Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now
reach more than 3600 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, professional associations and education advocacy organizations via
emails, website, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
These daily emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg
Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for May 31, 2015:
One in five U.S.
Refer a friend/colleague to
the PA Ed Policy Roundup and you could win a year's worth of my school board
salary
COMMUNITY MEETING: PUBLIC SCHOOL FUNDING
IN BERKS COUNTY
"Some insiders are
suggesting that, since they already have the votes, Republicans simply will
pass a similar no-tax-hike plan to the ones crafted by Corbett, toss it on the
new guy’s desk and see what happens. Then
Wolf will have a choice. He can blink, cave in on his budget plans, or draw a
line in the sand, veto the spending plan and keep legislators in Harrisburg Pennsylvania
Editorial: It’s show time
in Harrisburg
On your mark …Get
set … Go? Uh, maybe.
Do not pass go. Do
not collect $30 billion. At least not if you’re one of those folks who toils in
the Pennsylvania Capitol. Welcome to the
good old days in Harrisburg . Tomorrow is June 1. Our new governor
and legislators have exactly 30 days to reach an agreement on a budget plan. Republicans who
control the state House and Senate are probably suffering from a serious case
of déjà vu. Excuse them if they seem a bit disoriented. Four years of Tom
Corbett will do that. Corbett was
criticized for a lot of things – even by some in his own party. But one thing
is indisputable. The guy knew how to deliver a budget. On time and without a
tax increase.
“...personalized education of every student,
every day; and it is difficult to measure factors that we consider to be
essential."
Lower Merion School
Main Line Times By Richard Ilgenfritz rilgenfritz@mainlinemedianews.com @rpilgenfritz
on Twitter Published: Friday, May 29, 2015
Storify for #FairFundingPA Chat with Terry Madonna -
May 2015
PARSS May 27, 2015
Cost of business:
Exploring public school legal fees in Pennsylvania
By Nick Malawskey |
nmalawskey@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on May 27, 2015 at 7:15 AM, updated May 27, 2015 at 11:14 AM
on May 27, 2015 at 7:15 AM, updated May 27, 2015 at 11:14 AM
As part of
PennLive's look at legal fees
charged to the Harrisburg School District,we also delved into legal
fees charged to public school districts and charter schools across the state.
We compiled the data
from state State Department of Education reports on secondary education
costs for a 10-year time span. What we found is that fees vary widely by
district, often spiking when a settlement is reached in a civil case (the
department includes settlements when calculating legal fees paid by a
district). We wanted to let you dig
through the data. Below you'll find an
interactive that allows a user to look up legal fees from any district or
charter school in the state and compare them to other districts.
One in five U.S.
More than one out of
every five school-age children in the U.S. were living below the federal
poverty line in 2013, according to new federal statistics released Thursday.
That amounted to 10.9 million children — or 21 percent of the total — a six
percent increase in the childhood poverty rate since 2000. Childhood poverty rates were on the rise for
every racial group, ranging from 39 percent for African Americans and 36
percent for Native Americans, 32 percent for Hispanics and 13 percent for
Asians and whites. The data, part of an
annual report to Congress from the U.S. Department of Education, offers a
snapshot of the country’s education system, including information about
preschool, higher education and private K-12 school enrollment.
"He is also co-chairman
of the Basic Education Funding Commission, which has a June 10 deadline to
recommend an objective formula to distribute discretionary state aid to
schools."
Pa. Senator makes first
public appearance after motorcycle crash
Penn Live By The Associated Press
updated May 29, 2015 at 4:25 PM
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP)
— A high-ranking Pennsylvania state senator from Allentown who is facing a
drunken driving charge is back in public, four weeks after being injured in a
motorcycle accident. Sen. Pat Browne was
at Saucon Valley Country Club on Thursday to attend a campaign fundraiser for
him, the Morning Call of Allentown reports. Browne, who chairs the Senate Appropriations
Committee, is expected to return to the Capitol next week before budget
negotiations heat up.
Their View: A recipe for
real pension reform
Centre Daily Times Letter BY JIM PAWELCZYK May 28, 2015
Jim Pawelczyk
lives in Ferguson Township and serves on the State College Area
School District
No sound bite
explains or solves Pennsylvania ’s
pension crisis. Thankfully, Harrisburg ’s
perennial pension debates have taken on a more serious note. Perhaps sound
policy decisions will trump the political posturing that has left the
Pennsylvania School Employees’ Retirement System hamstrung. PSERS many problems
are well-chronicled. They will impact public education and the economy for
decades. What should the eventual reform package include? In my view, a
complete solution needs to reflect the following realities:
Read more here: http://www.centredaily.com/2015/05/28/4769744_their-view-a-recipe-for-real-pension.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy
"With the change, AGIS
will go from students having a gym class every day to just twice in the
eight-day cycle. The time period for lunch and recess together is also being
limited to 45 minutes total rather than the current hour long session."
Avon Grove parents plead
for PE
PENN >>
Parents came out to board meetings and information sessions to object to the
restructuring of the class schedules at the Avon Grove Intermediate School, but
their input did not change the administration’s plan. At the May 28 School Board meeting, the six
to one vote of approval paved the way for the changes to take place in the
fall, even though parent voices were opposed.
The proposal changes the AGIS schedule to focus on 90 minute educational
blocks for language arts, math, social studies and science. Enrichment periods
including art, music, and physical education are put into 45 minute blocks that
change on an eight-day sliding schedule.
“This will mark the second
consecutive year where we are attempting to reinvest in academic supports for
our students and community. This district had cut over $8.3 million of supports
over the last five years. We need to improve academically and we need to continue
to work within the confines of our existing budget.
Delco Times By Linda Reilly, Times Correspondent POSTED: 05/30/15, 11:40 PM EDT
Hearing starts
Monday on whether ABECS appeal can advance
Some of the
signatures were collected by a convicted criminal, others reportedly by minors.
Some of the signers
listed a homeless shelter as their address.
Several pages were temporarily lost, and an expert says multiple
signatures are in the same handwriting. The
question: Should those irregularities, and others, invalidate the Academy of
Business and Entrepreneurship Charter School’s petition to have an appeal heard
by the State Charter School Appeals Board? RELATED:
A closer look at the petition On
Monday, a County Court hearing on that issue will begin. County Court Judge
Joseph Madenspacher will preside. The
charter school, known as ABECS, wants the appeals board to reverse the School District of Lancaster
"ERS looked at per-pupil
spending in the district between 2011 and 2014, as well as what factors drove
the decline. That involved comparing revenue for those years to changes in
fixed costs, or costs the district has to pay by law. The report isolated three
main fixed costs that have widened the gap created by a decrease in state
funding over the past four years: pensions, health care and charter school
payments."
Where does all of the Philly School
District
WHYY Newsworks BY LAURA BENSHOFF MAY 29, 2015
Dream act — what one
Philly public school would do if Wolf has his way
WHYY Newsworks BY LAURA BENSHOFF MAY 29, 2015
What would you do
with two and a half million dollars? Or, $2,447,020 to be exact.
That's how much
money Northeast High
School would get if the School District of Philadelphia
At North Philly school,
Wolf makes a pitch for more education funding
WHYY Newsworks BY LAURA BENSHOFF MAY 29, 2015
Insider: 4 Things Jim Kenney Must Do To Fix Philly’s
Schools
Saltz: Kenney should take on Harrisburg
Philly Mag Citified BY ANDREW SALTZ | MAY
29, 2015 AT 1:44 PM
(Editor’s note:
This is an opinion column from a Citified insider.)
If you’re a parent
in the School District
of Philadelphia
Former Sen. Rick Santorum
Joins GOP Race for White House
Education Week Politics
K-12 Blog By Lauren Camera on May 28, 2015 8:40 AM
Add another
candidate to the already bursting field of GOP presidential contenders: Rick
Santorum, the highly conservative former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania , launched his campaign late
Wednesday afternoon. Santorum, who
served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1991 to 1995 and in the Senate
from 1995 to 2007 and unsuccessfully vied for his party's presidential
nomination last go-around, joined the growing ranks of Republican presidential
hopefuls that are trouncing the Common Core State Standards. "Our children, well, they deserve an
education customized—customized!—to maximize their potential," Santorum said during his speech in Cabot , Pa.
But that's where his
focus on education started and stopped.
So where does he
stand on education issues?
The Education Assassins
New York Times by Frank Bruni MAY 30, 2015
A CONTEST for the
least popular arm of the federal government would have many strong contenders. There’s the soft, cuddly Internal Revenue
Service. Also the National Security Agency, America’s Peeping Tom. And let’s
not forget the Environmental Protection Agency, seen by many manufacturers as
one big, mossy, bossy paean to regulation run amok.
But for politicians,
in particular Republicans, another challenger comes into play: the Department
of Education. In a Republican
presidential debate during the 2012 campaign, it wasn’t just on the list of
“three agencies of government” that Rick Perry famously promised to eliminate.
It was one of the two that he succeeded in naming before he stopped short,
forgetting the third.
And it finds itself
once again in Republican presidential candidates’ cross hairs, all the more so
because of Common Core standards, supported by the education secretary, Arne
Duncan, and cited by many excessively alarmed conservatives as a federal
takeover of curriculum.
HARTFORD — Several
Wall Street billionaires who have invested heavily in the expansion of charter
schools contributed more than $200,000 to Democrats in the 2013-14 election
cycle, helping Gov. Dannel P. Malloy secure re-election. The campaign contributors earned their
fortunes as hedge fund managers and private equity investors before earning
reputations as "education philanthropists." They have helped bankroll
charter school movements throughout the country, spending to influence
elections and to support advocacy movements.
Malloy opened this year's legislative session with a budget proposal
that included $4.6 million in funding to open two new privatelymanaged charter
schools, and an additional $17 million for new charter school seats in the next
two years. Funding for local school districts would have remained flat.
Apply
now for EPLC’s 2015-2016 PA Education Policy Fellowship Program
Applications are
available now for the 2015-2016
Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP).
The Education Policy Fellowship Program is sponsored in Pennsylvania by The Education Policy and
Leadership Center (EPLC). With more
than 400 graduates in its first sixteen years, this Program is a premier
professional development opportunity for educators, state and local
policymakers, advocates, and community leaders. State Board of
Accountancy (SBA) credits are available to certified public accountants. Past participants include state policymakers,
district superintendents and principals, charter school leaders, school
business officers, school board members, education deans/chairs, statewide
association leaders, parent leaders, education advocates, and other education
and community leaders. Fellows are typically sponsored by their employer
or another organization. The Fellowship
Program begins with a two-day retreat on September 17-18, 2015 and
continues to graduation in June 2016.
Click here to read about the Education Policy
Fellowship Program.
Sign up here to receive a weekly
email update on the status of efforts to have Pennsylvania
Sign up to support fair funding »
Campaign for Fair
Education Funding website
Our goal is to
ensure that every student has access to a quality education no matter where
they live. To make that happen, we need to fundamentally change how public
schools are funded. The current system is not fair to students or taxpayers and
our campaign partners – more than 50 organizations from across Pennsylvania -
agree that it has to be changed now. Student performance is stagnating. School
districts are in crisis. Lawmakers have the ability to change this formula but
they need to hear from you. You
can make a difference »
COMMUNITY MEETING: PUBLIC
SCHOOL FUNDING IN BERKS
COUNTY
Date: Tuesday, June 23, 2015 Time:7:00 – 8:30 p.m. | Registration begins
at 6:30 p.m.
Location: Berks
County 1111 Commons Boulevard ,
Reading , PA 19605
Local school district leaders will discuss how state funding issues are
impacting our children’s education opportunities, our local taxes, and our
communities. You will have the opportunity to ask questions and learn how you
can support fair and adequate state funding for public schools in Berks County Berks County
PILCOP: Adequately and Fairly
Funding Pennsylvania Schools: What are the Needs and Where Does the Money Come
From? (Live Webinar)
June 8, 2015, 12:00 — 2:00 P.M.
June 8, 2015, 12:00 — 2:00 P.M.
Staff attorney
Michael Churchill will speak about what schools need and where the money comes
from in this Pennsylvania Bar Institute (PBI) webinar on June
8. Click here to register.
Governor Wolf has
proposed $500 million in new funding for public schools starting this July. He
has proposed as shale extraction tax and increases in personal income and sales
taxes to pay for this. This Philadelphia
Bar Association Education Law Section and PBI are hosting a webinar that will
focus on how much public schools need and differing proposals on how state
funds should be distributed this year and in the future. Other focuses will
include the current local tax burdens for public schools and issues concerning
how the state should raise revenues to pay for these programs. The program will also provide information
about the components of a good funding formula and look at the work of the
Basic Education Funding Commission and the state-wide Campaign for Fair
Education Funding, of which we are a leading member.