Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now
reach more than 3550 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, faith-based organizations, labor organizations, education
professors, members of the press and a broad array of P-16 regulatory agencies,
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These daily emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg
PA Ed Policy Roundup for April 8, 2015:
Letter: Pa.
Save
the date: Wednesday April 29th 7:00 pm Springfield
Local school district leaders will discuss how state funding issues are
impacting our children's educational opportunities, our local taxes and our
communities.
Hosted by Delaware County School
Boards Legislative Council, Education Voters of PA and the Keystone State
"A Basic Education
Funding Commission authorized by the legislature is now trying to “reinvent the
wheel.” The commission, composed of 12 legislators and a trio of state
administrators, is compiling a report with recommendations that must be issued
by June 10, 2015. There is a wide
disparity in current school district funding. In 2012-13 there was a difference
of over $17,000 per student. The lowest-resourced school district was $9,803
per student, while the highest school district was at $26,808 per student."
LETTERS: Pa.
Dr. George Bonekemper
of Pennsburg worked for 33 years in public education in positions ranging from
teacher to superintendent, spent 12 years in higher education as coordinator of
professional development schools and served 12 years on a board of school
directors.
While many motorists feel certain that Pennsylvania leads the nation in potholes,
there is another top ranking for the Keystone state, number one in the lack of
fairness in school district funding. The data is derived from a U.S. Department
of Education study on the commonwealth’s per pupil spending in 2011-12. Per-pupil spending in the poorest school
districts was 33.5 percent lower than per-pupil spending in the wealthiest
school districts. Per-pupil spending for low-poverty school districts was
$12,529, while per-pupil spending for high-poverty school districts was $9,387.
Vermont was
second with a gap of 18.1 percent. Neighboring New Jersey
ranked third in the nation for the highest positive difference, behind Indiana and Minnesota
at a plus 8.9 percent. The Garden
State Pennsylvania had a fair funding formula in
2008-11 based on a comprehensive Costing-Out Study approved by the state
legislature. The Corbett administration abandoned the formula in 2011 and made Pennsylvania one of only
three states without a consistently applied school funding formula. The other
states were Delaware and North Carolina .
North Penn Reporter
By Jarreau Freeman, jfreeman@21st-centurymedia.com,
@JarreauFreeman on Twitter POSTED: 04/07/15,
11:42 PM EDT |
Lansdale >> Pennsylvania
has no basic education funding formula, Montgomery County Intermediate Unit
Legislative Services and Grants Development Director Tina Viletto said Tuesday
evening. “At this moment in time there
is no clear, consistent determination as to how a district receives its funds
(from the state),” she said to North Penn School Board members during their
monthly work session. “Without a formula districts have a hard time determining
how they are going to fund all the needs that face the school district each
year. Without a formula it is possible that districts won’t have the revenue to
cover the mandatory and necessary costs by the 2017-18 (school year).” Many districts throughout the region are
facing increases in enrollment, climbing retirement and health care costs, and
facing deficits in the millions. “In Montgomery County
Viletto was joined by Lawrence Feinberg, a member of The
Circuit Riders – a group that is campaigning for fair education funding in the
state. They both want to see this change.
Angela Couloumbis, Inquirer Harrisburg Bureau LAST UPDATED: April
7, 2015, 9:21 PM
Pa. budget battle lines drawn; GOP legislature,
Governor Wolf far apart
ABC27 By Dennis
Owens Published: April 7, 2015, 6:10 pm
George Washington encamped at Valley Forge and crossing the Delaware was crucial to
the colonial victory in the Revolutionary War.
In the Civil War, Gettysburg
was the turning point as the Blue defeated the Gray. And a summer skirmish is headed for Harrisburg pitting the
Blue against the Red. “This is just the
democratic process,” a smiling Governor Tom Wolf said recently when asked about
the budget wrangling to come. Publicly,
Wolf steadfastly maintains his positive and upbeat demeanor about his plan to
increase income, sales and shale taxes in exchange for cuts to property and
business taxes. “It’s for investing
more in education,” Wolf said of his budget proposal. “All these
things, it seems to me, that I heard throughout the campaign. That’s what I’m
doing here.” Polls suggest that a
majority of Pennsylvanians support his budget plan. Wolf, though, says everyone
in the commonwealth should love it. Presumably, that includes Republicans.
"In theory, the program
expands the choices for students, especially those who can't afford private and
parochial tuitions. But under its current framework, it's hard to see it as
anything but a way to funnel public dollars into private education - with no
accountability for how effectively those dollars are being spent."
DN Editorial: Who gets the
credit for this?
DAILY NEWS EDITORIAL POSTED: Tuesday,
April 7, 2015, 12:16 AM
A PROGRAM that gives generous tax credits for donations to
scholarship programs for low-income students to attend private and parochial
schools may strike some as a laudatory way to equalize educational
opportunities. Some might even say that the Educational Improvement Tax Credit
program is a way to address the civil-rights wrongs of a public system that
leaves too many poor and minority children behind, while the privileged few who
can afford to send kids to more expensive private schools get an unfair leg up. One of the architects of the state-administered
EITC program, state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, has made that civil-rights
case in promoting it.
According to a report on Philly.com's Next Mayor site, some
of Williams' major campaign backers for his mayoral run are also some of the
EITC program's biggest donors, with the principals of Susquehanna International
Group contributing up to $21 million to EITC.
"The Philly.com
investigation found that Williams’ biggest political backers, the billionaire
partners at Main Line financial trading firm
Susquehanna International Group, had also become the biggest users of the
program. The partners, Joel Greenberg, Arthur Dantchik and Jeff Yass, who are
major school choice advocates, received nearly $1.2 million in tax credits for
donating $1.3 million to a charity run by Williams’ campaign manager, Dawn
Chavous, in 2012."
Williams slams reporting
on tax credits, defends state program
Philly.com
by RYAN BRIGGS, THE NEXT MAYOR POSTED: Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Mayoral hopeful and state Sen. Anthony Williams defended a
controversial educational tax credit program during a radio appearance Tuesday
morning on 900AM-WURD, though he also distanced himself from the program he has
previously touted as a hallmark of his public service. The tax credit program was the subject of both a Philly.com
investigation published last week and a Daily News editorial in Tuesday’s paper
that examined the political connections and the lack of transparency
surrounding the program. The credits give companies a tax break in exchange for
donations to private and charter schools and educational charities of their
choosing.
BY NEEMA
ROSHANIA APRIL 7, 2015 MT. AIRY
The Mt. Airy Schools Coalition, a group made up of three
community civic organizations, has granted $12,000 to six neighborhood schools. It's the second year the group has used
a state tax credit program called the Educational Improvement Tax Credit
to allow business owners to direct their state tax dollars to area schools. Together West Mt. Airy Neighbors, East
Mt. Airy Neighbors and Mt. Airy
USA
"The acting secretary
told superintendents that he is already reviewing the teacher evaluation
process, the heavy reliance on test scores and other factors in the School
Performance Profiles, and the number of tests students take. The superintendents, in their written comments,
called the teacher evaluation system “cumbersome” and said it “has led to
principals being crushed under the weight of paperwork and meetings.” They also contended that high-stakes testing
is a deterrent to innovative and creative teaching."
Acting state education secretary gets a primer on
county issues
By Mary Niederberger / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette, April 8, 2015 12:12 AM
During his first meeting with school superintendents in Allegheny County Lancaster School District
with previous teaching and administrative experience in the Philadelphia schools, understands the
pressures of tight finances, high stakes, high-frequency testing, teacher
evaluations and unfunded mandates. So he was able to hit the ground running with the suburban
superintendents on issues they had outlined for him in writing beforehand and
in person during an early morning meetingTuesday at the Allegheny
Intermediate Unit in Homestead . Mr. Rivera also visited Pittsburgh
superintendent Linda Lane on
Tuesday, when he attended a celebration at Pittsburgh Lincoln PreK-5 to
commemorate its status as a STAR school — one of six Pittsburgh schools recognized for ranking
among the top 25 percent of schools in the state for student growth.
Pittsburgh Public Schools
officials plan for expiring grants
By The
Tribune-Review Tuesday, April 7, 2015, 10:15 p.m.
Officials with Pittsburgh Public Schools announced Tuesday they have begun to plan so they can keep educational programs going once the private grants supporting them expire.
Officials with Pittsburgh Public Schools announced Tuesday they have begun to plan so they can keep educational programs going once the private grants supporting them expire.
District officials plan to ask the school board in May to
extend contracts and staff positions that help maintain the district's growth
and evaluation system; We Promise, an achievement program for black males; and
out-of-school programs, such as the Summer
Dreamers Academy Superintendent Linda Lane
in a statement. A $40 million grant from
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation expires in June 2016, while a $38 million
grant from the Teacher Incentive Fund expires in September. Several other
grants expire by 2017.
TribLive By Kelsey
Shea Tuesday, April 7, 2015, 11:12 p.m.
'School Play' makes
funding crisis personal
SAMANTHA MELAMED, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER POSTED: April
8, 2015, 3:01 AM
In 2013, Arden Kass was one of about 20 Philadelphia
parents who traveled to Harrisburg
to deliver 4,000 letters by schoolchildren pleading to restore education
funding. It didn't go well. "The mothers were shocked at how callous the
environment was, and, when they went to deliver these extraordinary words of
children, how little currency they had," said Donna Cooper, executive
director of Public Citizens for Children and Youth (PCCY), which helped with
logistics. "Some of the women became activists on education as a result of
that. Arden 's
not an activist, though: She's an artist."
So, Arden Kass - a playwright from Graduate Hospital
The resulting work, School Play - a collage
of interviews with 100 students, teachers and politicians from 30 communities
across Pennsylvania - premieres at the National Constitution Center
Editorial: Spring into
political action
By the
Notebook on Apr 7, 2015 09:44 AM
A new Pew poll shows that education now ranks as the most
important issue among voters in the city – and more than three-fourths of those
surveyed rated the schools as poor or fair.
What can be done? The May 19 primary election could
effectively determine the next mayor and City Council members. The direction of
the city on education issues is up for grabs.
In eight years, Michael Nutter made education a priority,
boosted city funding, and helped select two school superintendents. But neither
of them was able to overcome a horrific budget crisis or unify a polarized
community around an education agenda. Voters should press candidates on how
they would fund schools and resolve the debilitating labor-management and
charter vs. District battles. Meanwhile,
proposals from Nutter and Gov. Wolf would generate most of the new revenue the
District has requested: $206 million from Harrisburg
and $103 million from the city. The initial $80 million covers an existing gap,
but this still could be the first time since the fiscal tsunami of 2011 that
the schools can start to mend the damage.
Filmmakers to bring film,
discussion of college access to Philly
the
notebook By David Limm on Apr 7, 2015 12:08 PM
To be the first in a family to attend college is a
breakthrough moment that can help secure a student's financial future and end a
cycle of poverty. But for many low-income students, the process proves too
foreign, the hurdles too high to overcome.
On April 9, Ritz East will screen, for free, a one-hour version of
the 2012
film First Generation by filmmakers Adam and Jaye
Fenderson (the latter a former senior admissions officer at Columbia
University). The documentary, which garnered acclaim on the festival circuit,
follows four diverse students as they fumble their way through the daunting and
unfamiliar stages of the college admissions process.
Trib Live By Kelsey
Shea Monday, April 6, 2015, 3:39 p.m.
Penn Hills School District Allegheny County Common Pleas Court
for permission to float a bond of up to $18 million. Acting Superintendent Nancy Hines said that a
significant number of under-budgeted and overfunded budget items from past
years have generated a roughly $9 million shortfall.
New cyberschool center
provides new opportunities, parents and students say
Taxpayers expected to see
lower tax bills in Allegany-Limestone school district
By KATE DAY SAGER
Bradford Era Reporter kdsager@bradfordera.com
Posted: Tuesday, April 7, 2015 10:00 am
News of Delaware
County By Kevin Tustin ktustin@delconewsnetwork.com
Published: Tuesday, April 07, 2015
The School District of Haverford Township has been named one
of the best communities for music education in a survey conducted by the
National Association of Music Merchants Foundation and the University of Kansas Delaware
County
Senate
Plan to Revise No Child Left Behind Law Would Not Measure Teachers by Test
Scores
New York Times By TAMAR LEWIN and MOTOKO RICH APRIL 7, 2015
A bipartisan Senate bill revising the No Child Left Behind law,
and eliminating many of its most punitive elements, was announced on Tuesday. The bill retains the requirement for yearly
tests in math and reading for every student in third through eighth grade, and
once in high school, and requires that the scores, broken down by race and
income, be made public. But it ends the
framework under which almost all public schools were found to be failing, and
could defuse what has become an all-out campaign by teachers, joined by many
parents, to prevent having their job performances measured by students’ test
scores.
Alexander,
Murray Announce Bipartisan Agreement on Fixing “No Child Left Behind” Schedule Committee Action for 10 a.m.
Tuesday, April 14
Senate Committee on
Health, Education Labor and Pensions Tuesday, April 07, 2015
Margaret Atkinson / Jim Jeffries (Alexander): 202-224-0387
Alexander said: “Senator Murray and I have worked together
to produce bipartisan legislation to fix ‘No Child Left Behind.’ Basically, our
agreement continues important measurements of the academic progress of students
but restores to states, local school districts, teachers, and parents the
responsibility for deciding what to do about improving student achievement.
This should produce fewer and more appropriate tests. It is the most effective
way to advance higher standards and better teaching in our 100,000 public
schools. We have found remarkable consensus about the urgent need to fix this
broken law, and also on how to fix it. We look forward to a thorough discussion
and debate in the Senate education committee next week.”
Testing Resistance & Reform News: April 1 -7, 2015
Submitted by fairtest on April 7, 2015 - 12:52pm
The assessment reform movement gains momentum across the U.S. and even
beyond national borders, as parents, students, teachers, administrators, and
school board members say "Enough is enough" to standardized exam
misuse and overuse. Now is the time to ratchet up pressure on members of
Congress and state legislatures to roll back test-and-punish mandates!
Less Testing: More Teaching -- Contact U.S.
Examining standardized
testing with Anya Kamenetz
Scientific American By Scott Barry Kaufman | April 6,
2015 |
Award-winning
education writer Anya Kamentez provides practical guidance for parents looking
to understand standardized testing. She and Scott roll up their sleeves and
delve deep into the nature, origins, drawbacks and future of our high-stakes
testing culture. The dialogue spans varying topics including broadening our
educational priorities, holding schools accountable, implementing better
assessments and helping children beat the system.
EPLC "Focus on
Education" TV Program on PCN - Sunday, April 12 at 3:00
p.m.
Education Policy and
Leadership Center
Topic 1:
Reaction to Governor Wolf's 2015-2016 State Education Budget Proposal
Jim Buckheit, Executive Director, PA Association of
School Administrators
John Callahan, Senior Director of Government Affairs, PA School Boards Association
John Callahan, Senior Director of Government Affairs, PA School Boards Association
Topic 2:
Physical Education and Health Education Issues for Students
Dr. Cindy Allen, Professor, Health Science Department, Lock Haven
University
Todd Bedard, Chair, Health and Physical Education
Department, Cumberland
Valley School
District
Linda Woods Huber, Executive Director, PA State Association
for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance
Jessica Peconi-Cook, Health and Physical Education Teacher, Mt. Lebanon School District
All EPLC "Focus on Education" TV shows are hosted by EPLC President Ron Cowell.
Jessica Peconi-Cook, Health and Physical Education Teacher, Mt. Lebanon School District
All EPLC "Focus on Education" TV shows are hosted by EPLC President Ron Cowell.
All are invited for a screening of the
documentary:
STANDARDIZED: Lies, Money
& Civil Rights—How Testing is Ruining Public Education Monday,
April 27, 7-9PM
The Saturday Club, 117 West Wayne Avenue , Wayne ,
PA
Standardized testing
has long been a part of public education. Over the last ten years however,
education reform has become an increasingly heated political issue and
seemingly a highly profitable target market for private enterprise resulting in
expanded and high-stakes testing. While some hold the view that testing is an
effective assessment of student ability and teacher and school effectiveness,
many feel these exams are instead undermining our students, teachers and
schools. Daniel Hornberger’s STANDARDIZED documentary raises issues
about this model of education reform and the standardized testing that goes
along with it. The film includes interviews with prominent educational experts
and government officials who take aim at the goal of standardization that is
being promoted and imposed by our federal and state governments. It sheds light
on the development, nature and use of these assessments, the consequences of
high-stakes testing, and the ostensible private enterprise and government
agendas behind them.
A Q&A session with a panel
of informed parents, teachers and experts will follow.
This screening is made possible
through a collaboration of Radnor, Tredyffrin/Easttown and Lower
Merion concerned parents and PTOs.
Your Right to a Fair Shot: Discrimination Claims,
Post-Secondary and the Professions
Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia Tuesday,
April 21, 2015 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
United Way Building 1709 Benjamin Franklin Parkway , Philadelphia
Attendees will learn
about discrimination claims, post-secondary schools and the professions in this
session. You'll learn how federal law aids students with disabilities who
do not qualify for special education services, hear about recent cases, and understand
strategies for getting students services.
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.
Tickets: Attorneys
$200 General Public $100 Webinar $50
"Pay What You Can" tickets
are also available
Workshop: Fair Funding and other Commons
Sense Reforms for Public Education - Saturday April 11, 9:30 am
The William Penn
School District presents another
public workshop in its series on school funding in Pennsylvania . Topics to be covered include:
- A discussion with the Public Interest
Law Center of Philadelphia about the ABC's of public education funding and
school funding lawsuit filed by the
- An in-depth look at Governor Tom Wolf's
proposed budget and its impact on property taxes and developing a more
equitable funding formula.
LOCATION:
Evans Elementary School
Questions:
Please email rafi@thecavegroup.com
SCHOOL PLAY – It’s a tough
subject
PCCY website March 2015
A live theatre collaboration between playwrights Arden Kass and
Seth Bauer and Public Citizens for Children and Youth. Directed by Edward
Sobel.
School Play explores our attitudes toward public education
using the real voices of Pennsylvanians from across the Commonwealth.
Invited Dress Preview: April 8th @ 7:30pm
Philadelphia Premier: April 9th @ 7:30pm (only
a few seats left!)
More info: http://www.pccy.org/initiatives/school-play/
RSVP to schoolplay@pccy.org to reserve your seat - April 9th is
almost sold out and only a few seats remain for April 8th!
Who will be at the PSBA Advocacy Forum April 19-20 in
Mechanicsburg and Harrisburg?
- Acting
Ed Sec'y Pedro Rivera
- Senate
Ed Committee Majority Chairman Lloyd Smucker
- House
Ed Committee Majority Chairman Stan Saylor
- Senate
Appropriations Committee Chair Pat Browne
- Diane
Ravitch
- House
Majority Leader Dave Reed
- House
Minority Leader Frank Dermody
- 2014
PSBA Tim Allwein Advocacy Award winners Shauna D'Alessandro and Mark
Miller
How about You?
Join PSBA for the second annual Advocacy Forum on April 19-20,
2015. Hear from legislative experts on hot topics and issues regarding public
education on Sunday, April 19, at PSBA headquarters in Mechanicsburg. The next
day you and fellow advocates will meet with legislators at the state capitol.
This is your chance to learn how to successfully advocate on behalf of public
education and make your voice heard on the Hill.
Details and Registration for PSBA members (only $25.00) https://www.psba.org/event/advocacy-forum-day-hill-2015/
Curmuducation Blog Saturday, March 21, 2015
I don't get out much. I'm a high school English teacher in a
small town, and kind of homebody by nature. When I leave town, it's for family
or work. But in just over a month, on the weekend of April 25-26, I am taking a
trip to Chicago for neither. The Network
for Public Education is the closest thing to an actual formal
organization of the many and varied people standing up for public education in
this modern era of privatizing test-driven corporate education reform. NPE held
a conference last year, and they're doing it again this year-- a gathering of
many of the strongest voices for public education in America today. Last year I followed along on line-- this year I will be there.
Beyond a New School Funding
Formula: Lifting Student Achievement to Grow PA's Economy
Wednesday, May 6, 2015 from 7:30 AM to 10:00 AM (EDT) Harrisburg , PA
7:30 am: Light breakfast fare and registration; 8:00 am:
Program
Opening Remarks by Neil D. Theobald, President, Temple University
SESSION I: THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF ACHIEVEMENT GAPS IN
PENNSYLVANIA’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS with introduction by Rob Wonderling,
President, Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, and Member, Center on
Regional Politics Executive Committee.
Presentation by Lynn A. Karoly, Senior Economist, RAND
Corporation
SESSION II: WHAT CAN PENNSYLVANIA Pennsylvania
State University College
of Education
Presentation by Marc S. Tucker, President and CEO, National Center
Sessions to be followed by a response panel moderated
by Francine Schertzer, Director of Programming, Pennsylvania Cable
Network
Program presented by the University Consortium to Improve
Public School Finance and Promote Economic Growth
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