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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for August 20, 2015:
Budget Update: Wolf, GOP talk $400M for schools tied
to pension reform; Chester Upland ’s
day in court Monday
Interested in letting our elected leadership know your thoughts on
education funding, a severance tax, property taxes and the budget?
Governor Tom Wolf, (717) 787-2500
Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Turzai, (717) 772-9943
House Majority Leader Rep. Dave Reed, (717) 705-7173
Senate President Pro Tempore Sen. Joe Scarnati, (717) 787-7084
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Jake Corman, (717) 787-1377
House Majority Leader Rep. Dave Reed, (717) 705-7173
Senate President Pro Tempore Sen. Joe Scarnati, (717) 787-7084
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Jake Corman, (717) 787-1377
"The main event in this
scrap will be Wolf’s push to drastically reduce the crushing financial burden
of charter schools on Chester Upland – and, in effect, all Pennsylvania schools
facing a similar dilemma."
Editorial: A
last chance for Chester Upland ?
Delco
Times Editorial POSTED: 08/19/15, 10:22 PM EDT | UPDATED: 2 HRS
AGO
This
might be the Chester
Upland School
District ’s last chance. Literally.
Gov. Tom
Wolf on Monday rolled out the latest in what residents of Chester Upland have
seen too many times before – a plan to put the perpetually financially ailing
district on sound financial footing, in the process giving their children the
same opportunity as any other student in the Commonwealth. But Wolf also made clear his belief that
without these corrective actions, the district might not be able to open its
doors in September. Or if it did manage to open the schools, its financial
morass would put their ability to stay open in sincere jeopardy. It will
not be easy. It never is in Chester Upland, which has been under some form of
state control since 1990 and as usual is awash in red ink, staring down the
barrel of $23 million in red ink. Wolf,
along with Budget Secretary Randy Albright and Secretary of Education Pedro
Rivera, filed an amended financial recovery plan in Delaware County Court that
calls for a forensic audit of district finances and appointment of a financial
turnaround specialist. But
that’s the undercard in this heavyweight bout. The main event in this scrap
will be Wolf’s push to drastically reduce the crushing financial burden of
charter schools on Chester Upland – and, in effect, all Pennsylvania schools
facing a similar dilemma. Right
now charter school payments in Chester Upland account for 46 percent of all
district expenditures, almost half. Wolf
is banking on the recommendation of a bipartisan education funding commission
set up by the Legislature when it comes to charter school reimbursement.
Republicans offer Gov. Wolf more school
aid, insist on pension reform
The move
by Republicans meant they were summarily rejecting Wolf's week-old
counterproposal that would have kept most of the traditional pension benefit
intact for hundreds of thousands of future public employees. But it also upped
Republicans' commitment by $300 million to the state's primary funding account
for public schools, meeting the $400 million increase Wolf has sought for a
total of $6.1 billion. "I need them
to move into my camp on education and so they've done I think a pretty good job
there," Wolf told reporters as he left the meeting. "But there are
conditions and that's the things we have to talk about." Wednesday's exchange, however, does not
resolve a host of other demands brought to the negotiating table by both sides.
No new meetings were immediately scheduled.
The GOP's offer would require Wolf to agree to a top Republican priority
of shifting Pennsylvania's two big public pension systems to a 401(k)-style
plan for state government and public school employees who are hired in the
future. Wolf has balked at that, as have Democratic lawmakers, and it is
staunchly opposed by public employee labor unions.
Republicans
offer governor’s desired education funding for modified pension reform plan
The PLS
Reporter Author: Jason Gottesman/Wednesday, August
19, 2015
Wednesday,
Republican legislative leaders offered Gov. Tom Wolf and Democratic legislative
leaders their desired education funding level in exchange for a revised defined
contribution pension reform plan. If the
offer is accepted by Gov. Wolf and Democrats, it would mark the largest step
forward in Pennsylvania ’s
now seven week-long budget stalemate. According
to top Republican leaders from the Senate and the House who spoke following
Wednesday’s negotiating session, Republicans would find a way to fund an
additional $300 million in education funding above the $100 million in new
investment in the budget passed on June 30 if the governor would agree to a
pension reform bill that looks largely like the defined contribution plan in
Senate Bill 1, but with some modifications.
Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman (R-Centre) laid out some of the more
major modifications to the pension reform plan, including a 16 percent employer
contribution, removing legal issues brought up by Gov. Wolf in his veto
message, as well as including a one percent employer contribution to the cash
balance side of the plan.
Pa. state
budget talks intensify with new Republican offer on pensions, school funding
By Charles Thompson |
cthompson@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on August
19, 2015 at 6:57 PM, updated August 19, 2015 at 10:11 PM
It felt
Wednesday like the protracted Pennsylvania
state budget talks finally got serious.
And
that's a different – and slightly nervous - place to be. The seriousness came in the form of a new
proposal from the majority Republican legislative leadership teams that would
give Gov. Tom Wolf key public education funding he seeks in exchange for a new
round of reforms to the state's major public employee pension plans.
Wolf, Republicans report progress on
pension, education funding in budget stalemate
By Kate
Giammarise & Karen Langley/ Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau August 19, 2015 11:57 PM
HARRISBURG
— For the first time in weeks, the potential for a deal on the long-overdue
state budget seemed closer after Republican legislative leaders offered a
combination of pension changes and increased K-12 education funding, but
legislative Democrats remain skeptical. An offer
by Republican legislative leaders that combines the pension overhaul they are
seeking with some of the increased education spending Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf
is seeking could potentially resolve major disagreements over the state budget. “If the governor accepts it, it’s huge,”
Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati said. “It’s a home run in the sense of
what the governor has wanted to deliver, and for what the Legislature has
wanted to deliver on pensions. The significance of this can’t be stated
enough.” “We’re going to get back
together as quickly as possible but I think we’re making some progress,” Mr.
Wolf told reporters.
Wolf, GOP
leaders talk schools, pension reform
ANGELA COULOUMBIS, INQUIRER HARRISBURG BUREAU LAST UPDATED: Wednesday, August
19, 2015, 2:51 PMPOSTED: Wednesday, August 19, 2015, 12:35 PM
HARRISBURG
- Raising hopes for a budget deal, Republicans legislative leaders emerged from
negotiations Wednesday saying they will give Gov. Wolf a portion of the money
he wants for public schools - as long as he accepts their plan for pension
reform. Details were scant, but
Republicans who control both legislative chambers said they will agree to spend
an additional $400 million for classroom spending in kindergarten-through-12th
grades if the governor agrees to their counter proposal for reining in the
ballooning cost of public employee pensions. Neither
side said how they would raise the additional $400 million, although
Republicans made it clear they still want Wolf to agree to privatize the sale
of wine and hard liquor in Pennsylvania
as a way to raise new state revenue.
Wolf weighs
GOP offer that includes $400 million for schools
Penn
Live By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com Email
the author | Follow on Twitter on August
19, 2015 at 12:19 PM, updated August 19, 2015 at 3:59 PM
House
and Senate Republicans put an offer on the table at Wednesday's state budget negotiating session to
increase funding for schools in exchange for pension reform
proposal that looks something like the one the Legislature
passed and Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed. Now they are awaiting a response from Gov.
Tom Wolf and Democratic legislative leaders.
The offer included increasing spending on basic education, which is the
bread and butter of state funding for school districts, by $400 million, which
is what Wolf requested in
his budget proposal. In exchange, they are asking the governor
to go along with a modified pension reform plan that includes a defined
contribution plan for future employees. "We're
not looking for a counter" offer," Senate Majority Leader Jake
Corman, R-Centre County said following the brief session. "He can accept
it and we can move forward with the rest of the budget. If he doesn't accept
it, ... then we're back to Square One."
House Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana, indicated that if the
governor rejects this offer, the Legislature's focus will move toward a budget
veto override or stopgap budget.
The GOP offer
- a deal in sight, or a new chance for a #PaBudget breakdown?: Analysis
Penn
Live By John L. Micek | jmicek@pennlive.com Email
the author | Follow on Twitter on
August 19, 2015 at 1:31 PM, updated August 19, 2015 at 2:41 PM
Okay -
here we go.
They
didn't call it a "last, best offer," but House and Senate Republicans
gave Gov. Tom Wolf the functional equivalent when they emerged from a brief
negotiating session on Wednesday morning.
The concessions the Republicans offered on the pension plan that
Democrat Wolf vetoed back in June include some increased employer contributions
as well as the transition to a 401(k)-style retirement account for new state
employees. The proposal nabs about
$12 billion in savings for pensions, Republicans said. In return for giving the GOP a
near-as-darnit version of their pension bill, the GOP said it was prepared to
offer Wolf the full $400 million increase in the basic education subsidy that
he wanted. The question of how to get
there is still unaddressed - though House Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana,
said he knew an easy way to find $200 million. That would be privatizing the
state liquor stores, natch. Republicans
said they could do the deal without tax increases - leaving unaddressed the
question of Wolf's long-sought severance tax on shale drillers. But revenue
questions could be addressed in negotiations over the fine print.
State’s
largest teachers’ union: GOP modified pension plan offer is “insulting to
working people”
The PLS
Reporter Author: Jason Gottesman/Wednesday, August
19, 2015
Shortly after
legislative Republicans announced they offered Gov. Tom Wolf $400 million in
education funding in exchange for his agreement on a revised defined
contribution pension reform plan, the Pennsylvania State Education Association—Pennsylvania ’s largest
teachers’ union—panned the latest pension reform plan offer. “We don’t have many details on the
Republicans’ most recent proposal, but we can say this about it: if it includes
what looks like a 60 percent cut in retirement benefits, it is a direct assault
on the retirement security of working Pennsylvanians. It’s insulting to working
people," said PSEA president Mike Crossey in a statement. “It's just sad
that a flawed and possibly unconstitutional pension proposal is holding up
funding for public school students."
DN Editorial: Pa. lawmakers horsing
around with schools with this budget crisis
Philly Daily News Editorial POSTED: Wednesday,
August 19, 2015, 12:17 AM
AS THE
CLOCK ticks down to September with a state budget crisis showing no signs of
resolution, we can imagine the panic taking hold in school districts around the
state - and Philadelphia 's
is no exception. Of course, late-August panic is nothing new to the School District of Philadelphia . For years, the gap between
unresolved budgets and opening day of school has created an atmosphere of
unrelenting crisis that distracts from the priority of how to best educate our
children. This year's crisis is a battle
between Gov. Wolf and a Republican-dominated state Legislature, who remain far
apart on big issues such as pension reform, education funding and shale tax. A
few weeks ago, we urged patience for the budget process, since these battles
represent a shift from the status quo. But time is now wasting.
Wolf: Reimburse schools, nonprofits for
loans due to budget impasse
Gov. Tom
Wolf said Wednesday that the state budget should include reimbursement for
school districts and small nonprofit organizations for interest on loans taken
out to keep going during Pennsylvania 's
budget impasse. “I understand the
situation that school districts and human services agencies are
experiencing," Wolf said. The
proposal would limit reimbursement for nonprofits to independent organizations
that employ 100 or fewer people. Organizations must receive more than half
their revenue from state funding, either directly from Harrisburg or indirectly via a county
program.
"Chester
Upland spends
more than $40,000 per special education student attending a charter school, and
the plan would cut that figure to about $16,000. Another element of the plan is to cap the
reimbursement to cyber charter schools at just under $6,000 per student, in an
attempt to bring the payments more in line with what the charters and cyber
charters actually spend on these students"
By Vince Sullivan,
Delaware County Daily
Times POSTED: 08/19/15,
10:31 PM EDT
CHESTER
>> Common Pleas Court Judge Chad F. Kenney has scheduled a Monday
afternoon hearing on the Chester Upland School District’s plan to emerge from
financial distress. Kenney ordered the hearing a day after the district
receiver filed an amended recovery plan first introduced by Gov. Tom Wolf on
Monday. The plan calls for reduced
reimbursement to charter schools for special education students, as well a
detailed forensic audit for all school district spending over the last five
years. The district currently has a structural deficit of more than $20
million, which will double if no action is taken, according to the plan.
Chester Upland spends more than $40,000 per special education student attending
a charter school, and the plan would cut that figure to about $16,000. Another element of the plan is to cap the
reimbursement to cyber charter schools at just under $6,000 per student, in an
attempt to bring the payments more in line with what the charters and cyber
charters actually spend on these students, according to the recovery plan. Wolf on Monday said that the district’s
financial crisis, which has been ongoing for more than a decade, would prevent
schools from opening their doors next month. If they do open, he said, it
wouldn’t be very long before the district ran out of money.
The
reimbursement changes would eliminate the structural deficit, according to
state Budget Secretary Randy Albright, who said that the special education alteration
would save Chester Upland about $20 million, and the cyber charter change would
save another $4 million.
Wolf: Take
action to avert collapse of Chester-Upland district
Inquirer
Opinion by Governor By Tom Wolf
POSTED: Wednesday, August 19, 2015, 1:08 AM
All of
Pennsylvania's children deserve a high-quality education, and as I have said,
we must invest in our education system to make it stronger. But we cannot just
throw money at any problem and hope for a good outcome. Unfortunately, for 25 years, the Chester
Upland School District has completely and utterly mismanaged its finances and
failed its students, and over the last several years, the commonwealth's
solution - through Republican and Democratic governors - has been to throw
money at the problem year after year rather than find a sustainable solution.
As a result, the district has been destroyed and the schoolchildren suffer the
most.
Tom Wolf vs. the charters
Delco Times HERON'S NEST Blog by Editor Phil Heron Wednesday, August
19, 2015
This could wind up
being Pennsylvania's own version of a steel-cage match.
On the line is the
future of the Chester Upland School District.
The battle pits
Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf vs. one of the state's biggest contributors to
Republican campaign coffers. That would
be Vahan Gureghian, who manages Chester Community Charter School, the largest
in the state and one that until recently had lured more than half the students
in the Chester Upland School District. Yesterday
Wolf, along with Education Secretary Pedro Rivera, rolled out the latest plan to
salvage the perennially broke Chester Upland School District.
And the key to the
plan is a push in Delaware County Court to reduce reimbursements to charter
schools.
2011 version of PA Gov's "Schools
That Teach" tour
Blogger 's note: To my knowledge, Governor
Corbett did not visit one traditional public school that year.....
"Maybe it’s no surprise
but those school districts that have the most problems, the greatest need, get
the most money from the state government, so the failure of the governor and
the Republican legislature to reach a compromise means that our most vulnerable
children are hurt first. Dr. Hippert, a
former superintendent, says the less affluent districts cannot go into mid-Fall
without state funding."
State Budget Impasse
Threatens Local School Districts
KDKA by Jon Delano August
17, 2015 5:59 PM
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) —
Pennsylvania’s 500 school districts get millions of dollars in state funding to
operate. But so far in this fiscal year
— they haven’t gotten a penny. And that
could have a big impact once schools start up later this month. So far it’s been a relatively painless budget
impasse between a Republican legislature and a Democratic governor, but school
districts — regardless of party — are about to feel the hit. “I know that some school districts that have
taken out loans so that they can cover their first payroll,” Nina
Esposito-Visgitis, president of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers told KDKA
political editor Jon Delano on Monday. Since
July 1st, school districts have not received any 2015-2016 fiscal year state
education funding because of the deadlock in Harrisburg .
“Budgets are very tight. Every penny counts, so that has been a
challenge. And now as we begin the school year, it becomes even more of a
challenge when districts will not receive their subsidy funds,” says Dr. Linda
Hippert, head of the Allegheny Intermediate Unit.
Lower PSSA scores spur
some Pa.
school districts to call for less testing
WHYY Newsworks BY LAURA BENSHOFF AUGUST 19, 2015
Last month, the
Pennsylvania Department of Education shared preliminary test data for its new,
common core aligned tests - and
the results weren't pretty. As a
result, some area school districts are lobbying Harrisburg to dial back the number and
consequences of standardized tests, sooner rather than later. Pottsgrove School Board Director Rick
Rabinowitz said the new scores make it hard to gauge school progress. "The trend was up for most of our
schools. And we'd been working very hard to continue to improve," said
Rabinowitz. "It's like pulling the rug out from under us." In response, Pottsgrove passed a resolution
asking legislators to "minimize the amount of mandated testing," and
urging its own faculty and administrators to stay focused on "quality
teaching of quality content, and to minimize time spent on preparation for
standardized testing."
CDC report on school start times and teen sleep is a
wake-up call we should heed
THE ISSUE: The back-to-school season
begins in earnest here in Lancaster County as Lancaster
Mennonite School
opens today. Most
county schools, public and private, will open next week or the one that
follows. For high school kids, back to school may mean many things: a
re-immersion in learning, a schedule crowded with homework and
extracurriculars, a disruption to unfettered texting, a return to Friday night
football and that Sunday night feeling of dread. For most, it also means this: a chronic lack
of sleep. The high school schedule is
acutely unsuited to a teen’s biological sleep rhythms. Everyone — physicians, school administrators,
teachers, parents, high school students themselves — know this. And yet we persist in starting school at the middle
and high school levels well before 8 a.m.
West Chester Daily Local By Eric Devlin, edevlin@21st-centurymedia.com, @Eric_Devlin on Twitter POSTED: 08/19/15, 6:48 PM EDT
Royersford >>
The Spring-Ford Area School Board joined the state-wide debate regarding new
volunteer background check requirements.
During his report to the board Monday, Assistant Superintendent Allyn
Roche noted that there has been a proposed change to the district’s policy. It
now allows would-be volunteers to apply for background checks every five years,
instead of every three years. The real issue though centers around how many
background checks volunteers should be required to get. When it’s compared to
the new more lenient state volunteer policy, some have begun to question
whether the district’s policy is asking too much of residents looking to help,
including board Vice President Tom DiBello.
Saucon Valley teachers,
board digging into arbitrator's plan
By Sara K. Satullo | For
lehighvalleylive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on August 19, 2015 at 5:35 PM,
updated August 19, 2015 at 7:49 PM
Saucon Valley School District officials
and teachers are digging into a neutral arbitrator's report to determine what
it means for them. Labor attorney
Timothy Brown issued his 15-page report of recommendations Wednesday. Each side
now has 10 days to accept or reject the report.
The recommendations call for a six-year contract that allows for
retroactive pay -- something the school board wanted off the table -- and isn't
far off what the union had sought for the final three years of the contract. Brown's report is not binding but the two
sides have exhausted most avenues to end a labor dispute. Fact-finding has
failed as did a tentative agreement.
The Main
Line ’s Six New Superintendents Talk Education
Main Line Parent by Jenny Williams Contributing Writer July 2015
This fall, as children
along the Main Line return to classes, many will do so at schools under new
leadership. On July 1, new superintendents took over at Great Valley,
Haverford, Lower Merion, Marple Newtown, Tredyffrin/Easttown, and Upper Merion
Area school districts. These leaders will set the direction, tone, and agenda
for the districts they serve. All six come from districts in Pennsylvania or
New Jersey. Two are former science teachers, two social studies, one English,
and one industrial arts. In order to learn more about them and where they plan
to lead these districts, MLP interviewed each one. Here is some of what we
learned.
- See more at: http://mainlineparent.com/2015/07/the-main-lines-six-new-superintendents-talk-education/#sthash.HEywA7NU.dpuf
"Education has been a
divisive issue for Republicans, and the differences were on full display as the
presidential contenders vied to prove how small a role they would permit the
federal government to play in public schools.
The candidates performed a balancing act as they tried to embrace high
standards for schoolchildren while shying away from the Common Core, education
guidelines that have become intensely controversial among conservatives,
parents and teachers."
G.O.P.
Hopefuls Display Differences on Education
New York Times By MOTOKO RICH AUG. 19, 2015
In saying on
Wednesday that he supported annual standardized tests for public school
students, Jeb Bush invoked his brother. “When
we neglect that, the kids who are left behind are kids in poverty, African-American
kids, Hispanic kids, and then we blame it on the social circumstances of their
life,” Mr. Bush, a former governor of Florida ,
said at an unusual panel discussion on education in Londonderry , N.H. ,
which featured six Republican candidates.
He also quoted one of George W. Bush’s signature phrases. “And that is
what a former president called the ‘soft bigotry of low expectations,’ and we
should reject that out of hand,” he said.
Staking out a more
conservative stance, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin said he did not want the federal
government overseeing public schools.
Renowned researcher: ‘Why I am no longer comfortable’
in the field of educational measurement
Gene
V. Glass is a renowned statistician and researcher who has worked for decades
in educational psychology and the social sciences. He created the term
“meta-analysis” — a statistical process for combining the findings from
individual studies in a search for patterns and other data — and described its
use in a
1976 speech when he was president of the American Educational Research
Association. He has won numerous awards during his career. He is now a Regents’
Professor Emeritus at Arizona State University ,
a senior researcher at the National Education Policy
Center at the University of Colorado
Boulder , and an elected member of the National
Academy of Education. Considering that
Glass has spent a career in psychometrics, it becomes news when he decides that
he is “no longer comfortable being associated with the discipline of
educational measurement.” In this post, which
appeared on his blog, Education in Two Worlds, he explains why he has
reached this point, a decision that explains the state of “accountability” in
public education today. I am republishing it with permission.
PCCY: Get on the Bus to Harrisburg August 25th
As parents, teachers
and advocates, you know first hand how difficult it is to get the resources
needed to support our students. Harrisburg continues to be mired in political
gridlock and has failed to pass a budget for Pennsylvania’s 500 school
districts.
Teachers,
parents and students have no idea what they will be walking into come September
for the start of school. We say enough is enough.
We are contacting
you because on August 25th the PA House is scheduled to return to the
Capitol—and we want to be there to meet them. Could you give us a few hours of
your day and help make it clear that we demand a budget?
- Join your neighbors and other concerned
citizens who believe that investing in our kids is non-negotiable
- We’ll provide: FREE Transportation to
and from the Capitol and lunch; a brief training on the bus, materials,
and day of schedule
- Scheduled visits with elected officials
Kids are off from
school so bring them with you – after all, it concerns their future!
Details:
Details:
- Bus will depart from in front of the
United Way Building at 7:45am at 1709 Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
- We will return to Philly by
approximately 4:30pm. (Discounted parking ($8) available at the
Sheraton Hotel at 17th & Race)
- If you plan to drive yourself, we will
meet at the Capitol between 10am and 10:30am.
The John Stoops Lecture
Series: Dr. Pasi Sahlberg "Education Around the World: Past, Present &
Future" Lehigh University October 8, 2015 6:00 p.m.
Baker Hall |Zoellner Arts
Center | 420 E. Packer Avenue | Bethlehem , PA 18015
Baker Hall |
Free and open to the
public!
Ticketing is general
admission - no preseating will be assigned. Arrive early for the best seats.
Please plan to stay
post-lecture for an open reception where you will have an opportunity to meet
with students from all of our programs to learn about the latest innovations in
education and human services.
Register now for the
2015 PASCD 65th Annual Conference, Leading and Achieving in an Interconnected World, to be
held November 15-17, 2015 at Pittsburgh Monroeville Convention Center.
The Conference
will Feature Keynote Speakers: Meenoo Rami – Teacher and Author
“Thrive: 5 Ways to (Re)Invigorate Your Teaching,” Mr. Pedro Rivera,
Pennsylvania Secretary of Education, Heidi Hayes-Jacobs – Founder and President
of Curriculum Design, Inc. and David Griffith – ASCD Senior Director of Public
Policy. This annual conference features small group sessions focused on:
Curriculum and Supervision, Personalized and Individualized Learning,
Innovation, and Blended and Online Learning. The PASCD Conference is
a great opportunity to stay connected to the latest approaches for innovative
change in your school or district. Join us forPASCD 2015!
Online registration is available by visiting www.pascd.org <http://www.pascd.org/>
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.
Slate of
candidates for PSBA offices now available online
PSBA website July 31, 2015
PSBA website July 31, 2015
The
slate of candidates for 2016 PSBA officer and at-large representatives is now
available online, including bios, photos and videos. According to
recent PSBA Bylaws changes, each member school entity casts one vote per
office. Voting will again take place online through a secure, third-party
website -- Simply Voting. Voting will openAug. 17 and closes Sept. 28. One person from the
school entity (usually the board secretary) is authorized to register the vote
on behalf of the member school entity and each board will need to put on its
agenda discussion and voting at one of its meetings in August or
September. Each person authorized to register the school entity's votes has
received an email on July 16 to verify the email address and confirm they are
the person to register the vote on behalf of their school entity.
Register Now for PASA-PSBA
School Leadership Conference Oct. 14-16, 2015 Hershey Lodge & Convention
Center
Save the date for the
professional development event of the year. Be inspired at more than four
exciting venues and invest in professional development for top administrators
and school board members. Online registration is live at:
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.
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