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, 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?
PA
One of Only Three States Without an Education Funding Formula – Join us in
Harrisburg Sept. 23rd
Pennsylvanians
Want a School Funding Formula
Sign up
to join us in Harrisburg
Press Event Monday September 23rd,
11:30 am Capitol Rotunda,
Harrisburg
Every
child in Pennsylvania deserves an opportunity to learn, whether they are from
large or small, rich or not-so-rich, urban, suburban or rural school districts,
charter schools or cyber schools; whether their legislator is a freshman state
representative or a senate officer.
Grassroots
Advocacy by Education Voters PA; Education Matters in the Cumberland Valley and
the Keystone State Education Coalition
Sign up
here if you may be able to join us to represent your schools and community: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/104e0endYpVYcPxSyfG9V_DOIVAB0J3AVI0-20Q8Yylw/viewform more
details will follow.
PA
One of Only Three States Without Education Funding Formula
No
accuracy, fairness, or transparency possible without sound formula
Education
Law Center Press Release February 28, 2013
Pennsylvania
is a national outlier when it comes to following basic budgeting principles —
accuracy, fairness, and transparency — that most states use when it comes to
public school funding, according to a new report from the Education Law Center.
The statewide, non-profit organization examined how each of the 50 states calculates and distributes education dollars. The report shows that Pennsylvania is in the minority when it comes to basic budgeting practices used by most states.
The statewide, non-profit organization examined how each of the 50 states calculates and distributes education dollars. The report shows that Pennsylvania is in the minority when it comes to basic budgeting practices used by most states.
- 47 states use an
accurate student count when calculating and distributing education
dollars. Pennsylvania does not.
- 37 states
recognize different student costs when calculating and distributing
education dollars. Pennsylvania does not.
- 47 states
recognize different district costs when calculating and distributing
education dollars. Pennsylvania does not.
PA Special Education Funding Formula
Commission Upcoming Meetings
1.
Wednesday, September 4th, 10:00
am at the Nittany Lion Inn State College
To
consider special education funding and charter schools
2.
Save the date: September 19 tentative meeting date in Reading
To
consider charter and cyber special education funding
Chester
Upland starts new year with two schools saved from chopping block
By JOHN KOPP jkopp@delcotimes.com @DT_JohnKopp September 04, 2013
Superintendent
Gregory Shannon and administrators from the Chester Upland School District went
out into the community all summer, urging parents to enroll their children in
district schools.
The fruits of their labor arrived en masse Tuesday when Chester Upland kicked off another school year with bell ringing ceremonies at each of the district’s schools.
Chester Upland expects its 2013-14 enrollment to surpass 3,000 students — 800 more than district officials anticipated in May. The enrollment surge enabled the district to keep both Main Street Elementary School and the Chester Upland School of the Arts open. Both schools had been slated for closure when district officials drafted the 2013-14 budget in the spring.
The fruits of their labor arrived en masse Tuesday when Chester Upland kicked off another school year with bell ringing ceremonies at each of the district’s schools.
Chester Upland expects its 2013-14 enrollment to surpass 3,000 students — 800 more than district officials anticipated in May. The enrollment surge enabled the district to keep both Main Street Elementary School and the Chester Upland School of the Arts open. Both schools had been slated for closure when district officials drafted the 2013-14 budget in the spring.
School bells really ring in Chester
Kathy
Boccella, Inquirer Staff Writer September 3, 2013, 10:53 AM
Following
a boots-to-the-ground, high-stakes enrollment drive this summer, Chester Upland
School District officials undertook one last job this morning before welcoming
800 new students to the district -- ringing bells to start a new year at
Chester High School and celebrate a rare success story in a troubled district.
Superintendent Gregory Shannon and other dignitaries gathered in the high
school courtyard to greet students at what they say is a transformed school,
featuring small learning communities, such as an honors academy, an in-school
cyber-learning program and a ninth grade academy.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20130904_School_bells_really_ring_in_Chester.html#wjdoK8xWrbfZ1VZs.99
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20130904_School_bells_really_ring_in_Chester.html#wjdoK8xWrbfZ1VZs.99
Teachers in at least 3 Pa. districts
on strike
The
Associated Press POSTED: Tuesday, September 3, 2013, 9:37 AM PHILADELPHIA (AP)
- Teachers in at least three Pennsylvania districts are on strike. Officials
canceled classes Tuesday in the Old Forge School District and Wyoming Area
School District in northeastern Pennsylvania and Shaler Area School District
outside Pittsburgh.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20130903_ap_9704551edc7340afb8ca2a8f289f65ec.html#RSCxkEXOrvwspbTe.99
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20130903_ap_9704551edc7340afb8ca2a8f289f65ec.html#RSCxkEXOrvwspbTe.99
Parents, teachers concerned about
readiness
Susan
Snyder, Inquirer Staff Writer POSTED: Wednesday, September 4, 2013, 1:08 AM
With classes starting in less than a week, many Philadelphia schools struggling
with staff and budget cuts find themselves anything but ready. Take the Andrew
Jackson School in South Philadelphia: It will have no school-based counselor
for its 494 students, two support staffers (down from six), and four fewer
teachers, even though its enrollment grew by 95. That means class sizes of 35
or more in some grades, at least for the first month or so. It means cramming
more desks into crowded rooms, getting volunteer help from a laid-off staffer,
and sending Jackson's rock band out to a Main Line prep school to raise money.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20130904_Parents__teachers_concerned_about_readiness.html#LEmU3dVGGFD2wj0R.99
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20130904_Parents__teachers_concerned_about_readiness.html#LEmU3dVGGFD2wj0R.99
After
crisis, Philly students head back to school
WRAL By MARC LEVY, Associated Press, September 3, 2013
PHILADELPHIA — Before they start the school year
together, the staff at the Kensington High School for Creative and Performing
Arts will grieve: They'll hold a wake of sorts for laid-off colleagues,
reviewing a DVD of their photos and recounting their accomplishments, and then
they'll head across the street to eat.
Such
is life in the beleaguered Philadelphia School District, where the severity of
layoffs and school closings have made this latest financial crunch unlike any
other in recent memory as students get ready to go back to school.
Are Philly
teachers underpaid?
WHYY
Newsworks By Holly Otterbein, @hollyotterbein September 3, 2013
With
the Philadelphia School District still reeling from a budget crisis, officials
are asking teachers' union members to accept wage cuts ranging from 5 to 13
percent, and to begin paying into their health care premiums. Would that allow the city to compete for
teaching talent?
Jerry
Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, has said several
times during this summer of fiscal discontent that his members are paid 19
percent less than teachers in the suburbs.
He said the district's proposed wage cuts would make Philly even less
competitive than it is now.
Letter
from the Education Committee of the Pennsylvania State Conference of NAACP
Branches regarding the Keystone Exams
He's back...
Inquirer
Commonwealth Confidential Blog by Angela Coloumbis, September 3, 2013, 4:26 PM
Actually,
it turns out he never left. That would be Steve Aichele, Gov. Corbett's former
chief of staff. Aichele resigned his $154,000-a-year post in mid-July, after a
bruising budget season in which the administration was unsuccessful in scoring
any of the three big items on its policy agenda. At the time, administration
officials had said Aichele would remain on until sometime in August, so he
could help Corbett's new chief of staff, Leslie Gromis-Baker, transition into
the high-stakes, high-stress job. The administration now says Aichele will remain
on as a "special adviser" into October - and possibly longer. And he
will continue to earn the same salary he did when he was the governor's
right-hand man.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/harrisburg_politics/Hes-back.html#1jcMvfsvMKhZDAt1.99
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/harrisburg_politics/Hes-back.html#1jcMvfsvMKhZDAt1.99
Alternative
property tax bill emerges
Scranton Times Tribune BY ROBERT SWIFT (HARRISBURG
BUREAU CHIEF)Published: September 3, 2013
HARRISBURG
- A new House bill designed to provide school districts with options to reduce
or eliminate property taxes could get a green light for some action this fall.
The
measure, sponsored by Rep. Seth Grove, R-196, York, offers an alternative to a
much-publicized bill to increase both the state personal income tax rate and
sales tax rate in order to eliminate property taxes.
Here's
seven reasons why Gov. Tom Corbett will win re-election: As I See It
By Patriot-News Op-Ed By Ed Uravic on September 04, 2013 at
5:15 AM
Ed Uravic is a former Washington lobbyist, Republican congressional chief
of staff, and committee director in the state Legislature. He is on the
corporate faculty of Harrisburg University of Science and Technology.
Here
are seven reasons why Gov. Tom
Corbett will win re-election to a second term in 2014. A growing
pack of Democrats, including U.S.
Rep. Allyson Schwartz, former Environmental Protection Secretaries John Hanger and Kathleen McGinty, as well as former Revenue Secretary Tom Wolf of
York are among the candidates vying for the party's nomination.
DN
Editorial: An Empty Shell: A poll shows that voters want Gov. Corbett to go.
ASAP.
Philly Daily News POSTED: September 03, 2013
THE
LATEST dismal poll numbers about Gov. Corbett's job performance prove that you
can't fool all of the people all of the time. Only 20 percent of the voters
believe that he should be re-elected, according to the latest Daily
News/Franklin & Marshall poll.
Sounds
about right.
Corbett
won in 2010 on the strength of his no-new-taxes pledge. But that was really
just a shell game. We now know he meant only state taxes.
Lots
of local governments in Pennsylvania have had to increase their taxes to fill
in the holes left by Corbett's slash-and-burn approach to state programs,
particularly education
Guesses and Hype Give Way to Data in
Study of Education
New
York Times By GINA KOLATA Published: September 2,
2013
What
works in science and math education? Until recently, there had been few solid
answers — just guesses and hunches, marketing hype and extrapolations from
small pilot studies.
But
now, a little-known office in the Education Department is starting to get some
real data, using a method that has transformed medicine: the randomized
clinical trial, in which groups of subjects are randomly assigned to get either
an experimental therapy, the standard therapy, a placebo or nothing.
Diane Ravitch will be
speaking in Philly at the Main Branch of the Philadelphia 7:30
pm ..
Diane Ravitch | Reign
of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America
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:
When: Tuesday,
Where: Central Library
Cost: $15 General Admission, $7 Students
Ticket and Subscription Packages
Tickets on sale here:
Yinzers - Diane
Ravitch will be speaking in Pittsburgh on September 16th at 6:00 pm at Temple Sinai
Free
and open to the public; doors open at 5:00
pm
Hosted
by Great Public Schools (GPS) Pittsburgh : Action
United, One Pittsburgh , PA
Interfaith Impact Network, Pittsburgh
Co-sponsored byCarlow Univ. School
of Education, Chatham Univ. Department of Education, Duquesne
Univ. School
of Education, First Unitarian Church
Social Justice Endowment, PA State Education Association, Robert Morris Univ.
School of Education & Social Sciences, Slippery Rock
Univ. College
of Education, Temple Sinai , Univ.
of Pittsburgh School of Education
Children’s activities provided by the Carnegie Library ofPittsburgh
and Carnegie Mellon University
Co-sponsored by
Children’s activities provided by the Carnegie Library of
Join
the National
School Boards
Action Center
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
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.
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
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).
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