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,
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PA Ed
Policy Roundup for June 14, 2014: Only 'how,' not 'how much' The
new commission will examine only resource allocation, not funding levels.
"Only 'how,' not 'how much' The new commission will examine only resource
allocation, not funding levels."
WHYY Newsworks BY KEVIN
MCCORRY JUNE 14, 2014
A panel will begin studying how Pennsylvania could better allocate money for
public education, following Gov. Tom Corbett's signing legislation establishing
the commission this week.
Education funding in Pennsylvania
is currently divided and sent to the state's 500 school districts based on the
whim of the Legislature. Education
advocates have been pressing for a rational, data-driven formula that takes
into account a district's actual enrollment numbers and student demographic
data – reasoning that impoverished students and English-language learners
should receive a greater share of the state's basic education subsidy. The legislation, sponsored by state Rep.
Bernie O'Neill, R-Bucks, asks lawmakers to study the issue and make a
recommendation by next year.
Ready to Learn? Schools
unsure whether to bank on state funds
Districts were
counting on the money, but nothing is guaranteed.
By Adam Clark and
Jacqueline Palochko, Of The Morning Call 6:48 p.m. EDT, June 13, 2014
There was a time when Allentown School District Superintendent
Russ Mayo was confident the Ready to Learn block grant would be included in Pennsylvania 's final
budget.
Mayo was so confident, in fact, that he tied 40 jobs to the
$3.7 million in new money and $5.2 million overall Allentown schools are supposed to receive from
the grant.
But then state revenues came in last month $100 million lower
than anticipated. And legislators floated a budget scenario that eliminates new
education spending to help plug a $532.5 million deficit, expected to grow to
$1.3 billion or higher by June 30, 2015.
Now Mayo is beginning to wonder whether Allentown schools will actually see the money
he once thought was a sure thing. "I
am worried," Mayo said earlier this week. "I am very worried."
When state lawmakers convene on Monday, they will have just 15
days to close a $1.3 billion gap in the $29.4 billion general fund budget for
2014-15, and no two legislators agree on how to do it, state Rep. Mike Sturla
told local business leaders Friday morning.
Sturla, a Democrat representing Lancaster
city, joined state Sen. Lloyd Smucker and state Rep. Bryan Cutler, both
Republicans, for the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce & Industry’s
budget-focused “Wake up to the Issues” forum at the Eden Resort & Suites. By law, the state must pass a balanced budget
by June 30. None of the three men suggested it would be easy.
With pension reform -
doing 'nothing' is not an option: Gov. Tom Corbett
PennLive
Op-Ed By Tom Corbett on June 13, 2014 at 10:00 AM
"It wouldn't save a ton of
money. Nor would it solve the pension systems' $47 billion-plus unfunded
liability problem. But lawmakers admit it is more or less a symbolic gesture
that signals to state and school employees and taxpayers alike that they
recognize the problem and want to lead by example in fixing it."
Kicking elected officials out
of the pension system? Many midstate lawmakers say go for it
By Jan Murphy, Charles Thompson & Gideon
Bradshaw on June 13, 2014 at 3:55
PM
Despite a variety of
ideas for reforming
the two state pension systems, lawmakers have yet to coalesce around any
one plan. And frustration over that grows by the day. Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson County
Fix Pa.
Go Erie BY JIM BUCKHEIT Contributing writer PUBLISHED:
JUNE 12, 2014 12:01 AM EST
JIM BUCKHEIT is executive director of thePennsylvania Association of School
Administrators in Harrisburg
JIM BUCKHEIT is executive director of the
For the first time in two decades, the Pennsylvania Legislature
has an opportunity to connect the state's limited resources to students with
disabilities and help all schools prepare children with special needs to
graduate ready to pursue their dreams. In
the early 1990s, Pennsylvania
changed its system of funding special education from an excess-cost formula to
a census-based approach. Since then, special education costs have risen faster
than state aid increases. Local districts now fund the greatest share of
special education.
Shale tax seen as
likely, report: Friday Morning Coffee
By John L. Micek |
jmicek@pennlive.com on June 13, 2014 at 8:30 AM\
Good Friday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
The Will-They-Or-Won't-They Hamleting over a potential extraction tax on Marcellus shale natural gas drillers continues this morning, with a former Casey administration official predicting that lawmakers will sign on before they skedaddle out of town sometime after midnight on June 30.
The Will-They-Or-Won't-They Hamleting over a potential extraction tax on Marcellus shale natural gas drillers continues this morning, with a former Casey administration official predicting that lawmakers will sign on before they skedaddle out of town sometime after midnight on June 30.
“He’s fought this long and hard,”
former Casey aide Tony May says to The Tribune-Review
of Gov. Tom Corbett's resistance to a tax.
“Better for Corbett to sign the shale tax than have [Democratic
gubernatorial nominee]Tom Wolf beat him over the head in TV ads in
October," May concluded. May is now a principal at the
lobbying firm Triad Strategies, whose clients include
the Pennsylvania Coal Alliance.
Wolf has suggested a 5 percent severance tax, raising about $750
million, with the proceeds going to schools, transportation and energy
infrastructure. As we noted earlier this
week, some House Republicans are saying there aren't the votes right
now to pass an extraction tax. And Corbett has said he'll veto such a
bill if it reaches his desk. But as
things get hairy in the sweaty days of late June, Capitol watchers are well
aware that anything -- and we mean anything -- can happen as lawmakers race to
get a budget deal.
The Shale tax beat goes on to
help fund education in Pa.
WITF State House Sound Bites Written by Mary
Wilson, Capitol Bureau Chief | Jun 13, 2014
Education advocates are keeping up the drum beat about the need
for a new extraction tax on natural gas in Pennsylvania to bolster school budgets. They say lawmakers have a choice: tax natural
gas drillers or watch as schools hike their local property taxes. "We need an infusion of dollars are the
state level for schools and for students," said Jay Himes, director of the
Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials. "We cannot continue
the failing strategy of cutting our way to success."
By on
June 13, 2014 at 2:00 PM, updated June 13, 2014 at 5:05 PM
With two weeks left for
state lawmakers to complete an on-time budget, the talk in the coming days is
expected to turn to finding money to fund programs and services that
Pennsylvanians have come to expect from their state government. As Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati,
R-Jefferson County
EPLC Education Notebook
Friday, June 13, 2014
Chesco's Dinniman hosts first
telephone town hall meeting
Philly.com LAST UPDATED: Friday, June 13, 2014, 1:08 AM
WEST CHESTER State Sen.
Andrew Dinniman (D., Chester )
hosted his first telephone town-hall meeting Monday night, drawing a total of
2,500 households during his hour-long discussion of education issues,
specifically his plan to eliminate the Keystone exams as a requirement for
graduation from high school. "I've never been to a town-hall meeting where
2,500 people showed up in a physical space," Dinniman said. The state Senate Democrats are catching up
technologically to their colleagues. About a dozen Republican senators have
hosted meetings over the phone since last June. For years, the state House has
used the technology that calls constituents en masse and invites them to
participate in a phone conversation with their representatives.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140613_Chesco_s_Dinniman_hosts_first_telephone_town_hall_meeting.html#gce7WHwm6eiHS2gc.99
"Parents are not happy with underfunded, often poorly
managed, public schools, nor should they be. But what frequently is overlooked
is that they remain identified with the core values at the heart of public
education. At both Muñoz-Marín and Steel, parents have stood up strongly
for equity, the idea that all public schools should offer a high-quality
education to all children."
What do the Renaissance
voting results tell us about school privatization?
the notebook By Ron
Whitehorne on Jun 13, 2014
11:36 AM
For years, the mantra
from those who think charter schools are the answer to what ails Philadelphia's
schools has been “people are voting with their feet,” citing the mushrooming
numbers of families who have transferred out of traditional public schools in
favor of charters.
But over recent weeks,
the people voted with ballots and they voted decisively against turning over
their schools, Steel Elementary in Nicetown and Muñoz-Marín Elementary in
Kensington, to charter school management companies.
Area profs urge City Council
to up funding for school district
Inquirer by Susan Snyder
POSTED: FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 2014, 11:29 AM
College educators are
getting involved in the local public schools funding crisis.
Nearly 200 professors
from the region are urging City Council to provide the cash-strapped Philadelphia School District
“Overcrowded classrooms;
bare-bones course offerings; reduced support for English as a second language,
special education, and gifted programs; shuttered libraries; insufficient
access to counselors and nurses; unsafe conditions: our public school students
are suffering.”
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/campus_inq/Area-profs-urge-City-Council-to-up-funding-for-school-district.html#iajzPvZUtBjuSFaW.99
Phila. third graders to
receive 4 free books to read and keep
On the last Friday of
the school year, about 20 third graders at Nebinger Elementary School Philadelphia 's
51,200 students in grades K-3 have something to read over the summer. "The third grade represents an important
shift when it comes to reading, a shift from learning to read to reading to
learn," Nutter said before the cameras stationed inside the fourth-floor
library.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20140614_Phila__third_graders_to_receive_4_free_books_to_read_and_keep.html#KpvOkjxjrz03JvAk.99
Teacher seniority rule may be
done for in Pennsylvania
Times Herald By MAURA PENNINGTON, PA Independent POSTED: 06/11/14,
10:31 AM EDT |
State Rep. Jake Wheatley was one of two Democrats who voted in
favor of amending the state’s 1949 Public School Code. Right now, districts are prohibited from
furloughing teachers for budgetary reasons, though staff cuts can be made in
the face of declining enrollment or when entire programs are eliminated. But
when that happens, the cuts are based on seniority — the last teacher hired is the
first one fired. The proposed amendment
to the state’s 1949 Public School Code allows for economic furloughs with
layoffs based on performance rather than seniority.
Property tax revolt could
sharply reduce school funding
Citypaper By Daniel
Denvir Published: 06/12/2014 | 1
Comments Posted
The Pennsylvania Association of Realtors and a tea party-backed
coalition are mobilizing to support legislation that would abolish local school
property taxes, a measure likely to result in the loss of billions of dollars
in education funding at a time when districts across the state, including
Philadelphia’s, face deep fiscal crises. But Chuck Liedike, campaign
manager of the Realtor-backed group Real Reform 76, sees only upside to the
legislation being considered in Harrisburg .
He says the change would eliminate an onerous tax without harming public education. “It allows Pennsylvania homeowners to stay in their
home, to be able to afford a home,” says Liedike. And “school districts would
receive a dollar-for-dollar match in what they would have received in
property-tax revenues.” But that does
not seem probable: The Education Stabilization Fund, a new entity that would be
created under the law, would likely provide far less school funding than the
current property tax-based system, according to an October 2013 report from the
General Assembly’s Independent Fiscal Office. That shortfall would reach $900
million in the law’s second year, and a staggering $2.5 billion in its fifth.
Philly to open a new school
to train high school students skills needed for manufacturing jobs
Citypaper By Jon
Hurdle Published: 06/12/2014
Like many other Philadelphia
manufacturers, PTR Baler & Compactor has a chronic problem with filling its
jobs. The Port Richmond-based maker of steel trash and recycling containers for
major retail clients like Wal-Mart was six welders short of a full complement
in early June, despite offering a salary of about $40,000 plus benefits for
people with the right experience.
“It’s very hard for us to find skilled welders,” said Brent
Ford, PTR’s human resources manager, who has not had a full staff of
welder-fitters in his three years with the company. “We go through hundreds of
resumes for every single one that we hire.” Ford and his colleagues say recruitment is a
big headache because manufacturing here still has a poor public image as a
smokestack industry where workers do repetitive jobs in polluted factories that
threaten their health. And some manufacturers complain that many job applicants
lack basic literacy and numeracy skills or simply don’t grasp fundamental
workplace values like the need to show up on time.
But all agree that public schools don’t do enough to give
students the skills they need to work in an industry that pays $1.3 billion in
annual wages and is a traditional engine of the city’s economy.
Changing Skyline: City
ought not rush into sale of school buildings
INGA SAFFRON, INQUIRER
ARCHITECTURE CRITIC LAST UPDATED: Thursday, June 12, 2014, 12:46 PM
Goodness knows, Philadelphia 's
school district needs to sell its surplus buildings so it can afford to open
its remaining schools in the fall, ideally with a full complement of nurses and
counselors. But should its money troubles trump everything else the city wants
to achieve: livable neighborhoods, affordable housing, pedestrian-friendly
design, meaningful open space, a respect for its own history? Nothing highlights the harsh reality of this
single-minded quest for cash as much as this week's battle royal over the sale
of the University City High School on Drexel University
http://www.philly.com/philly/living/20140613_Changing_Skyline__City_ought_not_rush_into_sale_of_school_buildings.html#1ZlUuMuD1o7bArxS.99
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
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
EPLC Education Issues
Workshop for Legislative Candidates, Campaign Staff, and Interested Voters - Harrisburg
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.
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