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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup October 22, 2015:
Campaign asks Governor,
General Assembly to make students a top priority in budget negotiations; PSBA
files lawsuit on use of Gaming Funds to pay charter school tuition
"The Campaign for Fair
Education Funding today submitted a formal request to Gov. Tom Wolf and members
of the General Assembly, urging them to promptly reach a budget agreement that
enacts the funding formula adopted by the state Basic Education Funding
Commission (BEFC) and increases basic education funding by at least $410
million. Leaders from more than 50
organizations signed a letter delivered to state lawmakers, warning that
failure to sufficiently fund public schools and correct glaring disparities in
the way public education is funded will shortchange children and continue to
hold back the state's economy."
Campaign asks Governor,
General Assembly to make students a top priority in budget negotiations
Campaign for Fair
Education Funding October 21, 2015
HARRISBURG (OCTOBER
21, 2015) – The Campaign for Fair Education Funding today submitted a formal
request to Gov. Tom Wolf and members of the General Assembly, urging them to
promptly reach a budget agreement that enacts the funding formula adopted by
the state Basic Education Funding Commission (BEFC) and increases basic
education funding by at least $410 million.
Leaders from more than 50 organizations signed a letter delivered to
state lawmakers, warning that failure to sufficiently fund public schools and
correct glaring disparities in the way public education is funded will
shortchange children and continue to hold back the state's economy. Of all the states, Pennsylvania has the widest funding gap
between wealthy and poor school districts and is one of only three without a
school funding formula. In its letter, the Campaign asks for leadership so
that "Pennsylvania
can shift from being a case study in unpredictable and inequitable public
school funding to setting the standard for delivering fair funding that meets
the needs of every child."
"We know that
you and all Pennsylvania
lawmakers want the brightest future possible for every child in the
state," Campaign members wrote. "Please move quickly to resolve your
differences and make our children a top priority in any agreement so that this
long delayed budget is worth the wait for them."
Read the Campaign for Fair Education Funding's Letter
to the Governor and General Assembly
October 21, 2015 To the Governor and Members of the General
Assembly:
We, the undersigned organizations and community leaders from
across Pennsylvania, urge you to keep the needs of Pennsylvania’s school
students at the forefront by promptly coming to a budget agreement that enacts
the funding formula adopted by the state Basic Education Funding Commission
(BEFC) and invests significant new dollars in our public schools. Since the
budget impasse began more than 100 days ago, the state has missed three
significant payments to our public schools, with another large payment due in
just eight days. The state will be behind by more than $3 billion by then, and
school districts already have been forced to borrow funds, delay payments to
vendors, or suspend tuition payments to charter schools in order to meet
payroll and keep the doors open.
State treasurer to withhold payment of gambling
revenues from charter schools
By Mary Niederberger
/ Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette October 21, 2015 2:06 PM
State Treasurer Timothy
Reese will withhold the payment of $45 million in property tax gaming revenues
slated to be released to charter schoolstomorrow. The action came in response to a letter from
Senate Democrats asking the treasurer to stop the payment, which had been
initiated by the state Department of Education.
"We have received the letter and we are withholding payments as we
review the issues raised," said treasurer's spokesman Scott Sloat. Moments after the
treasurer's office announced it would withhold the funds, the Pennsylvania
School Boards Association announced it had filed suit in Commonwealth Court against the state
treasurer and the Department of Education asking to stop the diversion of the
gaming funds to charter schools and instead sent it to school districts.
PA to halt charter school payments amid budget impasse
The
Associated Press Of The
Morning Call October 21, 2015 5:59 pm
PA Treasury halts charter
school payments as school boards file lawsuit
The state Department
of Treasury has decided to stop giving money to charter schools that appealed
to the state when some school districts began withholding tuition payments amid
the budget impasse. Treasury spokesman
Scott Sloat said Wednesday that the agency wants to review the legality of the
diversions. The announcement came the
same day that the Pennsylvania School Boards Association filed a lawsuit,
alleging that such payments are illegal. Likewise, state Senate Democrats on
Wednesday called on the state Treasurer Tim Reese to stop funding charter
schools, saying the decision was based on one legal opinion. The treasury had been scheduled to dole out
$45 million to charter schools on Thursday, based on 312 school districts
withholding funds, the Senate Democrats said.
Several charter schools have been petitioning the state Department of
Education for relief after some school districts began withholding
state-mandated tuition payments while the budget battle rages on. Parkland,
Bethlehem Area, Salisbury
Township and Northampton
Area are among the districts. Districts feel if
they aren't receiving state funding during the stalemate, charter schools
shouldn't either. They also want to hold onto as much cash as they can to get
through the deadlock.
"In a statement issued
the following day, PSBA staff attorneys said, “It is outrageous that the
administration would resort to diversion of funds intended for taxpayers in
order to immunize charter schools from the fiscal pain all other public schools
are experiencing, and put charter schools in line ahead of other public schools
for available state funds.”
PSBA files lawsuit with Commonwealth Court on use of Gaming Funds
to pay charter school tuition
Today, the
Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) filed in the Commonwealth Court
a lawsuit
against the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) and the state Treasurer
challenging the unlawful diversion of Property Tax Reduction Allocation funds
from the Gaming Fund/Property Tax Relief Fund that were due to be paid to
school districts on October 22 for the benefit of taxpayers. PDE requested the
Treasurer to stop payment of those allocations and instead pay them to charter
schools claiming they had not been fully paid for tuition. The suit
further asks the Court to order that the full amount of the property tax
reducation allocations be paid to school districts as scheduled. Joining PSBA
as named Petitioners are the Phoenixville
Area School
District and the Eastern
Lancaster County
School District . In separate correspondence,
PSBA sent a formal request to Pennsylvania ’s
Attorney General Kathleen Kane and Auditor General Eugene DePasquale asking for
a full investigation into the diversion. Due to the cash flow
crunch created by the current state budget impasse, many school districts have
delayed paying that portion of charter school tuition which reflects the state
revenue they have not received yet. On Oct. 15, PDE issued an email
notification to school district superintendents and business officials that it
intended to cause the October payment of property tax reduction allocations
from the Gaming Fund/Property Tax Relief Fund to be intercepted for the purpose
of paying amounts claimed by charter schools to be due from school districts
that had paid less than the charter school believed to be owed.
By Mary Niederberger / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette October 21, 2015 2:06 PM
The state Senate Democrats are calling on Treasurer Timothy Reese to stop
payment on the scheduled release of $45 million in property tax gaming revenues
to charter schools slated for tomorrow. The
state budget impasse has prevented school districts from receiving their state
subsidies, which they usually use to pay their charter school bills. As a
result, some districts have not paid the charter school tuition, prompting the
schools to appeal to the state Department of Education. Last week, the education department said it
would divert gaming revenues earmarked for property tax relief in school
districts to charter schools, a move that prompted outrage among school
district officials and some legislators. The education department’s plan would
affect 312 of the state’s 500 school districts.
"The Campaign for Fair
Education Funding, a coalition of more than 50 organizations, on Wednesday
urged the governor and members of the General Assembly to reach a budget
agreement that enacts a funding formula adopted by the state Basic Education
Funding Commission. They argued that
failure to fund schools adequately and fairly will short-change children and
hold back the state's economy. The
commission says that Pennsylvania is one of only three states that doesn't have
a school-funding formula and that of all the states, Pennsylvania has the
widest funding gap between wealthy and poorer school districts."
Budget impasse, Wolf
comments worry Pa.
schools
KATHY BOCCELLA AND
MATTHEW NUSSBAUM, INQUIRER STAFF
WRITERS POSTED: Wednesday, October 21, 2015, 6:14 PM
The Coatesville Area School District
is considering a line of credit. Garnet
Valley might curtail or
eliminate programs. Morrisville might not have enough money to pay all its
bills. With Gov. Wolf this week saying
he won't advance funds to struggling school districts as the state budget
impasse drags on, those that rely heavily on state funding are taking
increasingly desperate measures to make ends meet. Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania School Boards
Association filed a Commonwealth Court suit against state officials who have
been withholding portions of gambling revenue from cash-strapped district that
have stopped making payments to charter schools because of the money crunch.
How long can school districts weather the Pa. budget impasse?
Christina
Tatu and Sarah
M. WojcikContact
Reporters Of The Morning
Call October 21, 2012
How long can school
districts weather the Pa.
budget impasse?
As the state budget
stalemate threatens to drag into a fifth month, school districts in the Lehigh
Valley have been poring over budgets, trying to figure out how long they can go
before they must borrow millions of dollars.
Most Valley districts said they should be able to weather the impasse at
least until the end of the year, using cash reserves. But the Allentown School District ,
like most urban districts that heavily rely on state funding, is starting to
feel the crunch. Either way, the
deadlock is testing the patience of school officials in the Valley and across
the state. "I've never seen
anything like this before," said Jay Himes, executive director of the
Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials.
"Badams said Wednesday
he is focused on building a coalition of other districts that are -- or soon
will be -- in the same precarious financial situation as Erie . The district currently has enough money
to operate through mid-November. Badams,
along with other superintendents and school board members from throughout the
state, on Tuesday participated in a videoconference to discuss the effects of
the impasse and possible remedies, including legal actions against the state. "We left there with a collective resolve
to figure out how we can formalize a coalition of districts," Badams said. But parents and taxpayers need to speak up
and voice their concerns, too, he said. He urged the public to put pressure on
legislators."
No state advance for Erie district
By ERICA ERWIN
erica.erwin@timesnews.com22 Oct 2015 — Erie Times-News
The Pennsylvania
Treasury will not advance the Erie School District the money administrators say
is needed to keep schools operating as the state budget impasse continues. In a letter to Erie schools Superintendent Jay Badams on
Wednesday, the chief counsel for the Treasury said the department does not have
the legal authority to issue any payment without the approval of the state
agency. Even if an advance were
possible, the kind of no-interest advance requested by the district would
violate the Treasury's fiduciary duty, Christopher Craig wrote. "Though
Pennsylvania Treasury is sympathetic to Erie 's
Public Schools' struggle to maintain operations during the current state
budgetary impasse, a zero interest loan to the school district would not be
appropriate under the current circumstances," Craig wrote. Badams, who traveled
to Harrisburg
with other district officials on Monday to request the $47 million advance,
said he was not surprised by the response but added that political support is
growing for such a resolution. Gov. Tom Wolf on Tuesday said he wouldn't allow
the state Department of Education to issue payments to individual districts.
Penn Live By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com Email
the author | Follow on Twitter on October
21, 2015 at 4:28 PM, updated October 21, 2015 at 4:46 PM
While disappointed
over the denial of his district's $47 million loan
request from the state Treasury, Erie City School District
Superintendent Jay Badams is unwilling to give up on this idea to help his
cash-strapped district, which will run out of money in a few weeks unless a
state budget is soon finalized. He
figures maybe if he enlists the support of other districts and backs up the
request with statistics about the borrowing costs they'd incur if they use a
private lender, it might produce a different response from Treasury. "I just think there is a way forward and
I thought this idea would at least give a mechanism to prevent districts from
becoming insolvent," Badams said. Officials
from Erie schools caused quite a stir this week
by coming to Harrisburg
and submitting a request for a $47 million no-interest loan from the state
Treasury, which they would repay when a state budget is finally enacted.
Carbondale Superintendent considers suing the state or
shutdown over budget impasse
Written by Ben
Allen, General Assignment Reporter | Oct 21, 2015 3:18 PM
Carbondale
Superintendent Joseph Gorham says the district has spent all $5 million of its
reserves, and at one point after September's payroll, had $11,000 in its bank
account.
Local tax revenue is
keeping the school open for now, but it's expected to run out by mid- to
late-November. So Gorham says it's time
for districts across the state to talk about a symbolic shutdown to get the
attention of Governor Tom Wolf and Republican legislative leaders. "Maybe that'll
spur people on both sides of aisles to really see the impact that it's having
on students. You know, it sounds cliche, but it's the reality. What we are
doing by digging our heels into the ground is directly impacting the psychology
of a student."
Or, he says he's
considering a lawsuit against the state.
Philly schools forced to
borrow more because of Pa.
budget impasse
WHYY Newsworks BY KEVIN MCCORRY OCTOBER 21, 2015
As Pennsylvania 's
budget impasse creeps towards its fifth month, the Philadelphia School
District will need to borrow additional money to
cover payroll beyond October. In August,
the district borrowed $275 million to get through the first two months of
school because of the logjam in the state Capitol – a move that will ultimately
cost an additional $1 million in debt service.
Now, district officials say, they need to borrow again – as first-year
Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, and the Republican-held Legislature continue their
stalemate. District spokesman Fernando
Gallard said Wednesday he doesn't yet know how much the school system will need
to borrow or how much the debt service will cost to cover expenses through the
calendar year. The details have yet to
be worked out.
Near-broke Philly schools
must borrow to make payroll
KRISTEN A.
GRAHAM, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER LAST
UPDATED: Wednesday, October 21, 2015, 5:28 PM
Close to broke, the Philadelphia School District will soon have to borrow
money to make payroll through the end of the year, officials confirmed
Wednesday. The School Reform Commission
is to meet in the coming days to authorize temporary borrowing that will allow
the district to function until a state budget stalemate resolves. Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said that
if there was no Pennsylvania
budget by the end of the calendar year, he could not keep schools open, even
with the temporary borrowing.
"What is even more troubling is how
difficult it is to find essential information on how some charters have spent
federal and state tax dollars, even as governments continue to increase funding
for charters while slashing funds for traditional public schools. Unlike truly
public schools that have to account for prospective and past spending in public
budgets provided to democratically elected school boards, charter spending of
tax monies is too often a black hole. This is the largely due to the way the
charter industry has been built by proponents, favoring "flexibility"
over rules. That flexibility has allowed an epidemic of fraud, waste, and
mismanagement that would not be tolerated in public schools. Charters are often
policed—if they are really policed at all—by charter proponents, both within
government agencies and within private entities tasked with oversight as
"authorizers" of charters."
Why Pennsylvania
Has a Serious Charter
School Problem
It's apparently state law that
the charter schools get money or nobody does.
Esquire BY CHARLES P. PIERCE October 21, 2015
As we noted, Kevin
Johnson, husband of education "reform" hustler Michelle Rhee, has
decided he doesn't want to be mayor of Sacramento
anymore because the world has grown cold and mean. This, of course, does not
mean the education "reform" grifting gravy train that has made the
missus so wealthy doesn't roll merrily on in places like, oh, say Pennsylvania , where new
Governor Tom Wolf is facing plaintive appeals from various public school
districts that have no more money.
During a stop in Pittsburgh , Wolf told
reporters that while he understands school districts are struggling
financially, he cannot authorize payments to them until a new spending plan is
in place, said spokesman Jeff Sheridan. The state has been operating without a
fiscal blueprint since July 1, holding up critical state aid to public schools,
counties, and nonprofits that provide social services. "We'd like to get
them a final budget that fully invests in education," Sheridan said Tuesday. Wolf's comments came a
day after the Erie
school district asked the governor's office for a $47 million, no-interest
advance so that it could keep its doors open without taking out bank loans.
Wolf is still
trying to dig out from the sinkhole left where Pennsylvania used to be before it elected
his predecessor, Tom Corbett, and is trying to do so with a Republican
state legislature. There have been budget proposals and vetoes, and the mess
has now dragged on for five bloody months with no end in
sight. What does this all have to do with education "reform"? Glad
you asked.
National GOP group's ad attacks Pennsylvania judge's record
AP State Wire by
PETER JACKSON October 21, 2015
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A national Republican group is airing a TV attack ad to kick off what it says is a two-week blitz to influence the campaign for a record three open seats on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The Washington, D.C.-based Republican State Leadership Committee, which focuses on electing Republicans to state-level offices, is the first out-of-state group to spend heavily in the seven-way race. It said its "initial investment" exceeds $1 million, including a second TV ad.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A national Republican group is airing a TV attack ad to kick off what it says is a two-week blitz to influence the campaign for a record three open seats on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The Washington, D.C.-based Republican State Leadership Committee, which focuses on electing Republicans to state-level offices, is the first out-of-state group to spend heavily in the seven-way race. It said its "initial investment" exceeds $1 million, including a second TV ad.
More negative ads airing in state Supreme Court race
By Chris Potter / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
October 21, 2015 10:54 PM
In the latest sign
that outside money may be swamping the state Supreme Court race, a political
group backed by the controversial Koch family launched a $1 million advertising
campaign Wednesday. And Democratic candidate Kevin Dougherty is squarely in its
crosshairs. In a TV ad airing
across much of the state, the Republican State Leadership Committee charges
that as a Philadelphia family judge, Judge Dougherty “shockingly allowed a
young girl to be placed in the custody of a convicted murderer. … Tell Kevin
Dougherty no more excuses. Keep our children safe.”
Stink bombs in Supreme
Court race, and Chaka's broke
WHYY Newsworks DAVE DAVIES OFF MIC A BLOG BY DAVE DAVIES OCTOBER 19, 2015
The first negative
ads have appeared in the high-stakes race for three posts on the Pennsylvania
Supreme Court. They come from an independent group calling itself
Pennsylvanians for Judicial Reform. The
ads attack all three Republican candidates. They slam Adams County Judge
Michael George as being soft on crime (see above), Superior Court Judge
Judith Olson as being anti-abortion rights, and Commonwealth Court Judge Anne
Covey as lacking integrity. The ads drew a sharp
rebuke from the watchdog group Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts. "Negative ads
like these serve no purpose other than to discourage voters from seriously
evaluating judicial candidates by using scare tactics such as selective editing
and ominous voice overs," said Executive Director Lynn Marks. "All
Supreme Court candidates should publicly and immediately denounce the ads and
their content and ask Pennsylvanians for Judicial Reform to remove the
ads." As we've reported,
Pennsylvanians for Judicial Reform is funded mostly by trial lawyers and
unions, which are the strongest backers of the three Democratic candidates in
the race. The group had raised about $360,000 as of Sept. 14.
"The spots from
Pennsylvanians for Judicial Reform criticizing the three Republican candidates
were the first attack ads released in the race. The first buy totaled more than
$56,000 across Pittsburgh , Philadelphia
and Scranton .
The group is largely funded by labor unions and the political action committee
of the Philadelphia
Trial Lawyers Association."
Richard Sprague demands
recall of attack ad against Supreme Court candidate Covey
Trib Live By Melissa
Daniels Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015, 3:30 p.m.
One of the most prominent trial attorneys inPennsylvania is demanding a special interest
group take down an attack ad against Commonwealth Court Judge Anne Covey, a
Republican Supreme Court candidate. Richard
Sprague sent a cease-and-desist letter to Mark Singel, chairman of
Pennsylvanians for Judicial Reform, regarding an ad claiming Covey lied about
authoring published legal articles. He called the claim “demonstrably false and
defamatory.”
One of the most prominent trial attorneys in
How did Pennsylvania 's
Congressional Delegation vote on the DC Voucher Bill?
All 13 Republican Congressmen voted in
support of vouchers; all 5 Democratic Congressmen voted against the bill.
"Though
reauthorization of the program still faces hurdles in the Senate and opposition
in the White House, a piece of Boehner’s legacy was cemented Wednesday evening
as the House approved the program."
House Approves Boehner’s
D.C. Vouchers Bill
Roll Call By Bridget
Bowman Posted at 6:57 p.m. on Oct. 21
House Republicans
rallied around outgoing Speaker John A. Boehner Wednesday evening to approve
one of his pet projects: a school voucher program for the District of Columbia .
The House approved
reauthorizing the program, known as the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship
Program, by a mostly party-line vote of 240–191. Before the vote, Boehner took to the floor to
make a rare speech, his voice breaking as he discussed the children who
benefited from the program. “Yes, this
issue is personal to me and has been for along time, but frankly it ought to be
personal to every single member of this body,” Boehner said. “We owe these
kids a chance, a fighting chance, for success.”
Eight Republicans voted against Boehner’s bill, including
veteran appropriator Mike Simpson of Idaho . The District’s representative in
Congress, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., sat as members voted, as she does
not have voting privileges on the House floor. Democrats whipped against the
bill, and had two defections: Reps. Daniel Lipinski of Illinois ,
who co-sponsored the bill, and John Delaney of Maryland . The bill, known as
the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results
or SOAR Act, would reauthorize the program for five years. And though funding
is authorized through fiscal 2016, the House has moved quickly on the bill,
voting on the legislation just more than two weeks after it was introduced.
House Votes to Reauthorize
D.C. SchoolVoucher Program
Education Week
Politics K-12 Blog By Andrew Ujifusa on October 21, 2015 7:22 PM
The U.S. House of
Representatives voted on Wednesday to reauthorize the Scholarships for
Opportunity and Results Act (SOAR), which creates vouchers for a certain
number of K-12 students in the District
of Columbia . But what will happen after the House's
passage of H.R. 10 is
unclear. The Opportunity Scholarship
program is a political favorite of House Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, and
he's intent on making sure his name stays with the program even after he leaves
Congress. As my colleague Alyson Klein noted last
month, H.R. 10 was approved by the House even though the
program isn't technically up
for renewal this year. (Remember, at one time Boehner was chairman
of the House education committee, and fought unsuccessfully for the inclusion
of a voucher program during negotiations over what became the No
Child Left Behind Act in 2001.) Six
other lawmakers co-sponsored H.R. 10, including Rep. John Kline, the
Minnesota Republican who now leads the House education committee, and one
Democrat, Illinois Rep. Dan Lipinski.
Keeping Black Men In Front Of The Class
Of all the teachers
in the U.S. ,
only 2 percent are black and male. That news is bad enough. But it gets worse:
Many of these men are leaving the profession.
Just last month, a new study
found that the number of black teachers in the public schools of nine
cities dropped between 2002 and 2012. In Washington ,
D.C. , black teachers' share of the
workforce dropped from 77 percent to 49 percent. Now, a researcher at Stanford, Travis
Bristol, is trying to figure out why black men are leaving the profession. Bristol himself taught high school English in New York City public
schools; there he grew interested in designing policies that would support his
male students, particularly boys of color. As a Ph.D. candidate at Teachers
College, Columbia University, he noticed a disconnect: While lots of attention
was being paid to hiring more
black male teachers, relatively little was being done to hold onto them.
Jesse Hagopian: At a
school with a history of social protest, this teacher is leading an opposition
to ‘excessive testing’
NPR by Gwen Ifill October 20, 2015 at 6:25 PM EDT
In Seattle , protest against the Common Core test
is catching on. Meet one high school teacher who has led a boycott against
standardized tests as educational assessment, and who educates his students on
their right to opt out. Gwen Ifill reports.
GWEN IFILL: Not long ago, I traveled to Seattle to
talk with Bill and Melinda gates, the Microsoft billionaires who have become
leading philanthropists for a school reform movement that champions testing for
students and teachers. But not everyone
agrees with that approach, not even in the Gates Foundation’s home town. While
in Seattle , I
talked with one of the teachers leading the opposition. The report is part of our American Graduate
series, a public media initiative funded by the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting.
Whose Choice? Student Experiences and Outcomes in the New Orleans School Marketplace
Research shows that New Orleans school reforms
have created a set of schools that are highly stratified by race, class, and
educational advantage. While some students have choice; others do not: both
access and educational quality differ substantially, with the most vulnerable
students least likely to experience the stability and supportive environments they
need. Research report and brief by SCOPE’s Frank Adamson, Channa Cook-Harvey,
and Linda Darling-Hammond.
"Alum Catherine
Michna, now a professor of education at Tulane, has said that she won’t write
recommendation letters for students who want to join the program. “TFA members
do not work in service of public education,” shewrote
in Slate. “They work in service of a corporate reform agenda that rids
communities of veteran teachers, privatizes public schools, and forces a
corporatized, data-driven culture upon unique low-income communities with
unique dynamics and unique challenges.”
Teach for America ’s biggest problem isn’t
green teachers or failing schools. It’s that it can’t take criticism.
The organization spends millions defanging its
critics without ever listening to their ideas.
T. Jameson Brewer is a Ph.D. candidate in
Educational Policy, Organization and Leadership at the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign.
If
you’ve taught your way through Teach For America like I have, you know that
feedback is part of the job. Not only do new teachers receive critiques from
principals, fellow educators and students, they’re also deluged with weekly and
monthly reports on their success from the organization itself. Although the amount of feedback varies from
region to region, the message is clear: With enough data, anyone can become a
champion educator, able to lift students’ reading and math scores many years in
a single leap. Unfortunately, TFA does
not apply a similar philosophy to its own organization. Not only is TFA
notoriously unwilling to listen to outside orinternal critics
(one former TFA manager decried
its “inability and unwillingness to honestly address valid criticism”
in The Washington Post). The organization has also spent millions of dollars on
a press shop built to promote its brand while aggressively and proactively
discrediting critiques. This is bad for
the organization, and it’s bad for students. TFA has
real problems — its teachers are largely unprepared and fare no better
than regular educators. It has a high drop-out rate, and the number of applicants
has plummeted. Additionally, TFA sends its volunteer teachers to school
districts in Los Angeles , Chicago
and New York ,
places now facing teacher layoffs and hiring freezes. Some school
districts have even rescinded contracts
with TFA, citing teachers’ lack of preparation and low retention rates.
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.
SCHOOL CHOICE: THE ROLE OF THE
CONSTITUTION AND THE COURTS IN IMPROVING EDUCATION
Free for
Members • $7 teachers & students • $10 public
Become a Member today for free admission to this program and more!
Click here to join and learn more or call 215-409-6767.
Become a Member today for free admission to this program and more!
Click here to join and learn more or call 215-409-6767.
Does the
Constitution guarantee an “equal education” to every child? What do the U.S.
and Pennsylvania Constitutions say about school choice, teacher tenure,
standardized testing, and more? The Constitution Center hosts two conversations
exploring these questions.
In the
first discussion, education policy experts—Donna Cooper of Public Citizens for Children and Youth, Mark Gleason of the Philadelphia School
Partnership, Deborah Gordon Klehr of the Education Law
Center, and Ina Lipman of the Children's
Scholarship Fund Philadelphia—examine the state of Philadelphia public
education, what an "equal education" in Philadelphia would look like,
and their specific proposals for getting there. They also explain what, if
anything, the Pennsylvania state constitution says about these questions, and
how state government interacts with local government in setting education
policy.
In the
second discussion, James Finberg of Altshuler Berzon
and Joshua Lipshutz of Gibson Dunn—two
attorneys involved in Vergara v. California, a landmark dispute
over the legality of teacher retention policies—present the best arguments on
both sides and discuss what's next in the case. They also explain what the U.S.
Constitution and major Supreme Court cases like Brown v. Board of
Education, San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez and Parents
Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 say
about education and our national debates.
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/>
NSBA Advocacy
Institute 2016; January 24 - 26 in Washington ,
D.C.
Housing and meeting registration is open for Advocacy Institute 2016. The theme, “Election Year Politics & Public Schools,” celebrates the exciting year ahead for school board advocacy. Strong legislative programming will be paramount at this year’s conference in January. Visit www.nsba.org/advocacyinstitute for more information.
Housing and meeting registration is open for Advocacy Institute 2016. The theme, “Election Year Politics & Public Schools,” celebrates the exciting year ahead for school board advocacy. Strong legislative programming will be paramount at this year’s conference in January. Visit www.nsba.org/advocacyinstitute for more information.
PASBO 61st Annual
Conference and Exhibits March 8 - 11, 2016
Hershey Lodge and Convention Center,Hershey , Pennsylvania
Hershey Lodge and Convention Center,
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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