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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for June 15, 2015:
What is the purpose of the
Pennsylvania
#FairFundingPA Twitter Chat: 1 p.m., Monday, June
15
Call to Action for Public Education Day: Monday, June
15
Campaign for Fair Education Funding Events
http://fairfundingpa.org/get-involved
What is the purpose of the
Pennsylvania
WHYY Newsworks BY PAUL JABLOW JUNE 15,
2015 MULTIPLE CHOICES: PART 13
The day before the
deadline in mid-June, the Pennsylvania Basic Education Funding Commission
said they needed more time to come up with recommendations for a new formula
for distributing state funding for basic education to school districts.
In this installment of Multiple Choices we explain the role of
the commission. The commission was
created to recommend to the General Assembly a new formula for distributing
state funding for basic education to Pennsylvania
school districts. It was established by law in June 2014, when former Gov. Tom
Corbett signed legislation sponsored by Rep. Bernie O’Neill, R-Bucks. Most states have predictable,
enrollment-based funding formulas to distribute state education aid with the
aim of increasing equity among districts. Pennsylvania instead distributes its
basic education aid, which totaled $5.5 billion this year, based on a mixture
of precedent from previous years and the results of lawmakers' lobbying for
individual districts.
Editorial: Lawmakers,
remedy unintended consequences of Keystone Exam's graduation requirement
THE ISSUE: Pennsylvania
created the Keystone Exams as a substitute for Pennsylvania System of School
Assessment testing at the high school level. The Keystones are end-of-course
exams in algebra I, biology and literature, intended to ensure that students
were proficient in those subjects. Passing the Keystones was supposed to
be a requirement for graduation beginning with the Class of 2017. But a bill,
introduced by state Sen. Lloyd Smucker of Lancaster County
Did you catch our weekend
postings?
PA Ed Policy Roundup for June 14, 2015:
Campaign for Fair Education Funding: Three
Opportunities for You to Participate
Trib Live By Madison
Russ Sunday, June 14, 2015,
10:40 p.m.
HARRISBURG — Thousands of state workers and
retirees' benefits could be at risk if the Wolf administration and lawmakers
cannot agree on a solution to Pennsylvania 's
$47 billion unfunded pension liability. Legislators
and past governors contributed to the problem significantly, records show.
About 70 percent of the liability arose from policy decisions in 2001 and 2004,
according to data from the House Democratic Appropriations Committee. Experts say the crisis began even before that,
in the 1990s. And since then, lawmakers and governors have spent hundreds of
millions of dollars on programs and budget deficits, instead of contributing to
retirement funds for state and school employees.
"Powell said key to that
proposal is a fundamental change to how Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Pennsylvania
Black religious leaders
organize in support of Wolf's proposed budget
Penn Live By Daniel Simmons-Ritchie |
simmons-ritchie@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on June 13, 2015 at 3:00 PM,
updated June 13, 2015 at 4:50 PM
As the June. 30
deadline to pass Pennsylvania 's budget looms,
black religious leaders met in Harrisburg
on Saturday morning as a part of a grassroots, eleventh-hour push for Gov. Tom Wolf's $29.9 billion spending plan. Addressing a group of about 20 pastors and
community advocates at St Paul 's Baptist Church
How to fix a broken school? Lead fearlessly, love hard
TED Talk by Linda Cliatt-Wayman: TEDWomen 2015 · Runtime: 17:07 · Filmed May 2015
Linda
Cliatt-Wayman is a Philadelphia
On Linda Cliatt-Wayman’s first day as principal at a failing high school inNorth Philadelphia , she was determined to lay
down the law. But she soon realized the job was more complex than she thought.
With palpable passion, she shares the three principles that helped her turn
around three schools labeled “low-performing and persistently dangerous.” Her
fearless determination to lead — and to love the students, no matter what — is
a model for leaders in all fields.
On Linda Cliatt-Wayman’s first day as principal at a failing high school in
Grad Nation Philadelphia
the notebook By Dale
Mezzacappa on Jun 14, 2015 10:13 PM
For Rayna Harvey, a
member of the organization Youth United for Change, there is no mystery around
what it would take to produce more high school graduates in Philadelphia .
Offer classes that are relevant to their lives. Teach them skills they
will need in the real world. And most
important, listen to them and strive to understand their wants and needs and
the problems many of them must face in their daily lives. Harvey was one
of the students who attended the June 12 Philadelphia
community summit for Grad Nation, a national initiative to improve the high
school graduation rate and prepare young people for college and careers. The summit, run here by the citywide collaborative
called Project U-Turn, is one of 100 being held around the country by the America 's
Promise Alliance, a coalition of organizations and individuals focused on
increasing the country's graduaton rate to 90 percent by 2020.
Taxing Situation
Philly.com June 14,
2015
Based on projected
2015-16 budgets, school taxes will increase in 85 percent of all districts in
Bucks, Chester , Delaware ,
and Montgomery Counties
Click on the map for more information on each district for which data were available.
Click on the map for more information on each district for which data were available.
By Barbara Ormsby, Times Correspondent POSTED: 06/14/15, 11:02 PM EDT
RIDLEY TOWNSHIP
>> The Ridley School Board recently approved the final budget for the
2015-2016 school year, keeping the real estate millage rate at 39.25 mills, or
$3.93 for each $100 of assessed value. For
a house assessed at $100,000 the school tax bill will remain at $3,930 for the
upcoming school year. The budget shows general fund expenditures of
$98,155,255, which is an increase of 1.98 percent over the current budget. “In January of this year, the Ridley Board of
School Directors approved a resolution in accordance with Act 1 regulations
that indicated the district would not seek exceptions to the Act 1 limits,”
said district Superintendent Lee Ann Wentzel when the proposed final budget was
unveiled in May. “While the impact of continued cost increases in the employer
contribution for pensions remains serious, the conservative fiscal actions from
prior years continues to positively impact this current year.”
http://www.delcotimes.com/social-affairs/20150614/ridley-school-board-passes-budget-with-no-tax-hike
Downingtown school board
approves 2015-16 budget
By Ginger Dunbar, Daily Local News POSTED: 06/14/15, 3:09 PM EDT
DOWNINGTOWN >>
Downingtown Area School board members last week adopted a $207.3 million budget
for the 2015-16 academic year without a tax increase for the third consecutive
year. The budget was unanimously
adopted on Wednesday without any changes from the preliminary budget.
Board members Suzanne Simonelli and President Jane Bertone were absent. The
nine school board members considered the proposed budget that includes a 2.9
percent increase in expenses than this academic year’s budget. School board member Carl Croft said they were
fortunate to have allocated the general funds reserves to use over the next
couple of years to offset the increased expenditures, including increases of
School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS).
“We were able to do a zero percent tax increase,” Carl Croft said after
the meeting. “Our tax base continued to
grow enough to cover most of those cost increases and we used about $4.5
million of general fund reserves which was enough to offset the increases of
PSERS, salary increases and additional benefits costs.”
MARTHA WOODALL, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER Monday, June
15, 2015, 1:08 AM
There are private
schools for autism, attention deficit, dyslexia and other learning differences,
but none in all of Pennsylvania
for gifted students. That's about to
change.
The state Department
of Education on Friday awarded a license to the Grayson
School , which plans to open in the
fall at a Greek Orthodox school in Broomall
and begin by serving students from kindergarten through sixth grade.
Time to reform Pa.
Philly.com opinion By
John Taylor and Jordan Harris
POSTED: Monday, June 15, 2015, 1:08 AM
State Reps. John
Taylor (R., 177th District) and Jordan Harris (D., 186th) represent Philadelphia
As legislators, we have witnessed, year after year, the tragedy that befalls tens of thousands of children inPhiladelphia and across Pennsylvania who are
trapped in public schools that consistently fail to meet the needs of their
students. It is time to act on behalf of
these students and their families, and that's why we are sponsoring legislation
designed to help them immediately. The
legislation is known as the Educational Opportunity and Accountability Act
(House Bill 1225), and it is a growing, bipartisan effort to provide relief for
the nearly 90,000 students - 90 percent of whom are economically disadvantaged
- who are stuck in the worst public schools.
As legislators, we have witnessed, year after year, the tragedy that befalls tens of thousands of children in
TFA: America
Tribune Review
Opinion By Michelle Malkin Sunday, June 14, 2015, 9:00 p.m.
It's increasingly difficult to tell the difference between Teach forAmerica — whose leaders are at the forefront of
inflammatory, anti-police protests in Baltimore ,
Ferguson and now McKinney , Texas Princeton
University National Educational Policy
Center
It's increasingly difficult to tell the difference between Teach for
Read more: http://triblive.com/opinion/featuredcommentary/8533538-74/tfa-america-teach#ixzz3d7jEalu2
Rally in West Chester for
a State Budget Chester
County
Tuesday, June 16th
at Noon Location: Old Courthouse Steps
in West Chester Corner of High and Market Streets
Join parents, teachers, students, school staff, community advocates, and
local leaders to demand a state budget that invests in your community, your
students, and your schools.
Speakers include: Carolyn Comitta, Mayor of West Chester
Dr. Robert Langley,
Lincoln University,
Lincoln-AAUP
President
Dr. Curry Malott, West
Chester University
College of Education
Dr. Kenneth Mash, East
Stroudsburg University,
APSCUF President
Susan Carty, President, PA
League of Women Voters, Retired Educator
Contact Doug Brown at 717-236-7486 for more information
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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