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PA Ed Policy Roundup for
December 13, 2014:
Head of state charter
coalition: Not sure of size of waiting lists
EPLC "Focus on Education"
TV Program on PCN - Sunday, December 14 at 3:00 p.m.
Guest 1: Michael Churchill, Of Counsel with the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia, who
will discuss the new school funding lawsuit against Pennsylvania
Guest 2: James M. Vaughan, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Historical and Museums
Commission, who will discuss the work of the PHMC
All EPLC "Focus on Education" TV shows are hosted by EPLC President Ron Cowell.
Visit the EPLC and the Pennsylvania School Funding Project web sites for various resources related to school funding and arts education issues.
All EPLC "Focus on Education" TV shows are hosted by EPLC President Ron Cowell.
Visit the EPLC and the Pennsylvania School Funding Project web sites for various resources related to school funding and arts education issues.
Head of state charter
coalition: Not sure of size of waiting lists
Is it 40,000? Advocates often cite that number, which is
from four years ago and did not account for students on multiple lists.
the notebook By Dale
Mezzacappa on Dec 12, 2014 04:58 PM
The head of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter
Schools said Friday that there is no way of knowing whether the claim is
accurate that 40,000 students in Philadelphia
now are on charter school waiting lists.
Is the number larger? is it smaller? Is it close? What is the
relationship between the number of names on lists and the actual number of
students waiting to get into charters? Can't
say, according to Bob Fayfich, executive director of the Pennsylvania Coalition
of Public Charter Schools. As the
School District wraps up its first set of hearings on applications for 40 new
charter schools in the city, Fayfich explained in an interview the origin of
the figure that is often cited by prominent charter proponents, including PennCAN and the
Philadelphia School Partnership.
He acknowledged that the estimate is based on figures from 2010-11 and
does not account for duplication of students who are on more than one waiting
list, or for students who may already be in a school that they want to attend.
Republicans could secure Wolf
cabinet appointments
TribLive By Brad
Bumsted Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014, 12:01 a.m.
NEW YORK —
Democratic Gov.-elect Tom Wolf said Friday he is considering hiring some
Republicans in his cabinet, a move that could bolster his standing with
stronger Republican majorities in the House and Senate. “It's in the back, and front, of my mind,”
Wolf told the Tribune-Review in an interview.
One person he won't rule out is Bev Mackereth, the Human Services
secretary from his hometown of York .
A former Republican House member, Mackereth is on good terms with many
lawmakers. GOP Gov. Tom Corbett tapped her to head the agency once called the
Department of Public Welfare.
Union officials prominent in
Wolf transition
Gov.-elect Tom Wolf has publicly named 68 people as staff of
his upcoming administration or members of transition committees, and fewer than
half donated to his campaign. The 28 who
did donate directly to his campaign gave a total of $303,180 in either cash or
in-kind contributions, according to his campaign finance reports. He raised
more than $32.7 million, so less than 1 percent (0.93 percent) came from people
already involved in the transition. Only
one of the donors lives in Northeast Pennsylvania .
Ida Castro, a former Clinton administration
official who’s now a Scranton resident, serves
as president of the board at the Employment
Opportunity & Training Center in Scranton .
She gave $1,500. She’s on the budget deficit and fiscal stabilization task
force, a key panel for Mr. Wolf, who faces a $1.85 billion deficit when he
takes over.
Dahlkemper to help Gov.-elect
Wolf with transition
GoErie by KEVIN FLOWERS, Erie Times-News DECEMBER 13, 2014
12:01 AM EST
Erie County Executive Kathy Dahlkemper has been tabbed to help fellow Democrat and Gov.-elect Tom Wolf with his transition. Dahlkemper's office said she accepted a position on Wolf's Transition Review Team, which is reviewing state agencies and commissions. Dahlkemper will co-chair a team examining transportation with Eric Menzer, a former director of economic development for the city ofYork . "I am extremely honored to have been
asked to serve on this team to help the Governor-elect as he prepares to lead Pennsylvania ,"
Dahlkemper said.
Erie County Executive Kathy Dahlkemper has been tabbed to help fellow Democrat and Gov.-elect Tom Wolf with his transition. Dahlkemper's office said she accepted a position on Wolf's Transition Review Team, which is reviewing state agencies and commissions. Dahlkemper will co-chair a team examining transportation with Eric Menzer, a former director of economic development for the city of
"As of the 2012-13 school year (the
most recent data available), there were 260 reported student opt-outs. The
explosive growth of the movement in New York provides reason to believe that opt-outs
could climb dramatically even over the course of a single year. In our neighbor
to the north, as many as 43,000 students opted out of state testing in 2013-14
alone. Although precise numbers for previous years are not available, news
reports suggest that this number is several times larger than in the previous
year and that the phenomenon is directly tied to the introduction of more
rigorous Common Core-aligned tests."
The effect of student
'opt-outs' on schools
the notebook By Jessica K. Beaver and Lucas Westmaas on Dec
12, 2014 12:19 PM
Jessica Beaver is a research associate at Research for
Action. Lucas Westmaas is a research analyst at Research for Action.
The uproar against standardized testing has been getting louder
in Philadelphia
over the last few years. Recently, activists have been wielding a relatively
new term in their vocabulary: “opting out.”
The term can be confusing, as it can mean two things. In one sense, it
can refer to parents who use a provision in state regulation to exempt their
children from taking state tests, including the PSSAs and the Keystones. In
another sense, it can refer to entire schools or districts that decide not to
distribute the tests in the first place.
City Council recently heard testimony from educators and
activists who argued that high-stakes testing and budget cuts have upended any
premise of a fair accountability system. Council yesterday passed a resolution in support of scaling back standardized
testing in the School District
of Philadelphia
Only one district nationwide has opted out of large-scale state
testing requirements altogether – and that Florida district later rescinded the
decision.
Individual opt-outs are far more likely to occur. In Pennsylvania , this
process requires a parent to inspect state assessment materials and submit a
written request for a religious exemption; the request is automatically
granted, with no consequences for the student or parents.
Judge denies PSBA petition to
intervene in York
City School
PSBA Press Release December 12, 2014
York County Judge Stephen Linebaugh on Thursday, Dec. 11,
dismissed the Pennsylvania School Board Association’s (PSBA) petition to
intervene in the state’s request to appoint a receiver for the York City
School District York City School District
“PSBA is disappointed in the decision of the court yesterday,”
said PSBA Executive Director Nathan Mains. “PSBA strongly opposes this usurping
of local control and will continue to work with legislators and community
leaders to promote and defend public education in Pennsylvania .”
If the court approves the state’s request for the appointment
of a receiver, the receiver will seize the authority to govern the York City School District from the locally elected school board
and turn operations over to Charter
Schools USA
Judge denies stay in York
City Schools receivership case
York Daily Record
Staff report UPDATED: 12/11/2014 10:43:13 PM EST
A York County judge will hear arguments next week on whether
he should appoint a receiver for the York
City School
District
And the judge said Thursday he'll allow unions representing
district employees to participate in the case, but he said several other
groups, including some district parents, cannot.
The state education department last week asked the court to
name David Meckley, now the school district's recovery officer, as receiver,
which would give him the school board's powers except for taxing. He could then
take action to turn district schools into charters, without the school board's
consent. The state said the school board
isn't following the district's recovery plan, for reasons including the board's
approval of a teachers' contract that Meckley said doesn't meet the recovery
plan, and the board's decision to table a contract with a charter operator that
Meckley directed them to approve. The district has said the board didn't have
adequate time to consider the charter proposal.
No delay On Thursday, Judge Stephen Linebaugh denied the school
district's request to delay the case until January, after Gov.-elect Tom Wolf
takes office.
York County judge says no to
parents, advocacy groups in York
City School
District
By Candy Woodall |
cwoodall@pennlive.com on December 11, 2014 at 5:13 PM,
updated December 11, 2014 at 5:25 PM
York
City School District teachers and support professionals will have their day in
court, but a county judge denied that opportunity for parents, taxpayers,
the NAACP and Pennsylvania School Board Association. Those groups asked the court to be heard in
the state's
effort to grant receivership to David Meckley, who has been the chief
recovery officer for the school district since 2012. President Judge Stephen Linebaugh on Thursday
afternoon ruled against the parents, taxpayers, NAACP and PSBA, saying the law
is clear and they don't have the right to intervene. "The statutory right is between the
school district and the Department of Education," he said. Linebaugh said the groups had an interest in
the outcome of receivership, not the appointment of receivership itself.
Will
York City Public Schools Become Pa.
Education Week District Dossier Blog By Denisa R.
Superville on December 12, 2014 7:45 AM
The financially-strapped York City school system in the south central region of Pennsylvania could
become the state's first district where all schools are run by a private,
for-profit charter organization.
It's an option being pushed by York City York City district is Charter Schools USA
But before proponents could push York City to make that
change—a move staunchly opposed by some parents and district employees—a local
judge will have to decide whether to grantPennsylvania Acting Education
Secretary Carolyn Dumaresq's request to
appoint a receiver to take control over the school district. On Thursday,
Common Pleas Judge Stephen Linebaugh denied
a request by the school district to temporarily halt the case.
Instead of attacking
teachers, maybe Jerry Shenk should think about how to improve our schools:
Michael Crossey
PennLive
Op-Ed By Michael Crossey on December 12, 2014 at 2:00 PM,
updated December 12, 2014 at 2:43 PM
I've rarely read something more out of step with the actual views of Pennsylvanians than Jerry
Shenk's Dec. 5 column. His notion
that Gov.-elect Tom Wolf's commitment to reversing nearly $1 billion in school
funding cuts is "misplaced" is nothing less than shocking.
When Pennsylvanians' votes were counted on Nov. 4, it was clear
that they rejected Gov. Tom Corbett's priorities for Pennsylvania . Leading up to the election,
poll after poll showed that public education was the top issue in the minds of
voters. The reason for that is simple.
Pennsylvanians didn't like the impact that nearly $1 billion in
school funding cuts had on the schools in their communities. They didn't like
exploding class sizes. They didn't like that more than 20,000 trusted educators
lost their jobs. And they didn't like the property tax increases they were
forced to pay. Why did all of these
things happen?
MARTHA WOODALL, INQUIRER
STAFF WRITER Friday, December 12, 2014, 12:53 PM
The embattled Wakisha Charter School
is running out of money so fast that the North
Philadelphia middle school now plans to close Dec. 19, instead of
Dec. 23. And the school will operate
only half-days next week.
"Currently, we have approximately 100 students, three administrators
and 10 classroom teachers and support staff," Michelle Robinson, the
school's assistant principal, said in a letter to families Thursday. "We
expect that the numbers will continue to decrease. As a result, the last day
for students will be Dec. 19."
School officials did not respond to requests for comment Friday
morning. Fernando Gallard, a spokesman
for the school district, confirmed that the charter would close four days
sooner than expected.
ASPIRA charter provider on
thin ice, Philly School District
WHYY Newsworks BY BILL
HANGLEY DECEMBER 13, 2014
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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