Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now
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administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, Governor's
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leaders, business leaders, faith-based organizations, labor organizations,
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These daily emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for June 18, 2015:
If BEFC punts on adequacy & "hold harmless",
pension crisis could be over before PA school funding inequities are addressed
"Barring any unforeseen
technical difficulties, the hearing will stream live on www.pasenategop.com and www.pahousegop.com."
Basic Education Funding
Commission to Release Report Thursday,
June 18th at 10 a.m.
PA Senate Republican
website June 16, 2015
The Basic Education
Funding Commission, Co-Chaired by Senator Pat Browne (R-16 Lehigh) and
Representative Mike Vereb (R-150 Montgomery), will meet on Thursday, June 18th at
10 a.m. to consider recommendations and a funding formula and release its
report to the General Assembly and the public. The Basic Education
Funding Commission was established through Act 51 of 2014 to develop a new
formula for the distribution of state funding for basic education to Pennsylvania ’s 500
school districts. The 15-member commission has undertaken a comprehensive study
of a number of factors, held 15 hearings over the past 11 months and heard from
a wide-range of experts and advocates in the education field, as well as
parents, before arriving ultimately at a consensus on a new formula. The
meeting will be held in the Majority Caucus Room of the House of Representatives.
The recommendations of the commission will not go into effect, however, without
legislation approved by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor
"The 15-member Basic Education Funding
Commission, created by a law last June, is scheduled to produce recommendations
after nearly a year of study and hearings.
For some, a fix is overdue. Pennsylvania Pennsylvania
PA lawmakers work to
correct 25-year school funding disparity
Morning Call By Marc Levy Of The Associated Press
Some communities now get half as much per-student aid as those with
similar economic circumstances. On
Thursday, a panel of lawmakers and top advisers to Gov. Tom Wolf is to
recommend a way to close the gap, an effort that comes as Wolf is seeking the
biggest one-year boost in public school aid in the state's history. An Associated Press review of state data
shows per-student funding differences can be great. For example, take Purchase
Line School
District in Indiana County and Curwensville
Area School
District in Clearfield
County Northampton
Area School
District in Northampton
County and Wilson
School District in Berks County
"It makes no sense," said Arnold Hillman, a former superintendent
and a founder of the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools
Education Week by Associated Press Published Online: June 17, 2015
"Among poll respondents, 30 percent
said their top priority for state lawmakers is more public education funding,
while another 25 percent cited property tax reform."
F&M Poll: Pennsylvania
Most of Pennsylvania ’s
registered voters are in favor of legalizing medical marijuana.
About half (49 percent) support Gov. Tom Wolf’s death penalty moratorium,
versus 37 percent who oppose it. And
they want action on increasing education funding and property tax reform. Those are some of the findings of the latest Franklin
& Marshall College
View the latest Franklin
"In "Resource
Accountability," Mr. Sciarra and Ms. Hunter explain that the current
debate over state school finance reform, by focusing on how much states spend
on education, is too narrow. What's missing is the oft-ignored but crucial
question of how states must also put in place mechanisms to drive funding to
support essential resources and research-proven programs in local classrooms,
especially in schools serving high concentrations of students in poverty, English
language learners and students with disabilities."
FAIR FUNDING AND ITS EFFECTIVE USE
EDUCATION JUSTICE -
ELC's National Program June 17, 2015
New ELC Article Explores State
Obligation to Ensure Money Matters
In March 2015,
Education Policy Analysis Archive (EPAA) published "Resource
Accountability: Enforcing State Responsibilities for Sufficient and Equitable
Resources Used Effectively to Provide All Students a Quality Education" by
Education Law Center Stanford
Center
Rising pension, charter costs mean bad budget news
GoErie Education
Blog by Erica Erwin June 17, 2015 3:17 pm
The news came as no
surprise to anybody who has been paying attention: In a replay of the past
several years, school districts across the state plan to balance their 2015-16
budgets through property tax increases, the reduction of staff or programs, or
both. That was the bleak picture painted
by an annual joint school
budget survey conducted by the Pennsylvania
Association of School Business Officials and the Pennsylvania Association of School
Administrators.
Among the survey’s
findings:
- More than 70 percent of
responding districts plan to raise local property taxes (Erie
isn’t one of them). Eighty percent of those plan to exceed the tax
increase-limit set by Act 1, the state’s property tax relief law, by
seeking exceptions from the state.
- 41 percent of districts will reduce
staff.
- Nearly 25 percent will reduce or cut
programs.
The survey points to
two causes — rising mandated costs, including increased pension, health care,
charter school and special education costs, and the overall state share of
education funding, down from 39 percent in 2008-09 to 37 percent in 2014-15.
Indicted charter founder
Dorothy June Brown has dementia, her lawyers say
MARTHA
WOODALL, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER LAST
UPDATED: Thursday, June 18, 2015, 1:08 AM POSTED: Wednesday, June 17,
2015, 5:24 PM
Lawyers for Dorothy
June Brown, a charter school founder scheduled to be retried next month on
federal fraud charges, have filed new medical reports that they say bolster
their contention that the 77-year-old educator has dementia. Lawyers said in court documents that they are
not seeking to delay Brown's retrial, scheduled to begin July 7 with jury
selection on June 29. Instead, they have asked the judge to evaluate Brown's
mental competency "at every stage at which it is raised" because
physicians at the Cleveland Clinic have concluded that Brown has
Alzheimer's-type dementia.
Measure tying teacher
layoffs to job performance narrowly survives preliminary test in Pa. House
Penn Live By Charles Thompson |
cthompson@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on June 17,
2015 at 9:35 PM, updated June 17, 2015 at 10:36 PM
A bill permitting Pennsylvania school
districts to tie future teacher layoffs to job performance evaluations narrowly
survived an early-round vote in the state House Wednesday. The 95-94 vote on an amendment drafted by
House Education Committee Chairman Stan Saylor, R-Red Lion, left the bill's
immediate future anything but a slam dunk, as supporters try to rally the votes
needed for final passage. The bill
essentially adds budget shortfalls to the list of reasons a district can lay
off classroom teachers, and administrators - when using that reason - would be
required to first eliminate affected personnel with "failing," or
"needs improvement," ratings.
House passes revisions to
state's background checks law
By PennLive staff and wire reports Follow on Twitter on June 17, 2015 at 7:22 PM
Pennsylvania House
members voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to exempt more people from a state law
that requires background checks for
those who work with children. The 180-9
vote sent the Senate the proposal to limit the checks for adult volunteers and
employees at schools, child care facilities and similar places to those who
have direct and routine interaction with children. The more vigorous
checks were enacted last year as part of the Legislature's response to the
child sex abuse case against former Penn
State
Corman discusses booze,
budget, Wolf and his chief of staff
Penn Live By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com Email
the author | Follow on Twitter on June 17,
2015 at 6:42 PM, updated June 17, 2015 at 9:01 PM
Senate Majority
Leader Jake Corman stopped by the PennLive/Patriot-News editorial board on
Wednesday to provide a progress report on various fronts in the state budget
negotiations with the Gov. Tom Wolf Administration and share some thoughts
about an assortment of other issues. Corman, R-Centre County Pennsylvania voters
created a divided state government by putting a Democrat in the governor's
office and handing Republicans the largest majority in the Legislature that
they've had in years. Finding a budget
compromise in those conditions could be challenging but Corman said if the
budget negotiators have a mindset that "we're going to give if we're going
to get ... we can get things done."
"Forward Philadelphia
and a second super PAC called Building a Better PA -- bothfunded
mostly by labor unions -- spent more than $2 million backing
Kenney. But the biggest spender in the race by far was a super PAC called
American Cities. The group was funded by
three wealthy financial executives from the Philadelphia
Perhaps one reason American
Cities' money failed to move voters is that it is an ideological PAC, devoted
not just to a candidate, but also to a cause: expanding charter schools
and vouchers."
'New kid' on the local
block, super PACS played integral part in Philly mayoral primary
WHYY Newsworks BY KATIE COLANERI JUNE 17, 2015
This year for the
first time, super PACs spent big money on a mayoral primary in Philadelphia . In 2012, super PACs,
also known as independent expenditure groups, emerged as huge players in the
presidential race as a way for donors to get around rules that keep them from
writing large checks directly to candidates.
While Philadelphia
turned out to be a proving ground for super PACs in local races, the results
suggest money alone can't ensure a win.
Morrisville schools
considering resolution to keep close eye on charter school billing
Bucks County Courier Times By GEMA MARIA DUARTE Staff writer Posted: Wednesday, June 17, 2015 10:15
pm | Updated: 11:53 pm, Wed
Jun 17, 2015.
MORRISVILLE SCHOOLS
— Morrisville
School District
"We pay the
bills as they come in, but who knows how accurate are the bills," he said.
The draft is
expected to be completed in time for a vote at Wednesday's board meeting.
A routine audit of a
York City
Nearly half of students in
York County
The National School
Lunch Act, passed in 1946, declared it a matter of national security to
safeguard the health and well-being of a child by assisting schools in
providing an adequate supply of food and facilities, and more than a half a
century later, it remains relevant in York County. Of the 67,919 students enrolled in schools
across the county for the 2014-15 school year, nearly 42 percent, or 28,180,
qualified for either free or reduced price lunches — 24,948 and 3,232
respectively, according to data collected by the Pennsylvania Department of
Education.
Baldwin-Whitehall school budget passes with tax
increase, staff and program cutbacks
Post Gazette By
Margaret Smykla June 18, 2015 1:45 AM
Baldwin-Whitehall
School Board on Wednesday night adopted a final operating budget of $61.28
million for the 2015-16 school year that raises taxes 0.81 mills, and takes
money from the fund balance to cover a $1.9 million deficit. The millage increase will generate $1.6
million in revenue. Even with the tax hike, the district faced a shortfall that
will be covered from the district’s estimated $8.8 million fund balance.
Post Gazette By
Sonja Reis June 17, 2015 11:48 PM
West Allegheny
School Board Wednesday night adopted a $58.17 million operating
budget for 2015-16 that holds the line on real estate taxes by spending from
the district's fund balance. The millage rate
will remain at 18.51 mills, meaning school real estate taxes on property valued
at $100,000 will be $1,851. The new
budget anticipates revenues of $57.03 million, with the $1.14 million
difference between revenues and expenditures coming from the district’s fund
balance. Currently, that balance is approximately $12.87 million.
Salisbury school taxes hiked 1.2 percent, full-day
kindergarten OK'd
By Kayla Dwyer Of The
Morning Call June 18, 2015
With a final 2015-16
budget showing the smallest property tax increase in years, the Salisbury Township School District Arts
Academy Charter
School
Broad opt-out bill passes Delaware
WHYY Newsworks BY AVI WOLFMAN-ARENT JUNE 18, 2015
A bill passed
Wednesday in the Delaware Senate would allows parents to opt their children out
of any district- or state-wide assessment.
The bill goes further than a Delaware House version, which only
certified that parents could opt out of a new, statewide exam known as Smarter
Balanced. The Senate bill, unlike its House counterpart, also allows
eleventh-graders to refuse to take statewide assessments. In prior versions,
parents had to refuse the test on behalf of their children. The amended legislation passed 14-7 and now
heads back to the House with new language in tow. The vote marked a strange twist in what has
fast become one of Dover 's
highest-profile legislative showdowns.
"There has been evident
improvement in just two years, with high school graduation rates raising to 67
percent in 2014, up from 52 percent in 2011. If skillfully applied, this Massachusetts
NYT Editorial: Massachusetts
Takes On a Failing
School District
New York Times By THE EDITORIAL BOARD JUNE 17, 2015
The Massachusetts public
schools consistently rank at or near the top in the nation for performance on
the rigorous, federally backed math and reading exams known as the National
Assessment of Educational Progress. The state has nonetheless struggled with
how to improve chronically low-performing districts like the one in the
impoverished former mill town of Lawrence . That district ranked
in the bottom 1 percent in the state based on math and English test scores when
it was placed in receivership by the state education commissioner in fall 2011.
There has been evident improvement in just two years, with high school
graduation rates raising to 67 percent in 2014, up from 52 percent in 2011. If
skillfully applied, this Massachusetts
strategy could become a powerful school reform tool elsewhere as well.
Hillary Clinton Calls for
Universal Prekindergarten
Education Week By Alyson Klein on June
15, 2015 7:00 PM
Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton made her first
high-profile education policy pitch Monday: universal preschool. Specifically, Clinton
wants to give every 4-year-old in America access to high-quality
preschool over the next decade. It's
clear that Clinton, the former secretary of state and U.S. Senator, thinks she
has a winning issue here. After all, there's been a lot of bipartisan interest
in early education at the state level. But congressional Republicans, some of
whom are seeking the GOP nomination, have been reluctant
to invest big federal money in the policy, in part because of concerns over
runaway federal spending. "Republicans
aren't just missing the boat on early-childhood education, they're trying to
sink it," Clinton said Monday in Rochester , N.H.
So what's the nitty-gritty on this preschool plan, and how is Clinton proposing to pay
for it? There weren't a lot of hard-and-fast-details in a fact sheet
circulated by the Clinton
camp.
Come to Harrisburg
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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