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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for February
2, 2015:
High hopes, high hurdles
greet state's new education leaders
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 am Dauphin County, location TBA
Thursday, February 26, 2015, 11 am Dauphin County, location TBA
Sign-up for weekly email
updates from the Campaign
The Campaign for Fair Education Funding website
In the first year, DiGirolamo, R-18,
Bensalem, estimated $226 million would be supplied to public schools and $197
million to state-funded retirement plans.
Pa. lawmakers push 3.5
percent Marcellus Shale tax
Bucks County Intelligencer By James McGinnis Staff writer
Posted: Saturday, January 31, 2015 4:00 pm | Updated: 6:21 am, Sun Feb 1, 2015.
Bensalem state Rep. Gene DiGirolamo has joined a handful of
Democratic and Republican lawmakers circulating a "reasonable" plan
to tax the Marcellus Shale natural gas industry at 3.2 percent and use 40
percent of that money on education. In
an email Friday to all members of the state House, DiGirolamo and three
representatives outlined plans to generate about $564 million from natural gas
extraction taxes in 2015. Under the
plan, 35 percent of generated tax revenues would go toward government employee
and teacher pensions. One quarter would be applied to social services and
environmental programs. The remaining cash would go toward basic education.
Kampf and Tobash: Fast action
needed on public pension reform in Pa.
Morning Call Opinion February 2, 2015
State Rep. Warren Kampf, a Republican, represents the 157th
District that covers parts of Chester and Montgomery counties. Rep. Mike
Tobash, a Republican, represents the 125th District that comprises parts of
Schuylkill and Dauphin counties.
The Morning Call recently published a Your View by Shippensburg University professor Brendan
Finucane, who advocated public pension funds run by Pennsylvania remain in
existence for all future hires and rejected a move toward a 401(k) or a
defined-contribution system. Since we are the prime sponsors of legislation
that would change the system in this way, we must respond.
We agree with one part of Finucane's recent column: The key
issue involving pension reform — and the reason we face the current crisis
caused by a near $50 billion shortfall — is "discipline." It is, in
fact, a lack of discipline that has resulted in the more than $50 billion in
unfunded liabilities, a series of recent downgrades in our bond ratings by the
national rating agencies, and huge yearly increases in our taxpayer contributions.
High hopes, high hurdles
greet state's new education leaders
Lancaster Online By KARA NEWHOUSE | Staff
Writer Posted: Sunday, February 1, 2015 6:00 am | Updated: 9:08 am, Sun Feb 1, 2015.
Public education in Pennsylvania is at a "time like no
other," according to many educators.
Some local observers have high hopes about the fresh faces at
the top: a Democratic governor who campaigned on promises of increased school
funding, a Lancaster Republican leading the Senate Education Committee, and the
School District of Lancaster superintendent nominated to head the Department of
Education. But those leaders are taking
the reins at a time of massive challenges and partisan divide, as issues of
soaring pension costs, a contested public school funding system, charter school
controversies and more converge on the education landscape.
Pottstown officials gearing
up for fair school funding fight
By Evan Brandt, The Mercury POSTED: 01/31/15,
10:01 AM EST
POTTSTOWN >> State funding for public education might
seem like a dry policy question to some, but in Pennsylvania it is a
no-holds-barred fight with few rules. Some Pottstown officials think it might
be time to take off the gloves. Fair
education funding advocate Lawrence Feinberg came to Pottstown last week and
outlined the obstacles to districts getting a fair share of the funding pie. He
spoke at a joint meeting of the school board and borough council Thursday — and
the more he talked, the more cynical and fired up local officials became. “It doesn’t cost anything to have a voice,”
said Pottstown School District Superintendent Jeff Sparagana. “It all depends
on how loudly you speak up.”
Idea of state funding formula
for school districts on the agenda in Pottstown
Reading Eagle By Paige Cooperstein
Friday January 30, 2015 12:01 AM
The "circuit rider" project run by the Pennsylvania
Association of School Administrators made a stop Thursday night in Pottstown to
discuss education funding with borough council and the school board. Circuit riders are representatives of the campaign
to create a state funding formula for school districts. Larry Feinberg, the project's advocate in
Montgomery and Delaware counties, said the problem with funding schools in
Pennsylvania is that it's a big state, and there's no formula to determine how
much money goes to each of the 500 districts.
He talked to borough council and the school board about strategies to
engage their state senators and representatives as well as the governor.
Educator: ‘Every child can
learn’
13 low-income schools
in Allegheny County recognized by state
By Jill Harkins / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette February 2, 2015
12:00 AM
Paula Heinzman, principal of Pittsburgh Schiller 6-8, insists
that her teachers follow one guiding principle.
“Every child can learn,” she said. “It’s one thing to say it, but it’s
another thing to believe it.” Ms.
Heinzman proved last week that she doesn’t just believe it; she can achieve it.
Schiller, where 90 percent of students receive lunch at a free or reduced
price, has been recognized by the state Department of Education as one of 97
Distinguished Title I schools in the state for increasing its percentage of
proficient students by 16 points in reading and 10.8 points in math between the
2012-13 and the 2013-14 school years. These
schools are recognized for placing in the top 5 percent of Pennsylvania’s Title
I schools — indicating a large percentage of low-income students — for either
achievement or school growth in state test scores. They also must maintain high
attendance, graduation rates and test participation rates.
Title I funding is distributed to schools based on their
percentage of low-income students — largely determined by the percentage of
students who qualify for free or reduced price lunches — relative to the wealth
of the school district. Pennsylvania has 1,772 Title I schools.
Michael A. MacDowell: Early
childhood education in Pa. needs increased funding
Morning Call Opinion January 31, 2015
Michael A. MacDowell is president emeritus of Misericordia
University in Dallas, Luzerne County, where he occasionally taught economics.
He is managing director of the Calvin K. Kazanjian Economics Foundation.
The 19th annual "Quality Counts" report in Education
Week shows Pennsylvania was rated eighth for education among the nation's
states. This is a significant accomplishment for which the state should be
given justifiable credit. A closer
examination of the criteria used by the magazine for rating schools in all 50
states and the District of Columbia, however, suggests that the total score
needs to be disaggregated to obtain a full picture of schools in the Keystone
State.
PDE Denials for all three
new cyber charter applicants posted
Digital Notebook Blog by Evan Brandt Friday, January 30,
2015
The topic of discussion Thursday night was fairness and why its
so hard to come by in Pennsylvania when it comes to funding public schools. Two speakers -- Tina Viletto, director of
legislative services for the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit and circuit
rider Lawrence Feinberg -- outlined the issues for a joint meeting of borough
council and the school board at Rupert Elementary School.
Advocates
say Pennsylvania can do more for charter schools
By Evan Grossman | Watchdog.org
January 30, 2015
Pennsylvania could be a lot
friendlier to public charter schools.
That’s the message delivered by
a pair of independent reports that call for an equitable funding formula and
more hospitable policies for the state’s charter schools.
EXCLUSIVE TO THE TRIB: Treat
Pennsylvania's pension crisis as an opportunity, not a political hot potato
Trib Live Opinion By Matthew J. Brouillette & Jake
Haulk Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015, 9:00 p.m.
Matthew J. Brouillette is
president of the Commonwealth Foundation in Harrisburg. Jake Haulk is president
of the Allegheny Institute in Castle Shannon.
Crisis management can be broken down into three general phases: identifying the problem, developing the best plan to fix it and executing that plan while adjusting as needed.
Crisis management can be broken down into three general phases: identifying the problem, developing the best plan to fix it and executing that plan while adjusting as needed.
It's a simple framework that can be applied to the smallest or
largest organizational problems. Without doubt, Pennsylvania taxpayers face a
big one — a public pension crisis that ranks among the worst financial problems
in the state's history. The problem:
Pennsylvania's two largest public pension plans (for state employees and public
education employees) have unfunded liabilities of more than $50 billion. And we
all are co-signers on this massive debt.
Read more: http://triblive.com/opinion/featuredcommentary/7642786-74/pension-state-crisis#ixzz3QVb4r0nJ
Philly SRC asks for more time
to decide on charter applications
WHYY Newsworks BY LAURA
BENSHOFF JANUARY 30, 2015
In an email that went out today, the Philadelphia School
District's Charter Office requested that new charter applicants sign a waiver
giving the School Reform Commission (SRC) until June 1, 2015 to vote on their
application. That's four months longer than allowed by Pennsylvania's
Charter School Law. According to that law, the authorizing body — in this case the
SRC — must vote on applications within 75 days of the first hearing. That
deadline is in mid-February. The public is allowed to submit written comment
until February 1 by emailing src@philasd.org.
SHELVED: School librarians
say they are a vital part of education. But budget cuts have taken a toll: Only
11 remain in Phila.
KRISTEN A. GRAHAM, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER LAST UPDATED: Sunday, February 1,
2015, 1:09 AM
The children who attend Spring Garden Elementary often come
home to no books, let alone e-readers or Internet access. Some live in a nearby
homeless shelter. So when Laureal
Robinson became Spring Garden's principal five years ago, she had a goal in
mind: to reopen the school library with a certified librarian. "We had to adopt a back-to-basics
approach," Robinson said. "We had to make it as easy as possible for
children to get books in their hands."
Investment in schools is an
investment in the city
Philly.com Opinion by PHIL GOLDSMITH POSTED: Sunday,
February 1, 2015, 1:09 AM
Phil Goldsmith has
been managing director of Philadelphia and chief executive officer of the
Philadelphia School District
Here's a simple question for the next mayor: What are you going to do about public education?
Here's a simple question for the next mayor: What are you going to do about public education?
The district is woefully underfunded, not graduating enough
students; too many of those who do aren't reading and writing at grade level.
There is a stalemate between the district and teachers' union, and the members
of the school board you inherit will have been selected by a previous governor
and the previous mayor. One plus: We have a good superintendent.
To improve city schools,
consider all options
Philly.com Opinion by FARAH JIMENEZ POSTED: Sunday,
February 1, 2015, 1:09 AM
Farah Jimenez is a
member of the School Reform Commission, a community advocate, and a former
member of the Republican State Committee. The views expressed are the author's,
and not those of the School Reform Commission.
In the debate between district-run schools vs. charter schools, should the next mayor pick a side?
In the debate between district-run schools vs. charter schools, should the next mayor pick a side?
Absolutely! The next
mayor should stand on the side of Philadelphia's schoolchildren.
Too often, when we engage in the education debate, we do so in
bilateral fashion: us vs. them. When it comes to funding, we argue city vs.
state. On labor issues, it's unions vs. administration. With governance, it's
shared (School Reform Commission) vs. local (elected or appointed school
board). These are interesting debates,
but they are more successful at filling newspaper columns and blogging space,
and in generating billable hours in courtrooms, than in solving the education
crisis in Philadelphia.
Phila. schools plan to hire
400 teachers in 2015-16
KRISTEN A. GRAHAM, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER POSTED: February 1, 2015, 6:19 PM
The Philadelphia School District plans to hire at least 400
teachers for the 2015-16 school year.
For a district that has spent the last several years closing
schools and laying off teachers, that's a notable thing. Particular areas of need, officials said, are
secondary math and science, special education, art, music, and upper elementary
school teachers.
EDITORIAL: 'Fair share' fees
allow non-union teachers to have their cake and protest it, too
By Express-Times
opinion staff on January 30, 2015 at 6:30 AM, updated January 30,
2015 at 6:33 AM
Is it fair to ask public school teachers who opt out of union
membership to pay a "fair share" fee -- usually a fraction of union
dues -- to support the union's collective bargaining work on behalf of all
teachers? The U.S. Supreme Court says
"yes" -- with some stipulations about not using fair-share
money for union-directed political activities.
Richard
Coppock, a Bethlehem Area School District teacher, says "no," and
he reiterated his objection to the fair-share fee -- $500 a year, under a new
teacher contract -- to the school board Wednesday night.
Teachers union, think tank
propose compromise on testing of U.S. students
By Emma Brown / The Washington Post February 1, 2015 11:57 PM
WASHINGTON — As Congress undertakes its most serious effort to
rewrite the No Child Left Behind education law, backlash against standardized
testing has prompted vigorous debate about whether the federal government
should continue requiring annual exams.
Push back on testing
Trib Live By Michelle Malkin Sunday, Feb. 1, 2015,
9:00 p.m.
Moms and dads, you have the inherent right and responsibility to protect your children. You can choose to refuse the top-down Common Core racket of costly standardized tests of dubious academic value, reliability and validity. I'm reminding you of your right to choose because the spring season of testing tyranny is about to hit the fan. Do you object to the time being taken away from your children's classroom learning?
Moms and dads, you have the inherent right and responsibility to protect your children. You can choose to refuse the top-down Common Core racket of costly standardized tests of dubious academic value, reliability and validity. I'm reminding you of your right to choose because the spring season of testing tyranny is about to hit the fan. Do you object to the time being taken away from your children's classroom learning?
Read more: http://triblive.com/opinion/featuredcommentary/7657636-74/testing-tests-colorado#ixzz3QaKJmOXG
Activists Share Strategies
for 'Opting Out' of Tests
At conference,
anti-testing groups strategize on ways to grow their ranks
Education Week By Liana Heitin
Published Online: January 27, 2015
Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Anti-testing advocates meeting
here to advance their cause tossed around a list of protest strategies: Twitter
campaigns, parent test-taking parties, quiet conversations in the teachers’
lounge, organized walkouts. The 75 or so
parents, educators, union leaders, and self-titled “agitators” at the United Opt Out National: Standing Up for
Action conference, which took place over a weekend earlier this month,
strategized on getting more people involved in the growing practice of “test
refusal”—in the hope of ultimately ending what they consider punitive and
overly burdensome testing practices in K-12 schools. “You have to know this is an act of civil
disobedience,” Cindy Hamilton, a parent and the co-founder of Orlando Opt Out,
told a group of attendees. “This is not for the faint of heart.”
The Activity Gap
Access to after-school
programs is growing more unequal, and that's pushing disadvantaged kids further
behind.
The Atlantic by ALIA
WONG JAN 30 2015, 9:00 AM ET
Imagine two young adults who, despite living in the same city,
come from very different worlds.
One is named Ethan—a freshman at an elite college near Austin,
Texas, pursuing a degree in engineering. He grew up with supportive
middle-class parents who put him in extracurriculars his whole life: Boy
Scouts, soccer, track, orchestra. Instead of letting Ethan watch TV and play
video games, his dad took him on hiking trips to New Mexico where they would
track bears and practice navigation. His father also volunteered as the school
orchestra’s bus driver. Ethan’s mom, meanwhile, strived to raise an engaged
citizen; she even helped him register to vote when he turned 18. Then there’s Nicole, who also lives in
Austin—though in an area far less inviting than the spacious private housing
development where Ethan was raised. At 18, Nicole is a single mother who works
in the kitchen at a three-star hotel making a wage that’s hardly enough to
cover food, diapers, and clothes from Goodwill. She recently borrowed $9,000 to
help pay for a year-long program at a for-profit college, but whether that
degree will get results—whether she’ll even complete the course—is debatable.
House Will Vote on NCLB
Reauthorization Last Week in February
Education Week Politics K-12 Blog By Lauren
Camera on January 29, 2015 3:02 PM
The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on a
reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act the week of Feb. 24, according
to a memo from Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., that outlined the
chamber's schedule for the month of February. That announcement is in line with the
timetable John Kline, R-Minn., chairman of the Education and the Workforce
Committee, outlined
last week, and means that his committee will be marking up a bill in the
coming weeks. Kline also said last week
that he plans to forego holding hearings on the reauthorization and instead use
the bill he ushered through the House in the 113th Congress, the Student Success
Act, as the starting point for the legislative process.
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
Education Funding Lawsuit website
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.
Sign up for National School Boards Association’s Advocacy Network
Friends of
Public Education http://p2a.co/nsbac
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?
Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia Tuesday, February
17, 2015 1:00 -- 4:00 P.M.
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 April 24 - 26 – Early Bird Special Registration Open!
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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