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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA
Ed Policy Roundup for June 11, 2014: "Its harder to outrage the public anymore."
Policy options can help
fund schools in Pa.
Inquirer Opinion By Vincent Hughes POSTED: Wednesday, June
11, 2014, 1:08 AM
State Sen. Vincent Hughes
(D.) represents parts of Philadelphia and Montgomery County
The Philadelphia School Reform Commission recently took the
unprecedented step of refusing to approve the $2.4 billion budget for the next
fiscal year. The SRC labeled the current amount of available revenue as
"catastrophic" for conditions in our classrooms. Pennsylvania
has a projected budget deficit of more than $1.5 billion, which might seem to
make prospects for additional funding for Philadelphia 's
schools bleak. However, it doesn't have to be this way. There are many
commonsense policy choices available to increase the amount of state funding
available for public education in Philadelphia .
http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/inquirer/20140611_Policy_options_can_help_fund_schools_in_Pa_.html#etXUOCh3DEboGpFd.99
Corbett won't budge on tax
talk until pension bill passes
WHYY Newsworks BY ASSOCIATED
PRESS JUNE 11, 2014
Gov. Tom Corbett says he won't consider a tax increase to help
fill a growing budget gap unless the Legislature agrees to overhaul Pennsylvania 's pension
system for future state and school employees. Corbett said Tuesday if pension
legislation does pass, he's not sure what, if any, kind of tax increase he'd
support. The new fiscal year begins July
1. Pension legislation was scheduled for
discussion Tuesday in the state House of Representatives. The proposal Corbett
supports would combine a limited traditional, defined-benefit pension with a
401(k)-style defined-contribution plan that would provide a smaller benefit
than employees get under the present system.
It would not affect the hundreds of thousands of current state and
public school employees. The state's
largest teacher union, the Pennsylvania State Education Association, opposes
it.
Different sort of money
problem limits pension reform debate in Pennsylvania
By Jan Murphy |
jmurphy@pennlive.com on June 10, 2014 at 7:07 PM
There's no question money is at the heart of the state's
pension problem. But the money problem limiting lawmakers' debate on reforming
the two state pension systems may not be the one you think. The Public
Employee Retirement Commission is out of money. In fact, it has spent
$20,000 of its next fiscal year's appropriation. So without money, it can't perform actuarial
studies on any more pension reform proposals — including the one
crafted by Rep. Glen Grell, R-Hampden Township — until after the July 1
start of the new fiscal year, when lawmakers hope to have put this issue to bed
and be heading home for their summer break.
Without an actuarial note, Grell's plan or any other pension proposal
that emerges in the General Assembly's final push to deal with pension reform
this month can't be considered because the rules require it to have one. This places an artificial limit on the
pension reform options that lawmakers have available to them, if they want to
get this issue off their plates in the next few weeks.
Stephen C. Antalics Jr.:
Charter schools drive up local education taxes
Allentown Morning Call LTE by Stephen C. Antalics June 09, 2014
Stephen C. Antalics Jr. of Bethlehem is a retired scientist
and entrepreneur.
This year, the Bethlehem Area School District wisely
denied the Advanced Military Aerospace Science Academy request to be a charter
school. The district last year announced
its career placement program, a plan that offers Advanced Placement courses in
four areas of study, including the STEM areas of science, technology,
engineering and mathematics. The district could implement a junior ROTC program
that would certainly preclude the need of the military aerospace charter
school, thereby preventing duplication and extra cost. The proposed Bethlehem school budget for the 2014-15
school year has reflected a deficit of approximately $16.9 million. There is a
large outcry about excessive costs going toward the teachers'
retirement fund which represents
approximately $2.2 million of the deficit. A telling number that appears to go
unheeded is that the funding deficit for charter schools represents approximately
$6.7 million, three times that of pensions.
City Council leader, schools
chief clash over means to fund Philly schools
WHYY Newsworks BY KEVIN
MCCORRY JUNE 11, 2014
The Philadelphia
school district's budget crises never seem to end.
In fact, even as students and parents hold their collective
breath for the possibility of even more cuts to classroom resources for next
school year, the ghost of last year's crisis lingers.
Last summer, Superintendent William Hite said he would not open
schools unless the district received an additional $50 million from the city. Soon after, Mayor Michael Nutter and Council
President Darrell Clarke held competing press conferences with differing
visions for how to deliver this funding. Both parties assured the district that
it could count on the needed revenue.
Schools, though severely under-resourced, opened. Ten months later, district officials and city
politicians are still squabbling over that $50 million.
Phila. Funding Crisis Threatens Spread
of Innovation
Education Week By Benjamin
Herold Published Online: June 10, 2014
Nearly a year after Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. committed
millions of dollars to expand Science Leadership
Academy
Corbett can't visit state's
largest city without mass protest
Citypaper By Daniel
Denvir Published: 06/09/2014
Gov. Tom Corbett can't visit Philadelphia, his state's largest
city, without facing mass protest. Recent appearances here have been clouded in
secrecy, subject to last-minute change—and infrequent. This evening, hundreds of students, teachers
and parents gathered in front of the Comcast Center to protest Corbett's deep
cuts to public education funding as the governor (reportedly) held a fundraiser
with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie inside. Demonstrators blocked the street
chanting "what do we want? Fair funding!" and "arrest Gov.
Corbett!." Police arrested a handful of activists committing civil
disobedience without incident.
Protesters included members of Philadelphia Coalition
Advocating for Public Schools (PCAPS), Parents United for Public Education,
Youth United for Change, Philadelphia Student Union, the Philadelphia
Federation of Teachers and the Caucus of Working Educators.
"Most big cities are at the
mercy of their states and don't have enough resources. It's just the way things
are done. Pennsylvania is one of the worst. We keep pointing it out and
pointing it out. Its harder to outrage the public anymore."
Philadelphia School Notebook
Celebrates 20 Years
Education Week Education
and the Media Blog By on June
10, 2014 12:27 AM
Twenty years ago this
month, a new superintendent was named to run the Philadelphia public schools.
David W. Hornbeck, then a prominent national education consultant who had been
a Maryland state schools superintendent, set an ambitious course to turn the
long-troubled school district "on its head." That same June in 1994, the city's two daily
newspapers and other news outlets gained a scrappy new competitor—The Philadelphia Public School
Notebook.
The Notebook,
as it is known, was at first only a print publication, meant to serve a
grassroots audience for the then-204,000-student district. Twenty years later, the Philadelphia schools
have seen five superintendents, including such national names as Paul G. Vallas
and Arlene Ackerman; a host of reforms, including turning some schools over to
private managers; a "friendly takeover" by the city and the state of
Pennsylvania; and rounds of wrenching budget cuts.
The Notebook, meanwhile, has a vibrant Web presence in addition to publishing 60,000
copies six times a year.
The way forward
By thenotebook on Jun 10, 2014 10:42 AM
The Notebook is
able to celebrate a 20th anniversary this year thanks to lots of hard work
and generous financial supporters – and thanks to you, our readers.
Philadelphia has a vast
community of people – not just parents, educators, and students but many others
– who are deeply committed to quality public education and to improving
opportunities for all students. Without this highly engaged community, we would
have fewer meaningful stories to tell. More important, we would have little
hope of overcoming the serious problems facing city schools. As it turns 20, the Notebook remains
committed to its original ideals: providing useful information to a broad
audience, highlighting community voices, exposing inequities, and holding
public officials and institutions accountable – all with the goal of building
momentum for improved schools across Philadelphia.
"Overall, salaries are going
down about $85,500, but employee benefits are up $1.3 million from the previous
year."
Kennett school district OKs
final budget
West Chester Daily Local
By CANDICE MONHOLLAN, cmonhollan@dailylocal.com
POSTED: 06/10/14,
6:28 PM EDT
KENNETT SQUARE – The
Kennett Consolidated School Board approved a $76 million operating budget for
the 2014-15 school year at its meeting Monday, an increase in spending of about
$2 million. The final number is also up
about $360,000 from the original preliminary budget presented in February. The board was able to take the originally
proposed tax increase of 2.51 percent and reduce it to 1.78 percent, setting
the millage rate at 27.94. The average district homeowner will pay an
additional $89 more in taxes next year.
“(This is) the smallest increase in over 15 years and down from
historically high increases of over 10 percent” in the early 2000s, said board
Treasurer Michael Finnegan. “The district has managed to weather the harsh
economic times the past five years while preserving programs and improving
facilities.”
Mars schools budget keeps
taxes steady
Post-Gazette By Sandy
Trozzo June
10, 2014 9:18 PM
The Mars Area school
board Tuesday approved a $43.5 million budget that keeps the property tax rate
at 99 mills.The budget was 5 percent higher than this year’s budget on both the
revenue and expenditure side. Increased revenue was generated by new houses and
businesses, as well as increased earned income tax, said Jill Swaney, business
manager.
It maintains all
programs and adds six professional positions.
"In God We Trust? How about a bill
that would require charter and cyber schools to post their PA School Performance
Profile scores prominently in any advertising paid for with public tax
dollars?"
Diane Ravitch's Blog By dianeravitch June 10, 2014 //
Keystone State Education
Coalition Pennsylvania Education Policy Roundup for June 3, 2014:
Blogger Rant:
At a recent school board
meeting I voted against authorizing a payment to Agora Cyber Charter School.
Why? During the NCLB regime, Agora never once made AYP; this year their PA
School Performance Profile Score was 48.3 (scale of 100). In my district, our
Middle School score was 94; our High School score was 96.4. Agora is run by
K12, Inc., a for-profit company founded by convicted bond felon Michael Milken.
K12 paid it’s CEO $13 million from 2009 through 2013 and spent our tax dollars
on over 19,000 local TV commercials. I do not believe Agora should receive one
cent of my neighbors’ tax dollars.
Instead of posting “In
God We Trust”, how about a bill that would require charter and cyber schools to
post their PA School Performance Profile scores prominently in any advertising
paid for with public tax dollars?
PA Basic Ed. Funding
Campaign: Building capacity to advocate for adequate, equitable school funding
PSBA website 6/10/2014
The Pennsylvania Basic Education Funding Campaign seeks up to
ten (10) regional "circuit riders" statewide to work with and support
school system leaders to build capacity and advocate for an adequate and
equitable school funding system.
Regional Circuit Riders Contract Employment Announcement
The Pennsylvania Basic Education Funding Campaign seeks up to
ten (10) regional "circuit riders" statewide to work with and support
school system leaders to build capacity and advocate for an adequate and
equitable school funding system. Circuit riders will support school system
leaders by providing education and training about past and current school
funding systems, principles and models of good school funding systems and effective
advocacy strategies using information and materials provided by the Campaign.
School system leaders include school directors, Intermediate Unit executive
directors, district superintendents, business managers and other key school
district leaders. Building capacity
among Pennsylvania school system leaders to advocate for an adequate and
equitable school funding system is one component of a broader multi-year effort
that involves more than 25 organizations across Pennsylvania. This component is
a collaborative effort of the PA Association of School Business Officials
(PASBO), PA Association of School Administrators (PASA), PA School Boards
Association (PSBA), PA Association of Rural and Small Schools (PARSS) and PA
Association of Intermediate Units (PAIU). PASBO serves as the fiscal agent for
the collaborative.
- See more at: http://www.psba.org/news-publications/headlines/details.asp?id=7943#sthash.rYZzUteD.dpuf
NSBA praises the U.S. Senate
introduction of the Local School Board Governance and Flexibility Act
NSBA School Board News Today Alexis Rice June 10th, 2014
The National School Boards Association (NSBA) praises the introduction today of the Local School Board
Governance and Flexibility Act (S. 2451) in the U.S. Senate by Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.). The
legislation would protect local school district governance from unnecessary and
counterproductive federal intrusion from the U.S. Department of Education (ED).
“We appreciate Sen. Inhofe’s leadership on the Local School
Board Governance and Flexibility Act, which would ensure that local school
boards are able to make sound decisions based on the needs of their students
and their communities,” said Thomas J. Gentzel, NSBA Executive Director.
“Federal regulations that fail to recognize the value of strong local
governance put politics before the best interests of our nation’s students.”
The Local School Board Governance and Flexibility Act would:
New York Times By JENNIFER MEDINA JUNE 10, 2014
LOS ANGELES — A California judge ruled Tuesday that teacher
tenure laws deprive students of their right to an education under the state
Constitution. The decision hands teachers’ unions a major defeat in a landmark
case, one that could radically alter how California teachers are hired and
fired and prompt challenges to tenure laws in other states. “Substantial evidence presented makes it
clear to this court that the challenged statutes disproportionately affect poor
and/or minority students,” Judge Rolf M. Treu of Los Angeles Superior Court
wrote in the ruling. “The evidence is compelling. Indeed, it shocks the
conscience.” The ruling, which was
enthusiastically endorsed by Education Secretary Arne Duncan, brings to a close
the first chapter of the case, Vergara v. California, in which a group of
student plaintiffs argued that state tenure laws had deprived them of a decent
education by leaving bad teachers in place.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/11/us/california-teacher-tenure-laws-ruled-unconstitutional.html?_r=0
Gates Foundation Urges
Moratorium on Decisions Tied to Common Core
New York Times By MOTOKO RICH JUNE 10, 2014
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a strong backer of
academic guidelines known as the Common Core — reading and math standards for
kindergarten through high school pupils — and one of the country’s largest
donors to educational causes, has called
for a two-year moratorium on states or school districts making any
high-stakes decisions based on tests aligned to the new standards. The Common Core, originally adopted by 46
states and the District of Columbia and supported by the Obama administration,
was designed by a group of educators and experts convened by the National
Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. Over the
past two years, teachers have been scrambling to adapt classroom curriculums to
the new guidelines. Some states, including Kentucky and New York, have already
rolled out new standardized tests aligned to the standards, while many other
states piloted tests this spring. Teachers
unions and parent groups have expressed
frustration with the speed with which the new standards and tests have
been implemented, particularly at a time when states are also instituting new performance
evaluations for teachers that tether ratings in part to student performance on
test scores.
Public Schools Are Hurting
More in the Recovery Than in the Recession
Five Thirty-Eight Economics By BEN CASSELMAN 6:52 AM JUN 10, 2014
The slow economic recovery is taking a toll on the nation’s
public schools, reversing a multi-decade trend of increased funding and pushing
student-teacher ratios to their highest levels since 2000. U.S. schools actually weathered the recession
itself relatively well. State funding, which accounts for about 45 percent of
school revenues on average, fell sharply during the downturn, while local
spending, which accounts for roughly another 45 percent, mostly from property
taxes, was essentially flat. But federal stimulus dollars helped plug the gap,
offsetting the worst of the state-level cuts. Both per-student spending and
student-teacher ratios improved modestly during the recession. Once the recession ended, however, so did the
stimulus — long before state and local governments were ready to pick up the
slack. Federal per-student spending fell more than 20 percent from 2010 to
2012, and it has continued to fall. State and local funding per student were
essentially flat in 2012, the most recent year for which data is available.
IS PENNSYLVANIA
Education Voters of Pennsylvania, the NAACP and the Keystone
State Education Coalition are sponsoring a public meeting with speakers from
the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia and
the Education Law Center.
When: Monday June 16th, 6-7 PM
Where: Delaware County Community College Southeast Center,
Room 135
2000
Elmwood Ave, Sharon Hill, PA 19079
Learn about how a statewide legal strategy could help students
in William Penn, Southeast Delco and neighboring districts and how you
might participate. Legal experts and attorneys will be present to
talk about the law, your children’s rights and a potential lawsuit against the
state of Pennsylvania based on the state Constitutional requirement to
provide an education.
More info: http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.blogspot.com/2014/06/is-pennsylvanias-system-of-school.html
Come to Harrisburg to Speak
Up for Public Education
Wednesday, June 18, Monday, June 23, and Monday, June 30
Education Voters PA
Governor Corbett’s “election-year” budget is falling apart.
Revenue projections are down and Corbett and state legislators are looking to
make more than $1.2 billion in cuts to his proposed 2014-2015
budget. Lobbyists will be swarming the
Capitol in the month of June and we need to be there, too. Join Pennsylvanians from throughout the
commonwealth as we send a loud and clear message that after three years of
balancing the state budget on the backs of Pennsylvania’s public school
children, it is time for our state government to do what is right and pass a
fair budget that will provide students with the opportunities they need to meet
state standards and be successful after they graduate.
Details: http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/6041/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=7059
Cloaking
Inequity Blog by Julian
Vasquez Heilig May 23, 2014 | | 1
Comment
WE NEED YOUR HELP! Do you believe in public education? Do you
want US policymakers to understand why decision makers in Chile have now
judged vouchers to be problematic after 30 years of universal implementation?
Do you have frequent flier miles you can donate? Sponsor a grad student
today! This summer, I along with eight
UT-Austin graduate students will travel to Santiago, Chile in August 2014 with
Professor Julian Vasquez Heilig to conduct field research that will result in a
policy brief, op-eds and a peer-reviewed academic paper detailing recent changes in
Chile’s market-based education policy proposed this past April by Chile’s
current Education Minister Nicholas Eyzaguirre.
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.
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