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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for
September 21, 2014:
SB76: Yes, property taxes
need to be fixed. But the Senate bill isn't the answer: As I See It
PennLive
Op-Ed By Nathan Mains, Jim Buckheit, Jay Himes and Joseph Bard on May
08, 2014 at 2:00 PM, updated May 08, 2014 at 2:03 PM
No one likes property taxes – or any tax for that matter. No
superintendent or school business official enjoys the time spent crunching the
numbers to balance the budgets, and no school director enjoys the task of
taxing his or her neighbors. However,
no matter how unpleasant they may seem, we can’t forget that taxes do a lot of
good by providing resources to build and maintain our transportation system,
make public parks available, defend our country through the military, keep us
safe with police and fire service, and yes, educate our children in our locally
governed public schools. Few will
disagree that in Pennsylvania
we rely too heavily on school property taxes to fund our children’s
education.
However, legislation
before the state Senate which would eliminate this tax, is not the
answer for either schools or the taxpayers who foot the bill.
SB76: Delco Times Editorial:
Don't hold your breath waiting for property tax reform
Delco Times Editorial POSTED: 09/21/14, 5:06 AM EDT |
Senate Bill 76, The Property Independence Act that would
eliminate school property taxes in Pennsylvania ,
has passed the Senate Finance Committee. Commence celebration!
That’s enough. We are
acting the role of party-poopers because the 6-5 committee vote this week is
merely one step in the process of getting the bill to Gov. Tom Corbett’s desk.
If it arrives, he’s on record saying that he’ll sign it. We suggest he not
uncap his pen anytime soon.
Pre-K: It helps kids, fights
crime, and strengthens the military, so let's have more of it: Penn Live Editorial
By PennLive Editorial
Board on September 21, 2014 at 5:21 AM
Nearly everybody in this country thinks government should do
what it can to reduce crime.
Nearly everybody thinks our country should have a strong
military whose ranks are well-trained and professional. And absolutely everybody believes all
children should be able to get a good education. If government could do one thing that would help
advance all three of those goals, it should be a no-brainer. And that explains why there is such
widespread support for making more children have access to a high-quality
pre-kindergarten education — especially disadvantaged children. A mountain of studies over many years shows
that high-quality pre-K programs help children learn better and behave better.
They save society money by cutting crime and reducing the need for special
education and repeating grades. (A handful of studies question the benefits of
some pre-K education, but other
experts have noted flaws or limits in that research.)
"The two candidates will meet again
over the next two weeks for the remaining debates — Oct. 1 in Philadelphia
and Oct. 8 in Pittsburgh
Corbett and Wolf to meet in
first debate of governor's race Monday
By James P. O'Toole / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette September 21, 2014 12:00 AM
The candidates for governor will meet in the first of three
debates Monday night in a forum that could give Gov. Tom Corbett a much-needed
opportunity to shift the dynamics of a race in which he is a distinct underdog. Mr. Corbett and Democratic nominee Tom Wolf
will exchange views at the Hershey Lodge before the annual dinner of the
Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry. The chamber is reliably friendly
to Republican candidates, but Mr. Wolf is sure to remind them of his background
as a York County
"Amid this backdrop, Corbett and Wolf
will square off Monday for the first of three debates, which will begin at 7:30
p.m. in Hershey and air on PCN."
Morning Call/Muhlenberg Poll
shows Wolf with 21-point lead
By Steve
Esack,Call Harrisburg
Bureau September 20, 2014
The Morning Call/Muhlenberg College Poll released Sunday shows
52 percent of likely voters backing Wolf and 31 percent voting for Corbett. The 21-point difference is in line with other
recent polls that have put the gap between 11 percentage points and 31
percentage points.
The bit of support Corbett has mustered — despite running
hundreds of television commercials since February — has pundits and insiders
carving the governor's political epitaph well before voters go to the polls on
Nov. 4.
In suburban Philly, Wolf
promises fracking tax revenue for schools: Friday Morning Coffee
PennLive By John L. Micek |
jmicek@pennlive.com on September 19, 2014 at 8:11 AM
Good Friday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
This week's fight over who'd be nicer toPennsylvania 's
school kids -- Democrat Tom Wolf or incumbent GOP Gov. Tom
Corbett -- made its way down to suburban Philly on Thursday, where
adorable moppets played the role of Greek chorus in the ongoinghandbags-at-20-paces duel
between the two candidates. Campaiging
at the STEM Academy
in Chester ,
students asked Wolf how he'd help the financially troubled
Chester-Upland school district, CBS-Philly reports. According to the
station, Wolf repeated his pledge to use a 5 percent tax on shale
drillers to underwrite school funding -- among other causes. “Five percent (tax) would raise a billion
dollars,” Wolf said, according to CBS-Philly. “Some of that
would go back to the localities, some of that would go to the Department of
Environmental Protection, some of that would be used to build a bridge to a
sustainable energy future. But hundreds of millions of dollars of that new
money would go to support public education.”
This week's fight over who'd be nicer to
Green: SRC will dissolve when
job is done
KRISTEN A.
GRAHAM, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER Saturday, September 20, 2014, 1:08 AM
Eliminate the School Reform Commission?
Not so fast, says its chairman, Bill Green.
Responding to a City Council vote Thursday to place on the
November ballot a nonbinding question asking Philadelphia voters whether they want schools
returned to local control, Green was emphatic: The SRC isn't going away yet,
and he's not threatened by Council's move.
"I view it as symbolic," Green said of the
referendum. "There's no substance there."
The SRC was created in 2001 by an act of the legislature, and
the only way for it to go away is to vote itself out of existence. That will happen, Green said - eventually.
"The SRC will eliminate itself when our academic and
fiscal houses are in order," he said.
A look back at the first two
weeks of Philly classes [photos + audio]
WHYY Newsworks BY KEVIN
MCCORRY SEPTEMBER 19, 2014
The resource-starved Philadelphia
School District
Charters Will Blitz Philadelphia
Diane Ravtich's Blog By dianeravitch September
20, 2014 //
It is not bad enough that Governor Tom Corbett and the Pennsylvania legislature are starving the Philadelphia public
schools of basic necessities. Here comes the charter lobby to launch an
expensive media campaign to persuade parents to pull their kids out of the
public schools and put them into charters.
State profile ranks Haverford
school district 8th out of 500 in performance
News of Delaware
County
HAVERFORD TWP.---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 to rank eighth in the
state, out of a total of 500 school districts.
Addressing school directors last week, Superintendent William Keilbaugh showed a list of school districts with the 50 highest scores.Radnor Township
School District Delaware
County ’s Wallingford-Swarthmore
School District , ranking 12th at 96.4,
and Garnet Valley School District
Keilbaugh noted that the Profile measures a variety of factors including graduation rate, promotion, academic growth, and attendance as well as standardized test scores.
Addressing school directors last week, Superintendent William Keilbaugh showed a list of school districts with the 50 highest scores.
Keilbaugh noted that the Profile measures a variety of factors including graduation rate, promotion, academic growth, and attendance as well as standardized test scores.
"Louisiana
earned an A in only one category, parental options, for having "one of the
nation's largest statewide school choice programs," including charter
schools and taxpayer-funded vouchers for private school. "
By Danielle
Dreilinger, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune on September 11, 2014
at 11:37 AM, updated September 11, 2014 at 5:22 PM
A new U.S.
Chamber of Commerce reportgives Louisiana 's
public education system very low marks on academic achievement, international
competitiveness, workforce preparation and bang for the buck. It flunked Louisiana in five
of 11 categories, with a D+ in the sixth. The state's low academic
standing has been widely documented. However, the chamber says its report has a
particular focus on the 21stcentury workforce. Louisiana did see
some gains. Scores went up on the National Assessment of Educational Progress
in 2013, especially for low-income and minority students. But compared to other
states, Louisiana was
still at the bottom. The state's 2013
Advanced Placement pass rate was worse than any state except Mississippi . Pass
rates were even lower in subjects that the chamber considers important for the
21stcentury economy: only 30 in 10,000 students passed a foreign
language AP test, and 4 in 10,000 passed the AP computer science test.
A day in the life of a data
mined kid
American Public Media
Marketplace by Adriene
Hill Monday, September 15,
2014 - 13:20
Education, like pretty much everything else in our lives these
days, is driven by data.
Our childrens’ data. A whole lot of it. Nearly everything they do at school can be —
and often is — recorded and tracked, and parents don't always know what
information is being collected, where it’s going, or how it's being used. The story begins at the bus stop.
Your child swipes his ID card and climbs on the bus. The card may
contain an RFID or radio frequency identification chip, which lets the
school know when he gets on and off the bus. In some school districts, parents
will get text alerts, letting them know their child arrived safely to school.
The bus technology is presented as a way to keep children safer.
“The data collection begins even before he steps into the
school,” says Khaliah Barnes, director of the Student Privacy Project at
the Electronic
Privacy Information Center.
EdWeek: Introducing Julian
Vasquez Heilig
Education Week Beyond the Rhetoric Blog By Jack
Schneider on September 18, 2014
This blog began as a dialogue with Michelle
Rhee—an outspoken advocate for school reform. Despite our many
disagreements, Michelle and I agreed to write about educational change
together, believing that a more substantive and nuanced dialogue would serve
the public interest. And for ten weeks we blogged together about pressing K-12
policy issues. The experiment, as I
later wrote, wasn't perfect. As I noted in the aftermath, it felt at times like the title of the blog should be
changed. Still, it was a good faith effort, encouraging enough to warrant
further exploration. And I still believe in the mission statement that Michelle and I wrote at the
onset of our discussion.
Policy
Brief: The Potential Effects of Opting Out of State Tests in Pennsylvania
Research for Action September
2014
Anti-testing sentiment has ratcheted up significantly over the
past five years, with many arguing that standardized tests are overly
burdensome, anxiety-provoking, and take time away from classroom instruction.
Even those in high-ranking policy positions seem to agree. In a recent statement, Education Secretary Arne Duncan
lamented that standardized testing was "sucking the oxygen out of the
room." Some parents have become so
frustrated that they are requesting their children be exempt from state tests
altogether. In Pennsylvania ,
the "opt-out" process is governed by state regulations that require
parents to inspect state assessment materials and submit a written request for
a religious exemption. The request is automatically granted, with no
consequences for the student or parent. However,
there may be significant impacts for individual schools, teachers, and
principals.
RFA's latest policy brief--available now on our website--explores the impact that
opting-out could have on Pennsylvania's new school rating system, the School Performance Profiles (SPP),which relies heavily
on standardized test scores.
Why You Can Boycott Standardized
Tests Without Fear of Federal Penalties to Your School
Fairtest Submitted by fairtest on September 15, 2014 -
9:35pm
Schools and districts that receive federal Title I funds
sometimes claim they will lose funds if parents, students or teachers boycott
standardized tests required under No Child Left Behind (NCLB). As far
as we know, no school or district anywhere in the country has ever been
penalized for failing to test enough (95%) of its students. Parents,
students and teachers generally should not fear harmful consequences to their
schools due to federal law if parents boycott standardized tests. Here is why:
Why ‘no excuses’ charter
schools mold ‘very submissive’ students — starting in kindergarten
If you have heard the phrase “no
excuses” charter schools but don’t really know what they mean, here is an
informative post about them and the controversial philosophy under which
they approach student discipline and achievement. Joan Goodman, a
professor in the Graduate School of Education University of Pennsylvania and
director of the school’s Teach For America program, explains her research on
these charter schools to freelance
journalist and public education advocate Jennifer Berkshire, who worked
for six years editing a newspaper for the American Federation of Teachers in
Massachusetts and who authors the EduShyster blog, where this Q
* Aoriginally appeared. Goodman
is a former school psychologist whose article “Charter
Management Organizations and the Regulated Environment: Is It Worth the Price?“ appeared
in the March 2013 issue of Educational Researcher.
"Few consistent tools are available to measure the
quality of U.S.
Actually, public education is
getting better, not worse
Washington Post By Catherine Rampell Opinion
writer September 18
Have America ’s
public schools gotten worse over time?
Americans seem to think so. Every time I write about why
attending college is so crucial for moving up the income ladder — or, these
days, for landing
any job at all — I’m inundated with e-mails blaming the country’s K-12
system. Today’s workers have to go to college, readers argue, because our
increasingly broken public schools have ceded responsibility for educating
them.
Catherine Rampell is an opinion columnist at The Washington
Post. View
Archive
Data from the annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup
poll, a survey about education, reflect similar views. Over the past four
decades, respondents have become increasingly likely to say that today’s
students receive a “worse education” than they themselves did.
But it’s not clear that any of this is true, at least at the
national level.
January 23rd–25th, 2015 at The Science Leadership
Academy , Philadelphia
EduCon is both a conversation and a conference.
It is an innovation conference where we can come together, both
in person and virtually, to discuss the future of schools. Every session will
be an opportunity to discuss and debate ideas — from the very practical to the
big dreams.
Save the date: Bob Herbert
book event! Pittsburgh
Save the date – you don’t want to miss this! We are hosting the
national launch of Bob Herbert’s new book, Losing Our Way: An Intimate
Portrait of a Troubled America Pittsburgh
several times to interview parents and teachers in our local grassroots
movement and wound up writing three chapters on our fight for public education!
Date: Thursday, October 9, 2014 Time: 5:30 – 6:30PM,
moderated discussion and Q&A.
Doors will open at 5 with student performances. Followed by book signing.
Doors will open at 5 with student performances. Followed by book signing.
Location: McConomy Auditorium, Carnegie Mellon University 5000 Forbes Ave. , Pittsburgh 15213
Hosted by: Yinzercation (we are
profiled in the book!)
Moderator: Tony Norman, columnist and
associate editor,Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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!
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.
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