statewide charter
authorizer would have virtually no accountability to local taxpayers.
None. Just like our cyber charters.
School Choices: Are your PA tax
dollars, intended for the classrooms of Chester Upland , funding this
20,000 sq.ft. mansion on the beach instead?
http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.blogspot.com/2011/06/follow-money-contributions-by-vahan.html
According to minutes
from 12/18/12 Agora Cyber Board meeting, your PA tax $$$ paid for
19,298 local TV commercials
"They
don't feel they should be subject to this law, or, candidly, subject to
you," Mutchler told senators on the state government committee, which is
considering legislation to amend the five-year-old law. "They are a cancer
on the otherwise healthy right-to- know-law."
By Amy Worden, Inquirer Harrisburg
Bureau POSTED: May 15, 2013
PA Charter Schools: $4
billion taxpayer dollars with no real oversight
Charter schools - public funding without public scrutiny
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