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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup November 17, 2015:
Thanksgiving might not come until Christmas for #PABudget
this year….
PA House Education Committee Voting Meeting on SB880
(Two year delay in Keystone Exams)
Tuesday, November 17, 2015 9:30 am Room G50, Irvis Office
Building
SB 880 - Legislation to delay the graduation requirement associated with
the state’s end-of-course tests, known as the Keystone Exams, for two years.
Keystone exam proposal
wrapped up in budget talks
York Daily Record by Angie Mason, amason@ydr.com4:42 p.m. EST November 16, 2015
The state House Education Committee will meet Tuesday to consider items
including delaying the Keystone exams as a graduation requirement until 2019. The committee will consider Senate Bill 880,
which would delay making the end-of-course exams a graduation requirement,
according to a memo sent by state Rep. Stan Saylor. The Senate passed that bill
over the summer and sent it to the House education committee. The committee will also consider an amendment
from Saylor, which would require the state education department to investigate
alternative methods for students to demonstrate proficiency for graduation, in
addition to the Keystones, the memo says. The department would report on its
findings within six months. Saylor
previously said the Keystones issue was part of a broader discussion and was part
of ongoing state budget talks.
Judge rules against cyber school founder Nick
Trombetta on wiretap evidence; U.S.
case will proceed
By Torsten Ove / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
November 16, 2015 7:51 PM
A federal judge has
rejected Pennsylvania
Cyber Charter
School founder Nick
Trombetta’s last remaining bid to have his indictment thrown out on his claim
that the government’s case was built on conversations that the FBI improperly
recorded between Mr. Trombetta and his lawyers in violation of the
attorney-client privilege. U.S. District
Judge Joy Flowers Conti ruled Monday that Mr. Trombetta’s conversations with
attorney Timothy Barry were not privileged and that he can’t prove any
government misconduct. She also said he
can’t show any “specific and articulable harm” stemming from the goverment’s interception
of those conversations, all in May 2012. “[Trombetta] cannot
meet his burden to establish actual and substantial prejudice based up on the
undisputed record,” the judge wrote. The
ruling means the long-running case against Mr. Trombetta will proceed, with the
government able to use all of the recorded conversations Mr. Trombetta has
tried for the last year to suppress.
"Trombetta
of East Liverpool, Ohio, retired in 2012 from the charter school in Midland . A federal grand
jury indicted him on the 11 counts the next year. Trombetta siphoned off at
least $1 million in tax dollars paid to the online school, prosecutors say."
Federal judge says
prosecution can use phone calls of former Midland cyber school CEO
Trib Live By Brian
Bowling Monday, Nov. 16, 2015, 6:45 p.m.
Federal prosecutors can use three recorded phone conversations between former Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School CEO Nick Trombetta and an attorney when Trombetta faces trial on 11 counts of mail fraud, bribery, tax conspiracy and filing false tax returns, a federal judge ruled Monday. The U.S. Attorney's Office declined comment. Adam Hoffinger, one of Trombetta's lawyers, couldn't be reached for comment. Trombetta asked U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti to throw out his indictment or suppress most of the evidence in the case based on his claim that the government illegally recorded his attorney-client conversations. The judge ruled that nothing said during the 12 minutes of the three calls violated Trombetta's rights and denied Trombetta's motion to suppress any evidence.
Federal prosecutors can use three recorded phone conversations between former Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School CEO Nick Trombetta and an attorney when Trombetta faces trial on 11 counts of mail fraud, bribery, tax conspiracy and filing false tax returns, a federal judge ruled Monday. The U.S. Attorney's Office declined comment. Adam Hoffinger, one of Trombetta's lawyers, couldn't be reached for comment. Trombetta asked U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti to throw out his indictment or suppress most of the evidence in the case based on his claim that the government illegally recorded his attorney-client conversations. The judge ruled that nothing said during the 12 minutes of the three calls violated Trombetta's rights and denied Trombetta's motion to suppress any evidence.
Three kinds of schools in Beaver County
to be audited, evaluated
By Mary Niederberger
/ Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette November 17, 2015 12:22 AM
In recent months,
state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale’s staff has performed concurrent audits
of the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, the Midland School District and the
Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School in hopes of providing a
comprehensive look at how the entities spend their money. All of the schools are located within blocks
of each other in Midland, Beaver County, but each represents a different
education entity — a traditional public school with grades K-8, a K-12 cyber
charter school and a 7-12 brick-and-mortar charter school. At the conclusion of
the audits, which are normal school audits, Mr. DePasquale plans a comparative
report on costs versus educational outcomes.
“We want to look at their costs and see if there are true differences in
education outcomes,” Mr. DePasquale said.
State Senate nears vote on
bill to eliminate school property taxes
HARRISBURG >>
The Pennsylvania state Senate is nearing a vote on legislation to completely
eliminate $14 billion in school property taxes by replacing the revenue with
higher state taxes on sales and income. Senate
President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati said a vote is possible as early
as Tuesday. He says, if it passes,
it would replace a week-old agreement between Senate Republican leaders and
Gov. Tom Wolf to pursue legislation to reduce property taxes by $2 billion as
part of a wider deal to end a 5-month-old budget stalemate. A similar bill failed in the House two years
ago, 138 to 59. Under the bill, school
districts would get a regular inflationary increase.
Districts wanting to
spend above that allotment would have to win voter approval to increase local
income taxes.
Hope fading for a
Thanksgiving budget?
The PLS Reporter Author: Jason Gottesman/Monday, November
16, 2015
As the budget
framework Gov. Tom Wolf and legislative leaders announced last week continues
to take shape, some involved with crafting a plan to end Pennsylvania’s nearly
five-month long budget stalemate were lowering expectations Monday that the
impasse could be finally broken by Thanksgiving as first hoped. “I’m hoping we can do it sooner [than
December], I was hoping before Thanksgiving,” Gov. Wolf said to PJ Maloney on KQV
radio Monday morning. However, the
governor later said that projections made earlier by Senate Majority Leader
Jake Corman (R-Centre) of a December budget might be “more realistic.” “We want to do it soon, quickly,” he said. Asked about the House’s expectations of a
December budget, House Republican spokesman Steve Miskin said while House
Republican leaders remain hopeful a budget can be finished by Thanksgiving, a
December budget is not out of the realm of possibility.
PA-BGT: So Close, Yet So
Far
PoliticsPA Written by Jason Addy, Contributing Writer November 16, 2015
The clock is running
out on Gov. Tom Wolf and GOP leaders as they try to end
the 20-week budget impasse by Thanksgiving. The first-year Democrat and Republican
legislative leaders are ironing out details on a deal that would bring in an
additional $2 billion for the fiscal year that started July 1. Under the
agreement, $400
million in additional funding will be plowed into the state’s
school system, with homeowners set to see their property taxes rolled back. The deal does not contain a natural gas
severance tax but does include a 1.25% increase in the sales tax statewide,
which some Democrats in the General Assembly see as a “red flag” for a
regressive tax code, Marc
Levy of the Associated Press reports. “That’s a lot to ask a Democrat to vote for
that,” State Sen. Daylin Leach said. “We usually ask Republicans to vote for
that.”
Wolf is willing to
give up on the severance tax to bring Republicans on board with his effort to close
the gap between PA’s rich and poor school districts.
“Act 1 has done and continues
to do what it was intended to do — and it has done this despite the fact that
we’ve been seeing some of the steepest increases in mandated costs for school
districts, mostly in the form of pension costs, during the same time period,”
said Hannah Barrick, director of advocacy for the Pennsylvania Association of
School Business Officials. “It is critical that school districts have some
ability to increase their revenue annually, as costs, mostly mandated costs,
increase every year.”
Capitolwire:
Property tax elimination, back-end referendum continue to be topics of
conversation in state Capitol.
Driving those discussions is the fact that two out of three school districts raise taxes every year, most within Act 1 index limits.
Driving those discussions is the fact that two out of three school districts raise taxes every year, most within Act 1 index limits.
Campaign
for Fair Education Funding website By Christen Smith Staff Reporter Capitolwire
November 16, 2015
HARRISBURG
(Nov.16) — The Act 1 index school districts fear losing as part of a five-month
overdue budget deal shields taxpayers from footing the bill for ballooning
mandated costs, advocates say. But it
doesn't prevent all tax hikes — meaning any relief generated by a proposed $2
billion sales tax increase could evaporate in a matter of years, leaving
property owners paying more for schools and the things they buy. “The fear is if we somehow temporarily reduce
property taxes that it's something of a bait and switch game,” said Sen. Dave
Argall, R-Schuylkill, who has long pushed for total elimination property tax
plans over piecemeal proposals. “And in a few years people would be back to
paying property taxes again at the same rate or higher.” It's a
reality both Gov. Tom Wolf and legislative Republicans want to change, despite
the protest from scores of school advocacy groups across the state who say
eliminating Act 1 will skyrocket property taxes — or force districts to make
“draconian” cuts just to survive.
"Kathy Swope, a member
of the Lewisburg Area School Board in Union County, said local control of
property taxes is crucial – and is already kept in check by voters. "If we get it wrong -- and my fellow
school directors will tell you this is true -- we will get phone calls at home,
we will get stopped in the supermarket," said Swope. "Ultimately, if
we continue to get it wrong, they will vote us out."
WHYY Newsworks BY MARY WILSON NOVEMBER 16, 2015
Tiny preschoolers
and K-12 school students took Monday off to join school board members and
exasperated parents calling for an end to Pennsylvania 's budget impasse, as Gov. Tom
Wolf signaled a budget deal wouldn't be ready before December. Members of the advocacy coalition known as
Campaign for Fair Education Funding fanned out throughout the Capitol building
to meet individually with their lawmakers and ask for a finalized state budget. "If this doesn't get done soon, there
will be a domino effect of school districts unable to meet their fiscal
responsibilities," said Bill Haberl, superintendent of the Pen Argyl School District in Northampton County .
"And I see that happening very quickly between Thanksgiving and
Christmas."
Mt. Lebanon School District opposes elimination of Act
1 Index
Post Gazette By
Deana Carpenter November 16, 2015 10:01 PM
As a response to the
state budget stalemate, Mt.
Lebanon ’s school board
president Lawrence Lebowitz and Superintendent Tim Steinhauer have sent a
letter to Governor Tom Wolf expressing opposition to the possible elimination
of the state’s Act 1 Index. Mr. Lebowitz
said at a Monday school board meeting that the state’s current budget proposal
includes language that would require school districts to place a referendum on
the ballot for “any and all property tax increases.” Act 1 went into effect in 2006 and allows
school districts to apply to increase taxes for expenses such as pension
payments and special education to a pre-set index based on wage inflation.
Currently, a referendum is not needed for the increases as long as they don’t
exceed the district’s index. “Eliminating
these exceptions is simply a bad idea,” Mr. Lebowitz said, adding that it would
not only adversely affect the Mt.
Lebanon School
District , but all districts in the state.
"When the rally ended,
Michael Faccinetto, president of the Bethlehem Area School Board, said
Harrisburg can keep its extra money it if it means local school boards lose
elective rights to manage taxes.
"To sell out in one year $350 million in new dollars for 50 years
of back-end referendums," Faccinetto said, "I don't think that's
something we are interested in."
PA budget deal causing Capitol buzz
Steve
Esack Contact ReporterCall Harrisburg Bureau
HARRISBURG — One
week before Thanksgiving, the Capitol buzzed Monday with lawmakers, Gov. Tom Wolf and special interest groups gearing up for a
possible deal to end the state's months-old budget stalemate. Here, a House committee took less than 15
minutes to pass a bill to dismantle and sell the state liquor store system as
state store workers and lobbyists watched in silence. There, a Senate panel positioned fiscal bills
for a possible deal that could involve a 21 percent sales tax hike to cover the
state's $1.3 billion deficit, offset some local school property taxes and add
about $350 million in education spending while shifting other money around to
cover ballooning pension costs. And Wolf
said during a weekly radio interview that the budget package under
consideration has something to "please everyone, and there's something in
this framework to displease everyone."
At the grand Rotunda steps, public school officials and parents rallied
for and against parts of that framework.
VIDEO: Education advocates
support fair funding, oppose backend referendum proposal
The PLS Reporter Author: Alanna Koll/Monday, November 16,
2015 Runtime: 4:45
The Campaign for
Fair Education Funding held a press conference in the Main Rotunda Monday to
advocate for fair funding and oppose the backend referendum proposal.
VIDEO: PSBA holds briefing
for Education Budget Action Day
The PLS Reporter PLUS November 16, 2015
Runtime 3:33
Nathan Mains,
Executive Director of The Pennsylvania School Boards Association answered
questions about the budget stalemate after a briefing in the House majority
caucus room.
Liquor privatization
components of budget framework take shape
The PLS Reporter Author: Jason Gottesman/Monday, November
16, 2015
The liquor
privatization component of the budget framework began to firm up Monday as a legislative
vehicle was moved from committee and negotiators continued working to pin down
the specifics of what will be the final agreement. Taking a largely procedural step, the House
Liquor Control Committee voted to approve House Bill 1690 along a 14-9
party-line vote, putting the bill in place to be used as a vehicle for final
liquor privatization language. The bill
was described as being nearly identical to House Bill 466, which was vetoed by
the governor earlier this year. Both bills are
sponsored by House Speaker Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny).
DN Editorial: Compromise
or curse?
Philly Daily News Editorial Updated on NOVEMBER 16, 2015 — 3:01 AM EST
THERE WAS A SENSE of
relief last week when Gov. Wolf and Republican legislative leaders announced a
tentative agreement on a new state budget.
Our first reaction was, better late than never. The state had gone five
months without the ability to spend because of the stalemate in Harrisburg , forcing
school districts to borrow money to keep operating and social-service agencies
to furlough workers. Details about the
deal are hard to come by because it is not completely worked out, though the
governor has said he is hopeful a budget bill can be signed before
Thanksgiving. We do know that the deal
calls for an increase in the state sales tax and also includes additional money
- in the range of $350 million to $400 million - for public schools. We also know that
the tentative deal does not - repeat does not - include a tax on natural-gas
extraction that Wolf made a centerpiece of his campaign. Both sides portray the deal a
less-than-perfect compromise where both sides get the political equivalent of
half a loaf.
We wish we could
cheer, but we need more information before that happens.
by John Baer, Daily News Political
Columnist Updated on NOV16,
2015 — 3:01 AM EST
PICKING A POLITICAL
winner in the budget "framework" announced with few details last week
in Harrisburg
is a little like playing fantasy football.
All the right issues (just like players) are in the game - liquor,
pensions, schools and taxes - but how they play out is anybody's guess. Philadelphia , for example, stands to win more money for
schools. But a proposed hike in the sales tax from an already statewide high of
8 percent to 9.25 percent is a loss for city residents and retailers. Anybody want to a start a chartered-bus firm
for shopping trips to Jersey and Delaware ? Speaking of entrepreneurial opportunity,
there's likely to be another cigarette-tax increase. So as the per-pack price
climbs yet again, the city's loosey market is in for boom times. You a renter? Bend
over. You'll pay more in sales tax to fund property-tax cuts you won't get. And if you're a
renter who smokes and buys lots of stuff? Get a loan, extend your credit or
move.
If you're looking
for good news, look someplace else.
Property tax relief at
center stage
The net effect could
be an additional $1.4 billion annually for property tax relief.
School officials warn of
fiscal peril
“Pennsylvania ranks as the
worst state in the nation for funding inequality between its wealthiest and
poorest school districts, with the spending gap per student between these two groups
more than double the national average,” education analyst Waslala Miranda, the
author of the study, wrote."
Editorial: How to bridge
the school funding gap?
Delco Times
Editorial POSTED: 11/16/15, 10:15 PM EST | UPDATED: 2 HRS AGO
Debate about funding
education in Pennsylvania
was the driving force to the election of Gov. Tom Wolf and the subsequent
stalemate in getting a state budget passed.
Now, with reforms and potentially more money on the horizon for schools,
there remains a concern even with more funding, the gap between rich and poor
continues to widen. A recent study by
the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center , titled “Undermining Educational Opportunity,”
showed that “bottom line, the funding cuts hurt most the students who could
least afford it, and continue to do so,” said Stephen Herzenberg, director of
both the policy center and the Keystone
Research Center .
For passionate principal
Hackney, new role
by Kristen A. Graham, Inquirer Staff Writer Updated on NOVEMBER
16, 2015 — 3:01 AM EST
It was a hot summer
day five years ago, a getting-to-know-you lunch between the new principal at
South Philadelphia High and a veteran City Council member from the
neighborhood. In front of Otis Hackney
was a seemingly impossible task: healing a school thrust into the national
spotlight by violence against its Asian students, a school where the academics
were abysmal and morale was worse. By the end of their meeting, Jim
Kenney knew that Hackney, a Philly guy who was giving up a
good job in the suburbs to come home, was going to succeed. "Jim saw something in me that I wasn't
sure of myself," Hackney said Friday after Mayor-elect Kenney announced
that South Philadelphia High's principal would be Philadelphia 's next chief education officer.
It's telling that
Kenney plucked Hackney to lead on an issue the incoming mayor has said is a top
priority. Hackney, 43, has been a voice
for neighborhood schools, a partner, a problem solver, a hard worker. He has
spoken out for equity, for fair funding for the Philadelphia School
District .
Philly schools see fewer
charter applications
by Martha Woodall, Inquirer Staff Writer Updated on NOVEMBER 16, 2015 —
6:00 PM EST
The Philadelphia School District received fewer
applications for new charter schools in 2016 and 2017 than officials expected. A total of 22 would-be operators told the
district last month they planned to apply, but only 14 groups submitted their
proposals by Sunday's deadline, a district spokesman said Monday. Ten proposals were came from operators
seeking to replicate or expand charter schools already operating in the
district, such Folk Arts Cultural Treasures Charter, which wants to open a
second K-8 campus in Chinatown. The
roster includes six applicants that had not applied last year, such as James Baldwin
Charter High
School which wants to open in Mantua .
Most of the proposed schools would open next fall, but five would wait
until the 2017-18 academic year. If
approved, the 14 new schools would add 9,845 students to the charter roster
over the next six years.
Give Philly's Renaissance School turnaround process a chance
WHYY Newsowrks COMMENTARY BY STEPHANIE CAPEHART NOVEMBER 16, 2015 ESSAYWORKS
As someone who has
been through the Renaissance
School turnaround
process, I would like to share my story in hopes of helping the parents at
Cooke, Huey and Wister find some comfort during what I know is a difficult
time. My daughter was in second grade at
Grover Cleveland Elementary when the district announced that our school was
entering the Renaissance
Turnaround Initiative. To be completely honest, I was angry at first. I'm
an alumna of the school with deep ties in this community, which Cleveland has always been
a major part of. I had a lot of anxiety, because I was uncertain about what the
future held for my family.
Report notes academic gains in Pittsburgh Public
Schools
By Clarece Polke / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
November 16, 2015 11:44 PM
Amid ongoing
struggles with declining enrollment and student discipline in the Pittsburgh
Public Schools, an education advocacy group said it has found noticeable
improvements in student outcomes. “This
is more than a notion ... there are some serious gains being made here in the
district, but of course we still have a very long way to go to make sure every
child in this district gets a great and equitable education,” Carey Harris,
executive director of the group A+ Schools, said of the findings in a report
released Monday. The 11th Annual
Report to the Community on Public School Progress in Pittsburgh used district- and state-reported
data from the 2014-15 school year for 50 district schools and six charter
schools.
2015 Report to the Community on Public School Progress
in Pittsburgh
Graduation and Promise eligibility up;
gaps persist in achievement, attendance and suspensions
A+Schools November 2015
Dear supporter of public education
in Pittsburgh ,
Today, we released our Annual Report to the Community on Public School Progress
in Pittsburgh. I wanted to share
with you some progress that's been made over the past four years that are a
testament to the hard work of so many in our district to focus on getting
students prepared for college and career. But that joy over the progress made
is also tempered with some significant challenges for our students. Change is difficult, but not impossible. Graduation rates are up. More of
our schools are showing contributions to academic growth that exceed state
averages. Performance on the Keystones is improving. This
is a testament to the hard work of teachers, students, and parents in the past
years.
"On Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
at The State Theatre in State College , the
public is invited to attend the public screening of the new documentary on this
issue: “Education Inc.”
Their view: Public
education under attack
Centre Daily Times Opinion BY SUE LEMMO November 15, 2015
Sue Lemmo is president of the Central Region,
Pennsylvania State Education Association, and a high school teacher in the Curwensville Area School District .
For the past decade
or more, some very powerful people and groups have promoted strategies to
privatize our nation’s public schools while calling themselves “reformers.”
Their not-so-hidden agenda is actually not to “reform” our public schools but
to privatize and extract private profits from them. What’s wrong with privatization? First and
most importantly, it doesn’t benefit all students. Some may benefit in a
so-called “free market” of tax-funded but privately operated schools; many
more, including those with special needs and from impoverished communities,
will be left behind. On Tuesday at 7:30
p.m. at The State Theatre in State College ,
the public is invited to attend the public screening of the new documentary on
this issue: “Education Inc.” This powerful film exposes the public education
reform agenda by corporate reform marketers to privatize and extract private
profits from public education. Admission
to the event is the donation of a new child’s book for the Mid-State Literacy
Council’s summer reading program. The event is sponsored by the teachers and
support staff of Pennsylvania State Education Association, Central Region.
"In the last few years,
nearly every state has implemented systems to evaluate teachers based in part
on student test scores, largely because the Obama administration made it a
condition for states to receive either a grant under Race to the Top or a waiver
from the federal No Child Left Behind law.
But the practice has come under growing scrutiny. Last week, the
American Educational Research Association became the latest organization to
caution against using value-added models — complex algorithms that try to
measure a teacher’s impact on student test scores — to judge the performance of
teachers. It joined the National Research Council, the American Statistical
Association and the Rand Corporation, which have all said that schools should
not use these models to make important decisions about a teacher’s pay or
employment status."
Hillary Rodham Clinton
said she is opposed to using student test scores as a way to judge a teacher’s
performance, dismissing a key feature of education policies promoted by the
Obama administration. Clinton, who is
seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, made the remarks during a
closed-door meeting with 25 teachers and paraprofessionals that was organized
by the American Federation of Teachers on Nov. 9 in New Hampshire . Liz Lynch, a teacher from North
Bergen , N.J. , told Clinton that she was in
favor of teachers being held accountable but that in recent years, overtesting
has consumed her school. “Students have
been made to take paper and pencil tests in PE and music just so they can be
evaluated,” Lynch said, according to a transcript released by AFT on Monday.
“Teachers spend an inordinate amount of time giving benchmark tests to prepare
for more tests. And all the testing is crowding out time my students and I used
to spend on cooperative learning, critical thinking and project-based
learning.”
Four Ways Hillary Clinton
Might Differ From Obama on K-12 Policy
Education Week
Politics K-12 Blog By Andrew Ujifusa on November
16, 2015 12:45 PM
Having picked up the
endorsement of the American Federation of Teachers in the Democratic primary
earlier this year, Hillary Clinton participated in a roundtable
organized by the union on Nov. 9. During the discussion with
union President Randi Weingarten and several AFT members, Clinton expanded on her views on charter
schools, which have been making waves over the past week, as well as her
commitment to increased Title I funding.
The roundtable, which the AFT released excerpts from, also offered an
opportunity for Clinton to raise issues where she might depart from President
Barack Obama's policies, as well as such issues that didn't come up (at least
directly) in her discussions with teachers. Let's look at four of those, and
where Weingarten sees perhaps the biggest contrast.
Hillary Clinton Says
Exactly What Teachers Unions Want to Hear
US News By Lauren CameraNov.
16, 2015 | 12:09 p.m. EST+ More
Democratic
presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton so far is saying everything teachers
unions want to hear – and a lot of that includes bashing the Obama
administration's education agenda.
On Nov. 9 in Nashua , New Hampshire , Clinton met with 25
members of the 1.6 million-member American Federation of Teachers to talk
charter schools, testing, ongoing congressional efforts torewrite No Child Left Behind, and the state of education
after several years of major change to the K-12 landscape. The teachers union
released excerpts of the session on Sunday.
"I think
there's been too much contention and lack of cooperation when it comes to
education," Clinton said, taking both a shot at the administration – which
has embraced education policies that run counter to union priorities – and at
GOP presidential hopefuls like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who said
over the summer that "the national teachers union" deserves a
punch in the face. The American
Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association are the
two major national teachers unions. Both have endorsed Clinton , and both have called for current
Education Secretary Arne Duncan's resignation.
Concrete victories won by the anti-testing movement
(so far)
By Valerie Strauss November
17 at 4:00 AM
It
wasn’t that long ago that many school reformers and education policymakers gave
short shrift to, or outright ridiculed, parents and educators who fought the
overuse and misuse of standardized tests. It was only two years ago almost to
the day when Education Secretary Arne Duncan said lots of “white suburban moms”
opposed the Common Core State Standards and aligned standardized tests because
they realized “their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were.” Now, of course, Duncan and President Obama
have conceded that kids do, after all, take too many standardized tests, and
states and districts are moving to dial back some of the exams while Congress
may pass legislation to rewrite No Child Left Behind in a way that reduces
federal involvement in testing. A
new report details the advances made by the anti-testing movement in
the past year. It was issued by FairTest, the National Center
for Fair and Open Testing, which works to eliminate the misuse of standardized
tests, and written by Lisa Guisbond with Monty Neill and Bob Schaeffer (all of
FairTest). Here are some of the findings:
Education
Bloggers Daily Highlights 11-16-15
PSBA New School Director
Training
School boards who will welcome new directors after the election should
plan to attend PSBA training to help everyone feel more confident right from
the start. This one-day event is targeted to help members learn the basics of
their new roles and responsibilities. Meet the friendly, knowledgeable PSBA
team and bring everyone on your “team of 10” to get on the same page fast.
- $150 per
registrant (No charge if your district has a LEARN Pass. Note: All-Access
members also have LEARN Pass.)
- One-hour lunch
on your own — bring your lunch, go to lunch, or we’ll bring a box lunch to
you; coffee/tea provided all day
- Course
materials available online or we’ll bring a printed copy to you for an
additional $25
- Registrants
receive one month of 100-level online courses for each registrant, after
the live class
Nine locations
for your convenience:
- Philadelphia
area — Nov. 21 William Tennent HS, Warminster (note: location changed from
IU23 Norristown)
- Pittsburgh area
— Dec. 5 Allegheny IU3, Homestead
- South Central
PA and Erie areas (joint program)— Dec. 12 Northwest Tri-County IU5,
Edinboro and PSBA, Mechanicsburg
- Butler area —
Jan. 9 Midwestern IU 4, Grove City (note: location changed from Penn State
New Kensington)
- Allentown area
— Jan. 16 Lehigh Career & Technical Institute, Schnecksville
- Central PA —
Jan. 30 Nittany Lion Inn, State College
- Scranton area
— Feb. 6 Abington Heights SD, Clarks Summit
- North Central
area —Feb. 13 Mansfield University, Mansfield
Register here: https://www.psba.org/2015/09/new-school-director-training/
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
The Network for Public Education 3rd
Annual National Conference April 16-17, 2016 Raleigh , North Carolina .
The
Network for Public Education is thrilled to announce the location for our 3rd
Annual National Conference. On April 16 and 17, 2016 public education advocates
from across the country will gather in Raleigh, North Carolina. We chose Raleigh to highlight the tremendous
activist movement that is flourishing in North Carolina. No one exemplifies
that movement better than the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, who will be the
conference keynote speaker. Rev. Barber is the current president of
the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, the National NAACP chair of
the Legislative Political Action Committee, and the founder of Moral Mondays.
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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