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
PA Ed Policy Roundup for June
29, 2014:
Schools to lose in House
Budget Proposal
The Senate Education Committee is slated to meet off
the floor today (Sunday) to consider HB618, Charter School Reform
The House Appropriations
Committee Fiscal Note summarizes the provisions in this bill
PA lawmakers told to be
prepared to vote on budget
Liquor, pension changes apparently off the table but $380M
hole remains as Monday deadline looms.
By Steve Esack,
Call Harrisburg Bureau 9:20 p.m. EDT, June 28, 2014
HARRISBURG ——
Last week, Gov. Tom Corbett gave lawmakers an ultimatum: change
liquor and pension systems or he won't sign a budget that includes tax
increases by the June 30 deadline.
With that deadline at 11:59 p.m. Monday, lawmakers are wrapping
up a budget proposal that does not include tax increases on tobacco products
and natural gas drillers in the hopes that Corbett will sign it on time or at
least some time before the July 4 holiday weekend.
On Saturday, Senate Republican leaders sent the administration
a budget proposal that is expected to be higher than the $29.1 billion spending
plan the GOP-controlled House approved last week but lower
than the $29.4 billion Corbett suggested in February.
"We are trying to put together a $29-plus billion budget
that doesn't have any revenue increases," Budget Secretary Charles B.
Zogby said.
Saturday was a non-voting session for the House and Senate. But
lawmakers have been told by their respective caucus leaders to be prepared to
vote on a budget sometime Sunday evening or Monday.
Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/mc-pa-state-budget-0628-20140628,0,5294544.story#ixzz361s2uo6U
Lehigh Valley schools to
lose in House budget proposal
By Sara K.
Satullo | The Express-Times on June 28, 2014 at 7:30 PM
The Lehigh Valley's three largest school districts are set to
lose almost $5 million combined if the state budget passed by the House of
Representatives stays intact.
Gov. Tom Corbett's budget
proposal called for a $241 million increase in funding for school districts through
a new Ready to Learn Block Grant.
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed -- in a
110-93 vote -- a budget that replaces the block grant program with a $70
million basic education increase. The House plan includes a flat 2 percent
special education funding hike, eschewing a new formula devised by the special
education funding commission. Lehigh
Valley legislators in the House voted along party lines with Republicans
supporting the plan.
Get ready for the big 'gimmick'
state budget
BY MARC LEVY ASSOCIATED PRESS
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Call it "the big gimmick."
An approximately $29 billion state government operating budget
under negotiation in the Legislature is likely to be based on a fast-growing
amount of one-time cash items to avoid the prospect of a tax increase that
would split the House's and Senate's Republican majorities.
The one-time items — derided by critics as gimmicks — include
raiding off-budget programs, postponing bills and cleaning out reserves.
And this year, with a massive and unexpected collapse in tax
collections, Republicans have shied away from putting off business tax cuts or
increasing taxes on the booming natural gas industry or sales of tobacco
products advocated by Democrats. Instead, they have looked to push one-timers
past $2 billion. That is the highest
they have ever been, not counting the $6.9 billion in federal recession bailout
dollars that came to Pennsylvania from 2009 to 2011.
"This will be precedent-setting in one-time revenues,"
said Randy Albright, the Democrats' top staff aide on the Senate Appropriations
Committee.
Some Republicans acknowledge that the trend toward a tax
increase is inevitable.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/06/28/4207236/get-ready-for-the-big-gimmick.html#storylink=cpy
On-time budget for
Pennsylvania? Most wouldn't notice a short delay
By Charles
Thompson | cthompson@pennlive.com
on June 28, 2014 at 4:36 PM, updated June 28, 2014 at 7:12 PM
on June 28, 2014 at 4:36 PM, updated June 28, 2014 at 7:12 PM
So who gets hurt if there is not a state budget signed, sealed
and delivered by July 1, the start of Pennsylvania's new fiscal year? Most likely, no one if the delay is short.
Court rulings in recent years have largely taken the threat of
payless paydays for state employees – one of former Gov. Ed Rendell's ploys
during an extended stalemate in 2009 - off the table.
Corbett may be resigned to
getting just a budget, without his wish list: Pennsylvania budget update
By Jan
Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com
on June 28, 2014 at 9:39 PM, updated June 28, 2014 at 11:43 PM
on June 28, 2014 at 9:39 PM, updated June 28, 2014 at 11:43 PM
As the clock for getting an on-time budget gets closer to running out of
time, people around the Capitol began to suggest on Saturday that Gov. Tom
Corbett has resigned himself to just getting a budget done
without it having pension reform or liquor privatization in tow.
When asked about the governor's level of enthusiasm for accepting a
budget-only scenario, his communications director Lynn Lawson offered no direct
response.
Instead, she said, "The governor is working toward what is in the
best interests of the taxpayers of Pennsylvania. The budget meetings and
negotiations are ongoing and details are changing frequently so it is premature
to comment on a particular proposal."
Midnight oil being burned
in two state Capitols this weekend to get a budget done on time
By
on June 28, 2014 at 7:26 PM, updated June 28, 2014 at 8:20 PM
on June 28, 2014 at 7:26 PM, updated June 28, 2014 at 8:20 PM
What do
Pennsylvania and Massachusetts have in common besides both being commonwealths?
According to the
National Conference of State Legislatures'website, both happen to be the only
legislatures burning the midnight oil trying to finalize
a budget before
the July 1 start of the new fiscal year.
Protesters forgo day at
an amusement park to send message to Corbett, lawmakers: Fund our schools
By Jan Murphy |
jmurphy@pennlive.com
on June 28, 2014 at 3:04 PM, updated June 28, 2014 at 4:46 PM
on June 28, 2014 at 3:04 PM, updated June 28, 2014 at 4:46 PM
Had it not been for the dire straits in which the
state budget proposals being bandied about inside the state
Capitol would leave their schools, these Philadelphia parents say they would
have spent this sunny June day at an amusement park or Franklin Institute or
taking the kids to church choir practice.
Instead, they found themselves crammed under a pop-up canopy at the
bottom of the Capitol steps, shaded by spray-painted bed sheets that carried
two simple messages: "Fund Our Schools" and "Expand
Medicaid."
The dozen or so people hanging out there were all from
Philadelphia, but they said they speak for all children who will be hurt by a
no-new tax budget that legislative leaders directed their staffs to spend today
inside the Capitol developing.
This letter was sent to
all state legislators in the 5-county region and to press representatives
yesterday. 150 signers from 27 colleges/universities in Bucks, Chester,
Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties.
An Open Letter to Members of
the Pennsylvania General Assembly
Higher Education United for Public Education June 27, 2014
As college and university educators from the greater
Philadelphia region, including Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and
Philadelphia counties, we would like to offer our perspective on Pennsylvania’s
current approach to funding public education for grades K-12. We believe
that this approach is undermining not only students’ primary and secondary
school experiences, but their post-secondary educational options as well.
From the perspective of access to higher education, this
disinvestment can mean Pennsylvania students are (1) less prepared than their
peers from other states who have had access to a well-rounded curriculum,
including honors,
IB, and AP courses, (2) less able to compete for academic or athletic
scholarship funding when their schools
are unable to offer PSATs or sports programs, (3) less likely to apply
to college due to the absence
of adequate counseling on the high-school level, and (4) less able
to manage
the academic demands of college without remedial coursework.
Enough Is Enough:
Pennsylvania Must Contribute Its Fair Share to Fund Our Schools
Huffington Post by Brian SIms, Pennsylvania State
Representative in Philadelphia's 182nd District Posted: 06/27/2014 2:21 pm
EDT Updated: 06/27/2014 2:59 pm EDT
Over the past year and a half, I have walked the halls of
Philadelphia schools and spoken with students of all ages. I have met with
parents in community centers, cafeterias, and gymnasiums to hear their worries
and frustrations. I have heard from teachers, who day in and day out go to work
unsure if they will have enough paper for their students or worried a child
will have a medical emergency on a day there is no school nurse available. For
the last several years, we have found ourselves facing an unacceptable lack of
state funding for schools. This year we are once again facing the
Commonwealth's dereliction of duty in properly funding our public schools.
I'm proud to say that the City of Philadelphia has done its part. Despite
fiscal problems of its own, City Council has delivered an additional $30
million to help narrow the gap in education funding. Philadelphia has also asked for enabling legislation to impose
a $2 per pack tax on cigarette sales within the city limits. This
initiative is estimated to generate nearly $45 million for the school
district, which would significantly aid in closing the district's $216
million deficit resulting from Governor Corbett's over $1 billion in
devastating education funding cuts.
Playing Politics With
Education
Did the governors of
Michigan and Pennsylvania cut education funding or increase it?
FactCheck.org
Posted on June 27, 2014
Claims from
gubernatorial candidates and their opponents about education funding in
Michigan and Pennsylvania couldn’t appear to be more conflicting.
§
In
Michigan, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer talks about reversing
Gov. Rick Snyder’s “billion dollars in education cuts.” Snyder’s campaign
adviser, meanwhile, claims “Governor Snyder increased school funding by $1
billion.”
§
In
Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Corbett’s wife, Sue, is featured in an ad saying that
Corbett “increased spending in the education department $1.5 billion over what
it was when he came into office.” But according to the website of Corbett’s
Democratic opponent, Tom Wolf, Corbett “cut state education funding by more
than $1 billion.”
What gives? The
disparate claims in both states have similar roots.
Deal seen near
on Penna. budget
POSTED: Sunday,
June 29, 2014, 1:09 AM
HARRISBURG - For years, the GOP-led legislature has resisted
imposing a tax on the extraction of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale,
arguing it would create a burden on a fledgling industry.
But with gas production booming, tax supporters have
countered that Pennsylvania should capitalize on hundreds of millions in
potential revenue - money that could have helped fuel the state's economic
recovery. Aft ion budget shortfall,
legislators left Friday confident that next year's spending plan won't rely on
new er weeks of rumblings that a natural gas tax might be needed to close the
state's nearly $1.5 bill taxes. They didn't say how they would balance the
budget, but they return to session Sunday evening, with an eye toward reaching
a deal by Monday night.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20140629_Deal_seen_near_on_Penna__budget.html#VaceUXAAc9FCYYHi.99
Analysis: How Do House Budget
Cuts Affect Your School District?
Posted by PA Budget and Policy Center on June 27, 2014
The Impact of the House Budget on Funding for School
Districts and Charter Schools
The budget approved by the Pennsylvania House of
Representatives on June 25 made significant changes to the Governor’s proposed
allocations to school districts and charter schools.
The House budget eliminates a $241 million increase to school
districts and charter schools offered in the Governor’s Ready to Learn Block
Grant, replacing it with a $70 million basis education increase, which is a 71%
reduction from the Governor’s original proposed increase.
The House kept a 2% increase in special education funding,
allocated through a flat 2% increase to each district – rather than using the
formula devised by the Special Education Funding Commission to focus assistance
where it is most needed, and added $10 million to fund new school construction
projects, although the distribution of those funds is not known.
Failing in slow motion: A
community's helping hands
Lancaster Online By JEFF HAWKES | Staff
Writer Posted: Sunday, June 29, 2014 7:30 am
Editor’s note: This story is part of a series
examining the financial sustainability of the Columbia Borough School District and
the impact of its struggling schools on the students, teachers, residents and
businesses of the proud river town. A six-page special section is in today’s
Sunday News.
Presiding at school board meetings, Tom Strickler would look
out at a sea of empty seats for the public and wonder how to engage the
community. People complained about taxes
but few saw how the board minimized increases.
After one difficult vote to eliminate aides, Strickler visited
kindergarten classes, saw the demands wall-to-wall 5-year-olds placed on a
teacher and knew what to do.
Join the Notebook!
Become a Member!
The Notebook invites all of our readers
to join
us now, as members by signing up on our "Donate"
page. Our reporting depends on the continued generous support and
contributions from our growing Notebook membership. In
2013, we reached more than 500 memberships! Thanks to all of our
supporters. Don't forget to renew or join for this calendar year. Help us
reach 600+ members in 2014! We're
excited about this program as a way to recognize your support, give you some
extra perks, and support our work and sustainability. Learn more about our work here.
Membership starts at $40 for the 2014 calendar year. Learn
more about the membership
levels here. You can also give the gift of Notebook membership.
Pre-K for PA has supporters
all over the greater Philadelphia region who want to help ensure all three and
four year-old children can access quality pre-K.
We need your help -- join an upcoming phone bank. Join
a fun gathering of like minds in Philadelphia and Conshohocken on
Wednesday evenings throughout the summer. We are calling fellow Pre-K for
PA supporters to build local volunteer teams.
Call a Pre-K Friend in Philly:
United Way Building, 6th Floor 1709 Ben Franklin Parkway 19107
Wed July 9, 5-7 PM
Wed July 30, 5-7 PM
United Way Building, 6th Floor 1709 Ben Franklin Parkway 19107
Wed July 9, 5-7 PM
Wed July 30, 5-7 PM
Call a Pre-K Friend in Mont Co:
Anne's House 242 Barren Hill Road Conshohocken PA 19428
Wed July 16, 5-7pm
Wed July 30, 5-7pm
Anne's House 242 Barren Hill Road Conshohocken PA 19428
Wed July 16, 5-7pm
Wed July 30, 5-7pm
RSVP: http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/51084/c/10476/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=9390
EPLC Education Issues
Workshop for Legislative Candidates, Campaign Staff, and Interested Voters -
Harrisburg July 31
Register Now! EPLC will again be hosting
an Education Issues Workshop for Legislative Candidates, Campaign Staff,
and Interested Voters. This nonpartisan, one-day program will take place
on Thursday, July 31 in Harrisburg. Space is limited. Click here to learn more about workshop and
to register.
PSBA opens nominations for
the Timothy M. Allwein Advocacy Award
The nomination process is now open for the Timothy M. Allwein Advocacy Award. This award may be presented annually to the individual school director or entire school board to recognize outstanding leadership in legislative advocacy efforts on behalf of public education and students that are consistent with the positions in PSBA’s Legislative Platform. Applications will be accepted until July 16, 2014. The July 16 date was picked in honor of Timothy M. Allwein's birthday. The award will be presented during the PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference in October. More details and application are available on PSBA's website.
The nomination process is now open for the Timothy M. Allwein Advocacy Award. This award may be presented annually to the individual school director or entire school board to recognize outstanding leadership in legislative advocacy efforts on behalf of public education and students that are consistent with the positions in PSBA’s Legislative Platform. Applications will be accepted until July 16, 2014. The July 16 date was picked in honor of Timothy M. Allwein's birthday. The award will be presented during the PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference in October. More details and application are available on PSBA's website.
Education
Policy and Leadership Center
Click
here to read more about EPLC’s Education Policy Fellowship Program, including: 2014-15
Schedule 2014-15 Application Past Speakers Program Alumni And More Information
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.