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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for
November 26, 2014:
Cyber charters are falling
short of expectations/ five pieces on fair funding
Upcoming PA Basic Education Funding Commission Public
Hearings
Thursday, December 4, 2014 at 10 AM East Stroudsburg; Carl T. Secor
Administration Bldg., 50 Vine
Street, East School
District
Wednesday, December 10, 2014, 10 AM - 12:00 PM
* meeting times and locations subject to change
"From every standpoint - academic,
financial, and quality of oversight - there is ample evidence that Pennsylvania National Education Policy
Center
Cyber charters are falling
short of expectations
Inquirer Opinion By Kate Shaw and Adam Schott POSTED: November
26, 2014, 1:08 AM
Kate Shaw is executive
director ( kshaw@researchforaction.org) and Adam Schott is director of
policy research ( aschott@researchforaction.org) at Research for Action, a
Philadelphia-based, nonprofit education research organization.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education has just concluded
hearings on three proposed cyber-charter schools. If approved, these schools
have the potential to divert millions from Pennsylvania 's brick-and-mortar charter
schools at a time of unprecedented financial and structural challenges. Even without these new cyber charters, the
sector continues to expand. While the number of cyber schools is down slightly
to 14 (from a high of 16 in 2013), enrollment is up - reaching nearly 36,000
students according to the most recent data from Education Department. The
combined enrollments of cyber schools would make it the second-largest district
in Pennsylvania . This growth - and now the prospect of even
more cyber charters - is alarming considering any basic assessment of the
sector's performance.
Penn Live By Letters to the
Editor on November 25, 2014 at 11:00 AM WILLIAM H. KERR, Superintendent
of Schools, Norwin School District , Westmoreland County
Fair funding for Pa.
By Neil D. Theobald POSTED: Wednesday, November 26, 2014,
1:08 AM
Neil D. Theobald is
president of Temple
University
In 1866, the architect ofNew York City 's
Central Park, Frederick Law Olmsted, was asked to come to San
Francisco and re-create Central Park on a windswept expanse of sand
dunes near the future Golden Gate
Bridge
In 1866, the architect of
Funding
should be driven by enrollment, education leaders say
School funding needs to start with the actual number of
students in a district.
That’s what Jay Himes told state officials in Lancaster on Monday.
Himes, the executive director of the Pennsylvania Association
of School Business Officials, testified at the Basic Education Funding
Commission’s public hearing at Intermediate Unit 13.
The commission was created by legislators in June to
study a new way of distributing cash to Pennsylvania 's
500 school districts. Pennsylvania
is one of only a handful of states that do not have a predictable education
funding formula based on student enrollment and characteristics.
DN Editorial: Formula for
disaster
Philly Daily News Editorial POSTED: Tuesday, November 25,
2014, 3:01 AM
EACH YEAR Pennsylvania
hands out $5.5 billion in subsidies for basic education that follows a formula
which is outdated and ignores the realities of local school districts. To use
just one example: districts that have lost students in recent years get the
same amount of state subsidy, even though they are educating fewer children.
And don't even talk about making allowances for such factors as poverty. In fact, in 2007, a "costing-out"
study commissioned by the legislature concluded that the state's public schools
were underfunded by $4.38 billion. The study further concluded that Philadelphia schools were
underfunded by nearly $5,000 per student. Schools got a one-time boost
following the study, but that increase was short-lived. Fortunately, the current legislature
recognizes the need to change the formula and created a bipartisan commission,
with members from the legislature and the governor's office, to devise a new
and improved formula.
Developments in fair education
funding
PA School Talk Blog Posted by Kate Welch on
November 25, 2014 at 5:30pm
November has been a busy month in public education news.
On November 10, the Education
Law Center
Consensus is building across the state that fair funding is
vitally important to our commonwealth's future--that means both sufficient
funds to educate every child and equitable distribution to make sure funds go
to the communities that need them the most. Just yesterday the Philadelphia
Daily News Editorial Board published a piece arguing for both of those goals.
In Lancaster
City
These are just a few highlights of the articles and editorials
spreading the word on the recent fair funding lawsuit and the need for adequate
funding. Check out the suit's website, "Thorough and Efficient," for more explanation and
links to pieces from across the state discussing it.
PA Basic Education Funding
Commission
The Campaign for Fair Education
Funding
Thorough and
Efficient? A video short on Pennsylvania’s Education Funding Lawsuit
Thorough and Efficient: Pennsylvania School
The Education Law Center of Pennsylvania and the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia filed
suit in Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court on November 10, 2014 on behalf of six
school districts, seven parents, and two statewide associations against
legislative leaders, state education officials, and the Governor for failing to
uphold the General Assembly’s constitutional obligation to provide a"thorough
and efficient" system of public education.
Wolf rounds out panel of
fiscal advisers
Governor-elect Tom Wolf has tapped union leaders,
former Rendell administration officials and private business executives to join
his committee to address the expected budget crisis on the horizon. Leading the Budget Deficit and Fiscal
Stabilization Task Force are former budget secretary Mary
Soderberg and Montgomery County Commission Chairman Josh Shapiro. The Independent Fiscal Office released a report this month
projecting a more than $2 million budget deficit in 2015. Wolf delivers his
first budget address in March.
"Pennsylvania
is facing challenging economic times, a multi-billion dollar budget deficit,
and negative cash flow projections," said Gov,-elect Wolf. "My Budget
Deficit and Fiscal Stabilization Task Force will get to work to determine the
scope of the challenges facing Pennsylvania
and begin to discuss how we can get Pennsylvania 's
fiscal house in order."
Other members of the committee include:
Governor-Elect Wolf
Names Budget Deficit and Fiscal Stabilization Task Force
November 25, 2014 by Wolf Transition
"Pennsylvania
is facing challenging economic times, a multi-billion dollar budget deficit,
and negative cash flow projections," said Governor-elect Tom Wolf.
"My Budget Deficit and Fiscal Stabilization Task Force will get to work to
determine the scope of the challenges facing Pennsylvania
and begin to discuss how we can get Pennsylvania 's
fiscal house in order."
Constitution High students
march to Liberty Bell to protest Ferguson
the notebook By Shannon Nolan and Dale Mezzacappa on Nov
25, 2014 03:07 PM
Students from Constitution
High School Ferguson ,
Mo. Ferguson -- a grand
jury's decision not to indict Police Officer Darren Wilson for the fatal
shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown. She
decided she had to do something about it. After all, this is Constitution High School
Reader feedback invited:
Teaching about Ferguson in Philadelphia
the notebook By Paul Socolar on Nov 25, 2014 01:03 PM
Many Philadelphia students have
yesterday's news on their minds today -- of the non-indictment in last summer's
police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson ,
Mo.
The Notebook would like to hear from teachers,
parents, and others about how you are engaging with young people about that
news. Please share your experiences and thoughts in our comments.
Testing Resistance &
Reform News: November 19 - 25, 2014
FairTest Submitted by fairtest on November 25, 2014 - 1:10pm
As you give thanks over the upcoming holiday, please join
FairTest in our gratitude for the thousands of parents, teachers, students, administrators,
community activists, school board members, researchers and commentators who are
standing up to protect our children from standardized testing misuse and
overuse. Here are a few of their recent stories.
"The program — started more than a
decade ago by educators at Boston
College
In a new study, students who went through Boston schools with a City Connects program, like Edison , were shown to drop out of high school at half the
rate of their peers from other schools. City
Connects is now in 62 schools in Boston , Springfield , and Dayton ,
Ohio
Community Schools: Helping
students with needs that extend outside the classroom
Mark Griffin starts every weekday standing at the door of the
Thomas Edison K8 School in Brighton : “Great
hat!” “Don’t you look good today!” “How’re you making out?”
His pleasantries are a nice way to start the day, but they also
have a point. As Griffin greets more than 400 students each morning, he’s
looking to see who is shivering in a too-thin coat, whose eyes look rimmed with
tears, which parents are walking their kids to school and staying for the free
breakfast themselves. “It’s hard to
concentrate on schoolwork when there are other things much more important to
them that need to be addressed,” Griffin
said. Nearly all students at Edison are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch,
which means they come from families that lack middle-class advantages. That’s where Griffin comes in. He’s employed by a program
called City Connects that helps Edison kids
with needs that extend outside of the classroom.
New York Times By MOTOKO RICH NOV.
25, 2014
The federal Department of Education announced preliminary rules
on Tuesday requiring states to develop rating systems for teacher preparation
programs that would track a range of measures, including the job placement and
retention rates of graduates and the academic performance of their students. In a move that drew some criticism, the
Education Department said the new rating systems could be used to determine
eligibility for certain federal grants used by teacher candidates to help pay
for their training. Critics have long
faulted teacher training as inadequately preparing candidates for the realities
and rigors of the job. In a conference
call with reporters, Arne Duncan, the
secretary of education, said that far too many education programs set lower
requirements for entry than other university majors.
Education Week By Stephen Sawchuk Published Online: November 25, 2014
Teacher colleges would need to provide proof of their
graduates’ classroom skills in helping advance student learning, under proposed rules issued Nov. 25 by the U.S. Department of
Education. Programs that failed to do so
could eventually be blocked from offering financial aid to would-be K-12
teachers in the form of federal Teacher Education Assistance for College and
Higher Education, or TEACH, grants, according to the long-delayed proposal.
The rules are the Obama administration’s attempt to toughen
what have long been considered ineffectual requirements for teacher-preparation
programs in Title II of the Higher Education Act. Even so, under its proposal,
few consequences would kick in before 2020—years after President Barack Obama
will have left office.
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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