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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for
November 21, 2014:
Wolf plans ‘to find funds’ to
raise education spending
Next PA Basic Education Funding Commission Public
Hearing
Monday,
November 24, 2014 at 10 AM IU#13 Lancaster
Reforming PA charters is no
easy task
PLS Reporter Author: Alanna
Koll/Thursday, November 20, 2014/Categories: News
and Views
During the 2013-14 legislative session, Gov. Tom Corbett and
the legislature eliminated the state's 50 percent pension reimbursement to
charter schools, putting an end to what many called the pension "double
dip.” The elimination of the double dip
marked the first time since the charter law was enacted in 1997 and the cyber
charter law was adopted in 2002 that any reforms to those laws have been
adopted.
“We’ve learned a lot in those 17/18 years about things that can
be operated more efficiently, ways to do things better and a lot of that has
been in a number of bills. Every year, in every session there has been a
charter reform bill that has come up and every year it has failed for slightly
different reasons in each case. Probably 85 percent of what is in the bill
everyone agrees with and it is that 15 percent that has caused all the conflict
and has stopped the passage of the bill,” stated Robert Fayich, executive
director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools.
Jim Buckheit, executive director of the Pennsylvania
Association of School Administrators (PASA), agreed that there has not been
major reform to charters. “This has been a major political fight ever since the
original bill was passed in ’97, there have been several attempts over 14 years
plus to make some changes and every one of those has failed,” he
stated. “It’s a very hard lift to do anything, any time there is a serious
discussion about the issue. One side or the other rallies its troops and steps
up and puts pressure on legislators. When legislators get heat from one side or
the other or both sides they tend not to take action. That’s why we have been
stuck in this current state for so long.”
“If
it is for a public service, for the interests of the children, why does money
need to be made off their education?”
Written by Emily Previti/Keystone Crossroads | Nov 20, 2014
4:22 AM
(York ) -- Governor-elect Wolf has said he’s
against privatizing the city of York ’s
struggling public school district, and critics of the effort say there’s
pressure to do that before he takes office.
If it happens, York City School District would be the first
public school system in Pennsylvania, and one of just a few in the nation, to
be converted entirely to charter schools.
Students, parents and teachers spent more than two hours last
night protesting [the turnover of the city’s floundering public school district
to a private for-profit charter school operator.
Vlonda Kearse was one of them.
“If it is for a public service, for the interests of the children, why
does money need to be made off their education?” she said.
School board members delayed a vote on a contract with Charter Schools USA
That law allows a receivership if district officials aren’t
complying with their recovery plan.
Keystone Crossroads/WHYY Newsworks BY EMILY PREVITI, WITF NOVEMBER 20, 2014
Students, parents and teachers spent more
than two hours Wednesday night protesting the turnover of the city of York 's floundering public
school district to a private for-profit charter school operator. "If it is for a public service, for the
interests of the children, why does money need to be made off their
education?" says teacher Vlonda Kearse.
Distrust was a common theme in the testimony of about three dozen people
who testified – some, three or four times during the evening. Desperation figured prominently, too;
specifically, to keep the district intact and convey the social and educational
benefits it's conferred upon students. Ultimately,
the school board did not vote on the proposed
contract with Charter Schools
USA
Who’s behind the York Community
Foundation Charter
School
Cram Session Blog Posted on November 20, 2014 by Angie Mason
Some York
City Charter Schools USA Pennsylvania have to be nonprofits. (They
can then contract with other companies, which can be for-profit.)
What do we know about the nonprofit board?
"Told of the lower scores, Ron Cowell,
president of the Education Policy and Leadership Council, said that it is
difficult to prove causation but noted school districts had about $850 million
less when they opened their doors in fall 2011 than they did the previous
school year. While some money has been
restored, particularly to pay for increased pension contributions, Mr. Cowell
said that school districts still are operating with hundreds of millions of
dollars less than in 2010-11 for classroom spending. “In the poorest school districts where we
often find the largest concentrations of students who are English language
learners and who are in circumstances of economic disadvantage, those kinds of
school districts disproportionately lost greater amounts of state money,” Mr.
Cowell said."
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette November 21, 2014 12:00 AM
With school districts across the state now in their fourth year
of facing fewer state and federal resources, statewide results of the
Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests show declines in every grade
level in nearly every subject tested. The
pattern of lower scores on the 2014 PSSA tests holds true for subgroups of
students who are white, black, economically disadvantaged, English language
learners or are in special education. Overall
on the assessments tests, there were these declines in the percentage of
students scoring proficient and advanced in grades 3-8:
Economics a factor in results
of School Performance Profiles
By Clarece Polke / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette November 20, 2014 12:00 AM
The recently released state School Performance Profiles once
again show a correlation between the economic makeup of top-performing
districts and those in the bottom of the academic rankings in Allegheny County Wilkinsburg superintendent Dan
Matsook said. “All you need to look at is the market value of commercial and
industrial buildings in the district and wealth-to-aid ratio to see how well
those students perform."
Released earlier this month, the School Performance Profiles
show academic scores of up to 107 — counting seven extra credit
points — measuring factors such as student performance on state standardized
tests, graduation rates, attendance rates and participation in Advanced
Placement courses. Less than a week
after the profiles were released, six school districts, parents, the
Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools and the Pennsylvania state conference of the NAACP
filed a lawsuit against the state. The
lawsuit contends the state has not sent enough money to schools and, in doing
so, has turned quality public education into “an accident of geography.”
Wolf plans ‘to find funds’ to
raise education spending
By Karen Langley / Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau November 21, 2014 12:00 AM
HARRISBURG — After warnings from his team about Pennsylvania’s
nearly $2 billion projected shortfall, governor-elect Tom Wolf says he still
plans to push to increase education funding next year, but the newly elected
Democrat acknowledges the end result will depend on negotiations with the
General Assembly, which even larger Republican majorities will control in
January.
“The key is that we have a $29 billion budget, and with that
amount of money, part of what any governor needs to do is look at priorities,”
Mr. Wolf said in a telephone interview Thursday. “There’s still plenty of money
to make sure that our commonwealth is spending whatever dollars it has
intelligently and that we establish the right priorities.”
“Education has to be a priority,” he said. “We’re going to have
to find the funds.”
"Leaders of both parties said they
appreciated the overtures, which some said amounted to more communication than
they got from Gov. Corbett before or even after he took office four years ago."
Wolf extends an early olive
branch
AMY WORDEN, INQUIRER
HARRISBURG
BUREAU Thursday, November 20, 2014, 6:54 PM
Then he called some top lawmakers a second time.
Wolf hopes to have Cabinet in
place by Jan. 20
Philly.com THE
ASSOCIATED PRESS POSTED: Thursday, November 20, 2014, 3:55 PM
Top Senate Republican: We're
not ruling out lame-duck session
Penn Live By John L. Micek |
jmicek@pennlive.com on November 20, 2014 at 3:23 PM,
updated November 20, 2014 at 3:43 PM
New Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman said Thursday
that he's not ruling out a lame-duck session during the final two weeks
of Gov. Tom Corbett's term so that lawmakers can push through bills
before Gov.-elect Tom Wolf takes office. "Tom Corbett is governor for four
years, not three years and 10 months," Corman, R-Centre, said in
remarks taped for broadcast Sunday on WHP-TV's "Face the
State"program. "We get sworn into office on the first Tuesday [in
January] and we might go to work."
Corman said he's "looking at the schedule" to determine
if there's enough time for lawmakers to pull off the long-shot legislative
session. For the past several years, the Legislature has sworn-off holding
lame-duck sessions. Corman was far
from definitive about a legislative session, but he did hold the option open
during the interview.
Task force to help Gov.-elect
Tom Wolf understand, overcome a $1.85 billion shortfall next year
Penn Live By Christian Alexandersen
| calexandersen@pennlive.com on November 20, 2014 at 2:43 PM
With Gov.-elect
Tom Wolf expected to face a $1.85
billion budget shortfall next fiscal year, transition staff is working to
prepare him for what he will have to face during his first year in office.
The Budget Deficit and Fiscal Stabilization Task Force is
being led
by Mary Soderberg and Josh Shapiro. Wolf Spokesman Jeffrey Sheridan said
the task force will help the governor-elect understand the complexities of the
fiscal crisis his administration will face.
"The challenges that are going to face his administration and the
challenges that lie ahead are really very deep and very serious," Sheridan said. "He
needs people to help him understand the depth of that hole." To understand that "hole," Shapiro,
chairman of the Montgomery County Commission, said the task force must start
out with the Independent Fiscal Office's long-term economic and budget
outlook.
Will the GOP stop Wolf and
hold Philly back?
Citypaper By Daniel
Denvir Published: 11/20/2014
Tom Corbett has bequeathed Democratic Gov.-elect Tom Wolf not
only wrecked public schools, but also a projected state budget deficit of
nearly $2 billion, according to last week's report from the state Independent
Fiscal Office. Conservative government, that chimeric realm of low taxes and
high living, was just a marketing scheme. And given Corbett's historic loss, a
low-quality one.
Wolf has a mandate — low voter turnout prompts some to question
how large — to reverse Corbett's deep cuts to public education. Wolf says he
wants to do this partly by taxing natural-gas extraction (not ending it, to
environmentalists' chagrin) and making the state income tax progressive, which
translates to higher rates on the wealthy.
But Corbett's deficit means that Wolf must first dig out before
he rebuilds — he cannot let deeply cut programs get cut once again.
Republicans, who in the very same election expanded their majorities in the
state legislature, will make that difficult. This is a more conservative
iteration of a Republican legislature that mostly refused to pass a Republican
governor's agenda.
Community Schools: Demonstrators
rally in Oakland to support community schools
across U.S.
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette November 20, 2014 1:08 PM
Great Public Schools Pittsburgh
today rallied in favor of community schools outside the headquarters of
Pittsburgh Public Schools in Oakland ,
one of about 15 such demonstrations across the country. About two dozen people attended the rally,
which was part of a week of action under the national umbrella of the Alliance to Reclaim Our
Schools. Community schools help to address social service and other needs and
connect with families and community organizations to help children learn,
according to rally organizers and participants.
"We cannot and will not accept the status quo," said
Pamela Harbin, a Point Breeze resident with two children in city district
schools. "Poor education policies that destabilize our communities is the
status quo." She said,
"Research shows that sustainable community schools work because a
community understands what their children and their families need."
She called for the federal government to put all new School
Improvement Grants toward community schools.
Beers, bars and babies: The
next generation of Philly school parents gets serious
WHYY Newsworks BY KEVIN
MCCORRY NOVEMBER 20, 2014
Dark bars, craft beers, cooing babies and a basic philosophical
belief in the power of public education: Meet the new generation of
urban-professional parents who just may be crucial to the long-term success of
the Philadelphia School District
Charter debate rages on at
SRC meeting
SOLOMON LEACH, DAILY
NEWS STAFF WRITER LEACHS@PHILLYNEWS.COM,
215-854-5903 POSTED: Friday, November 21, 2014, 12:16 AM
THE SCHOOL Reform Commission got an earful last night from
school-choice supporters as it voted not to renew one charter and gets ready to
consider applications for dozens of new ones.
The commission voted 4-1 for non-renewal of Imani Education
Circle Charter in Germantown .
Sylvia Simms was the lone dissenting vote. Officials cited poor performance on
state standardized tests and financial woes at the K-8 school, which serves
roughly 450 students.
SRC votes to close Imani
charter school
MARTHA WOODALL, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER LAST UPDATED: Friday, November 21,
2014, 1:08 AM POSTED: Thursday, November 20, 2014, 10:21 PM
Despite pleas from board members and parents, the School Reform
Commission voted, 4-1, Thursday night to close another Philadelphia
charter school for alleged academic and financial failings: Imani Education Circle in Germantown . Commissioner Sylvia Simms cast the dissenting
vote. Imani officials challenged the
commission's findings and vowed to take the case to the state's Charter Appeal
Board in Harrisburg .
SRC violated Pa. Sunshine
Act, court complaint alleges
The Alliance
the notebook Paul Socolar's Blog November 20, 2014
Advocates have filed
a complaint in Philadelphia
court charging that the School Reform Commission violated the state Sunshine
Act when it met Oct. 6 and voted to cancel the contract of the
Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. The
suit was filed by the Alliance
for Philadelphia Public Schools in the Court of Common Pleas. In a statement,
Lisa Haver of APPS, a plaintiff in the case, said, "The public should
expect that the SRC would give adequate advance notice of such a major action,
not take pains to shut the public out."
The School District has not offered a
response and generally declines to comment on pending litigation.
School chief: China
KATHY BOCCELLA, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER LAST UPDATED: Friday, November 21,
2014, 1:08 AM
After buying the Waldorf-Astoria, the General Motors
Building Chester
Upland School
District announced Wednesday that he would travel to China to work out a deal in which an elite
school would pour up to a billion dollars into the Delaware County Hollywood .
It calls for Chinese benefactors to put up staggering amounts of money to turn
low-performing schools into elite academies that send students to top
universities. "If we're successful
in making this work, it would change the way our district looks," said Joe
Watkins, who was appointed the district's receiver by Gov. Corbett.
Prudent changes to Pennsylvania
Post Gazette LTE by Susana Montoya November 21, 2014 12:00 AM
The Pennsylvania
school performance score was designed as an indicator of school quality but has
had unintended consequences including focusing curriculum on test content and
resources toward test preparation. Changes are needed to improve the assessment
system.
All schools would benefit from timely notification of test
results and specific feedback on test performance before the start of the next
academic year. The state assessment also requires evidence of academic growth
as measured by performance on PSSA and Keystone tests. Some schools are being
penalized on their overall academic score for not continuing to improve even
though more than 90 percent of their students score proficient or advanced on
each of the state-mandated tests. Currently,
40 percent of the school assessment score is based on indicators of academic
growth. This measurement was developed to determine if underperforming schools
show improvement over time. The misguided emphasis on growth for all schools results
in higher-performing schools spending inordinate time and effort on test
preparation. Some suggest a better model may require growth data only for
underperforming schools and even decrease test frequency for higher-performing
schools.
Askar was 'target' in
Trombetta probe; wiretap comment goes unexplained
According to the testimony of an FBI agent in federal court
last week, Beaver County Solicitor Joe Askar was considered a “target subject”
in the investigation that led to the indictment of Pennsylvania Cyber
Charter School
"At one point, Askar warned Trombetta
not to say anything before telling him, “I’m supposed to be representing the
county and I’m representing you.” Askar
was also heard discussing responses to a media organization’s request for
information regarding NNDS. “Those are great talking points,” Trombetta told
him. “You got it down good.”
During one call, Askar tells Trombetta, “If
we had anything to worry about, the IRS would be up our asses, believe you me."
Misconduct complaints filed
against Askar, three other attorneys in Trombetta Probe
A former business associate of indicted Pennsylvania Cyber
Charter School founder Nick Trombetta has filed complaints with the state
Supreme Court’s disciplinary board against Beaver County Solicitor Joe Askar
and three other attorneys with whom Trombetta claims to have had privileged
conversations that were secretly recorded by investigators.
Barney asked the board to send an investigator to monitor
proceedings at next Tuesday’s continued hearing in Trombetta's case. “The
evidence forthcoming will assist in having a thorough investigation into the
professional conduct” of each of the attorneys, Barney wrote.
Trombetta, who faces 11 federal charges, is trying to get a federal
judge to toss recordings made by the FBI involving discussions with the four
attorneys. Trombetta is claiming that the attorneys represented him so those
recorded talks should fall under attorney-client privilege.
"Another central challenge for
Williams’ candidacy is education. Williams may be the most prominent Democratic
education reform champion in the state. His failed 2010 gubernatorial bid was
centered on his charter-friendly reform agenda, and bankrolled to the amazing tune $3.65 million by an education reform PAC
known as Students First.
Which direction to take Philadelphia Philadelphia
Tony Williams’ Fragile
Juggernaut of a Campaign
The veteran state senator enters the race with a lot of
support, and a lot of vulnerabilities.
BY PATRICK KERKSTRA | NOVEMBER
20, 2014 AT 7:03 AM
State Senator Anthony
H. Williams launched what looked like a juggernaut of a mayoral
campaign last night in a large hall at the visitor’s center on Independence
Mall packed with elected officials, fundraisers, lobbyists, operatives and
other assorted power players.
With Alan Butkovitz bailing,
and City Council President Darrell Clarke still on the sidelines, Williams has
become the mayoral front-runner almost by default (though Lynne Abraham’s strong
opening yesterday bears watching). When political insiders talk about
Williams, they talk about tactical advantages like establishment support, a
credible base in West Philly, the prospect of big outside money and, as Dave
Davies just put it, “very favorable racial math” as the only
high-profile black candidate in the race (so far).
By Sara K. Satullo | The Express-Times on November 20, 2014
at 8:18 PM
The Allentown School Board voted to eliminate its graduation
project requirement starting with the class of 2017. Students graduating this spring and next
school year still have to complete a project, according to the district. With the advent of the Pennsylvania Common
Core standards and the Keystone Exams, the Pennsylvania Department of Education
has eliminated the requirement starting with the class of 2017.
Missing ACT tests are found
Inquirer by Susan Snyder POSTED: THURSDAY,
NOVEMBER 20, 2014, 5:42 PM
Remember those missing ACT exams?
They’ve finally shown up at the Iowa-based testing service’s
headquarters, but officials there say they have no idea where the test sheets
have been all this time. Their
whereabouts over the last two months remain a mystery - at least as far as ACT
officials are saying. Test results for
182 students who took the college readiness exam at Upper Darby High School
Opinion: UNC Students should
be skeptical of Teach For America
Daily Tarheel November 20, 2014
Teach For America is ubiquitous at UNC. In 2013, 57 Tar Heels
joined the corps, making UNC the sixth-largest provider of teachers for the
program in the country that year. In recent years, between seven and eight
percent of graduating seniors at UNC applied to join the program.
Are these students making a mistake? Given the decision of the Durham Public Schools system not to renew its contract with TFA,
and with the next program application deadline approaching on Dec. 5, the UNC
community needs to have an open conversation about the value and shortcomings
of the program. TFA teachers are imbued
with the best of intentions; however, we believe that TFA is a highly flawed
program. Many UNC students will do great
work through TFA, but all students should tread carefully before submitting
their next application to an on-campus recruiter.
Guess the percentage of cable
news education guests who are actually educators
Can you guess the percent of evening cable news guests who are
brought on camera to discuss education issues who are actually educators? Well,
someone did the math and came up with this: Nine percent. Yes, 9 percent. And
that was high if you looked at the results for single networks.
Media Matters, a progressive nonprofit, analyzed how many
educators were included in substantial discussions of U.S. education
policy on evening cable news shows between January 1, 2014 and October 31,
2014. They looked at shows on CNN, MSNBC and Fox, including The Situation Room,
Erin Burnett OutFront, Crossfire, Anderson Cooper 360, CNN Tonight, The Ed
Show, PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton, Hardball with Chris Matthews, All In with
Chris Hayes, The Rachel Maddow Show, The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, The
Five, Special Report with Bret Baier, On the Record with Greta Van Susteren,
The O’Reilly Factor, The Kelly File, and Hannity.
“Circuit Rider” Lawrence
Lower Merion School District Announcements Posted: November 18,
2014
With school funding a hot issue in the Pennsylvania
gubernatorial race, an alliance of state education leaders is engaged in a
campaign to build support for changing the way the state pays its school bills.
During the yearlong campaign, 11 "circuit riders" will attempt to
build support among current superintendents, business managers, and school
board members for a movement for education-funding changes. Please join us on Tuesday, November 25 at
8:30 AM as "circuit rider" Lawrence Feinberg will speak at the District's
Legislative Committee meeting in the District Administration Building Board
Room.
Click here for a recent article on philly.com about the circuit riders.
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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