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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for May 8, 2015:
$940K ad buy in closing week brings school
choice proponents Yass, Dantchick & Greenberg's total media expenditures
for Williams' campaign to about $5.2 million
SAVE The DATE: Northwestern
PA School Funding Forum
May 28, 2015 7:00 PM Jefferson Educational Society 3207 State St. Erie , PA 16508
What are the differences
between the Wolf/Senate GOP pension plans? A primer: Thursday Morning Coffee
Penn Live By John L. Micek | jmicek@pennlive.com Email
the author | Follow on Twitter on
May 07, 2015 at 8:23 AM
Good Thursday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
Senate Republicans have released the details of their long-awaited pension reform plan, which would do away with the defined-benefit retirement plan for state and public school employees. And, as the Associated Press reports, it would require concessions from many current employees to shore up the state's debt-ridden pension systems. Here's a quick primer on the GOP plan, sponsored by Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre, and the pension plan advanced by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.
Senate Republicans have released the details of their long-awaited pension reform plan, which would do away with the defined-benefit retirement plan for state and public school employees. And, as the Associated Press reports, it would require concessions from many current employees to shore up the state's debt-ridden pension systems. Here's a quick primer on the GOP plan, sponsored by Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre, and the pension plan advanced by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.
Uncharted waters ahead for Senate pension changes
WITF State House
SOund Bites Written by Mary
Wilson, Capitol Bureau Chief | May 7, 2015 10:00 PM
The state Senate
GOP's plan to change to the state's pension system is a heavy political lift
that remains untested in the Legislature.
After months of silence on the details of a pension overhaul proposal,
Republican leaders are gearing up for a fast and furious week. They expect to
receive an actuarial analysis Tuesday on how much their proposed changes could
save for the retirement systems' collective $53 billion liability. By the end
of the week, they expect to hold a final vote on the bill. The measure would
close the traditional pension system to any new workers and ask more of the
employees enrolled in it now. "It's
going to be controversial -- there's going to be grinding and gnashing of the
teeth," said Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati (R-Jefferson), who
supports the changes. "But you know what? Either you want to fix this
disease that's killing the Pennsylvania
budget ... or you want to put tax increases on every Pennsylvanian for a
lifetime." Some say
Republican-backed amendments are waiting in the wings to exclude certain
employee groups from the pension changes.
But leaders say they have the votes to pass the plan in their chamber,
setting up what they hope is part of a grand bargain with the House and the
governor's office. That negotiation could rope-in other issues (e.g. phasing
out the state-run liquor stores, the overall budget, property tax relief).
House Democratic
leadership set to introduce budget, related bills
The PLS Reporter Author: Jason Gottesman/Thursday,
May 7, 2015
House Minority
Leader Frank Dermody (D-Allegheny) and House Democratic Appropriations Chairman
Joe Markosek (D-Allegheny) announced Thursday afternoon the
introduction of Gov. Tom Wolf’s budget plan and intent to introduce other major
components of the governor’s comprehensive plan next week. The bill for the General Appropriations Act
is House Bill 1125. Non-preferred higher education appropriations will run from
House Bill 1126 to House Bill 1130. Other, smaller agency appropriations bills
will run from House Bill 1131 to House Bill 1139. The Capital Budget
Bill is labeled House Bill 1140. Next
week, the leadership plans to introduce “other major pieces” of the governor’s
budget plan to run from House Bill 1142 to House Bill 1151, according to an
email from caucus spokesperson Bill Patton.
A breakdown of Gov. Wolf's
plan for new education spending
WHYY Newsworks BY KEVIN MCCORRY MAY 8,
2015 MULTIPLE CHOICES: PART 6
Sixth in an
occasional series of podcasts and web "explainers." To
listen to the podcast, click the audio player above.
What has Governor
Wolf proposed?
In the first year of
his plan, the governor wants to increase pre-K through higher education
spending by $1 billion. Of this figure,
$500 million would go to K-12 classrooms ($400 million to basic education and
$100 million to special education). Pre-K
Counts and Head Start would received $120 million in new aid. The
state's higher-ed system along with community colleges would get a $143 million
boost in exchange for enacting tuition freezes.
Over four years, K-12 spending would get an additional $2 billion. Wolf plans to pay for the increased spending
by implementing a comprehensive tax overhaul.
"The result is hundreds
of millions of dollars in overpayment to schools that post very poor results:
In 2013-14, not a single cyber charter school met the state’s standard for
adequate progress. Cyber charter schools come up short even in comparison to
traditional public and charter schools whose students live in the greatest
poverty."
Letter: Cyber charter schools
need Wolf’s reforms
The letter writer, a School District of Lancaster
Leave it to the
Commonwealth Foundation and James Paul to kick off National Teacher
Appreciation Week with a column bashing educators and their union (Wolf’s plan to reduce funding for charters a gift to PSEA,
May 2, LNP). Since it’s impossible to
respond to all of Mr. Paul’s rhetorical and statistical sleight of hand, I’ll
focus on his most egregious claims concerning Gov. Wolf’s plan for cyber
charter school reform.
Here are the facts:
Under current law, Pennsylvania cyber
charter schools receive payments based on the per-pupil spending of their
students’ home school districts. Put another way, different districts pay
different rates to the same school, offering the same curriculum. These payments are in no way adjusted for the
fact that cyber charter schools don’t face the same costs as brick-and-mortar
schools, and the payments bear no relationship to the cyber charter’s actual
instructional costs.
Letter: Writer blinded by
free-market enthusiasm
James Paul is so
blinded by his free-market enthusiasm that he ignores the growing evidence of
charter schools' ineffectiveness (“Wolf's plan to reduce funding for charters a
gift to PSEA,” May 2). Stanford University
"George Wolf's support
for public education was unpopular in his own party. It was believed by some
that education was best left to church and private schools."
Gov. Tom Wolf accepts Bethlehem
By Sara K. Satullo | For
lehighvalleylive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on May 07, 2015 at 6:54 PM,
updated May 07, 2015 at 6:56 PM
Governor Wolf Elementary School in
Bethlehem is named after Pennsylvania 's seventh governor but it also
shares a name with the 47th: Gov. Tom Wolf.
The Butztown Road
school extended the new governor an open invitation to visit the school
via the sign in front of its building. There was also an inauguration-day invitation
delivered via Twitter featuring a photo of the sign: And it looks like Wolf has accepted. The
governor is scheduled to visit the school Friday. He plans to discuss the
impact of proposed fiscal year 2015-16 funding increases on education
during a "Schools that Teach" roundtable and tour. The school's
namesake is actually credited with being the father of Pennsylvania 's first public school system.
In 1834, the Common School Law was passed establishing the state's first system
of publicly funded education. Many today
hope that Gov. Tom Wolf will put a renewed focus on the state's public education
system and provide schools with reliable funding.
Tony Williams should run
on his beliefs
Harold
Jackson, Inquirer Opinion
Columnist POSTED: THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2015, 11:57 AM
If Anthony Hardy
Williams loses the Philadelphia
mayor’s race, he shouldn’t blame it on negative advertising or being outspent.
He should blame it on having a rudderless campaign that never distinguished
itself on any issue. Williams was the only candidate who came into the
Democratic primary with high expectations of articulately expressing a specific
point of view on a particular issue – charter schools – and he instead avoided
the subject, unless someone else brought it up. How are voters
supposed to vote for someone who acts like he’s embarrassed to be associated
with a cause he has championed for years? It’s not as if Williams can run away
from his past, not with his mayoral campaign being heavily financed by three
rich guys who have made it their mission to promote the creation of more
charters in Pennsylvania .
Bala Cynwyd investment moguls Joel Greenberg, Arthur Dantchik,
and Jeff Yass also put a lot of money into Williams’ unsuccessful run for
governor in 2010.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/under-the-sun/Tony-Williams-should-run-on-his-beliefs.html#6ZYYEoti8iHh869l.99
Super PAC spending for
campaign's final week approaches $1 million
DAVE DAVIES OFF MIC A BLOG BY DAVE DAVIES MAY 7, 2015
American Cities, the
super PAC supporting State Sen. Anthony Williams has increased its
planned TV and radio advertising for the final week of the Philadelphia mayor's race
to over $950,000, according to two sources familiar with political ad
placements.
Earlier in the
campaign, the group was buying about $500,000 worth of ad time per week, far
more than any other political committee or candidate. With the latest
purchases, American Cities total ad buys for the race now exceed $5 million.
American Cities has
a new ad (above) which is closer to the core message of the three wealthy
suburban donors who are funding the effort. It talks about helping kids
"trapped in violent, crumbling schools."The ad also notes Williams'
endorsement by the Philadelphia Inquirer.
"The buy brings American
Cities' total media expenditures for the campaign, including television and
radio, to about $5.2 million, according to the sources. …The American Cities' ad buy this week
represented a $420,000 boost over what had already been purchased for the
campaign's closing days. American Cities
has been funded largely by three executives of the Susquehanna International
Group of Bala Cynwyd. The three - Joel Greenberg, Arthur Dantchik and Jeffrey
Yass - are proponents of school choice. As such, they backed Williams'
unsuccessful run for governor in 2010."
In Philly mayor's race, a
monetary milestone
CHRIS HEPP, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER LAST
UPDATED: Thursday, May 7, 2015, 6:05 PM
The Democratic
mayoral primary has apparently passed another monetary milestone.
American Cities, the
independent expenditure group formed to support state Sen. Anthony H. Williams,
has purchased $940,000 in television ad time for the closing week of the
campaign, according to two sources familiar with political ad placements on
local stations.
That seems likely to
represent the largest concentrated ad buy for a Philadelphia mayoral candidate. It would
exceed the spending rate of Tom Knox in 2007, when he paid $1.6 million for ads
over the last two weeks of the campaign.
"That would be a record for a single candidate," said Elliot
Curson, an advertising executive who has run political media campaigns in Philadelphia as far back
as the 1960s. "We've never seen anything like that. A half million dollars
a week, $600,000 a week, yeah, but not $900,000 a week."
Daily Signe Cartoon 05/07/15
Philly Daily News Cartoon by Signe Wilkinson 05/07/15
Days after Inquirer
endorses Williams, its editorial-page editor takes candidate to task
WHYY Newsworks NINETYNINE A BLOG
BY BRIAN HICKEY MAY 7,
2015
Let's travel back to
a simpler time called "Sunday."
It was then
that the Philadelphia
Inquirer "narrowly" endorsed the mayoral candidacy
of one Anthony Hardy Williams over opponent Jim Kenney. To wit: For two men representing different facets of
the city — the passionate Irish Catholic son of a firefighter from East Passyunk ; the even-keeled son of an African American
politician from Cobbs Creek — they are a remarkably close match. But the balance of power in City Hall isn't
so close. Because the unions backing Kenney already wield too much influence,
The Inquirer's choice for the Democratic nomination is Anthony Williams. Yet this endorsement would not be
as simple as just another entry on NinetyNine's regularly updated Mayoral-Race
Endorsement-Tracker, for WHYY's Dave Davies learned of some related
behind-the-scenes drama. Namely, that
refers to the fact that "word began circulating among Kenney's supporters
that the members of the editorial board favored Kenney, but that they'd been
overruled by the paper's owner and publisher, H.F. 'Gerry' Lenfest."
Outcry and critical
emails, of course, ensued so
Davies got to work as he is wont to do.
School Activists, Students, Dropping In on Williams
Campaign’s Wealthy Backers
The mayoral campaign gets theatrical as Action
United says they’ll be paying a surprise visit to Susquehanna Investment Group
this afternoon.
[UPDATE: 5:12 p.m.] The activists have arrived:
[ORIGINAL: 3: 50 p.m.] Well,
we've apparently reached the stage of the mayoral campaign where theatrics will
start to play a larger role. The first
sign? Parents and students affiliated with Action United — a
"community organizing" group founded by former members of Acorn —
said today that they'll show up at 4:30 this afternoon to the offices of Susquehanna International Group to meet with firm's three
principals who are throwing large chunks
of cash at the Tony
Williams campaign. In a
statement, Action United parent leader Kia Hinton said it appeared the trio's agenda consists of
"closing more schools, privatizing education and busting unions." "That's help we
can do without!” Hinton said. Hinton
also co-wrote an op-ed for today's Daily
News criticizing Williams and his backers. "Their
candidate, Williams, is a longtime voucher and charter-school advocate,"
she wrote. "His record as a legislator in Harrisburg shows that the Susquehanna
partners have good reason to invest in Williams' candidacy."
ASPIRA challenges school
union election
CHARTER OPERATOR
ASPIRA Inc. of Pennsylvania is seeking to
block certification of a union at its Olney Charter
High School
Morning Call by Adam
Clark
A Bethlehem charter school is sending some
students back to their home districts
The Lehigh Valley
Dual Language
Charter School
in Bethlehem is
temporarily suspending operations for seventh and eighth grade and telling
those students to return to their home school districts or enroll in other
charter schools. The decision comes as
the charter school fights with Bethlehem
Area School
District
Despite Act 1, school tax
hikes have exceeded inflation
As Lancaster County
Act 1 is intended to slow the rate of school tax
increases. But an LNP analysis shows
that even with the restrictions of Act 1, most districts here have raised their
millage rates significantly higher than official U.S. inflation rate over the past
eight years.
By Mary Niederberger
/ Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette May 7, 2015 4:14 PM
Students in grades
7-12 in the Wilkinsburg
School District
By Monica Von Dobeneck | Special to
PennLive on May 07, 2015 at 8:55 PM
"The biggest expense
jump affecting the budget is the Pennsylvania
School
Conneaut's proposed budget
has deficit, but no tax hike expected
By Earl Corp Posted: Thursday,
May 7, 2015 1:00 am
LINESVILLE — Conneaut School District
When it comes to Common
Core, a few commonsense concerns: Michael A. MacDowell
PennLive Op-Ed By Michael A. MacDowell on May 07,
2015 at 1:00 PM
Michael A.
MacDowell is
president emeritus of Misericordia University in Dallas, Pa., where he
occasionally taught economics. He is the managing director of the Calvin K.
Kazanjian Economics Foundation.
It is difficult to
pick up a newspaper or listen to a news broadcast nowadays that fails to
mention the Common Core curriculum. Conservative
and liberal pundits, alike, complain about it. Let's examine some of the issues
surrounding the educational system's elementary, middle and high school reading
and math standards to see if all of the criticism is warranted.
On the Brink: York City
A middle-school boy
in a white polo shirt bounced across the stage and shouted: "Let's burn
those abs! Let's feel the pain, baby!"
His teachers didn't flinch. His classmates, hunched over laptops and
giant poster board, kept working. Pastor Bob Tome nodded in approval. This wasn't the class clown's attempt at
capturing a laugh from his classmates. This
was a fairly normal Thursday afternoon scene at Ferguson K-8, where a group of
ambitious students have spent the past few weeks putting the final touches on a
play they've been rehearsing since December.
WHYY Newsworks BY AVI WOLFMAN-ARENT MAY 8, 2015
The Delaware House
of Representatives passed legislation Thursday allowing parents to opt their
children out of the new, Smarter Balanced assessment. Only three lawmakers voted against the
measure. If the bill passes the State Senate it will go to Governor Jack
Markell, who hinted last
week during a radio interview withWDEL that he may veto
the measure. Hundreds of Delaware parents have
already refused to let their children take the exam, which is designed to gauge
student progress on the Common Core State Standards. Many believe the new,
tougher exam is an imposition on instructional time and an untrustworthy
measure of student achievement. Statewide, roughly one percent of students
scheduled to take the Smarter Balanced exam have opted out, according to informal
numbers gathered by NewsWorks/WHYY.
Recovery schools back to Orleans
By Danielle Dreilinger, NOLA.com | The
Times-Picayune Email the author | Follow on
Twitter on May 06, 2015 at 12:30 PM, updated May
06, 2015 at 7:07 PM
A bill to return
most New Orleans public schools to the Orleans Parish school system passed
the Louisiana House Education Committee by the slimmest of margins Wednesday
(March 6). If enacted, House Bill 166 would require
state Recovery School District schools
that are no longer failing to return to local control within a year. The 9-8 vote came despite opposition from
committee chair Steve Carter, R-Baton Rouge, the Council for a Better
Louisiana, the Louisiana Association of Business and Indusry, the Louisiana
Association of Public Charter Schools and former U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. "We have 46 schools that should be back
under the local board," said HB 166's sponsor, Rep. Joseph Bouie, D-New
Orleans. The charter boards would continue to run the schools, but they would
be overseen by the local authority, not the state.
Stephen Colbert spoke to S.C.
Supt. Molly Spearman at Alexander Elementary School to announce he, along with
ScanSource and Share Fair Nation, would fund all 1,000 classroom projects South Carolina
Stephen Colbert announces
major gift for SC teachers
Greenville Online by Nathaniel
Cary, ncary@greenvillenews.com2:26 p.m. EDT May 7, 2015
Stephen Colbert funds thousands in SC teacher
grant requests
Comedian Stephen
Colbert announced Thursday that he would fund every existing grant request South Carolina public
school teachers have made on the education crowdfunding website DonorsChoose.org. Colbert made the announcement on a live
video feed Thursday at a surprise event at Alexander
Elementary School in Greenville .
Colbert partnered with The Morgridge Family Foundation 's Share
Fair Nation andScanSource, which is headquartered in Greenville , to fund
nearly 1,000 projects for more than 800 teachers at over 375 schools, totaling
$800,000.
EPLC "Focus on Education"
TV Program on PCN - Sunday, May 10 at 3:00 p.m.
Topic 1:
Sunshine, Ethics, Open Records, and School Districts
Nathaneal Byerly, Acting Executive
Director, Office of Open Records
Robert Caruso, Executive Director, Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission
Barry Kauffman, Executive Director, Common Cause Pennsylvania
Robert Caruso, Executive Director, Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission
Barry Kauffman, Executive Director, Common Cause Pennsylvania
Topic 2: The
Role of Intermediate Units in Pennsylvania
Thomas E. Gluck, Executive
Director, Pennsylvania
Association of Intermediate Units
School directors, superintendents and
administrators are encouraged to register and attend this event.
Bucks / Lehigh / Northampton
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM Quakertown Community School
District , 100
Commerce Drive Quakertown , PA 18951
Welcome by Paul Stepanoff , Board President , QCSD
Introduction of Paul Clymer, State of State Education
Mr. Glenn Grell , PSERS Executive Director
Introduction by Dr. Bill Harner, Superintendent QCSD
Panel of Superintendents and Elected School Directors from Bucks / Lehigh
/ Northampton Counties
Introduction by Mark B. Miller, Board Vice President, Centennial SD
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION:
1) The status of 2015-16 budget in their district (including proposed tax
increase)
2) PSERS impact on their budget
3) Proposed use of any new funding from Commonwealth
Larry Feinberg and Ron Williams
Benefit and need for County Wide Legislative Council in Delaware
and Montgomery Counties
Dr. Tom Seidenberger (Retired Superintendent ) - Circuit Rider Update
SAVE The DATE: Northwestern PA School Funding Forum
May 28, 2015 7:00 PM Jefferson Educational
Society 3207 State St.
Erie , PA 16508
Panelists
Conneaut School
District
Mr. Jarrin
Sperry, Superintendent, Ms. Jody Sperry, Board President
Corry School
District
Mr. William Nichols,
Superintendent
Fort LeBoeuf
School District
Mr. Richard Emerick,
Assistant Superintendent
Girard School
District
Dr. James Tracy,
Superintendent
Harbor Creek
School District
Ms. Christine
Mitchell, Board President
Millcreek School
District
Mr. William Hall,
Superintendent Mr. Aaron O'Toole, Director of Finance and Accounting
Keynote Speaker
Mr. Jay Himes,
Executive Director, Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials
CONFERENCE ON THE STATE OF EDUCATION IN PENNSYLVANIA
A CALL FOR ADEQUATE AND EQUITABLE SCHOOL FUNDING
Sponsored by Coatesville and Media Area
NAACPs
9:00 AM – 1:30 PM SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015
MARCUS FOSTER STUDENT UNION 2ND
FLOOR
CHEYNEY UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA DELAWARE
COUNTY CAMPUS, CHEYNEY, PA
Our children have to
pass the state mandated tests in order to move on with life. SO - it is time
for the PA Assembly to provide adequate and equitable funding to the public
schools of Pennsylvania.
FREE AND OPEN TO THE
PUBLIC. SPACE IS LIMITED.
COME AND ASK YOUR
PERSONAL QUESTIONS AND SHARE YOUR OPINIONS WITH PRESENTERS WHO ARE EXPERTS AND
POLICY MAKERS.
Pre-Registration is
required for meals. Deadline for Pre-registration is May 12, 2015
PRE-REGISTER
ON-LINE: HTTPS://www.surveymonkey.com/S/JTZB9F8
PHILLY DISTRICT TO HOLD
COMMUNITY BUDGET MEETINGS
Tuesday,
May 12
Thursday,
May 14
Congreso, 216 West Somerset St .
Wednesday,
May 20
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