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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup November 1, 2015:
Study on online charter schools: ‘It is literally as
if the kid did not go to school for an entire year’
School Funding Lawsuit: Why Tuesday’s PA Supreme Court Election Is
Absolutely Crucial
The General
Assembly shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and
efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the Commonwealth.
– Article III,
Section 14, of the Pennsylvania Constitution
Trib Live By Melissa
Daniels Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015, 5:47 p.m.
Pennsylvanians will change the course of state history on Tuesday when they elect three new members to the state's highest court. Yet despite the power of that body, despite a historic high of three open seats and despite record campaign contributions, judicial elections typically produce low-information, low-profile races. “We have possibly the most important election in the state during a year where most voters don't even bother to come out to vote, let alone pay attention,” said Jeff Brauer, political science professor atKeystone College
in Lackawanna County
Pennsylvanians will change the course of state history on Tuesday when they elect three new members to the state's highest court. Yet despite the power of that body, despite a historic high of three open seats and despite record campaign contributions, judicial elections typically produce low-information, low-profile races. “We have possibly the most important election in the state during a year where most voters don't even bother to come out to vote, let alone pay attention,” said Jeff Brauer, political science professor at
Election 2015: State Supreme Court key race in
low-turnout year
Tuesday's vote will fill spots in appeals and
county courts, plus a hotly contested seat in state Senate
By Chris Potter / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
November 1, 2015 12:00 AM
The stakes for the
Nov. 3 election are potentially historic. The turnout is likely to be anything
but. Allegheny County
Elections manager Mark Wolosik said he expects turnout of around 28 percent on
Tuesday. The Department of State doesn’t make such projections statewide, but
similar elections in 2011 and 2007 drew just under 26 percent of voters across Pennsylvania . But those who do show up may have an outsize
role in shaping the state’s future, largely because for the first time since
the days of William Penn, there are three seats open on the state’s Supreme
Court. Who voters pick to fill those seats could give either Democrats or
Republicans as much as a 5-2 advantage on the seven-member panel. That could
have lasting implications for how state laws are interpreted, and for who is
writing them years from now: The court plays a key role in drawing the lines of
state legislative districts after each census.
Editorial: Can’t take it
anymore? Vote!
Delco Times
Editorial POSTED: 10/31/15, 8:55 PM EDT
124 days.
That is how long
Pennsylvania has been adrift — sort of like that blimp that meandered across
the center of the state Wednesday — in fiscal limbo. The state Constitution
mandates a new spending plan be in place July 1. Try not to snicker. School
districts are now borrowing money to stay afloat. Social service agencies are
curtailing services. Gov. Tom Wolf
campaigned and won the governor’s mansion on a platform of increased education
funding, restoring the cuts enacted during the four years of his predecessor,
Tom Corbett. The Democrat readily admitted he would need new revenue — hence
new taxes or increased levies — to achieve his goal. And he still crushed the
Republican incumbent at the polls. Unfortunately,
at the same time, voters were delivering even bigger majorities to Republicans
in both the state House and Senate. The GOP is not terribly interested in
increasing taxes. Especially the hikes in the income and sales taxes proposed
by the governor. They want to privatize the sale of liquor in the state, as
well as reforming the state’s two large public employee pension funds, which
are currently swimming in red ink. Gov.
Corbett also placed those two issues at the top of his agenda. But the
Republican governor couldn’t convince those in his own party to stand with him.
Ballot question: Will Pa. voters show up?
JUSTINE MCDANIEL AND MATTHEW NUSSBAUM, INQUIRER STAFF
WRITERS LAST UPDATED: Sunday, November 1, 2015, 1:08 AM
Hillary and Marco, Bernie and Donald, and the 2016
presidential race already may be on voters' minds, but first Pennsylvanians
have decisions to make in the 2015 elections.
If patterns hold, only about 25 percent of them will cast ballots
Tuesday. Along with county judges, prosecutors, commissioners, and other
officials, they will choose an unprecedented number of Supreme Court justices.
Dems hope to claim all 3 open seats on state's highest
court
AP State Wire By
PETER JACKSON October 31, 2015
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - For the Republicans running for three open seats on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Tuesday's election has to be daunting. Of the $10.5 million in campaign contributions reported by the seven candidates through Monday, more than three-quarters flowed to the Democrats. And in a campaign in which paid media plays a key role in defining the candidates, TV ads supporting the Democrats were airing more than twice as often as pro-GOP ads through Monday, based on an analysis by the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity of commercials sponsored by the candidates and two outside political committees on opposite sides in the race. Politically, the election is important because of the unprecedented number of openings on the seven-seat court, the result of resignations by two disgraced justices and the retirement of a third.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - For the Republicans running for three open seats on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Tuesday's election has to be daunting. Of the $10.5 million in campaign contributions reported by the seven candidates through Monday, more than three-quarters flowed to the Democrats. And in a campaign in which paid media plays a key role in defining the candidates, TV ads supporting the Democrats were airing more than twice as often as pro-GOP ads through Monday, based on an analysis by the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity of commercials sponsored by the candidates and two outside political committees on opposite sides in the race. Politically, the election is important because of the unprecedented number of openings on the seven-seat court, the result of resignations by two disgraced justices and the retirement of a third.
State budget impasse enters fifth month but signs of
progress reported
Penn Live By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com Email the
author | Follow on Twitter on October
30, 2015 at 6:31 PM, updated October 30, 2015 at 9:17 PM
By Gary Weckselblatt, staff writer Posted: Sunday, November 1, 2015 6:00 am
The Centennial School District Pennsylvania moves into its fifth month
without a budget, school districts are not receiving any money from the state.
The Republican-led Legislature passed a budget that was vetoed by Wolf, a
Democrat. In late September, Wolf vetoed a stop-gap spending plan that would
have provided districts with four months of funding and the release of federal
money. So far, no district
in Bucks and eastern Montgomery
counties has needed to borrow money because of the lack of state funding. But
the Bucks County Intermediate Unit has "done the paperwork" to apply
for a $25 million loan, said Hartline, president of the BCIU executive board.
WGRZ by Ron Plants,12:27 a.m. EDT November 1, 2015
Delayed Funding for Schools and Counties in
Penna. Budget Deadlock
Let's face it,
standardized testing has failed our students: Jerry Oleksiak
PennLive
Op-Ed By Jerry Oleksiak on
October 30, 2015 at 2:00 PM
Jerry Oleksiak, a former special education
teacher in the Upper Merion Area School District, is president of the Pennsylvania State
Students are
frustrated. Parents are concerned. Educators are calling for change. Finally,
our elected leaders are starting to listen. Finally, we have a chance to change the heavy
emphasis on high-stakes standardized testing in our schools. Just last week, the Obama administration said
that the obsession with standardized tests has gone too far, and announced that
it wants to revisit this policy and cap the amount of time public school
students spend taking standardized tests.
This is great news for our students and our schools. Today in our schools, some students will take
112 standardized tests between kindergarten and graduation. One-hundred-twelve.
Why Philadelphia
the notebook Commentary By Susan Gobreski on
Oct 30, 2015 03:00 PM
We need a better
mechanism for authentic public participation in the governance of the
state-controlled School District
of Philadelphia Philadelphia .
Our current
structure is inadequate. “We the people” really don’t have a way to ask
questions about what is going on with schools. We can go to School Reform
Commission meetings and make comments or ask questions, but that is all –
speakers have no certainty of a response. A formal committee
convened by City Council could be a space where hearings can be held, issues
can be explored, and questions can be asked with some expectation of an answer.
Such an entity could help give citizens a way to explore how public
education is functioning, how it is being run and whether it is meeting community
needs. It could give them a way to talk about issues, even if the SRC
or District administration is not talking about them.
Education Plus Cyber wants to open a regular Philly charter
MARTHA WOODALL, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER LAST UPDATED:
Saturday, October 31, 2015, 1:08 AM POSTED: Friday, October 30, 2015, 5:42 PM
A cyber school that got into hot water with the state
Department of Education for operating more like a regular charter than an
online school said it plans to apply to open a traditional charter school in
Philadelphia next fall. Nicholas Torres,
chief executive of the Education Plus Academy Cyber Charter School, which
focuses on students with learning needs, confirmed Friday that Education Plus
wants to operate a brick-and-mortar charter in the district. He said the
company would submit its application before the School Reform Commission's Nov.
15 deadline. Education Plus is
negotiating with the state to continue running its program, which blends online
learning with classroom instruction at eight student learning and tutoring
centers, he said.
York Daily Record by Angie Mason, amason@ydr.com2:31 p.m. EDT
October 30, 2015
KaShanda Jones-Wright
beams when she says her 12-year-old made the honor roll.
She marvels that he learned some Latin at a summer program at Millersville University ,
which he was able to attend because he's doing well at McKinley K-8 School in York . Jones-Wright makes sure her three kids, ages
11, 12, and 15, get to school every day. And they're progressing in York City
She believes the
first step is finding a place to live.
Jones-Wright isn't
alone in the York
City School
District York aims to help those
families make sure their children have a place to stay during the
week. Work is in the early stages, but organizers hope to have a pilot program
running for the next school year.
Study on online charter schools: ‘It is literally as
if the kid did not go to school for an entire year’
A
new study on the effectiveness of online charter schools is nothing short
of damning — even though it was at least partly funded by a private
pro-charter foundation. It effectively says that the average student who
attends might as well not enroll. The
study was done by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes, known as
CREDO, and located at Stanford University , in collaboration with the Center on
Reinventing Public Education at the University
of Washington
"Rob Reich, a
political-science professor at Stanford who is also a co-director of the
Stanford Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society, notes that the tax deduction
that comes with a billionaire’s grant to charter schools is
essentially money that won’t be spent on public schools, calling Silicon Valley
largess “an exercise of power that is unaccountable, nontransparent and
tax-subsidized.”
Silicon Valley’s New Philanthropy
New York Times By ALESSANDRA STANLEY OCT. 31, 2015
Wealth is treated as
a pleasant byproduct, a bit like weight loss after rugged adventure travel. The tech world is
home to some of the planet’s wealthiest entrepreneurs and most dynamic
philanthropists, 21st-century heirs to Carnegie and Rockefeller who say they
can apply the same ingenuity and zeal that made them rich to making the rest of
the world less poor. San Francisco
also has one of the highest levels of income inequality in the nation, with the
wealth distortion most concentrated among the very people who are driving the
economy as a whole.
Blogger note: So what does it
mean to be a "public" school, funded by public tax dollars?
The real moral duty of
charter schools: The goal should be to create orderly and challenging
environments where strivers from poor families can learn
BY MICHAEL J.
PETRILLI NEW YORK
DAILY NEWS Friday, October 30, 2015, 4:11 PM
- Does
she need to serve every single child?
American Federation
of Teachers president Randi Weingarten is crowing about the allegations that
Eva Moskowitz’ Success
Academies Success Academy
2016-20: The Waltons Set
Out to Promote “Choice Ecosystems”
deutch29 Mercedes Schneider's EduBlog October 29, 2015
In September 2015, Jim and
Alice Walton contributed a combined $400,000 to a Louisiana PAC in order to
influence the October 2015 Louisiana state board of education election.
The Waltons have an eye on Louisiana, and it has to do with
school choice in New Orleans. As of 2014, almost all public schools in New
Orleans are charter schools, with 100 percent of the state-run Recovery School
District (RSD) operating charter schools. (RSD currently has 63 schools.) It seems that from 2016 to 2020, the Waltons plan to
particularly expand their presence in New Orleans (and DC and Denver). They
have a new plan for school choice, as noted in this October 2015 Grantmakers for Education report. Here are excerpts from the Walton report,
including what they supposedly learned on their way to buying what they want.
https://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2015/10/29/2016-20-the-waltons-set-out-to-promote-choice-ecosystems/
Hillsborough schools to shelve Gates-funded system
that cost millions to develop
Tampa Bay Times by Marlene Sokol, Times Staff Writer Thursday, October
29, 2015 2:10pm
"The movement has
founded hundreds of charter schools across the United States and around the
world"
Turkish faith movement
secretly funded 200 trips for lawmakers and staff
Paul Singer and
Paulina Firozi, USA Today 7:10
p.m. EDT October 29, 2015
WASHINGTON — A Turkish religious movement has secretly
funded as many as 200 trips to Turkey for members of Congress and staff since
2008, apparently repeatedly violating House rules and possibly federal law, a
USA TODAY investigation has found.
The group — a worldwide moderate Islamic
movement led by a religious scholar named Fethullah Gülen — has been
accused by the Turkish government of attempting a coup in that
country. Turkish leaders have asked the United States to extradite Gülen
from the remote compound in rural Pennsylvania where he has lived for 20 years.
The movement has founded hundreds of charter schools across
the United States and
around the world, has its own media organizations, and was deeply entrenched
with the Turkish regime until a falling out two years ago. That led
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to declare Gülen was
running "a parallel state" inside the country with the intent of
undermining the government. In advance of Turkish elections this weekend,
police raided the offices of Gülen affiliated-media organizations..
120 American Charter
Schools and One Secretive Turkish Cleric
The FBI is investigating a group of educators who are
followers of a mysterious Islamic movement. But the problems seem less related
to faith than to the oversight of charter schools.
The Atlantic by SCOTT BEAUCHAMP AUG 12, 2014
It reads like something out of a John Le Carre novel: The
charismatic Sunni imam Fethullah Gülen, leader of a politically powerful
Turkish religious movementlikened
by The Guardian to an “Islamic Opus Dei,” occasionally
webcasts sermons from self-imposed exile in the Poconos while his organization
quickly grows to head the largest chain of charter schools in America. It might
sound quite foreboding—and it should, but not for the reasons you might think. You can be excused if you’ve never heard of Fethullah Gülen
or his eponymous movement. He isn’t known for his openness, despite the size of
his organization, which is rumored to have between 1 and 8 million adherents.
It’s difficult to estimate the depth of its bench, however, without an official
roster of membership. Known informally in Turkey as Hizmet, or “the
service”, the Gülen movement prides itself on being a pacifist,
internationalist, modern, and moderate alternative to more extreme derivations
of Sunni Islam. The group does emphasize the importance of interfaith dialogue,
education, and a kind of cosmopolitanism. One prominent sociologist described
it as “the world’s most global movement.”
Job Announcement – Publisher, The Philadelphia Public School
Application deadline
is now November 7th
Founded in 1994, The Philadelphia Public School Notebook is
an independent, nonprofit news organization serving thousands of readers who
strive for quality and equality in Philadelphia ’s
public education system. A pioneering resource and voice for the parents,
students, teachers, and other members of the community, the Notebook is Philadelphia ’s go-to
source for news, information, and conversation about its public schools. With
six annual print editions and a website updated daily with news and commentary,
the Notebook is among the few resources of its kind in the U.S.
WESA Public Forum:
Equitable Education Funding Nov. 9, 7 pm
Pittsburgh
WESA By EBAISLEY • October
27, 2015
Governor Tom Wolfe
has proposed spending 6.1 billion dollars on basic education, yet Pennsylvania is one of
just three states that does not use a formula to distribute funding to local
school districts. What is the best and most equitable way to allocate state
education funding? How can educators and lawmakers ensure a fair education for
all students?
90.5 WESA will convene a "Life of
Learning" community forum November 9 at the Community Broadcast Center on
the south side. to discuss the Basic Education Funding Commission’s
proposed funding formula as well as strategies used in the state’s
history. Doors open at 6:30; forum starts at 7. It will be recorded for later broadcast. The
event is free, but space is limited; registration is recommended.Register online to attend.
Panelists include State Senator Jay Costa, member of the Basic Education Funding
Commission; Ron Cowell, President of the Education Policy and Leadership
Center; Linda Croushore, Executive Director of the Consortium for Public
Education; and Eric Montarti, Senior Policy Analyst for the Allegheny
Institute for Public Policy; and Linda Lane, superintendent of Pittsburgh
Public Schools. 90.5 WESA’s Larkin Page-Jacobs will moderate.
WHAT: Community Forum on Equitable Education
Funding
WHEN: November 9, 2015, 7 PM
WHERE: Community Broadcast Center, 67 Bedford Square, Pittsburgh PA 15203
COST: Free. Register to attend.
WHEN: November 9, 2015, 7 PM
WHERE: Community Broadcast Center, 67 Bedford Square, Pittsburgh PA 15203
COST: Free. Register to attend.
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, Hershey, Pennsylvania
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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