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
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These daily emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
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The Keystone State Education Coalition is an endorsing member of The Campaign for Fair Education Funding
Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for
January 29, 2015:
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 am Montgomery County, Central Montco Tech HS, 821 Plymouth Road, Plymouth Meeting, PA
Thursday, February 26, 2015, 11 am Dauphin County, location TBA
Thursday, February 5, 2015, 10 am Montgomery County, Central Montco Tech HS, 821 Plymouth Road, Plymouth Meeting, PA
Thursday, February 26, 2015, 11 am Dauphin County, location TBA
"Pam Lenz, a former acting superintendent
of the Iroquois School District, is a "circuit rider" with the Pennsylvania Pennsylvania
Erie-area superintendents to
speak at school funding hearing
By Erica Erwin 814-870-1846 Erie
Times-News January 29, 2015 12:01 AM
Two local superintendents are adding their voices to a chorus
of school district leaders calling for a new way to fund education. Erie schools
Superintendent Jay Badams and Bill Nichols, superintendent of the Corry Area School District , will testify at a hearing of the
Basic Education Funding Commission today in Greenville .
The 15-member commission has been holding hearings throughout the state
as it works to develop and recommend to the General Assembly a new formula for
distributing basic education funding to districts.
"Pennsylvania Maryland funds 41 percent of
public school education costs; Ohio , 43.2
percent; Delaware , 58.6 percent; West Virginia , 55.8 percent; and Pennsylvania
Funding formula needed for
public education
Beaver County Times Online Letter by Beaver County
School
Providing a quality education for all students is a shared
responsibility among everyone. There are two efforts ongoing in Pennsylvania that are
focusing on this responsibility. There is the Pennsylvania Basic Education
Funding Commission, co-chaired by state Sen. Pat Brown, R-16, Allentown ,
and state Rep. Mike Vereb, R-150, Montgomery
County , which is holding hearings
around Pennsylvania
to hear the public's views. In addition, the William Penn Foundation, working
in concert with over 40 other organizations, has organized the Campaign for
Fair Education Funding to provide grass-roots support for a funding formula.
The research from these two initiatives has revealed that Pennsylvania is one of only three states (Delaware and North
Carolina are the others) that doesn't have a funding
formula for supporting education. Additionally, Pennsylvania ranks 43rd out of 50 states in
the percentage it provides toward the total cost of its public school system.
For example, Maryland funds 41 percent of
public school education costs; Ohio , 43.2
percent; Delaware , 58.6 percent; West Virginia , 55.8 percent; and Pennsylvania , 34.5 percent.
As educational leaders we know the importance of a state
funding formula that is equitable, adequate, predictable and accountable in
preparing our students to compete in a global society. We encourage everyone to
follow the work of the Basic Education Funding Commission --http://basiceducationfundingcommission.pasenategop.com/ --
and the Campaign for Fair Education Funding -- http://fairfundingpa.org.
Starting Thursday, Jan. 29, PennLive will
run a series of stories the decade-long, multi-million dollar campaign by
for-profit schools to to alter laws and education in Pennsylvania
How do charter schools affect
education in Pennsylvania
By Kari Larsen |
klarsen@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on January 28, 2015 at 10:00 AM, updated January 28, 2015 at 12:51 PM
on January 28, 2015 at 10:00 AM, updated January 28, 2015 at 12:51 PM
Facing a $20 million budget deficit from 2014, York City
School District Charter Schools USA
"State Rep. Stan Saylor (R-York County ),
newly-minted as majority chair of the house education committee, has scheduled
a hearing for the bill in Harrisburg
Should Pa.
WHYY Newsworks BY KEVIN
MCCORRY JANUARY 28, 2015
The clock is ticking.
By 2017, in order to graduate high school in Pennsylvania , students must pass three state
standardized tests: algebra, literature and biology. Based on most recent student scores —
especially in biology — if trends continue, Pennsylvania will soon see far fewer of its
students walking down the aisle in gap and gown.
In order to preempt that reality, state Rep. Mike Tobash (R-Dauphin County Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania
Parents United prevails in
getting BCG school-closings list
the notebook commentary By Helen
Gym on Jan 28, 2015 06:20 PM
What could possibly justify the closing of Northeast High School
We may not find out the answers to these questions, but we know
now that these were some of the ludicrous ideas proposed by the Boston
Consulting Group in a long-secret 2012 report presented in a private meeting to
the School Reform Commission.
It voted
unanimously to renew Lincoln
York Daily Record By
Dylan Segelbaum dsegelbaum@ydr.com @dylan_segelbaum on Twitter UPDATED:
01/28/2015 10:51:27 PM EST
More than an hour and a half before the York City School Board
was set to meet on Wednesday, president Margie Orr stepped to the podium at Bethlehem Baptist Church Commonwealth Court . "We are in this together," Orr
said. "Our kids deserve the best that we can give them, and this board is
going to see that they get the best."
Then, at 6:30 p.m. at William
Penn Senior
High School , the board — seated at a different table a few
feet across from the state-appointed chief recovery officer David Meckley —
voted unanimously to renew Lincoln
Charter School
Philly's Truebright charter
appeals shutdown order to Pennsylvania
Commonwealth Court
WHYY Newsworks BY LAURA
BENSHOFF JANUARY 29, 2015
Charter schools are supposed to be nimble and innovative, but
the process to close an underperforming charter is anything but. Six weeks after the Charter Appeal Board
voted unanimously (7-0) to deny Truebright Academy Science Charter's bid to
stay open, the school in the Olney neighborhood of North Philadelphia has taken
its case all the way to Pennsylvania 's
Commonwealth Court . Truebright is one of five Philadelphia charter schools currently going
through the non-renewal process. It can take years from when a school
district announces the intent not to renew a school's charter until the classroom
doors actually shut permanently.
Charter school founder's
mental competency questioned in court
MARTHA WOODALL, INQUIRER
STAFF WRITER LAST UPDATED: Thursday, January 29, 2015, 1:08 AM POSTED: Wednesday,
January 28, 2015, 5:09 PM
Does charter school founder Dorothy June Brown, 77, have such
memory problems that she is incompetent to be retried on federal charges that
she defrauded the schools she founded of $6.3 million? Three psychiatrists and psychologists
retained by Brown's lawyers and the court offered differing opinions in a
hearing that began Tuesday before U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick.
Former staffers sue shuttered
charter school
A GROUP OF FORMER employees of the Walter
D. Palmer Leadership Learning Partners
Charter School has filed a class-action lawsuit against the school, its founder
and others for unpaid compensation, the Daily News has
learned. About 75 to 150 ex-Palmer
staffers are expected to be represented in the suit and are seeking several
thousand to $14,000 each in damages, said their lawyer, Joshua Rubinsky, with
the law firm Brodie & Rubinsky, PC. The complaint was filed Monday in
Common Pleas Court. The suit states that
Palmer did not pay for work performed during Nov. 1, 2014, to Jan. 15.
By Sara K.
Satullo | The Express-Times Email the author | Follow on Twitter on
January 28, 2015 at 9:36 PM, updated January 29, 2015 at 12:29 AM
The Bethlehem
Area School Board Wednesday night approved a new three-year contract
with its teachers union that includes a one year salary freeze. The Bethlehem Education Association has been
working under an expired contract since Aug. 31, 2014. Teachers agreed to a one-year salary freeze
for the 2014-15 school year, 3.1 percent the next year and then a 2.9 percent
increase in the final year, board President Michael Faccinetto said. It amounts
to an average raise of 2 percent annually over the contract.
"The additional funds are needed to
cover a $1.4 million increase in wages, and the $1.29 million net impact of
PSERS increases, which the district does not control, said board President
Denis Gray."
Haverford School Board
wrangling with 3.57 tax increase
By Lois Puglionesi, Delco
Times Correspondent POSTED: 01/28/15, 11:31 PM EST |
HAVERFORD >> Although it’s early in the school district’s
budgeting process for 2015-16, the proposed preliminary budget school officials
are considering includes a 3.57 percent real estate tax rate increase that
would raise millage from 28.6692 to 29.6920 mills. The new rate would translate to about a $163
annual increase for a property assessed at $160,000.
In his presentation to school officials last week, business
manager Richard Henderson said 3.57 percent is the maximum allowable increase,
with referendum exceptions included.
This year’s Act 1 Index enables the district to increase taxes
1.9 percent, to yield an additional $1.7 million in revenues. Officials are
requesting referendum exceptions for special education and Public School
Employees’ Retirement System costs, totaling $1.4 million.
Rendell presents $500 check
to Chestnutwold fifth-graders
By Lois Puglionesi,
Delco Times Correspondent POSTED: 01/28/15, 11:28 PM EST |
ARDMORE >> Former Gov. Ed Rendell visited Chestnutwold
Elementary School on Wednesday to congratulate and present a $500 check to a
fifth-grade class that recently placed second in the Rendell Center for
Citizenship and Civics Citizenship Challenge essay competition.
Now in its second year, the Citizenship Challenge invites
fourth- and fifth-grade students in the five-county Philadelphia region to voice their opinions
on a current issue. This year’s contest asked students how they would increase
voter turnout. Online voting, mandatory voting and expanding voting days/times
were among suggested points to ponder.
Testing Resistance &
Reform News: January 21 - 27, 2015
Fairtest Submitted by fairtest on January 27, 2015 -
12:43pm
Demonstrating another surge of support for assessment reform as
the Spring 2015 testing season nears, this week's stories about the movement
against standardized exam overuse and misuse come from more than 40% of the 50
states. The news is reinforced by several excellent analytic pieces and opinion
columns (back issues of these weekly updates are archived at: http://fairtest.org/news/other) In addition to keeping the heat on state and
local policy-makers, now is the time to let your U.S. Senators and
Representative know you support a significant reduction in federal testing
mandates, an end to test-based consequences for students, teachers or schools
and more funding for better forms of assessment. Please make those calls and
send your emails today!
"A majority of parents polled, 82
percent, said they want legislators to pass a testing "Bill of
Rights," requiring transparency on high-stakes testing, including how much
they cost taxpayers and how student data will be used. Parents also want the
ability to opt their students out of tests — 66 percent said they support having
a parental right of refusal."
Why Does the Public Hate
Standardized Tests?
JerseyJazzman Blog Tuesday, January 27, 2015
The New Jersey Education Association, the state's largest
teachers union, released a bombshell of a poll yesterday;
click through to see the raw results for all voters and just for parents.
My guess is that once we clear away the snow, we're going to be talking about
these results for a long time. nj.com has
a breakdown:
- See more at: http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2015/01/why-does-public-hate-standardized-tests.html?spref=fb#sthash.ub07ptnp.5fPBuMHi.dpuf
Doctors Enlisted to Deliver
Early-Literacy Message
Education Week By Lillian Mongeau Published Online: January 20,
2015
Doctors are the newest group of proselytizers to join the
national Too Small to Fail campaign
encouraging parents to talk, read, and sing to their infants and toddlers as a
key precursor to literacy. The
American Academy of Pediatrics has long recognized the importance of
telling parents to talk to and read with their children. But it has only
recently begun advising its doctors to deliver that message for the first time
at a child's two-month checkup. What has been less clear, and never studied
systematically, is how to deliver that information in a way that sticks during
the 12- to 18-minute visits physicians generally have with families for
well-baby checkups.
That's where Too Small to Fail comes in.
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
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