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, current/former PA Secretaries 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 and searchable 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?
No one was elected to
any PA charter school boards last night
No one was elected to any PA charter school boards last night; they
will continue to receive “shrink-wrapped” tax dollars without ever facing
taxpayers/voters; private charter management companies will continue to operate
with impunity and virtually no accountability
PA General
Assembly Launches New Website
The website is available
at www.legis.state.pa.us.
Senate
Majority Leader Pileggi’s website November 5, 2013
Some
of the most prominent features of the redesigned website include:
It may be too late for Corbett to change
the narrative, pollster Madonna says: Politics as Usual
Podcast
audio runtime 24:19
By John L. Micek | jmicek@pennlive.com
on November 05,
2013 at 12:00 PM ,
It's Election Day and what better way
to spend 25 minutes of it than by gossiping about politics?
Franklin
& Marshall College pollster and political analyst G.Terry Madonna joins PennLive Opinion Editor John L. Micek and Politics Reporter Robert J. Vickers for
a fast-moving look at today's municipal and judicial races; Gov. Tom Corbett's uphill
re-election effort and U.S. Sen.
Pat Toomey's low-key public profile.
Archdiocese
to freeze pensions for 8,500
HAROLD BRUBAKER, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER November 5, 2013 ,
4:00 PM
The
Archdiocese of Philadelphia plans to freeze the traditional pension for about
8,500 parochial school teachers, church office workers, and other lay
employees, church officials said Tuesday.
The
change, designed to keep the estimated $150 million deficit in the plan from
increasing and whittling it down over time, will take effect June 30, after
which current employees will no longer accrue benefits under the plan.
Read
more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20131106_Archdiocese_to_freeze_pensions_for_8_500.html#rlPdiIyh3ZMTHxwU.99
Charter Reform: Did those
student “backpacks of money” full of tax dollars pay for the $29 million
beachfront lot and new 20,000 square foot mansion in Palm Beach
http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.blogspot.com/2011/06/follow-money-contributions-by-vahan.html
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review By Melissa
Daniels Published:
Nov. 4, 2013 ,
11:58 p.m.
InNorth Hills School District
In
This
time, the debate is happening against the backdrop of a federal indictment against
Nick Trombetta, founder of Pennsylvania
Cyber Charter
School
SB1085: Proposal
to change Pa.
WHYY
Newsworks BY MARY WILSON NOVEMBER 5, 2013
Some
education advocates are criticizing a Pennsylvania Senate proposal to revamp
how public charter schools start, expand, and receive funding -- because it
would remove a check on the growth of the alternative schools. A plan before a key legislative committee
would allow charter schools to increase their enrollment without the approval
of the school district that first authorized their charter. School districts are the proper entities to
authorize charter schools because the districts must ensure that all students
are educated, including the students with the greatest needs, said David Lapp,
a former charter school teacher and now a staff attorney with the Education Law Center
“Ultimately,
SB 1085 would gut local control over charter school authorization and growth,
encourage unfettered expansion of even poorly-operated charter schools, take
already underfunded school districts to the brink of financial collapse, and
remove important accountability tools that school districts can use to ensure
that charter schools are performing well and equitably serving all kinds of
students.”
SB1085
Charter School Reform Falls Short on Accountability
Charter school reform is needed in the Commonwealth and significant legislative effort has gone into two similar bills: HB 618 and SB 1085. The most recent bill to receive attention in the General Assembly is SB 1085.
As
a whole, the harmful amendments significantly outweigh the minor improvements,
and, therefore, ELC opposes passage of the bill as it is currently drafted.
In
short, SB 1085 would:
•
Permit any charter school, good or bad, to grow without permission from any
authority.
• Permit charter schools to unilaterally amend the terms of their charter, at any time, for any reason.
• Double the length of a charter from five to ten years, which would slice accountability in half.
• Permit institutions of higher education to authorize new charters, even though they have no financial stake or accountability to the public for the school’s performance.
• Permit “multiple charter school organizations” to avoid accountability to the communities they serve by electing to be authorized by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
• Create a funding commission that is stacked in favor of charter schools and not permitted to consider the fiscal impact of charter expansion on their local communities.
• Single outPhiladelphia by permitting charter
schools in the city to ignore the authority of the School District of Philadelphia
• Permit charter schools to unilaterally amend the terms of their charter, at any time, for any reason.
• Double the length of a charter from five to ten years, which would slice accountability in half.
• Permit institutions of higher education to authorize new charters, even though they have no financial stake or accountability to the public for the school’s performance.
• Permit “multiple charter school organizations” to avoid accountability to the communities they serve by electing to be authorized by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
• Create a funding commission that is stacked in favor of charter schools and not permitted to consider the fiscal impact of charter expansion on their local communities.
• Single out
Ultimately,
SB 1085 would gut local control over charter school authorization and growth,
encourage unfettered expansion of even poorly-operated charter schools, take
already underfunded school districts to the brink of financial collapse, and
remove important accountability tools that school districts can use to ensure
that charter schools are performing well and equitably serving all kinds of
students.
Because
the bill would decrease accountability and damage public education for the
majority of public school students it should not be passed as currently
drafted.
“That was
the point of the funding formula. The General Assembly recognized that
different types of students required different levels of resources, and that
different types of communities required different levels of state investment. A
fair, accurate and transparent school-funding formula allowed the state to
distribute dollars based on those differences.”
Letters: Reinstate school funding formula
Letters: Reinstate school funding formula
Philly Daily News Letter by Brett Schaeffer Wednesday,
November 6, 2013 ,
3:01 AM
Brett Schaeffer is Communications Director for
the Education Law Center
IT'S
GOOD to see Rep. John Taylor engaged in the school-funding discussion in his
Oct. 25 letter. We need the entire Philadelphia
delegation working on this issue in Harrisburg
It
is important, though, to clarify some of Rep. Taylor's points. Rep. Taylor is correct in saying that a
school-funding formula was enacted under Gov. Ed Rendell. However, that formula
was not used to calculate the state funding cuts in 2011 and it was ultimately
amended out of law in 2012. So, Gov.
Corbett has not been using a funding formula.
Now,
let's look at the numbers.
Read
more at http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20131106_Letters__Reinstate_school_funding_formula.html#rS0fvM8cMCqSYRTE.99
John Callahan new Senior Director of Government Relations for the Pennsylvania School
Boards Association
Greenlee
Partners LLC November
5, 2013
Congratulations to John Callahan who has
started his new position as Senior Director of Government Relations for the
Pennsylvania School Boards Association. John had served as Deputy Director of
Policy and Planning for Governor Tom Corbett.
“But it
raises a perplexing question, too. If education is a poor child’s best shot at
rising up the ladder of prosperity, why do public resources devoted to
education lean so decisively in favor of the better off?”
In Public Education, Edge Still Goes to
Rich
New
York Times By EDUARDO PORTER Published: November 5, 2013
“There aren’t many things that are more
important to that idea of economic mobility — the idea that you can make it if
you try — than a good education,” President Obama told students at the
State University of New York in Buffalo
New
York Times By JACK HEALY Published: November 5, 2013
Eye
on Early Education November
5, 2013 by Alyssa Haywoode
Last
fall, the Massachusetts Legislature passed and Governor Patrick signed “An Act
Relative to Third Grade Reading Proficiency,” into law, taking a bold step to
address and improve the state’s literacy efforts. There has been growing recognition of the
importance of helping children read well by the end of third grade.
Unfortunately, Massachusetts
Turn On, Tune
In, Opt Out
The Nation by Owen Davis and StudentNation on
November 5, 2013
- 2:32 PM ET
At
a September 16 PTA meeting, Castle
Bridge
The
district purchased the tests to meet the state’s new teacher evaluation laws.
In elementary schools that don’t serve grades three through eight, No Child
Left Behind testing dictates don’t apply, necessitating a supplemental
test. Castle
Bridge, a progressive K-2 public school in Washington
Heights , is among thirty-six early
elementary schools in the New York
City
According
to Castle Bridge
Are Charter Schools The Solution to
Public Education?
From Rethinking
Schools
By Stan Karp OCTOBER 14, 2013
AT 11:59AM
Somewhere
along the way, nearly every teacher dreams of starting a school. I know I did.
More
than once during the 30 years I taught English and journalism to high school
students in Paterson , New Jersey
Colleagues
with a shared vision of teaching and learning.
Freedom
from central office bureaucracy.
A
welcoming school culture that reflected the lives of our students and families.
Professional
autonomy that nourished innovation and individual and collective growth.
School-based
decision-making that pushed choices about resources, priorities, time, and
staffing closer to the classrooms where it matters the most.
But
reality can be hard on daydreams, and I got a glimpse of how complicated these
issues are when my large comprehensive high school embraced the reform trend of
the day and moved to create small theme academies inside the larger school.
When the
IRRC considered the Keystone Exams in 2009, school districts all over PA passed
resolutions in opposition; was your district one of them?
School
Board Resolutions Opposing Keystone Exams Submitted to IRRC - 2009
Common
Core/Keystone Exams: The PA State Board of Education (Board) has submitted the
final-form regulation entitled “Academic Standards and Assessment."
The Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) plans to meet
and act on this regulation at our public meeting at 10:00 a.m. on
Thursday, November 21, 2013.
Regulation #6 – 326: Academic Standards
and Assessment
Amends existing regulations to
reflect Pennsylvania
The agenda and any changes to the time or date of
the meeting will be posted on IRRC’s Web site at www.irrc.state.pa.us.
Please note that any comments should be submitted to the Board prior to the
48-hour blackout period, which begins at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday,November
19, 2013. Please provide IRRC with a copy of any comments submitted, as
well. Please note that all correspondence and documents relating to a
regulation submitted to IRRC are a matter of public record and appear on IRRC’s
Web site.
For a copy of the regulation or if you have any
substantive questions regarding the regulation, please contact the Board
at (717) 787-3787.
You can also download the final-form regulation from IRRC’s Web site using the
following link:
Mark B. Miller to speak
at Nov. 12th conference on school violence
Congratulations to PSBA First Vice President Mark B. Miller for presenting at an upcoming conference related to school violence. Miller will offer a presentation titled “Breaking the Circle of Violence: Bullying, Duty of Care, and Deliberate Indifference” inLinthicum Heights , MD
Congratulations to PSBA First Vice President Mark B. Miller for presenting at an upcoming conference related to school violence. Miller will offer a presentation titled “Breaking the Circle of Violence: Bullying, Duty of Care, and Deliberate Indifference” in
Join us as we celebrate their accomplishments!
Tuesday,November
19, 2013 5:30 pm
- 8:30 pm WHYY, 150 North 6th Street , Philadelphia
Invitations coming soon!
Tuesday,
Invitations coming soon!
Register: http://tinyurl.com/m8emc4m
Building
One Pennsylvania November
21, 2013 6:00-8:00 PM
IBEW Local 380 3900 Ridge Pike Collegeville, PA
19426
Building One Pennsylvania is an emerging
statewide non-partisan organization of leaders from diverse sectors -
municipal, school, faith, business, labor and civic - who are joining together
to stabilize and revitalize their communities, revitalize local economies and
promote regional opportunity and sustainability. BuildingOnePa.org
The National School Boards Association 74th Annual
Conference & Exposition April 5-7, 2014 New Orleans
The
National School Boards Association 74th Annual Conference &
Exposition will be held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans , LA. New Orleans
General Session speakers include education advocates
Thomas L. Friedman, Sir Ken Robinson, as well as education innovators Nikhil
Goyal and Angela Maiers.
We have
more than 200 sessions planned! Colleagues from across the country will present
workshops on key topics with strategies and ideas to help your district. View
our Conference Brochure for highlights on sessions
and focus presentations.
- Register now! – Register for both the conference
and housing using our online system.
- Conference Information– Visit the NSBA conference
website for up-to-date information
- Hotel List and Map - Official NSBA Housing Block
- Exposition Campus – View new products and
services and interactive trade show floor
Questions? Contact NSBA at 800-950-6722 (NSBA) between
the hours of 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. EST.
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
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.