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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup December 4, 2015:
Education funding lawsuit
destined for Pa.
Campaign for Fair Education Funding: PA Lawmakers need to deliver a
#PABudget that meets the needs of every child. Ask them to at:
Education funding lawsuit
destined for Pa.
Delco Times By Nick Tricome , Times Correspondent POSTED: 12/03/15, 10:49 PM EST
The state Supreme
Court is expected to hear oral arguments sometime in 2016 for the lawsuit filed
by school districts and parents throughout Pennsylvania that claims the state is in
violation of its own constitution by underfunding many of its public school
districts. The suit, which was filed in
November 2014 by petitioners in the William Penn, Greater Johnstown, Lancaster,
Panther Valley, Shenandoah Valley and Wilkes-Barre Area school districts, along
with the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools, the NAACP Pennsylvania
State Conference and seven parents with children in underfunded schools was
thrown out by the Commonwealth Court in April, citing previous cases that kept
courts from making decisions on school funding.
An appeal to the Supreme Court was filed that same month, and on Monday,
a reply brief was submitted by the petitioners urging that the courts can and
must look into the claims being made in the lawsuit. The state’s legislative and executive
branches submitted briefs earlier in the month arguing that all education
funding decisions should be protected from judicial review. Jennifer Hoff, the president of the William
Penn School Board, is hoping that their case holds up better at the Supreme
Court than it did the Commonwealth, recalling the state respondents’ argument
that they were meeting their responsibilities by just keeping the lights on and
the doors open.
"Pennsylvania
McInerney says that's no longer the case. "In 2015 it's clear that we do have judicially manageable standards," says McInerney. "We have mechanisms to assess how children are doing in school, what their academic outcomes are."
McInerney says that's no longer the case. "In 2015 it's clear that we do have judicially manageable standards," says McInerney. "We have mechanisms to assess how children are doing in school, what their academic outcomes are."
Parents, School
Districts Ask Supreme Court to Decide Lawsuit
A lawsuit claims Pennsylvania
Public News Service December 3, 2015
"It's clearly not a political question and in fact a majority of states have considered these school funding cases and have rejected arguments that it presents a political question," says McInerney. The lawsuit says the state has failed to meet its constitutional obligation to adequately fund schools, and the current funding system violates the constitution's equal-protection clause.
- See more at: http://www.publicnewsservice.org/2015-12-03/childrens-issues/parents-school-districts-ask-court-to-decide-lawsuit/a49235-2#sthash.wdMFUyxv.dpuf
State to review charter
payment appeal process
by Martha Woodall, Inquirer Staff Writer. Updated on DECEMBER 4, 2015 —
1:08 AM EST
In light of the
controversy over payments to charter schools during the stalemate over a Pennsylvania budget, the
state auditor general Thursday announced that his office would audit the
Department of Education's handling of charter-payment appeals. "The ongoing state budget impasse
brought to light potential failures in the process the Department of Education
uses to handle school districts' appeals of payments to charter schools,"
Eugene DePasquale said in a statement. "With
more than $1.1 billion of state education funding going toward charter school
tuition payments, it is important to make sure all education funding is handled
accurately and appropriately." Noting
that the current system often pits districts against charter school operators,
he said the lack of a state budget had exacerbated tensions in every region of
the state.
When districts and
charter schools have disputes over tuition payments, DePasquale said, the
"appeals process should be judicious, fair, timely, and
understandable."
Budget package to be put
to the test Friday in closed-door meetings
Penn Live By The Associated
Press on December 03, 2015 at 7:29 PM, updated December 03, 2015
at 9:29 PM
State may have budget deal soon, Wolf says
Post Gazette By Marc
Levy / Associated Press December 3, 2015 11:34 PM
In a Thursday
appearance Downtown, Gov. Tom Wolf said he expects to finalize by mid-December
a long-overdue budget deal with Republican lawmakers. Senate Republicans are
hoping for the same timeline, said Jennifer Kocher, a spokeswoman for Senate
Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre. “As
you have seen in the past, my predictive powers on when we’re actually going to
get a budget have not been all that great. But I think we’re close,” Mr. Wolf
told reporters at the Omni William Penn Hotel, where he spoke before the
African American Chamber of Commerce of Western Pennsylvania. The Democratic governor and GOP lawmakers are
locked in a five-month disagreement over state taxes and expenditures, having
negotiated on and off since the June 30 budget deadline. Ms. Kocher said talks
will probably continue this weekend in “one big push.” “We’ve come to agreement on about 90 percent
of the issues. Some of the remaining 10 percent can be difficult to iron out,”
she said.
Wolf: Pa.
by Angela Couloumbis, Inquirer Harrisburg Bureau. Updated on DECEMBER 3, 2015 9:46
AM
SB76: Pa.
Reading Eagle Thursday
December 3, 2015 12:01 AM
Pennsylvania Lt.
Gov. Mike Stack cast the deciding "no"
vote on a state Senate bill to eliminate school property taxes because
it was the "wrong bill at the wrong time," he said in an interview
Wednesday. "The independent Fiscal
Office said ... that was going to put a billion-dollar black hole in the public
education budget," Stack in the interview.
Dave Langley, reporter for WEEU, Berks County
- See more at: http://www.readingeagle.com/news/article/pa-lieutenant-governor-explains-his-vote-on-property-tax-bill#sthash.lMvhveHi.dpuf
SB76: Palmyra School District
By Monica Von
Dobeneck | Special to PennLive on December 03, 2015 at 9:28 PM,
updated December 03, 2015 at 9:39 PM
BY SARAH HOFIUS HALL, STAFF WRITER Published: December 3, 2015
The Scranton School
Dstrict faces payless paydays and a possible shutdown if the district is unable
to borrow $31.2 million. During a court
hearing Wednesday, district officials explained that because of the state
budget impasse, they cannot repay two tax anticipation notes taken out this
year. Districts, which often borrow money in advance of tax revenue, are
required to pay back those notes in the year they were issued. If the district
cannot pay back the notes by the end of December, it faces default. “No state subsidies coming in between July
and today creates a great hardship,” Gregg Sunday, deputy superintendent of
finance, told the panel of Lackawanna County Judges Terrence Nealon, Robert A.
Mazzoni and James Gibbons.
Philly's Central High ranked America
Two Philadelphia
BY MICHAEL TANENBAUM PhillyVoice Staff
The state of Pennsylvania may be mired in another lengthy budget
crisis that has frozen resources for schools across the Commonwealth, but according
to a website that provides insights into big life decisions, two of the
country's finest educational examples reside in the Keystone State Philadelphia 's
Central High
School was placed at the top of Niche.com's rankings for
the 2016 Most Diverse Public High Schools in America, a
cultural assessment accounting for factors such as ethnic composition of the
student body, proportion of students who receive free or reduced lunches and
reviews by students and parents. Central
High was one of two Philadelphia schools to
crack the top 25, joined by Science Leadership Academy ,
the magnet public high school launched in 2006 through a partnership with The
Franklin Institute and Drexel
University Tredyffrin-Easttown
School District in Chester County Radnor
Township School
District and Lower
Merion School
District
When Rich And Poor Learn
Together, Kids Win
A North Carolina
Rebecca Klein Education
Editor, The Huffington Post December 3, 2015
With all the
roadblocks thrown up by the Supreme Court, should school systems still try to
pursue diversity? One district in North
Carolina said yes and, as a new study shows, reaped
solid rewards for the kids. After years
of progress in reducing racial segregation in schools, North Carolina began to go the other way in
the 1990s. A series of Supreme Court decisions had undermined the districts'
ability to assign students to schools based on race. Districts began abandoning
their diversity plans in droves and reverting back to a time when your ZIP code
was your educational destiny. But
the Wake County Public School System took a different approach. In place of
race-based school assignment policies, it implemented plans that emphasized
socioeconomic diversity. The new
study, published online this week in the journal Urban Education, looks at the impact of school assignment
plans based on socioeconomic status in Wake County Duke
University
"Recommending more
precise measurements to identify needy schools is like recommending that fire
departments invest in expensive and highly accurate thermometers so that
firefighters get the exact temperature of dangerous and rapidly spreading fires
before trying to put them out."
Lift kids out of poverty before expecting higher test
scores
LA Times Letter
by Stephen Krashen, Los Angeles The writer is a professor emeritus of education
at USC December 1, 2015
To the editor: The No
Child Left Behind law gets undeserved credit for making schools pay attention
to students living in poverty. ("Finding
the sweet spot of reason in evaluating schools and teachers,"
editorial, Nov. 27). Experienced
educators have always been aware of the effects of poverty and know which
schools and students are the most impacted. Also, educational research has
confirmed the negative effects of poverty on learning for decades.
Recommending more
precise measurements to identify needy schools is like recommending that fire
departments invest in expensive and highly accurate thermometers so that
firefighters get the exact temperature of dangerous and rapidly spreading fires
before trying to put them out. Instead of spending
billions on unnecessary testing, let's invest in protecting children from the
impact of poverty by expanding and improving food programs, improving
healthcare and building better libraries in high-poverty areas. The best
teaching in the world has little effect when children are hungry, sick and have
little access to reading material.
Curmuducation Blog by Peter Greene Sunday,
November 8, 2015
We've been hearing
about Social Impact Bonds, or "Pay for Success"
programs for a few years now, but only recently have they entered the world of
public education. Chicago, for example, launched one $17 million program last year for Pre-K,
and last month Utah's United Way was happy to announce that
Goldman-Sachs' Pay for Success program in Utah had yielded dividends. The spread of Social Impact Bonds to the
education sector raises all sorts of questions like "How are the fiduciary
interests of a private investment firm balanced against social demands of
education" or "What overseeing groups can best evaluate programs with
a balanced view toward all involved interests." Or, "What the hell is a social impact
bond?" On the ground, it looks kind of ridiculous, like a program that pays a Wall Street firm a bonus every
time a kid is taken off of special ed rolls.
But how does that even work? How does the Wall Street firm get paid? With what money? How do you make money on an investment in something that creates no profit?
But how does that even work? How does the Wall Street firm get paid? With what money? How do you make money on an investment in something that creates no profit?
Social Impact Bonds: Save
Special Education, Not Profiteers!
Diane Ravitch's Blog
By dianeravitch December 3, 2015 //
From Beverley Holden
Johns:
Social Impact Bonds: Success
Metrics Questioned in School Program Funded by Goldman
New York Times By NATHANIEL POPPER NOV. 3, 2015
It was, in the
vernacular of corporate America ,
a win-win: a bond that paid for preschool for underprivileged children in Utah while also making
money for investors.
Goldman Sachs announced
last month that its investment in a Utah
preschool program had helped 109 “at-risk” kindergartners avoid special
education. The investment also resulted in a $260,000 payout for the Wall
Street firm, the first of many payments that is expected from the investment. Gov. Gary R. Herbert of Utah hailed the program as a model for a new
way of financing public projects. Such so-called social impact bonds are a new
kind of public-private partnership, promising financing from Wall Street and
imposing a goal on local governments. Yet since the Utah results were
disclosed, questions have emerged about whether the program achieved the
success that was claimed. Nine early-education experts who reviewed the program
for The New York Times quickly identified a number of irregularities in how the
program’s success was measured, which seem to have led Goldman and the state to
significantly overstate the effect that the investment had achieved in helping
young children avoid special education.
Social Impact Bonds: Fred
Klonsky: ESEA Bill Includes Rewards to Bondholders for Limiting Special
Education
Diane Ravitch's Blog
By dianeravitch October
16, 2015 //
Fred Klonsky hosts
special education expert Bev Johns, who
explains that social impact bonds (SIB) encourage investors to take
over government responsibilities and make a profit.
Special education
advocate Bev Johns has written here warning about the impact of Social Impact
Bonds on special education services.
What are Social
Impact Bonds (SIBs)? They have become a
favorite privatization tool of corporate Democrats and others. Wall Street loves them. Also known as Pay for Success programs in
which Wall Street investors, often using funding from private philanthropies,
invest in social programs which once were funded directly by the government.
The aim is to reduce government costs by offering profits to Wall Street.
The profit increases
for investors when schools reduce the number of students who receive special education
services:
School Voucher Advocates
Push Supreme Court to Hear Case on Blaine
Education Week
Charters & Choice Blog By Arianna Prothero on December 3,
2015 4:38 PM
Several
heavyweight school choice groups
are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a case out of Colorado that could
potentially smooth the way for school voucher programs to open up in every
state. In June, the Colorado
Supreme Court ruled that a small voucher program
being piloted in Douglass County was unconstitutional because
it would have allowed students to use public dollars toward tuition at private,
religious schools. Even though the U.S. Supreme Court ruled
in 2002 in a case out of Cleveland that vouchers do not violate the
establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution, provisions in
many state constitutions, called Blaine Amendments, have been used to strike
down publicly funded voucher programs at the state level. In an amicus brief filed with the U.S.
Supreme Court this week, four groups have asked the High Court to hear the Colorado case and
overturn Blaine Amendments across the country: The Goldwater Institute, the
American Federation for Children, the Foundation for Excellence in Education,
and the Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options. In a statement, the four organizations said
that were the U.S. Supreme Court to rule Blaine
Amendments unconstitutional, the decision would "clear the way for
school vouchers in all 50 states."
District takes on
challenges of creating community schools
Ed Source Dec 2, 2015 |
By Susan Frey | No
Comments
For the past five
years, the Hayward Unified
School District has been focusing on its lowest-income neighborhoods,
transitioning to a “community schools” approach that provides health, social
and other services to students and their families. The East Bay Area district south of Oakland
offers a case study in the potential of an approach whose goal is to transform
schools into hubs for the entire community by offering a range of services,
such as mental health counseling, health clinics, after-school programs
and classes for parents.
Nationwide, about
5,000 community schools serve 2 million students, according to the Coalition for Community
Schools. The concept is “catching on in California ,”
said Deanna Niebuhr, senior director of the Community Schools Initiative of
the Partnership
for Children & Youth, a nonprofit organization based in Oakland . In response, the
partnership launched a statewide network in September to connect community
school districts to each other and to advocates who work with them. Now that districts have more flexibility in
how they use their resources under the Local Control Funding Formula, “we
wanted to seize the moment” to steer the conversation about how to reform
education toward community schools, Niebuhr said. The approach emphasizes
building relationships within schools and beyond their walls, she said.
That includes building a positive school climate, creating community
partnerships and engaging with parents.
Education Bloggers Daily
Highlights 12-4-15
Kenney holding five town
halls to get feedback from Philly residents
WHYY Newsworks BY KATIE COLANERI NOVEMBER 30, 2015
Got a question or
concern for Philadelphia Mayor-Elect Jim Kenney? You could have your chance to
tell him in person this week. Starting
tonight, Kenney will hold a series of five town hall style meetings in the
north, south, west and northeast sections of Philadelphia. During a press conference earlier this month,
he said the ideas and issues that come out of these meetings will be passed
along to members of his
large transition team, which will put out a final report in January laying
out the Kenney administration's priorities.
"I think it's always important that not only are we inclusive of
every community and every neighborhood in the city, but that we listen to what
people have to say," Kenney said. "They pay taxes, they live and work
in our city and they have something to say and we want to make sure that
they're included." All members of
the public are invited, but are encouraged to RSVP online atKenneyForPhiladelphia.com. Those
who can't make the meetings in-person can give their input at the same
website.
Here's the schedule:
Central High
School, 1700 W. Olney Avenue
Monday, Nov. 30, 2015, 6:00pm - 7:00pm
Monday, Nov. 30, 2015, 6:00pm - 7:00pm
South
Philadelphia High School, 2101 S. Broad Street
Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015, 7:30pm - 8:30pm
Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015, 7:30pm - 8:30pm
School of the
Future, 40th & Parkside Avenue
Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015, 7:30pm - 8:30pm
Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015, 7:30pm - 8:30pm
Mayfair Community
Center, 2990 Saint Vincent Street
Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015, 7:30pm - 8:30pm
Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015, 7:30pm - 8:30pm
Strawberry
Mansion High School, 3133 Ridge Avenue
Friday, Dec. 4, 2015, 6:30pm - 7:30pm
Friday, Dec. 4, 2015, 6:30pm - 7:30pm
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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