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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for June 10, 2015:
Basic Ed Funding Commission extends report deadline by
one week; Senate Ed Cmte moves bill that could delay Keystones' Grad
Requirement
COMMUNITY MEETING: PUBLIC SCHOOL FUNDING
IN BERKS COUNTY
Berks County IU June 23, 7:00 - 8:30 pm
Come to Harrisburg on June 23rd for an All for
Education Day Rally!
Education Voters PA website June 1, 2015
Gov. Tom Wolf, GOP leaders
meet on budget, related issues
By Charles
Thompson | cthompson@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on June 09, 2015 at 2:45 PM, updated June 09, 2015 at 4:06 PM
on June 09, 2015 at 2:45 PM, updated June 09, 2015 at 4:06 PM
Gov. Tom Wolf and
senior Republican legislative leaders closeted themselves for more than an hour
in a Capitol conference room Tuesday in a sign that state budget talks are
starting to intensify. Outward signs of
progress were hard to define, and from the public statements made by
participants afterward it seemed like it's still too early for the parties to
significantly change their opening positions.
"In an email, Charlie
Lyons of the Campaign for Fair Education Funding said, “It’s important that the
commission produces a solution to fix Pennsylvania
By Eleanor Chute and
Karen Langley / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette June 10, 2015 12:00 AM
The state Basic
Education Funding Commission, which is charged with developing a fair funding
formula for Pennsylvania ,
needs more time to finish its report. According
to the legislative action that created it, the 15-member commission was to have
produced a report by today. But Tuesday afternoon, the commission said it was
extending the deadline a week. In a
phone interview, state Rep. Mike Vereb, R-Montgomery, a co-chair of the panel,
said commission members have been working together, but it has proved
challenging to synthesize information gathered amid the transition from the
administrations of former Gov. Tom Corbett and current Gov. Tom Wolf. “We’re going to take
another week,” he said. “We’re going to give every effort to get there.” He continued, “All
the members of the commission have been working fluidly together. We all
understand the goal is to provide for a fair funding formula for the
commonwealth.” The report will be a
recommendation, not a final decision. The final formula will be up to the
Legislature and Mr. Wolf.
Deadline Extended for
Education Funding Formula
WeAreCentralPA from PA Senate Republican
Communications Office 06/09/2015
05:46 PM
HARRISBURG, DAUPHIN
COUNTY - The Basic Education Funding Commission has extended the deadline one
week for the release of the commission’s final report on a new formula for
distributing basic education funding to Pennsylvania schools. This allows members of the commission the
necessary time to continue to build on the positive and productive
conversations taking place based on information gathered during the year-long
hearings to reach a final consensus on a product that generates a fair
distribution formula before making a recommendation to the General Assembly. The 15-member commission has undertaken a
comprehensive study of a number of factors and listened to a wide-range of
testimony from experts and advocates in the education field over the past 11
months and 15 hearings throughout the state before arriving ultimately at a new
formula. The Basic Education
Funding Commission was established through Act 51 of 2014. The recommendations
of the commission will not go into effect, however, without legislation
approved by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor.
School funding panel wants
more time to issue report
Philly.com byTHE ASSOCIATED
PRESS POSTED: Tuesday,
June 9, 2015, 2:03 PM
SB880: Graduation testing
requirement could be delayed
By Madison Russ | PennLive.com on
June 09, 2015 at 4:09 PM
The Senate Education
Committee moved a bill Tuesday
that would delay the use of the Keystone Exams as
a graduation requirement and project-based assessment until 2018-2019. "Changes will need to be made to the
graduation requirement. There are unintended impacts, or consequences, of the
graduation requirement as it's currently laid out" said the bill's
sponsor, committee Chairman Lloyd Smucker, who voiced concerns
that some students who failed to pass their Keystone Exams were held back in
remediation classes until they do.
"The project-based assessment is not working," said Smucker, a
Lancaster County Republican. Sen.
Andy Dinniman, the ranking Democrat on the committee who
supports the bill, said he was "astounded" at the opposition that
came from the school districts. "They
felt 26 hours of testing is destructive to education and destroying the
curriculum," said Dinniman, D-Chester
County
"I don't think at that
point it time it was clear what kinds of resources might be required in order
for school districts and charters to meet the Keystone graduation
requirements," said Kate Shaw, executive director of Research for
Action. The Philadelphia-based nonprofit
published an analysis Wednesday showing that, based on last year's pass rates,
a quarter million Pennsylvania students would need help with project based
assessments."
Schools in 40 Pa.
WHYY Newsworks BY KEVIN MCCORRY JUNE 10, 2015
Officials Prepare for Drop in Grad Rate
Philly officials
say Keystone Exams will prove an insurmountable obstacle.
Philly Mag BY JOEL MATHIS | JUNE
8, 2015 AT 6:43 AM
We’ve long known
that state and local ed officials are concerned about 2017, when a new
standardized test — the Keystone Exams — are to be added as a graduation
requirement. Now, NPR says, there’s
a real fear those tests will drive down the graduation rates in Pennsylvania and Philadelphia .
Statewide, the passage rate so far has been just 54 percent:
Letter to the
Editor:Standardized tests in Pa.
Delco Times Letter
by Joanne Yurchak, East Goshen
POSTED: 06/09/15, 11:01 PM
To the Times: It is crucial that our state legislators and
the Pennsylvania Department of Education immediately address the numerous
problems created by the excessive testing that is currently inflicted on our
public school students – the PSSAs for grades 3-8, and the three Keystones for
the higher grades (Algebra I, Literature and Biology, which students in classes
of 2017 and beyond must pass to graduate from high school). The deleterious
educational and fiscal impacts of the Keystone graduation requirement leave no
doubt that it must be removed ASAP, but that is a discussion for another day.
The purpose of this current letter is to clarify issues related to the PSSAs –
the testing procedures, the makeup of the tests, and how they are used.
SB6: Pa.
CHRIS PALMER, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER LAST
UPDATED: Wednesday, June 10, 2015, 1:08 AM POSTED: Tuesday, June 9,
2015, 3:03 PM
A state Senate
committee on Tuesday approved a bill that would create a state-run system to
take over low-performing Pennsylvania schools,
sending to the full chamber a measure that Philadelphia 's superintendent said could be
devastating to city schools.
Modeled after
similar legislation in states such as Louisiana
and Tennessee ,
Senate Bill 6 mandates that the lowest-performing 5 percent of schools - as
defined by the state's school performance profile - transform themselves within
three years, either by contracting with outside providers or converting to
charters. The bottom 1 percent would have only two years to improve. Schools that failed
in turnaround efforts could be placed into a state-run district, the Achievement School District
SB6: Senate panel advances
bill to turnaround poor performing schools
Penn Live By Madison Russ | PennLive.com on
June 09, 2015 at 6:46 PM, updated June 09, 2015 at 8:49 PM
The Senate Education Committee passed a bill on
Tuesday that is aimed at turning around schools with consistently bad academic
track records. "We have some
schools that have been persistently failing our kids and the way to really
improve our system overall is to focus on these schools," said the bill's
sponsor,committee Chairman
Lloyd Smucker, R-Lancaster
County Achievement School District
Dean introduces legislation to alleviate
background-check fees for volunteers
HARRISBURG, June 8 –
State Rep. Madeleine Dean has drafted a House bill that would grant free
background checks every three years to all current and future volunteers in
Pennsylvania. As a result of
changes to the state’s child abuse laws this year, volunteers who work directly
with children are now required to undergo multiple background checks every
three years, which can total as much as $48. Her bill, which has broad
bipartisan support, seeks to alleviate some of those costs. “All across Pennsylvania, volunteers work
diligently to improve our commonwealth and the lives of its citizens,” said
Dean, D-Montgomery. “This legislation would ensure that the measures intended
to protect our children do not create an undue burden for volunteers and the
organizations they serve. It also ensures that the fees associated with
clearances do not deter interested individuals from volunteering.” The legislation would allow a volunteer to
obtain one free clearance from the Pennsylvania State Police and another from
the Department of Human Services every three years.
Bring on the fiscal
scrutiny, Hite says
Inquirer Philly
School Files Blog by Kristen Graham POSTED: TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015, 4:37 PM
Superintendent
William R. Hite Jr. heard City Council clearly - they're skeptical of how the
millions they've provided over the past several years have been spent. Council's concerns were raised anew in the
past few weeks, as they consider Mayor Nutter's proposal to hike property taxes
to give the schools an additional $105 million. That plan appears dead in the
water, with Council officials saying they are more likely to enact a plan that
includes a more modest tax hike, coupled with a raise in the Use and Occupancy
tax and possibly a jump in parking-lot taxes.
Hite and his team say they've provided every detail Council wants. But
the Philadelphia School District
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/school_files/State-AG-offers-to-answer-Councils-questions.html#8Mf2seQmpCjMPoVZ.99
By Christina
Tatu Of The Morning Call
June 9, 2015
As the Saucon Valley
School Board and teachers union prepare for nonbinding arbitration, the board
voted Tuesday to stick with an October 2014 contract proposal as its final best
offer. The board and
teachers union must post their final best offers by the end of the day
Wednesday. Both will appear on the school district's website. Neither had been
posted as of late Tuesday. Rich Simononis,
chief negotiator for the Saucon Valley Education Association, which represents
the district's 180 teachers, did not respond to an inquiry for comment. The public will have a 10-day window to
submit comments on each offer. The comments will be considered during a private
hearing July 29 before the arbitrator, attorney Timothy Brown. They will give
Brown a sense of where the public stands.
"As American classrooms
have focused on raising test scores in math and reading, an outgrowth of the
federal No Child Left Behind law
and interpretations of the new Common Core standards, even the youngest
students have been affected, with more formal lessons and less time in
sandboxes. But these days, states like Vermont ,
Minnesota and Washington
Kindergartens
Ringing the Bell
By MOTOKO RICH JUNE 9, 2015
Come to Harrisburg on June 23rd for an All for
Education Day Rally!
Education Voters PA website June 1, 2015
On June 23 at the Capitol in Harrisburg, Education Voters will be
joining together with more than 50 organizations to send a clear message to
state lawmakers that we expect them to fund our schools in this year’s
budget. Click
HERE for more information and to register for the June 23 All for Education Day
in Harrisburg. Join us as we speak up for the importance of
funding our schools fairly and at sufficient levels, so that every student in
PA has an opportunity to learn. Community,
parent, education advocacy, faith, and labor organizations will join together
with school, municipal, and community officials to hold a press conference and
rally at 12:00 in the main rotunda and to make arrangements to meet with
legislators before and after the rally. We
must send a strong message to state lawmakers that we are watching them and
expect them to pass a state budget that will fund our schools this year. Please
come to Harrisburg on June 23 to show broad support for a fair budget for
education this year.
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
email update on the status of efforts to have Pennsylvania adopt an adequate,
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 »
COMMUNITY MEETING: PUBLIC
SCHOOL FUNDING IN BERKS COUNTY
Berks County IU June 23,
7:00 - 8:30 pm
Date: Tuesday, June 23, 2015 Time:7:00 – 8:30 p.m. | Registration begins
at 6:30 p.m.
Location: Berks County Intermediate Unit, 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. State lawmakers who represent Berks County
have been invited to attend to learn about challenges facing area schools.
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