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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for October
20, 2014:
Education,
education, education: Corbett, Wolf; 2 weeks out
The PA Senate will reconvene on Wed.
Nov 12, 2014 at 1:00PM
The PA House will reconvene on Mon.
Oct 20, 2014 at 11:00AM
NEXT BASIC
EDUCATION FUNDING COMMISSION PUBLIC MEETING
Next Meeting Tuesday,
October 21, 2014 at 11 AM, Community College
of Allegheny County, West Campus, Pittsburgh
Did you catch our weekend postings?
PA Ed Policy Roundup Oct 18: 27 Lehigh Valley
"The state legislature has formed a BEF commission,
which is now in the process of going around the state to hold meetings with
school officials to find out how the current formula affects them. With the
information the 15 members of the commission gather, they are to develop
recommendations for a new formula by next June."
State education funding
issues politicize growth pressures
State funding formula brings political complications to
educational process
Chambersburg Public
Opinion Online By Amber South asouth@publicopinionnews.com @AESouthPO on Twitter UPDATED:
10/18/2014 06:30:17 PM EDT
That's the problem facing some of the state's 500 school
districts today. They get a disproportionate amount of basic education funding
— BEF — from the state compared to most other districts which have lost
enrollment over the past 20 years.
According to the Pennsylvania Association of Small and Rural Schools
Add on top of this the "hold harmless" component. At
its most basic, it ensures that school districts must get at least the same
amount of state funding as the year before. Each school district is actually
supposed to get 2 percent more.
Suburban Democrats focused on
GOTV - get out the vote
JASON LAUGHLIN, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER LAST UPDATED: Sunday, October 19,
2014, 1:09 AM POSTED: Saturday, October 18, 2014, 10:40 PM
As usual, the motherlode for Pennsylvania 's gubernatorial candidates this
November isn't in coal country or around the Marcellus Shale. It's in and around Philadelphia .
The city and Bucks, Chester , Delaware and Montgomery
counties account for more than 33 percent of Pennsylvania 's registered voters, according
to the latest totals.
"Victory in statewide elections run through the Philly
suburbs," said Chris Borick, director of Muhlenberg
College 's Institute of Public Opinion
Politico: GOP schooled on
education politics
Politico By STEPHANIE SIMON |
10/19/14 7:04 AM EDT
This story is part of an ongoing POLITICO series on how
national policy issues are affecting the 2014 midterm elections.
Republicans thought this would be the year to make education
their winning issue. The plan was simple: Talk up the GOP’s support for
school choice — including vouchers to help parents pay for private school — and
win the hearts of moms everywhere. It
hasn’t worked out like that.
Instead, in Florida , Kansas , Michigan , Pennsylvania and elsewhere,
Republicans are on the defensive about education. It isn’t usually a top-tier
concern for voters, but Democrats see issues such as college affordability and
K-12 funding as their best chance to motivate the on-again, off-again voters
who often sit out midterms.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/education-democrats-elections-111995.html#ixzz3GbTFneU4
Letter from the Editor: Rep.
Nick Micozzie, crusader for school funding reform, leaves legacy
By Phil Heron, Delaware
County Daily
Nick Micozzie knew something had to change.
For years he had watched as the burden of property taxes chased
more and more residents from the towns he represented in Harrisburg .
More importantly, he saw the effect on those left behind, in
particular the young people.
He saw a system that penalized them simply because of where
they lived.
He saw a fundamentally unfair, unbalanced playing field that
was hurting students and families in the Upper Darby
and William Penn school districts. Nobody
had to tell Micozzie that Pennsylvania ’s
method of funding education, with its reliance on property taxes, was quickly
creating an educational caste system, a system where a kid in Radnor, Springfield or Marple got
a better education simply because of the benefit of where they lived.
Unlike many who have talked about this basic inequity in Pennsylvania education
circles for decades, Micozzie decided to do something about it.
For Corbett, an uphill battle
for a second term
By Karen Langley Pittsburgh Post-Gazette October 19, 2014 12:00
AM
“I’m excited for this election. But particularly I’m excited
for the future of Pennsylvania ,” he told the
Republicans of Luzerne and Lackawanna
counties. “And it gets renewed every day for me, renewed in seeing the people,
traveling the state, going into a convenience store or a fast food store,
getting coffee here and there, people coming up and saying, ‘Governor, keep
doing what you’re doing.’ ” What he did
four years ago, in his first gubernatorial race, was to sweep 63 of
Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, winning a state with a Democratic edge in voter
registration by 9 percentage points.
Survey shows Wolf's lead over
Corbett cut to seven percentage points
James P. O'Toole / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette October 18, 2014 12:00 AM
A new survey shows Gov. Tom Corbett trailing his Democratic
challenger, Tom Wolf, 49 percent to 42 percent, the smallest margin between the
two candidates of any public poll released so far.
The poll, released by the website Keystone Report, was
conducted by Magellan Strategies, an independent but GOP-leaning firm based in Louisiana . In isolation,
that might not seem to be such good news for the incumbent, but the finding
suggests a much closer race than has been seen in other recent surveys.
The RealClearPolitics aggregation of public polls puts Mr. Wolf’s average
lead at 15.1 percent. A survey conducted between Sept. 30 and Oct. 5 by Quinnipiac University
Running from behind, Corbett
pushes into race's final days, report: The Sunday Brunch
By John L. Micek |
jmicek@pennlive.com on October 19, 2014 at 10:30 AM,
updated October 19, 2014 at 1:01 PM
Good Sunday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
The Philadelphia Inquirer goes inside Tom Corbett's re-election campaign this morning, finding a candidate trying to defy both polls and history by closing a yawning polling gap that could deny him a second term:
The Philadelphia Inquirer goes inside Tom Corbett's re-election campaign this morning, finding a candidate trying to defy both polls and history by closing a yawning polling gap that could deny him a second term:
"Then there is the school funding question. That one
bothers him, he says, because he believes his record on education has been
purposely misrepresented. He said his administration has increased the state's
share of money for schools, found more money for early childhood education, and
established new performance evaluation standards for teachers and performance
profiles for schools. "Look at where
we are," he said. "Look at how we've improved."
Corbett: It's votes, not
polls, that count
ANGELA COULOUMBIS, INQUIRER HARRISBURG
BUREAU LAST UPDATED: Sunday, October 19, 2014, 1:09 AM POSTED: Saturday,
October 18, 2014, 10:32 PM
YORK, Pa. - Stopping in on an early-morning gathering for
veterans Thursday, Tom Corbett moved easily through the sea of older men,
gripping their arms and crouching down to listen to their war stories. It was his kind of crowd. Small. Calm.
Controlled. Military men - men with simple but poignant values he relates to:
honor, duty, and love of country. For a
campaign stop, Corbett's message to the vets was as apolitical as it was
simple: Tell your story. People need to understand what you have accomplished. "Reinforce it," he urged.
It is a lesson the first-term Republican governor could have
easily given himself. It is also one of the reasons he is now in the unlikely
position of being an incumbent trying to prove the polls wrong and claw his way
to another four-year term.
WHYY Interview: Tom Wolf: 'I
think I’ve been as specific as I could possibly be'
Democratic
gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf speaks to NewsWorks Tonight host Dave Heller
at WHYY studios in Philadelphia
WHYY Newsworks BY DAVE
HELLER OCTOBER 17, 2014
Addressing a bruising political battle with Corbett that's been
full of negative political ads, Wolf said, "I think, so far, I've been
able to keep my side of the campaign on the level.
"That, I think, is appropriate in a democratic campaign --
pointing out what I think the shortcomings of the other side have been and
pointing out what I would like to do instead."
WHYY Interview: Listen: 7
minutes with Gov. Corbett on education spending and competing priorities
Listen to WHYY's
unedited conversation with Gov. Corbett on education spending
WHYY Newsworks BY KEVIN
MCCORRY OCTOBER 15, 2014
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett came to WHYY studios Friday to
answer a wide array of questions from various reporters during an hourlong
visit. Aside from NewsWorks Tonight host
Dave Heller's interview,
the conversations weren't intended to be broadcast in their entirety.
But upon reviewing the tape – considering the importance of
education as an issue in this election – I decided to post my full, unedited
seven-minute conversation with Corbett, who is seeking re-election to a second
term.
Wolf-Corbett race may be
state's most expensive
MORNING CALL
By Eric Holmberg,Of PublicSource October 18, 2014
Less than a month before the election, Republican Gov. Tom
Corbett and his challenger, Democrat Tom Wolf, have raised and spent enough
money to put the governor's race on track to be the most expensive in Pennsylvania history. During this election cycle, Wolf has raised
$27.6 million and spent $21.1 million compared with Corbett, who has raised
$20.6 million and spent $19.3 million. That's
$48.2 million raised on a race where Wolf has consistently been ahead in the
polls by a double-digit margin. If the polls hold, Corbett would be the first
incumbent governor to lose since Pennsylvania
switched to two-term limits for the governor in 1968.
Combined, the two campaigns have run nearly 21,000 TV ads
costing more than $13 million. Pennsylvania 's
state candidates have spent more than most other states on TV ads, according to
the Center for Public Integrity.
Disenchantment with Gov. Tom
Corbett leads voters to Tom Wolf
Many Pennsylvania
voters who plan to vote for Democratic gubernatorial nomineeTom Wolf know
little about him but are lining up behind the first-time candidate because of
their disenchantment with Republican Gov. Tom
Corbett, according to Associated Press interviews with voters across the
state. In about 30 random interviews in
the Philadelphia suburbs, Pittsburgh, Johnstown and Altoona, Wolf supporters in
both parties who did know something about him cited his personal likeability or
business experience rather than his proposals, such as his plans to overhaul
the income tax and levy a new tax on natural-gas extraction.
Most said they simply disliked Corbett, criticizing him as an
enemy of public schools who lacks compassion. And some objected to his refusal
to tax natural gas drilling and the suspicion that it is not being done in an
environmentally friendly way.
Q&A with the
candidates: Public education takes front seat in election
PSBA Bulletin
Funding early education is
smart money
Philly.com By Joel Naroff POSTED: Sunday, October 19,
2014, 1:09 AM
Education is a major issue in the Pennsylvania gubernatorial campaign.
Understandably, the discussion has centered on funding and spending. But once
we get over the political palaver, the next governor must decide how best to
spend whatever money is available. I
have a suggestion: early education. Let's
first dispense with the funding and spending debate. Politicians refuse to
accept a simple but basic aspect of public financial management: Once revenue
enters the state's coffers, its origin becomes irrelevant. This concept, called fungibility, means that
since money is money, it can be used any way the government decides.
Consider the debate over who was at fault for the billion-dollar
Pennsylvania Education Department funding cut in Gov. Corbett's first budget.
The decline in spending was not due to the end of the federal government's
stimulus program. Pennsylvania
politicians made the decision to reduce education funding.
Why not democracy?
INQUIRER
EDITORIAL BOARD POSTED: Sunday, October 19, 2014, 1:09 AM
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute
conversation with the average voter.
- Unknown
That comment, often wrongly attributed to Winston Churchill,
sums up quite a few responses when an elected school board is suggested for Philadelphia . That's understandable. One need spend only a
few minutes thinking about the boss-driven, corruption-generating political
system that democracy has produced in this city to decide it doesn't need any
more of that.
But such pessimism suggests that Philadelphians are incapable
of what people in other cities and towns across America are doing, which is finding
a way to maneuver through their own political cesspools to provide for the
education of their children.
SRC's contract slam hurts those
most essential
Philly.com Opinion by CLARK DELEON POSTED: Sunday,
October 19, 2014, 1:09 AM
Monday, Oct. 6, is another day that will live in infamy, now
that the state's School Reform Commission, in a Pearl Harbor-like sneak attack
on organized labor, unilaterally ripped up the Philadelphia public school teachers' union
contract. I haven't changed my mind
about the ultimate failure of public education in the city because of the
complete lack of political will in Pennsylvania
to properly fund a school system responsible for educating mostly poor, and
mostly black or Hispanic children. But I
didn't think the end game would be so badly played.
"In spite of Commonwealth Foundation and various other
entities efforts to paint teachers as the bad guys, a poll conducted by the Pew
Charitable Trusts in September of 2013 found that 31 percent of residents
placed responsibility for the crisis in the Philadelphia School District on the
Republican-controlled state legislature and Governor. Another 31 percent
blamed the Democratic Mayor and City Council and 21 percent blamed school
administrators and the state-controlled State Reform Commission. Only
11 percent of those surveyed held the union or teachers responsible."
Astroturf Activism and
Corporate Education Reform
LA Progressive BY YOHURU WILLIAMS October 19, 2014
The
Commonwealth Foundation, a conservative think tank, reportedly compensated
counter protesters in Philadelphia on Thursday
in a failed effort to give the appearance of popular support for the recent
move by the Philadelphia School Reform Commission (SRC) to abrogate the
contracts of Philadelphia
teachers. This is yet another sign of the dangers of corporate education reform
and the lengths its proponents are willing to go to stifle dissent and subvert
democracy, including resorting to the use of AstroTurf or “fake grassroots”
demonstrations and groups.
Ebola, Common Core and job
creation: 3 takeaways on U.S. Rep. Scott Perry vs. Linda Thompson debate
By Julianne Mattera
| jmattera@pennlive.com on October 17, 2014 at 8:20 PM,
updated October 18, 2014 at 7:59 AM
Former Harrisburg
mayor Linda Thompson and U.S. Rep. Scott Perry might have both said they came
from humble
beginnings, but that's where the similarities stopped Friday.
During a two-hour radio debate on WHP580 Radio on Friday
afternoon, Perry, R-York, and Thompson, the Democratic challenger in the 4th
U.S. Congressional District race, took opposite stances on practically every
issue. Thompson also didn't hesitate to
attack Perry — even near the end accusing Perry of not wanting to admit that he
had a "failed record as a congressperson."
The topics were broad including, the government's involvement
in creating jobs, fracking, Common Core, illegal immigrants and
immigration reform, border security, Ebola, voter ID, and ISIS . Out of those, here are three topical-based
takeaways from the debate:
Trombetta back in court over
secret recordings
Trombetta, an Aliquippa native and East Liverpool, Ohio,
resident, and his legal team were initially in court Sept. 30, but U.S.
District Court Chief Judge Joy Flowers Conti continued the hearing after
proceedings stretched into the evening.
D’Alessandro, Miller receive 2014
PSBA Allwein Advocacy Award
The Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) will
award Shauna D’Alessandro, school director from West Jefferson Hills SD
and president of the Allegheny Intermediate Unit Board of Directors (Allegheny
Co.), and Mark B. Miller, board vice president with Centennial School District
Charter Schools: An
Experiment Gone Awry
What follows is a presentation made on October 11, 2014, at
the Public Education Nation event, hosted by the Network for Public Education.
The entire panel discussion can be
viewed here.
Living in Dialogue Blog By Wendy Lecker October 18, 2014
I have come to think of the charter school movement as a failed
experiment on our children.
In terms of their promises, charter schools have failed. They
have no better academic outcomes than public schools, rather than sharing do
anything to avoid scrutiny, and they don’t cost less.
But I’d like to talk about a more important, and damaging
failure. Charter schools on the whole have failed in helping us accomplish the
goal of public education. I work in
field of school funding and it amazes me that there is this whole other world
where public education is really being examined, that education reformers
choose to ignore: courts in school funding cases.
EdTraveler
Blog by Noel Hammett SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 2013
Most discussions of "school reform" focus on the need
to close or restructure failing schools or else provide
students with choice as a way out of them. Embedded within
these discussions are theories or suggestions about why these schools are
failing. Often left unexamined is the actual claim that these schools are failing.
Since I have had the opportunity to study many schools in Louisiana throughout my career as a member of the faculty
in the College of Education at Louisiana
State University ,
and through the lens of my service as a School Board Member for sixteen years,
I will focus on schools in Louisiana .
When a school in Louisiana
is assigned the letter grade F, it is almost universally accepted
in the media and in school reform policy debates that children in this school
are receiving a sub-standard education, almost by definition since the school
itself is seen as "failing." Yet the second part of the title of this
paper, which comes from a chapter in the Late Gerald W. Bracey's 2003 book
"On the Death of Childhood and the Destruction of Public Schools,"
raises an interesting question.
New website offers closer
look into candidate' views on public education
PSBA NEWS RELEASE 10/6/2014
The Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) has created a
new website for its members and the general public to get a closer look into
candidates' views on public education leading up to the 2014 election for the
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Following
the primary elections, PSBA sent out a six-question questionnaire to all
Pennsylvania House and Senate candidates competing for seats in the November
election. Candidates are listed by
House, Senate seat and county. Districts can be found by visiting the 'Find My
Legislator' link (http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/).
Features include:
·
Candidate images, if provided
·
Candidates are tagged by political party and
seat for which they are running
·
Candidates who did not respond are indicated by
"Responses not available."
Visit the site by going to http://psbacandidateforum.wordpress.com/
or by clicking on the link tweeted out by @PSBAadvocate.
Candidates wishing to complete the questionnaire before
election day may do so by contacting Sean
Crampsie (717-506-2450, x-3321).
- See more at: http://www.psba.org/news-publications/headlines/details.asp?id=8650#sthash.1vGGRff4.dpuf
Register Now – 2014 PASCD
Annual Conference – November 23 – 25, 2014
Please join us for the 2014 PASCD Annual Conference, “Leading
an Innovative Culture for Learning – Powered by Blendedschools Network” to
be held November 23-25 at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center in
Hershey, PA. Featuring Keynote Speakers: David Burgess - - Author
of "Teach Like a Pirate: Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your
Creativity, and Transform Your Life as an Educator", Dr. Bart Rocco,
Bill Sterrett - ASCD author, "Short on Time: How do I Make
Time to Lead and Learn as a Principal?" and Ron Cowell.
This annual conference features small group sessions (focused
on curriculum, instructional, assessment, blended learning and middle level
education) is a great opportunity to stay connected to the latest approaches
for cultural change in your school or district. Join us for PASCD
2014! Online registration is available by visiting www.pascd.org
Upcoming PA Basic Education
Funding Commission Meetings*
PA Basic Education Funding
Commission website
Tuesday, October 21, 2014 at 11
AM, Community College of Allegheny County
West Campus, Pittsburgh
Thursday, November 6, 2014 at 10 AM, Lancaster
Tuesday, November 18 & 19, 2014, Philadelphia
Thursday, December 4, 2014 at 10 AM, East Stroudsburg
Wednesday, December 10, 2014, 10 AM - 12:00 PM, Lancaster
* meeting times and locations subject to changehttp://basiceducationfundingcommission.pasenategop.com/
West Campus, Pittsburgh
Thursday, November 6, 2014 at 10 AM, Lancaster
Tuesday, November 18 & 19, 2014, Philadelphia
Thursday, December 4, 2014 at 10 AM, East Stroudsburg
Wednesday, December 10, 2014, 10 AM - 12:00 PM, Lancaster
* meeting times and locations subject to changehttp://basiceducationfundingcommission.pasenategop.com/
Health Issues in Schools:
"Mom I can't find the Nurse"
October 21, 2014 1:00 -- 4:00 P.M.
United Way Building 1709 Benjamin Franklin Parkway,
Philadelphia, 19103
Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia
Philadelphia has one of the worst childhood asthma rates in the
country. We need more nurses in Philadelphia's schools to aid children
suffering from this and other health issues. Join us to discuss Pennsylvania
laws governing nursing services.
Tickets: Attorneys $200
General Public $100 Webinar $50
"Pay What You Can" tickets are also
available
Click here to purchase tickets
Click here to purchase tickets
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)
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.
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