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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for June 30, 2015:
Fiscal New Year’s Eve….
Just a heads-up that the PA Ed Policy Roundup may be intermittent
and/or late this week
Last day of
Pennsylvania’s budget year brings share of drama
Delco Times By Mark Scolforo And Marc Levy ,
Associated Press 06/30/15,
5:38 AM EDT
HARRISBURG
>> The governor and state lawmakers face a day of big votes in the
Capitol with a lot at stake on what is the final day of Pennsylvania’s budget
year. Republican majorities in the House
and Senate are expected to send budget legislation to Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf
on Tuesday, along with bills to completely change how wine and liquor are sold
and to squeeze billions in savings from public sector pensions. Wolf’s warned he’ll veto some or all of the
budget proposal, which he’s criticized for not devoting sufficient money for
education and for adding to the state’s deficit. This is Wolf’s first budget after beating
Republican Gov. Tom Corbett last fall. The
Republicans’ budget of nearly $30.2 billion is a year-over-year increase of
about 4 percent.
Budget Battle
2015 - What have we learned?: Monday Morning Coffee
Penn
Live By John L. Micek | jmicek@pennlive.com Email
the author | Follow on Twitter on
June 29, 2015 at 8:15 AM, updated June 29, 2015 at 11:30 AM
Good Monday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
Soooo ... how was your weekend?
Soooo ... how was your weekend?
We spent
Sunday evening in the belly of the beast -- an overheated state Capitol, where
both the rhetoric and the mercury were causing tempers to steadily rise. And a mere 24 hours away from the end of the
2014-15 fiscal year, we know a few things for certain. But for those of you
tuning in late, let's review what we've learned thus far:
1. The
House has sent the Senate a pension reform bill that Gov. Tom Wolf is probably going
to veto.
2. On
Tuesday, the Senate will act on an amended version of House-approved liquor
reform bill that Gov. Tom Wolf is
probably going to veto.
3. Also
on Tuesday, the Senate will likely send a $30.2 general fund budget bill to Gov. Tom Wolf that he's going to
...
Forget
it ... you get the idea.
GOP budget
package not like the one Wolf hoped he would see
By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com Email
the author | Follow on Twitter on June 29,
2015 at 8:34 PM, updated June 29, 2015 at 9:42 PM
It's
June 30. By now, Gov. Tom Wolf was probably hoping to have his dream budget in
hand that delivers on his campaign promises of property tax relief, major
restoration of the school funding cut four years ago, and sustainable revenue
sources including a new tax on natural gas drilling. Instead,
he's likely to be staring at something that he may think looks more like a
Republican-crafted nightmare of a budget package that includes none of the
above. What's more, the GOP are also
planning on Tuesday to send Wolf a liquor privatization plan as well as a
pension reform that look vastly different from what he had proposed in his
March budget address. Wolf spokesman
Jeff Sheridan said the governor hasn't made a decision as to whether he will
veto the budget bill in full or in part. But undoubtedly, vetoes will be
forthcoming since none of the parts of the budget package that the
GOP-controlled General Assembly is sending him has Wolf's buy-in.
As Pa. budget
deadline looms, partial shutdown appears likely
ANGELA
COULOUMBIS AND MADISON RUSS, INQUIRER
STAFF WRITERS LAST UPDATED: Tuesday, June 30, 2015, 1:08 AM POSTED: Monday,
June 29, 2015, 7:33 PM
HARRISBURG
- With just one day left to achieve an on-time state budget and no further
talks planned, the impasse between Gov. Wolf and the Republican-controlled
legislature seems certain to end in a partial government shutdown. On Monday, Wolf sent letters to state
employees and contractors preparing them for the likely outcome of
Pennsylvania's missing Wednesday's deadline to enact a spending plan for the
new fiscal year. Though missing the deadline by a few days - or even weeks -
would not have repercussions, a protracted impasse would restrict the state's
ability to spend and pay bills. And with
both sides seemingly entrenched, it remains unclear how quickly they can strike
a deal.
Countdown to a clash over Pennsylvania
budget
Morning Call By Sam Janesch and Steve Esack Call Harrisburg Bureau June 29, 2015
HARRISBURG
— Four months. Four days. A matter of hours.
Four
months is how long Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf tried to sell the public on his
$33.8 billion budget that raises and lowers several taxes. Four days is how long it took Republican
lawmakers to fast-track their $30.1 billion budget that does not carry tax
changes. And it's a matter of hours
until the two sides meet in a showdown of wills over the spending plan for the
2015-16 fiscal year, which starts at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. "We expect a budget on his desk that he
will veto [Tuesday]," Wolf's spokesman, Jeff Sheridan, said. "Whether
that's a line-item or a full veto, the governor has not made that decision
yet."
PA Budget: A
look at GOP plans for budget, pension and liquor bills
Delco Times By The Associated Press POSTED: 06/30/15, 5:40 AM
EDT
The
House and Senate Republican majorities in the Pennsylvania Legislature are
lining up votes to advance major legislation to the desk of Gov. Tom Wolf on
Tuesday, the final day of the state government’s 2014-15 state fiscal year.
Here is a summary of the legislation:
Budget standoff continues as GOP moves
legislation Wolf plans to veto
By Karen
Langley / Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau June 30, 2015 12:07 AM
HARRISBURG
— Legislative Republicans continued on their collision course with Gov. Tom
Wolf, preparing to send the governor today a state budget he has said he will
veto along with liquor and pension proposals he does not support. Republican leaders have said there is not
support in the House and Senate to approve the tax increases Mr. Wolf has
proposed, and that sending him a balanced budget by the end of the fiscal year
today — even a budget he opposes — would fulfill their obligations. The governor’s office has said that the GOP
budget is not balanced and does too little to increase funding for education,
perhaps Mr. Wolf’s foremost campaign promise. But even
in recent days, administration staff have continued to meet with Republican
legislators and staff, said Jeffrey Sheridan, spokesman for the governor.
Making sense
of Pa. school funding: budgets, formulas and stalemates
WHYY
Newsworks BY LAURA BENSHOFF
JUNE 29, 2015
In sight
of the state's budget deadline of July 1, education funding for Pennsylvania
schools is still a question mark. Over
the weekend, legislators held 12-hour sessions and advocates flooded the
Capitol in Harrisburg to work on a deal, but Democrats and Republicans have
shot down each other's plans. Swirling through the budget debate are two
questions that will have a big impact on schools' bottom lines: How much money
should the state contribute to education this year? And what to do with the new education funding formula?
School funding
formula will boost Pa. economy
Philly.com
Letter By Joseph P. McLaughlin Jr. POSTED: Tuesday,
June 30, 2015, 1:08 AM
Joseph
P. McLaughlin Jr. is director of Temple University's Center on Regional
Politics
A new school funding formula for Pennsylvania has been widely praised on moral and constitutional grounds for targeting extra state aid to educate children living in poverty. In light of a study soon to be published by Temple University's Center on Regional Politics and the Rand Corp., the formula also deserves praise as a smart investment policy that could add tens of billions of dollars to the state's economy over the next decade. The bipartisan Basic Education Funding Commission's formula still has to be adopted and adequately funded by the General Assembly, of course, no small task given the different budget priorities of our Democratic governor and Republican legislature. But history shows that divided government can be consistent with stable and rational school funding.
A new school funding formula for Pennsylvania has been widely praised on moral and constitutional grounds for targeting extra state aid to educate children living in poverty. In light of a study soon to be published by Temple University's Center on Regional Politics and the Rand Corp., the formula also deserves praise as a smart investment policy that could add tens of billions of dollars to the state's economy over the next decade. The bipartisan Basic Education Funding Commission's formula still has to be adopted and adequately funded by the General Assembly, of course, no small task given the different budget priorities of our Democratic governor and Republican legislature. But history shows that divided government can be consistent with stable and rational school funding.
Editorial:
State needs to push fair school funding
Delco Times POSTED: 06/29/15, 11:45 PM EDT
In
typical Pennsylvania legislative tradition, this week promises to be the most
active of the year in Harrisburg. The activity around the end of the fiscal
year, which falls at midnight Tuesday, rolls together everything the
Legislature should have been doing since the governor’s budget address last
winter. In recent days, the
Republican-controlled House has voted on a budget which Gov. Tom Wolf has vowed
to veto, and the partisan bickering over every topic from pension reform to how
liquor is sold is going at full tilt. In
the midst of the chaos, the Basic Education Funding Commission recently offered
its report and recommendations for a fair funding formula. The
bipartisan commission came up with a formula that would benefit poorer schools
in the commonwealth, correcting some of the funding imbalance that has earned
Pennsylvania a ranking among the most failing states for equity in public
education. The unbalanced, unfair
resulting playing field has penalized too many kids in Delaware County for too
long. Kids in financially struggling districts, such as William Penn, Southeast
Delco, and Chester Upland, have received lesser education opportunities for no
other reason than their zip code.
“In order for the year-long funding commission to produce
meaningful policy reform, lawmakers must agree on a sensible approach to
transition away from hold harmless. If, for example, the new formula is only
applied to new spending — and some $5 billion in education funding remains
attached to hold harmless — the broken, irrational method of school funding
will remain intact. The sooner we
distribute the bulk of education funding by a student-based formula, the better
for Pennsylvania's public school children.”
Student-based
formula best for Pennsylvania's public school children: PennLive letters
Penn
Live Letters to the Editor by JAMES PAUL, senior policy analyst,
Commonwealth Foundation, Harrisburg on June 29, 2015 at 4:15 PM, updated June
29, 2015 at 7:39 PM
Much of
the reaction to the Basic Education Funding Commission's final report has been positive — and for
good reason. The commission proposed a student-based formula that finally
accounts for enrollment and student need. But considerable legislative legwork
remains to ensure that state education dollars are distributed in a rational,
transparent manner. What's the heaviest
lift remaining for the General Assembly? Deciding how to phase out
Pennsylvania's "hold harmless" provision, which guarantees each
school district receives no fewer state dollars than it received the previous
year. While the policy ostensibly exists to prevent school districts from being
harmed by reduced funding, it has, in fact, brought real harm and inequity to hundreds
of growing districts across the commonwealth.
School aid
formula being considered creates winners, losers
Education
Week by Associated Press Published Online: June 29, 2015
HARRISBURG,
Pa. (AP) — A new public school funding formula being considered by the
Legislature would create winners and losers as it seeks a way to link the
distribution of state aid more closely to need.
Shrinking school districts that were previously spared aid cutbacks —
many in western Pennsylvania — would see their share of aid come in lower under
the proposed new formula, an Associated Press analysis found. But many of Pennsylvania's biggest cities and
fastest-growing suburbs — believed to have been shortchanged previously — would
get a larger slice of aid for public school instruction and operations. Here's a further examination and breakdown of
the plan, including which counties and districts would see the biggest gains
and which would see the biggest losses:
Impoverished
schools score low on profile
Citizens Voice by KYLE WIND, STAFF WRITER Published:
June 28, 2015
In
Jennifer Telesco’s first-grade classroom at John Adams Elementary School in
Scranton, learning competes with surviving.
Some of her 6-year-old pupils at a building where nearly nine out of 10
children come from low-income households are latchkey kids or caretakers for
younger siblings because their parents work several jobs. Others live in
volatile or unstable homes. “A lot
of the time, they’re not focusing on being kids,” Telesco said. “They’re
focusing on surviving when they get home from school.” Among the 193 elementary, middle, high and
charter schools in Northeastern Pennsylvania, buildings filled mostly with
economically disadvantaged students, like John Adams Elementary, tend to have
the lowest scores on a fairly new state Department of Education grading system,
a Times-Shamrock Newspapers’ analysis found.
Hundreds lobby
Harrisburg for school funds
KRISTEN
A. GRAHAM, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER LAST
UPDATED: Tuesday, June 30, 2015, 1:08 AM POSTED: Monday, June 29,
2015, 3:41 PM
HARRISBURG
- Third-grade teacher Elaine Blackmon took a deep breath and made her best
sales pitch. "What's good for
Philadelphia public students is good for students across the
commonwealth," Blackmon told an impassive assistant to Rep. Martin Causer
(R., McKean). "We're asking him to reconsider Gov. Wolf's budget." Blackmon was among hundreds of people who
descended on the state Capitol on Monday to lobby lawmakers deep in
negotiations to pass a state budget. Among them were more 100 teachers, nurses,
and other members of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, sporting red
T-shirts and making their case for more funding for city schools. Philadelphia School Superintendent William R.
Hite Jr. has asked for more than $200 million in new money from the state. Wolf
has proposed $159 million extra for the Philadelphia school system. Republicans
passed a budget that would give the district just $18 million more.
PA School
Districts Await Budget Passage
Pittsburgh
NPR 90.5 By KEVIN GAVIN • June
29, 2015
Pennsylvania
school districts are more concerned with “how much” than “when” regarding
passage of a fiscal budget and any new state appropriation they might receive. “In general, initially, if a budget does not
pass by June 30, districts won’t find themselves in dire situations,” said
Steve Robinson, spokesman for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association. Budgets
tend to be front-loaded for districts, he said.
"They are able to send out their tax bills, which happens around
July 1 or so," Robinson said. "That money would still be coming
in, even if a [state] budget hasn’t passed and the districts might be delayed
in getting whatever state subsidy has been approved.” The Republican-controlled legislature is
expected to pass a budget along party lines without taking a vote on Gov. Tom
Wolf’s $29.9 billion spending plan. Wolf proposed increasing funding for school
districts by $400 million – about 7 percent – to $6.13 billion in the
new fiscal year.
Come together
INQUIRER EDITORIAL BOARD POSTED: Tuesday,
June 30, 2015, 1:08 AM
The $30
billion budget the Pennsylvania legislature's ruling Republicans are
catapulting through the Capitol is going to miss the mark. The plan dusts off
one-shot gimmicks and a pledge of allegiance to gas drillers while offering no
relief to property tax payers and ignoring the state's schoolchildren. This bucket of bad ideas can hardly be seen
as a serious proposal. One can only hope that Harrisburg's reckless tone will
change after Gov. Wolf inevitably vetoes the proposal and the state slips past
the budget deadline Wednesday. Maybe then negotiations will begin in earnest.
Digital
Notebook Blog by Evan Brandt Monday, June 29, 2015
With sad
predictability, the process of adopting a budget in Pennsylvania has devolved
to the usual last-minute maneuvers, rushed half-baked proposals and political
stunts that looks for all its chicanery like a cross between speed chess and
Let’s Make a Deal. The opening move, as
it always is, belongs to the Governor when he proposed his budget in February. That budget, if adopted unchanged, would have added $1 million to Pottstown Public Schools Then comes the long staring contest in which,
quite literally, nothing happens for months and months, all while business
managers and school board’s in Pennsylvania’s 500 school districts are scrying
tea leaves trying to figure out where up to one-third of their budget revenues
may end up.
State considers new plan to take over
poorly performing schools
By
Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette June 30, 2015 12:04 AM
If the
state House follows action already taken by the Senate, Pennsylvania could have
a new school district in the fall of 2016, this one run by the state for
struggling schools. The state Senate
early Monday approved a plan to establish the Achievement School District,
which would be run by a board appointed by the governor and Senate and House
leaders. Poor-performing schools would
stay in the district for at least five years. Funding would come from the home
districts of the students. The new board
would be required to take at least one of several actions, including replacing
the principal and at least half of the professional staff; converting the
school to a charter school; contracting with an education management service
provider; or closing the school. The
bill, called the Educational Opportunity and Accountability Act, is the latest
of a series of attempts by the state to address chronically troubled schools.
“In a split decision on the constitutionality question, the
state's highest court found the program conflicts with "broad, unequivocal
language forbidding the State from using public money to fund religious
schools." The court wrote:
"... this stark constitutional provision makes one thing clear: A school
district may not aid religious schools."
That, the court held, is precisely what the voucher program does. Chief
Justice Nancy Rice wrote in the court's opinion that it "essentially
functions as a recruitment program, teaming with various religious
schools" to seek scholarship candidates.”
Colorado
Supreme Court rejects Douglas County voucher program
State's top court rules that
Choice Scholarship Program is unconstitutional; district wants to take case to
U.S. Supreme Court
By Eric Gorski The Denver Post POSTED: 06/29/2015
09:38:41 AM MDT
In a
nationally significant case involving religion, taxpayer dollars and school
choice, a divided Colorado Supreme Court on Mondayrejected the Douglas
County School District's groundbreaking school voucher program as
unconstitutional. The wealthy
suburban district's Choice Scholarship Program, which aims to use taxpayer
money to send children to private schools, has been at the center of a
four-year legal battle. School district
officials strongly indicated they would likely ask the U.S. Supreme Court to
take up the case and pledged to seek a legal way to proceed with the voucher
program as early as this fall. More than
nine in 10 students in the program — put on hold in 2011 as the first 304 students were to
enroll — chose religious schools.
Don’t Miss Tuesday, June 30, 8 p.m. #FairFundingPA chat
on Twitter
You are invited to
join the next monthly Twitter chat with Pennsylvania’s major education
leadership organizations on Tuesday, June 30 at 8 p.m. They
will discuss details of the recommendations for a fair, school funding formula
made by the General Assembly’s Basic Education Funding Commission. Use hashtag #FairFundingPA to
participate and follow the conversation.
On the last Tuesday of each month at 8 p.m., the following organizations
go to Twitter to discuss timely topics, ask questions and listen to the
public’s responses:
- The Pennsylvania Association of School
Administrators (PASA);
- The Pennsylvania School Boards
Association (PSBA);
- The Pennsylvania Association of School
Business Officials (PASBO);
- The Pennsylvania Association of
Elementary and Secondary School Principals (PAESSP)
- The Pennsylvania Association of Rural
and Small Schools (PARSS)
Join the
conversation. Share your ideas, lurk, learn and let us know what you think
about the state’s support for public schools. It’s a simple, free and
fast-paced way to communicate and share information. If you’ve never tweeted
before, here are directions and a few tips:
Register Now – PAESSP
State Conference – Oct. 18-20 – State College, PA
Registration is now
open for PAESSP's State Conference to be held October 18-20 at The
Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel in State College, PA! This year's
theme is @EVERYLEADER and features three nationally-known keynote
speakers (Dr. James Stronge, Justin Baeder and Dr. Mike Schmoker), professional
breakout sessions, a legal update, exhibits, Tech Learning Labs and many
opportunities to network with your colleagues (Monday evening event with Jay
Paterno). Once again, in conjunction
with its conference, PAESSP will offer two 30-hour Act 45 PIL-approved
programs, Linking Student Learning to Teacher Supervision and Evaluation
(pre-conference offering on 10/17/15); and Improving Student Learning
Through Research-Based Practices: The Power of an Effective Principal (held
during the conference, 10/18/15 -10/20/15). Register for either or both PIL
programs when you register for the Full Conference!
REGISTER TODAY for
the Conference and Act 45 PIL program/s at:
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
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equitable, predictable and sustainable Basic Education Funding Formula by 2016
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 »