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PA Ed Policy Roundup for July 6, 2015:
SB6: Editorial - New layer
of bureaucracy is not answer to quandary of Pa.
SB6: Editorial - New layer
of bureaucracy is not answer to quandary of Pa.
The LNP Editorial
Board | Posted Yesterday
THE ISSUE: A bill
aimed at turning around underperforming schools passed in the state
Senate last week by a vote of 27-22. Senate
Bill 6, the Educational Opportunity and Accountability Act, would transfer
the lowest-performing schools to a new statewide entity called the Achievement School District Lancaster
County Republican. First of all, we have to say this: Sen.
Smucker has proven himself to be a champion of education in the
commonwealth, and we laud his concern for the students trapped in
underperforming schools. Smucker has
been tenacious in working on behalf of our kids, both as a rank-and-file
lawmaker and as chairman of the Senate Education Committee.
He’s earned the respect he gets from people in this county.
But in this
instance, on this bill, we disagree with Smucker.
SB6: Unintended
consequences mar school accountability bill
Martin Hudacs, Ed.D, is the
former superintendent of Solanco
School District
To paraphrase a
famous saying, “The road to unintended consequences is paved with good
intentions.” Many well-intended
legislative actions have created costly and unwieldy consequences for school
systems. For example, to improve student
success, the Keystone Exams were implemented. To improve teacher and principal
accountability, the Teacher Effectiveness Evaluation System was implemented. To
improve scrutiny of volunteers, clearance requirements were extended. All of
these intentions are worthy of support and action. All of the implemented
actions, however, are presently being reconsidered because they not only did
not achieve their purpose, but they were also extremely costly for school
districts in both money and manpower. I’m
afraid we are going to see the same thing with Senate Bill 6, The Educational
Opportunity and Accountability Act that is being considered in Harrisburg . The bill’s primary sponsor
is Lancaster County Sen. Lloyd Smucker, chairman of the Senate Education
Committee.
"We understand charter
schools give parents options when it comes to their children's education, and
in general we support school choice — as long as charter schools are held to
the same standards as traditional schools."
EDITORIAL: Reform charter
school laws
The results of a
state audit of York City 's Helen
Thackston Charter
School paint a picture of education in
disarray and highlight the urgent need to reform Pennsylvania 's charter school laws. Auditor General
Eugene DePasquale — who once represented York City in the state House — summed
it up this way: "In the Thackston
charter school's case, there is no way to account for every dollar, or to know
if the school operated as intended, because of a breakdown of internal
controls," DePasquale said. "The lack of documentation makes it
nearly impossible to draw any sound conclusion." The routine review, which looked at
Thackston's operations from 2010 to 2013, found a general lack of
accountability and transparency, an insufficient number of certified teachers,
and a failure to keep proper financial and health records. It also exposed potential ethics violation,
concerns about reimbursements and double-billing for tuition reimbursements
from local school districts, according to DePasquale.
State budget talks restart
today
Expectation of veto aided
GOP’s legislative wins in Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG >>
After three years of futility, Republicans finally used their majorities in
Pennsylvania’s state House and Senate to pass their top agenda items: ending
the traditional pension benefit in the state’s public employee retirement
systems and privatizing its government-controlled wine and liquor store system. But the GOP’s victories are expected to be
short-lived — and that may help explain why they passed. Practically every lawmaker believed that the
pension and liquor bills were destined for the veto pen of Democratic Gov. Tom
Wolf. That made it easier for some to drop misgivings, or outright opposition,
and fall in line by voting “yes,” some lawmakers said. Sen. Don White is one of
the lawmakers who voted for the wine and liquor bill despite concerns that he
wanted addressed. “I think we all did,”
said White, R-Indiana.
Fiscal year revenues almost seven percent higher than
previous year
The PLS Reporter Eye
Opener email July 10, 2015
The Independent
Fiscal Office released its revenue trends report for June last week, indicating
that the close of the fiscal year saw state revenues increase almost seven
percent over the previous fiscal year. Excepting
out a large inheritance collection and certain one-time revenue transfers,
revenue still increased 5.8 percent over FY 2013-2014. For the fiscal year, total revenue collections
were $30.59 billion.
Wolf vetoes bills on
liquor privatization, school funding
WTAE.com by Mark Scolforo Associated
Press UPDATED 10:20 PM EDT
Jul 02, 2015
Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLNews
Although the flash
and bang of the Fourth’s fireworks are no more than memories and the long
holiday weekend is over, Harrisburg
could be noisy place this week as budget talks are set to resume. The June 30 deadline passed without a new
spending plan in place for the 2015-2016 fiscal year. Last week Gov. Tom Wolf,
a Democrat, vetoed the $30.1 billion budget submitted by Republican lawmakers
who make up the majority in the General Assembly. The governor dismissed it for
failing to address the issues of adequately funding public education through
the passage of severance tax on the natural gas industry, property tax reform
and erasing a structural deficit of more than $1 billion. The standstill drew responses from a number
of groups, urging the administration and lawmakers to put aside partisan
differences and negotiate with the interests of the citizens and the future of
the Commonwealth at heart.
Our view: GOP's Pa.
GoErie.com Editorial
July 2, 2015 01:04 AM
Hey, Gov. Wolf - pass
pension reform, don't raise taxes: Charlie Gerow
PennLive Op-Ed By Charlie Gerow on July 05, 2015 at
11:30 AM
For the first time
in nearly half a century a Pennsylvania
governor has vetoed a balanced budget. By using his veto pen Gov. Tom Wolf has
set the stage for a protracted stalemate.
The 253 members of the General Assembly did their jobs. They passed a
balanced budget, without raising taxes, before the midnight June 30
constitutional deadline. In addition to
the general appropriations bill (the budget) they also sent along two companion
pieces. One was liquor reform (which has since been vetoed), the other pension
reform. At the heart of the process is
the looming pension crisis. Denied by candidate Tom Wolf during the campaign,
the whopping pension debt is something he hasn't been able to sidestep once it
came time to confront the realities of governing.
Gov. Wolf’s budget addresses real problems
Post-Gazette Letter by BARNEY OURSLER, Executive Director, Pittsburgh
United July 5, 2015 12:00 AM
Gov. Tom Wolf’s
priorities are simple: fix the state’s structural deficit, bring property
relief to homeowners and significantly restore education funding. I support
Gov. Wolf’s full veto of the Republican budget plan that ignores those
important points and is packed with folly and an anti-people agenda (“Pennsylvania’s Governor, Legislators Plan New Round of Budget
Talks,” July 2). Last year we voted
Tom Corbett out of office because we had enough of Mr. Corbett’s cuts to public
schools, his corporate loopholes and handouts to gas drillers, but Republican
legislators insist on playing politics with a budget that is a Corbett-era redo
and doesn’t address the real problems of Pennsylvanians.
Column: Republicans'
budget reflects taxpayers' priorities
Reading Eagle Opinion By Sen. David Argall Sunday July 5, 2015 12:01 AM
On June 30, after
months of debate and public hearings, the Pennsylvania Senate and House of
Representatives passed a balanced budget that reflects the fiscal realities of
the state and the taxpayers. Unlike our federal counterparts, we must pass a
balanced budget every year. The residents of
Berks and Schuylkill counties have told me
loud and clear that they would rather see the state use its current revenues
before we turn to the taxpayers and ask them for more money. The Senate- and
House-passed budget reflects those demands.
The state budget
boosts spending for education by $370 million, including an additional $100
million for basic education, $20 million for special education and $30 million
for early childhood programs. The budget
drives out money to public schools based on a new formula that was developed by
the bipartisan Basic Education Funding Commission. The commission's
recommendations were praised by Gov. Tom Wolf. The budget plan also includes a
much-needed initiative to provide school districts with reimbursements for
construction projects. Because the governor
vetoed the entire state budget - for the first time in over 40 years - critical
state programs and services are now at risk.
- See more at: http://readingeagle.com/news/article/republicans-budget-reflects-taxpayers-priorities#sthash.s0j3XMll.dpuf
Pa. schools could soon
have new funding formula, but officials aren't banking on it yet
A
proposal would change the way the state gives money to school districts
York Daily Record By Angie Mason amason@ydr.com @angiemason1
on Twitter UPDATED:
07/04/2015
Some local school
officials say a proposed new school funding formula is looking at the right
factors, but it remains to be seen whether that formula will be used to dole
out additional classroom funds for 2015-16.
After about a year of work, a bipartisan state commission recently
recommended a funding formula that takes into account factors such as a
district's average three-year student enrollment, poverty — with greater
emphasis on those with a lot of students in severe poverty — English language
learners, charter school enrollment, and local tax effort. Pennsylvania has been criticized for having no formula
and basing districts' funding on decades-old enrollment estimates.
With hundreds of volunteers, school districts
scrambling to comply with background check law
Legislation brings
clarification to state law requiring volunteer background checks
By Christina
Tatu Of The Morning Call
July 6, 2015
School districts
across the Lehigh
Valley
The Inevitable, Indispensable Property Tax
New York Times By JOSH BARRO JULY 4, 2015
If you’re a
homeowner, you probably don’t like paying property taxes. But economists like
property taxes for the same reason taxpayers hate them: They’re hard to avoid.
A 2008 study by
researchers at the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development looked at a number of countries and found that taxes on
real property caused the least drag on gross domestic product per dollar of
revenue raised. Next came sales taxes, personal income taxes and corporate
income taxes. In other words, property taxes were the best way to collect
revenue without hurting the economy too much.
As the economist Greg Mankiw wrote in this space three years ago,
“A good rule of thumb is that when you tax something, you get less of it.” That
idea helps explain why property taxes do relatively little economic damage.
“Below are 14 pieces, most including a
podcast, that NewsWorks and the
Notebook put together for Multiple
Choices, a series that explains the major aspects of the state's complex,
puzzling, and unequal education funding system.”
Brush up on your knowledge
of school funding in Pa.
By the
Notebook on Jul 2, 2015 01:50 PM
The ongoing budget
stalemate in Harrisburg has left school
districts across Pennsylvania
in the dark about how much state money they'll be getting. With a new
governor, a new proposed funding formula, and constant disagreement about how
schools should be funded, lots of changes are afoot in Pennsylvania 's education system.
Storify for #FairFundingPA Chat - June 2015
Finally, Congress to start debate on No Child Left
Behind rewrite
Congress
is finally supposed to be turning its attention to the No Child Left Behind
law, the education law that passed in the administration of president George W.
Bush, and was supposed to be rewritten in 2007. There are bills in both the
House and Senate, both of which would make significant changes to education
policy today, as explained in this post. It was written by Monty Neill,
executive director of the National Center
for Fair and Open Testing, known as FairTest, a nonprofit
organization that works to end the misuses of standardized testing and to
ensure that evaluation of students, educators and schools is fair, open, valid
and educationally sound.
NCLB Rewrite: New tune for
piano-playing senator: Revised education policy
Philly.com by LAURIE
KELLMAN, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS July 4, 2015, 7:46 AM
WASHINGTON (AP) -
How does a musician-senator fill the time during yet another partisan Senate
stalemate? In Sen. Lamar Alexander's
case, he sits down at a borrowed piano in his Capitol Hill office and, with a
grin, bangs out "The Memphis Blues."
He's been blending music and politics his whole life. And this coming
week, the three-term Tennessee Republican hopes Democrats and the GOP harmonize
as the Senate becomes Alexander's stage.
The son of a school teacher and principal, this former federal education
secretary and onetime university president will be shepherding a bill he's been
working on for seven years: a rewrite of the contentious No Child Left Behind
law.
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
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.
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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 »
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