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
SB76: Could Pennsylvania
PSBA members - Come hear
former Assistant US Secretary of Education, author and education historian
Diane Ravitch.
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.
#EdForum14
As of 6:30 a.m. this morning I have not seen any press
coverage of last night's Education Forum in Philly with the four Democratic
candidates for Governor. If you are on
twitter check out #EdForum14 for coverage of the event. If you are not on twitter - get with the
program (and follow me @lfeinberg)
Education Voters PA Statewide
Call to Action May 6th
A part of the annual rite of spring, it is time to call Harrisburg and let them know what our priorities are for
the Pennsylvania
Education Voters of PA will be holding a Statewide
Call-to-Action for Public Education!
On May 6th, thousands of people will set aside 5 minutes to
call their state representative and senator and our governor. We will send a
message that Pennsylvanians need a fair budget that gives students the
instruction and support they need to meet state standards and provides funding
that our communities can count on. As
the budget process gets underway, it’s important that our legislators and
governor know we care about our public schools and are paying attention to what
they are doing!
"Though enrollment is growing, as many as 50% of K12’s
students drop out within a year, according to Gary Miron, a researcher with the
National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado. Because funding
is allocated on a yearly basis in most states, however, Miron says that doesn’t
matter much to K12’s bottom line. “It
doesn’t really hurt them because if the student leaves, the money stays,” Miron
said. “They can just enroll another student the next year.”
K12, Inc.: Enrollment At
Nation’s Largest For-Profit Charter Operator Still Growing Despite Lawsuits,
Regulatory Problems
K12 Inc. is facing a litany of regulatory problems and a new
shareholder lawsuit, but as long as new students are signing up, none of that
matters to investors.
Molly Hensley-Clancy
BuzzFeed Staff posted on April 29, 2014 at 12:54pm EDT
A K12
student does coursework in of the company’s virtual charter schools. K12
/ Via k12.com
The
problems plaguing K12 Inc., the country’s largest publicly traded virtual
charter operator, are no secret. They’ve been hit with two shareholder lawsuits,
subjected to state investigations, and weathered exposes in the New York Times
and the Associated Press.
But in
their quarterly earnings call today, K12 reported that enrollment has grown yet
again, swelling to 125,000 students — an increase of more than 5% since March
of last year. Their revenue, which topped $235 million, actually exceeded
analysts’ estimates, as did their operating margins. Net income was $15.9
million. Enrollment is what matters to
the company and its shareholders: each student that signs up for K12’s online
schools comes with public funding attached, and as long as enrollment grows,
revenue likely will, too.
How Charter
School
A few
years ago, I was alerted to the phenomenal success of an entrepreneur-lawyer in
Pennsylvania
named Vahan Gureghian.
With a
bit of googling, I learned that he had opened a charter school in Chester County , Pennsylvania Pennsylvania ,
was Governor Corbett’s largest single donor, and was named to Governor
Corbett’s education transition team. As of 2012, he had given some $800,000 to
candidates and political groups. Meanwhile,
Gureghian’s empire continued to expand and to produce excellent returns for
him.
This Keystone
State
http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.blogspot.com/2011/06/follow-money-contributions-by-vahan.html
SB76: Bill to eliminate
property taxes raises questions about equal funding for schools
By Jeff Frantz |
jfrantz@pennlive.com on April 30, 2014 at 3:46 PM
Could Pennsylvania
abolish school
property taxes without also blowing up the basic funding formula for
the state's public schools?
That's
was the thorniest question at a standing-room only Senate Finance Committee
hearing Wednesday on a plan to replace the school property tax with increased
sales and income taxes. That plan, Senate
Bill 76, would guarantee a dollar for dollar replacement for what districts
currently generate through property taxes.
But senators Rob Teplitz, D-Dauphin, and Scott Hutchinson, R-Butler,
both questioned if the state could legally preside over that kind of
dollar-for-dollar replacement when the amounts school districts generate varies
greatly across the state.
"If
the state is now going to pick up the local effort and make the total funding a
state responsibility, doesn't that lock in the current system and the inequitable
treatment and open us up to a constitutional challenge?" Teplitz asked.
"Opponents of the bill have said that the numbers don't
add up to adequate school funding, but lawmakers at the finance hearing didn't
explain how that was addressed by the amendment."
SB76: State Senate pushes
forward on replacing property tax
There
aren't many people who like property tax, and the ranks of Pennsylvania lawmakers who want to eliminate
it are growing. The state Senate now has
the 26 supporters it would need to pass Senate Bill 76, known as the Property
Tax Independence Act. Half the supporters are Republicans and half Democrats. In a renewed effort to push it forward as
budget season approaches, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on the
recently amended bill yesterday. That committee is expected to vote on the bill
within a week.
"Under the bill, no school district would lose revenue,
Argall said. It is a dollar-per-dollar match, he said. But Steve Miskin, spokesman for the House
Republican Caucus, isn't sure. School
property taxes generate about $12 billion for public schools. At its current
rate, the state's current income tax generates about $4 billion for each
percentage levied — for a total of about $12 billion for state coffers. The
state's sales tax brings in about $1.5 billion at its current rate. That existing revenue would have to stay with
the state budget, Miskin said. If Argall's and Folmer's bill brought in an
additional $4 billion in income taxes and about $1.5 billion in sales taxes, it
would leave a $6 billion hole for public schools, he said.
"Someone is going to be paying that," said Miskin.
"It's not free."
SB76: Property taxes must go,
crowd urges at Senate hearing
But bill co-sponsored by Schuylkill County
Bill by Sen. David Argall,
R-Schuylkill, faces stiff opposition among some lawmakers, school groups and
businesses.
By Steve Esack, Call Harrisburg Bureau6:10 p.m.
EDT, April 30, 2014
Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-pa-senate-property-tax-bill-20140430,0,1963890.story#ixzz30QAuhQ6b
"Pennsylvania’s deep cuts in education funding singling
out the most vulnerable districts fly in the face of overwhelming evidence that
concentrated poverty is a major impediment to children’s educational
progress," Ward's report said.
Report says recent state funding trends hit poorer districts hardest
the
notebook by Dale Mezzacappa on Apr 30 2014
A
report from the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy
Center released Wednesday
says that school districts like Philadelphia
with large numbers of poor students have been hurt disproportionately by
cuts in education funding since Gov. Corbett took office. Written by PBPC executive director Sharon Ward,
the report calls the scale of cuts to districts "unprecedented." It
says Philadelphia
has lost $1,341 per student, the most of any district in the state. PBPC
is a non-partisan, progressive research center.
"Within Philadelphia ,
state funding cuts, and the siphoning off of state school funding to
charter schools, have wreaked tangible devastation on schools and
children," the report said.
"Ward's report pointed out that as the state cut money
for public schools, it also reduced corporate taxes and "diverted
additional funding for alternatives to public schools" including charter
schools and tuition-assistance programs for private schools. The center found that while cuts in state
funding were taking place, districts were grappling with rising costs they
could not control, including pensions and charter schools."
Left-leaning think tank blasts Gov. Corbetts' funding for education
MARTHA
WOODALL, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER LAST UPDATED: Wednesday, April 30,
2014, 5:34 PM
Only
hours before a Democratic gubernatorial candidates' forum Wednesday on
education, a left-leaning Harrisburg
think tank released a report outlining the harm done by the state's failure to
adequately fund public schools. "We
want to contribute to that debate," Sharon Ward, director of the
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy
Center
Here's the Pennsylvania
Budget and Policy
Center
A Strong State Commitment to Public
Education, A Must Have for Pennsylvania’s Children
Sources: Corbett looking for
$1.2 billion in budget cuts
He's asking Legislature to come up with $400 million, sources
say.
By Steve Esack, Call Harrisburg Bureau 10:49
p.m. EDT, April 30, 2014
He and
Republican leaders of the Legislature met Tuesday to go over details of his new
plan at the governor's mansion, sources said. Corbett and top members of his
staff told lawmakers the administration could cut $800 million and asked the
Legislature to come up with another $400 million in reductions, the sources
said. But no one in the Republican
administration and GOP-controlled House and Senate is saying where
those cuts could come from, as state agencies and public schools continue to
reel from steep cuts made in 2011-12. And
no one is saying if influential officials will propose taxes on natural gas
drillers or smokeless tobacco to cover the shortfall, as rank-and-file
lawmakers and Democratic candidates for governor are advocating. Corbett, the entire House and half the Senate
are up for re-election this year.
Corbett and
lawmakers brace for weak tax revenue report
By Steve Esack, Call Harrisburg Bureau 10:56
pm, April 29, 2014
"Why
not use as a starting point returning to the funding formula already put in
place by the costing-out study and Act. 61. It proved effective in getting more
money into the hands of those districts that needed it most."
Editorial: A good starting
point for property-tax reform
Delco Times Editorial
POSTED: 04/30/14, 10:18 PM EDT |
The wheels of justice have nothing on property tax reform and
education funding in this state.
Both grind away at a snail’s pace. In the meantime, senior citizens and others
on fixed incomes struggle to meet the bane of the Pennsylvania homeowner, the yolk of paying
for public education on the backs of those who deign to own property. With the state preparing for a battle royal
of an election in which a bevy of Democrats are running to unseat Gov. Tom
Corbett, it’s not surprising that education funding is zooming to the top of
the list of hot issues in the race. Corbett is taking heat for the austere
budgets in his first three years in office, ones that squeezed local education
funding. The governor insists he’s gotten a bad rap, saying that the real
culprit in recent education funding crises are local school boards who ignored
warnings not to use federal stimulus funds for recurring projects. When the
federal money dried up, the local boards hit up taxpayers to make up the
difference. Everybody agrees education
funding is a critical issue. That’s the easy part. Where to get it is a little
harder.
SRC lashed over proposed
cost-cutting budget
KRISTEN A. GRAHAM, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER LAST
UPDATED: May 1, 2014, 1:08 AM
Parents and community members, anguished by a proposed Philadelphia School District budget that could mean 1,000 layoffs and class sizes swelling to 41, lashed out Wednesday night at the School Reform Commission, describing the situation inside schools as "dangerous," "insanity," even "institutionalized child abuse." Chairman Bill Green, at whom much of the anger was directed, did not disagree. "Make no mistake," he said in response to more than two hours of outrage from the public. "What we are doing in schools is immoral. It is wrong."
Parents and community members, anguished by a proposed Philadelphia School District budget that could mean 1,000 layoffs and class sizes swelling to 41, lashed out Wednesday night at the School Reform Commission, describing the situation inside schools as "dangerous," "insanity," even "institutionalized child abuse." Chairman Bill Green, at whom much of the anger was directed, did not disagree. "Make no mistake," he said in response to more than two hours of outrage from the public. "What we are doing in schools is immoral. It is wrong."
Parent vote set at Luis Munoz-Marin
Elementary School , but questions
remain about North Philadelphia charter
operator
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER MEDINAR@PHILLYNEWS.COM,
215-854-5985
POSTED: Thursday, May 1, 2014, 3:01 AM
PARENT Luisa Vidal is
worried about the future of Luis Munoz-Marin Elementary, and the possibility
that charter operator Aspira Inc. of Pennsylvania
will be chosen to manage the school.
Vidal, 38, of Hunting Park
"Why should they
borrow all that money?" she asked. "Why isn't it going to the school
itself?
"Where is the money
going?"
"We
need to ensure that students who take these courses and do well on the exams
are not denied college course credits. This could mean significant savings in
college costs for the families of these students. Another benefit to both the
state and parents would be the increased likelihood that these students would
graduate on time and not have to seek further state grants or loans to finish
college," Roebuck said.
Roebuck advanced-placement bill moves to full House
Representative Roebuck's website
April 30, 2014
The bill would cover community
colleges and the 14 universities in the State System of Higher Education.
"Their hope
is that the commissioners will go back to Harrisburg and City Hall with their
stories: That parents all over the city are struggling with the decision of
whether to send their children to public school or move to the suburbs, taking
their tax dollars with them."
Naptime organizing
Star News Philly By Ali Eaves April
29, 2014
Fishtown parents fight for more funds for public schools as
district unveils 2015 budget.
As the funding situation for Philadelphia ’s public schools grows more
dire, a group of Fishtown parents have stepped in the ring on behalf of their
neighborhood school—and their children don’t even go there yet. At a School Reform Commission meeting
Thursday night, Fishtown mom Christine Morrissey Grubb testified to ask for the
commission’s help in securing much-needed money for the School District of Philadelphia Alexander Adaire School 1300 E. Palmer St.
but whose children aren’t yet school aged. Grubb’s older child is 3 years old;
her younger son is only 10 months.
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette April 30, 2014 8:00 PM
Proposed changes in
graduation requirements were removed from tonight's voting agenda of the board
of Pittsburgh Public Schools. School
superintendent Linda Lane
asked to have the item removed without comment.
In an interview, chief academic officer Jerri Lynn Lippert said more
explanation was needed for the proposal to reduce high school physical
education requirements. The proposal was announced earlier this month, and Ms.
Lippert said the board did not have enough time to get adequate
information. She said the graduation
requirements may be considered again in the fall.
Pine-Richland educators vote
to authorize strike
By Lexi Belculfine / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette April 30, 2014 11:23
PM
Pine-Richland educators
voted tonight to authorize a strike, according to their union.
The Pine-Richland
Educators Association will continue negotiating with the district, but the vote
means they could call a strike, according to a press release. …Those issues include a district-proposed pay
freeze for senior teachers and increase in payment for health care, as well as
union concerns over an early retirement incentive the district eliminated, said
Fritz Fekete, a communications consultant for the union from Pennsylvania State
Education Association.
By on
April 30, 2014 at 8:28 PM
The Phillipsburg
School Board voted 9-2 to
approve a $63.4 million 2014-15 operating budget that includes a 6.89 percent
tax increase. About 85 to 88 percent of
the district’s day-to-day costs are fixed, Business AdministratorWilliam
Bauer said. School districts
are allowed to exceed the 2 percent cap on property tax increases for health
care-related costs.
"The method, generically known as “value added
measures,” or VAM, is increasingly in use around the country — with the support
of the Obama administration — after Michelle Rhee pioneered the method when she
ran D.C. public schools several years ago. The result of this lawsuit could
affect evaluation systems well beyond Texas
VAM: Houston
Andrew Dewey is an award-winning history teacher at Carnegie Vanguard
High School in Houston . In 2011-12, he earned the top merit
pay award that his school district gives out and had “most effective” teacher
status through a controversial evaluation system that usesstudent
standardized test scores. The next year, after teaching similar students in
the same way, he went from being one of the district’s highest-performing teachers
to one that made “no detectable difference” for his students. Dewey is one of seven high-achieving teachers
who, along with the Houston Federation of Teachers, filed a lawsuit in federal
court in Texas late Wednesday alleging that
the Houston Independent School District
Test Prep Endures in New York
Schools, Despite Calls to Ease It
On the December day she was announced
as New York City’s schools chancellor, Carmen Fariña denounced an
overemphasis on test preparation as the dark underbelly of the previous
administration’s data-driven reforms, telling an approving crowd, “We’re going
to do all we can to roll that back to focus on the best quality teaching as opposed
to test prep.”
Ms. Fariña’s salvo against
teaching to tests, which she has repeated several times, so quickly became a
mantra that the State Legislature this month passed a law severely restricting
the practice. While thin on specifics, the law added New York to a short list of states trying to
get a handle on the issue. But in
interviews across the city this past month, students and teachers said that
test prep was as robust as ever.
DNAinfo New Yorkl By Amy
Zimmer on April 29, 2014
11:19am
"My kids used to
love math," the Manhattan-based
television and stand-up star wrote
in his first of a dozen tweets about the subject to his more than 3 million
followers. "Now it makes them cry. Thanks standardized testing and common
core!"
Study Finds Poetry Slighted
in Common Core English Standards
Education Views Apr 30,
2014 by Staff
Significant overall reduction in time spent on
classic literary texts will make it difficult to give poetry the prominence it
deserves
Public Citizens for Children and Youth
(PCCY) will Host an Education Funding Forum in Delaware County
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
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.
Just added - Acting Secretary of Education Carolyn Dumaresq
will be the after-dinner speaker on May 5.
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.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.