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
NYT: Pennsylvania Governor
Faces an Uphill Battle
New York Times By TRIP GABRIEL MAY 10, 2014
The governor, a direct, no-nonsense former attorney general,
has not bounced back from an unpopular first year. Faced then with a $4 billion
deficit, he honored a pledge not to raise taxes and presided over cuts that
forced thousands of teacher layoffs and fewer services for the poor.
Local reaction: Pa.
By Evan Brandt, The Mercury POSTED: 05/10/14,
9:45 AM EDT |
Suddenly, education funding is a hot topic.
Although the public’s interest in property tax reform here in
southeastern Pennsylvania
is well-documented, a recent survey by a statewide poll indicates the public is
also firmly in favor of a fairer formula for increased funding of public
schools. Released last month, the Terry
Madonna Opinion Research Omnibus Survey found more than two-thirds of the 800
adults surveyed in February believe public schools serving populations with
higher poverty levels should receive more state funding than schools where
household incomes are higher. Further,
the poll found nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of those polled favor using a
funding formula to ensure “fair distribution” of state aid to schools to carry
out that goal. Perhaps Gov. Tom Corbett
sensed the people’s sentiment prior to the poll when, in January, he urged
the commissioning of a study to determine a “true funding system” fair to all
public schools in Pennsylvania.
Since then, saddled with a reputation for under-funding public
schools, he has been campaigning for a second term and stressing his education
bona fides.
PA Ed Policy Roundup for May 10, 2014: Happy Charter School
Modify funding, construction
planning for schools
Morning Call Opinion 5:53 a.m. EDT, May 12, 2014
Jim Buckheit is executive
director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators; Nathan Mains
is executive director of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association; Jay Himes
is executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Business
Officials; Joseph Bard is executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of
Rural and Small Schools; J. Hugh Dwyer is chair of the Central Pennsylvania
Public School Coalition.
Pennsylvania
faces a long-term challenge in public education and economic development.
Current policies are defining the haves and have-nots statewide. It's not good
for students, and it's bad for local economies.
However, the angst being heard in some communities may help to explain
the election-year momentum and optimism for changes to public school funding in
Harrisburg .
With bills moving through the Legislature to address basic education funding
and school construction, minds are changing all the way up to the governor's
mansion. There are two foundational
state funding streams that schools depend on — basic education funding for
operations and school construction dollars.
Both are crippling many schools' ability to deliver on their mission.
The sinister truth about
supporting Common Core: Ryan M. Bannister
By Ryan M. Bannister on
May 11, 2014 at 1:00 PM
Ryan M. Bannister is the regional coordinator for Pennsylvanians Against
Common Core.
Recently, William Bartle of the Pennsylvania Partnerships for
Children made
an open and very public statement regarding his support of Common Core. I offer a public response to Mr. Bartle in
order to enlighten him with the facts and further educate him on honesty in
communication.
William Bartles’
organization, Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, has received three
separate grants from the Gates Foundation to sponsor Common Core. These three
grants total nearly $1 million.
Pittsburgh Public Schools, state
use different formulas to calculate value added by schools
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette May 11, 2014 11:13 PM
By a state's score, Pittsburgh Liberty K-5 in Shadyside is the
highest performing school among Pittsburgh Public Schools. But by a district score, Liberty is in the bottom half. It ranks 17th
of 22 K-5 schools and 34th among 50 district schools. The difference is the measuring stick -- what
it counts and how it counts it. Such
differences increasingly matter. Not only do the numbers shape public
perception of a school, but measuring sticks using student test scores are
beginning to play a role in teacher evaluations statewide. As the importance of test scores grows, so
does the controversy, ranging from parents opting their children out of state
tests to some questioning the ways results are used.
Student test scores are often used to evaluate schools, but The
Washington Post thinks test participation is also worth measuring. The national newspaper last month published
its list, "America's
Most Challenging High Schools," which scores schools based on the
number of students who attempt college-level exams. McCaskey
High School in the School District of Lancaster
ranked 20th on the listing of the most rigorous high schools in Pennsylvania .
"A primary rationale for the
creation of charter schools, which are publicly financed and privately run, was
to develop test kitchens for practices that could be exported into the
traditional schools. President Barack Obama, in recently proclaiming
"National Charter Schools Week," said they "can provide
effective approaches for the broader public education system." But two decades since they began to appear,
educators from both systems concede that very little of what has worked for
charter schools has found its way into regular classrooms."
Traditional and charter
schools try to find ways to cooperate, share ideas that work
Post-Gazette By Javier
C. Hernandez / The New York Times
May 11, 2014 11:30 PM
State pension funds pose big
problem for next governor
Democratic candidates
avoid issue that's eating a big piece of the budget.
By Steve Esack,
Call Harrisburg
Bureau 9:32 p.m. EDT, May 10, 2014
Actuarial valuation. Amortization schedule. Defined benefit.
Defined contribution.
Those phrases can't be explained in a 10-second sound bite.
Even in a 30-second commercial, the topic is too wonky to tackle. And voters
would be clicking off the channel as soon as the word "pension" was
uttered. That's why in the run-up to the
May 20 primary election, voters aren't seeing television commercials explaining
how the four Democratic gubernatorial candidates would manage the combined
$50.5 billion debt being carried by the pension systems for state workers and
school employees. Heck, even Republican
Gov. Tom Corbett, who will face the Democratic winner in
November, isn't talking pensions in his campaign — and his 2014-15 budget
proposal is predicated on pension changes.
But make no mistake, with the pensions carrying an unfunded liability
that is more than double the state budget, they will remain a powder keg of
controversy and financial angst in coming fiscal years for Corbett or one of
the Democrats: state Treasurer Rob McCord, former
state Environmental Protection Secretary Katie McGinty, U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz and York County businessman Tom Wolf.
A Tom Wolf loss would be
stunning, pollsters say
WHYY Newsworks BY MARC
LEVY, ASSOCIATED PRESS MAY 10, 2014
Pollsters say a victory by any Democrat besides Tom Wolf in the
primary election for Pennsylvania
governor would be shocking. So far,
three polls have shown Wolf leading by at least 20 percentage points, with the
most recent one from late April. Overcoming
such a large deficit is certainly possible, but pollsters Terry Madonna of Franklin and Marshall
College and Christopher Borick of Muhlenberg College
say they can't recall anyone mounting such a dramatic comeback in modern Pennsylvania politics in
such a short period of time.
Despite many complaints,
crackdown on cheating at Cayuga came slowly
KRISTEN A. GRAHAM, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER LAST UPDATED: Sunday, May 11, 2014, 1:09 AM POSTED: Saturday, May 10, 2014, 11:27 AM
Cheating at Cayuga
Elementary was no secret.
Staff and parents at the
Hunting Park Philadelphia School District
Erie-area districts get green
light to raise taxes
GoErie BY
ERICA ERWIN, Erie Times-News PUBLISHED: MAY 8, 2014 12:01 AM EST
Some local school districts are receiving a bit of budget relief from the state.
Some local school districts are receiving a bit of budget relief from the state.
But whether that's good
news for taxpayers remains to be seen. Four
districts -- Millcreek, Fairview ,
Harbor Creek and Wattsburg -- have received exceptions from the Pennsylvania
Department of Education to raise property taxes above a maximum limit set by
the state.
Act 1, the state's
property tax relief law, sets an annual tax ceiling, or index, that districts
cannot go above without receiving an exception from the state or holding a
public referendum. The index varies by district and is based on a complex
formula that accounts for inflation and the district's wealth, among other
factors. Each of the four local
districts requested and received exceptions based on their projected special
education and pension costs. Districts are not obligated to use the exceptions.
Pottstown Schools propose
2.9% tax hike this year, 0% next year
By Evan
Brandt, The Mercury POSTED: 05/09/14, 2:15 PM EDT | UPDATED: 9 HRS AGO
That was when the proposed $56.4 million Pottstown Schools
budget got its first public airing — although few members of the public were in
attendance — before the school board’s finance committee. “This is not the year to tie our hands,”
Sparagana told the finance committee.
Pointing to the $1.5 million in additional debt payments that
begin this year to pay for the elementary school renovations; the additional
$1.1 in retirement/pension payments and the $625,000 the district needs to
start setting aside annually for roof replacements, Sparagana said the
administration can balance the budget “without cutting programs and hurting
students” with the additional $856,000 a 2.9 percent tax hike generates.
New York Times By MATT RICHTEL MAY 10, 2014
The event was part of a national educational movement in
computer coding instruction that is growing at Internet speeds. Since December,
20,000 teachers from kindergarten through 12th grade have introduced coding
lessons, according to Code.org,
a group backed by the tech industry that offers free curriculums. In addition,
some 30 school districts, including New York City
and Chicago ,
have agreed to add coding classes in the fall, mainly in high schools but in
lower grades, too. And policy makers in nine states have begun awarding the
same credits for computer science classes that they do for basic math and
science courses, rather than treating them as electives.
The Benefits of Mixing Rich
and Poor
New York Times By DAVID L. KIRP MAY 10, 2014,
2:30 PM 44 Comments
Whenever President Obama proposes a major federal investment in
early education, as he did in his two most recent State of the Union addresses,
critics have a two-word riposte: Head Start. Researchers have long cast doubt on
that program’s effectiveness. The most damning evidence comes from a 2012
federal evaluation that used gold-standard methodology and concluded that
children who participated in Head Start were not more successful in elementary
school than others. That finding was catnip to the detractors. “Head Start’s
impact is no better than random,” The Wall Street Journal editorialized. Why
throw good money after bad?
Though the faultfinders have a point, the claim that Head Start
has failed overstates the case. For one thing, it has gotten considerably
better in the past few years because of tougher quality standards. For another,
researchers have identified a “sleeper effect” — many Head Start youngsters
begin to flourish as teenagers, maybe because the program emphasizes character
and social skills as well as the three R’s. Still, few would give Head Start
high marks, and the bleak conclusion of the 2012 evaluation stands in sharp
contrast to the impressive results from well-devised studies of state-financed
prekindergartens.
PA Business-Education Partnership
Featuring:
Welcome By Governor Tom Corbett (invited)
Remarks Acting Secretary of Education Carolyn Dumaresq
(confirmed)
Perceptions & comments of business leaders, educators,
college presidents, and advocacy groups
Full agenda here: http://www.bipac.net/pbc/2014-PA-Education-Summit-Agenda.pdf
Registration: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/pennsylvania-education-summit-tickets-11529363637?aff=eorgf
“How Public School Funding
Works in Pennsylvania—Or Doesn’t: What You Need to Know” When: Friday, May
30, 2014, 9 am to 12 pm Where: Marriott Hotel in Conshohocken, PA
Session I: "Funding Schools: What Pennsylvania Can Learn from Other States"
Key Pennsylvania legislators and public officials will respond to a presentation by Professor Robert C. Knoeppel of Clemson University, an expert on emerging trends and ideas in public school finance.
Session I: "Funding Schools: What Pennsylvania Can Learn from Other States"
Key Pennsylvania legislators and public officials will respond to a presentation by Professor Robert C. Knoeppel of Clemson University, an expert on emerging trends and ideas in public school finance.
Introduction: Representative Steve Santarsiero
Moderator: Rob Wonderling, President and CEO, GreaterPhiladelphia Chamber of Commerce
Panel:
Charles Zogby, Secretary of the Budget, Commonwealth of PA, Senator Patrick Browne, Senator Anthony Williams, Representative Bernie O'Neill, Representative James Roebuck
Session II: "Why Smart Investments in Public Schools Are Critical toPennsylvania
Moderator: Rob Wonderling, President and CEO, Greater
Panel:
Charles Zogby, Secretary of the Budget, Commonwealth of PA, Senator Patrick Browne, Senator Anthony Williams, Representative Bernie O'Neill, Representative James Roebuck
Session II: "Why Smart Investments in Public Schools Are Critical to
A discussion with a panel of CEOs who are major employers in
the region.
Introduction: Rob Loughery, Chair, Bucks County Commissioners
Panel (confirmed to date):
Michael Pearson, President and CEO, Union Packaging, Philip Rinaldi, CEO, Philadelphia Energy Solutions, Bryan Hancock, Principal, McKinsey & Company, and author: "The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America's Schools"
You can register for this free event here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/how-public-school-funding-works-in-pennsylvania-or-doesnt-what-you-need-to-know-tickets-11527064761?ref=ebtnebregn
Introduction: Rob Loughery, Chair, Bucks County Commissioners
Panel (confirmed to date):
Michael Pearson, President and CEO, Union Packaging, Philip Rinaldi, CEO, Philadelphia Energy Solutions, Bryan Hancock, Principal, McKinsey & Company, and author: "The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America's Schools"
You can register for this free event here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/how-public-school-funding-works-in-pennsylvania-or-doesnt-what-you-need-to-know-tickets-11527064761?ref=ebtnebregn
PILCOP Know Your Child’s Rights
Seminars
Join us on May 15th for one of three training
sessions on Assistive Technology and Settlements.
Public Interest Law Center
of Philadelphia
This
training series on special education law teaches parents, attorneys and
advocates how to secure education rights and services for students with special
needs. These seminars aim to bring together a diverse community of
advocates including parents, special education advocates, educators, attorneys,
and community members. Each session focuses on a different legal topic, service
or disability. Many sessions are co-led with guest speakers.
Next Trainings: Thursday May 15,
2014: Assistive Technology and Other Related Services; Settlements; Settlements
(Abbreviated Session)
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.
2014 CONFERENCE ON THE STATE OF EDUCATION IN PENNSYLVANIA
60 YEARS AFTER BROWN HOW ARE THE CHILDREN? WHAT ARE THE
ISSUES?
Saturday, May 31, 2014 - 9:00 AM
– 3:00 PM (8:30 Registration)
MARCUS FOSTER STUDENT UNION 2ND
FLR. CHEYNEY UNIVERSITY
Keynote
Speaker: Dan Hardy – Retired Reporter -Philadelphia
Inquirer
Distressed Schools: How Did it
Come to This?
PANELS:
- The State of
- Keystones and Graduation: Cut the
Connection
- How Harrisburg Cut District Funding,
Poured on the Keystones, and Connected them to Graduation
- Financing Our Schools: What Does it Cost
to Educate a Child in 2014 and How Should We Fund It?
- Effective Advocacy – How to be
Heard in
For
more info and registration: http://www.naacpmediabranch.org/#
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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