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PA Ed Policy Roundup for
December 16, 2014:
Will York PA
A look back: How Pennsylvania
By the Notebook on Oct 2, 2014 10:39 AM
This article includes a list of appointees
to the education transition team
250-plus people named to
Gov-elect Tom Wolf's transition review teams
By Christian
Alexandersen | calexandersen@pennlive.com on December 15, 2014 at
12:55 PM, updated December 15, 2014 at 1:10 PM
Gov-elect Tom
Wolf announced the names of more than 250 people on Monday that will
review state agencies, commissions and various issue areas as part of his
transition team. Wolf
named the chairmen
and women for the review teams last week. The individuals
selected by Wolf will review a number of areas including aging, agriculture,
education, health, military and veterans, transportation, revenue and many
more. The transition review teams will
work with the outgoing administration to better understand the issues and
challenges that face the executive branch, according to a prepared release. Additional names may be forthcoming.
Here's a breakdown of the members of the transition review
teams:
Gamesmanship shouldn't
overtake needed debate on shale tax, pensions: PennLive Editorial
By PennLive Editorial
Board on December 15, 2014 at 11:20 AM
In what is either an encouraging note of conciliation or a sure
recipe for gridlock, new state Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman has
said he'll only a consider a severance tax on natural gas drillers (or other
new revenue raisers) if lawmakers and the incoming Wolf administration are able
to reach agreement on a pension reform package.
Speaking to reporters at last weekend's Pennsylvania
Society gala in New York City ,Corman, R-Centre, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that
majority Republicans are "not ruling anything in or out," and plan to
work with Gov.-elect Tom Wolf on his agenda when the York County
Democrat takes office next month.
But, he added, "there's no tax, a Marcellus Shale tax, tobacco tax,
whatever you want. There's no sin tax that's going to cover our costs for
pensions and Medicaid. There's just not enough money there." Corman is absolutely correct that a new
severance tax would put only a mild dent in those massive costs. But his
statement is at once encouraging and troubling.
By ANGIE
MASON York Daily Record/Sunday News UPDATED: 12/16/2014
05:56:21 AM
Attorneys grilled David Meckley, the York City School District
If York County Judge Stephen Linebaugh approves the state's
request, Meckley would named receiver and have the authority to steer the
district's future, with the school board left only with the power to levy
taxes. Meckley spent much of Monday
morning testifying about the creation of the district's recovery plan and
what's happened since.
David Meckley testifies as
state's first witness in York
City School
District
Penn Live By Candy Woodall |
cwoodall@pennlive.com on December 15, 2014 at 12:30 PM,
York County President Judge
Stephen Linebaugh on Monday heard from the state's first witness in
its petition to put the York
City School
District York
County resident who currently lives in
Spring Garden Township York Suburban School District ,
one of York City
Will York
Staff report UPDATED:
12/12/2014 06:56:40 PM EST
Pa. auditor backs off state
Department of Education
WHYY Newsworks BY MARY
WILSON DECEMBER 16, 2014
It appears the tensions have subsided, at least for the moment,
between the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the commonwealth's fiscal
watchdog. Auditor General Eugene
DePasquale blasted the agency earlier this month for being uncooperative with a
performance review. But he said more
recently that the department has begun sending timely responses – beginning
with one that was due last Tuesday. "For
the first time in the history of our audit of the Department of Education, they
met a deadline of supplying information," said DePasquale.
The
Note: December 12, 2014
Arts and Education News from the Education Policy and Leadership Center
"Contractually obligated costs
attached to salaries and benefits will go up by 5.3 percent, totaling an
estimated $2.7 million of the budget. Salaries are projected to increase
$381,000 and benefits are projected to increase $2.3 million overall, Riker
said."
No cuts to programs or staff
positions in tentative $77 million Nazareth
School
By Pamela
Sroka-Holzmann | The Express-Times on December 15, 2014 at 9:05 PM
Next year's Nazareth Area School District budget proposal doesn't
include layoffs or cuts to programs, but taxpayers likely will see a 2.4
percent hike. The tentative $77 million
2015-16 school budget is a 4.25 percent increase over the 2014-15 $73.9 million
spending plan. The preliminary budget Monday was unveiled to the public by
district superintendent Dennis
Riker and business administrator Bernadine Rishcoff.
Delco Times Heron's Nest Blog by Editor Phil Heron Tuesday,
December 16, 2014
He survived an attempt by Gov. Tom Corbett to remove him from
his job, now Joe Watkins is ready to tangle with 'Live From the Newsroom.' We'll have the embattled receiver of the Chester Upland School District
"Although definitions vary somewhat, the idea of a
community school is grounded in a notion of the neighborhood school as a vital
educational and social service hub in the community. Classes are held like at
any other school, but a community school threads social and academic supports
into its educational model, forging partnerships with neighborhood services that
cater to students and their families. "
the notebook By Payne Schroeder on Dec 15, 2014 11:48 AM
For Kamoy Gumbs, a senior at South Philadelphia
High School Sunrise for three years
to provide afterschool programming and social services inside its building for
students, parents, and, when it can, other community members.
In addition to the culinary program, the school offers many
others, on topics including class credit recovery, sexual health education,
outpatient therapy, college preparation for children of migrant and refugee
parents, and social benefit access. In
August, City Council held a hearing on the possibility of creating “community
schools” in the District. Then, in late October, the District’s chief of
student services, Karyn Lynch, announced tentative plans to turn Southern and Strawberry Mansion
Philly - District won't
propose any school closings this year
the notebook By David
Limm on Dec 15, 2014 06:26 PM
For the second year in a row, School District of Philadelphia School
District spokesperson Fernando Gallard confirmed in an email,
without elaboration.
Pileggi won't run for state
Supreme Court
Post Gazette Early Returns Blog by Mike Pound on Monday,
15 December 2014 5:16 pm.
State Sen. Dominic Pileggi won't run for the Pennsylvania
Supreme Court, even after apparently fielding many requests to do so. Mr. Pileggi, a Repubican who was just ousted
from his position as Senate majority leader, said on Facebook late this afternoon that he planned to remain
in the Senate. His candidacy for the state's higest court was a hot rumor during last weekend's Pennsylvania Society
activities.
RFA: A Brief
Review of PSAP’s Position
Paper One
City
By Lucas Westmaas & John
Sludden Research for Action December 2014
Background
A position paper released on
December 5, 2014 by the Philadelphia School Advocacy Partners (PSAP), the
advocacy arm of the Philadelphia School Partnership (PSP), calls for an
“aggressive expansion of schools that are achieving results for low-income and
minority students” (p. 2). The document describes what it terms “high-impact”
schools and “underperforming” schools. The author(s) states: For poor and minority students in Philadelphia
1.
PSAP argued that
the populations served by the two groups of schools are essentially identical,
but omits discussion of several important differences between the groups— primarily
in the special education population and in the grade levels served.
2.
PSAP made
questionable decisions about which schools to include in their “underperforming”
sample and failed to detail their rationale for doing so.
3.
We were not able
to reconstruct PSAP’s calculations of the percentage of students who are eligible
for free lunch.
To be clear, this brief is not
intended to offer an alternative explanation for the data presented by PSAP. Rather,
this document argues that the data presented by PSAP are not nearly sufficient
to support their sweeping conclusions.
We begin with an explanation of
how PSAP appears to have constructed its sample.
Calls renewed for charter
school regulations
Philly Trib by Wilford Shamlin III Tribune Staff Writer
Friday, December 12, 2014 12:15 pm
A new report calls for tighter regulations of Philadelphia
charter schools, concluding wasteful spending at the privately managed schools
costs a yearly average of more than $1.5 million of taxpayers’ money, and more
than $30 million since 1997. “Pennsylvania
lawmakers have not given oversight bodies the tools they need to detect that
fraud and stop it early,” according to a report prepared by three nonprofit
agencies, ACTION United, The Center For Popular Democracy, and Integrity In
Education.
PUBLIC SCHOOL POVERTY: THE
NEW NORMAL
Third and State Blog Posted
by Waslala Miranda on December 12, 2014 5:49 pm
The Great Recession may be over but many in Pennsylvania are still suffering from its
effects. This is most obvious in our public schools where the number of
students who qualify for free- or reduced-priced lunches, a poverty measure, is
disturbingly high. Almost half of all public school students
qualified for the lunch program in 2013-14. When we look at these
students and their school districts we find:
Pittsburgh summer learning
programs boost math scores, not other outcomes
By Clarece Polke / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette December 16, 2014 12:00 AM
A study released by the Rand Corp. today showed students who
attend high-quality summer learning programs, including Pittsburgh ’s
Summer Dreamers Academy Dreamers Academy
"It is not a choice when they close
your neighborhood school."
Caucus of Working Educators POSTED BY THE CAUCUS
BLOG 5SC ON DECEMBER 13, 2014
Here's my testimony from Thursday's charter hearing. It was
so odd. There weren't any SRC or District officials, just a lady up front with
a laptop. Strange. On the positive side, I was surprised given the crowd, that
quite a few people clapped when I was done and someone I don't even know thanked
me on Twitter. We are slowly making an impact. We just have to keep showing up.
Education Shouldn’t be an
Unfair Game!
School Finance 101
Blog by Bruce Baker Posted on December 11, 2014
A common claim these days, either in political rhetoric or in
the context of litigation over the equity and adequacy of state school finance
systems is that money simply doesn’t matter. The amount of money we put into
any school or district is inconsequential to the outcomes children achieve or
quality of education they receive. The public schooling system is simply a
money black hole! Thus, it matters not how much money we throw at the system
generally and it matters not whether some children get more than others.
Further, it matters not whether children with greater educational needs have
resources comparable to those with lesser needs and greater preexisting
advantages. Yes, these arguments are
contradicted by the vast
body of empirical evidence which finds otherwise! And these arguments
are often used to deflect emphasis from disparities in resources across
children that are egregious
on their face, and often not merely a function of state legislative neglect
of state school finance systems, but state
legislative actions to drive more public resources to those already more
advantaged. And things
are only getting worse.
Wolf tabs Obra S. Kernodle IV
as deputy chief of staff
Philly Trib by Damon C. Williams Tribune Staff Writer Sunday,
December 14, 2014 1:00 am
Governor-elect Tom Wolf has announced Obra S. Kernodle IV will
become his deputy chief of staff. Wolf takes office in January. Kernodle’s appointment makes him one of the
youngest African Americans to hold such a position in the governor’s cabinet,
and he will also work as director for the office of public liaison. Kernodle, 36, joins John Hanger, who will
serve as secretary of planning and policy, and Mary Isenhour, who will serve as
secretary of legislative affairs. One–time gubernatorial candidate Kathleen
McGinty will serve as Wolf’s chief of staff.
Former Coatesville school
officials charged
MICHAELLE BOND, INQUIRER
STAFF WRITER LAST UPDATED: Monday, December 15, 2014, 12:16 PM
POSTED: Monday, December 15, 2014, 11:42 AM
Two former ranking officials at the Coatesville
Area School
District mismanaged and misappropriated school funds while
their struggling school system sunk deeper into debt, the Chester County
GOP Senate Aides Working on
Draft ESEA Bill That Could Ditch Annual Testing
Education Week Politics K-12 Blog By Alyson Klein on December
15, 2014 3:21 PM
Senate GOP aides, who are hoping to get a bill reauthorizing
the No Child Left Behind Act on the runway early in the new year, are getting
started on legislation that looks very similar to a bill Sen. Lamar Alexander,
R-Tenn., the incoming chairman of the Senate education committee, introduced
last year. (Cheat sheet on that legislation here.) But there would be one major change: an end
to the federal mandate for annual testing, Republican Senate aides confirm.
Instead the bill would leave decisions about testing schedules
up to states. Some would likely stick with annual assessments, while others
would try out gradespan testing and still others would mix and match, GOP aides
say. That's an idea that's likely to
prove popular with education organizations, especially traditional Democratic
allies, including the National Education Association and the American
Federation of Teachers, both of whom have backed
bills that would reduce testing requirements.
American Federation for Children Press Release via email
December 15, 2014
AFC Chairman Betsy DeVos to
speak at 2015 SXSW Education Conference
Solo discussion topic: Competition, Creativity & Choice
in the Classroom
Washington, D.C. (Dec. 15, 2014) – The American
Federation for Children, the nation’s voice for educational choice, is pleased
to announce that Betsy DeVos will speak at this year’s SXSWedu on March
11, 2015. After a successful social media campaign through the SXSWedu Panel
Picker, DeVos was selected from more than 1,000 entries. DeVos’ solo
presentation “Competition, Creativity & Choice in the Classroom” will
discuss how educational choice disrupts the status quo and provides entrepreneurs,
teachers and innovators the opportunity to revolutionize the country’s
antiquated education model.
“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to speak at this year’s SXSWedu conference and share our vision for how educational choice is the catalyst for an education revolution and better outcomes for all children,” said Betsy DeVos, chairman of the American Federation for Children andAlliance for School Choice. “Our nation’s
education system is rooted in an outdated, top down education model that stifles
innovation in the classroom. Educational choice is the gateway to empowering
teachers, inspiring innovators and unleashing the entrepreneurial spirit to
create a 21st century education model that recognizes and
embraces the individuality and uniqueness of every student.” Betsy DeVos is chairman of the American
Federation for Children and Alliance
for School Choice, the nation's voice for educational choice. She also serves
on the board of the Foundation for Excellence in Education and has been
involved in education reform for more than two decades. Created in 2011, SXSWedu celebrates learning
and innovation in education nationwide. This year’s event will be
held March 9–12 in Austin ,
TX
“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to speak at this year’s SXSWedu conference and share our vision for how educational choice is the catalyst for an education revolution and better outcomes for all children,” said Betsy DeVos, chairman of the American Federation for Children and
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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