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PA Ed Policy Roundup for July 7, 2015:
Talks but no progress for
Wolf, GOP; Senate to begin overhaul of NCLB
Campaign for Fair Education Funding July 2015
Two school funding scenarios are now on the table as Pennsylvania ’s budget
talks continue. One proposal increases basic education funding by $410 million
in fiscal 2015-16, while the other proposes a considerably smaller increase of
$100 million. To be sure, neither amount is enough to fully fund our public
schools for the long term, but the larger investment in basic education clearly
puts us on a stronger path toward what is needed to ensure all students can
succeed in meeting Pennsylvania ’s
academic standards.
“The law was based on a false
narrative that low-performing schools exist primarily because of ineffective
teachers, which is not the case. There are many factors involved in student
success that are not given the proper weight under Pennsylvania
Diane Ravitch's Blog
By dianeravitch July 6, 2015 //
At the annual
meeting of Pennsylvania AFT, the leaders
of the union called on the legislature to eliminate the test-based
teacher evaluation system. Because of the inducements offered by Race to the
Top, almost every state spent many millions to design a new teacher evaluation
process, based on Arne Duncan’s insistence that such a system would weed out
“bad” teachers. Behind that assumption is the wacky belief that bad teachers
cause low test scores. Last year, the first
year of the new system, 98.2% of teachers were rated satisfactory or higher. This year, 97% of Pittsburgh ’s teachers
were rated proficient or distinguished. The statewide figures for this year are
not yet available.
Talks but no progress for
Wolf, GOP
ANGELA
COULOUMBIS, INQUIRER HARRISBURG BUREAU LAST
UPDATED: Tuesday, July 7, 2015, 1:08 AM POSTED: Monday, July 6, 2015,
6:18 PM
Act II in Pennsylvania
Budget Theatre opens, quietly
Penn Live By Charles Thompson |
cthompson@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on July
06, 2015 at 7:03 PM, updated July 06, 2015 at 9:23 PM
Gov. Tom Wolf and
top Republican legislative leaders resumed their on-again, off-again talks on Pennsylvania 's delayed
state budget Monday. While there was
plenty of action, it was hard to see any discernible progress. Wolf, a Democrat, vetoed a $30.2 billion,
Republican-authored and Republican-passed spending plan last Tuesday, arguing
it is fiscally unsound and didn't meet any of his major policy objectives. That, as of July 1, leaves the state
operating without formal spending authority.
Wolf hosted the House and Senate Republican floor leaders for a
face-to-face at the Governor's Residence in Harrisburg Monday morning, but participants
briefed on that discussion said there were no breakthroughs there. The GOP leaders and their staffers did make a
direct pitch to Wolf to take a second look at the revenue sources they used to
balance their budget, and see if there are any component parts the governor can
accept.
Wolf faces deadline for
decision on GOP’s pension bill
HARRISBURG >>
A Friday deadline looms for Gov. Tom Wolf, who has until then to sign a
Republican-crafted pension overhaul bill or let it become law without his
signature. Wolf’s office said the
deadline is 11:59 p.m. Friday. Democrats
expect Wolf to veto the pension bill, which would end the traditional pension
benefit for most newly hired state workers and school employees, shifting them
to a 401(k)-style defined-contribution plan.
The Democratic governor has already vetoed other major GOP bills,
including a $30.2 billion no-new-taxes state budget plan and the privatization
of the state-controlled sales of liquor and wine. Wolf met with the House and Senate’s
Republican floor leaders Monday to discuss the stalemate that’s left the state
government with limited spending authority since last week. No additional
meetings were planned.
http://www.pottsmerc.com/general-news/20150707/wolf-faces-deadline-for-decision-on-gops-pension-bill
"In response, Wolf
administration spokesperson Jeff Sheridan said Republicans are standing up for
special interests instead of the taxpayers.
"It is reprehensible that Republican leaders are standing up for
oil and gas drillers instead of school children. These are the same Republican
leaders that gutted education and then tried to restore only $8 million to K-12
education," he said.
"It is laughable that
the legislative team that has given us multi-billion dollar deficits, annual
fiscal crises and numerous credit downgrades are all of the sudden responsible
fiscal stewards."
GOP leaders’ letter to
Wolf: Budget veto “puts politics over governing”
The PLS Reporter Author: Jason Gottesman/Monday, July 6,
2015
A day after Gov. Tom
Wolf vetoed a Republican-crafted spending plan last week, budget negotiators
surfaced from a regrouping meeting with new resolve to find compromise.
However, less than a week later, GOP leaders sent a letter
to the governor with a stark tone about their true feelings of the
governor’s full veto of the budget. “Your
indiscriminate veto of House Bill 1192, the Fiscal Year 2015-16 General
Appropriations Bill, puts politics above governing," the letter begins.
"The veto unnecessarily withholds billions of dollars in undisputed state
and federal funds, which will prevent social service organizations from
accessing their state funds, and prevent school districts from accessing
federal fund appropriations.” The
leaders in their letter point out that 274 of the 400 line items in the budget
sent to the governor last week meet or exceed the appropriations laid out by
the governor in his March 3rd budget address.
"Four months ago, a
newly inaugurated Gov. Wolf asked for $1 billion to repair the damage done to
education by the first Corbett budget of 2011-12. The Republican General Assembly
gave its answer hours before the end of the state's fiscal year, with an $8
million allotment for schools in a budget patched together by the fiscal
equivalent of duct tape, bobby pins and a prayer. Delay a payment here, issue
$300 million in bonds with no funds to repay them over there, cross your
fingers for higher revenue collections, and — boom — you have a fifth
consecutive "keep-the-cuts" budget that would fail to undo the damage
to children and working families that cost Corbett the November election."
OP-ED: Pa.
Last weekend the
Republican majority in the Pennsylvania House and Senate finally gave Tom in
the governor's office everything he wanted in a budget, including pension
"reform." Unfortunately, they are a year too late. The budget they sent was perfect for last
year's Tom — Gov. Tom Corbett. He left office in January, defeated by an electorate
that did not like the impact of cutting education funding on Pennsylvania 's
children or the way four austerity budgets increased joblessness for Pennsylvania 's workers
and families. The new Tom in the
governor's office, Gov. Tom Wolf, has a different set of priorities — to
restore the education funding cut over the last four years, to give property
tax relief to homeowners, and to require gas drillers to pay their fair share
through a severance tax. Those priorities, shared by a majority of Pennsylvanians,
most definitely are not reflected in the Republican budget.
Republicans criticize Gov.
Wolf veto
Reading Eagle Monday
July 6, 2015 03:00 PM
The political drama
in Harrisburg
is beginning to escalate.
Republican leaders
in the state Legislature delivered a blow on Monday in the form of a letter to
Gov. Tom Wolf criticizing his decision to veto their $30.2 billion spending
plan. "The veto unnecessarily
withholds billions of dollars in undisputed state and federal funds, which will
prevent social service organizations from accessing their state funds, and
prevent school districts from accessing federal fund appropriations," the
letter stated. "All told, 274 of the roughly 400 state line item
appropriations in House Bill 1192 are the same or more than the appropriations
contained in your March 3rd budget proposal." Wolf, a York County Democrat, has said he
wants more funding for schools, financed with a severance tax on natural gas. Negotiations between his administration and
lawmakers were scheduled to resume Monday. But the letter appears to show how
far apart the two sides are on some fundamental issues facing the state.
- See more at: http://readingeagle.com/news/article/republicans-criticize-gov-wolf-veto#sthash.PtENB1WA.dpuf
Q&A on revisions to
child protection background checks law
Penn Live By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com Email
the author | Follow on Twitter on July 06,
2015 at 4:22 PM, updated July 06, 2015 at 5:34 PM
Recent revisions
made to Pennsylvania 's
Child Protective Services Law attempt to clear up a world of confusion created
by a background checks
mandate that was enacted last year. The law that Gov. Tom Wolf signed last week is
intended to make this mandate less onerous and reduce the universe of people
who must obtain the clearances while trying to safeguard children from child
predators. So what has changed? Here are
some questions and answers that attempt to address that.
"Gov. Wolf’s historic
commitment to education restores $1 billion in devastating cuts made over the
last four years, with a commitment to invest $2 billion over the next four
years. Included in his 2015-16 budget, is a $400 million increase to basic
education funding, and a commitment to boost the state’s investment in
education from the current 35 percent to 50 percent. This will lead to
much-needed property-tax relief for middle-class families, and in turn, better
communities in which to live."
Letter to the editor: When
it comes to education, Pennsylvania
Delco Times By PA Sec'y of Education Pedro A. Rivera, Times Guest
Columnist POSTED: 07/06/15,
11:25 PM EDT
Letter to the editor: Wolf
needs lesson on education funding
Delco Times Letter
by Sen. Scott Wagner, R-28 , of York
POSTED: 07/06/15, 11:26 PM EDT
To the Times:
I am writing to
respond to a recent op-ed from Frances Wolf, first lady of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania King
Elementary School , part of the Lancaster Area School District
"It's an absolute
indictment on our state charter school law that these problems continue to
persist and nothing gets done about it," he said. "The lack of
transparency in our state charter school law is a disgrace."
Pa. Auditor General Eugene
DePasquale gives fiscal advice for the state
PA auditor general weighs in on pensions, the
state budget, charter schools
York Daily Record By Flint McColgan fmccolgan@ydr.com @flintmccolgan
on Twitter UPDATED:
07/06/2015 08:30:58 PM EDT
Since taking office
as Pennsylvania 's
auditor general at the beginning of 2013, Eugene DePasquale has taken a look deep
into the commonwealth's finances and it hasn't all made for a pretty view. His work has run the gamut from mandated
audits of school districts to discretionary audits like that of the
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Before becoming auditor general he served as
a Democratic state representative from York County
Longtime educator with
ties to Harrisburg
Penn Live By Christine Vendel | cvendel@pennlive.com Email
the author | Follow on Twitter on
July 06, 2015 at 2:53 PM
HARRISBURG- The
Pennsylvania Department of Education on Monday announced the selection of
Audrey Utley as the new chief recovery officer for the Harrisburg School District Middletown , has more than 40 years of
education experience in suburban and urban school districts, according to a
news release issued Monday. She also served as acting superintendent of
Harrisburg's schools for three months in 2010, taking over for Sybil
Knight-Burney, who had been acting as superintendent. Knight-Burney resigned
and returned to her former position as assistant superintendent to make way for
Utley.
State names new recovery
officer for Harrisburg
BY EMILY PREVITI, WITF JULY 6, 2015
This is the second
state-supervised school district to get a new liaison since Gov. Tom Wolf took
office. The Pennsylvania Department of
Education has picked a 40-year educator to oversee its intervention in Harrisburg School District Harrisburg ,
one of four public districts designated as “distressed” by the state. Utley was once an acting superintendent in Harrisburg . She also
taught elementary school in Steelton and was an administrator there and in Middletown .
PDE has established
receiverships (a more intense, restrictive form of supervision) through its Act
141 program for distressed schools in York ,
Duquesne and Chester-Upland. Paul Long
remains Duquesne’s
receiver. The state needs to replace
Chester-Upland receiver Joe
Watkins, who departed last week.
Wm. Penn, Lenfest
foundations donate $10.5M toward early $30 million literacy initiative
SOLOMON
LEACH, DAILY NEWS STAFF
WRITER LEACHS@PHILLYNEWS.COM,
215-854-5903 POSTED: Monday, July 6, 2015, 9:08 PM
As part of its push
to get all kids reading on grade-level by fourth grade, the Philadelphia School
District Philadelphia toward
better educational outcomes, which is what our educational program is all
about," said Elliot Weinbaum, program director for the William Penn
Foundation, which is contributing $6 million. He said the initiative also
aligns with the foundation's focus on evidence-based approaches.
By Evan Grossman |
Watchdog.org July 6, 2015
It’s not always
sunny in Philadelphia .
SILENCE IS GOLDEN:
The School District
of Philadelphia
By Marijon Shearer | Special to PennLive on
July 06, 2015 at 9:56 PM
Teachers in the Central Dauphin School District
Major features of
the new contract include:
- A 2.5 percent retroactive raise for the
2014-2015 school year.
- Raises of 2.6 percent in 2015-2016 and
2.7 percent in 2016-2017.
- Deductibles on health insurance
policies, a first for Central Dauphin teachers.
- Increased co-pays on health insurance
policies.
- Surcharges for teachers whose spouses
could provide alternative health insurance coverage.
School Board
President Ford Thompson said more details would be released after the contract
is signed by both sides.
Senate to begin overhaul of No Child Left Behind Act
The bill would retain the
examinations but allow states to decide how much weight to give them when
evaluating schools.
By Tracie Mauriello
/ Post-Gazette Washington
Bureau July 7, 2015 12:00 AM
"If senators were
students in a classroom, none of us would expect to receive a passing grade for
unfinished work," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the chairman of the
education committee and co-author of the bill, in a statement. "Seven
years is long enough to consider how to fix No Child Left Behind."
Senate Braced for Lengthy
Debate on ESEA
Education Week By Lauren
Camera Published Online:
July 6, 2015
After weeks of
letting it languish in the legislative queue, the U.S. Senate this week is
slated to begin debating a proposed bipartisan overhaul of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act—the first such Senate debate since 2001, when Congress
last updated the law in its current iteration, the No Child Left Behind Act. Notably, the announcement by Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., that he would call the bill to the floor July 7 came
just one day after 10 major education groups, including the two national teachers' unions and
the Council of Chief State School Officers, banded together amid mounting frustrations and
demanded the Senate make the reauthorization a priority.
"The problem here is
that charter schools are frequently not accountable. Indeed, they are
stunningly opaque, more black boxes than transparent laboratories for
education. According to a 2013 study by the Center for Research on Educational
Outcomes at Stanford University, only 29 percent of charter schools
outperformed public schools with similar students in math, while 31 percent
performed worse. Most charter schools, in fact, obtained results that were no
better than traditional public schools. So what was that 29 percent doing
right? And what went so wrong with the failing 31 percent? There are a few
reasons why it’s nearly impossible to find out."
Why Don’t We Have Real
Data on Charter Schools?
Charters were supposed to be laboratories for
innovation. Instead, they are stunningly opaque.
The Nation By Pedro Noguera SEPTEMBER 24, 2014
In several cities throughout the country,
there is a fierce conflict raging over the direction of education reform. At
the center of this increasingly acrimonious debate is the question of whether
or not charter schools—publicly funded schools that operate outside the rules
(and often the control) of traditional public-school systems—should be allowed
to proliferate. Given their steady growth (from no more than a handful twenty
years ago to over 6,000 today), charter schools and their advocates appear to
have the upper hand. A new bipartisan bill—the Expanding Opportunity Through
Quality Charter Schools Act, sponsored by Republican senators Lamar Alexander
of Tennessee and Mark Kirk of Illinois, and Democratic senators Mary L.
Landrieu of Louisiana and Michael Bennet of Colorado—would provide new funds to
launch, replicate and expand charter schools nationwide.
The concept of the
charter school was originally developed in 1974 by Ray Budde, a professor at
the University of
Massachusetts Minnesota became the
first state to adopt a charter-school law. Today, forty-two states and the District of Columbia
have laws providing for the operation of charter schools. The vast majority of
charter schools are located in large cities, and their numbers are growing
rapidly. However, instead of collaborating with public schools as envisioned by
Shanker, charter schools have become the centerpiece of a market-based reform
strategy that places greater emphasis on competition.
"So-called “turnaround school districts,”
inspired by Louisiana’s Recovery School District and its near-clone in
Tennessee, have been gathering steam, with policymakers calling for them in
Georgia, Pennsylvania, and other states scattered from coast to coast.
But just how promising are these state-run
districts as a strategy to bring about governance reform and school renewal?
What lessons can we take away from those districts with the most experience?
Can their most effective features be replicated in other states? Should they
be? What are ideal conditions for success? And why has Michigan
The Three Stooges of School Turnaround
Gary Rubenstein's
Blog Posted on July 5, 2015 by garyrubinstein
Earlier this week,
the Thomas B. Fordham Institute hosted a panel discussion, moderated by Fordham
Institute President Michael Petrilli, called ‘Turnaround Districts:
Lessons from Louisiana , Tennessee , and
Michagan.” On the panel were three turnaround ‘gurus’ Patrick Dobard of
Louisiana’s Recovery School District (RSD), Veronica Conforme of Michigan’s
Education Achievement Authority (EAA), and Chris Barbic of Tennessee’s
Achievement School District (ASD). According
to Fordham’s description of the event on their website:
Curmuducation Blog by Peter Greene July 5,
2015
Has it seemed
strange lately, to find reformsters advocating for stronger charter school
regulations? Does it seem odd to find guys like Mike Petrilli, one of
charterdom's most tireless salesmen, traveling to Detroit to tell reformsters to police
charter quality more thoroughly? Is it surprise to find Fordham calling for tougher charter regulations in Ohio, where they
themselves operate charters? In war, an
army may take a position through rough and ugly means-- but once there, they
consolidate that position by tightening up the troops, re-positioning defenses,
and generally settling in. Or if you
prefer a more peaceful example, try retail. A good used car salesman knows to assume
the sale and swiftly shift the conversation away from "Are you going to
buy this car" to "How would you like to pay for this car?"
Because the second conversation assumes that the purchase of the car is not in
question.
Defining the new normal - Charter fans have been shifting into consolidation mode, working hard to assume the sale. In places likeOhio ,
where charters have grown up like kudzu and died off like your confused
grandma's unwatered plants, supporters are quick to call for reform-- not an end to a charter system.
In York, PA, an editorial points out in one breath that the small charter
system has produced some staggering fails, but in the next breath calls for reform, not abolition. Even
a new report on the state of New Orleans' mess of a charter system, written by the
Center for Popular Democracy and the Coalition for Community Schools, decides that the widespread failure, fraud and abuse means
it's time for more regulations.
Defining the new normal - Charter fans have been shifting into consolidation mode, working hard to assume the sale. In places like
Rich Kids Study English
New data shows that students whose parents
make less money pursue more “useful” subjects, such as math or physics.
The Atlantic by JOE
PINSKER JUL 6, 2015
In 1780, John
Adams wrote
a letter to his wife, Abigail, in which he laid out his plans for what
his children and grandchildren would devote their lives to. Having himself
taken the time to master “Politicks and War,” two revolutionary necessities,
Adams hoped his children would go into disciplines that promoted
nation-building, such as “mathematicks,” “navigation,” and “commerce.” His plan
was that in turn, those practical subjects would give his children’s children
room “to study painting, poetry, musick, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and
porcelaine.”
Two-hundred and
thirty-five years later, this progression—“from
warriors to dilettantes,” in the words of the literary scholar
Geoffrey Galt Harpham—plays out much as Adams
hoped it would: Once financial concerns have been covered by their parents,
children have more latitude to study less pragmatic things in school. Kim
Weeden, a sociologist at Cornell, looked at National Center
Register Now – PAESSP
State Conference – Oct. 18-20 – State College, PA
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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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ReplyDeleteLahore Board Matric Result 2015