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, business 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
September 17, 2014:
SB76: PROPERTY TAX
ELIMINATION BILL ADVANCES IN SENATE
Concerned with adequate,
equitable, predictable, sustainable #paedfunding? Follow new @PACircuitRider and @CircuitRiderSE accounts on
twitter
"This amendment – which would make it
easier to create a new charter school in Philadelphia Philadelphia
School Philadelphia
BY KEVIN MCCORRY
SEPTEMBER 16, 2014
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives stripped contentious
provisions from the Philadelphia
cigarette-tax authorization bill in a rules committee meeting Tuesday, paving
the way for a full chamber vote. House
leadership says that could occur either Wednesday or Monday.
The Philadelphia
School District
Penn Live By Charles Thompson |
cthompson@pennlive.com on September 16, 2014 at 2:45 PM,
updated September 16, 2014 at 2:46 PM
The legislative wheels started turning Tuesday on what's
expected to be one of the major bills adopted by state lawmakers in this short
pre-election session. The House Rules
Committee voted unanimously for a bill authorizing a special $2-per-pack
cigarette tax in Philadelphia ,
raising money to help close a current-year city schools deficit estimated at
$81 million. The local tax authorization
is primed for a final vote in the House on Wednesday or next Monday, said House
Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny
County
"The office, tasked with providing
impartial analyses of financial or budgetary legislation, said by the 2018-19
school year, the revenue collected through sales taxes would be $1 billion less
than the projected property taxes would generate for the 500 school districts
in Pennsylvania
SB76: Property tax
elimination bill moves forward in Pa.
By NIKELLE SNADER 505-5431/@ydschools POSTED:
09/16/2014 09:42:52 PM EDT
A bill that would eliminate property taxes narrowly passed
through the state Senate Finance Committee Tuesday but was opposed by two
York-area senators on the committee. Senate
Bill 76 would eventually eliminate all school property taxes and replace the
revenue with a combination of funding from income and sales and use taxes. The bill was approved by the committee in a 6
to 5 vote, with two of the negative votes from Sen. Rob Teplitz,
D-Dauphin/York, and from Sen. Pat Vance, R-Cumberland/York. "Under the bill, property taxes for
schools might be eliminated but income taxes would go up and sales taxes would
go up," Teplitz said. "I was not convinced it was a net positive in
terms of the tax climate in the commonwealth."
'Billion dollars short': Vance agreed, saying the
list of taxable items would grow in Pennsylvania
to include items such as nursing care and caskets, among others. What's more, the bill wouldn't go into effect
for many school districts for years. "This
would end property taxes only for those school districts that have no
debt," Vance said. But the largest
reason Vance voted against the bill was because the numbers didn't add up, she
said, referencing a report conducted by the Independent Fiscal Office. "They clearly show that in a couple
years, we would be a billion dollars short," Vance said.
SB76: Senate committee votes
to cap state spending
Penn Live By Christina
Kauffman | ckauffman@pennlive.com on September 16, 2014 at 5:49 PM
Several years ago, Pennsylvania
legislators created an index to
limit the amount by which school districts could increase taxes unless they
proved they had certain hardships.
They've never passed such a cap on themselves when it comes to state
spending, but abill that passed out of a Senate committee Tuesday
would do just that. The Taxpayer Protection Act would limit state government
spending to whichever was the lower of these two calculations: -- the average change in personal income for
the three preceding calendar years, or -- the average inflation rate plus the
average percentage change in state population over the three preceding
years. The bill, introduced by Sen.
Mike Folmer, R-Lebanon County, passed the Senate Finance Committee in a 7-4
vote Tuesday.
"But worst of all, SB 76 would hurt Pennsylvania Harrisburg
SB76: PROPERTY TAX
ELIMINATION BILL ADVANCES IN SENATE
Third and State Blog Posted
by Ellen Lyon on September 16,
2014 3:48 pm
It was a good day for large corporate landowners; not so much
for individual Pennsylvanians who eat and earn money. The Senate Finance Committee voted 6-5 on
Sept. 16 to advance SB 76 to the Appropriations Committee, often a bill's last
stop before the full Senate takes up consideration of it. Voting to advance the property tax
elimination bill were: Republican Senators Mike Brubaker of Lancaster County ,
Pat Browne of Lehigh County , John Eichelberger of Blair
County and Senate Pro Tem Joe Scarnati
of Jefferson County ;
and Democratic Senators John Blake of Lackawanna
County , and John Wozniak of Cambria County
Voting against SB 76 were Republican Senators Pat Vance of Cumberland County ,
Stewart Greenleaf of Montgomery County , and Scott Hutchinson of Venango
County ; and Democratic Senators Rob
Teplitz of Dauphin County , and Matt Smith of Allegheny County
The bill's supporters will tell you that SB 76 would eliminate
property taxes. What they are less vocal about is how it would make up that
lost revenue.
Bill allowing teachers to
carry firearms in school vetted by Senate committee
Penn Live By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com
on September 16, 2014 at 3:08 PM,
The 2012 school shooting
at Sandy Hook that left 20 children and six adults dead had a profound
effect on this Indiana
Area School
District
It prompted him to pay $1,200-plus out of his pocket to get
trained in how to respond to such a situation. He no longer wants to be someone
who sits and waits for the police to arrive. He wants to be armed and ready to
take action to keep children from being killed until police get there.
But some say state law is somewhat ambiguous about whether
anyone other than law enforcement can legally carry a firearm on school
property.
Pennsylvania Auditor General
DePasquale to expand Education Department audit to include Tomalis
Trib Live By Brad
Bumsted Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2014, 6:21 p.m.
HARRISBURG — Auditor General Eugene DePasquale on Wednesday is expected to announce an expanded audit of the state Department of Education to include special hirings such as the agency's 15-month extension of employment for former Secretary Ron Tomalis. “We've been hearing about that,” said DePasqaule, a Democrat. “People have been contacting us.” The office's audits typically deal with problems in agencies but don't name people. But the $139,000 salary extension and pension boost Tomalis received is one reason for expanding the audit under way, said DePasquale's press secretary, Barry Ciccocioppo.
HARRISBURG — Auditor General Eugene DePasquale on Wednesday is expected to announce an expanded audit of the state Department of Education to include special hirings such as the agency's 15-month extension of employment for former Secretary Ron Tomalis. “We've been hearing about that,” said DePasqaule, a Democrat. “People have been contacting us.” The office's audits typically deal with problems in agencies but don't name people. But the $139,000 salary extension and pension boost Tomalis received is one reason for expanding the audit under way, said DePasquale's press secretary, Barry Ciccocioppo.
State awards six Western Pennsylvania schools mentoring grants
Trib Live By Megan
Harris Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2014, 5:57 p.m.
The state awarded sixWestern Pennsylvania
schools nearly 40 percent of a $700,000 grant initiative designed to pair
high-performing schools with low-performing schools to increase student
achievement. Fox Chapel, South Fayette,
Upper St. Clair and West Jefferson Hills in Allegheny County; Peters in
Washington County; and Franklin Regional in Westmoreland County will collect a
total of $275,000 to fund partnerships under Gov. Tom Corbett's pilot mentoring
grant program.
The state awarded six
Rally for more funding for
early-childhood education
JOE DOLINSKY, INQUIRER
STAFF WRITER Wednesday, September 17, 2014, 1:08 AM
Standing before about 500 3- and 4-year-olds at Franklin
Square, the head of Philadelphia 's
school district made his case for more money for prekindergarten education.
"What we know is that if kids have access to high-quality
pre-K, then they're already off to a beautiful start," Superintendent
William R. Hite Jr. told the children and more than 200 advocates and providers
who packed the square. "Quite frankly, it's the difference between reading
at a third-grade level and not. That's a big indicator for us for future
success of a child."
The rally was sponsored by Pre-K for PA, a group that seeks to
increase state funding for more early-childhood education. The state makes
early-childhood education available to less than 20 percent of the state's 3-
and 4-year-olds, rally organizers said.
Haverford tied for eighth in PA
school performance profile
By LOIS PUGLIONESI,
Times Correspondent POSTED: 09/16/14, 11:32 PM EDT |
HAVERFORD — The school district began the year on a high note
with news that Haverford achieved a School Performance Profile score of 97.7 in
2013, tying with Downingtown
School District Radnor
Township School
District Delaware County ’s
Wallingford-Swarthmore School District , ranking twelfth at 96.4, and Garnet Valley
School District
The Washington
Sept. 17 is Constitution Day,
celebrating the document that is at the foundation of the United States of America . Take this
quiz to see how much you know about the Constitution.
Americans have strong
confidence in their public school teachers, new data from 2014 PDK/Gallup poll
finds
NSBA.org September 16, 2014
Part II of the report from the 46th annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll
on the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools was released today
revealing that a majority of Americans (77 percent) continue to trust and
have confidence in their public school teachers. Further, about six of 10
American public school parents agree that their child’s school supports higher
levels of well-being, with over half saying their child’s school encourages
their child to build strong relationships with friends and family members. “Americans continue to voice support for our
public schools and teachers and rightfully so,” said Thomas J. Gentzel,
Executive Director National School Boards Association (NSBA). “To help prepare
students for future success we need to provide public schools and teachers with
more support and less barriers.”
Recognizing the vital role of teachers in their children’s
education, most Americans want their teachers to pass board certification in
addition to being licensed, and want entrance requirements for teacher
preparation programs to be more rigorous. When it comes to teacher evaluation,
77 percent of Americans want teachers evaluated in order to help improve their
ability. Sixty-one percent oppose using student standardized test scores
to evaluate teachers.
NSBA urges U.S. Senate action
on ESEA
NSBA.org September 16, 2014
The National School Boards Association (NSBA)
urged leadership of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions in the U.S. Senate to move the reauthorizion
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) bill to the Senate
floor a vote. NSBA's
letter noted that "only then can differences between the House
and Senate proposals be harmonized, and a comprehensiveoverhaul and
reauthorization of ESEA go to the President for his signature and become
law." The Education and the
Workforce Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives voted out of committee
its version of an ESEA reauthorization bill (H.R. 5) on June 19, 2013. A month
later, an amended, final version of H.R. 5 was passed on the House floor. While
in the U.S. Senate, the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions marked-up and voted out the Senate’s version of an ESEA
reauthorization, the Strengthening America’s Schools (S. 1094) in 2013, yet the
Senate has taken no further action to advance this important legislation.
Fairtest Testing Resistance
& Reform News: September 10 - 16, 2014
Submitted by fairtest on September 16, 2014 - 1:04pm
It's only the middle of September but assessment reformers have
already recorded an initial set of "wins" for the new school year: Pittsburgh significantly reduced district-mandated
testing, and Florida
suspended a controversial statewide reading exam. Building on successes of the
recent past, escalating "enough is enough" pressure on federal, state
and local policy-makers should produce many more victories in 2014-2015.
For a list of questions to ask your district, check out the second item in this
week's collection of clips.
PUBLIC Education Nation October
11
The Network for Public Education will hold a historic event in one month's time.
The Network for Public Education will hold a historic event in one month's time.
PUBLIC Education Nation will deliver the
conversation the country has been waiting for. Rather than featuring
billionaires and pop singers, this event will be built around intense
conversations featuring leading educators, parents, students and community
activists. We have waited too long for that seat at someone else's table.
This time, the tables are turned, and we are the ones setting the agenda. This event will be livestreamed on the web on
the afternoon of Saturday, October 11, from the auditorium of Brooklyn New
School, a public school. There will be four panels focusing on the most
critical issues we face in our schools. The event will conclude with a
conversation between Diane Ravitch and Jitu Brown.
Please join us for a symposium
on:
“Funding
Pennsylvania's Public Schools: A Look Ahead”
This event is co-sponsored by the University
of Pittsburgh Institute of Politics and the Temple University
Center
When: Friday, October 3, 2014, 8:30 am to 12 pm
Where: Doubletree Hotel Pittsburgh in Green Tree, PA
Session I:
"Forecasting the Fiscal Future of Pennsylvania's Public
Schools"
A panel of legislators and public
officials will respond to a presentation by Penn State Professor William
Hartman and Tim Shrom projecting the fiscal trajectory of Pennsylvania’s 500
school districts over the next five years and by University of Pittsburgh
Professor Maureen McClure discussing the implications for school finance of an
aging tax base.
Session II: "Why Smart Investments
in Public Schools Are Critical to Pennsylvania's Economic Future"
Following an address by Eva Tansky
Blum, Chairwoman and President of the PNC Foundation, a panel of business
and labor leaders will discuss the importance of public school funding reform to
the competitiveness of regional and state economies.
We look forward to your
participation!
Back to School
Special Education Boot Camp Saturday, September 20, 2014 8:30 A.M.- 3:00 P.M.
Public Interest Law Center of
Philadelphia
United Way Building 1709 Benjamin
Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, 19103
Join presenters from: Temple University · McAndrews Law
Offices · ARC
PA Education for All
Coalition · Delaware Valley Friends School
PA Dyslexia and Literacy Coalition
Attend workshops on: Early
Intervention · Dyslexia · Discipline · Charter
Schools
Inclusion · Transition
Services
Details and Registration: http://bit.ly/1nSstB7
Education Law
Center Celebrating Education Champions 2014
On September 17, 2014 the Education
Law Center will hold its annual event at the Crystal Tea Room in the Wanamaker
Building to celebrate Pennsylvania’s Education Champions. This year, the event
will honor William P. Fedullo, Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association;
Dr. Joan Duvall-Flynn, Education Committee Chair for the Pennsylvania State
Conference of NAACP Branches; and the Stoneleigh Foundation, a Philadelphia
regional leader on at-risk youth issues.
Pennsylvania Arts Education
Network 2014 Arts and Education Symposium
The 2014 Arts and Education Symposium will be
held on Thursday, October 2 at the State Museum
of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, PA. Join us for a daylong convening of
arts education policy leaders and practitioners for lively discussions about
the latest news from the field.
The Symposium registration fee is $45 per person.
To register, click
here or follow the prompts at the bottom of the page. The Symposium will include the following:
Register Now – 2014 PAESSP
State Conference – October 19-21, 2014
Please join us for the 2014 PAESSP State Conference, “PRINCIPAL
EFFECTIVENESS: Leading Schools in a New Age of Accountability,” to be
held October 19-21 at the Sheraton Station Square Hotel, Pittsburgh,
Pa. Featuring Keynote Speakers: Alan
November, Michael Fullan & Dr. Ray Jorgensen. This year’s conference will provided PIL
Act 45 hours, numerous workshops, exhibits, multiple resources and an
opportunity to network with fellow principals from across the state.
PASA-PSBA School Leadership
Conference (Oct. 21-24) registration forms now available online
PSBA Website
PSBA Website
Make plans today to attend the most talked about education
conference of the year. This year's PASA-PSBA
School Leadership Conference promises to be one of the best with new
ideas, innovations, networking opportunities and dynamic speakers. More details
are being added every day. Online registration will be available in the
next few weeks. If you just can't wait, registration
forms are available online now. Other important links are available
with more details on:
·
Hotel
registration (reservation deadline extended to Sept. 26)
·
Educational
Publications Contest (deadline Aug. 6)
·
Student
Celebration Showcase (deadline Sept. 19)
·
Poster
and Essay Contest (deadline Sept. 19)
Voting for PSBA officers
and at-large representatives opens Sept. 9
PSBA Website 9/8/2014
The slate of candidates for 2015 PSBA officer and at-large
representatives is available online. Photos, bios and
videos also have been posted for candidates. According to recent PSBA
Bylaws changes, each member school entity casts one vote per office. Voting
will again take place online through a secure, third-party website -- Simply
Voting. Voting will open Sept. 9 and closes Oct. 6. One person from the school
entity (usually the board secretary) is authorized to register the vote on
behalf of the member school entity and each board will need to put on its
agenda discussion and voting at one of its meetings in September. Each person
authorized to cast the school entity's votes received an email on Aug. 13 and a
test ballot was sent to them on Aug. 28. In addition, a memo from PSBA
President Richard Frerichs will be mailed in the coming days to all board
secretaries and copied to school board presidents and chief school
administrators.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.