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
broad array of P-16 regulatory agencies, professional associations and
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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
PA Ed Policy Roundup for February
4, 2015:
New PA education secretary
outlines priorities, obstacles
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
Blogger's note: A shout out this morning to
all of PSBA's Federal Relations Network members who traveled to Washington this
week to advocate on Capitol Hill for ESEA reauthorization with more
effective/less testing, IDEA and Title I funding and Child Nutrition. Special thanks to my Delco colleagues who
turned out in force.
PennLive: Follow the money
that accompanies charter school growth: interactive map
Penn Live By Nick Malawskey |
nmalawskey@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on
February 02, 2015 at 11:30 AM, updated February 02, 2015 at 2:31 PM
Below you'll find PennLive's interactive map of campaign
contributions to politicians and their subsequent support of charter schools in
Pennsylvania . Click on a Donor to see who
they are and where they donated. Click on a Republican or a Democrat to
see what bills they supported.
A second click -- or a click in the open space of the
interactive -- will reset the map.
New education secretary
outlines priorities, obstacles
Returning
districts to local control, including Philadelphia
the notebook By Dale
Mezzacappa on Feb 3, 2015 01:32 PM
After finding more funding to send to schools, Gov. Tom Wolf's
top education priority is tackling the problems of distressed districts,
including Philadelphia ,
according to acting Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera. As Wolf prepares his first budget, Rivera
said that in his first weeks heading the Pennsylvania Department of Education
he has also been helping the Wolf adminstration in "creating and
facilitating a plan to support some of the state's neediest schools."
Rivera, who must be approved by the state Senate before taking
over PDE, also said that other issues he plans to address include whether
Keystone exams should remain a requirement for graduation and whether to revise
the School Performance Profile, the rating system for schools.
"When it comes to education funding,
his conversations with rural House Republicans often begin the same way: "They'll say, 'You're kidding me; we're
sending billions of dollars to Philadelphia ,'
but when you break it down per student, it's less than the city of Pittsburgh Springfield
By listening, Delco's Adolph
helps blue and red Pennsylvania
WHYY Newsworks BY KEVIN
MCCORRY FEBRUARY 4, 2015
William Adolph, Republican from Delaware
County , has become a go-to guy for Pennsylvania lawmakers
pursuing compromise, on school funding and other thorny issues.
In Pennsylvania
is a state diverse in geography, wealth, ideology and priorities. For the gears
of the capital to mesh smoothly, you need personal relationships born of trust.
For the Philadelphia region, no
lawmaker is more important right now in this regard than sate Rep. William
Adolph Jr. (R, Delaware
County Philadelphia area
lawmaker in a leadership position with the Republican majority.
Listen as Adolph, sitting In his no-frills office just beyond
view of the city skyline, Delco traffic buzzing by strip-mall sprawl, holds
forth on political sausage-making: "It's
no different than any other business: You try to build those relationships
based upon trust," said Adolph, elected in 1989. "If you're not going
to listen to anybody, they're not going to listen to you."
He is chairman of the House appropriations committee – a very
powerful post during budget season. Both sides of the aisle view him as a
pragmatic moderate who serves as that rare thing, a conduit between rural
tea-party conservatives and urban liberals.
"Year-to-date General Fund collections
of $15.7 billion are above the official estimate by $360 million."
PA General
Fund Revenue Collections Bring in $2.4 Billion
PA House Republican
Appropriations Committee Economic Brief Feb. 4, 2015
General Fund revenue collections
for the month of January were $2.4 billion, which is $90 million more than
expected. Collections of $127 million
for corporation taxes came in below Department of Revenue rojections by $1
million. Sales tax collections of $844 million were higher than expected, coming in $7 million above the official
estimate. The Personal Income Taxes
collected were $1.1 billion, which was below estimate by $14 million.
"Reed, who has been described as a
"nonideological pragmatist," said he sees plenty of common ground
with Democrats to advance meaningful bills. Some of his ideas sound downright
liberal - such as ending corporate welfare and legalizing medical marijuana -
and reducing school property taxes, more fairly funding schools, and addressing
the pension crisis. "We want to
work with the governor to bring those issues to the fore," Reed told
journalists, lobbyists, and others at the Pennsylvania
New Pa.
AMY WORDEN, INQUIRER
HARRISBURG
BUREAU POSTED: February 3, 2015, 1:08 AM
Folmer: What I learned as
Senate Education Committee Chair
Senator Mike Folmer's website February 3, 2015
I was honored to serve as the Senate Education Committee chair
during the 2013 – 2014 Session of the General Assembly. Education is a
key role of state government. It accounts for over 38% of the state
budget. Taxpayers have been very generous supporting education, spending
$856 every second in federal, state, and local tax moneys. “Governing”
Magazine lists Pennsylvania
as the 11th highest state for education spending per pupil ($13,467).
My goal as Education chair was to put students and their
parents first. As I’ve said on numerous occasions, I believe the best way
to do this is with educational choice. However, there is insufficient
support for this. As a result, much of what is done in education is
maintaining the status quo.
"The 2015-16 spending increase is
mainly due to expenses outside the district's control, including mandated
expenses for the state pension program, special education funding, and charter
school tuitions, the district said."
Taxes likely to rise in West
Chester
Philly.com by Justine McDaniel LAST UPDATED: Wednesday,
February 4, 2015, 1:08 AM
WEST CHESTER Taxes for residents in the West Chester Area
School District
The school board will be able to increase taxes by 1.9 percent
and will apply for exceptions giving them a further 1.1 percent increase,
though Board President Rick Swalm said they might not use the exceptions and
would try to "minimize any possible tax increase."
Should all York
By Matt Zencey |
mzencey@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on
February 03, 2015 at 12:00 PM, updated February 03, 2015 at 12:03 PM
Monday, we
posted a PennLive editorial that commented on the school crisis
in York . It
pointed out that, in general, converting to charter schools is no guarantee of
academic success, but it does create new potential for financial
exploitation by profit-making businesses and even outright fraudsters. The editorial followed an in-depth
PennLive series on the York school
crisis and the rise of charter schools in Pennsylvania .
Charter school defenders can point to examples where students
and families are satisfied customers who appreciate having a publicly-funded
choice beyond their neighborhood school.
Charter school critics say efforts to improve public education
should focus on providing well-qualified teachers in safe, well-funded schools,
rather than creating new opportunities for businesses to profit from state
education spending.
Op/Ed: A tale of two high
schools
Growing gap between urban, suburban schools is
unconscionable
The Times of Chester
County
“It was the best of
times, it was the worst of times.”
It’s almost like Charles Dickens was describing public
education in Pennsylvania .
Today, the disparity between the academic services, technology
and basic resources available to students in inner city school districts versus
those in their affluent suburban counterparts is shameful. In fact, it’s
downright outrageous. To add insult to
injury, Pennsylvania
is now imposing the Keystone Graduation Exams, a series of three high-stakes
exams students will have to pass to graduate. Beginning with the Class of 2017
(current sophomores) students must pass exams in Algebra I, Biology and
Language Arts in order to receive a diploma.
A legacy of budget cuts, shortsighted policies and economic
hard times have resulted in two systems of public education in Pennsylvania : separate
and unequal. And the best predictor of a student’s likelihood of future success
isn’t an SAT score or grade point average, it is their zip code.
"Finances were the topic of
Superintendent Jim Wigo’s report, who noted Tom Wolf, who was sworn into office
two days earlier, made education the main plank of his platform. Nationwide,
the average state contribution for education is approximately 40 percent, yet Pennsylvania Pennsylvania
Rose Tree Media Board commits
to tax increase no higher than 1.9%
Delco News Network By Leslie Krowchenko DCNN Correspondent
Published: Saturday, January 31, 2015
The Rose Tree Media School Board voted unanimously, Jan. 22, to
commit to a tax increase no higher than the district’s Act 1 index of 1.9
percent and not seek exceptions in conjunction with the 2015-2016 budget. Set by the state, the index determines the
maximum increase which can be levied by each school district, unless a higher
rate is approved by voters in a referendum or application for exceptions is
made to the Pennsylvania Department of Education. The board made a request for
the special education exception in conjunction with the 2008-2009 budget, when
taxes were raised 4.8 percent.
Which Lehigh Valley
By Jacqueline Palochko and Eugene TauberOf The Morning
Call Feb. 4, 2015
Teacher-Evaluation Mandate
Unlikely in ESEA Rewrite
Education Week By Lauren
Camera Published Online: February 3, 2015
Testing Resistance &
Reform News: January 28 - February 3, 2015
Submitted by fairtest on February 3, 2015 - 1:11pm
Ever-strengthening assessment reform pressure has kept
proposals to roll back test misuse and overuse at the center of education
policy debates on Capitol Hill and in many state capitals across the
country. This week's news stories, opinion columns, and advocacy
resources come from 22 states as well as Washington ,
DC
Campaign for Fair Education
Funding Seeks Campaign Manager
Campaign for Fair Education Funding February 2, 2015
The Campaign for Fair Education Funding seeks a campaign
manager who is a strategic thinker and an operational leader. This position
could be filled by an individual or firm. The manager will lead the day-to-day
operations of the campaign and its government relations, communications,
mobilization and research committees and work in partnership with the campaign
governing board to set and implement the campaign’s strategic direction.
Sign-up for weekly email updates from the
Campaign
The Campaign for Fair
Education Funding website
PA Basic Education Funding
Commission 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.
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?
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
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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