Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now
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administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, Governor's
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The Keystone State Education Coalition is an endorsing member of The Campaign for Fair Education Funding
Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for October
25, 2014:
New Report Outlines Potential
Savings for PA Taxpayers through Investment in Pre-K
"As this report
indicates, Pennsylvania currently spends billions of dollars a year
on special education services – a cost we know can be significantly reduced by
expanding access to publically-funded, high-quality pre-k
programs," said Steve Wray, Executive Director of the Economy
League of Greater Philadelphia – a Pre-K for PA coalition
member. "Pre-k works. And, it's time to make it a top priority
for Pennsylvania – particularly given the state's current challenges
in ensuring adequate and equitable funding for public education."
New Report Outlines Potential
Savings for PA Taxpayers through Investment in Pre-K Pre-K for PA
Analysis Looks at
Long-term Cost Savings Generated from Reduced Grade Repetition and Special
Education Needs
Pennsylvania stands to reap significant benefits in the form of
reduced costs to taxpayers and the state budget as a result of expanded access
to pre-kindergarten programs for the commonwealth's 3- and 4-year-olds. That's
according to new research released by Pre-K for PA and
conducted by The
Economy League of Greater Philadelphia.
The report outlines how investment in high-quality pre-k benefits K-12
school systems by reducing the need for special education programs and grade
repetition, and producing fewer behavioral problems in
school. Pennsylvania schools currently spend a significant amount of
time and money helping children catch up who arrive for kindergarten unprepared
– both academically and socially.
Video is now posted for both the October
16th and October 21st hearings
Basic Education Funding
Commission Public Hearing - October 16, 2014
Other State Formulas & Weights, Level of Local
Support, and Taxing Capacity
Basic Education Funding
Commission Public Hearing - October 21, 2014
Enrollment Changes and School Funding
Allegheny
Upcoming
BEF Commission Meetings*
Thursday, November 6, 2014 at 10 AM, Harrisburg, NOB, Hearing
Room 1
Tuesday, November 18, 2014 at 1 PM & Wednesday, November 19, 2014 at 10 AM Philadelphia
Monday, November 24, 2014 at 10 AM IU#13 Lancaster
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 change http://basiceducationfundingcommission.pasenategop.com/
Tuesday, November 18, 2014 at 1 PM & Wednesday, November 19, 2014 at 10 AM Philadelphia
Monday, November 24, 2014 at 10 AM IU#13 Lancaster
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 change http://basiceducationfundingcommission.pasenategop.com/
EdWeek: Election 2014 Caravan
of Delights: Pa.
As we get closer to the Nov. 4 general election, I will take
a look each day at a state election of interest. (If you've missed my election
reporting from California, Florida, and Georgia, you've still got time to catch up!) I'll look at
polling numbers and the candidates' general positions on K-12 issues, and I'll
also highlight the political and policy environments that are influencing the
debate about public schools. For the sake of brevity, I'll only focus on the
Democratic and Republican candidates. Today I'll focus on the race for governor
in Pennsylvania.
Consistently ranked as one of the most "endangered"
governors when it comes to reelection prospects, Keystone State Gov. Tom
Corbett has consistently trailed Democrat Tom Wolf this year, and he is the
only Republican governor whose race is now considered safely in the Democratic column, according
to Real Clear Politics. (I wrote about Wolf's position on education funding earlier this
year.) However, Corbett has closed the gap in recent months, and what was once
a deficit of approximately 20 percentage points is now getting closer to single digits, as the Real Clear Politics polling
average below shows:
"It's moving," he said this
morning at an event downtown. "If it was 10, 15 points, would they be
bringing Bill Clinton into Pittsburgh and Barack Obama into Philadelphia?"
Corbett says he's confident
Post Gazette Early Returns Blog by Karen Langley on Friday,
24 October 2014 5:24 pm.
Ten days from Election Day, Gov. Tom Corbett says he's feeling
good. He doesn't believe the public polls. "It's moving," he said this morning
at an event downtown. "If it was 10, 15 points, would they be bringing Bill Clinton into Pittsburgh and Barack Obama into Philadelphia?"
Corbett said he's sure those men are busy, and that their
appearances show Democrats want to motivate more voters to get out to the polls. "We're very comfortable with where we
are right now," he said today. "You remember, I haven't ever been
predicted to win my race. I'm in my -- two, three, four -- fifth race, if I
count my township commissioner. Every time: He can't win. I'm standing here in
front of you as governor."
Here's why Pennsylvanians
should grant me four more years: Tom Corbett
PennLive Op-Ed By Tom Corbett on October 24, 2014 at
11:21 AM
Looking back on where Pennsylvania
was four years ago, it would have been hard to foresee where we are today and
the bright future we have ahead.
Four years ago, we faced many challenges. We were spending more
than we had and paying for it on the backs of taxpayers. Unemployment was 8.1
percent, businesses were leaving for other states and our public school system
had been gutted under the guise of one-time federal stimulus money from Washington . Even our capital city was burdened with debts
and on the brink of bankruptcy. Pennsylvania desperately needed to change direction, and
you, the voters, trusted me to shake up Harrisburg 's
status quo and build a stronger future for our next generation.
For governor, Democrat Tom
Wolf is the better choice: Editorial
By PennLive Editorial
Board on October 24, 2014 at 11:00 AM
As Pennsylvanians vote on Nov. 4, they'll be asked to choose a
governor to lead a divided state where politics-as-usual has stymied progress. Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, despite four
years of single-party control of the Capitol, has been denied victories on
two of his three signature issues: liquor privatization and taming the
exploding cost of public employee pensions.
Despite broad public support for reform and Corbett's best
efforts, including both entreaties and strong-arm tactics, the Legislature
broke for the year without acting to defuse the $65 billion pension time bomb.
And repeated vows not to "kick the can down the road" now ring hollow.
Even with a major win on a $2 billion-plus highway repair
and reconstruction package, legislative victories have been few and far between
for Corbett. And that's made it easy to forget that he handily dispatched
Democrat Dan Onorato in the Republican wave of 2010.
But as much as the General Assembly was an impediment to
Corbett's success, so too was Corbett himself.
State Education Department
launches Pennsylvania Standards review website.
Capitolwire.com Under The Dome™ Friday, October 24, 2014
The state Department of Education launched a Pennsylvania
Standards review website Thursday, urging the public to log on and provide
feedback on how to improve state standardized testing. The review website comes
one month after Gov. Tom Corbett pressed the state Board of Education and
acting department Secretary Carolyn Dumaresq to complete the rollback of
national Common Core Standards adopted four years ago by Gov. Ed Rendell's
administration. “Gov. Corbett and I are focused on ensuring that students,
parents, educators and taxpayers have a comprehensive understanding of what is
expected of our students at each grade level,” Dumaresq said. “I encourage the
public to take the opportunity to visit this website, share their thoughts and
provide suggestions about the Pennsylvania Standards.” The website features
sample questions from third grade level math and language arts tests, but will
be updated by mid-November to include material from tests administered to grades
four through eight, as well as Algebra I and literature questions found on
secondary level tests. “I encourage Pennsylvania educators to use this website
to share their thoughts and ideas regarding Pennsylvania’s eligible content,”
said Dr. Linda Hippert, executive director of Allegheny Intermediate Unit. “The
website is a user-friendly resource that will provide the department and the
State Board with quality information as they complete this review process.” To
participate in the review, CLICK HERE.
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette October 25, 2014 12:15 AM
One of the math skills that’s fair game for third-graders on
state standardized tests is multiplication tables up to 10 times 10. Now members of the public have a chance to
let the state know whether that — or any other “eligible content” in
math or English language arts — is appropriate. The state Department of Education this week
unveiled a new web site, www.paacademicreview.org, which allows comment on
what the state says children should know and be able to do. The site opened
with third-grade math and English language arts.
By mid-November, the state expects to have available eligible
content in English language arts and mathematics for grades 4 to 8 and Algebra
I and Literature at the secondary level. This is material that can be tested on
the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests or Keystone Exams.
If you were wondering who helped pay
for the Commonwealth Foundation to buy counter-demonstrators in Philadelphia
"The Sarah Scaife Foundation has “been
responsible for a lot of national public policy for the conservative movement,
in particular the work done by the Heritage Foundation, and in Pennsylvania the
work done by the Commonwealth Foundation and the Allegheny Institute [for
Public Policy],” said Allegheny County Republican Committee chairman Jim Roddey."
Scaife-related foundations
poised to take bigger stage
By Rich Lord / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette October 25, 2014 12:00 AM
Three foundations that Richard Mellon Scaife long guided are
heading into a season of leadership changes, reorganizations and dramatic
expansions three months after the filing of the late billionaire’s will. Nearly doubling in size is the Sarah Scaife
Foundation, which Mr. Scaife, son of the philanthropy’s namesake, turned into a
national force in funding the development of conservative thought. That
foundation is expected to absorb the smaller, similarly focused Carthage
Foundation. Growing to an even larger
degree is the Allegheny Foundation, which has traditionally done about
two-thirds of its charity work in Western Pennsylvania .
"Research presented
by the Pennsylvania
Bill that would end district-level review of homeschooling in Pennsylvania goes to Corbett
Bill that would end district-level review of homeschooling in Pennsylvania goes to Corbett
Trib Live By Megan
Harris Friday, Oct. 24, 2014, 12:01 a.m.
State legislators approved a homeschooling bill that eliminates the need for school superintendents to weigh in on whether students are receiving an appropriate education.
State legislators approved a homeschooling bill that eliminates the need for school superintendents to weigh in on whether students are receiving an appropriate education.
Under current law, parents hire an evaluator every year to
interview the child, review a portfolio of the child's work and certify whether
the child is receiving an appropriate education. The portfolio and evaluator's
assessment are submitted for review to the superintendent of the child's school
district, who issues a determination of whether the family is in compliance
with the homeschooling law. House Bill
1013, among other changes, removes the requirement that portfolios be turned in
to the school district for review and requires the superintendent to accept an
evaluator's assessment that appropriate education is taking place.
Philly schools take risk by
disbursing health care savings before court rules
WHYY Newsworks BY KEVIN
MCCORRY OCTOBER 24, 2014
The Philadelphia School District decided Friday to give schools
access to $15 million starting Monday, based on expected savings from forcing
teachers to contribute toward their health care premiums. Since the School Reform Commission terminated
its contract with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, the district has
been planning three disbursements totalling $44 million.
Until Friday, it was unclear when principals would have access
to those funds. Principals were notified in mid-October what their school
allocation would be, but the disbursement date was left up in the air after
several legal challenges by the teachers union, which is protesting the
legality of the SRC's unilateral move. On
Monday, the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas granted the union's request for
an injunction in the case, effectively halting the district's plans to begin
charging teachers for health care premiums on Dec. 15. All eyes then turned to Pennsylvania
Commonwealth Court, where the SRC has asked for a declaratory judgment in the
matter. President Judge Dan Pellegrini heard arguments Wednesday, but has not
yet made a ruling.
Despite legal challenge,
Phila schools to spread the cash
KRISTEN A. GRAHAM, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER LAST UPDATED: Friday, October 24,
2014, 5:27 PM POSTED: Friday, October 24, 2014, 4:49 PM
City schools will get a $15 million cash infusion Monday, but
the money is earmarked to buy books, fund teachers' salaries, and help
struggling students may yet disappear.
The School Reform Commission on Oct. 6 unilaterally canceled
the teachers' contract and ordered 11,200 employees to begin paying for their
health-care benefits on Dec. 15, a move officials said would save $54 million
annually. But the health-care changes -
and the savings - are not a done deal. The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers
is fighting the SRC's actions in court, and a Common Pleas Court judge has issued a
temporary injunction, which has halted the changes. Separately, a Commonwealth Court
judge is weighing where the case should be heard.
Mayor’s Pittsburgh
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette October 21, 2014 8:52 PM
At its first meeting open to the public, the mayor’s education
task force bounced around ideas ranging from safety to class size in Pittsburgh
Public Schools. The meeting at Pittsburgh Science & Technology
Academy 6-12 in Oakland on Tuesday was the fourth meeting of
the group, which includes more than 20 school and city officials and community
members. A fifth meeting with Mayor Bill Peduto is planned but unscheduled and
is to be followed by its final task, a report to City Council.
Lewisburg's Kathy Swope to
head the Pennsylvania
Lewisburg Daily Item Posted October 23, 2014
LEWISBURG — Kathy Swope, president of the Lewisburg school
board, has been elected president of the Pennsylvania School Boards
Association, where she will lead the nonprofit organization that represents
more than 4,500 school board members on policy, personnel and benefits issues
and education. “There is no one that’s
more deserving of this than Kathy,” said Mary Brouse, who has served 21 years
on the Lewisburg school board. Swope is “an outstanding leader who gives 120
percent all the time.” Swope, who begins
her term as leader of the Mechanicsburg-based organization in 2015, has served
on the Lewisburg school board since 1997 and as its president since 2008.
Hazing allegations abruptly
end Central Bucks West football season
WHYY Newsworks BY AARON
MOSELLE OCTOBER 24, 2014
Surprised. Shocked. Astonished.
Those are just some of the adjectives Doylestown residents used
while reacting to word this week that players on Central Bucks
West High
School
As he stood outside of a hoagie shop on State Street , Luke Vrancken called the
allegations disgraceful. "Sports is
about the brotherhood and the teammates and how you come together as a family
and as a team and this is no part of it. That's just demeaning," said
Vrancken.
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
Children with Autism - Who’s Eligible? How to get ABA
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 1:00 – 4:00 P.M.
Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia
United Way Building 1709 Benjamin Franklin Parkway,
Philadelphia, 19103
Join us on November 19th, 2014 to discuss eligibility services for children with Autism. This
session will teach parents, teachers, social workers and attorneys how to
obtain Applied Behavioral Analysis services for children on the autism
spectrum. Presenters include Sonja Kerr (Law Center), Rachel Mann
(Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania), Dr. Lisa Blaskey (The Children's
Hospital of Pennsylvania), and David Gates (PA Health Law Project).
Registration: bit.ly/1sOY6jX
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
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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