Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now
reach more than 3700 Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors,
administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, Governor's
staff, current/former PA Secretaries of Education, Wolf education transition
team members, Superintendents, PTO/PTA officers, parent advocates, teacher
leaders, business leaders, faith-based organizations, labor organizations,
education professors, members of the press and a broad array of P-16 regulatory
agencies, professional associations and education advocacy organizations via
emails, website, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
These daily emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg
Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for July 16, 2015:
49 out of 50 Pennsylvania
Senate Districts have Underfunded School Districts
PA House Education committee hearing on PA
State Assessments is scheduled for 10:00 am July 29, Room 250 Irvis office
bldg.
Senate Votes to End Debate
on ESEA Rewrite; Final Vote Expected Thursday
Education Week
Politics K-12 Blog By Lauren
Camera on July 15, 2015 5:47 PM
Senate rejects effort to give feds more say in
identifying failing schools
The Senate on
Wednesday rejected an amendment to its No Child Left Behind rewrite that
had been championed by major civil rights groups as necessary to ensure that
schools are serving the nation’s most disadvantaged children. The chamber voted 54 to 43 against the
amendment, which aimed to give the federal government more say in defining
which schools are low-performing and require intervention. Instead, the bill allows states to decide not
only how to judge schools’ success, but which schools don’t measure up and what
to do to improve them. The proposed
amendment’s lead sponsor, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), said that could return
the country to the days when states and school districts could ignore
achievement gaps and allow poor, minority and disabled children to languish. “This law is an education reform law, but it
has to be a civil rights law as well,” said Murphy, invoking the law’s original
passage in 1965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. The measure was opposed by many Republicans
who want to rein in the federal government’s influence over education, which
they say ballooned under the Bush and Obama administrations.
"Pennsylvania 's
school funding crisis has often been discussed as if it is just an urban
problem or a "Philadelphia
49 out of 50 Pennsylvania
Senate Districts have Underfunded School Districts
POWER Press Release July 15, 2015
A new report shows that 49 of out of Pennsylvania 's 50 State Senate Districts
have school districts that are not getting their fair share of state education
dollars. The data analysis demonstrates
how unfair and underfunded public education is a statewide problem that spans
rural, urban, and suburban areas, and proves that nearly every Senate district
will benefit from the application of a fair funding formula. However,
lawmakers in Harrisburg
have largely gone home for the summer without finishing a budget that addresses
school funding and current inequities in the funding system. Having led a "Moral Takeover" of the
State Capitol in June, faith communities across the state have showed major
concern over the problem, which they say is an urgent moral crisis.
"Roy Roy
PSSA scores dive as tests get harder
By Jacqueline
Palochko Of The Morning Call July 16, 2015
As many educators
predicted, scores on the state's standardized tests plummeted this year, the
first time the exams were aligned with the rigorous Pennsylvania Core
Standards. State Secretary of Education
Pedro Rivera informed educators that more exacting Pennsylvania System of
School Assessment exams for 2015 resulted in lower scores, particularly in
math. The state Department of Education
did not release scores, but an analysis by WHYY/Newsworks showed overall scores
fell by 34 percent in math and 9 percent in reading. The Education Department didn't dispute those
findings, but said comparing results from 2014 with 2015 isn't fair because the
tests are completely different. "[T]his
is the first year that the new assessment was fully aligned to the new, more
rigorous PA Core Standards, so comparing to prior years isn't an apples to
apples comparison," said Nicole Reigelman, spokeswoman for the state's
Department of Education. "The scores this year will serve as a baseline
for future years." Besides making
the tests harder, the State Board of Education also recently voted to change
scoring metrics, raising the bar on which scores constitute a proficient
rating, meaning a passing grade.
Full results for Pennsylvania 's 2015
standardized tests haven't been released, but we already know they aren't
great. The state Department of Education
has confirmed that the number of students who scored "proficient" or
"advanced" on the tests fell precipitously compared with
2014, according to Kevin McCorry at WHYY/Newsworks. State officials attributed the decline to
increased rigor of the tests, McCorry reports. The past school year was the
first that PSSAs — the tests taken by third- through eighth-graders —
were fully aligned to Pennsylvania Core Standards. Using the limited PSSA data released by the
state so far, WHYY's analysis found that proficiency
rates dropped on average by 35.4 percent in math and 9.4 percent
in English language arts over 2014.
This is Pennsylvania 's
fourth year of declining test scores, according to McCorry.
Still waiting, Harrisburg , for a Pennsylvania
Fourteen
of 17 Lancaster
County Elizabethtown . An
average property tax increase of 1.7 percent in Lancaster County
Capitol grinds to a lull
as PA concludes second week of new fiscal year without a state budget
The PLS Reporter Author: Jason Gottesman/Wednesday, July
15, 2015
Wednesday marked the
two week anniversary of the start of the 2015-2016 fiscal year, while lawmakers
and Gov. Tom Wolf have yet to agree on a state budget. July 15 is the traditional calendar date on
which the state sends its first round of checks to school districts, but the
Commonwealth is not authorized to spend the money without the enactment of a
state budget. Meanwhile, activity
in the Capitol was at a notable lull Wednesday as tourists once again claimed
the Rotunda and staff roamed about from meeting-to-meeting. While some legislative leaders and the
governor were in the Capitol, no face-to-face meetings between legislative
leadership and Gov. Wolf were reported or observed. Members, staff, and Capitol observers
speaking to The PLS Reporter discussed an ongoing perception
of a lack of urgency behind budget talks 15 days after the governor vetoed a
Republican-crafted budget plan.
Study estimates Utica
Trib Live By David
Conti Tuesday, July 14, 2015, 10:27 p.m.
The amount of natural gas trapped in the Utica shale might rival what drillers hope to extract from its more famous neighbor the Marcellus, a group of geologists said Tuesday. “It's comparable to the highest number I've seen for the Marcellus,” said Doug Patchen, head of the Appalachian Oil and Natural Gas Research Consortium at West Virginia University and lead editor of a geologic report on the Utica. The Utica Shale Play Book, the result of a two-year study by federal, state and university researchers, estimates the shale rock formation below the Marcellus holds 782 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas. Estimates for the Marcellus range from 500 to 800 trillion.
The amount of natural gas trapped in the Utica shale might rival what drillers hope to extract from its more famous neighbor the Marcellus, a group of geologists said Tuesday. “It's comparable to the highest number I've seen for the Marcellus,” said Doug Patchen, head of the Appalachian Oil and Natural Gas Research Consortium at West Virginia University and lead editor of a geologic report on the Utica. The Utica Shale Play Book, the result of a two-year study by federal, state and university researchers, estimates the shale rock formation below the Marcellus holds 782 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas. Estimates for the Marcellus range from 500 to 800 trillion.
Gas companies last
year pulled 4 trillion cubic feet from Pennsylvania shale wells.
Senate GOP leader: Shale
tax may be considered with offsetting legislation
Trib Live By Brad
Bumsted Monday, July 13, 2015, 3:51 p.m.
HARRISBURG — Senate
Majority Leader Jake Corman isn't ruling out a severance tax on natural gas as
a potential solution to the 14-day state budget stalemate. Corman, a key budget negotiator, emphasized
Monday he is not advocating the tax that Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf wants. “If we can put together a package that
benefits the industry, we might be willing to consider it,” Corman, R-Centre
County, told the Tribune-Review on Friday.
Asked to elaborate Monday, Corman noted the natural gas industry pays
Pennsylvania $225 million a year through the state's impact fee, approved by
lawmakers in 2012. With gas prices low, “we cannot take action that would
damage this valuable vehicle for economic development and job creation,” he
said. “At the same time, if we could
tailor a tax that may also have provisions that would allow the industry to
continue to develop and maintain job growth, then it might be something we
consider.”
On Monday,
Republican negotiators met with Wolf but reported no substantial progress. The
budget by law was due June 30.
Senate Republicans won’t
bring up anything that doesn’t have a majority of their caucus, so we’re
stuck. How this all ends is that Tom
Wolf is going to veto anything that doesn’t address his top three priorities,
and Republicans don’t have the votes for a veto override. They’re ultimately
going to have to give Wolf something close to what he wants."
Scarnati Knows a Severance
Tax Would Pass If Brought Up for a Vote
Keystone Politics Posted
on July 14, 2015 by Jon Geeting #
Scarnati said he
opposes a severance tax. But he declined to rule it out. There’s “some level of
support” in all four caucuses of both parties in House and Senate for a
severance tax, he said. But there’s “not majority votes in the House and Senate
Republican caucuses at this point,” Scarnati said. With the industry reeling
from low gas prices, “I liken a shale tax to Detroit, during the Clutch Plague,
putting a tax on automobiles,” Scarnati said.
A bunch of Southeast
Republicans ran for reelection as liberals in 2014, saying they supported a
severance tax and restoring the Republican cuts to education. If they had
to vote on the severance tax plan, they’d vote for it, and so would most Democrats.
Very probably it would pass. The problem is that
Republicans don’t want to bring it up for an up-or-down vote. They are going by
the “Hastert Rule” used in Washington – the majority of the majority principle.
Senate Republicans won’t bring up anything that doesn’t have a majority of
their caucus, so we’re stuck. How this all ends is
that Tom Wolf is going to veto anything that doesn’t address his top three
priorities, and Republicans don’t have the votes for a veto override. They’re
ultimately going to have to give Wolf something close to what he wants.
"In fact, our campaigns
were so credible that our opponents spent tens of thousands of dollars to
hammer home the messages that they, too, would “stand up for schools” and
“allocate new natural gas severance tax revenues to education.”
GOP lawmakers should honor
their campaign promises
Gov. Tom Wolf is
only half right when he says his landslide win in last year’s election equates
with a mandate for adequate, equitable public school funding. Because while this issue was indeed the
cornerstone of his campaign, it was also front and center in the re-election
campaigns of Republican legislators. We
should know: In last year’s election, we were the Democratic nominees for state
representative in Lancaster
County
Groups urge Delco
lawmakers to compromise on guv’s budget
By Kristina Scala,
Delaware County Daily Times POSTED: 07/14/15, 11:25 PM EDT
Teachers and work force advocates are continuing to push
Delaware County lawmakers to come to terms with Gov. Tom Wolf’s budget and its
$2 billion increase in spending — or at least meet somewhere in the middle. “There are a lot of people that want a lot of
different things from the state budget,” said Zeek Weil, a spokesman for
Pennsylvania State Education Association. He said the differences pose a challenge for Democrats and
Republicans to work together and pass a “reasonable” budget that increases
funding in education.” A small group of
demonstrators Tuesday gathered near Sen. Tom McGarrigle’s Upper Darby district
office to ask the Springfield Republican, who represents the 26th District, to
support Wolf’s plan for a reasonable severance tax on natural gas extraction. The get-together was meant to show lawmakers
that voters are still focused on the issues of better funding schools by
establishing a reasonable severance tax on natural gas extraction and providing
livable hourly wages. A few hours
earlier, a similar demonstration was held outside the state Capitol in
Harrisburg.
Harrisburg
It’s amusing to read and listen
to state legislators trying to justify the recently proposed Republican budget,
citing a $370 million increase to education without a tax increase, stating
that they are voting the way the people want who elected them. I beg to differ with that. Gov. Wolf defeated
incumbent Gov. Corbett by a snowslide, mudslide, and landslide vote. In his
campaign. Gov. Wolf spoke out on taxing gas drilling companies, reducing
property taxes, and increasing state taxes. Apparently, the people knew this
and voted him in overwhelming fashion. So please, local legislators, don’t tell
me you are voting for your people. You are voting for your party. Education is the number one issue within our
state government at this time. Gov. Corbett’s excessive cuts have cut through
education budgets statewide. When our local politicians cite no tax increase,
apparently they don’t consider increased property taxes and higher gasoline
taxes a tax.
Nonprofit's
review of York City School District
A
nonprofit's report will be released after state officials review it
York DaIly Record By Angie Mason amason@ydr.com @angiemason1 on Twitter UPDATED: 07/15/2015
08:25:35 PM ED
The York
City School Board should soon know what a nonprofit focused on school turnaround
found in its review of the school district.
After a new chief recovery officer for the school district was named in
the spring, the Pennsylvania Department of Education hired Mass Insight, a
Boston-based nonprofit that works to help struggling schools, to complete a
comprehensive review of the district. The report was due to be delivered to the
department Wednesday. In a
written report given to the school board Wednesday, Carol Saylor, the chief
recovery officer, said the report will be released to the district after the
education department and the governor's office review it. A meeting of the district's advisory
committee was canceled to allow for more time for the state officials to review
the study. Saylor expects it can be reviewed by the school board in August.
Executive
Summary - Under
the 2001 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965,
states developed their own assessments and set their own proficiency standards
to measure student achievement. This has resulted in a great deal of variation
among the states, both in their proficiency standards and in their student assessments
(NCES 2008-475). This variation has created a challenge in understanding the
ability levels of students across the United States because there is no
means to compare the proficiency levels established by one state against the
others directly. To address this need, the National Center
Critical Questions about Computerized
Assessments and SmarterBalanced Test Scores
EduResearcher
Blog by Roxana Marachi, Ph.D / 1
week ago
A
recent report from the Public Policy Institute reveals
that the majority of California ’s
public school parents are uninformed about the new tests their
children took this year. And despite numerous concerns regarding technological
barriers, biases, and testing administration problems, it appears that in a
matter of weeks, “test scores” will be released to the public. The following includes adapted
selections of a letter I sent to the California State Board of Education
for their meeting on July 8th and 9th. My purpose in sharing this
information is to draw attention to the lack of scientific validity of the
test scores that are soon to be released to the public, and to promote critical
thinking about issues of fairness, accessibility, data security, and
standardization in the test administrations. It is important to consider that unless
assessments are independently
verified to adhere to basic
standards of test development regarding validity,
reliability, security, accessibility, and fairness in administration, resulting
scores will be meaningless and should not be used to make claims
about student learning, progress, aptitude, nor readiness for college or
career. Please consider the following
questions and evidence as you determine public communication and next
steps regarding test score data provided by the SmarterBalanced Assessment
Consortium.
Who Does Gates
Fund for “General Operating Support”?
deutsch29
blog by Mercedes Schneider May 24, 2015
On its
website, the Gates Foundation makes it clear that it
often initiates contact with organizations to apply for specific grants and
that it does not fund what it does not consider a Gates Foundation “priority.” The assertiveness of the Gates Foundation in
funding its approved version of education reform takes on head-tilting meaning
when one considers the organizations that Gates funds “for general operating
support.” That means that the Gates Foundation
has decided to that it wants to keep such organizations in business. So, it
gives them money to stay afloat, like Dad shelling out an allowance to the
kids. There is no greater opportunity
for fiscal dependence on the Gates Foundation than for an organization to
receive Gates money for general operating expenses– especially in the case
of repeated operating support grants. Note also that the Gates Foundation pays
its grants in installments, and it sure can become easy to get used to those regularly-arriving
payments to help with salaries and other expenses.
Then
comes the layer of dependence known as being part of the Gates-endorsed,
corporate reform “in crowd”– an open door to additional fiscal and political
opportunities for those willing to travel the route of test-score-driven
education privatization.
When Charters
Go Union
Most charter school funders hate
unions and unions generally hate charters. But more and more charter teachers
want to unionize, and labor is helping them do it.
The American Prospect Summer 2015 by Rachel M. Cohen
The
April sun had not yet risen in Los
Angeles when teachers from the city’s largest charter
network—the Alliance College-Ready Public Schools—gathered outside for a press
conference to discuss their new union drive. Joined by local labor leaders,
politicians, student alumni, and parents, the importance of the educators’
effort was not lost on the crowd. If teachers were to prevail in winning
collective bargaining rights at Alliance ’s 26
schools, the audience recognized, then L.A. ’s
education reform landscape would fundamentally change. For years, after all,
many of the most powerful charter backers had proclaimed that the key to
helping students succeed was union-free schools. One month earlier, nearly 70 Alliance
teachers and counselors had sent a letter to the administration announcing
their intent to join United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA), the local teachers
union that represents the 35,000 educators who work in L.A. ’s public schools. The letter asked Alliance for a “fair and
neutral process”—one that would allow teachers to organize without fear of
retaliation. The administration offered no such reassurance. Indeed, April’s
press conference was called to highlight a newly discovered internal memo circulating
among Alliance
administrators that offered tips on how to best discourage staff from forming a
union. It also made clear that Alliance
would oppose any union, not just UTLA. “To continue providing what is best for
our schools and our students, the goal is no unionization, not which union,”
the memo said.
Nominations for PSBA's
Allwein Advocacy Award now open
PSBA July 7, 2015
PSBA July 7, 2015
The Timothy M.
Allwein Advocacy Award was established in 2011 by the Pennsylvania School
Boards Association and may be presented annually to the individual school
director or entire school board to recognize outstanding leadership in
legislative advocacy efforts on behalf of public education and students that
are consistent with the positions in PSBA’s Legislative Platform. The 2015 Allwein Award nomination process
will close on Aug. 28, 2015. The 2015 Allwein Award Nomination Form is available online. More details on the
award and nominations process can be found online.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.