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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for
January 30, 2015:
PennLive Series - THE
RISE OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN PA
Upcoming Basic Education Funding Commission hearings
scheduled in Montgomery County and Dauphin County
PA
Basic Education Funding Commission website
Thursday, February 5, 2015, 10 am Montgomery
County , Central Montco Tech HS, 821 Plymouth Road, Plymouth Meeting, PA
Thursday, February 26, 2015, 11 amDauphin County
Thursday, February 26, 2015, 11 am
Sign-up for weekly email
updates from the Campaign
The Campaign for Fair Education Funding website
"Research shows that early literacy is
a key predictor of adult success, and the cost of falling behind is clearer
than ever, particularly for low-income students and students of color. It’s an
urban myth that state governments use 3rd-grade literacy levels to predict
prison populations, but the correlation between poor reading, dropping out,
poverty, and incarceration remains troublingly strong."
From reading to community
Stakes are high
for literacy campaigns like READ! by 4th. Non-readers can feel isolated,
leading to more trouble.
By Bill Hangley Jr. on Jan 29, 2015 10:37 AM
It’s family storytime at the Lucien E. Blackwell public library
on 52nd Street ,
and the bushy-haired toddler named Rio isn’t
just here to learn to read.He’s here to join the world. “Look at this – red!”
says Jennifer Walker, the librarian, as she holds open a picture book about
colors. “Just like this scarf!”
Advocate urges DV school
board to join fair funding fight
Sandra
Miller: 'There's a real need for a set formula' for Pennsylvania
SHOHOLA — Sandra Miller from the Campaign for Fair
Education Funding PA says the way schools in Pennsylvania are funded has to change,
because districts don’t know from year to year how state aid will affect their
budgets. “There’s a real need for a set
formula regarding what the individual districts get every year," Miller
told the Delaware
Valley
Miller said she’s a circuit rider and a school board member in Saucon Valley
Miller gave a brief overview of the history of Pennsylvania state
funding, along with more recent developments. Pennsylvania is one of only three states
with no set funding formula, she said.
PA searching for fair
school-funding system
WKBN By Nadine Grimley Published: January 29, 2015, 6:50
pm Updated: January 29, 2015, 7:46 pm
"With the denial of Insight's
application, the Education Department has rejected every application for a new
cyber in the last three years. The
state's 14 existing cybers enroll 36,596 students."
State rejects the third cyber
charter application
MARTHA WOODALL, INQUIRER
STAFF WRITER LAST UPDATED: Friday, January 30, 2015, 1:08 AM POSTED: Thursday,
January 29, 2015, 6:42 PM
PennLive Series - What are
charter schools and why are they controversial? Q&A
Penn Live By Daniel
Simmons-Ritchie | simmons-ritchie@pennlive.com Email the
author | Follow
on Twitter on January 29, 2015 at 8:15 AM, updated January 30, 2015
at 5:32 AM
Charter schools have exploded across the country in the past 20
years and their growth has often been controversial. Here's a primer on charter
schools and why they've spurred so much attention in Pennsylvania .
"It seems to get at a similar
idea," Fischer said. "The idea that you deem public schools as 'failing'
with the solution being to transform them into an institution that serves the
public into one that serves for-profit interests and private
interests." Fischer said that
despite the repeated promises from lawmakers and free-market think tanks, there
was little evidence to suggest that converting established schools into charter
schools solved the structural problems that often plague inner-city
schools."
PennLive Series - Are charter
schools the answer? More on the law that stripped York
Penn Live By Daniel
Simmons-Ritchie | simmons-ritchie@pennlive.com Email the
author | Follow
on Twitter on January 29, 2015 at 10:30 AM, updated January 29,
2015 at 11:01 AM
It's rarely without a fight that a community gives up its
democratic power. But in 2012, almost
overnight, a handful of Pennsylvania school came dangerously close to it after
the state deemed that all four of them – York City School District, Harrisburg
City School District, Duquesne City School District, and Chester-Upland School
District – were so financially distressed they required state oversight. In each district, the state appointed a chief
recovery officer given the authority to take full control should the elected
board fail to make changes as directed.
PennLive Series - Charter
school takeovers: As York schools near privatization, lessons from New Orleans and Michigan
Penn Live By Daniel
Simmons-Ritchie | simmons-ritchie@pennlive.com Email the
author | Follow
on Twitter on January 29, 2015 at 8:00 AM, updated January 29,
2015 at 8:14 AM
On a weekday afternoon in January,William
Penn High School in York looks like any
other school in central Pennsylvania .
Laughing students churn out the main entrance, teachers bustle out of
classrooms bearing books and binders.
But the school, and the seven others that make up the York City School District, differ from the
state's 3,053 other public schools in one fundamental way: they stand on the
precipice of a rarely attempted experiment in the history of America 's education system.
Charter founder described as
fuzzy but competent for retrial on $6.3
million fraud charges
MARTHA WOODALL, INQUIRER
STAFF WRITER LAST UPDATED: Friday, January 30, 2015, 1:08 AM POSTED: Thursday,
January 29, 2015, 2:10 PM
Dorothy June Brown, 77, has some problems remembering dates,
her age, the year, and where she went to school, but a forensic psychologist
said she is competent to be retried on charges that she defrauded the charter
schools she founded of $6.3 million.
District posts reports on
proposed Philly charter schools
By the Notebook on Jan 29, 2015 05:35 PM
Now that both rounds of hearings for 40 new charter school
applicants are over, the School District posted the evaluations for the proposed schools today.
People can look through the reports and submit public comment
by Sunday, Feb. 1, three days from now. Comments can be emailed, dropped off at
District headquarters, or mailed.
The School Reform Commission is required to vote on each
charter application by Feb. 21. District spokesman Fernando Gallard said that
no meeting date for votes has been set.
PA Independent By Evan Grossman | Watchdog.org January 29, 2015
| By Eric Boehm
The School
District of Philadelphia
There are currently 67,000 students attending 84 charter
schools in Philadelphia
and more than 40,000 names on waiting lists to get into charters, according to
Philly School Choice. There is no set number of schools the district must
approve or reject.
"Moreover, Williams’ recorded support
for charter school expansion resulted in huge gains to his campaign treasury
when he unsuccessfully ran for Pennsylvania
The PAC was bankrolled by three local
businessmen, whom The Philadelphia
Mayoral candidate Anthony
Hardy Williams' take on charter schools sets him apart
Daily Pennsylvanian By DAN SPINELLI 01/29/15
1:04am
State Senator Anthony Hardy Williams’s support for charter
schools has made him some unusual allies.
In the debate over charter school expansion, Williams, a Democrat, has
often found himself allied with conservatives. Generally, Democrats advocate
keeping funds within the local school district, while Republicans have
petitioned for vouchers supporting the choice between public and nonpublic
schools. In 1997, Williams was one of
the lone Democrats to join Republicans in the bill allowing charter schools to
form in Pennsylvania .
More recently in 2010, Williams introduced a bill in the Pennsylvania legislature that mandated
vouchers for poor students in underperforming schools. Three Republicans
cosponsored the bill with Williams.
Such bipartisan action on education has made Williams the
darling of some conservative elites, including Republican Senator Patrick
Toomey, who invited Williams to view the 2013 State of the Union address as his
guest.
Nutter asks business to fight
for school funding
CHRIS BRENNAN, INQUIRER
STAFF WRITER LAST UPDATED: Friday, January 30, 2015, 1:08 AM
POSTED: Thursday, January 29, 2015, 8:54 PM
Mayor Nutter, with a nod to the candidates running to succeed
him, on Thursday laid out for the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce a
seven-year history of measured accomplishments and continuing challenges.
2015 Education Outlook:
Issues to Watch
Economy League/World Class Greater Philadelphia By Jen Egmont Jan 28
2015 may mark the beginning of some big changes in education in
Greater Philadelphia -- many of which align with the priorities laid out in our
shared World
Class agenda. From key policy issues like fair funding to debates over
curricula and teacher evaluations, here are a few key areas to watch this year:
ERIN
JAMES / The York Dispatch 505-5439 / @ydcity
POSTED: 01/29/2015 07:32:49 PM EST
Are York
BY EMILY PREVITI,
WITF JANUARY 29, 2015
Quite a departure from recent public sessions that stretched
for hours, with testimony from students, parents and teachers protesting the
proposed charterization of the struggling school district. But a
judge recently affirmed the district’s right to appeal his
own ruling that granted the Pennsylvania Department of Education petition for
receivership . Gov. Tom Wolf – who
has opposed sweeping privatization of public education in his home county seat
– took office last week. And earlier Wednesday, York elected officials met with him about
city schools as part of his ongoing review of the matter. Board President Margie Orr says there's no
complacency.
Organization asks governor for a new, more 'neutral'
receiver
By Gordon Rago grago@ydr.com @gragoYDR on Twitter UPDATED:
01/29/2015 11:39:57 PM EST
Gov. Tom Wolf should expect to see a letter on his desk soon
from York NAACP President Sandra Thompson, who is asking him to make two
"immediate" changes to York
City School
District York
that Meckley has "tunnel vision" when it comes to saving the district
financially through conversion to charter schools. "If we had a more neutral person, that
may be good for the school district while these appeals are pending,"
Thompson said, saying NAACP's position is against a conversion to charter
schools.
"... He also cited the climbing
employee pension contribution rate as a major contributing factor, at an added annual
cost of $3.9 million."
WCASD early budget eyes 3.2%
property tax hike
West Chester Daily
Local By Bill Rettew Jr.,billrettew@aol.com
POSTED:01/29/15, 5:53 PM EST |
WEST GOSHEN >> At Wednesday’s meeting, the West Chester
Area School Board voted to release a preliminary 2015-2016 district budget with
a 3.2 percent property tax increase, or $8.9 million more in spending. Superintendent
Jim Scanlon pointed to increased costs for “unfunded mandates,” including for
special education instruction at an additional $679,000, next year. He also
cited the climbing employee pension contribution rate as a major contributing
factor, at an added annual cost of $3.9 million.
"Even without any pay hikes resulting
from a new teacher contract, the district faces an $823,000 increase in
payroll; a $1.3 million increase in pensions obligations — which will
accompanied by a $680,000 in state aid to cover half the cost of the hike — and
a $320,000 hike in charter school tuition, Nester said. From a percentage standpoint, Pottsgrove is
facing a 3.1% increase in wages; a 21.1% hike in pension costs and a 20.3% hike
in charter school tuition, said Nester."
$65.1M Pottsgrove schools
budget draft could hike taxes by 3.56%
By Mercury Staff POSTED: 01/28/15,
4:19 PM EST | UPDATED: 16 HRS AGO
LOWER POTTSGROVE >> A draft $65.1 million schools budget
that carries the potential to raise property taxes as much as 3.56 percent — or
$160 for a home assessed at $120,000 — was reviewed Tuesday by the Pottsgrove
School Board. Business Manager David Nester
told the board that as it stands now, the district is facing a $2.5 million
shortfall if property taxes are not raised.
The state “index” for Pottsgrove, which sets a ceiling on tax hikes,
would keep a tax hike to 2.4 percent, which would raise property taxes by $108
on the median home assessment.
Interboro board approves
teachers pact
Philly.com by Kathy Boccella LAST UPDATED: Thursday,
January 29, 2015, 1:08 AM POSTED: Wednesday, January 28, 2015, 2:31 PM
PROSPECT PARK The Interboro school board unanimously approved a
contract with its 305-member teachers' union, whose salaries will increase 5.54
percent over the three-year agreement. In
return, teachers have agreed to some cost-saving changes to their medical and
prescription benefits plans, according to the board.
Palmyra administrators
express concern about Project Based Assessments
By Monica Von
Dobeneck | Special to PennLive on January 29, 2015 at 8:41 PM, updated
January 29, 2015 at 8:51 PM
High school students who fail to achieve proficiency on
Keystone exams after two tries can instead take what is called a Project Based
Assessment in order to graduate.
The way the program works worries some administrators in the Palmyra Area School District
Assistant superintendent Bernie Kepler described the program,
which will affect this year's sophomores, to the school board Thursday night.
5 ideas that
could change Philly education — and one that won $5,000 to get started
Billy Penn By Anna Orso January
28, 2015 at 10:01 pm
Jeff Kilpatrick says he has 144
heroes, and they’re all under the age of 15.
The Port Richmond art teacher at
the Memphis Street Academy spends his time teaching his 144 middle schoolers
how to harness entrepreneurial skills through art — and now, because of a pitch
he made to a room of 100 people tonight, he has $5,000 to realize his dreams
for his Philly Artrepreneurs program. Kilpatrick
was the winner of SEED (Supporting Entrepreneurship in Education) 4.0, an
annual event presented by PhillyCORE Leaders, a group of education leaders
collaborating to come up with ideas to better education in the city. Here’s how
SEED 4.0 worked: Representatives from five education startups had three minutes
to pitch their idea to a panel of judges who then asked questions, and after
each pitch, the crowd voted for their favorite pitch.
Senate Ed. Panel Unlikely to
Require Teacher Evaluations in NCLB Overhaul
Education Week Politics K-12 Blog By Lauren
Camera on January 27, 2015 1:40 PM
PA Basic Education Funding
Commission website
Sign-up for weekly email updates from the
Campaign
The Campaign for Fair
Education Funding website
Thorough and Efficient: Pennsylvania
Arguing that our state has failed to ensure that essential
resources are available for all of our public school students to meet state
academic standards.
Register
Now! EPLC 2015 Regional Workshops for School Board Candidates and Others
The Education Policy and Leadership Center, with the
Cooperation of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) and
Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials (PASBO), will
conduct A Series of Regional Full-Day Workshops for 2015
Pennsylvania School Board Candidates. Incumbents,
non-incumbents, campaign supporters and all interested voters are invited to
participate in these workshops.
Pittsburgh Region Saturday, February 21, 2015 – 8:30
a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Allegheny Intermediate Unit, 475 East Waterfront Drive, Homestead, PA 15120
Allegheny Intermediate Unit, 475 East Waterfront Drive, Homestead, PA 15120
Harrisburg Region Saturday, March 7, 2015– 8:30
a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Pennsylvania School Boards Association Headquarters, 400 Bent Creek Boulevard, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050
Pennsylvania School Boards Association Headquarters, 400 Bent Creek Boulevard, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050
Philadelphia Region Saturday, March 14, 2015 – 8:30
a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Montgomery County Intermediate Unit, 2 W. Lafayette Street, Norristown, PA 19401
Montgomery County Intermediate Unit, 2 W. Lafayette Street, Norristown, PA 19401
PILCOP: Children with
Emotional Problems: Avoiding the Juvenile Justice System, and What Does Real
Help Look Like?
This session will help you navigate special education in order
to assist children at home not receiving services, those in the foster care
system or those in the juvenile court system. CLE and Act 48 credit is
available. This session is co-sponsored
by the University of Pennsylvania School of Policy and Practice, a Pre-approved
Provider of Continuing Education for Pennsylvania
licensed social workers. Click here to purchase tickets
NPE 2015 Annual Conference – Chicago
January 4, 2015 NPE 2015 Annual Conference, NPE National Conference
Early-bird discounted Registration for the Network for
Public Education’s Second Annual Conference is now available at this address:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/network-for-public-education-2015-annual-conference-tickets-15118560020
These low rates will last for the month of January.
The event is being held at the Drake Hotel in downtown
Chicago, and there is a link on the registration page for special hotel
registration rates. Here are some of the event details.
There will be a welcoming social event 7 pm Friday night,
at or near the Drake Hotel — details coming soon. Featured speakers will be:
§
Jitu Brown, National Director – Journey
for Justice, Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, Network for Public
Education Board of Directors
§
Tanaisa Brown, High School Senior, with
the Newark Student Union
§
Yong Zhao, Author, “Who’s Afraid of
the Big Bad Dragon?“
§
Diane Ravitch in conversation with
§
Lily Eskelsen Garcia, NEA President and
§
Randi Weingarten, AFT President
§
Karen Lewis, President, Chicago Teachers
Union