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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup December 29, 2015:
Wolf announcement at 10:30 am today on GOP
passed #PABudget
Gov. Wolf makes a budget announcement
10:30 a.m. Tuesday
"We are public
education. Stop shooting at us. Join with us."
WHYY
Newsworks COMMENTARY BY DAUN KAUFFMAN DECEMBER 28,
2015 ESSAYWORKS
Daun
Kauffman teaches in North Philadelphia public
schools and blogs at LucidWitness.com.
He lives in Hunting
Park Temple University
and an MBA from Harvard
University Graduate
School
The
Pennsylvania Senate's effort to amend the PA School Code (H.B.
530), is part of the backroom wrangling over our state budget. Senate amendments to the bill require the
state to directly take over or close five individual schools every year. This
Senate incursion into education is a textbook example of aggression and
obstruction with no advance intelligence, no input, from "frontline ground
troops." So politicians with uninformed philosophies push more and more
state bureaucracy into sectors where the state is ignorant and, in fact,
failing. It is impossible to continue
silently enduring simplistic views of learning and teaching practice (by
non-practitioners) and simplistic "solution pills" to "fix"
or increase learning, which instead continue generating more and more
collateral damage: academic damage, systemic damage, financial damage, social
damage, personal damage, and more. Newsflash:
There is no simplistic, quick fix, or someone would have done it long ago! In
fact, Pennsylvania took over the School District of Philadelphia Philadelphia
in particular, is a prime cause of our condition, a contrived disaster.
Ask
yourself: After 15 years of state management, is the School District of Philadelphia
Wolf to make announcement today on
GOP-passed budget
Post
Gazette By Marc Levy / Associated Press December 28, 2015 6:27 PM
HARRISBURG
— Lawmakers waited Monday for Gov. Tom Wolf to take action on the budget bill
on his desk and saw no clear way to resolve their differences as Pennsylvania’s
record-long impasse approached its seventh month. Mr. Wolf scheduled a news conference this
morning in the Capitol to discuss the budget. His press secretary declined to
say what Mr. Wolf would announce. Members
of legislative leadership reported no progress over the weekend in efforts to
revive a bipartisan compromise budget after it stalled last week. “I guess at this point, the ball’s in the
governor’s court,” said Rep. Brian Ellis, R-Butler, the House GOP’s caucus
administrator. “We’re waiting to hear from him.” With lawmakers rushing to leave town for
Christmas, the Republican-controlled Senate on Wednesday sent Wolf the main
appropriations bill in a last-ditch, $30.3 billion budget package that had been
written by House GOP majority leaders.
Aide to governor calls Republican budget
irresponsible
John Hanger says it
will cut $95 million for education
69 News , follow: @69news, news@wfmz.com
Posted: 4:16 PM EST Dec 28, 2015 HARRISBURG, Pa. - The Republicans' latest
proposal for a state budget "is another display of fiscal irresponsibility
that will lead to a $95 million cut to local schools," maintains an aide to
Gov. Tom Wolf. "The Republican budget underfunds education and uses
gimmicks that will actually lead to a $95 million cut in funding for our
schools," said John Hanger, secretary of policy and planning in the
governor's office, in a news release. The state has failed to pass an annual
budget, something it was required to do by June 30. "Republicans continue
to refuse to adequately fund Pre-K through 12 education and their budget fails
to fund over $305 million in school construction reimbursements,"
continued Hanger in his statement. "Instead they propose to pay for school
construction by issuing billions in debt. "However, because the Republican
budget fails to take any meaningful steps to fix Pennsylvania ’s structural budget deficit -
which has already led to five credit downgrades - the commonwealth will be
unable to issue debt to fund school construction.
Read more from WFMZ.com at: http://www.wfmz.com/news/aide-to-governor-calls-republican-budget-irresponsible/37162782
Read more from WFMZ.com at: http://www.wfmz.com/news/aide-to-governor-calls-republican-budget-irresponsible/37162782
Wolf to
announce his budget decision on Tuesday
Penn
Live By Jan
Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on
December 28, 2015 at 5:37 PM, updated December 28, 2015 at 7:36 PM
Gov. Tom
Wolf will announce on Tuesday his decision about what he is doing with the House GOP-crafted $30.3 billion state spending plan that the Senate sent him last week to end the nearly
six-month budget impasse. It provides
for a $150 million increase in direct support for school districts – $200
million less than Wolf had agreed to as part of the framework budget deal
struck last month with legislative leaders. But it also likely avoids the need
for increases in income or sales taxes to pay for it.
Will Wolf's
decision on $30.3 billion budget bill be a 'blue-line bonanza'?
Penn
LiveBy Jan
Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on
December 28, 2015 at 7:28 PM, updated December 28, 2015 at 10:14 PM
Pennsylvanians
are waiting to see what Gov. Tom Wolf will do about the $30.3 billion
state budget proposal that sits on his desk – and apparently, we will learn in the morning. Wolf is scheduled to make an announcement at
10:30 a.m. Tuesday. He has some choices
beyond just signing it or vetoing it in its entirety. It is the middle ground
that lies between them that legislative sources shared they heard is the path
the governor will take. That means Wolf
is expected to use his line-item veto authority that allows him to reduce or
eliminate funding entirely for certain budget lines. One source indicated what
we could see is what was described as a "blue-line bonanza," meaning
funding on several budget lines throughout the budget document were cut or
eliminated.
Wolf should
sign #PaBudget, but use veto pen to force further talks: Editorial
By PennLive Editorial
Board on December 28, 2015 at 12:47 PM
Character,
the old saying goes, is what you do when no one is looking. Leadership is what you do, then, when
everyone is looking. And Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf faces this week what may well be the greatest
test of his leadership. And the entire
Commonwealth is watching. Does he
sign a $30.3 billion, Republican-authored budget he professes to
oppose, ending Pennsylvania 's
six-month-old budget standoff, even as he stands to sacrifice some of his key
legislative priorities? Does he
line-item veto some portion of it to force lawmakers to the table to continue
negotiations? Does he veto it in its
entirety, as he has before, thus prolonging the agony, and possibly force some
school districts to shut their doors in 2016?
Or does he allow it to lapse into law without a gubernatorial
signature? At this writing, only Wolf and his inner circle of
advisers know that answer.
Gov. Wolf
could line-item veto
Multiple sources around the
capitol say Wolf is likely to partially veto bill, but Wolf's office said no
decision has been made.
While
the Pennsylvania
state Capitol was largely quiet Monday, there was talk among members of the
state House and Senate that Gov. Tom Wolf might line-item veto the state budget
bill that has been on his desk since Thursday.
Wolf's press secretary, Jeffrey Sheridan, disputed the speculation and
said the governor had "not made any final decisions" around 1:30 p.m.
Monday. Just
after 5 p.m. Monday, Wolf tweeted that he would make a budget announcementat
10:30 a.m. Tuesday. Still, the
line-item veto theory "seems to be the consensus" around the
Capitol, Jason High, chief of staff to state Sen. Scott Wagner, R-Spring Garden Township R-Dover Township
Budget clock
ticking, Wolf stays mum
Philly.com
by Chris Palmer, HARRISBURG BUREAU. Updated: DECEMBER 29, 2015 —
1:08 AM EST
Five
days after the Republican-led legislature handed him a proposal that could end
the state's six-month budget stalemate, but also cast aside his call for a
historic increase in school funding, Gov. Wolf did neither Monday. But he also suggested the wait for an answer
wouldn't be long. After
remaining silent on the budget issue for most of the day, the governor's office
said it would hold a Tuesday morning news conference for "a budget-related
announcement." There were no clues
on what that announcement would be, and the Capitol was largely empty. Earlier in the day, a top Wolf aide lashed
into the GOP's plan, specifically for underfunding schools - a priority issue
for the first-term Democratic governor.
Lawmakers
can't get to yes
Philly.com
Opinion By Kate Harper Updated: DECEMBER
29, 2015 — 3:01 AM EST
State Rep. Kate Harper (R.,
Montgomery) represents the 61st District.
The loss of civil discussion has caused some of the dysfunction we are experiencing in our nation's capital and in state capitals, includingHarrisburg . Competition with hashtags and the
substitution of Twitter feeds for listening get in the way of getting things
done. When I was a young commercial
litigator, someone gave me the book Getting to Yes: Negotiating
Agreement Without Giving In, by William Ury and Roger Fisher. This short
book, based on the Harvard Negotiation Project, teaches a style of negotiation
focused on interests and common ground, rather than dwelling on the people or
positions of the "other side." I found it useful in business
litigation where, despite the lawsuits, there were advantages to maintaining a
long-term relationship with the other parties and neither side wanted to spend
a lot of money on lawyers in courtrooms. Getting a "good result,"
rather than "winning at all costs," was good for business.
The loss of civil discussion has caused some of the dysfunction we are experiencing in our nation's capital and in state capitals, including
Philly
lawmaker calls on House colleagues to return for budget work
WHYY Newsworks
by Tom MacDonald DECEMBER 28, 2015
A
Pennsylvania lawmaker said it's time to get back to the bargaining table and
come up with a budget that better adheres to the framework worked out by all
sides early this month. State Rep.
Jordan Harris, D-Philadelphia, said he's ready to return to Harrisburg and hammer out a spending plan
that provides the funding for schools and social services sought by Gov. Tom
Wolf. "I am still waiting for
House Speaker Mike Turzai to call the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
back to Harrisburg , so that we can work on
the framework that was agreed to," Harris said Monday morning during
groundbreaking ceremonies for a South Philadelphia
playground makeover. Harris said he
can't believe lawmakers left the capital without a finished budget.
Penn
Live By Jan
Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on
December 28, 2015 at 3:54 PM, updated December 29, 2015 at 6:10 AM
Yikes! Only 37
more shopping days until #PaBudget 2016: Monday Morning Coffee
Penn
Live By John
L. Micek | jmicek@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on
December 28, 2015 at 8:24 AM, updated December 28, 2015 at 10:23 AM
Good
Monday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
We enter this final week of 2015 much as we left the previous one, withPennsylvania still in
the throes of a budget deadlock. And
while some of you may still be shaking off the postprandial torpor of that
giant Christmas lunch or the hangover induced by that final round of cocktails,
the Wolf administration begins the week facing the kind of decision no one
wants to face as they ransack the medicine cabinet for that roll of Rolaids or
the bottle of Aleve back behind the expired prescription for Vicodin that you
swear you're going to throw out one of these days. Like the worst gift you could imagine (sansreceipt), the
administration finds itself with a $30.3 billion budget sitting in its lap that
it considers a size too small and in the worst color in the known universe
(banana yellow, perhaps?).
We enter this final week of 2015 much as we left the previous one, with
Disappear? Indeed. EITC/OSTC funding comes from up to $150
million in diverted tax dollars that go primarily to private and religious
schools, including elite Main Line private
schools, that never make it into the general fund and are therefore not
available for budget discussions
EITC/OSTC: Last-minute
holiday gift from Wolf frees student aid
by Martha Woodall, Staff Writer. Updated: DECEMBER 29, 2015 —
1:08 AM EST
Even
though Pennsylvania
is still waiting for a state budget, Gov. Wolf left a little something in the
stockings of scholarship organizations and other educational nonprofits. On Thursday, he directed the Department of
Community and Economic Development to send out tax-credit approval letters that
will enable corporations to fulfill promised scholarships for thousands of
students in 2016-17. State law permits
corporations to obtain tax credits for donations they make to approved
scholarship and educational programs. For
months, organizations that rely on funding from those programs had been urging
the Wolf administration to release the tax-credit approval letters. They warned
that if those letters were not sent by the end of the year, up to $150 million
in philanthropic dollars would "disappear."
Letter: Pa.
Delco
Times Letter by Lisa Esler Posted: 12/29/15, 5:20 AM EST
Lisa Esler, Penn
Delco School Board Director
To the
Times: As a school board member, I understand that after nearly six months
without a budget, lawmakers may be tempted to pass any budget and move on to
2016. But Pennsylvania ’s
state budget has to be done right. There is too much at stake, most importantly
tax hikes on working families. Now is not the time to raise taxes but a time to
downsize Harrisburg
and make it more efficient. School
districts are borrowing money and facing the prospects of closing down after
Christmas. Social service providers are laying off staff. The pain is real. Moody’s Investor Services has downgraded Pennsylvania ’s general
obligation bond outlook to negative as a result of the budget impasse. In
particular, Moody’s noted the impact of the commonwealth’s largest pension
liabilities, poor financial position following years of structural imbalance, and
challenged political environment. The
solution to these problems, however, is not broad-based tax hikes.
Pennsylvanians already shoulder the 10th-highest state and local taxes. A
reasonable, no-tax increase budget can provide needed funds for school districts,
nonprofits, and other state priorities and protect taxpayers. State
constituents balance their personal budgets and school board directors are
required by law to pass a budget on time once a year.
So
perhaps the answer is to start looking within the walls of Harrisburg and trim the fat instead of
digging into the pockets of hard-working Pennsylvanians. Eliminating corporate
welfare would be a good start. Just one of many examples would be the race
horse industry which receives 250 million in taxpayers dollars a year.
"These are not mom and
pop companies," he said. "They can afford to pay it because they pay
it everywhere else. The idea that they are going to leave the area is a
specious argument."
The question
of a severance tax is not likely to go away
Williamsport Sun-Gazette By MIKE
REUTHER mreuther@sungazette.com
December 26, 2015
State
lawmakers struggled into the holiday season to pass this year's state budget
plan but one of the bargaining chips removed from the table was a severance tax
on the natural gas industry. The tax,
long seen as a viable revenue source for the state by many Democrats, including
Gov. Wolf, isn't expected to disappear for good, however. Some feel it has taken nothing more than a
temporary leave of absence - not unlike the drilling for natural gas in central
Pennsylvania . "I
don't think it's ever going to go away," said state Rep. Jeff Wheeland, R-Loyalsock Township
Muslim cleric living in Poconos at center
of lawsuit alleging human rights abuses in Turkey
Tom Shortell Contact Reporter
Of The Morning Call December 28, 2015
From his
26-acre compound in Ross
Township
SAYLORSBURG
— A tale of international intrigue surrounding a Muslim cleric living in exile
in the Poconos continues to grow as three Turkish citizens claim they were
wrongfully imprisoned in their country on his orders. Turkish officials last year issued an arrest
warrant for Fethullah Gulen, claiming the cleric was staging a coup meant to
topple President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. While
Gulen supporters claim Erdogan is trying to destroy opponents in an effort to
secure power, Turkish officials claim Gulen instructed his followers to crack
down on critics with doctored evidence. In
a new lawsuit in U.S. District Court, Bunyamin Ates, Turgut Yildirim and Murat
Ozturk are seeking unspecified punitive damages against Gulen, claiming he
masterminded a plan that left them stuck in prison. The three men follow the Dogan Movement, a
rival Muslim theology with origins similar to the Gulen Movement. Ates controls
several publishing houses that support the Dogan Movement and have criticized
the Gulen Movement.
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-turkish-iman-gulen-in-poconos-federal-lawsuit-20151228-story.html
Objectives of charter schools with Turkish
ties questioned
Charter schools
inspired by Fethullah Gulen operate in 100 countries, including the USA
By Greg
Toppo, USA
TODAY Updated 8/17/2010 9:36 AM
They
have generic, forward-sounding names like Horizon
Science Academy ,
Pioneer Charter School of Science and Beehive Science &
Technology Academy Pennsylvania .
Top Education
Commentaries of 2015: Education Week's Most-Viewed
Published
Online: December 28, 2015
To give a sense of which opinion essays our readers
found most compelling in 2015, the editors at Education Week have
compiled a list of our 10 most-viewed Commentaries. Below, they are ordered by
the number of online page views they generated. Revisit these Commentaries and
examine perspectives you may have missed in 2015.
Five 2015 victories that
put cracks in the ‘testocracy’
NEA Education Votes Blog by Guest blogger:
Jesse Hagopian Posted December
28, 2015
Never in U.S. history
have more students, parents, and teachers engaged in acts of resistance to
standardized tests. During the 2015 testing season, over 620,000
public school students around the U.S. refused to take standardized exams,
according to a report by the National
Center
2016 PA Educational Leadership Summit
The 2016
Educational Leadership Summit, co-sponsored by four leading Pennsylvania education associations,
provides an excellent opportunity for school district administrative teams and
instructional leaders to learn, share and plan together at a quality venue in
"Happy Valley."
Featuring Grant
Lichtman, author of EdJourney: A Roadmap to the Future of Education,
Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera (invited), and Dana
Lightman, author of POWER Optimism: Enjoy the Life You Have...
Create the Success You Want, keynote speakers, high quality breakout
sessions, table talks on hot topics and district team planning and job alike
sessions provides practical ideas that can be immediately reviewed and
discussed at the summit before returning back to your district. Register and pay by April 30, 2016 for the
discounted "early bird" registration rate:
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 Budget Education
Policy Forums
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, 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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