Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now
reach more than 3750 Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors,
administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, Governor's
staff, current/former PA Secretaries of Education, Wolf education transition
team members, Superintendents, PTO/PTA officers, parent advocates, teacher
leaders, business leaders, faith-based organizations, labor organizations,
education professors, members of the press and a broad array of P-16 regulatory
agencies, professional associations and education advocacy organizations via
emails, website, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
These daily emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg
Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup October 3, 2015:
If you thought Arne Duncan was controversial,
meet his successor
"The amended plan filed
today represents an agreement reached with three brick-and-mortar charter
schools that will enable the district to pay a reduced special education
tuition rate to charter schools."
Pa. Gov. Wolf
submits new plan for Chester
Upland School
District
Philly.com by Robert Moran LAST
UPDATED: Friday, October 2, 2015, 6:50 PM
The Wolf
Administration on Friday submitted to a Delaware
County judge a new recovery plan for
the fiscally troubled Chester
Upland School
District
NPR: At Heart Of Pa.
Budget Battle
All
Things Considered (runtime 3:26) NPR.org
from MARY WILSON WITF OCTOBER 02, 2015 4:08 PM ET
Marketplace: Pennsylvania
Marketplace.org Interview
by Lizzie
O'Leary, by Raghu
Manavalan October 2, 2015 -
15:02
"We've
got your classic divided government scenario," said Pennsylvania Capitol
reporter Mary Wilson. "A first-term Democratic governor who campaigned on
big initiatives of more spending for schools, for various programs. And we've
got a legislature that's a huge Republican majority, and lawmakers who are very
much against what they call broad-based tax increases, which are the wasy the
governor right now wants to increase spending." The three-month battle over the budget has
led to schools in Pennsylvania
not receiving their state funding. "When
the state doesn't have a budget, state agencies are still funded, prisons and
parks are stay open, but the state — for some quirk of the way we work — the
state loses the authority to pay contractors. And that affects the way schools
get their state funding, their state aid.... So, it's a matter of legal
authority.' Some schools in the area
have begun taking out loans to cover costs while a budget is being discussed.
Brian O'Neill: Budget impasse is
long-running joke on us
By Brian
O'Neill / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette October 1, 2015 12:00 AM
There’s
a “Seinfeld’’ episode where Kramer takes a sedan for a test drive and tells the
nervous dealer in the passenger seat not to fret about the gas-tank arrow
hovering in that red slash below “Empty.’’
“Oh, I’ve been in the slash many times,” Kramer says. “This is nothing.
You’ll get used to it. Just put it all out of your mind.’’ This is Pennsylvania . We’ve been in slash for three
months now, rolling along without a state budget, just as we have so many
summers before. I don’t recall coasting quite this far, but we do get used to
it, don’t we? Sure,
school districts have borrowed more than $346 million so far to fill the budget
gaps. Sure, interest and fees on those costs could reach as high as $11.2
million, according to Auditor General Eugene DePasquale. It’s also true that
money’s already tight in those borrowing districts such as Clairton City ,
McKeesport Area, Sto-Rox and Aliquippa . But nobody ever said traditions come cheap,
and blowing past budget deadlines is a summer tradition this commonwealth has
returned to again and again. The last governor, Tom Corbett, nearly always
signed the budget on time and Pennsylvanians were so upset they tossed him out
after just one term.
"School Play," a
documentary-based drama about school funding in Pennsylvania ,
will be performed in Lancaster
Play about Pennsylvania school funding issues
comes to Lancaster County
The
drama of Pennsylvania ’s school funding crisis
is coming to Lancaster . Literally.
“School
Play,” a theater production created by three Philadelphia artists, will be performed here
next week as part of a 12-stop tour across the state. The play, which is billed as a “funny, sad
and unsettling” look at school funding issues in Pennsylvania, will be staged
at McCaskey East High School, 1051 Lehigh Ave., on Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 7
p.m. Tickets are free. Public
Citizens for Children and Youth, a Philadelphia-based child advocacy
organization commissioned the play, which premiered in Philadelphia in April. The nonprofit also is
sponsoring the statewide tour of the show.
Anthony Hopkins, communications director for Public Citizens for
Children and Youth, called the production a “live documentary.” The playwrights
conducted more than 100 interviews with Pennsylvania
school students, teachers, parents, administrators and others. Testimonies from
that process were transformed into a script. “The
play is their words. There’s no embellishments by the playwrights,” said Hopkins . The play
does have a message, though: Pennsylvania ’s
school funding system is unfair.
Wolf: State
must invest in education
Citizens Voice BY SARAH HOFIUS HALL Published:
October 3, 2015
THROOP —
Pennsylvania
has two options: invest in education, or face the consequences, Gov. Tom Wolf
said Friday. Standing in front of Mid
Valley Elementary Center, the governor reaffirmed his commitment to passing a
budget that addresses the state’s structural deficit, an underfunded school
system and rising property taxes. “What
goes on in this building is really important to everyone in Pennsylvania ,” Wolf said. “If we don’t
invest in and we don’t recognize it, we’re in big trouble.” If the Legislature fails to pass a budget
that addresses the state’s $3 billion structural deficit, districts could be
looking at cuts of $1 billion next year, he said. The state has been without a
budget since July 1. Earlier this week, the Democratic governor vetoed as anticipated
an $11 billion “stopgap” state budget passed mainly by Republican lawmakers. A
vote on the governor’s spending plan is slated for Wednesday.
PA school
district feels the effects of budget impasse
Your4State.com
By BRITTANY MARSHALL | bmarshall@whag.com Published 10/02 2015 06:03PM
"We
are optimistic that we would be able to get a loan like that if we have to in
March, but we hope to budget is resolved by then," said Beth Bender,
superintendent of the Shippensburg Area school district.
A glimmer of
hope in the state budget standoff, if both sides will accept the results:
Editorial
By PennLive Editorial Board on
October 02, 2015 at 2:45 PM
When a
budget stalemate is approaching 100 days, you take hints of compromise where
you can get them. So we have hope that
this might be the week during which the embarrassment that is "Budget Standoff 2015" nears
its end. We have a "mini-compromise" in the works, as
PennLive's Charles Thompson reported. The vote could get to the heart of the
standoff: Gov. Tom Wolf's demand
to take the income tax rate from 3.07 percent to 3.49 percent. GOP leaders plan to put Wolf's entire tax plan up for
a House vote Wednesday. If it passes, then Wolf would get another week to get
26 votes in the Senate next week. If it passes both Houses, Republicans will
work with a budget that includes the roughly $1.8 billion in new revenue that
would come from multiple tax increases. But if it fails, Republicans expect
Wolf to drop it.
That's
compromise, right? Or are we just fooling ourselves in our stalemate-induced
haze?
"Though it was predicted
that standardized testing would improve student performance across the country,
the United States dropped
from 18th to 31st in the subject of math on the Programme for International
Student Assessment (PISA
Letter to the
Editor: Pennsylvania
Delco
Times Letter by Elizabeth
LeViere POSTED: 10/02/15, 8:09 PM EDT
To the
Times: As a current undergraduate student in the College of Education at Temple
University and an aspiring early-childhood-education teacher, I urge the state
to reconsider its standards of testing students. After No Child Left Behind passed in 2002, an
extreme importance was placed on education and the methods of teaching that
would best suit the guidelines laid out in NCLB. A high regard on standardized testing was one
result of the NCLB Act. Though it was predicted that standardized testing would
improve student performance across the country, the United States dropped from 18th to
31st in the subject of math on the Programme for International Student
Assessment (PISA). If the tests are supposed to improve our students’
performances, then why is this a statistic for our country?
Standardized
tests should be standardized (YDR opinion)
York Daily Record editorial UPDATED: 10/02/2015
09:17:28 AM EDT
Many
people don't really understand what "Common Core" is all about, but
they know they don't like it. They've
heard that it's some kind of socialist plot to destroy America from
within, when actually it's an effort to make sure students across the state and
nation meet rigorous academic standards. Isn't that — striving for high goals —
what made America
great? Yes, but the recent release of
PSSA standardized test scores aligned to the "PA Core," Pennsylvania 's version
of Common Core, are likely to stoke more discontent over the program. Under the new, more difficult PSSA test, student scores are
lower across the board. They are
much lower in math and slightly lower in English language arts. Students and parents are upset. Teachers and
administrators are frustrated. And who can blame them? They're told they need to prepare for and
take these standardized tests so we can make sure students meet academic, well
standards.
But
there seems to be no enduring standard for standardized tests. To use a sports
cliché, they keep moving the goalposts.
Arne Duncan, Education Secretary, to Step Down in December
New York Times By GARDINER HARRIS and MOTOKO RICH OCT. 2, 2015
WASHINGTON
— Arne Duncan, the secretary of
education, whose influential Race to the Top program offered financial
incentives for school districts to innovate, announced Friday that he would
step down in December, marking the departure of one of the longest-serving
members of President Obama’s cabinet. Mr. Duncan was arguably one of the most
powerful education secretaries in history, both because of his personal ties to
the president and the billions of dollars in funding that came to the
department as part of the fiscal stimulus program during the financial crisis. He was at times the subject of criticism from
both parties, angering Democrats by challenging teachers’ unions and
infuriating Republicans by promoting national academic standards. Mr. Obama announced that he would nominate
John B. King Jr., the deputy education secretary and a former commissioner of
education in New York
State
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan to
step down at end of year
Washington
Post By Juliet
Eilperin, Lyndsey
Layton and Emma Brown October
2 at 4:15 PM
U.S.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan plans to step down from his Cabinet position by
the end of the year, leaving the Obama administration more than a year before
the president’s term will end. “He’s done more to bring our educational
system, sometimes kicking and screaming, into the 21st century than anyone
else,” President Obama said as he announced Duncan ’s resignation at the White House on
Friday afternoon. “America
will be better off for what he has done.”
Obama has chosen John B. King Jr., who currently acts as deputy
secretary of education, to replace Duncan . King is a Brooklyn
native who often credits teachers with guiding him toward a successful path
after he was orphaned at age 12. A former charter school leader in Boston and New York , he
joined the Education Department in January after a turbulent tenure as
commissioner of education for the state of New York . In that role, he was a key
architect of new teacher evaluations tied to test scores and played a key role
in pushing New York
to adopt new tests aligned to the Common Core State Standards years before
other states did the same.
"In an unconventional
move, Obama asked King to oversee the Education Department, but declined to
nominate him to be secretary, which would require confirmation by the
Republican-run Senate. Elevating King in an acting capacity spares Obama a
potential clash with Senate Republicans over his education policies as his term
draws to a close."
Education
Secretary Arne Duncan steps down after 7-year term
Inquirer by JOSH LEDERMAN AND KATHLEEN
HENNESSEY, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
POSTED: Friday, October 2, 2015, 5:13 PM
WASHINGTON
(AP) - Arne Duncan, who followed President Barack Obama to Washington to serve as his education
secretary, announced Friday he will step down following a seven-year tenure
marked by a willingness to plunge head-on into the heated debate about the
government's role in education. Sidestepping
a confirmation fight in Congress, Obama tapped John King Jr., a senior
Education Department bureaucrat, to run the department while leaving the role
of secretary vacant for the remainder of his presidency.
Arne Duncan to
Step Down as Ed. Sec., John King to Head Up Department
Education
Week Politics K-12 Blog By Alyson Klein on October
2, 2015 11:23 AM
U.S.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who pushed through an unprecedented level
of change in K-12 education in his nearly seven years in office, has announced
that he's stepping down in December. John
King, who is currently filling the duties of the deputy secretary of education,
will head up the department as acting secretary until the end of the Obama administration. The news comes as Congress wrestles with a
rewrite of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Both a bipartisan Senate
education committee bill and a Republican-backed House bill would take aim at
the administration's most-cherished priorities, including teacher evaluation
through student outcomes, college-and career-ready standards, and aggressive
school turnarounds. The rapid pace
of change Duncan and his team initiated on the nation's schools—especially
through its Race to the Top competition and waivers from the No Child Left
Behind Act, the current version of ESEA—has lead to massive blowback from
everyone from teachers to state chiefs and the administration's own Democratic
allies in Congress. King's appointment, though unofficial, may put a fresh face
on the administration's efforts on K-12 policy at a critical moment, as
Congress wrestles with the future of the federal role.
"King led a series of
school reforms that included a new teacher evaluation system using student
standardized test scores that critics say is nonsensical (for example,
art teachers are evaluated by student math test scores) and the implementation
of the Common Core standards, and aligned Pearson-designed standardized tests.
King’s oversight of all of this was considered such a disaster that Cuomo last
year wrote in a letter to top state education officials that “Common Core’s
implementation in New York
If you thought Arne Duncan was
controversial, meet his successor
Now that Education Secretary Arne Duncan has decided to step down
in December, the U.S. Department of Education will be headed by John B. King
Jr. And if you thought Duncan
was controversial, meet his successor. King
was the New York State
education commissioner, taking over in 2011 and announcing in December 2014
that he was leaving to become Duncan ’s
No. 2, a job officially titled “Senior Adviser Delegated Duties of Deputy
Secretary of Education,” according to the Education
Department’s biography. King can run the department without being
officially nominated as education secretary.
Charter and
School Choice Leaders React to Arne Duncan Resignation
Education
Week Charters and Choice Blog By Arianna Prothero on October 2,
2015 2:41 PM
U.S.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who has been a strong supporter of charter
schools, announced Friday morning that he will be leaving his post in
December. He will be succeeded
by John King, the former
New York state schools chief who has been serving as a senior adviser to
Duncan . "The reform community has been a huge
fan of the secretary because of his commitment to accountability, charter
schools, and also his pragmatic approach to solving problems—he was not an
ideologue," said Nina Rees, the president and CEO of the National Alliance
for Public Charter Schools. "The person who is taking over for him is,
John King, is an equally respected friend of the reform movement." The Obama administration and the education
department helped support and expand charter schools through a couple of
programs including the Investing in Innovation Fund and the Charter Schools
Program.
A polarizing New York
NYSAPE: John
King Was a “Catastrophe” in Néw York
Diane
Ravitch's Blog By dianeravitch October
2, 2015 //
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 2, 2015
More information contact: Lisa Rudley (917) 414-9190; nys.allies@gmail.com
NYS Allies for Public Education http://www.nysape.org
More information contact: Lisa Rudley (917) 414-9190; nys.allies@gmail.com
NYS Allies for Public Education http://www.nysape.org
US
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan Steps Down – New Yorkers Declare John King
No Better
The
announcement of John King to replace Arne Duncan as US Education Secretary is
bad news for the nation, according to NYS
Allies for Public Education, a coalition of more than 50 parent and educator
groups throughout the state. “Throughout
his term in New York ,
John King was notorious for his complete disconnect from parents, teachers, and
school officials. His blatant disregard for concerned parents and educators
fueled opt outs to historic numbers. Our only hope is that this bizarre move by
the White House will have the same effect across the country, spreading the Opt
Out movement to every corner of the nation,” said Jeanette Deutermann, Long
Island public school parent and founder of Long Island Opt Out.
Arne Duncan stepping down, returning to
Chicago
Katherine
Skiba Contact Reporter Chicago Tribune October 2, 2015
President
Barack Obama said Friday he pressed Education Secretary Arne Duncan to stay on
the job but accepted his decision to return to Chicago "with regret and sorrow."
Duncan,
50, a former Chicago Public Schools chief and one of the few remaining original
members of Obama's Cabinet, told his staff Friday that he will leave in
December.
At a
White House news conference, Obama called Duncan
one of the "more consequential" education chiefs, and gave him credit
for record high-school graduation rates, greater investments in early childhood
education and higher standards for teaching and learning.
"Arne
has done more to bring our educational system, sometimes kicking and screaming,
into the 21st century than anybody else," the president said.
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.
SPECIAL
ANNOUNCEMENT: School Play is going on tour! Click below for more
information about tour dates in your county. All performances are FREE!
School
Play, a documentary-based live theatre piece, is here to put school funding
center stage. Compiled from a series of interviews, the play premiered in
Philadelphia in April, 2015 and is now available for free for
performances around the Commonwealth.
"This will be an opportunity for the
community to discuss its collective aspirations for our next
superintendent. We hope you'll join us for an evening of learning and discussion
about how we as a community can support our Board in its search for our schools
next leader."
Getting a Great
Superintendent
Pittsburgh, PA Wednesday, October 7, 2015 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM (EDT)
A+ Schools and its partners are hosting a community discussion
about innovative talent search models that have attracted high quality
leadership to key roles in the City of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Public
Schools. Come hear from Valerie Dixon, Executive Director and Founder of
the PACT Initiative, Leigh Halverson, Strategic Project Advisor to the
President, Heinz Endowments, Patrick Dowd, former school board member and
Executive Director of Allies for Children, Robert Cavalier, Director, Program
for Deliberative Democracy at Carnegie Mellon University, and Alex Matthews,
former school board member discuss the key lessons they've learned from being
part of selection processes for key leaders in our City.
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 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:
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/>
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
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.