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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for
December 30, 2014:
A study done in Philadelphia
Keep Up with the
Campaign for Fair Education Funding
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Appeal stalls state takeover
of York City
ERIN
JAMES / The York Dispatch 505-5439 / @ydcity
POSTED: 2/29/2014 07:46:55 PM EST
A judge's ruling last week gave David Meckley nearly all
authority over the York
City School
District Spring Garden Township Commonwealth Court
before taking any decisive actions as the district's receiver. For example, Meckley said he's not entirely
sure what might occur at the next school board meeting on Monday, Jan. 12. "My understanding, until there's a clear
path, we would have business as usual," he said. Margie Orr, president of the district's school
board, said she's been told Meckley is "receiver in name only" until
the appeal is resolved. "We're told
that that appeal has to be settled before he can move in as receiver," she
said. "I don't know how it works. We'll find out more, I'm hoping, in the
near future."
"The community clearly opposes the
plan. Yet while they have no say in the matter, city property owners' tax
dollars now will be used not only for education but to boost the profits of
Charter Schools USA. Since the district
is struggling financially, how can anyone justify diverting even a penny away
from the students?"
EDITORIAL: York City
Such a conversion has never been tried in Pennsylvania ,
and the company's plan for York
City
"The possibility of turning the
7,500-student district over to a charter operator also raises the question of
whether it could serve as a model for other districts in receivership,
including the Duquesne City and Chester Upland school districts."
By Mary Niederberger / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette December 30, 2014 12:00 AM
York County President Judge Stephen Linebaugh’s decision to
appoint a receiver in the York
City School
District
It’s a scenario that has raised a multitude of legal,
educational and political issues, including whether an appointee of the
administration of outgoing Gov. Tom Corbett could, or should, make the change
before Gov.-elect Tom Wolf takes office Jan. 20. “Governor-elect Wolf has made it very clear
that he wants this process to wait until he is governor so he can analyze the
issue,” said Mr. Wolf’s spokesman Jeff Sheridan. Officials with the state Department of
Education maintain that David Meckley, who was appointed receiver on Friday, is
free to move forward if he so chooses unless a court stay is ordered. “Mr. Meckley can now implement the
much-needed financial recovery plan that will improve the district’s
educational programs, increase student achievement and restore financial
stability to the district,” said acting Secretary of Education Carolyn Dumaresq
in a statement.
NPR:
First Book Gets Reading Material Into The Hands Of Low-Income Students
NPR Morning Edition by LYNN NEARY DECEMBER 29, 2014 5:06
AM ET
Listen
to the Story Morning
Edition 6 min 52 sec
A study done in Philadelphia
found a total of 33 books in a community of 10,000 children. A group is solving
that problem by partnering with the publishing industry to get books to kids in
need.
Report: Gap Widens Between
Rich, Poor Pa. Schools
In fact, the disparity
doubled during Tom Corbett’s administration.
AP reports that the funding gap between the state’s
richest and poorest schools is widening — and in fact has doubled during the
Corbett Administration. This school
year, districts in the top half of average resident income are budgeted to
spend nearly $1,800 more per student than the poorest half of districts. That’s
a 140 percent increase in the size of the gap, or about $1,060 more per
student, since the 2010-11 school year, according to the AP’s analysis.
Districts in the top 20 percent of average resident income are
budgeted to spend slightly more than $4,000 more per student this year than the
poorest 20 percent of districts. That's a 130 percent increase, or about $2,300
more per student, in the past four years.
Incoming Gov. Tom Wolf has proposed imposing a tax on gas
drilling in the Marcellus Shale and using the funds to increase ed funding; the
Pennsylvania Legislature is waiting to hear the report of a Basic Education
Funding Commission it put to work earlier this year. Its report is due in 2015.
Read more at http://www.phillymag.com/news/2014/12/29/report-gap-widens-rich-poor-pa-schools/#zWU4MdJgyQ4biDer.99
"This report fortifies the perception
of a flawed state education system that has “one of the smallest roles in
school funding of any state, leaving poorer school districts too reliant on an
inadequate and often-shrinking local tax bases,” as one critic put it."
Report: Education Spending
Gap “Exploded” Under Corbett’s Tenure
PoliticsPA Written by
Eddie deSciora, Contributing Writer December 29, 2014
Recent analysis of education funding shows a large disparity in
funds budgeted to spend per student in the wealthiest and poorest
districts. Figures released by the Associated
Press on state spending, income and attendance has yielded a stark and
growing disparity.
“Districts in the top 20 percent of average resident income are
budgeted to spend slightly more than $4,000 more per student this year than the
poorest 20 percent of districts,” according to the analysis. “That’s a 130
percent increase, or about $2,300 more per student, in the past four
years.” Jim Buckheit of The Pennsylvania Association of School
Administrators noted that less privileged districts “can’t make up the
difference” from tax revenues. “As these cuts went into place, the only options
the (poorer) districts had was to cut.”
Walter Palmer charter closes
leaving hundreds of Philly students in the lurch
WHYY Newsworks BY KEVIN
MCCORRY DECEMBER 29, 2014
This year brought the Walter Palmer
Leadership Learning
Partners Charter
School
In October, facing an insurmountable budget crunch, Palmer
shuttered its 286-student high school campus in Wissinoming and held a lottery
to whittle the enrollment of another 250 students at its elementary schools
there and in Northern Liberties. Last
week, in a move that's making some parents furious, Palmer's school board voted
to permanently close the financially embattled school on New Year's Eve. Parents were notified in a letter dated Dec.
26.
Shuttered charter school
leaves students, staff scrambling
MARTHA WOODALL, INQUIRER
STAFF WRITER LAST
UPDATED: Tuesday, December 30, 2014, 1:08 AM POSTED: Monday, December 29, 2014, 6:53
PM
The fallout from the abrupt closing of the Walter D. Palmer Leadership
Learning Partners
Charter School
Palmer Charter parents make
last-ditch plea to state
SOLOMON LEACH, DAILY
NEWS STAFF WRITER LEACHS@PHILLYNEWS.COM,
215-854-5903 POSTED: Tuesday, December 30, 2014, 3:01 AM
FRUSTRATED PARENTS and guardians from Walter D. Palmer Leadership
Learning Partners
Charter School
Huddled outside the school's Northern Liberties campus last
night, about 10 adults said they were baffled by the short notice of the
closing - families received a letter on Friday - and skeptical about the
Philadelphia School District's transition process for the roughly 600 displaced
pupils.
"Bottom line? Mary chooses to pay for
union politics by choosing to be a union member. Unless she lives her life in a
cave and is blind to what PSEA are doing, it means she chooses to pay for
lobbyists to oppose a Right to Work law and to oppose strike-free education for
children. Therefore she's no victim. If she doesn't like the union's politics
she should quit the union. And the promoters of "Mary's Law" should
quit insulting the intelligence of the public by hoisting a fake martyr onto
us."
So-called 'Mary's Law' is
deceptive marketing that hurts the cause: Simon Campbell
PennLive
Op-Ed By Simon Campbell on December 29, 2014 at 10:05 AM
Conservatives shoot themselves in the foot when they promote
legislation using deceptive marketing practices. Case in point: legislation
known as "Paycheck Protection" now being promoted as "Mary's
Law" after a PSEA teacher union member was unhappy with a political
campaign mailer sent by the teachers' union.
We're supposed to feel sorry for Mary because she doesn't support the
union's political activity. She's being set up as some kind of a martyr. Only
you won't find an ounce of sympathy for her from Pennsylvanians for Union
Reform and we're not exactly fans of the teachers' union. The truth is that Mary is being used by our
friends at the Commonwealth Foundation and by legislators as part of a
dishonest marketing strategy.
Most kids no longer live in
'traditional' family, Pew says
As Christopher Ingraham writes for The
Washington Post, "For the majority of U.S. children, the traditional
nuclear family is an ideal that doesn't reflect reality." He also noted some of the challenges that
come to children raised in different situations. "Researchers are in
general agreement that children of unmarried parents tend to have a tougher
time in life: more poverty, more instability, and more problems at school,
among other things. But it's less clear what type of policy measures we might
take to address these issues."
New York Times By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DEC. 26, 2014
Mayor Martin Walsh of Boston
said that public school officials and teachers’ union leaders had agreed to add
40 minutes to the school day. The agreement announced Friday would affect
nearly 23,000 elementary and middle school students. Mr. Walsh said students
have a better chance at success with more learning time. The teachers’ union
president said the proposal would benefit art, music, drama, foreign language
and other underserved subject areas. The proposal still requires approval by
the union’s full membership and the city school committee. Elementary students
currently have six hours of class time in Boston
public schools, while middle school students have six hours and 10 minutes of
class time.
Yinzercation: Top 10
Education Justice Wins of 2014
It’s almost the New Year and time for making lists. As we say
goodbye to 2014, here is our list of the top ten education justice victories of
the year:
Before Accepting the
Portfolio Model, Shouldn’t We Check to See if It Works?
EducareNow Blog by Bill Boyle Posted on December 28, 2014 | 2
Comments
It is commonly expected that Michigan ’s
governor, Rick Snyder, will
be announcing that some version of the “portfolio model” will be put
in place somewhere in Michigan .
It likely that this model will be imposed on our most marginalized
communities, because that’s essentially how colonialism tends
to spread. Before accepting this model,
it would have been really nice if Snyder and friends would check into the
evidence that shows whether or not the portfolio model does indeed work. Part of this assumes, of course, that we know
what we mean by saying something “works.” And within this assumed
understanding are obscured questions: How does a system function?
Who does the system benefit? Who is hurt? Who are the winners? And who
are the losers? In this particular case, when determining
whether or not it works, the question becomes, how does the portfolio model
function as a system?
And, if we look at the portfolio model in this way, we find
that it does work!
It works to dispossess communities from their commonly held
social capital. It works to provide much profit for those that own
charters, publishing companies and those that produce educational software.
It works to benefit those who already hold power and are looking to
extend that power. So yes, it works.
However, there is little to no evidence that it works to benefit the
students it purportedly is designed to benefit.
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.
PSBA Master School Board
Director Recognition: Applications begin in January
PSBA website December 23, 2014
The Master School Board Director (MSBD) Recognition is for
individuals who have demonstrated significant contributions as members of their
governance teams. It is one way PSBA salutes your hard work and exceptional
dedication to ethics and standards, student success and achievement,
professional development, community engagement, communications, stewardship of
resources, and advocacy for public education.
School directors who are consistently dedicated to the
aforementioned characteristics should apply or be encouraged to apply by fellow
school directors. The MSBD Recognition demonstrates your commitment to
excellence and serves to encourage best practices by all school directors.
The application will be posted Jan. 15, 2015,
with a deadline to apply of June 30. Recipients will be notified by the MSBD
Recognition Committee by Aug. 31 and will be honored at the PASA-PSBA School
Leadership Conference in October.
If you are interested in learning more about the MSBD
Recognition, contact Janel
Biery, conference/events coordinator, at (800) 932-0588, ext. 3332.
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