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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup December 18, 2015:
At last night's Haverford school board meeting we
began work on our 2016-2017 budget. It's
December 18th - do you know where your 2015-16 #PABudget is?
Campaign for Fair Education Funding: PA Lawmakers need to deliver a
#PABudget that meets the needs of every child. Ask them to at:
Reach out to your House members this morning. Phone numbers are here:
Wolf, allies press House
GOP for votes on tax increase
Lehigh Valley Live By Associated
Press Follow on
Twitter on December 17, 2015 at 9:51 PM, updated December 18,
2015 at 1:39 AM
Gov. Tom Wolf's
administration and its allies worked through the day Thursday to sway enough
rank-and-file House Republicans behind a $1 billion-plus tax increase to
override opposition from House GOP leaders and end the state government's
5½-month budget stalemate. The day ended
without resolution, after House Speaker Mike Turzai gave the Democratic
governor 24 hours to show whether he could assemble enough votes to move the
tax package through the chamber. With
Wolf phoning rank-and-file Republican lawmakers, the governor's office said it
was "confident" that it will get the support it needs in the
Republican-controlled House. Top House Democrats said they were making
progress, although they declined to name names.
Latest budget deadline
passes with little fanfare, leaves many questions
The PLS Reporter Author: Jason Gottesman/Thursday, December
17, 2015
The deadline set by
House Republican leaders for 12:30 p.m. on Thursday for Gov. Tom Wolf to prove
to them he has the votes to get the revenue for the $30.788 billion budget
agreed-to as part of the five-party budget framework came and went without much
fanfare, but many House members were left with questions about what the final
revenue package would entail. Despite
the stern message sent by House Speaker Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) and House
Majority Leader Dave Reed (R-Indiana) Wednesday night that if the governor did
not come up with the votes the legislature would move forward with some sort of
a stopgap budget, the Wolf administration Thursday morning said they were not
fazed.
“It’s not something
we’re taking seriously,” said Wolf administration spokesperson Jeff Sheridan of
what he called an “artificial” deadline.
Reached later in the day, Sheridan
said the governor had not met with House Republican leaders as of late
afternoon Thursday and he is still meeting with rank-and-file members. Despite being presented with a plan in caucus
Wednesday night that would increase and expand Pennsylvania’s sales tax to
about 14 different categories, it appeared on Thursday morning the leading
revenue proposal would increase the state’s personal income tax in order to
reach the revenue needed to get to the $30.788 billion figure. While some in the Capitol argued an increase
in the personal income tax might be more favorable for Democratic legislators,
there was some concern the change in proposal might not get enough Republicans
to get to 102 votes in the House.
PERC on pension reform
bill: “This really isn’t a big savings bill, it is a bill that shifts the risk
away from the taxpayers”
The PLS Reporter Author: Jason Gottesman/Thursday, December
17, 2015
The Capitol’s “will
they or won’t they” saga concerning whether the Public Employee Retirement
Commission (PERC) would be allowed to attach an actuarial note to the latest
iteration of a pension reform proposal came to a conclusion Thursday when the
commission did just that in an afternoon meeting. During the meeting, it was noted that Senate
Bill 1082—which was largely amended into Senate Bill 1071 by the House State
Government Committee on Tuesday—would save between $1.797 billion and $3.36
billion depending on which version was finally enacted and which factors were
used in calculations. If a drafting
error in the legislation is corrected by a proposed amendment, the amount of
those savings could decrease by either $630 million or 50 percent depending on
how the effect is calculated. “This really
isn’t a big savings bill, it is a bill that shifts the risk away from the
taxpayers,” said PERC executive director Jim McAneny of the proposal that would
create a side-by-side hybrid pension plan for state and public school
employees.
Pension debate shut down
by House leader, will resume Friday
Penn Live By The Associated
Press on December 17, 2015 at 8:30 PM, updated December 17, 2015
at 8:37 PM
“In 2007 PSBA established its
first taskforce to review and develop recommendations to address the pension
crisis and recommended a hybrid plan,” said PSBA Executive Director Nathan
Mains. “Senate Bill 1071 accomplishes this long-standing goal. This reform
effort adds much needed predictability to pension costs for the state and taxpayers
and provides liability protection to school districts, while also providing
security for retired workers.”
PSBA calls latest pension reform a ‘significant move
forward’
PSBA website
December 17, 2015
PSBA believes the
most recent pension reform outlined in Senate Bill 1071 is a significant move
forward in protecting school districts and taxpayers from the fiscal stress of
an unpredictable and costly pension system. Today the Public Employee
Retirement Commission reviewed Senate Bill 1071 and provided its analysis in a
public meeting. Through SB 1071,
starting July 1, 2017, new members of the Public School Employees’ Retirement
System (PSERS) would be placed in a new side-by-side hybrid retirement plan
with a reduced defined benefit component (as compared to current employees) and
a defined contribution component operating similarly to a 401(k) plan. In
addition, the bill would subject current PSERS employees to shared risk/shared
gain employee contribution rate adjustments, and would change how the lump sum
withdrawal option affects the calculation of annuities for current PSERS
employees with regard to withdrawals made after July 1, 2016, of amounts
accumulated after July 1, 2016.
Wolf: GOP budget ultimatum
'ridiculous'
by Chris Palmer, HARRISBURG BUREAU. Updated: DECEMBER 18, 2015 — 1:08 AM EST
Five things we know about
the state of #PaBudget talks: Thursday Morning Coffee
Penn Live By John L. Micek |
jmicek@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on December 17, 2015 at 8:21 AM, updated December 17, 2015 at 8:32 AM
Good Thursday
Morning, Fellow Seekers.
So here's what we know about the state ofPennsylvania 's long-delayed state budget: It
still isn't done yet. But it might be done by the weekend. Also, we might
finally get that call-up to play for the Carolina Hurricanes. Anything, as they say, is possible. So with that in mind, here's a quick
cheat-sheet on where things stand on this 17th day of December.
So here's what we know about the state of
"House GOP members said
privately Wagner's letter had little effect on some of their colleagues, while
others disliked being bullied by the senator. Some, however, expressed concern
that going against the well-heeled senator's wishes might result in him
financing a primary opponent to run against them next spring."
Raising taxes could put
your job at risk, GOP senator warns House Republicans
Penn Live By Jan Murphy |
jmurphy@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on
December 17, 2015 at 4:59 PM, updated December 17, 2015 at 6:18 PM
Sen. Scott Wagner is
telling his Republican legislative colleagues the "code word is no"
when it comes to increased spending and taxes.
The York County Republican sent a letter to House Republicans on
Thursday calling on them to oppose the tax increases needed to raise the $700
million needed to fund the proposed $30.8 billion budget for 2015-16 that Senate
passed last week. "My point is
simply this – now is not the time to raise taxes on Pennsylvania
– it is time to downsize Harrisburg
and make it more efficient," Wagner wrote. "I am asking you to stand
tall with me and not be pressured by Governor Wolf and his threats to vote for
tax increases."
Auditor gives Chester Upland
By Vince Sullivan,
Delaware County Daily
MEDIA COURTHOUSE
>> Delaware County President Judge Chad F. Kenney heard testimony
Thursday morning from the auditor tasked with investigating the last three
years of spending by the Chester Upland School District, and he was pleased
with the results. “We didn’t find any
evidence of fraud, waste or abuse ... ,” said auditor James O’Brien, who headed
the team that conducted the forensic audit for the period from July 2013 until
the current budget year. “It looks like the receiver is moving the financial
operation in the right direction, and when I’m finished with Phase 2 of the
audit I think I’ll be able to say that definitively.” O’Brien referred to the second phase of the
forensic audit, which will examine the years leading up to the receivership of
the district. It began in December 2012. The hearing was called to hear
testimony from the state Department of Education, the Chester Upland
School District
"The idea of the charter
school would be fine if they could find a better formulation of government
funding, instead of squeezing the neighborhood schools dry and dumping all of their
problem students and kids with special needs back into the already distressed
system," said Reynolds.
Philly school supt. Hite
has contract extended, hears raucous debate about charter conversions
WHYY Newsworks BY KEVIN MCCORRY DECEMBER 18, 2015
The Philadelphia
School Reform Commission voted unanimously Thursday night to extend
Superintendent William Hite's contract through 2022 at a meting marked by sharp
testimony about converting traditional schools into charters. SRC members have praised Hite's leadership.
So, too, have many city and state politicians, including Mayor-Elect Jim
Kenney, who supports the extension. "I'm
thrilled to continue that work, and I have no illusions that we will have to do
tough things," said Hite. "There will be many people who will not
agree with the tough things that must be done, but nonetheless those things
must be done." Hite has been
earning $300,000 a year since 2012. The new deal requires teachers to get
raises before his pay increases.
At raucous meeting, Philly
SRC votes to extend Hite's contract through 2022
by Kristen A. Graham, Staff Writer. Updated: DECEMBER 18, 2015 —
1:08 AM EST
The Philadelphia
School Reform Commission voted Thursday night to lock in William R. Hite Jr. as
superintendent for five more years. Hite,
who is paid $300,000 a year, is now under contract through August 2022. The
vote was 4-0, with Chair Marge Neff absent.
He will receive raises only if Philadelphia School
District
By Eric Devlin, The Mercury POSTED: 12/17/15, 2:55 PM EST |
Limerick >>
After witnessing partisan gridlock in Harrisburg, including a six-month overdue
budget and unresolved challenges such as property tax reform, Spring-Ford Area
School Board Vice President Joe Ciresi threw his hat into the race this week
for state representative in Pennsylvania’s 146th legislative district. “By working together — Democrats and
Republicans — we moved the Spring-Ford Area School District into the top 2
percent in this state and reduced debt by $125 million,” Ciresi said in a press
release. The 45-year-old Democrat has
served the school district for more than 10 years, including three years as
president, the release states. His fellow board members, all Republicans,
supported him to lead the board.
Education Week By Arianna
Prothero Published
Online: December 17, 2015
For an education
movement that’s grown exponentially over the past two decades and
scored legislative and legal victories in more than 40 states, the Washington
State Supreme Court’s ruling in September that charter schools are
unconstitutionalcame as a major blow. Since then, national advocates have been
weighing what impact that decision could have on charter schools in other
states. Although the Washington Supreme Court doesn’t have jurisdiction beyond
its state, its ruling could provide a roadmap for charter school opponents
elsewhere, they say. “As you look at the
ruling and the decision, some of the questions that the court examined are
tenets that are similar in state constitutions elsewhere,” said Eric Paisner,
the chief of staff at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. “Until
there’s a specific lawsuit that’s filed, there’s no specific action we can
take. We can do research to have a sense of where risk is.” In Washington , however, local advocates and
parents are scrambling to find ways to keep charter schools open.
Investors Rebel Against
Controversial Online School Operator K12
Teachers unions protested
outside the virtual charter school operator’s shareholder meeting, while
inside, investors voted down its proposal for executive pay.
Molly Hensley-Clancy BuzzFeed News
Reporter posted on Dec. 16, 2015, at 1:44 p.m.
Investors delivered
a strong censure to the country’s largest online charter school operator at its
annual meeting Wednesday, voting down its plan for executive pay. The vote was another sign of discontent among
shareholders of the controversial company K12 Inc., with governance advisory
firm Glass Lewis & Co. citing a “substantial disconnect between
compensation and performance results” in its recommendation that shareholders
vote against the pay proposal. K12, which has made
a business for itself out of operating publicly funded online charter schools
across the country, is at its lowest stock price in five years, down 75% from a
high in September of 2013. In the past few months, it has faced aninvestigation
by California’s attorney general and an onslaught of criticism from
the rest of the education world, which has largely
turned against online schools and their operators because of their
students’ poor performance.
Glass Lewis gave the
company an “F” rating for how it paid its executives compared to peers: K12’s
CEO, Nathaniel Davis, was paid $5.33 million in 2015; its chief financial
officer was paid $3.6 million. K12
confirmed its pay proposal had been voted down, but declined to comment
further.
"Overwhelming Negative Impact"
doesn't necessarily percolate up to the folks receiving your public tax
dollars…..
Morningstar Executive Compensation for K12, Inc. (LRN)
Only in America
Wealthy parents aren't
just able to send their kids to top pre-schools—they can also
purchase the latest learning technology and ensure their
children experience as many museums, concerts and other cultural
experiences as possible. Low-income parents, on the other hand, don't have that
opportunity. Instead, they're often left to face the reality of sending
their kids to schools without having had the chance to provide an edifying
experience at home. That might sound
foreboding if not hyperbolic, but it's a serious and widespread problem in the United States , where
poor kids enter school already a year behind the kids of wealthier
parents. That deficit is among the largest in the developed world, and it
can be extraordinarily difficult to narrow later in life. This is one of the key takeaways from a new
book about how United States
is failing its children. The book, called Too Many Children Left Behind, is written by Columbia University
"Once acclaimed as the
equal-opportunity stepping stone to the middle class, and a way of closing that
divide, higher education has instead become more segregated than ever by wealth
and race as state funding has fallen and colleges and universities — and even
states and the federal government — are shifting financial aid from
lower-income to higher-income students. This has created a system that spends
the least on those who need the most help and the most on those who arguably need
the least. "
The
rich-poor divide on America
Rich,
poor take paths even more dramatically divergent than in the past, new data
show
Hechinger Report by JON MARCUS and HOLLY K. HACKER December
17, 2015
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
Remaining
Locations:
- 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
- Delaware Co. IU 25
— Feb. 1
- 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.
Save
the Dates for These 2016 Annual
EPLC Regional
State
Sponsored
by The Education Policy and Leadership
Center
Thursday, February
11 - 8:30-11:00 a.m. - Harrisburg
Wednesday, February 17 - 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. -Philadelphia (University of Pennsylvania )
Thursday, February 25 - 8:30-11:00 a.m. -Pittsburgh
Wednesday, February 17 - 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. -
Thursday, February 25 - 8:30-11:00 a.m. -
Invitation
and more details in January
PASBO 61st Annual
Conference and Exhibits March 8 - 11, 2016
Hershey Lodge and Convention Center,Hershey , Pennsylvania
Hershey Lodge and Convention Center,
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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