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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup September 24 , 2015:
PBPC: "If legislative leaders would
allow a vote on a severance tax, it would likely pass"
By Karen Langley, Mary Niederberger and Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
September 24, 2015 12:00 AM
"If legislative leaders
would allow a vote on a severance tax, it would likely pass. Lawmakers in both
parties have introduced severance tax bills every year since 2009, and every
year gas drillers have successfully fought the tax, spending $46.8 million on lobbying and $8.2
million on campaign contributions since 2007."
Way No. 6: A Severance Tax
Posted by PA Budget
and Policy Center
Wolf budget severance tax would raise $1 billion
Gov. Wolf’s proposed severance tax would provide stable funding for education and help eliminate the structural deficit.
Gov. Wolf’s proposed severance tax would provide stable funding for education and help eliminate the structural deficit.
Gov. Wolf has proposed a severance tax on the extraction of
natural gas in Pennsylvania
to provide funding for public schools, economic development and oversight of
the gas drilling industry. In the first full year of collections, it would
generate about
$1 billion in revenue. Pennsylvania
is the only major gas-producing state without a severance tax. The governor’s
proposed tax is almost identical to the tax in place in neighboring West Virginia . Under Gov. Wolf’s proposal, most of the
revenue would be used to increase the state share of public school funding by
$2 billion over four years. This stable, recurring source of revenue would also
help eliminate the commonwealth’s structural deficit, which has led Wall Street
to downgrade
Pennsylvania’s credit rating five times over the last three years.
"Wolf has continued to stand by his plan for property tax
relief, a natural gas severance tax, increasing sales and income taxes, and
restoring education funding cuts made under his predecessor. “I came here because I want my state to be
better,” he said. “And that means a state that actually pays its bills. Not
with IOUs and not with smoke and mirrors and games and one-time fixes.”
Gov. Tom Wolf will veto stopgap budget 'very fast'
Gov. Tom Wolf will veto the latest Republican-led effort to
pass a state budget “very fast,” he said Wednesday during a stop in Lancaster . The democratic governor reiterated his intention to reject a stopgap budget before
the full fiscal year spending plan is agreed upon between him and the
Republican legislative leaders. “I’m not
holding out for something that’s just settling,” he said outside PAP
Technologies. “I want the real thing.” The
state House is expected Thursday to have a final vote on the four-month, $11
billion stopgap budget that passed the Senate in a party-line vote last week.
It would use part of the Republican’s $30.2 billion budget plan that Wolf
vetoed quickly after the fiscal year began July 1. The stopgap measure would authorize spending
retroactively from July through October to schools and social service
organizations that haven’t seen any state funding in that time.
Pa. House convenes for
just minutes Tuesday, does almost nothing: Wednesday Morning Coffee
Penn Live By John L. Micek | jmicek@pennlive.com Email
the author | Follow on Twitter on
September 23, 2015 at 8:10 AM
Good Wednesday
Morning, Fellow Seekers.
One half of the nation's largest full-time and best-paid General Assemblies convened for just minutes on Tuesday afternoon, didn't hold a roll call and didn't broadcast its proceedings on a television channel specifically designed for that purpose. As our eagle-eyed friend Mark Scolforo of theAssociated Press reports, the blink-and-you-missed-it session of the state House was intended to position two stop-gap budget bills for a vote later in the week. Gov. Tom Wolf has threatened to veto the legislation when it reaches his desk -- for those of you playing along at home.
One half of the nation's largest full-time and best-paid General Assemblies convened for just minutes on Tuesday afternoon, didn't hold a roll call and didn't broadcast its proceedings on a television channel specifically designed for that purpose. As our eagle-eyed friend Mark Scolforo of theAssociated Press reports, the blink-and-you-missed-it session of the state House was intended to position two stop-gap budget bills for a vote later in the week. Gov. Tom Wolf has threatened to veto the legislation when it reaches his desk -- for those of you playing along at home.
Stopgap is a nonstarter
INQUIRER EDITORIAL BOARD POSTED: Thursday,
September 24, 2015, 1:08 AM
Responding to Gov. Wolf's modest movement toward breaking
the state's long-standing budget impasse, Republican legislators have put their
old, irresponsible fiscal plan in a new wrapper and called it a stopgap budget.
While their plan promises to fund the state until November, it also threatens
to delay sincere negotiations, allowing the state's elected officials - already
nearly three months late - to go that much longer without performing one of
their most basic duties: passing a budget.
The Democratic governor has already rightly rejected the legislature's
proposal, which would perpetuate Harrisburg 's
habit of leaving bills unpaid, relying on one-time gimmicks, and raiding
dedicated funds. Nor would it adequately fund schools or force the shale-gas
industry to shoulder its share of the tax burden at long last.
"However, the more
pressing point is that there won’t be any budget until the Republican
legislators acknowledge that there is a governor, and that he has concerns and
priorities that must be addressed."
Letter to the Editor:
Blame Republicans for state budget impasse
Delco Times Letter by State Senator Daylin Leach POSTED: 09/23/15,
9:57 PM EDT
State Sen. Daylin Leach, D-17th, Upper Merion
To the Times:
This letter is in response to a recent guest column by state
Sen. Scott Wagner, R-York.
As we in government struggle to enact a budget, people are
weighing in with their opinion. Recently, my colleague, Sen. Scott Wagner, sent
a letter to media outlets across the state offering the Republican Party line.
In the interests of balance, I offer this competing view. Sen. Wagner laments that people aren’t
blaming Gov. Tom Wolf for the impasse. He argues: “The Legislature met its
obligation to pass a balanced budget” and, therefore, it is only the governor’s
obstinate refusal to sign this budget which is keeping schools, communities,
and non-profits from receiving their appropriations. It is true that the Republican majority in
the Legislature passed “a budget.” But Gov. Wolf did not campaign for governor
promising to sign literally anything the Legislature passed, no matter how poor
and inadequate it is. The constitution
requires the governor’s signature for a reason. He is the head of a co-equal
branch of government. The Legislature knew that the budget they were passing
was not viable and that it would never become law. Thus, it was nothing more
than a political stunt.
It’s time to put people first, pass state budget
Lancaster Online Opinion by State Senator RYAN P. AUMENT | Special
to LNP Sept. 23, 2015
As many of you know, Pennsylvania remains one of the last
states in our nation without an enacted, balanced budget. I have said it before and will say it again:
This is unacceptable — to the people of Pennsylvania, to the people of
Lancaster County, and to me. The current
situation is financially crippling to the social service providers that help
our most vulnerable friends, neighbors and community members. I recently met
with human service providers from all across Lancaster County, and they are
genuinely worried about what will happen to their clients — foster children,
people with intellectual disabilities, families in distress, to name a few. Many of these providers have borrowed money
so their clients will still get help. To those who are sacrificing: Thank you.
You represent the greatest of who we are, and your caring and generous spirit
matters and deserves to be recognized and celebrated. The long-standing impasse also has caused
concern for our schools. The state has already missed more than $1 billion in
payments to our schools, which rely on property tax revenue to pay the bills
and keep classrooms operating and buses rolling. Sadly, our private,
faith-based schools still can’t buy textbooks for their children. If a resolution isn’t reached soon, the
financial pressures will become even greater, and costly borrowing may be the
only alternative school administrators and boards will have.
A budget solution is in
sight - will Republicans take it?: Art Haywood
PennLive Op-Ed By Art Haywood on September 23, 2015
at 3:00 PM
State Sen. Art
Haywood, a Democrat, represents the Philadelphia-based 4th Senate District.
We already have the framework for a majority-supported
solution to Pennsylvania 's
budget impasse. That's right. We do. Already, Republican senators and Gov. Tom
Wolf have agreed to $400 million for schools. Already, a majority of the Senate supports a
modest shale severance tax to provide this funding. Already, a majority
of the Senate supports raising the minimum wage. Last week, Wolf offered a bold compromise
that includes the Senate Republicans' self-proclaimed top priority for the state:
historic pension reform with a shift to 401k plans for higher-income new
employees. Wolf also offered
private management of the liquor system. Both of these proposals make
many Democrats unhappy, but they demonstrate a courageous response to the pension
reform and liquor demands of Republican legislators. By my count, a majority of the Senate,
including Republican members, would vote for a budget built on the compromises
Wolf proposed last week. Unfortunately, Senate Republican leadership is holding
the entire state hostage with disingenuous negotiations tactics.
GOP still stuck on
gimmicks
Herald Standard
Letter By Jeff Sheridan Posted: Wednesday, September 23, 2015 2:00
am
Jeff Sheridan is the press secretary for Gov. Wolf.
The Republican plan to pass a stopgap budget is yet another
gimmick that further highlights the Republicans’ clear comfort with politics as
usual in Harrisburg and embracing a failed
status quo that is holding Pennsylvania
back. For four years, the Republican
legislature passed fiscally irresponsible budgets, built on one-time revenues,
fund transfers, payment delays, and other gimmicks that resulted in a
multi-billion dollar budget deficit and numerous credit downgrades. Equally as
bad for Pennsylvania ,
the Republicans made drastic cuts to schools that led to soaring property taxes
while at the same time letting oil and gas companies off the hook at the
expense of our children and our schools.
Republicans have fought tooth and nail to protect the status quo and
their stopgap budget is more of the same. It is past time for a comprehensive
plan that moves Pennsylvania
forward. Instead of good faith
negotiations, Republicans are intent on passing a stopgap budget that will once
again hinder efforts to enact a comprehensive plan for Pennsylvania ’s future. At every turn,
Republicans have prevented serious negotiations, because they are unwilling to
make the long-term investments and changes needed to help Pennsylvania families.
Budget impasses in the
time of Twitter
Trib Live Off-Road
Politics Blog BY MELISSA DANIELS mdaniels@tribweb.com Sept.
23, 2015
Gov. Tom Wolf doesn’t always sign his own tweets – but when
he did this past week, it was to send a strongly worded message to Senate
Majority Leader Jake Corman. Budget
impasses during the time of Twitter – what could go wrong?
The budget negotiations between the governor and
legislative leaders are now in their third month, with little to show by way of
consensus, but plenty of back and forth about who is in the wrong. On Friday, Wolf sent a four-tweet message
directly to @JakeCorman, the Republican Senate leader from Centre County
Inside the cloakroom: Who are the most important
behind-the-scenes players in state budget negotiations?
Penn Live by Christian Alexander September 23, 2015
Just because someone is making the most noise, doesn’t mean
they make the biggest difference. Often times, people behind the scenes are the
ones carrying the most influence. And
that holds true in Pennsylvania
politics. As the state heads into its
third month of a seemingly unbreakable budget impasse, PennLive reporter
Christian Alexandersen took an informal poll to find out which
behind-the-scenes Capitol staffers have the most influence over the Pennsylvania state
budget.
The poll included the opinions of Democratic and Republicans
policymakers, former lawmakers, leadership staff members, lobbyists,
journalists, and others.
Here's another way to
tackle the Pa.
PennLive Op-Ed By Paul Addis on September 23,
2015 at 10:30 AM, updated September 23, 2015 at 10:32 AM
Now an independent
investor, Paul Addis previously served as Chairman and CEO of Louis Dreyfus
Highbridge Energy and Executive Vice President of American Electric Power. He
resides in Delaware
County
The vast gulf between Gov. Tom Wolf and the
Republican-controlled Legislature on the annual budget reflects
the national split between Democrats and Republicans. Pennsylvania 's problems are acute and began
years ago with the state's declining labor-intensive economy.
A lack of economic competitiveness led to anemic growth,
declining tax revenues, and new and expanded taxes that substituted government
programs for economic growth.
- An inability to create jobs and a rapidly aging population
- Eroding physical infrastructure
- Stressed K-12 public school systems
- Severely underfunded state employee and teacher pension systems
- Growing social expenditures to help the least fortunate
These large-scale challenges require a long-term
comprehensive plan that is not conducive to a one-year budget and will not
emerge overnight. The school funding crisis, however, requires immediate
attention. I propose the following
compromise:
POLS ON THE STREET: School Funding Drives Politics In
Budget Gridlock
The shoving and blocking at the line of scrimmage in Harrisburg today is
partly designed to set up big plays downfield, in the 2016 elections. Currently the scrimmage line is the Pennsylvania budget,
where Republicans, who control the General Assembly, remain deadlocked with
Democrats, who control the Governor’s mansion. Since the two sides have not
reached a long-term compromise, schools, agencies and service providers that
rely on state funding are starting to run out of operating cash. That means
pain on the streets and worry for citizens in 2015 – who will be voting for
state legislators in 2016.
Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf was elected in large part because
of his support for added educational spending. So far he has been holding the
line, demanding increased outlays for schools in the 2015 budget. While
Republican budget proposals have moved some numbers onto the plus side of the
Education Dept.’s ledger, they have not been nearly big enough to satisfy the
Democrats. That’s because there is no
realistic way to provide more school funding without some tax increases or
other revenue-raising measures; and these are anathema to the base of
Republican voters. So holding the line on taxes is important to Republican
legislators – especially those in conservative districts who might face primary
challenges from their right flank in the spring if they give up too much this
fall.
Teach to the Test: Keystone exam remediation
September 22, 2015
7:00 am • Jake
Austin The Sentinel
For Pennsylvania high school
students taking Keystone exams, the goal is simple: reach a score of
proficient. But for some students, that task is easier said than done. Schools work to bring non-proficient students
up to speed by means of remediation programs. Typically, the remediation
process is comprised of intervention courses or study halls constructed to
strengthen students’ comprehensive knowledge of the exam’s three main subject
areas: literature, biology, and algebra I.
With proficient exam scores tentatively planned to become a graduation
requirement by 2017, remediation has become even more vital; districts must now
put forth extra time and resources to ensure non-proficient students are able
to reach full graduation eligibility. “We do not usually
have problems with remediating students, but we wish we could do it in way that
was best for our students and not have it prescribed by the state,” said
Cumberland Valley Superintendent Fredrick Withum. “We have to do it how [the
state] tells us to do it and a lot of additional staffing is required to
accomplish our tasks.”
What are the rules about opting out of standardized
tests among Pennsylvania
The number of public
school children not taking Pennsylvania 's
standardized tests for grades 3 to 8 has risen rapidly in recent years, and state law has
facilitated that growth. Pennsylvania is
one of two states that allows standardized test opt outs for specific reasons,
according to a report on opt out policies published by the National
Association of State Boards of Education last month. Parents here can opt
their children out of state tests by citing religious objections, but many who
do so have voiced other reasons, such as children's anxiety and the decrease in activities other
than test prep in schools. The
number of students opted out of Pennsylvania 's
tests for grades 3 to 8 tripled in 2015, according to data from the state
Department of Education. In Lancaster
County
Fundraising Report:
Republican PA Supreme Court Nominees
PoliticsPA Written
by Nick Field, Managing Editor September 23, 2015
Earlier, we took at look at the
fundraising reports of the Democratic nominees for the State
Supreme Court. Now we take a peek at the
GOP numbers in the race for the three open seats. The Republican
nominees are Anne Covey, Michael George and Judy Olson.
These numbers cover the period of June 19th to September
22nd.
Zahora helms last Pottstown School
By Evan Brandt,
The Mercury POSTED: 09/22/15, 11:25 PM EDT
POTTSTOWN >> You might say that Pottstown School Board
President Judyth Zahora closed out the last meeting of her 20-year school board
career as a talking head. Zahora, who
has moved to Boston
to take another job, announced her resignation last month and it becomes
official at the end of the month. But
Monday was her last school board meeting and she presided over it from Boston , her face
appearing on a computer screen thanks to the Internet. For the past few months, as she travels between Boston and Pottstown ,
Zahora has often participated in school board meetings via speaker phone, but
for her last two, she had a cyber-presence as well as an audio one. Zahora has been a presence, she said when she
announced her pending resignation, since her triplets, Matt, Greg and Sarah,
first entered Pottstown schools.
‘Dark money’: A Pa.
Post Gazette By the Editorial Board September 24, 2015 12:00
AM
The Federal Election Commission requires candidates for
office to reveal who paid for their ads. But “dark money” offers a sneaky way
around this, letting donors secretly influence elections by funneling money to
nonprofit groups with vague names and motives.
A proposal before the Pennsylvania Senate comes too late to affect
dark-money ads now airing about the state’s budget impasse, but it would keep
shadow donors from exercising untoward influence again. The Internal Revenue Service exempts nonprofit groups called
501(c)(4)s from revealing their donors, so long as they do not “expressly
advocate” for a candidate or political party. They can, however, advance ideas
and issues, even when doing so supports a candidate or party.
A forum debates the future
of Camden
ALLISON
STEELE, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER POSTED: Wednesday,
September 23, 2015, 1:08 AM
Inside an auditorium at Camden County
College Camden 's
traditional public schools. Superintendent
Paymon Rouhanifard sought to distance himself from that message. "We must make Renaissance schools a
choice for students and families," said Rouhanifard, who was appointed by
Gov. Christie in 2013 after the state took over the failing district. "But
. . . flipping the switch and converting all schools to charters and
Renaissance schools isn't the answer."
"MONTAGNE: And as I
suggested, some pretty influential people and foundations are listed in this
proposal as potential donors. Name some names because they're recognizable.
BLUME: Basically, if you had
a billion in your bank account in Los Angeles, you were on the list, and in
some cases, wealthy people from outside Los
Angeles
Group Led By Billionaire Proposes Overhaul Of LA
Public Schools
NPR Morning
Edition Audio runtime: 3:50 SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 5:19 AM ET
A memo obtained by the Los Angeles Times reveals
a controversial plan to put half of the city's public school kids in charter
schools. Renee Montagne talks with Timeseducation reporter Howard
Blume.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
A new and controversial plan could significantly transform
public education in Los Angeles
in the coming decade. Los Angeles has the second
largest system in the country after New
York City . The plan, initiated by a group of rich and
powerful leaders - city leaders - led by philanthropist and billionaire Eli
Broad, proposes placing half the city's students in charter schools. That's
according to a 44-page memo obtained by the Los Angeles Times. For more, we
turn to L.A. Times education reporter Howard Blume. Good morning.
HOWARD BLUME: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: To begin, give us a brief description of what this
memo reveals.
BLUME: It describes a plan, as you said, to put 50 percent -
more than half a million students in total - in charters over the next eight
years. It envisions creating 260 charter schools for at least 130,000 students.
And this plan was essentially being designed outside of public view with no
larger community or political discussion.
"But what kind of
education are my nephew and his far-flung classmates actually getting? This is
a much harder question to answer. As I began looking into it, I found that
quality, peer-reviewed research into virtual schooling is virtually nil. Where
online schools have produced results that have actually been studied, the
grades aren’t pretty. According to the latest
findings of the National Education Policy Center, a nonprofit housed
at the University of Colorado-Boulder, most students enrolled in full-time
virtual schools do not perform as well as their classmates attending
brick-and-mortar schools. Retention rates show a high level of churn, raising
questions about just how cost effective it is to be funneling taxpayer dollars
to online operations. And while the state standards that teachers must meet to
work in a virtual classroom are largely the same as in traditional
brick-and-mortar schools, we know very little about what makes for a quality
online instructor."
Virtual schools are
booming. Who’s paying attention?
Millions of kids, some as young as 5, now get
their schooling online. Just one problem: Nobody knows how well it works.
Politico By DARREN
SAMUELSOHN September 2015
My nephew’s senior year in high school is already different from mine in
any number of ways—the iPhones, the Facebook account, an online encyclopedia of
college essay ideas. But perhaps most astonishing is what I realized only after
I talked to him about his daily routine: just how little time he's physically
in a school. This semester, he’s taking
two of his classes virtually, and even for the rest, so much of his coursework
is done on the Web that he rarely needs to go into the building. By the time he
graduates next year, he’ll have logged nearly a full semester's worth of
credits from completely virtual classes.
Everyone in his school does this at least once: thanks to a 2011 law,
students in Florida, where he lives, are actually required to take a cyber
course as a prerequisite to graduate. He knocked that off pretty quickly during
his junior year, found that he liked the do-it-yourself approach to learning,
and started to stack his schedule with them: U.S. history, AP environmental
science, pre-calculus and two levels of Spanish. For his final semester next
year, he’s planning to take at least two more online: perhaps U.S. government
and math.
Who Got Money from the
Walton Family Foundation? You Might Be Surprised
Diane Ravitch's Blog
By dianeravitch September
23, 2015 //
The Walton Family
Foundation gave away $375 million last year. It gave away $202 million to
educational groups. The foundation’s
money is generated by the vast earnings of Walmart. The foundation was
established in 1987 by Sam Walton. At least six of the Walton family members
are billionaires, maybe more. As they die off, the foundation will grow larger. The leader of the education part of the
Walton Foundation is Marc Sternberg, a favorite of Joel Klein’s, who moved from
New York City to Bentonville, Arkansas. The
foundation is not only very wealthy, it has an ideology. It is rightwing. It is
reactionary. It does not like public schools. It favors privatization and
deregulation, which is what you might expect of a powerful corporation that
hates government telling it what to do (like paying its employees a living
wage). It hates unions. It loves charters and vouchers. You might ask, how can billionaires sleep at
night when they know their employees are surviving on meager earnings? I don’t
know. Maybe they don’t think about it. Maybe they say, “Tough. That’s life.
Life is unfair. Where’s my Bentley?” I
think you will find it enlightening to see where its money went in the 2014
year.
Testing Resistance & Reform News: September 16 -
22, 2015
FairTest Submitted
by fairtest on September 22, 2015 - 12:43pm
Another week with
even more assessment reform victories to report as the "Enough is enough!"
movement against test misuse and overuse continues to accelerate across the
nation.
Don’t Miss the Harvest
Moon Eclipse Sunday Night
WHYY Newsworks
September 23, 2015
Autumn officially
arrives Wednesday; at 4:21 am, Earth arrives at that point in its orbit where
the rotational axis is in a position that brings daytime and darktime into equality. A Total Lunar Eclipse is visible this Sunday
night – Starts at 8:45, mid-eclipse at 10:48, over at 12:45. In addition, catch sight of Saturn lowering
in the west after sunset. Venus Mars Jupiter in a line down the pre-dawn sky at
6 am ! See them all easily.
PSBA launches an alumni
network
Are you a former school director or in your final term? Stay connected through the PSBA Alumni Network. Your interest in public education continues beyond your term of service as a school director. And as a PSBA alumnus, you have years of experience and insight into the workings of public education and school boards. Legislators value your opinions as a former elected official. Take that knowledge and put it to work as a member of the PSBA Alumni Network.
For a nominal yearly fee of $25 a year or $100 for a lifetime membership, you will receive:
Are you a former school director or in your final term? Stay connected through the PSBA Alumni Network. Your interest in public education continues beyond your term of service as a school director. And as a PSBA alumnus, you have years of experience and insight into the workings of public education and school boards. Legislators value your opinions as a former elected official. Take that knowledge and put it to work as a member of the PSBA Alumni Network.
For a nominal yearly fee of $25 a year or $100 for a lifetime membership, you will receive:
- Electronic access to the PSBA
Bulletin, the leading public education magazine in Pennsylvania
- Access to legislative information
pertaining to public education and periodic updates via email.
To join, complete
the registration below. For more details or questions, contact Member
Engagement Director Karen Devine at Karen.devine@psba.org or (800)
932-0588, ext. 3322.
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.
School Leadership Conference
online registration closes Sept. 25
Register Now for PASA-PSBA School
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
REGISTER TODAY for
the Conference and Act 45 PIL program/s at:
Registration is open for the 19th Annual
Eastern Pennsylvania Special Education
Administrators’ Conference on October 21-23rd in
Hershey.
Educators in the
field of special education from public, charter and nonpublic schools are
invited to attend. The conference offers rich professional development
sessions and exceptional networking opportunities. Keynote speakers are
Shane Burcaw and Jodee Blanco. Register at https://www.paiu.org/epaseac/conf_registration.php
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.
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.
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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