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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup December 19, 2015:
House tax vote could end
budget impasse; Bill Greene: School Code changes would make ensuring charter
accountability impossible
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:
VIDEO: Adolph on passing
the budget: "You never know about votes until you see them on the
scoreboard"
The PLS Alanna Koll/Friday, December 18,
2015 Video runtime: 2:20
House Appropriations
Committee Chairman Bill Adolph (R-Delaware) and Minority Chairman Joe Markosek
(D-Allegheny) give a brief budget update after Friday's meeting.
http://www.plsreporter.com/Home/TabId/56/artmid/472/articleid/1075/Default.aspx#.VnRe2I6pboe.twitter
House tax vote could produce state budget deal
By Karen Langley and
Kate Giammarise / Post-Gazette Harrisburg
Bureau December 18, 2015 10:53 PM
HARRISBURG — The
House is planning a tax vote this weekend that could lead to the end of
Pennsylvania’s nearly half-year budget impasse, but details of the proposed
changes are being kept under wraps. “It’ll
either be tomorrow or Sunday, but there will be a tax vote, yes,” House
Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana, said during a brief interview Friday in a
Capitol hallway. House Republican
leaders had charged Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, with rallying support in their
chamber for a revenue package that would pay for the $30.78 billion one-year
spending plan passed by the Senate and supported by Mr. Wolf. “We are confident we have the support to pass
that and the votes to pass that,” Jeffrey Sheridan, spokesman for the governor,
said Friday when asked about a revenue package.
Morning Call Mark Scolforo Of
The Associated Press December 18, 2015
Budget impasse could
maybe, possibly, perhaps be over this weekend
The PLS Reporter Author: Jason Gottesman/Friday, December
18, 2015
Hopes were higher
than ever among some at Pennsylvania ’s
Capitol Friday with the news that Gov. Tom Wolf secured enough votes in both
chambers to pass a revenue package that will fund the $30.8 billion budget plan
agreed-to as part of the framework announced just before Thanksgiving. "We are confident we have the votes to
pass a revenue package," said Gov. Wolf's press secretary Jeff Sheridan.
"We look forward to bringing this impasse to an end so we can fund our
schools, balance the budget, begin to fix our deficit and move Pennsylvania
forward." Sheridan could not confirm the number of
Republican or Democratic votes in the House—the chamber with the largest
question mark in terms of tax increase support—that will be used to get a
majority in the chamber. Neither could
House Democratic spokesperson Bill Patton. “We won’t know that
until the vote’s taken,” he said. “We’re very hopeful, but it’s going to take
some time.” Not knowing about the number
of votes was a theme oft-repeated throughout the morning in the halls of the
Capitol. Confirming that a vote on the
tax package will occur either Saturday or Sunday, House Majority Leader Dave
Reed (R-Indiana) said nobody will know the exact makeup of the votes until they
are on the board after the vote is taken.
"Mr. Wolf’s office has
not named names of House Republicans who are willing to cross their leadership.
To pass, it will need 102 votes in the 203-member chamber. Top Democrats say
that at least 73 out of 83 Democrats will support it, meaning close to 30 out
of 119 Republican votes are necessary to pass it."
House plans tax vote Saturday
that may end months-long budget impasse
Post Gazette By Mark
Scolforo and Marc Levy / Associated Press December 18, 2015 10:28 AM
What's in the tax package
to support $30.8 billion budget? Good question
Penn Live By Jan Murphy |
jmurphy@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on
December 18, 2015 at 1:51 PM, updated December 18, 2015 at 2:44 PM
Gov. Tom Wolf's
administration is confident the governor has the votes needed to pass a tax
package to support a $30.8 billion spending plan, said his spokesman. But
as of Friday afternoon, no one knew quite sure what tax increases or new taxes
would be in it. Most shared they heard
it would include the first increase in the state's 3.07 percent personal income
tax since 2004. Rep. Stan Saylor,
R-Red Lion, said he heard it was an increase in that tax rate to 3.3 percent.
Others said they heard it was an increase to 3.27 percent, along with a myriad
of other taxes that likely included an increase in the tax on cigarettes and
new taxes on other tobacco products. House Majority
Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana, and a top-level Senate Republican staffer said
some final changes were still being made to the tax package and neither would
share details. Reed said he
expected the House to be voting on it over the weekend, depending on how
quickly the legislation detailing the budget agreement is drafted.
"The income tax increase
under consideration would bring in about $700 million to $800 million a year.
It would be the first change in that tax rate since 2004, when a 10 percent
increase helped end a nearly six-month stalemate between Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell
and a Republican-controlled Legislature."
Wolf claims he has support
for state income tax increase in GOP-led House
Trib Live By Brad
Bumsted Friday, Dec. 18, 2015, 10:48 a.m.
HARRISBURG — On the 171st day of a state budget stalemate, lawmakers are considering a proposal to raise the Pennsylvania income tax from 3.07 percent to 3.3 percent, Republican and Democratic legislative sources said Friday. Gov. Tom Wolf's office said it secured the votes to pass tax legislation in the GOP-controlled House, a crucial step toward ending the impasse. “We are confident that we have the votes to pass this,” Wolf's spokesman Jeffrey Sheridan told The Associated Press. The tax vote planned for Saturday could pit House conservatives against Wolf, the Republican-controlled Senate and Democratic lawmakers. Wolf and his allies in the legislature back a $30.8 billion spending plan and accompanying $1 billion-plus tax plan. An income tax hike was part of Wolf's budget plan in March but has been in and out of various plans since.
HARRISBURG — On the 171st day of a state budget stalemate, lawmakers are considering a proposal to raise the Pennsylvania income tax from 3.07 percent to 3.3 percent, Republican and Democratic legislative sources said Friday. Gov. Tom Wolf's office said it secured the votes to pass tax legislation in the GOP-controlled House, a crucial step toward ending the impasse. “We are confident that we have the votes to pass this,” Wolf's spokesman Jeffrey Sheridan told The Associated Press. The tax vote planned for Saturday could pit House conservatives against Wolf, the Republican-controlled Senate and Democratic lawmakers. Wolf and his allies in the legislature back a $30.8 billion spending plan and accompanying $1 billion-plus tax plan. An income tax hike was part of Wolf's budget plan in March but has been in and out of various plans since.
Another day, another
deadline and still no #PaBudget: Friday Morning Coffee
By John L. Micek |
jmicek@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on
December 18, 2015 at 8:28 AM, updated December 18, 2015 at 8:30 AM
Good Friday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
We're seriously late and way behind schedule on this 18th day of December, so let's run down the five things we know about the state of budget talks. 1. Oh That Deadline: The Thursday, 12:30 p.m. deadline that House Republicans set forGov. Tom Wolf to round up GOP support for a tax vote came and went without any fanfare. There were no trumpets, no alarums, no rending of garments and tearing of garments. The administration told the Inky the ultimatum was "ridiculous." But as our friends at the PLS Reporter duly note, there was a fair amount of gnashing of teeth by Republican lawmakers who were upset that Wolf didn't play by their preposterous ground rules.
We're seriously late and way behind schedule on this 18th day of December, so let's run down the five things we know about the state of budget talks. 1. Oh That Deadline: The Thursday, 12:30 p.m. deadline that House Republicans set forGov. Tom Wolf to round up GOP support for a tax vote came and went without any fanfare. There were no trumpets, no alarums, no rending of garments and tearing of garments. The administration told the Inky the ultimatum was "ridiculous." But as our friends at the PLS Reporter duly note, there was a fair amount of gnashing of teeth by Republican lawmakers who were upset that Wolf didn't play by their preposterous ground rules.
School Code changes would
make ensuring charter accountability impossible
the notebook
Commentary by Bill Green December 18, 2015
Bill Green is a member of the School Reform
Commission and a former member of City Council.
At the Dec.
17 School Reform Commission meeting, Commissioner Bill Green expressed his
concerns about proposed new provisions in the Pennsylvania
School Code regarding charter schools
that were introduced in the legislature as part of the ongoing Harrisburg
- See more at: http://www.elc-pa.org/resource/2607/#sthash.FhDPW6YT.dpuf
Statement of Education Voters: Comment on proposed
School Code language As adopted by the Senate on December 10th, 2015
Education Voters
Posted on December 14, 2015 by EDVOPA
We are troubled that
during this protracted budget stalemate the Senate has chosen to pass a bill
that contains what is essentially a state takeover and charter school
conversion model that is only for Philadelphia ,
and that provides language that could limit any community’s ability to place
reasonable enrollment limits in their contracts with charter vendors.
Communities must retain authority over the contracts they are obligated to pay
for. We support the establishment of a commission to study the issue of
charter school funding but believe that the charter sector should be limited to
informing the process rather than being provided with seats on the voting body.
School districts must
budget despite impasse
York Daily Record by Angie Mason,
amason@ydr.com12 p.m. EST December 18, 2015
School districts in York County
and around Pennsylvania
must start making decisions about their 2016-17 budgets, despite not knowing
how the state budget will end up affecting finances for their current school
year. The state Act 1 index sets limits
on how much school districts are allowed to raise taxes for the following
school year. There's a January deadline by which school boards must either
agree to keep any potential tax increase below that limit, or decide to ask the
state for exceptions to go above that limit if necessary. The exceptions
might be allowed for certain reasons such as retirement or special
education costs. This year, districts
say they have to make that decision based on very little information. With the
2015-16 state budget still looming unfinished, officials aren't sure what state
funding to expect for this year, much less next year.
Special Education: Area
school districts navigate the funding formula
Jake Austin The
Sentinel December 19, 2015
The Pennsylvania state
budget is now six months late, and many school districts in the state are
beginning to face their own budget crises.
Part of the issue is the status of Pennsylvania special education programs,
which remain operational, but have felt the impasse’s weight nonetheless. “There are several (special
education) grants out there from PA that districts can apply for based on needs
and programs,” said Big Spring High School Special Education Department Chair
and Transition Coordinator Ashley Gleeson. “We have not heard if we have gotten
grants yet because of the (state) budget situation. We are crossing our fingers
that the budget goes through soon because (one of the grants) is very
competitive.” But funding issues for
special education programs have existed long before this current budget debate.
CNN Money by Heather Long @byHeatherLong
December 18, 2015: 3:31 PM ET
States are required
to pass budgets each year. Most got their budgets done by the July 1 deadline.
But not Illinois and Pennsylvania . They are now 170 days overdue.
"I've been
doing this for 25 years and I can't recall ever seeing two states enter
December without adopting a budget for the fiscal year," says Arturo
Perez, a fiscal analyst for the National Conference of State Legislatures. Both states have the same problem:
Republicans and Democrats who can't work together. Illinois
has a brand new Republican governor who is fighting a state legislature
controlled by Democrats. Pennsylvania has the
reverse: a new Democratic governor battling a Republican-led legislature. Unlike the federal government, states are
required by law to pass balanced budgets. That's where the problems arise. Both
the states are largely stuck over how to close budget shortfalls: by raising
taxes or making cuts?
It also comes at a
time when there's increasingly loud calls to transfer power away from the
federal government to the state level.
"Standardized testing —
especially when it’s done to every child every year, and when bribes and
threats are employed to coerce better results — was nevernecessary to tell us which
schools were failing. Heck, you could just drive by them and make a reasonable
guess. (The eminent educator Nel Noddings once called that “the windshield
test.”) For years, I’ve been challenging NCLB’s defenders to name a single
school anywhere in the country whose inadequacy was a secret until students
were subjected to yet another wave of standardized tests. But testing isn’t just superfluous; it was,
and remains, immensely damaging — to low-income students most of all. As I
argued 15 years ago, standardized exams measure what matters least
about learning and serve mostly to make dreadful forms of teaching appear
successful. Pressure to raise scores has driven out many of our best teachers
and many of our most vulnerable students. It has taken second-rate schools and
turned them into third-rate test-prep factories."
What ‘No Child Left Behind’ Left Behind
Blog By Alfie Kohn December 2015
The metamorphosis of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) from No Child Left Behind
(NCLB) into the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is being hailed as a historic
triumph of bipartisan compromise (HTBC). Why, we haven’t seen such lopsided
approval votes in Congress since . . . well, since Democrats and Republicans
put aside their petty differences and agreed by overwhelming margins to let
Bush invade Iraq . All right, fine. I’m not suggesting the new
education law is analogous to that — or even that it merely trades one
Orwellian legislative label for another. ESSA does represent a substantive
shift: It returns a fair amount of control over education policy to the states.
This has led to celebration in some quarters and worry in others. I believe
both reactions are misconceived, or at least overstated. Let’s start with those who are worried. Their
argument is that NCLB put equity on the agenda, calling our attention to the
inexcusable inadequacy of the schools attended by most poor kids of color and
forcing states to do something about it. That federal oversight is now being
dialed back. To which I’d respond: While
the inadequacy and inequity certainly were (and are) inexcusable, NCLB was
never a reasonable response. Indeed, as many of us predicted at the start, it
did far more harm than good — in general, and with respect to addressing
disparities between black and white, rich and poor, in particular.
The Chicago
Sun-Times reports that federal
investigators are probing the finances of politically-connected Gulen
schools in Illinois . “A clout-heavy charter-school firm that
operates four taxpayer-funded schools in Chicago is suspected of defrauding the
government by funneling more than $5 million in federal grants to insiders and
“away from the charter schools,” according to court records obtained by the
Chicago Sun-Times. “No criminal charges
have been filed in the ongoing investigation of Des Plaines-based Concept
Schools, which has built a network of powerful supporters, including Illinois
House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago.
“According to the newly obtained court documents filed by law-enforcement
authorities, the company, its contractors and “many” of its privately run,
taxpayer-financed charter schools across the Midwest
“engaged in a scheme to defraud a federal program….
http://dianeravitch.net/2015/12/18/illinois-gulen-schools-ynder-investigation-for-fraud-of-millions/
Gulen Linked Charter Schools in Pennsylvania
Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania
Charter School
Young Scholars of McKeesport 2015
Young Scholars of Western Pennsylvania
Charter School
Couple Of Beltway Outlets Accurately Reported How ESSA
“Sausage” Got Made, Says Hill Insider
Over the past week,
there have been at least two in-depth attempts to explain what went on behind
the scenes leading up to last week’s somewhat unanticipated bill-signing
ceremony:
In Morning Consult,
Fawn Johnson reported How Old-School
Legislating Brought an Education Bill to the Finish Line. At Politico, Maggie Severns wrote How
Congress finally killed No Child Left Behind. Stories like these can be important
because they help advocates, educators, and the public understand how things
work — when they work — on Capitol Hill, and what factors shaped the final
result. They are doing what all journalism aims to do, to some extent,
which is to explain how the sausage gets made.
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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