Daily postings from the Keystone State
Education Coalition now reach more than 3150 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?
Keystone State Education Coalition
DOES PENNSYLVANIA
Happy Pi Day!
Pi Day
is celebrated on March 14th (3/14) around the world. Pi (Greek letter “π”) is
the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the
circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159. Pi has been calculated to over one trillion
digits beyond its decimal point. As an irrational and transcendental number, it
will continue infinitely without repetition or pattern. While only a handful of
digits are needed for typical calculations, Pi’s infinite nature makes it a fun
challenge to memorize, and to computationally calculate more and more digits.
DOES PENNSYLVANIA
FACT SHEET: OPTING/OUT OF
STANDARDIZED TESTS
Yes, Pennsylvania allows parents
to opt their children out of standardized testing for religious reasons. First, a parent or guardian must contact the school
and ask to review the assessment. The review
must take place at the school, but the school must have a policy that allows review
during convenient hours for the parent or guardian. This includes evening hours. If after the inspection the parent or guardian
determines that the exam conflicts with their religious beliefs they may opt their
child out of the assessment. The proper procedure
is for the parent or guardian to make a written request to the school district superintendent
that states the objection. This request will not be denied by the school.
What’s the State of Pre-k Where You Live?
Pre-K
for PA Mar 13, 2014
Young
children get one chance to benefit from high-quality pre-k, and
delayed investments mean not only lost opportunities, but higher costs to our
children and our society for missing those opportunities. Pennsylvania should put the needs of our
children first by making high-quality pre-k accessible to every 3- and
4-year-old in the commonwealth. Use the profiles below to learn about the need
for greater high-quality pre-k opportunities in your county. Let’s make sure
all children in your county and across the commonwealth are ready to succeed.
Below is a list of the counties with download links for PDF
Fact Sheets.
Hanger quitting Democratic race for Pa.
Times
Leader By Peter Jackson Associated Press March 13. 2014 10:37AM
HARRISBURG , Pa.
(AP) — John Hanger is dropping out of the race for Pennsylvania governor.
His
political director, Roger Cohen, confirmed Thursday that the Democrat will
announce his decision at a Capitol news conference.
"A total of 67,315 city students attend charters. Under
the state's latest calculations, the district pays the charters $8,419 per
student, $22,312 for those who receive special-education services. Officials say the district expects to spend
$700 million on charter payments through June, about $25 million more than
budgeted. One reason for the higher bills is that charters have enrolled 1,600
more students than permitted in their agreements."
Philly charter lawsuit
challenges SRC suspension of School Code
MARTHA WOODALL, INQUIRER
STAFF WRITER LAST UPDATED: Friday, March 14, 2014, 1:08 AM
POSTED: Thursday, March 13, 2014, 5:57 PM
A charter school is taking aim at the Philadelphia School
Reform Commission's efforts to rein in soaring charter costs. The West Philadelphia
Achievement Charter
Elementary School
Advocates call for City
Council to change thinking on sales-tax plan for Philly schools
WHYY Newsworks BY KEVIN
MCCORRY MARCH 13, 2014
A coalition of eight education advocacy groups swarmed City
Hall Thursday, urging City Council to follow a sales-tax extension plan already
authorized by the state, which would send $120 million in increased sales-tax
revenue to schools. Under the existing
plan, anything more than $120 million raised from extending a 1-percent city
sales tax would go to the pension system. Current city projections show
sales-tax revenue could be as much as $140 million this year.
Mayor Michael Nutter and Council President Darrell Clarke have
been hoping to split the sales tax proceeds 50/50 between schools and pensions,
and make up the difference by pushing the state to pass a tax that would raise
the cost of cigarettes in Philadelphia
by $2 per pack.
Donna Cooper, executive director of Public Citizens for
Children and Youth, said it puts schools at risk to think that Harrisburg is both going to pass a cigarette
taxand redo the sales-tax plan that it already authorized.
Act now on city schools
Philly.com Opinion By
Christine Carlson POSTED: Friday, March 14,
2014, 1:08 AM
Christine Carlson is a public school parent and the founder of the
Greater Center City Neighborhood Schools Coalition.
Putting Philadelphia public schools on par with their suburban counterparts is a huge task, but dramatic improvements can be made almost immediately if City Council acts and the School Reform Commission and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers compromise.
Putting Philadelphia public schools on par with their suburban counterparts is a huge task, but dramatic improvements can be made almost immediately if City Council acts and the School Reform Commission and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers compromise.
In the city and
suburbs, schools are posting teaching positions for next year, and teachers are
considering their options now. But, even if they wanted to, these teachers
can't consider potential jobs in the School
District of Philadelphia Philadelphia
schools are at a significant competitive disadvantage when retaining and
attracting the region's best and brightest teachers. We can change this
scenario.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/inquirer/20140314_Act_now_on_city_schools.html#jKuTWPxeXJ2Xdh0x.99
They're among 100
cuts Allentown
Allentown School
District Superintendent Russ Mayo explains proposed job cuts at schools.
By Adam Clark, Of The Morning Call 11:10 p.m. EDT, March 13, 2014
The Allentown School District
The potential cuts come
from across the elementary, middle and high school levels and hit special
education as well as English as a second language. They do not touch music,
art, gym or library.
Manheim Township community,
school board, discuss fate of Spanish immersion
Ana McKenna built the
Spanish immersion program at Manheim
Township
At the school board
work session Thursday, wearing a sweatshirt with the handprints of her first
immersion class in 1994, McKenna defended the program that could be eliminated
by a vote of school board members on March 20.
At the Feb. 20 school board meeting, the district’s K-12 administrative
team recommended the program be phased out of the curriculum. The team cited
difficulties in finding and retaining qualified staff, finding grade-level
appropriate material and scheduling. The
20-year-old Spanish immersion program was supported Thursday by about 50
parents and community members attending the work session. For more than 30
minutes, supporters spoke in favor of the program.
Want to know what the Left
really thinks of minorities? Look at NYC's attack on charter schools:
by Thomas Sowell on March 13, 2014 at 9:45 AM
If anyone wanted to
pick a time and place where the political left's avowed concern for minorities
was definitively exposed as a fraud, it would be now -- and the place would be New York City , where far
left Mayor Bill de Blasio has launched an attack on charter
schools, cutting their funding, among other things. These schools have given thousands of low
income minority children their only shot at a decent education, which often means
their only shot at a decent life.
Last year 82 percent of
the students at a charter school called Success Academy
Why would anybody who
has any concern at all about minority young people -- or even common decency --
want to destroy what progress has already been made?
"The State Senate, which
Republicans and a faction of Democrats control, on Thursday proposed spending
$540 million a year for five years on free full-day prekindergarten and after-school
programs in the city."
NY:
De Blasio Closes In on Pre-K Funding, but Not From a Higher Tax
New York Times By THOMAS KAPLAN and AL BAKER MARCH 13, 2014
ALBANY — Even as he
came under escalating attacks from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the Legislature for
his stance toward charter schools, Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday stepped
closer to securing state financing to expand prekindergarten in New York City.
The progress came with
a caveat: Instead of a tax increase on wealthy residents that he said was the
only reliable source of funding, the mayor’s prekindergarten plan appears
almost certain to be financed with state money. At the same time, he came under
heightened pressure over charter schools from lawmakers, whose budget proposals
threaten to erode his powers under mayoral control of the public schools.
No
Easy Task in Bid to Find Seats for Pre-K
New York Times By JIM DWYER MARCH 13, 2014
Let us leave Albany to its
machinations, and for today’s discussion of universal prekindergarten, turn to the principles of
the hydraulic power of toddlers. If New York City is going to
meet its aim of putting 21,000 more 4-year-olds into full-day prekindergarten
classes next fall, the toddlers’ hydraulic power is on a par with every other
law of physics.
The concept is familiar
to anyone who has ever been visited in the middle of the night by a small
child, climbing one knee at a time into bed. It works like this: Simply by
driving a little foot in the rib of one parent, and laying his or her head on
the nose of the other, a 30-pound child can soon have 300 pounds’ worth of adults
teetering at the edges of the mattress. Game, set, match.
A few weeks ago,
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced
that a survey had found 9,000 possible seats in public schools for 4-year-olds
who would attend full-day prekindergarten, beginning in the fall of this year.
Private groups, “community-based organizations,” offered to provide 20,000
seats.
Altogether, 29,000
seats, at least on a piece of paper.
Live Chat with PA's Major Education Leadership Organizations on Twitter
PSBA
website 3/11/2014
On Tuesday,
March 25 at 8 p.m., Pennsylvania's major education leadership organizations
will host a live chat on Twitter to share the opinions of school leaders from
throughout the state and invite feedback.
Join the conversation using hashtag #PAEdFunding and
lurk, learn or let us know what you think about the state of support for public
schools. If you've never tweeted before,
join us. It's a simple, free and fast-paced way to communicate and share
information. Here are directions and a few tips:
- See
more at: http://www.psba.org/news-publications/headlines/details.asp?id=7286#sthash.OGonknCO.dpuf
How the Business Community Can Lead on
Early Education
Economy
League of Greater Philadelphia
Join
business and community leaders to learn about how you can help make sure every
child arrives in kindergarten ready to succeed. On April 29th, the Economy
League of Greater Philadelphia and the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and
Southern New Jersey will host a forum featuring business leaders from around
the country talking about why they’re focused on early childhood education and
how they have moved the needle on improving quality and access in their states.
Featured
Speakers
- Jack Brennan, Chairman Emeritus of The
Vanguard Group
- Phil Peterson, Partner, Aon Hewitt and
Co-Chair of America’s Edge/Ready Nation
- And more to be announced!
- Date & Time Tuesday, April
29, 2014 | 5-7 PM
Registration begins at 5 PM;
program from 5:30 to 7:00 PM
- Location Federal Reserve Bank of
Philadelphia
10 North Independence Mall West Philadelphia,
PA 19106
Registration:
http://worldclassgreaterphila.org/worldclasscouncilforum
PILCOP Special Education Seminars 2014 Schedule
Public
Interest Law Center of Philadelphia
Register Now! EPLC’s 2014 Education Issues Workshops for Legislative
Candidates, Campaign Staff, and Interested Voters
EPLC’s Education
Issue Workshops Register Now! – Space is Limited!
A Non-Partisan One-Day Program forPennsylvania
A Non-Partisan One-Day Program for
Wednesday, March 19, 2014 in Monroeville ,
PA
Thursday, March 27, 2014 inPhiladelphia ,PA
Thursday, March 27, 2014 in
Auditor General DePasquale to Hold Public Meetings on Ways to Improve
Charter Schools
Seeks to find ways to improve accountability, effectiveness, transparency
The the last of
five public meetings will be held:
- Philadelphia: 1 to 3 p.m., Friday, March 14, City Council
Chambers, Room 400, City Hall
Time is limited to
two hours for each meeting. Comments can be submitted in writing by Wednesday,
Feb. 19, via email to Susan Woods at: swoods@auditorgen.state.pa.us.
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. This list will be updated, as more
information becomes available.
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