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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for
November 25, 2014:
What's the deal with school
funding reform in Pennsylvania
Upcoming PA Basic Education Funding Commission Public
Hearings
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
Wednesday, December 10, 2014, 10 AM - 12:00 PM Lancaster
* meeting times and locations subject to change
PA Basic
Education Funding Commission (Updates)
Agenda and some testimony from yesterday's hearing in Lancaster and video from day one in Philadelphia last week have been posted.
Senate Leaders Announce
Changes in Leadership Staff
PA Senate GOP website November
24, 2014
(HARRISBURG ) –
Changes to Senate Republican Leadership senior staff will take place with the
beginning of the 2015-16 legislative session, according to Senate President Pro
Tempore Joe Scarnati (R-25), Senator Jake Corman (R-34), Senator Pat Browne
(R-16) and Senator John Gordner (R-27).
Penn Live By Charles Thompson |
cthompson@pennlive.com on November 24, 2014 at 6:24 PM
The new power couple in the Pennsylvania State Senate -
President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati and Majority Leader Jake Corman -
announced several senior staff hires for the 2015-16 legislative session
Monday.
Drew Crompton, already Scarnati's chief of staff, will add the
role of general counsel to the majority caucus. He will be joined by Dave
Thomas, incoming chief counsel to the majority leader, at the top of the Senate
GOP's legal team.
Wolf Steering Committee
members eager, expectant
PLS Reporter Author: Josh
Levy/Monday, November 24, 2014/Categories: News
and Views
Last Tuesday, Gov.-elect Tom Wolf named the Steering Committee
for his transition team. The PLS Reporter had an opportunity
to contact a few of them to discuss their expectations for the team. Joseph Meade, government affairs director for
the Philadelphia Museum of Art and recent appointee to Wolf’s Transition Team,
told The PLS Reporter that “we’re at a critical juncture for the
commonwealth.”
PA-Gov: Rendell to Serve as
Honorary Chair of Wolf’s Inaugural Committee
PoliticsPA Written by
Nick Field, Managing Editor November 24, 2014
The incoming Democratic Administration is extending a symbolic
hand to the last Democratic Administration.
Gov-elect Tom Wolf announced today that former Governor Ed Rendell will
serve as Honorary Co-Chair of his Inaugural Committee.
What's the deal with school
funding reform in Pennsylvania
People are talking. Talking
about school funding.
So many people that it's hard to keep track.
Legislators, school administrators and advocacy organizations
seem to agree on one point: something needs to change. But how to do that is up for debate. In the last year, we've seen at least five
big pushes to change the way money is distributed to the state's 500 school
districts. Below is a rundown of those
efforts. Pennsylvania is one of only a handful of
states that do not have a predictable education funding formula based on
student enrollment and characteristics.
“While I like you folks in Harrisburg
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette November 25, 2014 12:00 AM
Pittsburgh Public Schools superintendent Linda Lane has told a state panel that
without the district’s “healthy” fund balance and “major, painful reductions,” Pittsburgh would have joined Duquesne, Chester-Upland and Philadelphia as a
distressed district.
Based on her prepared remarks, Mrs. Lane called on the
commission to consider enrollment as well as equity, including recognizing it
costs more to educate some children than others, such as students who are
homeless, are English language learners or have mental health needs, such as
chronic stress based on violence in the neighborhoods.
Education funding figures
were skewed
The letter-writer,
a member of the School District
of Lancaster
James Paul's column (“Smarter way to fund schools,” Nov. 16)
was about the most intellectually dishonest piece I've come across on school
funding. In his column, Paul:
— Provided misleading information on Pennsylvania 's investments in classroom
instruction. The adequacy suit to which School District of Lancaster
— Failed to note that Pennsylvania
students actually score above average on the National Assessment of Educational
Progress, and have higher-than-expected scores in some areas considering our
poverty rates. It's an incredibly demanding test, and even half the students in
Massachusetts
— generally considered to be the top-performing state in the nation — score
below proficient in certain cases.
— Relied on standardized test scores — obviously just one
measure of school performance — to indict Pennsylvania 's public education system.
Meanwhile, the Commonwealth Foundation (which doesn't disclose its donors) is,
for some reason, a relentless advocate for the state's public cyber charter schools,
which have amassed millions in profits while posting lousy results against this
same standard. Not one of the state's 14 cybers met the state's threshold
for acceptable school performance in 2013-14.
Education is the focus the Lancaster
Education numbers:
• Return on
investment of $1 spent on early childhood education: $17.
• Difference in
annual earnings between a high school dropout and someone with a bachelors
degree: $36,000.
• Rank of Lancaster County
• Year by which the United Way Lancaster County
Failure starts early.
Fewer Lancaster
County
If they are behind in reading by the time they enter the third
grade, studies show they will be less likely to graduate high school, more
likely to become pregnant and less likely to have earn family supporting wages. And that has ripple effects on the broader
community, from the cost of social services to the county’s future economic
development. “Education is not just an
education issue. Education is a business issue. Education is human services
issue. Education is a community issue,” Lancaster of Chamber of Commerce
President Tom Baldrige told 375 people Monday who gathered for the annual State
of the County luncheon at the DoubleTree Resort near Willow Street.
Trombetta back in court for
evidence suppression hearing
Trombetta, an Aliquippa native and East Liverpool, Ohio,
resident, faces 11 federal charges, including five counts of filing a false tax
return. Trombetta is trying to persuade Conti to toss out secret recordings and
wiretaps made by the FBI because, he claims, they involved four attorneys and
were protected by attorney-client privilege.
Speculation
Of New Philadelphia Charter Schools Has Operators Recruiting Families
CBS
Philly By Pat Loeb November 24, 2014 6:13
AM
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Now that
the Philadelphia School District
Neff: SRC action on teachers'
contract was unfair, but conditions in schools are unjust
the notebook By Marjorie Neff on Nov 24, 2014 12:27 PM
The School Reform Commission’s decision to cancel the contract
with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and require teachers and staff to
contribute to their health insurance premiums has been described as unfair. I
agree. I expect that my colleagues on
the SRC feel the same way. But our decision was born in response to a larger
and profound injustice being inflicted on Philadelphia ’s
children. When we describe
something as unfair, we usually mean we think it’s wrong. When something
is unjust, it goes beyond issues of fairness to violate a
moral code. People of good will can disagree about whether requiring teachers
and staff to contribute to health insurance premiums is the fair or right thing
to do. But there can be no argument that
denying children basic conditions for learning is an injustice.
In a fair world, teachers would be paid much more and the SRC
would have voted to affirm that. Unfortunately, we had to make a decision in
the world we actually live in, with the resources we actually have.
Paying More and Getting
Less, A Tale of Two School Districts
Philadelphia Coalition Advocating for Public Schools website by
Anne Gemmell Posted on November 24, 2014
The following testimony from Anne Gemmell at last
week’s “people’s hearings” prior to the regular session, draws out the inequity
in the way education is funded in our state.
Good afternoon, Senator Patrick Brown, fellow esteemed members
of the Basic Education Funding Commission and concerned citizens of our region.
Thank you for being here today to listen to the families affected by the lack
of a sensible funding formula for our schools. Leadership begins with
listening.
WITF.org Written by Ben
Allen, General Assignment Reporter | Nov 24, 2014 2:12 PM
(Washington
Township , York County Washington Township in York County
The Washington Township
Education Coalition is asking the state Department of Education to
approve the move out of Dover School
District and into Northern
York County School District.
Ralph McGregor, vice-chair of the group, says Northern York
County
Saucon Valley board, teachers
urged to extend olive branch by state official
By Sara K.
Satullo | The Express-Times on November 24, 2014 at 7:33 PM
A Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board hearing examiner Monday
urged the Saucon
Valley School District and its teachers union to extend an olive
branch to each other. The school
district has filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the Saucon
Valley Education Association, accusing them of bargaining in bad
faith. The two sides met before Hearing
Examiner Jack Marino Monday for five
hours but only made it through two witnesses. He likened the dynamic
between the two sides to a "bad marriage."
“The SPP scores are more accurate at
identifying the percentage of economically disadvantaged students in a school
than at identifying the effectiveness of a school,” Fuller
wrote in his brief which matched data about the economic demographics
of students with their school’s scores.
“It’s actually kind of stunning just how strong the correlations is,”
Fuller told The Mercury last week.”It explains so much.”
By Evan Brandt, The Mercury POSTED: 11/23/14,
3:41 PM EST | UPDATED: 20 HRS AGO
While it’s certainly not the only factor involved, its hard to
deny the correlation between an increase in the number of poor students in a Pottstown school building, and the decrease of its School
Performance Profile score. As The
Mercury reported last week, the Pennsylvania Department of Education
released scores for its two-year-old School Performance Profile and results
locally were mixed. Nowhere were they
more mixed than in the Pottstown School District which boasted the school whose
scores increased by more than any other in the area — Lincoln Elementary — and
the school whose scores declined more than any other in the area — Franklin
Elementary. In an effort to explain the
disparity, a clue can be found in looking at the poverty of the students being
tested.
By Evan Brandt, The Mercury POSTED: 11/23/14,
3:41 PM EST | UPDATED: 12 MINS AGO
As The Mercury reported last week, the two-year-old assessment
method being used by the Pennsylvania Department of Education focuses as much
on “growth” as it does on results, or “achievement.” Forty-percent of a school’s total score is
based on how much student achievement has grown in math, reading, science and
writing in a given year as the level of achievement they have actually reached.
Achievement comprises another 40 percent.
The remaining 20 percent is divided up among other factors such
as test participation rates, graduation rate, participation in advance
placement classes and attendance.
Phoenixville ‘disappointed’
with School Performance scores
By Frank Otto, fotto@pottsmerc.com, @fottojourno on
Twitter POSTED: 11/24/14, 6:38 PM EST |
PHOENIXVILLE >> Administration in the Phoenixville Area
School District expressed “disappointment” in the scores achieved by some of
their schools after the 2013-14 School Performance Profiles were released this
month. During the Phoenixville Area
School Board meeting Thursday night, Assistant Superintendent Regina Palubinsky
discussed how choices relating to when students took tests, which contribute to
School Performance Profile scores, may have contributed to the 75.7 rating at
Phoenixville Area High School. Some
members of the public at Thursday’s meeting lambasted the district for the
scores. “I hope this will be a big topic
at the curriculum meetings for some time,” said board President Josh Gould
after the Palubinsky’s presentation finished.
School Performance Profiles are in their second year after replacing the
federal Adequate Yearly Progress standards. Based on a mixture of factors that
include attendance and graduation rates, the scores heavily factor year-to-year
growth in grades measured by several tests including the Keystone and
Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) exams.
Test results: Pa.
Education Week Published Online: November 24, 2014
PITTSBURGH (AP) — 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:
What It Takes to Fix American
Education
Daily Beast by Jonah
Edelman 11.23.14
We’re spending way too much time focusing on who is ‘winning’
and ‘losing’ debates over education, and not enough on implementing proven
solutions. As a parent, a mentor, the
son of a civil rights leader turned child advocate and a former aide to Robert
F. Kennedy, and an advocate for children for nearly twenty years, I can tell
you this with confidence: when it comes to helping underserved students
succeed, there’s no silver bullet or quick fix.
But there are real solutions:
Discipline, Disabilities,
School to Prison, Disproportionality
Saturday, December 13, 2014 from 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM
United Way Building 1709 Benjamin Franklin Parkway , Philadelphia
Presenters include Sonja Kerr; Howard Jordan, ACLU; Dr.
Karolyn Tyson; Michael Raffaele, Frankel & Kershenbaum, LLC
This session is designed to assist participants to
understand the specifics of the federal IDEA disciplinary protections, 20
U.S.C. §1415(k) as they apply to children with disabilities. Topics will
include functional behavioral assessment, development of positive behavioral
support programs for children with disabilities, manifestation reviews and
avoiding juvenile court involvement.
Questions? Email cbenton@pilcop.org or call
267.546.1317.
Info and Registration: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/discipline-disabilities-school-to-prison-disproportionality-tickets-12930883621
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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