Daily postings from the Keystone State
Education Coalition now reach more than 3250 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
Pennsylvania Education Policy Roundup
for April 25, 2014:
Poll: Pennsylvanians want a
school funding formula and more state funding for public education
PSBA
Advocacy Forum and Day on the Hill May 5-6, Mechanicsburg & Harrisburg
Make an impact on the legislative process by attending PSBA’s Advocacy Forum and Day on the Hill, May 5-6. Day one will provide legislative insights on pensions, training on being an effective advocate, and media relations. Dr. G. Terry Madonna, leading Pennsylvania political analyst, will discuss the legislative landscape in his usual lively and informative style. How to Be an Effective Advocate -- Hear from former Allwein Advocacy Award winners Larry Feinberg, Roberta Marcus and Tina Viletto on how to successfully support your issues. At noon, Rep. Dave Reed, Majority Policy Chairman, will address participants. On day two, participants will start with a breakfast at the Harrisburg Hilton with Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley as guest speaker and then hit the ground running with visits to legislative offices in the State CapitolSpace is limited so register early. Click here for more details and to register online.
Make an impact on the legislative process by attending PSBA’s Advocacy Forum and Day on the Hill, May 5-6. Day one will provide legislative insights on pensions, training on being an effective advocate, and media relations. Dr. G. Terry Madonna, leading Pennsylvania political analyst, will discuss the legislative landscape in his usual lively and informative style. How to Be an Effective Advocate -- Hear from former Allwein Advocacy Award winners Larry Feinberg, Roberta Marcus and Tina Viletto on how to successfully support your issues. At noon, Rep. Dave Reed, Majority Policy Chairman, will address participants. On day two, participants will start with a breakfast at the Harrisburg Hilton with Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley as guest speaker and then hit the ground running with visits to legislative offices in the State CapitolSpace is limited so register early. Click here for more details and to register online.
Registration
fee of $50 includes lunch and dinner on May 5 and breakfast on May
6.
“The majority of legislators, and I can only speak for the
Senate, are not aware of the feelings that you are expressing, are not aware of
all the intricacies of this task,” Dinniman said. “So what you’re doing today
is essential to that education.”
Dinniman shared his plans to propose a bill by May that would remove the
exams as a requirement for graduation. …State
Rep. Dan Truitt said students need to have specific skills to be prepared for
college, the work force and the military. He said while he would support the
bill, he needs guidance on a replacement measure for the graduation requirement
in order for it to gain support to pass.
“We have to have some alternative,” said Truitt, R-156th of East Goshen . “We can’t just say no Keystone Exams.”
Keystone Exams: School
officials raise concerns of new state graduation requirements
Daily Local News By Ginger Dunbar, POSTED: 04/24/14,
11:19 PM EDT
DOWNINGTOWN – During a briefing Thursday concerning the new
state Keystone Exam regulations, a panelist of superintendents, state
legislators and others shared their concerns, including costs to schools, time
away from classrooms and parents’ lack of awareness of the graduation
requirement. The panelist members, from Chester , Montgomery and Delaware counties,
focused on the new requirements of all students to pass the Keystone Exams in
Algebra I, Biology and Language Arts in order to graduate from high school.
This requirement, which was implemented in March, will affect the class of
2017, students who are currently in ninth grade.
"The key question is whether and how a new “funding”
commission approaches the “funding” side of the equation. Support for a new
formula is widespread, even in the General Assembly. The critical question is
whether Pennsylvania gets back to a cost-based assessment of student
educational needs and makes plans to meet those needs. If the new commission wants to take a look at
funding adequacy, members can do so knowing the public has their backs."
EDUCATION IS THE NEW BLACK
Third and State Blog Posted by Sharon Ward onApril
24, 2014 9:27 am
A new poll out confirms the public’s support for more
education funding and a new education funding formula. The poll, conducted by Terry Madonna, was
released at a press conference Tuesday in the state Capitol,
sponsored by associations representing Pennsylvania school boards (PSBA),
school administrators (PASA), business officials (PASBO), and rural schools
(PARSS). The key takeaway is that
Pennsylvanians want more state funding for public education. More than seven in
10 (71%) respondents believe the state’s investment in public education should
be larger. The poll finds that:
·
More than eight in 10 Pennsylvanians (84%)
surveyed said they believe public schools have a "Very Strong" or
"Some" effect on economic development;
·
More than two-thirds of Pennsylvanians (67%)
said schools with a greater number of students in poverty should
"Definitely" or "Probably" receive more state funding; and
·
Nearly three-quarters of Pennsylvanians (72%)
said they "Strongly Favor" or "Somewhat Favor" using a
school funding formula to ensure fair distribution of funding.
"Part of the new message is an effort to push back
against criticism from school groups and the four Democratic candidates for
governor of his budget-balancing cuts to aid to schools in his first budget
year, 2011, amid rising public pension costs and the expiration of the federal
government's recessionary budget aid to states."
Corbett ramps up pitch to
education, women voters
MEDIA, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Tom Corbett is attacking two of his
weakest polling points, his job approval by women voters and his efforts on
education, with possibly just token opposition in the Republican primary and
the general election looming less than seven months away. On Thursday, he attended the kickoff of a
women's committee that will be tapped to help lead efforts to attract women
supporters to Corbett's re-election campaign.
Corbett attended with his wife, Susan, who told a crowd of about 60
gathered in a dimly lit restaurant in Media, a Philadelphia suburb, that her husband has a
strong record on education. The appearance comes a few days after the campaign
released a statewide TV ad in which Susan Corbett does the talking and stresses
her husband's commitment to education.
EDITORIAL: Fight for school
funding reform
If this makes you mad, good.
If it makes you litigating mad, even better. We're starting to think the only way lawmakers
will fix Pennsylvania 's
outrageously inequitable school funding formula is if districts and taxpayers
take the state to court. It worked in
other states when their legislatures couldn't or wouldn't deal with similar
issues. And there's no way an impartial
judge or jury could look at Pennsylvania
formula and do nothing. Here's what York
Dispatch education reporter Nikelle Snader found when she crunched numbers
provided by the state Department of Education (you might want to sit down):
Cheltenham School Board
urges state to provide a fair funding formula
Glenside News Globe Times Chronicle By Jarreau Freeman
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Cheltenham School District is one of many districts in the area
contemplating a tax increase for its 2014-’15 budget. However, the board is
taking steps to increase state funding to public schools to combat higher taxes
in the future. The Cheltenham School
Board passed a resolution at the April 8 board meeting urging legislators to
create a new funding formula that would provide “fair and equitable” state
funding for all public schools so students’ needs are met, said the district’s
Business Affairs Director Matthew Malinowski during an interview April 22. According to the resolution, the state
contributes less than 35 percent of its budget to public education; other
states contribute approximately 44 percent. Pennsylvania ranks 47 among 50
states that contribute funds to support elementary and secondary education and
ranks eighth out of 50 states that depend on taxes to fund education. In the
mid-’70s, the state provided more than 50 percent of its budget toward
education funding.
Pa. might lend Wilkinsburg
district a hand, but not necessarily money
Pittsburgh
Tribune-Review By Megan
Harris Wednesday,
April 23, 2014, 11:15 p.m.
State-sponsored support could be one facet to improving Wilkinsburg schools, Carolyn Dumaresq, acting secretary of education forPennsylvania ,
said on Wednesday.
State-sponsored support could be one facet to improving Wilkinsburg schools, Carolyn Dumaresq, acting secretary of education for
In a meeting with
reporters and editors of the Tribune-Review, Dumaresq said district
administrators will meet with students, parents and teachers to craft a
curriculum that better promotes fiscal and academic health. Recent Wilkinsburg woes run the gamut from
poor tax collection rates and terminations to criminal charges levied by and
against district employees.
Dumaresq made no pledge
of money, but she said the state could help in an advisory capacity.
Read more: http://triblive.com/news/education/5994766-74/district-dumaresq-wilkinsburg#ixzz2zpIFNnpu
Charter school advocates warn
new special ed funding in Pennsylvania
By Sara K.
Satullo | The Express-Times on April 23, 2014 at 7:28 PM
Proposed changes to Pennsylvania's special education funding
for school districts and charter schools will put some of the state's charters
out of business, according to charter school advocates. The switch to a tiered funding formula for
charter schools would cut the 2,700 student Collegium Charter School's funding
by $3.9 million, said Bill Winters, CEO of the Exton, Pa.-based school. "We literally cannot exist next year
with this kind of cut," Winters said.
Charter school advocates and operators hosted a conference
calls with reporters this afternoon to outline their objections to two
identical bills in the Pennsylvania House and Senate that would overhaul the
state's special education funding.
Is there a second term in
Office of Open Record's director Terry Mutchler's future?
By Jan Murphy |
jmurphy@pennlive.com on April 23, 2014 at 6:50 PM
Thursday marks the six-year term of office for Terry Mutchler, the
first executive director of the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records that was
established in a rewrite of the open
records law.
She was tasked with setting up the office, hiring staff, and
educating government agencies and the public about the revamped open records
law at the same time her office was expected to handle the abundance of appeals
of record request denials that were generated.
The author of that revamped law, Senate Majority Leader Dominic
Pileggi, R-Delaware County, credits Mutchler with turning the office into “one
of the most respected agencies of its type in the nation.”
SRC votes to terminate Palmer
charter, approves 4 others, adopts new charter policy
by Dale
Mezzacappa on Apr 25 2014
Posted in Latest news
The School Reform
Commission approved a resolution Thursday night calling for closure
of the Walter D. Palmer Leadership Learning Partners Charter School, ignoring
pleas from two City Council members, a state legislator and Palmer himself
to "let calmer heads prevail" and postpone any action. Prior to the 4-1 vote for closure, SRC
Chair Bill Green pointed out that hearings must still take place before the
school can be closed. Commissioner Sylvia Simms opposed the action. It was a packed and noisy meeting that took
more than six hours, with more than 60 people signed up to give testimony. The SRC also renewed four charter
schools -- all for five years and all with conditions.
Team up with schools for arts
education
Philly.com Opinion By
Joe Neubauer and Deirdre Connelly
Friday, April 25, 2014, 1:08 AM
Joe Neubauer is chairman of the board of trustees of the Barnes
Foundation. Deirdre Connelly is president of North America pharmaceuticals, GSK
Painting involves chemistry. Sculpture requires an understanding of geometry, gravity, and - in the case of the human form as subject - anatomy. Music is math brought to life. Why then, do we sometimes view arts education as less than essential to developing well-rounded students?
Painting involves chemistry. Sculpture requires an understanding of geometry, gravity, and - in the case of the human form as subject - anatomy. Music is math brought to life. Why then, do we sometimes view arts education as less than essential to developing well-rounded students?
A solid education in the
arts helps children learn how to debate, exchange ideas, and discover new ways
of seeing, thinking, and perceiving the world around them. We need more
inquisitive and creative minds in the workforce. We want multidimensional
thinkers pursuing careers in public service. That's why investing in arts
education is more than a "nice to have" - it is critical.
"Under the budget presented Thursday, the district is
increasing spending on its own operations by 0.31 percent. A projected 47
percent increase in charter school tuition is to blame for the district's
budget woes, Superintendent Joseph Roy said.
"I can't say too often that there is a price to school
choice," Roy
Big increase in
charter school tuition blamed for district's budget crisis.
By Adam Clark,
Of The Morning Call 10:48 p.m. EDT, April 24, 2014
Bethlehem Area School District is proposing a 4.9 percent tax
increase, the highest the district can raise taxes for next school year. The tax hike would raise the Northampton County rate to 50.99 mills and Lehigh County
"Roy
When a student goes to a charter or cyberschool, Bethlehem
By on April 24, 2014 at 8:30 PM
Bethlehem
Area School District tax
bills may increase by almost 5 percent next year.
At a budget workshop
tonight, the administration stated for the first time how much it needs to
increase taxes to close its $7.4 million budget hole. The district also plans
to cut 22 jobs.
Bethlehem needed several exceptions from the
state to exceed its cap of a 2.6 percent tax hike without putting the tax hike
up for a voter referendum. The preliminary budget calls for a 0.36 mill hike in
Lehigh County
and a 2.63 mill increase in Northampton
County
"A 2.1 percent tax increase is permitted under the Act 1
index for next year, but a 0.9 percent exception for the PSERS (retirement
fund) increase going up from 16.93 percent to 21.4 percent next year, takes it
to 3 percent."
Upper Dublin School Board looks at 3 percent tax increase
Ambler
Gazette By Linda Finarelli Published: Wednesday, April 23, 2014
A
2014-15 Upper Dublin School District budget calling for a 3 percent, rather
than previously proposed 4.5 percent, tax increase was presented at the school
board’s April 21 meeting.
Several board members had previously asked that the proposed tax increase for next year be no higher than 3 percent. What the final budget and tax increase will be is yet to be determined.
The budget update, Business Administrator Brenda Bray said, was based on better estimates for expenditures for the current 2013-14 school year, now estimated to be $687,057 less than budgeted.
Several board members had previously asked that the proposed tax increase for next year be no higher than 3 percent. What the final budget and tax increase will be is yet to be determined.
The budget update, Business Administrator Brenda Bray said, was based on better estimates for expenditures for the current 2013-14 school year, now estimated to be $687,057 less than budgeted.
"Some of the factors driving increased costs are
special education increases and employee retirement contributions."
Radnor School Board adopts
2014-15 $85.9 million preliminary budget
By Linda Stein lstein@mainlinemedianews.com Published: Wednesday, April 23, 2014
The Radnor Township
School Board Tuesday unanimously adopted an $85.9 million preliminary budget for
the 2014-15 school year with no new taxes included. Board President Eric Zajac emphasized that
the budget remains a work in progress and could change before its final
adoption on May 27. The budget will be discussed again at a May 6 finance
committee meeting.
While all nine board members approved the preliminary budget, several members said they are not comfortable with adopting it as a final budget because of the five year forecast provided by the district administrators shows that there will be a $1.4 million deficit as soon as the 2015-2016 school year. Zajac said there was uncertainty about whether the assumptions in the five-year forecast were “realistic” or “overly conservative.”
While all nine board members approved the preliminary budget, several members said they are not comfortable with adopting it as a final budget because of the five year forecast provided by the district administrators shows that there will be a $1.4 million deficit as soon as the 2015-2016 school year. Zajac said there was uncertainty about whether the assumptions in the five-year forecast were “realistic” or “overly conservative.”
Holocaust Education: A Tale
of Two States
Jewish
Exponent APRIL 24, 2014 By: Barbara S. Rothschild
Living
in the Bucks County suburb of Richboro and teaching about genocide and the
Holocaust in South Jersey, Paula Mann knows both the mandated and voluntary
sides of Holocaust education. As a
language arts teacher at Bordentown Regional Middle School in Burlington
County, Mann is required by state law to teach lessons of the Holocaust and has
easy access to Power-Point programs, videos and other resources from the N.J.
Commission on Holocaust Education. As a
Jew living in Pennsylvania, she feels driven to get a similar mandate passed in
her home state.
"Though computer science can lead to high-paying
technology jobs and boost skills for a variety of fields, many students get
little exposure to the subject in class. Across the Washington
High school students are all
about computers but get little instruction in computer science
Their
lives swirl in technology, but the nation’s high school students spend little
time studying the computer science that is the basis of it all. Few are taught
to write lines of code, and few take classes that delve into the workings of
the Internet or explain how to create an app.
In a
world that went digital long ago, computer science is not a staple of U.S.
education, and some schools do not even offer a course on the subject,
including 10 of 27 high schools in Virginia’s Fairfax County and six of 25 in
Maryland’s Montgomery County.
"Angry Philadelphians have also protested the tax breaks
lavished on the company — at a time when the city’s underfunded school system
is in dire crisis. The gleaming Comcast Center was subsidized by
$42.75 million in state grants and other assistance, and the project is reaping
millions of dollars from the city’s property-tax abatement for new
construction. A planned second tower will stand 1,121
feet tall. Mr. Rendell
describes the upside to Philadelphia’s Comcast fealty as “incalculable.” And so
are the costs, considering Comcast’s many subsidiaries based in the great
American onshore tax haven of Delaware and by the corporate tax secrecy in
Pennsylvania; Comcast has opposed efforts to close the “Delaware
loophole.” According to Citizens
for Tax Justice, Comcast paid an estimated average state corporate income tax
rate of just 4 percent from 2008 to 2012."
Welcome to Comcast Country
New
York Times Opinion By DANIEL DENVIR APRIL 23, 2014
PHILADELPHIA
— COMCAST’S executive vice president, David L. Cohen, did not seem fazed when
Senator Al Franken warned at
a recent
Judiciary Committee hearing that the company’s proposed acquisition of
Time Warner Cable would “result in fewer choices, higher prices and even worse
service for my constituents.” Comcast argues that the merger will not decrease
competition among cable television or broadband Internet providers because the
two companies do not directly compete — though the reason for that is that they
already maintain virtual monopolies in many of their service areas. In Comcast’s case, that monopoly is
predicated upon exerting overwhelming political control. Just ask anyone who
lives in Philadelphia, where the shiny 975-foot Comcast Center looms over the
skyline. As buttons at the 2000 Republican National Convention in
Philadelphia proclaimed:
“Welcome to Comcast Country.”
Are
charter schools better than public schools?
Do Poor Kids Deserve
Lower-Quality Education Than Rich Kids? Evaluating School Privatization
Proposals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Economic Policy
Institute By Gordon Lafer | April 24, 2014
During the past year, Wisconsin state
legislators debated a series of bills aimed at closing low-performing public
schools and replacing them with privately run charter schools. These proposals
were particularly targeted at Milwaukee, the state’s largest and poorest school
district.
Head Start, Meet
Accountability
Since 2011, more than 350 Head Start providers
have had to compete for federal grant money. That’s a huge change.
APR 24 2014, 11:07
AM ET
BALTIMORE—St. Jerome's
Head Start, a plain building in a gentrifying Baltimore neighborhood, looks as
solid and unchanging as a block of concrete. It's an unlikely setting for a big
shift in how early-childhood education is provided. But here and across the
city, Head Start teachers are grappling with new rules for educating children.
Staffers are under pressure to make sure program finances are airtight. And
centers are waiting to hear the final details of a plan to change the way
early-childhood services are delivered citywide. Head Start, the federally funded preschool
program for low-income children, has experienced more change in the past three
years than in the previous 40. After years of debate about the program's
quality and value, there's an accountability revolution coming to preschool.
Deadline
for PSBA officer nominations is April 30th
PSBA Leadership Development Committee seeks strong leaders for the association.
Members interested in becoming the next leaders of PSBA are encouraged to complete an Application for Nomination no later than April 30. As a member-driven association, the Leadership Development Committee (LDC) is seeking nominees with strong skills in leadership and communication, and who have vision for PSBA. Complete details on the nomination process, links to the Application for Nomination form, and scheduled dates for nominee interviews can be found online by clicking here.
PSBA Leadership Development Committee seeks strong leaders for the association.
Members interested in becoming the next leaders of PSBA are encouraged to complete an Application for Nomination no later than April 30. As a member-driven association, the Leadership Development Committee (LDC) is seeking nominees with strong skills in leadership and communication, and who have vision for PSBA. Complete details on the nomination process, links to the Application for Nomination form, and scheduled dates for nominee interviews can be found online by clicking here.
Public Citizens for Children and Youth
(PCCY) will Host an Education Funding Forum in Delaware County on May 7th
On May
7th, PCCY will host a forum that discusses the state of school
funding in Delaware
County 501 Bywood Avenue ,
Upper Darby PA 19082 from 6:30pm-8pm.
Attendees will get a budget update from Sharon Ward of the Pennsylvania
Budget and Policy Center , hear from School Board members representing
Upper Darby, William Penn, and Haverford
School Districts
Please
RSVP by clicking here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1OjFpJwTHnZwRqh0Q5Tdp0KHYaI1Jg0XNvGpmeYMmIyA/viewform
Educating the Voter: A Forum on Public
Education featuring Democratic gubernatorial candidates - April 30th 6:00 pm
Phila Central Library
Presented by Committee of Seventy, Congresso and
Philadelphia Education Fund
Wednesday,
April 30, 2014 at 6:00PM
Join Democratic gubernatorial candidates Katie McGinty, Tom Wolf, Allyson Schwartz and Rob McCord for a discussion on public education.
Please
click here to
register.
PSBA members in Bucks, Montgomery, Chester and Delaware
Counties
PSBA Buxmont Region 11 and Penns Grant
Region 15 Combined Region/Legislative Meeting -- Thursday, May 15, at William
Tennent High School
- Buffet dinner/registration,
6 p.m. ($8 charge for dinner) - Program, 7:30 p.m. -- Minority Senate
Education Committee Chair Hon. Andy Dinniman will introduce guest speaker Diane
Ravitch, author and education historian, and former Assistant Secretary of
Education. Retiring House Education
Committee Chairman Paul Clymer will also be honored for his long time (1981)
public service.
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
Tuesday, April 29th,
12-4 p.m.
Wednesday, May 14th,
1-5 p.m. and 6-8 p.m.
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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