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Keystone State Education Coalition
Pennsylvania Education Policy Roundup
for May 13, 2014:
"Wild, Wild West":
Statewide Coverage of PA Auditor General's Charter School Report
Is pension reform for
Pa. stalled or percolating? Depends who you ask
By Jeff Frantz |
jfrantz@pennlive.com on May 12, 2014 at 8:00 AM
Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre, and Rep. Bill Adolph, R-Delaware,
chair the appropriations committees that must produce Pennsylvania's
budget next month. Staring at what
could be a $1 billion budget deficit, they'll have their work cut out for them
when the legislature returns June 2. Both men had hoped pension reform -- the
issue Gov. Tom Corbett and GOP leaders in both chambers say must be a part of
any budget -- would have been dealt with by now. Or at least been well along
the tracks. But
the plan favored by Corbett and Republican House leadership, crafted by Rep.
Mike Tobash, R-Berks, has yet to be introduced. That plan, as outlined by
Tobash, would create a hybrid pension system for all new hires, whose
traditional pension would be capped, so they would receive any benefits beyond
that in a 401(k) style plan.
Pennsylvania needs to
double-down on early childhood education: Celinda Lake and Christine Matthews
By Celinda Lake
National pollsters Celinda Lake and Christine Matthews write on behalf
of Pre-K for PA.
This month, in most
parts of Pennsylvania turning on the television will tell you what season it
is: election season. In the onslaught of commercials that will make you pine
for that Progressive Insurance woman, you’re likely to hear candidates talk a
lot about jobs and education.
Those are issues the candidates (particularly the ones running for
governor) know are important to a majority of Pennsylvanians. Our survey
research confirms this. But what happens when we scratch the surface on an
issue as broad as “education?” What we
are seeing around the country in the campaigns of many candidates this election
season is broad support for access to high-quality pre-k.
Auditor General DePasquale
Releases Charter
School
Makes recommendations to improve accountability,
effectiveness, transparency
PA Department of The Auditor General Press Release May 12, 2014
HARRISBURG (May 12, 2014) – Following up on a series of public
meetings held earlier this year, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale today issued
his report with recommendations to improve accountability, effectiveness and
transparency of charter schools, including creating an independent statewide
charter school oversight board.
“Charter schools are here to stay and clearly thousands of
parents welcome having a choice when it comes to sending their children to
public schools,” DePasquale said in releasing the report, Pennsylvania Charter
School Accountability and Transparency: Time for a Tune-Up.
“Many outstanding charter schools in the state are doing
amazing things for children and offering new ways to learn. However, based on
our audits and feedback at meetings across the state, it’s clear that the
original intention of the charter school law has not been fulfilled. We owe it
to students, parents and taxpayers to re-group and make some fundamental
changes to improve oversight and accountability of charter schools in
Pennsylvania.
By on May 12, 2014 at
6:30 PM, updated May 12, 2014 at 6:35 PM
Auditor General Eugene
DePasquale today issued a blueprint for reforming the charter school system in Pennsylvania . Find the report below. Read more about it's
creation here.
State auditor general
suggests statewide oversight board for charter schools
By Mary Niederberger / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette May 12, 2014 11:50 PM
Officials from traditional public schools and charter schools
commended state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale's special report on charter
schools that recommends a statewide charter school oversight board, the
reinstatement of tuition reimbursements to districts and a simpler appeals
process. "I think it's a very fair
and reasonable report. They are recommendations that make sense after
everything that he has heard," said Linda Hippert, executive director of
the Allegheny Intermediate Unit. Robert
Fayfich, executive director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter
Schools, said the report contains "workable solutions." "I think the auditor general did a very
good job listening to the testimony provided and it fairly reflects what
educators across the state were saying," Mr. Fayfich said.
"In fact," he said, "several participants in
the public meetings compared the current situation to the wild, wild
west." An independent statewide
charter oversight board would provide needed clarity and direction, DePasquale
said. The board could be funded, in
part, from the money the Education Department now spends on its charter
office. "With more than $1 billion
being spent on charter schools every year," according to the report,
"improved oversight is imperative."
State auditor rips charter
school oversight
MARTHA WOODALL, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER LAST UPDATED: Tuesday, May 13, 2014, 1:08 AM POSTED: Monday, May 12, 2014, 8:41 PM
Oversight of charter
schools in Pennsylvania
is "a mess," state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale has concluded,
based on a series of public meetings across the commonwealth.
To help clean it up,
DePasquale called Monday for creating an independent charter oversight board,
restoring charter reimbursements for school districts, and requiring the state
to pick up the tab for cyber charter schools.
DePasquale, a Democrat, said taxpayer-funded charter schools, which
enroll 120,000 students across the state, are here to stay. Many are effective,
he said, but an overhaul of the 1997 state law that authorized them is long
overdue. DePasquale's recommendations
were contained in a report he released Monday that drew on remarks from five
recent public meetings across the state on the accountability and effectiveness
of charters.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20140513_State_auditor_rips_charter_school_oversight.html#6yOJW0KBbrVtKa9p.99
Auditor General calls for
overhauling Pennsylvania
By n
May 12, 2014 at 3:01 PM
Auditor General Eugene
DePasquale is calling on Pennsylvania lawmakers to overhaul the state's charter
school law to provide better
oversight and accountability. In
a report released Monday, DePasquale recommended creating an independent
board to oversee charter schools, requiring charter schools to present their
annual reports to the host school board in a public meeting and creating more
options for boards to monitor and renew charters. After performing audits on a number of
charters and holding public hearings on the subject across the state,
DePasquale said the current system is "a mess, and you have sympathy for
the charter schools and the traditional public schools."
Auditor general: Fix charter
school law now
Independent oversight
board is needed to enforce a law that now has no teeth, he says.
By Adam Clark,
Of The Morning Call 11:23 p.m. EDT, May 12, 2014
Auditor General Eugene DePasquale on Monday released a
special report calling the state's lack of charter school oversight an
"enormous problem" that requires legislative action to fix.
The 22-page report recommends that the state form an
independent charter school oversight board to enforce charter school law, which
school districts feel has "no teeth," DePasquale said.
The report also suggests restoring the state's partial
reimbursement to school districts for charter school tuition costs, requiring
charters to verbally present annual reports to school boards and shifting
funding of cybercharter schools from the school districts to the state, among
other recommendations. The goal of the
report is to improve the accountability, effectiveness and transparency of
charter schools and cybercharter schools, DePasquale said. His recommendations
are based on audit reports and input gathered during a series of hearings he held
to hear suggestions from both school district and charter school officials.
Auditor general's report
calls for charter school law overhaul
By May
12, 2014 at 6:34 PM
Calling Pennsylvania 's existing
charter school law a mess, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale today issued a
blueprint for reforming the system. The
report comes after DePasquale hosted five public hearings across the state,
including in Easton .
While it's not binding, DePasquale has sent the report far and wide in hopes of
spurring an overhaul of the 1997 law, which he says is not serving anyone
well. "Taxpayers have had
enough," he said.
Roebuck welcomes independent
report on Pa.
House Education Minority Committee Chairman James Roebuck press
release May 12, 2014
PHILADELPHIA, May 12 – State Rep. James Roebuck,
D-Phila., Democratic chairman of the House Education Committee, welcomed
today's independent report on charter schools from Auditor General Eugene
DePasquale. "I support the findings
and recommendations in this report from the state's auditor general. It's
valuable to have independent confirmation of many of the problems and solutions
I have identified with respect to the funding and accountability needed for
tax-funded charter schools," Roebuck said.
Roebuck issued a report
in April that focused on what other schools can learn from the one in
six Pennsylvania
charter schools that are high-performing, how to address charter schools' lease
overpayments and other hot topics related to those schools. The auditor general's report today identifies
as a key problem the 2011 elimination of the $224 million state reimbursement
to school districts for charter schools. Roebuck said that was the largest
categorical cut among the roughly $1 billion in K-12 funding cuts Gov. Tom
Corbett and Republican legislators made in 2011.
Charter school reform has as
many backers, with different definitions of "reform"
By on
May 12, 2014 at 6:33 PM
Everyone, it seems,
wants some part of Pennsylvania's charter
school law overhauled.
Charter school
advocates were quick to say they agreed with at least some of the proposals in
a report
issued Monday by Auditor General Eugene DePasquale calling for a sweeping
overhaul in the state's charter school law. And they applauded the
scope of the report. Among the things
DePasquale wants to see are an an independent board to oversee charter schools,
requiring charter schools to present their annual reports to the host school
board in a public meeting and creating more options for boards to monitor and
renew charters.
Board to vote on proposals May 28
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette May 12, 2014 11:39 PM
While teacher
evaluations have attracted the most attention, Pittsburgh Public Schools is
gearing up for new systems to evaluate principals, central office
administrators, and counselors and other nonteaching professionals. Statewide, school districts are required to
put into effect a new evaluation system for teachers this school year. In the
upcoming 2014-15 school year, school districts throughout the state are
required to have new evaluation systems for principals and nonteaching
professionals. Although not required, Pittsburgh also is adding
a new evaluation system for central office administrators in 2014-15.
Bethlehem Area plan
digs into reserves, cuts staff.
By Adam Clark,
Of The Morning Call 11:20 p.m. EDT, May 12, 2014
Bethlehem Area School Board may be "on the wrong side of
history," according to one resident, but it's still moving forward with a
proposed final budget carrying a 4.9 percent tax increase.
The $242.5 million budget, approved in a 6-3 vote Monday, now
moves to a final vote next month. If the spending plan is approved, the
property tax rate would jump to 50.99 mills in Northampton County and
15.77 mills in Lehigh County.
Concerned that senior citizen homeowners can't afford another tax increase,
Bethlehem
resident William McNally suggested history won't be kind to the six school
directors who approved the budget.
By Colin McEvoy
| The Express-Times on May 06, 2014 at 1:28 PM
The Allentown
School District is investigating a prospective Allentown charter
school's hiring of a political lobbying firm to drive up its student enrollment
numbers. The Arts
Academy Elementary Charter School hired consultants to pre-enroll
students, according to the school district solicitor and charter school
officials.
US Congress: House Steams
Ahead on Charter School
School choice has been a divisive issue, but
both chambers are moving toward an agreement.
US News
and World Report By Allie Bidwell May 9, 20142
A bipartisan bill that
would free up more federal money to fund the growth of high-quality charter
schools sailed through the House on Friday, just hours after the chamber also
passed a bill to expand education research programs – a sign the logjam facing
major education legislation could be subsiding.
The Success and Opportunity through Quality Charter Schools Act – a bill
introduced by Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., and Rep. George Miller, D-Calif.,
the chairman and ranking member of the House Education and the Workforce
Comittee – passed on a 360-45 vote. It would streamline two existing charter
school programs, combine grants to open new schools and renovate facilities,
and ask for $50 million more in annual charter school funding,
bringing the total to $300 million.
“Our results suggest that employers might realize greater
gains by increasing the specialization of their employees’ tasks rather than
attempting to replace them with hypothetically better employees,” the authors
concluded. Of course, some districts and
states already have policies in place that require them to use value-added
models to help make high-stakes decisions about firing, tenure, and pay."
Studies Highlight
Complexities of Using Value-Added Measures
Education Week By Holly Yettick Published Online: May 13, 2014
As a number of states begin evaluating teachers’ effectiveness
based on changes in their students’ test scores, academic research is raising
more questions about such “value-added” models.
In a study published Tuesday in the peer-reviewed journalEducational Evaluation
and Policy Analysis, Morgan Polikoff, an assistant education professor at
the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and Andrew Porter, an
education professor at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, found no
association between value-added results and other widely accepted measures of
teaching quality, such as the degree to which instruction is aligned with state
standards or the contents of assessments. Nor did the study find associations
between “multiple measure” ratings (which combine value-added measures with
observations and other factors) and the amount and type of content covered in
classrooms. That finding is potentially important because many states have
responded to the Race to the Top grant competitions and other federal
initiatives by adopting such multiple-measure evaluation systems for teachers.
SCHOOLED
Cory Booker, Chris
Christie, and Mark Zuckerberg had a plan to reform Newark
The New Yorker BY DALE
RUSSAKOFF MAY 19, 2014
Late one night in December, 2009, a black Chevy Tahoe in a
caravan of cops and residents moved slowly through some of the most dangerous
neighborhoods of Newark .
In the back sat the Democratic mayor, Cory Booker, and the Republican
governor-elect of New Jersey ,
Chris Christie. They had become friendly almost a decade earlier, during
Christie’s years as United States Attorney in Newark , and Booker had invited him to join
one of his periodic patrols of the city’s busiest drug corridors. The ostensible purpose of the tour was to
show Christie one of Booker’s methods of combatting crime. But Booker had
another agenda that night. Christie, during his campaign, had made an issue of
urban schools. “We’re paying caviar prices for failure,” he’d said, referring to
the billion-dollar annual budget of the Newark
public schools, three-quarters of which came from the state. “We have to grab
this system by the roots and yank it out and start over. It’s outrageous.”
New York Times Room for Debate UPDATED MAY 13, 2014 6:30
AM
Computing in the Classroom
Despite the rapid
spread of coding instructionin grade schools, there is some
concern that creative thinking and other important social and creative
skills could be compromised by a growing focus on technology, particularly
among younger students. Should coding be part of the elementary school
curriculum?
Pennsylvania Education Summit
Wednesday, June 11, 2014 from 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM (EDT) Camp Hill, PA
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
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 OF PENNSYLVANIA, DE Co. Campus
Keynote
Speaker: Dan Hardy – Retired Reporter -Philadelphia Inquirer
Distressed Schools: How Did it
Come to This?
PANELS:
- The State of Education in Pennsylvania 60
Years after Brown
- 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 Harrisburg - And - What We Need to be Saying
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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