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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup January 13, 2016:
Issue: Should districts disproportionately
hit by cuts under Corbett Admin. be adequately compensated before using the
Basic Education Funding Formula?
"At issue is a hybrid
formula Wolf is using to ensure that districts disproportionately hurt by cuts
under the previous GOP administration, including Philadelphia ,
Pittsburgh
House votes to tweak education funding
distribution
AP State
Wire Published: Yesterday
"On Monday, the majority
Republicans inserted a distribution formula for any school subsidies that
exceed 2014-15 levels that follows the recommendations of a blue-ribbon panel
that studied equity in school funding over two years.
That formula has been hailed
as a groundbreaking guideline that recognizes both population shifts as well as
the special challenges faced by rural districts or schools serving impoverished
communities. Only thing is, most
Democrats don't want it in place just yet.
Their position - and it's one that has been adopted by Gov. Tom Wolf
since he signed the partial budget on Dec. 29 - is that all school districts
first should be made whole for the state aid cuts they received during former
Gov. Tom Corbett's administration."
Penn
Live By Charles
Thompson | cthompson@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on
January 12, 2016 at 5:15 PM
The
Pennsylvania House moved to the state Senate Tuesday a fiscal code bill that
could, in some ways, serve as a double for the Republican legislative
majority's policy platform. The bill,
which passed on a 111-81 vote, is sometimes referred to as an operators'
manual for the state's $23.4 billion, partial budget, adding key rules
and guidelines on how the money is to be spent.
Typically, in Pennsylvania ,
that has meant barring public funds from being spent on abortions, for example. But in this era of divided government and a
record-breaking budget impasse, this fiscal code means so much more. Here's a
look at some of the more controversial issues that it touches.
Republicans
still in search of solutions to complete budget
The PLS
Reporter Author: Jason Gottesman/Tuesday, January
12, 2016
Despite
the House moving along the budget-related Fiscal Code bill Tuesday, a meeting
between House and Senate Republican leadership left the majority in both
parties still searching for solutions on how to complete the budget. Gov. Tom Wolf’s line-item veto of House Bill
1460 left only half a year’s funding for things like basic education, state
corrections, and Medical Assistance capitation. Meanwhile funding for the
state-related universities failed in the House Monday, falling short of the
two-thirds majority required for passage.
The Fiscal Code bill that moved through the House Tuesday still does not
have final sign-off from Senate Republicans on changes made by the House. That bill, among other things, includes what
has become a controversial formula to push out basic education dollars. Tuesday, Republican leaders in both chambers
were still trying to find a way forward to finish what House Majority Leader
Dave Reed (R-Indiana) called a budget process that is about 87 percent finished.
Partisan bickering continues in Harrisburg
By Kate
Giammarise/ Post-Gazette Harrisburg
Bureau January 13, 2016 12:00 AM
HARRISBURG
— Unhappy with how Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s Department of Education is
distributing money to school districts under a partial state budget, House
Republicans voted Tuesday to pass a fiscal code bill to direct the state to
send out any new education funds under a formula recommended by a bipartisan
committee last year. The mostly
party-line vote on the fiscal code bill passed the House 111-81, though a
handful of Republicans voted against the measure and several Democrats voted
for it. Most House Democrats said that
the funds were being given out by the Wolf administration in a way to make up
for past education cuts — and that completing a full-year budget should be the
Legislature’s priority.
Like budgets
that pass in the night
WHYY
Newsworks BY MARY WILSON
JANUARY 13, 2016
"The
Campaign for Fair Education Funding (a nonpartisan coalition representing
educators and their associations, labor, business leaders, faith-based
organizations, child advocates, charter schools and traditional public
schools/districts) wanted three things in this budget: “Pass a full-year budget
now, increase basic education funding by $350 million and begin implementing the
formula crafted by the Basic Education Funding Commission.”
Education
funding: billions lost, a billion a year misdirected
Doylestown Intelligencer Opinion By Mark B. Miller Wednesday, January 13, 2016 12:15
am
Mark B. Miller is a member
of the Centennial school board and vice president of the Pennsylvania School Keystone State
On the
eve of the holidays, those wise men finally rode into Harrisburg , looking to give 600-plus school
districts, intermediate units and other agencies some much needed relief.
Another budget was passed. Gov. Wolf waited six days, then used the line-item
veto to keep juggling “garbage.” A large
part of the frustration is the fight over much-needed funding for state
education versus nearly $2 billion of education dollars that have been lost,
late or misdirected in each of the past four years. This money could be put to
better use, like increasing student achievement through instruction. It started in 2011 with the cutting of $500
million from education in that year’s budget. It was suggested, “Ask your
professional staff to take a one-year pay freeze.” Problem is, that money was
never replaced, and teachers have to be paid. Today, we have 17,000 fewer Pennsylvania teachers
and fewer new teachers entering the profession. In 2012,
another $500 million was pulled, justified by “lower your reserve funds to
balance your budget.” Cash reserves are at an all-time low. Many school
districts lack the rainy day fund they are supposed to have available for
unexpected problems like a six-month-long budget impasse.
Wolf Administration Launches Education
Accountability & Achievement Tour
Education Secretary
Leads Roundtable Discussion On School Success, Challenges
Sturla unveils
sliding scale tax plan on Marcellus Shale to fund pension obligations
Press
Release Rep. Mike Sturla January
12, 2016 | 2:10 PM
HARRISBURG, Jan. 12 - State Rep. Mike Sturla is seeking support for his
legislation that would implement a graduated severance tax on Marcellus Shale
to fund pension obligations at state and local levels. 'The proposal is a fair approach that would
capture much-needed funding for the commonwealth for one of our most valuable
resources while providing a break to the industry when prices are down,' Sturla
explained.
Inquirer
by Kristen A. Graham, Staff
Writer. Updated: JANUARY
13, 2016 — 1:08 AM EST
The Philadelphia School District Montgomery County , will move into the long-vacant Philadelphia job next
month. He will be paid $190,000 to
manage the district's $3.2 billion budget.
Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said the district, which lost former
CFO Matt Stanski at the end of the last school year, needs "a strong,
thoughtful, and steady approach to its finances, given the instability of
revenues." Long on shaky financial
ground, the school system is not guaranteed to have enough money to get through
the end of the school year because of the budget stalemate in Harrisburg .
By Rudy Miller
| For lehighvalleylive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on
January 12, 2016 at 9:53 AM, updated January 12, 2016 at 1:04 PM
The Easton
Area School District received a $384,000 grant to help bolster academic
performance, according to a news release.
The grant will cover afterschool programs for 200 middle school students
and an eight-week summer program for 70 students, according to Tracy Piazza,
the district's director of teaching and learning for grades K-4. The grants administered through the state's
21st Century Community Learning Centers program help students who attend
high-poverty and low-performing schools meet state and local standards. "It was a very tough and competitive
application process," said Easton Area School District
Superintendent John Reinhart. The state received 112 grant applications but
awarded 50 grants totaling $16.1 million for 2015-18.
Saucon-Imhotep
gap shows need for PIAA to act | Opinion
Express-Times
guest columnist By ERIC EVANS
on January 12, 2016 at 3:43 PM
What a
season the good folks of Hellertown experienced as their Saucon Valley
High School
Imhotep
Charter, as with other private and charter high schools, does not have
boundaries, which gives it the ability to bring in students from anywhere. No boundaries or restrictions when building a
roster. The result for Imhotep was an
offensive line that averaged 6'5" 307 pounds. The result was a team
that was loaded with Division 1 recruits. The result was that Imhotep scored 60
points on Saucon Valley
Congressman Glenn Thompson welcomes Bald Eagle
Area teacher to State of the Union , highlights
agriculture
Centre
Daily Times BY CATE HANSBERRY chansberry@centredaily.com January
13, 2015
Before
President Barack Obama gave his final State of the Union address Tuesday night,
Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Howard
Township America . Thompson, however, already has his own ideas
about how to illuminate that pathway — and brought a guest who exemplifies his
vision. Thompson invited Bald Eagle Area
agriculture teacher and FFA leader Todd Biddle to Washington, D.C.,
highlighting a man he says shows a new generation how to be successful in
Pennsylvania’s No. 1 industry — agriculture.
Biddle teaches students at Bald Eagle Area High School the technical and
leadership skills needed to gain success in agriculture and in life. This is
essential in Pennsylvania ,
where 1 in 7 jobs are related to agriculture, according to the U.S. Department
of Agriculture.
"Vereb also served as
co-chairman of the Basic Education Funding Commission, which developed a fair
and reasonable formula to distribute state education dollars among Pennsylvania
Mike Vereb
won’t seek another term in State House
Pottstown Mercury By Carl Rotenberg, crotenberg@21st-centurymedia.com, @CarlWriter on Twitter POSTED: 01/12/16, 10:08 AM
EST | UPDATED: 2 HRS AGO
WEST
NORRITON >> State Rep. Mike Vereb, R-Dist. 150, announced Tuesday he will
end his 10 years of service in the state legislature and not seek another two-year
term. Vereb will finish his fifth,
two-year term on Nov. 30 and move on to another job that has not been finalized
yet, Vereb said. “I can’t tell you
whether it will be governmental or non-governmental,” he said. “I’m looking at
three job offers.”
'He put
everyone at ease': Annville-Cleona superintendent Steven Houser remembered
following death
Penn
Live By Julianne
Mattera | jmattera@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on
January 12, 2016 at 7:33 PM, updated January 12, 2016 at 9:17 PM
Annville-Cleona
Superintendent Steven E. Houser has died.
Houser,
a longtime educator known for his friendly personality, died Sunday at the age
of 57 in the Lancaster
General Hospital
"But in 23 other states,
poorer districts are shafted, and in three states funding is essentially equal,
which isn't good enough. In Pennsylvania
Bernie Sanders has a bold, simple idea for
improving public education
VOX Updated by Dylan Matthews on January 12,
2016, 2:40 p.m. ET @dylanmatt dylan@vox.com TWEET SHARE (8,012) +
At
Monday night's Brown & Black Democratic Presidential Forum in
Iowa, Bernie Sanders came out in favor of a massive change in the way the
US funds schools: "One of the
things that I have always believed is that, in terms of education, we have to
break our dependency on the property tax, because what happens is the
wealthiest suburbs can in fact have great schools but poor, inner-city schools
cannot. So I think we need equality in terms of how we fund education, and to
make sure the federal government plays an active role to make sure that those
schools we need it the most get the funds that they deserve." Bernie's right: The property tax system of
funding schools is inherently regressive, granting fewer resources to poorer
towns with lower property values and more to rich towns with high property
values. Federalizing funding of public schools — or at least moving further in
that direction — would be a huge boon for both economic and racial equality. It
would make our tax system much more progressive and protect schools from cuts
during recessions. And done right, it can improve school quality while
maintaining a degree of local autonomy.
Obama in SOTU:
I Will Keep Fighting for Preschool and College Access
Education
Week By Alyson Klein on January
12, 2016 9:54 PM
President
Barack Obama used his very last State of the Union address to press for action
on unfinished pieces of his agenda—including universal prekindergarten and
offering two years of free commmunity college to most students—from Congress
and his successor in the White House. And
Obama made it clear he wants to continue to fight to expand access to
high-quality math, science, and technology courses, and the training and
recruitment of good teachers. He also took a victory lap on a couple of
his big K-12 initiatives—including record high graduation rates and the passage
of a long-stalled rewrite of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The
recently approved Every Student Succeeds Act, a rewrite of the ESEA, made
inroads on some of Obama's most cherished priorities, including on
early-childhood programs and mathematics and science education. But it fell
short of lofty proposals he's outilned in previous addresses to Congress.
The President Wants Every Student To Learn
Computer Science. How Would That Work?
President
Obama used his final State of the Union address Tuesday night to reflect on his
legacy. But he also put forth some specific proposals for his remaining year in
office. And the very first one was "helping students learn to write
computer code." Elaborating on the
educational achievements of the past several years, Obama pointed to the overhaul
of No Child Left Behind, the increase
in pre-K programs, and rising
high school graduation rates.
Then he
said: "In the coming years, we
should build on that progress, by ... offering every student the hands-on
computer science and math classes that make them job-ready on Day 1." He's not
the only proponent of this idea. The biggest public school systems in the
country, New York City
and Los Angeles Unified, have both announced that they're moving toward
exposing all students to computer science. Coding is also newly part of
national curricula in the U.K.
and Australia . The United States , of course, has no
national curriculum. The Computer Science Teachers Association estimates that
only about one-tenth of the high schools in the U.S. — to say nothing of middle and
elementary schools — offer a computer science course today.
K-12 Still
Struggling for Traction as Campaign Issue
Education Week By Andrew
Ujifusa
Published Online: January 12, 2016
School
policy—already an underdog topic in the 2016 presidential campaign—could be
further marginalized as an issue by recent developments in Washington , not the least of which is the
newly minted Every Student Succeeds Act, which is expected to scale back the
direct federal role in K-12 education. None
of the 15 current candidates in either major party can claim personal credit
for helping the No Child Left Behind Act's successor over the finish line late
last year. And the
new law resolves, at least for the next several years, some big questions about
federal power over such issues as testing and teacher evaluations.
Judge Puts
Launch of Nevada 's Sweeping School
Education
Week Charters and Choice By Arianna Prothero on January 12, 2016
8:50 AM
Implementation
of Nevada's sweeping new
school choice program has been put on hold until a final
decision is made on whether the program is constitutional. The state's treasurer's office was supposed
to start doling out money to more than 4,000 families enrolled in the program
starting in February, according to the
Associated Press. Opponents
of the law asked for an injunction in November, which a state district judge
from Carson City
granted on Monday. Nevada 's education savings
account program was created by the legislature last June and
allows all public school parents to use state education funding allocated for
their child to attend private schools (including those affiliated with a
religion) or to home school. The state places the funds, a little over $5,000 a
year, in special savings accounts, which parents can use for approved education
expenses—such as tuition, tutors, and transportation.
Save the Date | PBPC Budget Summit
The
2015-2016 budget remains in a state of limbo. But it's time to start thinking
about the 2016-17 budget. The Governor will propose his budget for next year in
early February.
The
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center will hold our annual Budget Summit on
March 3rd. Save the date and join us for an in-depth look at
the Governor's 2016-17 budget proposal, including what it means for education,
health and human services, the environment and local communities. And, of
course, if the 2015-2016 budget is not complete by then, we will also be
talking about the various alternatives still under consideration.
As in
year's past, this year's summit will be at the Hilton Harrisburg. Register today!
Remaining Locations:
- 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
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
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.
2016 PA Educational Leadership Summit July 24-26 State
College
Summit Sponsors: PA Principals Association
- PA Association of School Administrators - PA Association of Middle
Level Educators - PA Association of Supervision and Curriculum
Development
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:
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
Good site.
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