Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now
reach more than 3525 Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors,
administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, Governor's
staff, current/former PA Secretaries of Education, Wolf education transition
team members, Superintendents, PTO/PTA officers, parent advocates, teacher
leaders, business leaders, education professors, members of the press and a
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These daily emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for
January 26, 2015:
NY Times On
Governor Wolf
Upcoming Basic Education Funding Commission hearings
scheduled in Mercer County, Montgomery County and Dauphin County
PA
Basic Education Funding Commission website
Thursday, January 29, 2015, 10 am Greenville Junior/Senior High School 9
Donation Road, Greenville , PA 16125
Thursday, February 5, 2015, 10 amMontgomery County ,
location TBA
Thursday, February 26, 2015, 11 amDauphin County
Thursday, February 5, 2015, 10 am
Thursday, February 26, 2015, 11 am
"Education was the biggest issue
during the campaign. “I have polled for 24 years, and I could not find another
gubernatorial campaign where that was the main issue,” said G. Terry Madonna,
director of the Franklin & Marshall College
Pennsylvania’s
Governor Breaks Through a G.O.P. Tide
New York Times By JENNIFER STEINHAUER JAN. 23,
2015
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Standing outside the Capitol here — an ornate
jewel wedged in the center of this recession-beaten industrial city — the
businessman and political neophyte Tom Wolf told the gathered crowd this week,
“I’m going to be an unconventional governor.”
Actually, Mr. Wolf already is. The only person to defeat a
sitting governor in the four decades that Pennsylvania has allowed its chief executive
a second term, Mr. Wolf is also the only Democrat in the country who picked off
a Republican governor at a time when his party’s record was only slightly less
calamitous than that of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
"t is somewhat of a paradox that
poverty challenges our ability to provide quality education, even as quality
education for all is ultimately the only solution to poverty."
Gov. Wolf - help us help
change York
Kim C. Bracey is the
mayor of York
PennLive
Op-Ed By Kim C. Bracey and Kevin Schreiber on January 25, 2015 at 12:00 PM
As two individuals elected to represent our City of York and
two city residents, we are jointly and respectfully requesting a meeting with
Gov. Tom Wolf, Secretary of Education-designee Pedro Rivera and any designated
members of his Cabinet, as well as York City School District Recovery Officer
Dave Meckley, Superintendent Dr. Eric Holmes, and a representative of the York
City School Board. The purpose of
such a meeting will be to develop a forward-looking plan for the future of our
school district. A copy of this letter
is being directed to these parties, and we think it is important to provide
this letter to the public so all are apprised of our goal. We look forward to a
productive meeting on behalf of the over 8,000 students living in York City
Did you catch our weekend postings?
PA Ed Policy Roundup Jan 24: Dworetzky: Approve
quality charters or reject them all? Which is the irresponsible move?
WHYY Newsworks by Mary Wilson JANUARY 26, 2015
But the Pennsylvania Medical Society said both proposals would
stick medical doctors and their patients with a higher bill. "We have great concern over both the
House and Senate initiatives from last session," said PAMED's legislative
counsel Scot Chadwick. "And we're going to be opposing anything this
session like that -- that would provide for a tax on health care
services."
Teachers strike deal in
Interboro: New pact includes 5.54 percent in raises over three-year term
By Courtney Elko, Delco
Times Correspondent POSTED: 01/24/15, 10:39 PM EST
The Interboro School Board unanimously approved a collective
bargaining agreement with the teacher’s union at Wednesday’s school board
meeting. School Board President Kathleen
Hauger said the three-year contract includes pay raises for the teachers over
three years and the teachers have agreed to changes in medical and prescription
benefit plans, which will save the district about $230,000. “This is good news for our district,” Hauger
said. “It’s been months in the making and the board is confident that this is a
fair agreement that addresses everybody’s needs as best as possible.”
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette January 26, 2015 12:08 AM
Five years ago, the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers and Pittsburgh Public Schools
Let teachers run the schools
Teacher-led schools
are engaging students and showing results across the country
Post Gazette By David Osborne January 25, 2015 12:00 AM
Walk through a typical public school and you see students
sitting in rows of identical desks listening to teachers talk. Unless the
teacher is particularly inspiring, half of the students are zoning out. This
isn’t just a problem for teachers, half of whom leave the profession within
their first five years. It’s also a problem for their pupils: Disengaged
teenagers do not make the best students.
Now imagine if students were instead encouraged to work on projects they
chose: building robots, writing plays, researching why bees are dying off by
the millions.
When teachers run their own schools, they often make such
changes. “We’re competing against Xbox 360 and over-scheduled days with soccer
practices and very dynamic lives,” says Kartal Jaquette, one of 10 teachers who
run the Denver Green School
City inspector general gains
control of school district fraud
KRISTEN A. GRAHAM AND MARTHA WOODALL, INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS LAST
UPDATED: Sunday, January 25, 2015, 10:39 PM POSTED: Sunday, January
25, 2015, 8:24 PM
The Philadelphia
School District
John F. Downs, the former police captain who originated the
district's Inspector General's Office and staffed it for the last 11 years,
retired Friday. With a $2.6 billion
budget, much of that in contracts, the schools needed more robust oversight of
their operations, Green said.
Watchdog group says no to new
Philly charter schools
Philly Trib by Tribune Staff Report Posted: Friday,
January 23, 2015 12:00 am
A new report recommending no new charter school approvals in
2015 finds fault with state legislation that required a new round of
applications as a condition of extending a local cigarette sales tax. Public Citizens for Children and Youth, which
advocates for quality schools, recently released the findings. The group said increased competition would
reduce funding to more drastic levels, pulling resources from existing schools
and reduce quality of those programs.
For example, the findings show half of the applicants already
operate charter schools in the city and nearly half of those fell short of
meeting state benchmarks in reading and math. The report also found that
charter schools proposed in area near Temple
University , Drexel
University and University of Pennsylvania
PCCY wants the school district to hold off on approving new
schools until more resources are available for public education.
"The board is urging the legislators
to change the charter school funding formula by altering tuition and pension
costs, reinstating charter school reimbursements to school districts and
passing legislation that will provide school districts the ability to negotiate
the terms of the charter school renewal application, according to the
resolution."
The Reporter By
Jarreau Freeman, jfreeman@21st-centurymedia.com, @JarreauFreeman on
Twitter POSTED: 01/23/15, 4:47 PM EST |
Franconia >> The Souderton Area School Board is calling
for changes in charter school legislation and is asking elected officials to
rethink the charter school funding formula.
In December, the school board renewed a five-year contract with
the Souderton Charter School Collaborative by a 5-4 vote. Some board members
seemed torn by the motion to renew the school’s contract, with some stating
that a charter school in the district is unnecessary.
However, during Thursday’s action meeting, the board
unanimously voted to approve a resolution expressing its opposition to the
state charter school funding formula.
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
INVITATION:
Twitter Chat on Pennsylvania Basic Education Funding Tuesday, Jan. 27 at 8 p.m.
The first monthly Twitter chat of 2015 with Pennsylvania’s
major education leadership organizations is set for Tuesday, Jan. 27 at 8
p.m. The January chat will focus on a fair, predictable public school
funding formula and the ongoing work of the state’s basic education funding
commission. Use hashtag#PAEdFunding to participate and follow the
conversation.
On the last Tuesday of each month at 8 p.m., the following
organizations go to Twitter to discuss timely topics, ask questions and listen
to the public’s responses:
·
The Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators
(PASA);
·
The Pennsylvania School Boards Association
(PSBA);
·
The Pennsylvania Association of School Business
Officials (PASBO);
·
The Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small
Schools (PARSS); and
·
The Pennsylvania Association of Intermediate
Units
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
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