Daily postings from the Keystone State Education
Coalition now reach more than 3050 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
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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?
Quinnipiac Poll: Corbett Approval
Falls
On education, negative 34 points (62%
to 28%)
SB1085: On Monday December 23rd
10-11 am, WHYY’s Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane will be featuring a
conversation on SB1085, the charter school reform bill. Scheduled guests are school choice advocate State
Senator Anthony Williams and school board member/public education advocate Lawrence
Blogger Comment:
Thank you Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh
Tribune-Review By Bill
Zlatos Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2013 , 10:39 p.m.
Anew city school board gave Teach for America the boot before its recruits had a
chance to set foot in a Pittsburgh Woolslair School America America
A
By Lexi Belculfine / Pittsburgh December 18, 2013
10:02 PM
New members of the Pittsburgh public school board flexed their muscles at a
Wednesday night meeting, reversing previously passed actions by voting to
dissolve a contract with Teach for America America
“It’s no coincidence that federal spending on seniors is seven
times the spending on children. Head Start serves less than half the eligible
population because of lack of money! The statistics for the elderly prove we
know how to reduce poverty. We have chosen to invest in seniors, not in children.
Why? Because seniors vote, give money to politicians and are politically
organized.”
Invitation to a Dialogue: Children and Poverty
New York Times Letter by MARK
K. SHRIVER Sr. Vice President, Strategic Initiatives Save the Children December 17, 2013
To the Editor: Are you tired of politicians who say “our
children are our most precious resource” but vote to cut funding to feed kids
and for early childhood development? Representative Paul D. Ryan recently told
me that he believed in the importance of early childhood education. Yet earlier
this year he proposed a budget that would have maintained sequestration’s cuts
— permanently eliminating Head Start slots for 57,000 children — and cut
another 20 percent from the Head Start budget, which by some estimates meant
another 200,000 children would lose their slots.
I share Mr. Ryan’s
frustration that almost one in four children in America lives in poverty today,
almost the same percentage as when President Lyndon B. Johnson declared the War
on Poverty nearly 50 years ago, and appointed my father, Sargent Shriver, to
lead it.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/12/18/opinion/invitation-to-a-dialogue-children-and-poverty.html?_r=0
New
census data: Poverty up in Lower Northeast, down in S. Philly
ALFRED LUBRANO AND JOHN
DUCHNESKIE, INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
LAST UPDATED: Wednesday, December 18, 2013 ,
2:01 AM
POSTED: Tuesday,December 17, 2013 , 8:50
PM
POSTED: Tuesday,
Poverty has increased a startling 62 percent
in the communities of Lower Northeast Philadelphia since 1999. At the same time, poverty increased 42
percent in Roxborough and Manayunk, while declining 13 percent in South Philadelphia .
Those findings come from an Inquirer comparison of 2000 census figures
with new data released Tuesday by the Census Bureau.
“On
education, negative 34 points (62% to 28%).”
Quinnipiac
Poll: Corbett Approval Falls
PoliticsPA Written by Brittany Foster, Deputy
Editor and Keegan Gibson, Managing Editor December 18m 2013
The latest Quinnipiac poll has bad news for
Tom Corbett. The
survey found the Governor’s job approval rating at its largest net negative
ever. He trailed all but one of 7 Democratic opponents in head-to-head
matchups. Voters disapproved his job
performance 53% to 36%, a net negative of 17 points. Respondents said he does
not deserve re-election by 20 points, 56% to 36%.
“For now, Corbett's plan to
plug the hole and free up spending for public schools appears to be centered on
the same pension reform plan the Legislature rejected in June. Zogby said the state and school districts
could save a combined $135 million if lawmakers agree to reduce employers'
contribution to the school and state workers pension systems, reduce future
benefits for existing state employees and put new employees into a corporate-like
401(k) style pension plan.”
State
could be in store for another big deficit
Corbett administration projects $1.2 billion
deficit for 2014-15 budget.
By Steve Esack, Call Harrisburg
“He said the administration’s top priority going into next year’s
budget-making will be to avoid cuts to basic education funding as well
as funding for senior citizens and intellectually disabled individuals.”
Corbett
looking at new revenue sources more so than cuts to help balance next year's
state budget
By Jan Murphy |
jmurphy@pennlive.com on December 18, 2013 at 4:21 PM ,
Even though Pennsylvania
Instead, his budget secretary Charles Zogby
said at a mid-year budget briefing on Wednesday that Corbett remains focused on
finding efficiencies and being more creative in identifying new revenue sources
to offset rising costs particularly in the areas of pension and the medical
assistance program.
Aside from broad-based taxes, “I don’t think
there’s anything we can dismiss out of hand,” Zogby said when asked about where
new revenue could be generated.
The
state pension reform that wasn't: 13 for '13
By Patriot-News
Editorial Board on December 18, 2013 at 12:00 PM
13 FOR '13: THE TOP POLICY ISSUES OF THE YEAR.
From now until the end of the year, PennLive
Opinion will count down the top 13 policy issues of the past year. We get
things started today with a look back at the debate over how to fix Pennsylvania
The Big Story:
If, as some inside the Beltway argue,
legislative effectiveness is measured in terms of bills not passed, 2013, or
The Year of Pension Reform as dubbed by State Budget Secretary Charles Zogby in
January, can be labeled a smashing success.
Touted by Gov. Tom Corbett in his budget address as one of
three key legislative priorities a year before a possible re-election campaign,
reforming a public pension system hamstrung by $41 billion in underfunded
liability remained in the klieg lights throughout state budget negotiations.
Failure to act would doom local school districts to burdensome pension
contributions in 2014, larger class sizes, reduced services, and steeper local
property taxes. The legislature failed
to incorporate pension reform in its annual budget, and then a solid late-year
proposal by state Rep. Glen Grell, R-Cumberland was among several
proposals making the rounds. The end
result? A lot of smoke, and no fire.
http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013/12/the_state_pension_reform_that_wasnt_13_for_13.html
Latest
charter school bid gets feedback from SDL residents
Intelligencer Journal Lancaster Dec 18, 2013 14:19
By KARA NEWHOUSE Staff Writer knewhouse@lnpnews.com
Charter school hopefuls didn't get much love
from Lancaster
Proponents of theAcademy of Business and Entrepreneurship
Charter School
pitched their plan to the School
District of Lancaster
The SDL board rejected the previous ABECS proposal last March. The five-month decision-making process cost the district more than $30,000. At Tuesday's hearing, 14 district residents urged the SDL board to again reject the application, citing a weak curriculum and inadequate local support. Three people encouraged the board to approve the charter school. Two of those proponents were not district residents; the third was a district alumnus.
Proponents of the
The SDL board rejected the previous ABECS proposal last March. The five-month decision-making process cost the district more than $30,000. At Tuesday's hearing, 14 district residents urged the SDL board to again reject the application, citing a weak curriculum and inadequate local support. Three people encouraged the board to approve the charter school. Two of those proponents were not district residents; the third was a district alumnus.
By Sara K.
Satullo | The Express-Times on December 18, 2013 at 6:34 PM
Students at the proposed LVenture Charter
School
State
auditor general targets Beaver Co. school districts
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review By Megan
Harris Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2013 , 10:27 a.m.
Repeated financial problems at Rochester Area and Aliquippa school districts in Beaver County prompted Auditor General Eugene DePasquale to issue broad warnings on Wednesday.
Repeated financial problems at Rochester Area and Aliquippa school districts in Beaver County prompted Auditor General Eugene DePasquale to issue broad warnings on Wednesday.
Auditors determined Rochester Area violated
several school codes through a possible conflict of interest involving a former
school board member and a severance agreement with a former superintendent that
cost taxpayers more than $146,000. Aliquippa suffers from high real estate tax delinquency
rates and payments to charter schools that total more than $1 million annually,
which the commonwealth no longer reimburses. Those woes led to a deteriorating
general fund balance with deficits that capped out at $1.6 million in the
2008-09 school year.
State education officials in March placed the
district on its financial watch list, which is part of an early warning system
to identify school districts struggling to maintain fiscal stability.
Commission
creates funding formula for special education
By Karen Langley / Post-Gazette Harrisburg December 18, 2013
11:28 PM
But the portion of students receiving special
education services varies widely from the statewide rate of 15.2 percent. In
some districts, less than 10 percent of students receive special education
services. In others, more than 25 percent do.
Now, a commission made up of legislators and
Corbett administration officials is recommending the state distribute any
increase in special education funding through a formula that considers the
number of special education students and the intensity of their needs, along
with poverty levels, property taxes and whether the district is small and
rural.
The notebook by Dale
Mezzacappa on Dec 18 2013 Posted in Latest news
NAEP is considered the gold standard of
assessment, and is the benchmark that state tests are measured against amid
complaints that some of them are not rigorous enough. Higher percentages of Philadelphia students score proficient on Pennsylvania
College
applications suffer under Philly school counselor cuts
Citypaper By Daniel Denvir Published: 12/18/2013
Students and parents across Philadelphia
Some Philadelphia
The School
District of Philadelphia
Centre Daily Times BY MATT MORGAN mmorgan@centredaily.com December 16, 2013
STATE COLLEGE — State College Area
School District May 20, 2014 ,
ballots.
The school board passed a motion 6-3 at its
meeting Monday to set a referendum maximum of $85 million to help fund the
upcoming high school project. That number could decrease before it is expected
to be finalized at the Feb. 10 meeting and a final referendum question is
approved in March.
Board member Jim Leous said he wouldn’t want
to set the maximum too low at this point and hurt project planning down the
road when more numbers come out.
“Tonight we’re setting a maximum value and it
can come down as we get better numbers on the overall cost of the project,” he
said.
Read more here: http://www.centredaily.com/2013/12/16/3946017/state-college-school-board-goes.html#storylink=cpy
Acting
Pennsylvania secretary of education visits Souderton Area School District
By Jennifer Lawson jlawson@21st-centurymedia.com
Tuesday, December
17, 2013
Stepping into math teacher Gary McManus’ class
Friday, Dec. 13, at Souderton Area
High School , Pennsylvania
Dumaresq visited Souderton schools as a result of an invitation from Superintendent Frank Gallagher to show the success of some of their programs, and it allowed Dumaresq the chance to see how decisions in Harrisburg impact students and teachers.
“You sit inHarrisburg
Dumaresq visited Souderton schools as a result of an invitation from Superintendent Frank Gallagher to show the success of some of their programs, and it allowed Dumaresq the chance to see how decisions in Harrisburg impact students and teachers.
“You sit in
“Bartoli said her main concerns are property taxes rising as the
state cuts public school funding and the quality of education in the face of
such cuts.”
Carlisle
resident announces run for 199th seat in state House of Representatives
A retired college professor living in Carlisle , she will seek the Democratic nomination in next
year’s primary election for the 199th Legislative District seat, currently held
by Republican Stephen Bloom. Bartoli
said she was first inspired to become a candidate after organizing and
attending the Building Common Ground Summit in late October at Penn State
Dickinson School of Law. The summit encouraged area residents from different
backgrounds and political parties to become advocates as they discussed public
school funding, affordable health care and other issues important to them.
Ethics
board clears Philly
School District
WHYY Newsworks DAVE DAVIES OFF MIC A
BLOG BY DAVE DAVIES DECEMBER 18, 2013
So the Philadelphia Board of Ethics staff has
decided that the William Penn Foundation did not engage in lobbying as defined
by city law when it helped fund a planning effort for the city school district
in 2012. I'm not surprised. The effort
didn't quite smell like lobbying to me, but I thought the issue raised by
Parents United for Public Education and other groups was a serious one: Is it
right to have a consultant engaged in a major study with public officials of
policy issues pursuant to a contract the public entity isn't even a party to?
Philadelphia
Solar Schools Initiative brings solar power to 20 Philly schools
Philly.com by Nick Vadala WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2013 ,
1:07 PM
Next year, Philly will be home to more than
5,000 brand new solar panels installed across 20 area schools. A tall order,
but luckily the Philadelphia Solar Schools Initiative has already started in on
the work. Currently, the PSSI (made up
of partners Solar States and Clean Currents) is seeking a full-time
director to head up their efforts, but that hasn’t stopped them from
instituting daily classes at YouthBuild
Charter School detailing the business side of sustainability, along
with entrepreneurship opportunities in the green industry. As-yet
volunteer-lead, the PSSI hopes to expand their education output to more schools
with the inclusion of a full-time director.
By the end of 2014, the aim is to install
solar panels on the roofs of 20 area schools to provide 1.5 megawatts of clean
energy. But that, according to a release, isn’t the only goal:
Politico By SEUNG MIN KIM |
12/18/13
5:00 PM EST
With little suspense but still a bit of drama,
the Senate passed a bipartisan budget deal Wednesday that will help Washington
The Senate approved the agreement with a 64 to
36 vote and the legislation now heads to President Barack Obama for his
signature. It was inked by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Patty Murray
(D-Wash.) earlier this month, replaces across-the-board spending cuts and will
make it easier to hammer out government funding bills the next two years.
How
Preschool Impacts Student Scores Shown In One Graph
The Huffington Post |
By Rebecca Klein | Posted: 12/09/13
EST | Updated: 12/09/13 EST
If policymakers want to improve students’
scores on international exams, they should start by bettering education options
for their littlest learners.
That is part of the story told by a report
released on Monday by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD), an international group that promotes economic progress. The
OECD report used data collected from its international exam, the Programme for
International Student Assessment (PISA), to compare education patterns around the world.
The PISA
For a full sense of how preschool impacted PISA
The
New York Times Editorializes on Teachers and PISA
Diane ravitch’s Blog By dianeravitch December
18, 2013 //
Once again, we are treated to a New
York Times editorial on education that is a mix of good and
bad. Bottom line: The Times blames teachers for the U.S. scores on PISA
“Show me a
profession that has been vilified more than teaching in the US,” wrote Peter S.
of Portland, Ore. “Real-estate agents and used-car dealers have more status and
make more money.” He added: “Our best minds in the US
Is
American Culture to Blame for Failing Schools?
New York Times By DAVID FIRESTONE December 18, 2013 ,
6:12 pm
“Americans do not support an egalitarian
society.”
That was the response of one reader, Jay David
of New Mexico
The editorial looked at some of the reasons
students in Finland , Canada and Shanghai
Comcast,
Khan Academy Join Forces to Improve Web Access
Education Week Marketplace K-12 By Sean Cavanagh on December
17, 2013 2:56 PM
A major cable and Internet corporation is
joining with one of the nation's best-known sources of free, open-education
resources to try to expand access to the Web and online content for
impoverished students and families. The
partnership brings together Comcast, which describes itself as the nation's
largest provider of video, high-speed Web access, and phone
service to residential customers, and Khan Academy, a nonprofit that
estimates it has delivered 330 million online lessons to date. Comcast runs Internet Essentials, which provides
discounted broadband service, for $9.95 a month, to impoverished
families who have at least one child in the National School Lunch
Program. The Philadelphia-based company
says 98 percent of subscribers through that program have indicated their
children use the Web for homework—which suggests to Comcast officials that
channeling materials offered by Khan to those families would hit the
mark.
Business
of Education Reporter at BuzzFeed in New
York , NY
We're looking for an ambitious, scoop-hungry
reporter to take on a new beat about the business of education on the Buzzfeed
Business team in New York
The successful candidate will be a focused,
aggressive reporter who is interested in understanding and breaking news about
how education will be reshaped as corporations race to own the classroom. We're
looking for someone who can cover the education efforts at corporations such as
News Corp, Amazon, Apple, Discovery Communications, Chegg and others and how
those companies are competing with established players such as Pearson,
Houghton Mifflin, and McGraw-Hill, to name a few. The right reporter will be
able to break news both on visionary new approaches and on outrageous scams,
and be able to explain how the moves of these companies influence and interact
with government policy at the local, state and national level. Candidates will
be as comfortable with SEC filings and corporate balance sheets as they are
with legislative bills and student loan documents. Candidates must have a
working knowledge of social media and how big news breaks first on the web and
spreads across Twitter and Facebook.
In terms of experience, we're simply looking
for the hungriest reporter available to own this beat, so the right candidate
can be anyone from a new graduate who has yet to step foot in a professional
newsroom to a seasoned veteran of 20 years with a track record of breaking news
on the beat. This position will report to the business editor, and work closely
with him and the editor-in-chief as the beat takes shape. This position is
based in New York
2014
PA Gubernatorial Candidate Plans for Education and Arts/Culture in PA
Education
Policy and Leadership
Center
Below is an alphabetical list of the 2014 Gubernatorial Candidates and
links to information about their plans, if elected, for education and
arts/culture in Pennsylvania
FEBRUARY 1ST, 2014
The DCIU Google Symposium is an opportunity for teachers,
administrators, technology directors, and other school stakeholders to come
together and explore the power of Google Apps for Education. The
Symposium will be held at the Delaware County Intermediate Unit. The Delaware
County Intermediate Unit is one of Pennsylvania
NPE National Conference
2014
The Network for Public Education November 24, 2013
The Network for Public Education is pleased to announce our
first National Conference. The event will take place on March 1 & 2, 2014
(the weekend prior to the world-famous South by Southwest Festival) at The University of Texas
at Austin
In the coming weeks, we
will release more details. In the meantime, make your travel plans and click
this link and submit your email address to receive updates about the NPE
National Conference 2014.
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
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
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