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 May 2, 2014:
Group of New York
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.
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
Budget! On May 6th, plan to take 15 minutes to call your State Representative,
State Senator and the Governor about the education budget. Detailed materials
will be posted here.
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!
Anemic tax collections add to
state budget woes
By Kate Giammarise /
Post-Gazette Harrisburg
Bureau May 1,
2014 11:47 PM
Separately, the state's
Department of Revenue collected $328.3 million less -- or 8.8 percent below --
what it anticipated in April, according to figures released Thursday.
April and March are
typically some of the strongest revenue collection months.
All four Dems in Pa.
governor's race want to abolish Philly's School Reform Commission
WHYY Newsworks BY KEVIN
MCCORRY MAY 1, 2014
A recent survey commissioned
by the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers found overwhelming support among
city residents for dismantling the School Reform Commission. The state appoints
the majority of its members. At a forum
on education issues Wednesday evening at the Central Library, all four
Democratic candidates for governor agreed with the popular consensus, saying
Philly schools should return to full local control. The SRC was created in 2001 with the
intention that the state would have more of a say in – and take more
responsibility for – the outcomes achieved in Philadelphia public schools. Thirteen years later, there's a growing
sentiment in the city that state intervention hasn't made things better.
Poll: Wolf maintains lead in
Democratic primary for governor
Time's growing short
for Schwartz, McCord, McGinty.
By Scott Kraus,
Of The Morning Call 11:37 p.m. EDT, May 1, 2014
Heading down the home stretch, York businessman Tom Wolf is maintaining the
wide lead he built over his fellow Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls with a
barrage of early TV ads.
The first statewide poll of the contest in more than a month
shows support for Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz and state Treasurer Rob
McCord creeping up, but they're still trailing Wolf by more than 20 points. Wolf is the choice of 38 percent of likely
Democratic voters in The Morning Call/Muhlenberg College survey, leading
Schwartz (13 percent) and McCord (11 percent). Katie McGinty, a former state
environmental protection secretary, is a distant fourth with 2 percent.
Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-pa-governor-poll-20140501,0,1498239.story#ixzz30YCH8qtk
2 go on attack at Democratic
governor candidates forum
The four Democratic candidates for governor had a common enemy
Thursday night: Republican Gov. Tom Corbett. Corbett's funding of public education is
atrocious, they agreed. His failure to impose a drilling tax on fracking
companies and to address property tax reform are both harmful to the state's
bottom line. The audience at the forum
at Franklin & Marshall College
NYT LTE: Philadelphia School
New York Times Letter to the Editor by Randi Weingarten MAY 1,
2014
To the Editor: No
one knows better than Philadelphia’s teachers and school support staff how
desperately the school district needs full and fair funding (“With
Philadelphia Shortfall, Schools Face Renewed Cuts,” news article, April
26).
For several years and especially since August, the district has
been operating with bare-bones resources. Classrooms are overcrowded, art and
music programs have been cut back, nurses and counselors are scarce. Trying to
balance the budget on the backs of educators, who have been the glue that’s
holding their schools together, is unjust and unsustainable.
Instead of focusing on what more that educators can give, all
eyes must turn to the governor’s office. A new report from the Pennsylvania
Budget and Policy Center found that Philadelphia ’s school district took 35
percent of the total dollar value of Gov. Tom Corbett’s $1 billion in education
cuts, despite enrolling just 12 percent of the state’s students. Past governors have managed to increase
education funding, despite the pull toward austerity brought on by the
recession. Philadelphia ’s
students deserve full and fair funding for their schools.
RANDI WEINGARTEN, President, American Federation of Teachers
Washington ,
April 30, 2014
"Depending on its findings, the actuarial analysis of
the Tobash plan could trigger a serious push this spring at moving legislation
to reform the two state public pension systems that have unfunded liabilities
that leaves them between $45 billion and $50 billion short on paying all the
pensions they now owe."
Hybrid pension plan's
introduction could spark movement on pension reform
By Jan Murphy |
jmurphy@pennlive.com on May 01, 2014 at 4:14 PM
Legislation, authored by Rep. Mike Tobash, R-Schuylkill, to
reform the two state pension systems is expected to be introduced any day
now. And if it is, the Public
Employee Retirement Commission is tentatively scheduling a meeting for
Tuesday to go over an actuarial analysis of that plan being
offered by Rep. Mike Tobash, R-Schuylkill. Tobash's plan would not affect current or
retired state or school employees. However, new employees would enter a hybrid
plan that allows them to be part of a defined benefit/defined contribution
(401k style) plan, along with other changes.
School districts provide
costs of educating cyber charter students
(The following story
is the last in a series on cyber charter schools and their impact on local
school districts)
Two local school districts have provided information on the
costs of educating cyber charter students in comparison to students educated at
“brick and mortar” school buildings on campus.
The information follows on the heels of two stories on cyber
charter schools that appeared in The Era last week. The first story provided general information
on the costs of educating cyber students in the Bradford
Area School
District , Otto-Eldred
School District and Coudersport Area
School District
Earlier this week, Bradford Area
School District
Nearly 200 turn out for
Philly school-management vote
SOLOMON LEACH, DAILY
NEWS STAFF WRITER LEACHS@PHILLYNEWS.COM,
215-854-5903 POSTED: Friday, May 2, 2014, 3:01 AM
NEARLY 200 parents turned out yesterday at a Nicetown
elementary school for a vote that should determine whether it will remain a
traditional public school or be run by a charter operator.
Parents and guardians at Steel Elementary cast secret ballots
in the school's foyer from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., as the School Advisory Council
cast a separate vote. The League of Women Voters of Philadelphia served as an
independent monitor and tallied the results, which are expected to be announced
today by the school district.
Donald Sterling vs. the
racism of school underfunding
WHYY Newsworks MAY 1,
2014 THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT
Blog by Solomon Jones
I have
said on the record that I’m not angry with Donald
Sterling, whose long record of allegedly racist behavior is well
documented. I’m angry with the rest of us. I’m angry because we are content to
pretend that Sterling’s ban from the NBA and a forced sale of the team will
solve the issue of racism. I’m angry because those who harbor similar views are
now pointing to Sterling as the racist bogeyman. I’m angry because our rush to
condemn Sterling has led us to ignore much more important matters, including
the fact that the Philadelphia public schools are facing a $216 million budget
shortfall that will once again leave our kids in the lurch.
By
Richard Ilgenfritz rilgenfritz@mainlinemedianews.com
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Lower
Merion officials are getting behind a statewide initiative that could help send
more students to government-funded pre-kindergarten programs. The Board of School Directors Monday night
unanimously approved a resolution supporting increased state government funding
for pre-K programs across Pennsylvania. Under
the resolution that was passed, the board suggested research shows students who
have access to what it called quality pre-k programs helps them perform well in
school. They also concluded that spending the money on such programs is what
the resolution called a “wise financial investment.”
Boyertown School Board OKs $101M budget with property tax hike
By
Rebecca Blanchard, rblanchard@21st-centurymedia.com
POSTED: 04/30/14, 12:29 PM
BOYERTOWN
— The Boyertown Area School Board has approved a proposed $101.1 million budget
for the 2014-15 school year. The budget
would bring a 4.22 percent property tax increase to Montgomery County residents
and a 1.78 percent property tax increase to Berks County homeowners.
At long last, PA school buses
could be getting a boost
By Maura Pennington | PA
Independent April 30, 2014
"Teachers at Prospect
Heights
Group of New York Teachers refuse to give unfair standardized
tests
Wait What? Blog by Jonathan Pelto May
01, 2014
At great risk to their careers, 26
Teachers and Staff of International High School at Prospect Heights in New York
City are refusing to give the NYC ELA Performance Assessment Test. The
comes after 3 teachers from the Earth School on the lower east side in
Manhattan sent a letter of conscience to the NYC School Chancellor that they
would not give the ELA.
In New York City, “Teachers will
hold a press conference to announce their refusal to administer the NYC ELA
Performance Assessment. 26 teachers and staff at Prospect Heights International
High School are refusing to administer a new assessment that is part of the new
teacher evaluation system pushed by Bloomberg’s DOE and the UFT last spring.
50% of parents have opted their children out of the test. The high school
serves almost exclusively recently arrived English Language Learners.”
National Teacher of the Year “stands up” for public schools
NSBA School Board News Today by
Joetta Sack-Min May 1, 2014
National School Boards Association
(NSBA) Executive Director Thomas J. Gentzel presented NSBA’s “Stand Up 4 Public
Schools” red wristband to Sean McComb, the 2014 National Teacher of the Year,
at a gala honoring the nation’s top teachers this week. NSBA’s “Stand Up 4 Public
Schools” is a national public advocacy campaign that celebrates the good
work in public education and believes that all children, regardless of their
ZIP code, deserve a world-class education and a promising future. Celebrities
including Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Sal Khan, and Montel Williams have joined the
campaign.
USDA oversteps authority with new school nutrition regulations,
NSBA says
NSBA School Board News Today by
Joetta Sack-Min May 1, 2014
The National School Boards
Association (NSBA) is urging
the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to evaluate the financial
impact the federal school nutrition law and proposed regulations will have on
school districts and give waivers to school districts that prove the financial
and regulatory burdens are insurmountable.
Having overstepped its regulatory authority, the USDA should also
eliminate a proposed regulation that would subject all foods available in
school—including those that are not sold on the school campus during the school
day, such as treats brought from home for birthday parties–to meet the strict
nutrition guidelines consistent with competitive food standards.
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
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.
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