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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for September 14, 2015:
After 25 Years, Teach for America Results
are Consistently Underwhelming
Make your voice heard at
Education Action Day, Sept. 21
School directors
and administrators from across the state will be converging on the State
Capitol on Monday, Sept. 21 for Education Action Day – your opportunity to push
for a state budget and pension reform. Join PSBA in the Main Capitol-East Wing under the
escalators at 10 a.m. A news conference will be held from 11 a.m.-noon, and
from 1-3 p.m. you may visit with legislators. There is no charge for participation,
but for planning purposes, members are asked to register their attendance
online below. We look forward to a big crowd to impress upon legislators and
the governor the need for a state budget and pension reform now!
"Today, an increasing
number of charters are spending more of their budgets paying down debt than on
actual instruction. In the case of String Theory, which enrolls 1,400 students,
the school now spends nearly one-third - $5.5 million - of its $16 million
budget just to occupy the half-empty 228,000-square-foot high-rise, along with
two older, smaller schools in South Philadelphia. That figure is more than
String Theory spends on teachers' wages - $5.3 million. Put another way, String Theory spends $3,895
per student on its building costs, nearly five times the $800-a-student average
the district budgets for debt and building expenses. The pressure can lead school
administrators to push for even more expansion projects - more students mean
more state funding to pay off debts."
Charter
schools: Prefer building booms to classrooms?
ALEX WIGGLESWORTH & RYAN BRIGGS, PHILLY.COM POSTED: Monday,
September 14, 2015, 12:16 AM
THREE FRANKLIN Plaza , a bow-shaped eight-story building
at 16th and Vine streets, once hummed with 1,700 GlaxoSmithKline white-collar
workers. Today, it is empty more than
three months out of the year, a lone security guard watching over the corporate
art still hanging in the lobby. From
September to June, a charter school called String Theory occupies half the
floors. The school acquired and began renovating this premier office tower in
2013 as part of a $55 million tax-exempt bond deal, arranged with help from the
city's biggest economic-development agency. It was the largest bond deal of its
kind in city history.
It is
also the most conspicuous example yet of a risky, expensive and fast-growing
financial scheme underpinning the rapid expansion of Philadelphia charters - a bond market now
worth nearly $500 million. But the bond financing behind the mountain of money
gets little scrutiny as to whether the debt is a smart use of Pennsylvania 's limited education dollars.
The lack
of transparency can translate into deals that may be unsustainable. Shortly
after moving into its flashy high-rise, String Theory posted its first
operating deficit. After revealing it was $500,000 in the red from paying out
millions annually to bondholders, administrators told parents that they were
cutting certain classes and suspending bus service as cost-saving measures.
"The issue isn't limited
to Philadelphia ,
according to state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, who is conducting a
statewide review of charter leases. "About
half the charter schools we've audited basically have this circular arrangement
where there's an entity that owns the building and an entity that leases the
building, and they're connected," he said."
The get-rich business
of charter consulting
ALEX WIGGLESWORTH & RYAN BRIGGS, PHILLY.COM POSTED: Monday,
September 14, 2015, 12:16 AM
MANY OF
the recent charter bond deals have been helped by Santilli & Thomson, a New
Jersey-based firm that has made millions off consulting contracts and bond
fees. The firm, run by ex-School
District of Philadelphia
finance officials Gerald Santilli and Michael Thomson, touts on its website
"more than 50 years of combined experience in municipal school management." There is
no way to know exactly how much Santilli & Thomson has earned in
taxpayer-funded contracts from charter schools, according to a district
spokesman. The firm did not respond to numerous requests for comment. However, a Philly.com analysis of financial
documents for several charter schools that received municipal bonds found that
Santilli & Thomson has billed at least $5 million since 2010.
Read
more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20150914_The_get-richbusiness_of_charter_consulting.html#oXv2GSyimu0mOMar.99
GOP readies
stopgap Pa. budget, but details scarce
WHYY
Newsworks BY MARY WILSON
SEPTEMBER 14, 2015
Republican
Pennsylvania lawmakers could put Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf in a tricky spot with
their next budgetary maneuver: they say they'll be back in session this month
to approve a temporary spending plan. The
stopgap measure would get funding flowing again to schools, social services,
and other government programs that have had to curb services and borrow money
to function since the budget stalemate began in July. Details are scarce. Republicans say the
measure would provide four months of retroactive funding, from July through
October, but it's not clear how funding levels would be set. The plan to go ahead with short-term funding
puts Gov. Wolf in a tricky situation. He has not said whether he would sign a
stopgap budget, since he continues to try to negotiate a full year's budget
deal. But Republicans say Wolf would look insensitive if he stymied funds for
schools and social services that are feeling the pain of the budget impasse.
http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/item/86106-gop-readies-stopgap-pa-budget-but-details-scarce
Editorial: No
budget should equal no pay for Pennsylvania
legislators
Delco
Times Editorial POSTED: 09/12/15, 4:01 PM EDT | UPDATED: 2 HRS
AGO
Day care
centers are borrowing money to make payroll.
School district business managers are watching the calendar to predict
when the cash flow from property-tax payments runs out. Family
service providers, addiction counselors and mental health agencies are pinching
pennies to stay open. In the Chester
Upland School District, teachers worked without pay for the first week of
school as an emergency measure because the distressed district is out of money. When
Pennsylvania voters put Gov. Tom Wolf in office on a platform of fixing schools
funding, this wasn’t the fix they had in mind.
When state legislators heard from constituents that the No. 1 issue on
their minds is property-tax reform, bringing the state budgeting process to a
screeching halt wasn’t the solution they were talking about. The state budget impasse, at 75 days and
counting, is a slap in the face to every promise voters trusted. And just like the infamous legislative pay
raise in 2005, voters’ ire is rising as they realize legislators are not the
ones feeling the pain. The direct deposit of state officials’ paychecks has
gone on uninterrupted.
What a state can expect when it fails to
pass a budget
Divided government
and shrinking revenue forces Illinois and other states into protracted budget
stalemates
By Karen
Langley / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette September 13, 2015 12:00 AM
A
wealthy businessman-turned-first-term-governor with big goals vetoes a budget
delivered by legislators of the other party, leaving the state without a
spending plan months into its fiscal year. And not
just in Pennsylvania: In Illinois, too, divided government and fiscal pressures
have left the state operating without a budget for the year that started July
1. On the national scene, the two
states stand out. While New Hampshire and North Carolina do not yet have
budgets for the new fiscal year, policymakers in those states have put in place
shorter-term spending plans. Alabama is working to finalize its budget, but its
fiscal year does not begin until Oct. 1.
In Illinois, the U.S. state with the lowest credit ratings, the budget
deadlock appears as intractable as in Harrisburg. In late June, first-term
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, a former private equity executive who won
election in 2014, vetoed a budget sent to him by the strong Democratic
majorities in the Illinois House and Senate, saying it was billions of dollars
out of balance.
“The consequence he does care about is not
doing it right for the people,” said a key supporter, Rep. Dwight Evans,
D-Philadelphia. A stopgap should only be
considered if Wolf and the Legislature are close to an agreement, to tide the
state over, Evans said. “My
recommendation (to Wolf) as one person is to not do the stopgap” unless there's
significant progress toward a deal, Evans said."
Another
'one-term Tom'?
Trib
Live By Brad
Bumsted Saturday, Sept. 12, 2015, 9:00 p.m.
Over the past 20 years we've had two governors called “one-term Tom” by pundits: Republicans Tom Ridge and Tom Corbett. Ridge actually won a second term. Corbett was the first incumbent governor defeated since a state Constitution in 1968 provided for second terms. Now do we potentially have another one-term Tom in Democrat Tom Wolf? With a state budget 75 days late as of today, and Wolf and the Republican-controlled Legislature seemingly entrenched in ideological positions, is this a budget that could exceed the 101-day impasse of 2009 or even extend into 2016? Wolf acts as though he doesn't care about the consequences. He's independently wealthy, spent $10 million of his own money to become governor and will be 68 when a decision on running for re-election rolls around in 2018, so he continues to insist on a budget with a $400 million boost for basic education, a natural-gas tax and tax-shifting. This column isn't to suggest Wolf, at this point, could not win another term. His polling numbers are still favorable. The question is if he is willing to risk putting himself in severe political jeopardy if he can't get a state budget, spending and taxes that he believes would make it worthwhile in a continued holdout.
Over the past 20 years we've had two governors called “one-term Tom” by pundits: Republicans Tom Ridge and Tom Corbett. Ridge actually won a second term. Corbett was the first incumbent governor defeated since a state Constitution in 1968 provided for second terms. Now do we potentially have another one-term Tom in Democrat Tom Wolf? With a state budget 75 days late as of today, and Wolf and the Republican-controlled Legislature seemingly entrenched in ideological positions, is this a budget that could exceed the 101-day impasse of 2009 or even extend into 2016? Wolf acts as though he doesn't care about the consequences. He's independently wealthy, spent $10 million of his own money to become governor and will be 68 when a decision on running for re-election rolls around in 2018, so he continues to insist on a budget with a $400 million boost for basic education, a natural-gas tax and tax-shifting. This column isn't to suggest Wolf, at this point, could not win another term. His polling numbers are still favorable. The question is if he is willing to risk putting himself in severe political jeopardy if he can't get a state budget, spending and taxes that he believes would make it worthwhile in a continued holdout.
Sto-Rox secures line of credit
Post
Gazette By Sonja Reis September 11, 2015 12:00 AM
As Pennsylvania ’s budget stalemate drags into its third
month, directors at Sto-Rox
School District have
secured a safety net by way of a line of credit totaling around $7 million. The money will be used to pay for essentials
normally covered with government funds such as salaries and utility bills. “It’s a line of credit, not a [Tax
Anticipation Note],” said Superintendent Terry DeCarbo. “You only use what you
need and pay back what you use.” The
stop-gap measure will allow the district to continue to provide services to the
students of Stowe and McKees Rocks, he said. “We have
tax money that’s coming in, but we will get to the point where we will need it
by late September, early October,” said Mr. DeCarbo, who calls the credit line
a bridge until the district receives its basic education funding.
Schools explore options
during impasse
School districts
across the state are looking at how to deal with the state budget stalemate,
which is now in its third month and is delaying the disbursement of state education
funds. In the Hanover Area
School District , Business
Manager Thomas Cipriano got a little help from the four municipal tax
collectors in the district when they sent property tax revenue to the district
ahead of schedule. A debt payment created some cash-flow challenges, Cipriano
said. The Wyoming Area
School District has not
had any cash-flow problems yet because property tax payments are coming in and
the district had a fund balance of $2.5 million fund balance to start the
school year on July 1, Finance Manager Joe Rodriguez said. Hanover Area had a $250,000 fund balance on
July 1 and borrowed $2.5 million with a short-term loan known as a
tax-anticipation note. Other school districts in the area could run into
cash-flow problems in a month or two if the state does not have a budget in
place because property tax payments will slow down. Greater Nanticoke Area School District
Superintendent Ronald Grevera said local taxes are currently helping the
district pay bills and employees. “I am
fearful that as the impasse drags on late into the fall, that we may be forced
to stop payment to vendors temporarily until the budget is passed,” Grevera
said.
What Lower Standardized
Test Scores Mean for Pennsylvania ; WESA Pittsburgh Listen Live
Today from 12 to 1 pm
By ESSENTIAL PITTSBURGH • 5
HOURS AGO
Standardized test
scores in Pennsylvania
are down, way down. The number of students rated as proficient or advanced in
math dropped almost 60 percent from the previous year with language arts scores
down 26 percent. What’s the reason for the drop off? And how should Pennsylvania
educators respond? We'll talk with Quaker
Valley Superintendent Heidi Ondek and Joseph Zupancic, a member of West
Jefferson Hills School Board.
Join the
conversation LIVE between 12pm & 1pm weekdays at 412-246-2002.
Local school officials see
few benefits to new accountability system waiver
A "one-year
pause" in Pennsylvania 's
new accountability system for public schools is not getting much support from
local school representatives. "This
action merely stalls the problem," Mark Miller, vice president of the
Centennial school board and vice president of the Pennsylvania School Boards
Association, said last week. "It does not solve anything." The U.S. Department of Education recently
approved a one-year waiver for Pennsylvania
in its use of the state's School Performance Profile — a scoring system
for students and teachers. The SPP is "a significant part" of the
state's obligations to the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, a
spokeswoman said. Gov. Tom Wolf and Education Secretary Pedro A. Rivera
requested the waiver so the state will not have to use the 2015 Pennsylvania
System of School Assessment scores to calculate the SPP and teacher
effectiveness ratings this year. The
state officials said they made the request because of sweeping changes to the
PSSA tests in 2014-15. The standardized tests in English Language Arts and
mathematics are used to determine if students in third- through eighth-grade
are learning at grade level. The tests were aligned for the first time to the
PA Core Standards, which went into effect last year. The changes resulted
in significant drops in student performance across the state, education
department Nicole Reigelman said last week in a news release.
"Several local graduates
cited their schools' emphasis on preparing for state-administered standardized
tests — notably, the Pennsylvania
System of School Assessment, or PSSA, and Keystone Exam — as missing the target
in preparing them for their future. “Kids
aren't actually learning,” 2008 Aliquippa
graduate Lauren Woods said. “They're just learning a test.” Skepticism of the tests is not confined to
students."
Students at odds over
whether high school prepared them for life
Trib Live By Matthew
Zabierek Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015, 10:09 a.m.
Editor's note: The Tribune-Review examined school districts and charter schools in seven WesternPennsylvania
counties. This is the first of a two-day report. Today: Former students talk
about how well their high schools prepared them for college or a career. At North
Allegheny High
School , Duke Lundahl took classes tailored for
the 90 percent of district students who go on to college. That majority,
however, did not include Lundahl. When
he graduated in 2013, he began a trade in metal fabrication and now works as a
welder at Armin Iron Works in the North Side, putting in hours of labor before
many of his former classmates wake up for an 8 a.m. college course. “I really didn't find too much of high school
useful other than the basic math skills I use now,” he said. Lundahl is one of many recent Western Pennsylvania public high school graduates who
told the Tribune-Review that their high school fell short in preparing them for
a job or college. They're not alone. A
2014 survey showed 47 percent of high school graduates nationally reported
having “some” or “large” gaps in their preparation for life after high school,
according to Achieve, a nonpartisan education reform organization.
Editor's note: The Tribune-Review examined school districts and charter schools in seven Western
Trib Live By Katishi
Maake Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015, 10:09 a.m.
Melissa Friez did not pursue a career in education for the money. The former teacher, now principal of Pittsburgh Allderdice High School and assistant superintendent of grades 9 to 12, said her commitment to education is unwavering, regardless of pay. “I would do my job and work just as hard, with or without a pay-for-performance,” she said. “If you're doing it for money, you're not doing it for anyone but yourself.” Although Friez hopes all educators prioritize their students' education, she says recognizing teachers for their progress is valuable. In 2010, thePittsburgh
school board implemented a pay-for-performance incentive that awards bonuses to
teachers whose students perform well on tests.
The teachers' contract expired in June, forcing the district and the
Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers to decide whether the incentive program
should be renewed. Contract negotiations are under way.
Melissa Friez did not pursue a career in education for the money. The former teacher, now principal of Pittsburgh Allderdice High School and assistant superintendent of grades 9 to 12, said her commitment to education is unwavering, regardless of pay. “I would do my job and work just as hard, with or without a pay-for-performance,” she said. “If you're doing it for money, you're not doing it for anyone but yourself.” Although Friez hopes all educators prioritize their students' education, she says recognizing teachers for their progress is valuable. In 2010, the
William Penn District
opens first charter school
Philly Trib by Samaria Bailey Tribune Correspondent Saturday, September 12, 2015
Delaware County’s
William Penn School District made history on the first day of school this week
with its first charter school, Vision Academy.
School leaders and some elected officials said the school will give
parents more educational options for their children. The grand opening was
celebrated with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
“We saw a need in the community and we wanted to do something like
this,” said President and CEO Adam Oz. “We have a curriculum with four pillars:
core knowledge, blended learning, partnerships with a national network of
schools [supported] by Johns Hopkins and extended day.” Vision is located in the building that used
to house St. Philomena’s Parochial school. This year, it began with 189
students in kindergarten through fourth grades. There are two classes per
grade. During the ceremony, several
people spoke about how the school was a source of contention in the community,
but, nevertheless, necessary.
"Source4Teachers, which
has about 300 workers qualified to teach in Philadelphia and about 500 more in
some stage of credentialing, is paying up to $110 for Philadelphia substitutes;
under district management, the pay was $160, or up to $242.83 for retired
teachers. Officials with the company
have said they do not believe its pay scale is part of the problem. A number of workers have disagreed, saying
Source4Teachers' pay was absolutely the reason they were reluctant to take
Philadelphia jobs."
Sub troubles stress out
many Philly schools
KRISTEN A. GRAHAM, INQUIRER
STAFF WRITER LAST UPDATED: Sunday, September 13, 2015, 1:09 AM
For years, Lincoln
High never had trouble finding subs. Even though it is a large, comprehensive
high school, temporary teachers wanted to work there. That changed last week, when a private firm
took over managing the Philadelphia School District's substitute services.
Source4Teachers, based in Cherry Hill, received a $34 million contract and
promised it would fill 75 percent of vacancies initially, ramping up to 90
percent by January. But Source4Teachers
achieved its highest "fill rate" of the week on Friday, when just 12
percent of the 456 city classrooms that needed substitute services had them.
The firm has said it had hoped for better performance, and expects to improve
rapidly.
Inky Editorial: Wrong
lesson plan
INQUIRER EDITORIAL BOARD POSTED: Sunday,
September 13, 2015, 1:09 AM
The School Reform
Commission's botched premier of its effort to save money by privatizing the assignment
of substitute teachers is another consequence of the state legislature's
failure to adequately fund public education. Confusion created by the miscue
provided a lesson in how to disrespect the Philadelphia schoolchildren who
suffered as a result. Imagine the blow
to children's self-esteem when the adults don't seem to care enough about your
education to get it right; when the adults argue over and over about how much
they have spent on your schools while failing to acknowledge they haven't spent
enough. As another school year began last week in Philadelphia, some students
unexpectedly became the latest case studies for a course in public education
economics.
Budgets earn praise for
three Chesco school districts
Philly.com by Michaelle Bond LAST UPDATED: Monday, September 14,
2015, 1:10 AM
Three Chester County school districts have been
applauded for using best practices in developing their budgets. The Downingtown Area, Great
Valley , and Owen
J. Roberts
School Districts were among six in Pennsylvania to receive
the Meritorious Budget Award.
The Association of
School Business Officials International grants the award each year to school
districts in the United States
and Canada
that work to improve accuracy, transparency, sound fiscal management, and
communication in their budgets. School
districts submit eight years' worth of data to apply. About 100 school
districts won the award for the 2014-15 school year. The Great Valley
and Owen J. Roberts districts have received the award for the last 20 years,
according to the Chester County Intermediate Unit. The Downingtown Area district has won for the
last decade. "It's clearly another
measure to demonstrate to taxpayers that you are being good stewards of local,
state, and federal dollars," Michael Christian, superintendent of Owen J.
Roberts, said in a statement. -
"Northwestern Lehigh is
among a growing number of school districts in the Lehigh Valley
that have launched 1:1 programs, so named for the ratio of laptops to
students. State and federal education
departments don't track the number of such programs. But in the Valley, they
include Southern Lehigh, Salisbury Township , Catasauqua Area and Saucon Valley ,
where students in sixth grade and beyond have iPads they can take home."
Taking tech to the next step: More districts adopting
take-home laptop programs
By Sarah
M. Wojcik Of The Morning Call
September 14, 2015
It was only Day 3,
but history teacher Josh Snyder knew he was off to a good start when he saw his
ninth-grade students at Northwestern
Lehigh High
School march into class with their own personal
laptops. Snyder, already a fan of
technology in the classroom, was witnessing a new dimension of the district's
technology program — an initiative that put a MacBook Air laptop into the hands
of every high school student. Now his
students would have a ready tool for whenever a lesson took on a spontaneous
life of its own. "The logistics in
the past were just …," Snyder's voice trails off tellingly. "You'd
have to plan for weeks ahead for the use of certain technology. Now just
knowing each student is going to have a computer each and every day it makes it
so easy. This has opened up a wide scope of learning styles and
techniques." Northwestern Lehigh
High School senior Vera
Sweeney receives a macbook air for the new school year as her boyfriend Richard
Clarke waits. The students are able to take the laptop home or keep it at
school. Northwestern
Lehigh School
District is adopting a school laptop program this
year for high school students.
Dover intelligent design
10 years later: Q&A with U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III
Jones on case: 'Any federal judge in the United States
would have decided it exactly the same way I did'
York Daily Record By Dylan Segelbaum dsegelbaum@ydr.com @dylan_segelbaum
on Twitter UPDATED:
09/14/2015 06:32:45 AM EDT
U.S. District Judge
John E. Jones III says it's hard to believe that almost 10 years have passed
since he ruled that the Dover Area School Board's decision to introduce
intelligent design into biology class was unconstitutional. In his 139-page opinion issued on Dec. 20,
2005, Jones wrote that intelligent design is not science and "cannot
uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents." He
also wrote that the people who live in Dover
were "poorly served" by the board members in favor of the policy, and
noted the "breathtaking inanity" of the case.
After 25 Years, Teach for America
Results are Consistently Underwhelming
Nonprofit Quarterly By PATRICIA SCHAEFER | September
11, 2015
merica has a
love-hate relationship with Teach for America . What began as the dream of
one idealistic undergraduate in the late 80s is now, some 26 years later, an
internationally recognized behemoth in the education reform movement, with more
than $200 million (yes, you read that correctly) in investments as of last
year. A recent book, edited by T.
Jameson Brewer and Kathleen deMarrais, titled Teach for America Counter-Narratives is the
latest to put the organization under scrutiny. In anarticle this
week in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Washington Post columnist
Esther J. Cepeda writes about the “explosive and jaw-dropping” stories written
by 20 of TFA’s alumni, which she says “eviscerate the myth of TFA’s unmitigated
success.” Her takeaway is that the book should be a cautionary tale to those
studying the education reform movement. The stories reveal the smoke and
mirrors (“money and great marketing,” in her words) that TFA uses to recruit
the best and brightest while convincing their donors and other partners that
they are moving the needle on outcomes. According
to its most recent tax return, TFA has total assets of close to half a billion
dollars and revenues of more than $330 million, of which about 90 percent comes
from government grants and contributions from corporations, foundations and
individuals. An organization of this size and stature has an obligation to its
constituents to demonstrate its success, and TFA has accumulated years of
research findings about its programming, expansion and scale-up efforts. Marty
Levine and Ruth McCambridge asked on
this site several weeks ago whether Teach for America ’s results
justify its pillar status.
Laurene
Powell Jobs Commits $50 Million to Create New High Schools
New York Times By JENNIFER MEDINA SEPT. 14, 2015
Think it Up: Has the Gates
Foundation Turned a Corner?
Living in Dialogue
Blog By Anthony Cody. Posted onSaturday, September 12,
2015 9:32 am
Last night I watched
the hour-long telethon called Think
it Up! sponsored by the Gates Foundation. I have to say, it was a
far better program than their last television extravaganza, Education Nation.
The emphasis was on building support for schools and teachers to do exciting,
engaging projects, and that is a good thing. While we had to endure a bit of
Justin Bieber hopping around in his pajamas, eventually we got some messages
about what our schools need. One of the
celebrities said this: Every student in America
deserves the chance to learn and become the person they aspire to be. And that
means every classroom should have what it needs to encourage great learning.
Every science class should have equipment if students and teachers want to
create projects in biology or chemistry or physics. Every history class should
have the most up-to-date materials so that students can learn about and from
the past. There should be paint brushes and oil paints and art classes so
students can try to blow more minds than Banksy. And music classes should
always have keyboards playing, guitars strumming, and someone banging on the
drums. Please, please let’s empower our students and teachers to do these
amazing things. Go to Thinkitup.org and donate… She is absolutely
correct, that every student should have this. And it is a great starting point
for a campaign. My only question is why it is necessary to put out a begging
bowl to fund these things? Don’t we have a more effective “crowd-sourced”
funding system in place to provide for the funding of public schools? Why can’t
we simply have corporations and wealthy individuals who have cornered the vast
increase in wealth over the past decade pay their fair share of taxes, and then
fund our schools from that revenue?
Pat Metheny Group - September Fifteenth (Live at
Saratoga July 1998)
YouTube Uploaded on
Sep 12, 2011 Runtime 8:43
Recorded Live at the
mountain winery saratoga
july 21-23 1998
SCHOOL PLAY - It's a touchy subject
School Play explores
our attitudes toward public education using the real voices of Pennsylvanians
from across the Commonwealth
The performance will
be held next Wednesday, September 16th at 7:00 pm at the
Suzanne Roberts Theatre (480 S. Broad St., Philadelphia). Tickets are
free. People can go to this link to RSVP: http://www.pccy.org/event/school-play-performance/
Help fund the statewide
tour of a live documentary play about the struggle to save public education in
Pennsylvania.
After
standing-room-only shows at Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center in
April, we’re taking this compelling play about the precarious state of public
education back to the people who lent us their voices and stories. This
October, we’re traveling across the state, putting on free performances to
spark conversations and engage citizens.
School Play is a work of grassroots theatre, woven from the
narratives of hundreds of Pennsylvanians affected by our state’s school funding
crisis. The play is entirely crowd-sourced; the script is derived from the
words of students, parents, educators and legislators, and is available online
for anyone to perform. Artists Arden
Kass, Seth Bauer and Edward Sobel created School Play out of
our personal concern for our kids and our communities. The result is a funny,
sad, straight-talking documentary theatre piece, told through the words of real
people. You can read more about School
Play here, here, here and here.
Register Now for the Fifth
Annual Arts and Education Symposium Oct. 29th Harrisburg
Thursday, October
29, 2015 Radisson Hotel Harrisburg Convention Center 8:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. Act
48 Credit is available. The event will be a daylong convening of arts education
policy leaders and practitioners for lively discussions about important policy
issues and the latest news from the field. The symposium is hosted by EPLC and
the Pennsylvania Arts Education Network, and supported by a generous grant from
The Heinz Endowments.
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/>
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 open Aug. 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:
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
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