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
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?
Is Teach for America
Good for America
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
“State officials project a $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion hole in the
budget next year”
Pittsburgh
Tribune-Review By Melissa
Daniels Thursday, Dec. 19, 2013 , 12:01 a.m.
State officials project a $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion hole in the budget next year, challenging Republican Gov. Tom Corbett and lawmakers to pull off the toughest balancing act of his administration. Budget Secretary Charles Zogby held his midyear budget briefing on Wednesday, saying that though Pennsylvania is on pace to end the year in balance, it faces significant hurdles in 2014-15. The $1.4 billion figure factors in growth in the budget's 2,000 line items under law and without new spending. “I think everybody knows it's going to be a tough year,” House GOP spokesman Steve Miskin said.
State officials project a $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion hole in the budget next year, challenging Republican Gov. Tom Corbett and lawmakers to pull off the toughest balancing act of his administration. Budget Secretary Charles Zogby held his midyear budget briefing on Wednesday, saying that though Pennsylvania is on pace to end the year in balance, it faces significant hurdles in 2014-15. The $1.4 billion figure factors in growth in the budget's 2,000 line items under law and without new spending. “I think everybody knows it's going to be a tough year,” House GOP spokesman Steve Miskin said.
Corporate Tax
Cuts Help
Put State
Corporate Tax Revenue Declines for First Time in a Generation
A decade of corporate tax
cuts are a major reason that Pennsylvania is expected to have far fewer
resources than it needs to pay for education, health care and other essential
services for years to come. Unless lawmakers reverse course and come up with
additional revenue, our schools, communities and families will continue to bear
the brunt and our economy will suffer.
The elimination of the
capital stock and franchise tax (CSFT), without a replacement, and other
corporate tax changes mean that overall corporate tax revenue will decline in
an expanding economy for the first time in at least a quarter century. Robust
growth in sales and personal income taxes will not be enough to overcome the
loss of corporate tax revenue.
School Board Santa
It felt like Christmas
came early last night for the education justice movement. The Pittsburgh school
board, which includes four of nine newly elected members, presented students
with two lovely gifts: instead of handing out turtledoves or partridges in pear
trees (really impractical this time of year, if you think about it), the board
voted to rescind a contract with Teach for America and to stop the process of
closing Woolslair elementary.
The community had raised
significant questions about the impact Teach for America (TFA) would have on
students, teachers, and our schools. [See “Six
Questions for Teach for America” and “Too Few
Answers”] And the community also spoke out loud and clear about the damage
caused by past school closures, with almost 1,000 people responding to a survey
conducted by volunteers earlier this fall going door-to-door in neighborhoods
all over the city. [See “What
Pittsburghers are Really Saying About School Closures”]
Governor Corbett Lauds Pennsylvania’s $51.7 Million Race to the Top
Early Learning Challenge Grant Award
PDE Press ReleaseDecember 19, 2013
Harrisburg – Governor Tom Corbett today announced that the U.S. Department of Education has awarded Pennsylvania $51.7 million through the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge grant program. “High-quality early learning programs are known to improve student achievement and prepare students to enter kindergarten,” Corbett said. “As a national leader,Pennsylvania
PDE Press Release
Harrisburg – Governor Tom Corbett today announced that the U.S. Department of Education has awarded Pennsylvania $51.7 million through the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge grant program. “High-quality early learning programs are known to improve student achievement and prepare students to enter kindergarten,” Corbett said. “As a national leader,
Over the next four years,
the grant will be used to support Governor Corbett’s vision for early childhood
education in Pennsylvania, which includes closing the school readiness gap that
exists between children with high needs and their peers as well as increasing
the number of children who are able to read and do math at grade level by the
end of third grade.
Major initiatives to be
funded by the grant include:
“…Gov. Corbett said the money will be used over the next four years
to level the educational playing field for high-risk children, as well as
increase the number of students able to read and do math at grade level by the
time they finish the third grade.
"High-quality early learning programs are known to improve student
achievement and prepare students to enter kindergarten," said Corbett,
adding that the grant "will help us to further improve and expand our
existing quality programs." State
education officials said major initiatives that will be funded by the grant
include establishing 50 early childhood education "innovation zones"
to develop strategies to support and engage families in the lowest
performing-elementary schools and launching four "Governor's
Institutes" that will bring together nearly 3,000 pre-kindergarten to
third-grade educators to share experiences and strategies.”
ANGELA
COULOUMBIS, INQUIRER HARRISBURG December 19, 2013 , 6:37 PM
Partial verdict in Dorothy June Brown charter-school fraud trial
MARTHA
WOODALL, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER Thursday, December 19, 2013 , 4:02 PM
After a five-week trial
about phantom board members, fabricated documents, forged signatures and high
student test scores, the federal jury in the Dorothy June Brown fraud trial
returned a partial verdict Thursday afternoon.
The jury was undecided on the 76-year-old Brown, who is accused of
defrauding $6.7 million from the four charter schools she founded and
participating in a scheme to cover it up.
Her two codefendants, however, were acquitted of conspiracy and
obstruction of justice charges in connection with an alleged coverup of the
frauds.
Corbett signs bills to update Pa.
WHTM abc27 By Myles Snyder
Updated: Dec 18, 2013 6:45 PM
EST
Governor Tom Corbett has
signed the first round of new laws drafted in response to the Jerry Sandusky
and Roman Catholic clergy scandals. Ten
bills signed by the governor Wednesday make significant improvements to the
state's child abuse prevention laws and are based on recommendations made by
the Pennsylvania Task Force on Child Protection.
Corbett signed two of the
bills, Senate Bill 23 and House Bill 726, during a signing at the Pennsylvania Child Resource
Center
“Charter schools are taxpayer-funded privately run, public schools.
The Allentown
School District has had $19.6
million diverted to charters and cyber schools but it cannot reject an
application for financial reasons.
Charter applications can only be rejected for a lack of community
support, curriculum issues, financial flaws, inadequate facilities and for not
having an innovative learning experience.”
By Sara K.
Satullo | The Express-Times on December 19, 2013 at 10:55 PM
The Allentown
School Board tonight rejected two charter school applications for a
lack of community support. A motion to
approve the Arts
Academy Elementary Charter School failed in a 5-4 vote with Directors
Charles Thiel, Scott
Armstrong, Michael Welsh and David Zimmerman supporting the school. School Organizer Thomas
Lubben declined comment after the vote.
A motion to reject Computer
Aid Inc. Learning Academy Charter Schoolpassed in a 7 to 2 vote with
Armstrong and Zimmerman supporting the K-8 school. Board Vice President Debra Lamb said she's
very concerned Computer Aid demonstrated no support from parents, students or
prospective teachers. It only showed support from the business community, she
said. A school isn't sustainable without those people on board, she said.
December issue of “Capitol Watch for Children” wraps up 2013 with a top
10 list highlighting the stories that had the greatest impact on Pennsylvania
“The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
reported that Danielle Montoya, regional communications director for Teach For America
Here’s some education
news that you don’t hear every day: The Pittsburgh school board is rescinding a
$750,000 contract with Teach
For America, and keeping open an elementary school slated to be shuttered. The board’s four new members, taking a new
reform tact, drove the decision to drop the contract by a 6-2 vote with
one abstention; in late November, before the new members were sworn in, the
board approved the contract 6-3.
What's preposterous is the notion that well meaning ivy-league
grads with just 5 weeks of training should be placed as teachers in our most
challenging urban school districts. In
what other profession would we do this and label them
"highly-qualified"? Perhaps
the PPG editorial board would like to hand over the paper to similar
"fresh talent" interns.......
Preposterous: The new city
The Pittsburgh December 20, 2013
12:00 AM
Is Teach for America
Good for America
Harvard Magazine by Michael Zuckerman
12.18.13
TEACH FOR
AMERICA (TFA), an AmeriCorps program that provides an accelerated path for
elite college graduates to spend two years teaching in low-income community
schools, is as prominent—and as controversial—as ever. In recent years, nearly one in five Harvard
seniors has applied to join the organization, which placed 6,000 first-year
corps members this academic year. But it has also come under increasing attack,
and a spate of articles has run in recent months alternately slamming and
lionizing the organization. Just this past October 23, the Harvard
Crimson’s editorial page featured a staff
editorial supporting TFAdueling with an
opinion column opposing it that was much-discussed on campus andbeyond.
As TFA scales up, it is
becoming increasingly important to reflect on the role it plays in America
Buying public policy: Philadelphia
School
From PCAPS, a wish for more transparency
by David
Limm on Dec
18 2013 Posted in Latest news
Some education activists
want the Philadelphia School Partnership to know that for this holiday
season, transparency would be the best gift of all.
Donning red winter
hats, members of the activist group Philadelphia Coalition Advocating
for Public Schools attempted Wednesday afternoon to enter PSP's
office near Fifth and Chestnut Streets. They were armed with a set of
demands for the influential nonprofit organization, whose growing
role as a major funder and private player in the city's public school system
they see as more of a problem than a solution.
Building security denied
the protesters entry, and the group set up a picket line outside.
On their wishlist,
said parent Kia Hinton, a member of Action United, was a request for
PSP to allow members of PCAPS to attend board meetings, which are not required
to be open to the public. Another request was to place a public school parent
or student on that board.
By Joe Smydo / Pittsburgh December 19, 2013
11:42 PM
The Pittsburgh Promise
scholarship program today will announce the biggest individual gift in its
seven-year history -- a $1 million contribution from former Mellon Financial
Corp. chairman and CEO Marty McGuinn and his wife, Ann. "They are setting a remarkable example
of leadership, service and incredible generosity. And I am deeply
grateful," Saleem Ghubril, the Promise's executive director, said in a
statement.
“We don't have an education problem in America America
Education Isn't Broken, Our Country Is
Huffington Post by Steve Nelson, Head of the
Calhoun School in Manhattan 12/16/2013
2:06 pm
Here we go again. The
recent reports on Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores,
have unleashed a fresh torrent of educational angst. According to PISA, American kids are mired in mediocrity
and the rest of the world is catapulting ahead of us. Singapore , Shanghai
and South Korea
But I don't write to
quarrel with the scores, their importance or their reliability, although I hold
little stock in any standardized assessments. The more significant problem is
that we Americans have it exactly backwards.
Story after story, blog post after blog post, one op-ed after another
cite the importance of an educated workforce in order to maintain or regain our
rightful place atop the global economy. Politicians suggest that poverty would
be eradicated if only our schools were more like those in Finland
The
49 states of rising child poverty
Map
shows the percentage-point change in poverty rates among children aged 5 to 17
from 2007 to 2012.
Children in North Dakota
The data also show high concentrations of
child poverty. Poverty rates among school-age children were higher than 1 in 4
in more than a third of all the nation’s counties.
2013
in Review Part 1: Charter Schools: Public, Private, or Parasitic?
Education Week Living in Dialogue Blog By Anthony Cody on December
18, 2013 6:15 PM
The year 2013 was when corporate reform truly
unraveled. From John Merrow's exposure of Michelle Rhee,
to the revelations about Tony Bennett's school
grade-fixing scandal, to Pearson's
fine for illegal lobbying, a great many "conspiracy theories"
were found to be true. I have been reviewing the past year of posts on this
blog, and several themes emerge from the 176 posts I have published so far this
year. The biggest area of discussion
continued to be corporate education reform, and the role of the Gates
Foundation in advancing test-centered market-based reforms. A major emphasis
was also the Common Core standards, which came into much sharper focus as a
result of the tests that were rolled out 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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