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
PA Ed Policy Roundup for May 1, 2015:
Waiting for fair-funding
formula, school leaders assess Pa.
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
"Acting superintendent
of Lower Merion School District Lower
Merion has the unfortunate, dubious distinction as the school that
has everything," he said. "We are very fortunate in Lower
Merion for a number of reasons, but our ZIP code does us very,
very well."
He said wealthier districts
need to be part of the conversation.
"Districts like ours,
who are very fortunate, need to stand up alongside and argue for not just an
economic reason but for a moral reason," he said. "We need to be, not
in the background, but in the foreground, standing next to our colleagues
because what happens outside these borders impacts what happens inside."
Waiting for fair-funding
formula, school leaders assess Pa.
WHYY Newsworks BY SARA HOOVER MAY 1, 2015
When it comes to
disparities in school funding, Pennsylvania
is leading the country.
Community members
gathered Wednesday in the Springfield High School auditorium in Delaware County Upper Darby .
“The overall expenses of the
budget are going up 2.9 percent of the entire budget,” Scanlon said. “Of the $8
million increase, $3.9 million of that is going to pay for the mandated
pension. $1 million is going toward the increased charter school tuition — also
state mandated. Then special education costs, which is a federal mandate,
continues to rise. Of the increase, $5.9 million is those three items, all mandated.
The rest of the operating budget — salaries, benefits, cost of fuel, cost of
materials — is $2.1 million. That is less than 1 percent increase.”
"….According to Scanlon
there is an expectation of a pension spike increase for next year. He said that
the rate this year is 25 percent and 25.8 percent to 30 percent next
year."
Editorial: Crafting school
budgets: Always a struggle
Delco Times
Editorial POSTED: 04/30/15, 10:42 PM EDT |
It’s not just here
in Delaware County Delaware
County West
Chester School District Delaware County
'Close to a zero tax
increase' if Harrisburg fixed funding, Bethlehem
By Sara K. Satullo | For
lehighvalleylive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on April 29, 2015 at 6:30 PM,
updated April 29, 2015 at 6:31 PM
The average Bethlehem Area School District homeowner
would see their annual school property tax bill rise by less than $100 under
the proposed tentative final budget.
Wednesday night the
administration presented an updated 2015-16 spending plan proposal to the
school board. School directors have expressed support for a tax hike ranging
from 3 percent to 3.5 percent. The
tentative budget brought forward Wednesday relies on a 2.9 percent tax increase
and tapping $2 million from district savings to balance the budget. The
district began the budget process with an $11.6 million deficit.
Local school districts
look at Wolf proposals for education funding
Johnstown Tribune Democrat By Dave Sutor dsutor@tribdem.com Wednesday,
April 29, 2015 12:26 am
The 50-percent line
is a key target in two important points of Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed 2015-16
budget. He has called for increasing the
state’s share of public school funding to 50 percent, up from 35 percent. At
the same time, the Democrat wants to implement cuts that, according to his
projections, would provide homeowners an average property tax reduction of more
than 50 percent, totaling $3.8 billion across the commonwealth. On Tuesday, more than a half-dozen Democrat
members of the state House, including Rep. Bryan Barbin, D-Johns-town, and Rep.
Frank Burns, D-East Taylor, held a hearing to discuss the plan at Greater
Johnstown High School.
After three years,
ASPIRA's Olney Charter High School
WHYY Newsworks BY LAURA BENSHOFF MAY 1, 2015
Decked out in blue
for the school's colors, teachers and staff at ASPIRA Olney
Charter High
School
"I'm blown
away," said Hannah Myers, who teaches English for Speakers of Other
Languages and says she was a "mover and shaker" in getting the
union off the ground. "I'm really proud ... We've had such perseverance
over the last three years organizing."
Olney Charter teachers
vote to unionize
TEACHERS and other
staffers at Olney Charter High School
voted yesterday to form a union, becoming Philadelphia 's
largest charter school to unionize. The
final tally was 104-38 in favor of the union, which will be under the umbrella
of the Alliance of Charter School Employees, an affiliate of the American
Federation of Teachers.
Gov. Wolf at 100 days
JOHN BAER, DAILY NEWS POLITICAL COLUMNIST Thursday,
April 30, 2015, 12:16 AM
TOM WOLF is now in
office 100 days, just a mini-milestone to be sure, but enough to suggest what
to expect from the business guy turned governor. I sat with Wolf this week in Harrisburg , in the ornate reception room
outside his office. He was, as usual,
soft-spoken, direct, focused on broad themes; pushing his agenda despite
significant resistance from the Republican-controlled Legislature.
Governor Wolf Visits Erie
Governor Tom Wolf
continues to criss cross the state looking for support for his plan to boost
funding for education. This afternoon, he visited Erie 's
Central Tech High School Erie schools, and give homeowners a tax
break.
Wolf's budget:
Inconvenient truth
Editorial By The
Tribune-Review Thursday, April 30, 2015, 8:55 p.m.
The truth is that all Pennsylvanians, even those with the lowest incomes, would pay more under Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf's proposed budget. Yet so set are he and his supporters on taxing more and spending more that they'll distort and deny that truth — even when it comes from the state's nonpartisan Independent Fiscal Office. That agency reports all income groups, including the under-$25,000 category, would pay more in taxes under Mr. Wolf's plan. House Appropriations Chairman Bill Adolph,R-Delaware County
The truth is that all Pennsylvanians, even those with the lowest incomes, would pay more under Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf's proposed budget. Yet so set are he and his supporters on taxing more and spending more that they'll distort and deny that truth — even when it comes from the state's nonpartisan Independent Fiscal Office. That agency reports all income groups, including the under-$25,000 category, would pay more in taxes under Mr. Wolf's plan. House Appropriations Chairman Bill Adolph,
By Evan
Grossman / April 29,
Watchdog.org
If failing schools
don’t clean up their act, one Pennsylvania
lawmaker wants the state to step in and do it for them. Legislation proposed by Sen. Lloyd Smucker,
R-Lancaster, chairman of the education committee, hits notes that appeal to
education reformers, with ideas that could open the door to charter school
expansion and more acute oversight of all public schools. “Pennsylvania spends nearly $1.3 billion of
taxpayer dollars on schools that consistently produce dismal results,” Smucker
said. “We need to support these schools and their students, to ensure that they
can turn themselves around, before these children fall further and further
behind.” Smucker’s
Educational Opportunity and Accountability Act would lead turnaround efforts in
Pennsylvania ’s
worst schools with the help of outside contractors. A state-run Achievement School District
would operate similar to turnaround efforts in Louisiana
and Tennessee ,
where there is strong collaboration with charter school operators.
Philly.com Think
Tank Blog By Erick M. Elder and Gary A. Wagner April 30, 2015
Erick M. Elder and Gary A. Wagner are
coauthors of a new study by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University,
“Can Public Pensions Fulfill Their Promises? An Examination of Pennsylvania
ThePennsylvania legislature is again debating
reforms to avert a potential pension funding crisis. Every taxpayer should be
concerned, but the people who bear the most risk are current and future retirees. More than 325,000 retired Pennsylvanians and
370,000 active workers rely on the commonwealth’s two largest pension plans,
the Public Schools Employee Retirement System (PSERS) and State Employee
Retirement System (SERS). According to our new research, it’s statistically
unlikely those plans will be able to keep their promises to these workers over
the long term if changes aren’t made.
The
Eighth-graders don't know
much about U.S.
Penn Live By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com Email
the author | Follow on Twitter on April
30, 2015 at 8:00 AM, updated April 30, 2015 at 11:51 AM
Less than a third of
American eighth-graders demonstrated at least a solid understanding of U.S. history,
geography or civics on 2014 National
Assessment of Educational Progress tests. Those results
released on Wednesday nearly mirrors the 2010 results, when students were last
tested in these subjects. That lack of
progress raises concern for those in the social studies field, who feel that
the emphasis on these subjects has taken a backseat to English, math and
science. "How do we, as
a nation, maintain our status in the world if future generations of Americans
do not understand our nation's history, world geography or civics principles or
practices?" asked Michelle Herczog, president of the National Council for the Social Studies.
Final proposed budget for
CASD calls for a 2.4 percent tax hike
West Chester Daily Local By Lucas Rodgers, lrodgers@dailylocal.com, @LucasMRodgers on Twitter POSTED: 04/29/15, 7:39 PM EDT |
Coatesville >>
Business Manager Ron Kabonick presented the Coatesville Area School District’s
final proposed budget for the 2015-2016 school year to residents at Tuesday
night’s board meeting. The budget is now
set at $149,420,401, which is $2,185,886 less than the preliminary proposed
budget. The millage for the proposed
budget would increase from 32.0036 to 32.7717, which means there is an
anticipated tax increase of 2.4 percent for residents of the district. The
average taxpayer in the district would see an increase of about $82.27 in
school taxes next school year, based on the average assessed residential
property value of $107,109. In order to close a
$2.2 million budget gap, the district needs not only the revenue from a tax
increase, but it will need to make $1.2 million in reductions, the district
said in a statement. Those reductions are expected to come from the district
outsourcing its custodial and groundskeeping services to Tennessee-based
company, ServiceMaster. The proposed agreement with ServiceMaster would allow
about 60 custodians and six groundskeepers to maintain their jobs in the
district, at market wages, and to receive benefits including a 401K package,
the district said.
By Sara K. Satullo | For
lehighvalleylive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on April 30, 2015 at 4:10 PM
Saucon Valley School District taxpayers
may be facing their first tax hike in six years.
The district is trying to bridge an $850,000
deficit and the school board is considering raising taxes for
the first time in years. The district's Act 1 Index is 1.9 percent. If the school board hiked taxes to the
maximum allowed it would result in a tax increase of $98 for the owner of a
home with an assessed value of $100,000.
Business Manager David Bonenberger explained Tuesday night that raising
taxes to the district's 1.9 percent cap on annual property tax increases won't
close the budget gap. It only generates $551,000 in revenue. The school board has voted to stay under the
cap. So, Saucon must make cuts, find more funding or tap its rainy day fund.
LNP Editorial Board Posted: Wednesday,
April 29, 2015 6:23 pm
In honor of National
Teacher Appreciation Week, May 4-8, the LNP Editorial Board invites
residents of all ages to share memories (recent stories included) about their
favorite teachers. Tell us about how
the teacher inspired you and/or your classmates, what grade the teacher taught
and share a specific memory that illustrates why that teacher's influence
remains with you, or will remain with you.
School Progress Reports
released for Philly District
Reports include data for most charter
schools.
the notebook By Dale
Mezzacappa on Apr 30, 2015 02:33 PM
The School District has released its School Progress Reports
for 2013-14, which quantify a number of indicators to evaluate achievement,
climate, and equity. The reports, which replaced the troubled School
Performance Index, are in their second year.
The School Progress Reports put more weight on
student growth than on absolute levels of achievement and factor in other
school attributes. The School Performance Index scores relied more heavily on
test scores and ran into problems when officials acknowledged that they
were tainted
by faulty data. SPI reduced data to
a single number for each school ranging from 1 to 10 and made crucial decisions
based on them, including which schools should be closed or undergo a
"turnaround," including conversion to a charter school.
Candidate Williams
Concentrates on Union Support, Sidesteps Questions About School Funding
CBS Philly By Paul Kurtz April
30, 2015 3:49 PM
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) —
Democratic mayoral candidate Anthony Williams today was brushing off a report
that details his ties to three local financial managers who support charter
schools and school vouchers. The report,
released by progressive groups and supporters of public education, says three
wealthy Main Line hedge fund partners are
spending millions on advertisements for Williams in the waning weeks of the
campaign. Joel Greenberg, Jeff Yass, and
Arthur Dantchik are staunch supporters of school choice, as is
Williams. And that doesn’t make him much of a Democrat in the eyes
of Mike Morrill, executive director of Keystone
Progress.
Helen Gym
Slams Susquehanna Billionaires for Trying to Buy Philly Municipal Elections
Helen Gym Campaign website April 30, 2015
PHILADELPHIA (April 30, 2015) – Today, Helen Gym
mother of three children in the Philadelphia Public Schools and candidate for
City Council At-Large, joined Keystone Progress and Action United to denounce
the influx of millions of dollars being pumped into a SuperPAC attempting to influence
the Philadelphia municipal elections. The
report released by Hedgeclippers, details the long track record of Susquehanna
founders Joel Greenberg, Jeff Yass, and Arthur Danchick donating vast sums of
money to far right-wing politicians and organizations ranging from Gov. Scott
Walker, to the arch-conservative Cato Institute and Freedom Works SuperPAC.
Now, they are funneling millions of dollars into a SuperPAC benefiting the
mayoral candidate they believe will best help them enact their rightwing privatization
scheme for Philadelphia schools.
Here's the report mentioned
in the two items above….
RIGHT WING FINANCIAL TRADERS FROM THE SUBURBS BET BIG
ON THE PHILADELPHIA
WHY ARE A GROUP OF CONSERVATIVE TRADERS
BANKROLLING A SELF-DESCRIBED DEMOCRAT IN THE PHILADELPHIA
Hedgeclippers.org
website April 29, 2015
Anthony H. Williams
enjoys a long history of support from the founders of Susquehanna Investment
Group (SIG), a dark pool “high-frequency trading” firm based in the wealthy
suburbs of Philadelphia . The ultra-conservative 1%’ers who founded SIG
were the major bankrollers of Williams’ ill-fated campaign for Governor. They
have now already lavished his mayoral ambitions with a down payment of $250,000
and more in television ads, signaling that they are ready to spend millions
more[1]. Beyond Anthony Hardy Williams they are
also funding the employer of Williams’ campaign manager[2].
"The feedback I got was
that only when an educated group of parents takes a stand against this colossal
waste of time will anything change," says Kovach, who kept her son home in
March and will do so again next week and in May, and says many other parents at
her Boulder, Colo., elementary school are doing the same.
Standardized test
backlash: More parents pull kids from exams as protest
For parents fed up with the
growing numbers of tests and the increasingly high stakes, 'opting out' is now
the popular form of protest. Critics say it aims at the wrong target and
ignores importance of data gleaned.
Christian Science Monitor By Amanda Paulson, Staff writer APRIL 30, 2015
Judge Slashes Sentences of
Three Convicted in Atlanta
Education Week
Distric t Dossier Blog By Corey Mitchell on April 30, 2015 2:39
PM
The judge in the Atlanta schools
test-cheating scandal reduced the sentences of three convicted administrators
Thursday, making the case that he wanted his ruling to be considered
"fair." Fulton County , Ga.
Judge
Reduces 3 Sentences in Atlanta
School
New York Times By RICHARD FAUSSET APRIL 30, 2015
ATLANTA — Admitting
that he was “not comfortable” with the seven-year prison terms he had handed
down two weeks earlier, the judge in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating case
on Thursday called three former administrators back to his courtroom to cut
their prison terms to three years each. “When
a judge goes home and he keeps thinking over and over that something’s wrong,
something is usually wrong,” said Judge Jerry W. Baxter of Fulton County
Superior Court. “And anyway, I want to modify the sentence so that I can live
with it.”
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
Common Core Forum: A Closer Look at the PA Core
Standards
Thursday, May 7, 6:30 - 8:00 pm Radnor Middle
School
Presented by the Leagues of
Women Voters of Chester County , Haverford,
Lower Merion , Narberth and Radnor. Supported by the Radnor School District
Panelists Include:
Fred Brown, K-12
Math Supervisor, School District of Haverford
Township
Jon Cetel, Education
Reform Agent, PennCAN
Mary Beth Hegeman,
Middle School Teacher, Lower
Merion School
District
Cynthia Kruse , Delaware County Intermediate
Susan Newitt,
Retired Elementary Teacher, Lower
Merion School
District
Wendy Towle,
Supervisor of Language Arts & Staff Development, T/E School
District
Larry Wittig,
Chairman of the State Board of Education
PHILLY DISTRICT TO HOLD
COMMUNITY BUDGET MEETINGS
Wednesday,
May 6
Tuesday, May
12
Thursday,
May 14
Congreso, 216 West Somerset St .
Wednesday,
May 20
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.