Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now
reach more than 3900 Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors,
administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, Governor's
staff, current/former PA Secretaries of Education, Wolf education transition
team members, Superintendents, PTO/PTA officers, parent advocates, teacher
leaders, business leaders, faith-based organizations, labor organizations,
education professors, members of the press and a broad array of P-16 regulatory
agencies, professional associations and education advocacy organizations via
emails, website, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
These daily emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg
Keystone
State Education Coalition
PA
Ed Policy Roundup March 23, 2016:
School districts will pay 29 percent of
their payroll in pension costs in 2016-17
PASBO will be holding a press conference on Wednesday at 9 am at
the Capitol to present the deteriorating financial situation of schools.
PSBA
Advocacy Forum & Day on the Hill APR
4, 2016 • 9:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Join PSBA and your fellow school directors for the third
annual Advocacy Forum on April 4, 2016, at the State Capitol in
Harrisburg.
Info and Registration: https://www.psba.org/event/psba-advocacy-forum-day-hill/
Campaign for Fair Education Funding - Rally for Public Education
May 2nd at the Capitol
Save the date www.fairfundingpa.org
The #voterregistration
deadline for the #PaPrimary
is 3/28
Online PA Voter Registration
here:
Wolf quiet on
veto plans in Pennsylvania budget fight
AP State Wire By MARC LEVY March 22, 2016
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf remained quiet Tuesday about how he will handle a Republican-penned spending bill as Democratic lawmakers urged him to release money to keep schools and agricultural extension offices across Pennsylvania from closing. Wolf also continued to make his case publicly that the $6.6 billion spending package he has threatened to veto is out of balance and that the Republican-controlled Legislature must fix next year's projected $2 billion deficit with a tax increase. "I continue to do what I have been doing all along, which is stand up for a responsible budget," Wolf said during a Tuesday morning interview on KDKA-AM radio in Pittsburgh. "This isn't it. We have a real problem staring us in the face. ... All the suffering that we're on the verge of right now is going to be multiplied if we don't get the math right here. This is not posturing, this is about Pennsylvania's future and we all need to do the right thing in Harrisburg, and that's what I'm trying to do."
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf remained quiet Tuesday about how he will handle a Republican-penned spending bill as Democratic lawmakers urged him to release money to keep schools and agricultural extension offices across Pennsylvania from closing. Wolf also continued to make his case publicly that the $6.6 billion spending package he has threatened to veto is out of balance and that the Republican-controlled Legislature must fix next year's projected $2 billion deficit with a tax increase. "I continue to do what I have been doing all along, which is stand up for a responsible budget," Wolf said during a Tuesday morning interview on KDKA-AM radio in Pittsburgh. "This isn't it. We have a real problem staring us in the face. ... All the suffering that we're on the verge of right now is going to be multiplied if we don't get the math right here. This is not posturing, this is about Pennsylvania's future and we all need to do the right thing in Harrisburg, and that's what I'm trying to do."
For Wolf,
another make-or-break budget decision
Gov. Wolf wants the
tax revenue to help close a gaping deficit and end the annual wrangling with
the legislature over how to keep funds flowing for critical state programs.
Inquirer
by Angela Couloumbis and Kathy
Boccella, HARRISBURG BUREAU Updated: MARCH
22, 2016 — 7:10 PM EDT
HARRISBURG
- After nine months of budget bellyaching in the Capitol, Gov. Wolf faces a
political dilemma. He can fulfill last
week's promise to veto the latest spending plan from the Republican-controlled
legislature, setting the stage for more gridlock in the Capitol. Or he can
capitulate to mounting calls - including from within his own party - to approve
big chunks of a budget he has openly denounced.
Some had expected the governor to act by Tuesday, as the legislature
prepared to break for the Easter holiday.
Instead, Wolf remained silent. His
decision - which faces a deadline this week - could prove a make-or-break
moment for his administration not just for the year but for the rest of his
term.
Democrats ask
Wolf to shelve his veto pen for a day
WHYY
Newsworks BY MARY WILSON MARCH
22, 2016
With
schools and agricultural programs threatening to close due to Pennsylvania's
budget impasse, top legislative Democrats have urged Gov. Tom Wolf to hold off
on a full veto, at least for a day, after the governor had promised to reject
the Republican budget handiwork sent to his desk last week. Wolf insisted Monday that he was reviewing
the $6 billion supplemental funding measure "to make sure it is as out of
balance as I've been saying it is," but he acknowledged that Democrats had
asked him to delay any veto action. "They
said, could you hold that for a day. I said sure," said Wolf, as he walked
away from reporters after a press conference in Harrisburg. Top
Democrats said they sought the brief time-out to try to restart budget
negotiations again after a chilly few months of little back-and-forth on
Pennsylvania's spending plan.
"What
I'm hoping is that in this process right now that we rebuild some confidence
among everybody," said Sen. Vincent Hughes, D-Philadelphia, ranking
Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Charter school and pension
costs are other major expenses, he said. School districts will pay 29 percent
of their payroll in pension costs in 2016-17.
School Board gets finance lesson
22 Mar
2016 — Erie Times-News By ERICA ERWIN erica.erwin@timesnews.com
Millcreek
School Board members took a short course in school finance Monday night.
Jay
Himes, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Business
Officials, gave School Board members a brief overview of the current funding
system and how the Millcreek Township School District compares with similar
districts. Himes was blunt in his
characterization of the current system as unfair to students and taxpayers and
limiting to Pennsylvania's economic future.
"It is broken, it is inconsistent, it has wide disparities between
districts," he said. In a
presentation that lasted just under an hour, Himes talked about the sources of
school districts' revenue -- in Millcreek, about 70 percent of revenue comes
from local property tax revenue -- and where those dollars are spent. Personnel
is the main driver of budgets: Statewide, districts spend between 60 to 65
percent of their budgets on personnel, he said. "School
districts are very labor intensive," he said.
Some local
Dems hold true to Wolf’s budget
By Patti Mengers,
Delaware County Daily Times POSTED: 03/22/16, 10:55 PM EDT
With
just a few days left before Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf must decide whether to
finally endorse or again veto the latest 2015-2016 budget proposed by the
Republican-dominated state Legislature, some local Democrats have pledged to
stand in solidarity with him.
“I have
been supportive of the governor’s efforts to provide more funding for basic
education and address the structural deficit in our budget. To date I have been
voting with the governor in order to give him the opportunity to achieve these
policy objectives,” state Rep. Greg Vitali, D-166 of Haverford, said on
Tuesday. Vitali was not among Democratic
legislators who on Monday met privately with Wolf and urged him to approve
enough aid to keep schools and agricultural extension offices across
Pennsylvania from closing, and to back off his threat to veto Republican
spending legislation he opposes. The governor has vetoed three previously
proposed budgets because he said they do not adequately fund education, are not
balanced and will contribute to the state’s growing deficit. “Nothing has changed. The governor still
intends to veto the budget because it is nearly $300 million out of balance,”
said Jeffrey Sheridan, Wolf’s press secretary, on Tuesday morning.
Millcreek schools face new challenge:
William Hall
Erie Times
News Letter By WILLIAM HALL Contributing writer March 23, 2016 12:14 AM
William Hall is
superintendent of the Millcreek Township School District.
It was
almost three years ago to the day that I stood in front of a packed house at
Grandview Elementary School to share devastating news. The Millcreek Township
School District faced an $8.8 million deficit. Our options to balance the
2014-15 budget were drastic and painful, and even more sobering was the
knowledge that our fund balance would be depleted at the end of the school
year. In fact, it was apparent that we
would be in the hole more than $400,000 to start the following year. It was a
difficult time to assume the post as superintendent, but I was determined to
get the district back on track financially, while maintaining our strong
educational programs.
In the
months that followed, the district raised taxes, closed two elementary schools,
refinanced debt, absorbed teaching positions, and eliminated our television
station. We also eliminated more than 50 secretarial, educational assistant and
coaching positions. Most unfortunately, the district cut programs and
additional staff that directly impacted our students: reading specialists,
instructional support advisers, librarians, drivers education, and high school
Mandarin.
Belle Vernon School Board approves loan to
keep district operating
Mon
Valley Observer Reporter By Morgan Cushey March 22, 2016
Belle
Vernon School Board on Monday authorized a $3.1 million tax anticipation note
from First National Bank to keep the district afloat through the remainder of
the school year while the state’s budget impasse continues. Superintendent John D. Wilkinson said the
drawdown note, which is similar to a line of credit, will be used to get the
district through the 2015-16 year. Lou
Rood, board vice president, said the loan can be used as needed but the
district will have to pay interest on the money used. Wilkinson said the money
the district has to pay in interest, which was not budgeted for, could be
better spent on students. He said the
district will likely begin using funds from the note near the beginning of
April. Wilkinson said this money will
help the district operate until June, but at a barebones level. Rood said the state budget impasse is to
blame. “It all falls on the state legislators and the governor,” he said.
“To make it look balanced,
the Republicans tried the same old tricks. For instance, this budget increases
state aid to education by $50 million, by removing $40 million from the budget
of the PHEAA, the state's college scholarship program.”
DN editorial: Adopt GOP budget to begin fixing state's finances
DN editorial: Adopt GOP budget to begin fixing state's finances
Philly Daily News Editorial Updated: MARCH 23, 2016 — 3:01 AM
EDT
WHAT
WOULD happen if your wages rose 2 percent a year, while your expenses increased
by 4 to 5 percent? No need to get out
your calculator. Common sense tells you that eventually you would sink into
debt. There might be temporary steps you could make - say, emptying your
savings account - but once that money is spent, it is gone. The reality is that
sooner or later, without increasing your income or cutting spending, you will
be in serious financial difficulty. In
Pennsylvania, sooner is about to meet later.
The state has been spending more than it raises in taxes for a
half-dozen years. And the projection by the state's Independent Fiscal Office
is that the spread is going to get worse.
The IFO, an independent monitor of state finances, estimates the state
will end the current fiscal year with a $300 million deficit. And a $1.6 billion
deficit next year, increasing each year until it reaches $2.6 billion in 2020. The reality is inescapable - unless you are a
Republican lawmaker, in breathtaking denial of the facts.
When Philly
might get more pre-K and community schools
BillyPenn
By Anna Orso at
9:45 am March 22, 2016
Philadelphia
parents could see small changes in how the education system operates by this
fall; almost certainly by next January. That is, of course, if Mayor Jim Kenney
has his way. The first-year mayor has laid out an ambitious education plan with two main
tenets: Expanding pre-K opportunities in Philadelphia and creating 25 community
schools that serve as neighborhood hubs (more on what this means later).
There’s a big “if” between those changes and fall, though. In order
to help fund a five-year, $39.5 million plan for community schools
and build to $60 million per year for pre-K, Kenney has proposed a 3
percent-per-ounce sugary drinks tax that would be the highest in the nation.
Critics say the tax would disproportionately impact the city’s
low-income residents. Assuming
the administration beats expected legal challenges to the new tax, by the time the leaves
start turning, pre-K seats will be established and the first round of community
schools will be chosen. “The politics of
disruption have not worked, so some of the things that have been tried to
reform schools have not worked,” said Susan Gobreski, Kenney’s community
schools director. “This is the right focus, and I do think that we are in a
moment.”
Pew awards
$8.6 million to help poor youth and families
The grants, given
to 45 local organizations, will affect 22,000 children per year, says Pew.
The notebook
by Dale Mezzacappa March 22, 2016 — 4:21pm
The Pew
Charitable Trusts Tuesday announced $8.6 million in grants to 45 organizations in
the city and region that work with high-poverty children and youth.
The
awards are focused on five areas: Creating more high-quality
early-education and child-care opportunities; prevention and early intervention
relating to cognitive and other problems for at-risk young people;
promoting wider access for families to behavioral health services;
expanding good afterschool programs geared toward school engagement,
academic success and college readiness, and improving vulnerable
families' access to public benefits and services that improve household stability. Citing the 37 percent poverty rate for
children in Philadelphia -- the highest of any big city in the nation -- the
senior director of the Pew Fund for Health and Human Services, Fraziereta
Klasen, said that these areas have been identified in research as "helping
poor and disadvantaged children improve their life trajectories."
Pew grants
$8.6 million to help poor children in Philly
by Harold Brubaker, Inquirer Staff Writer @inqbrubaker MARCH 22, 2016 — 2:34 PM EDT
Pew
Charitable Trusts said Tuesday it will give $8.59 million over the next three
years to 45 Philadelphia-area groups that help the region's low-income
children, youth, and their families. The
Center City foundation it expected the grants annually to assist more than
22,000 local young people. The poverty rate for children in the city is 37
percent, Pew said. The grants from the
Pew Fund for Health and Human Services is geared to these areas: early
education and child care; prevention and early intervention services to reduce
behavioral and academic problems; mental health services; quality after-school
programs; and helping parents secure and retain public benefits and services to
strengthen household stability.
A call for
more counselors to help students who feel pushed out of school
Youth United for
Change says the lack of counselors is hurting LGBTQ and homeless students.
The notebook
by Ami Irvin March 22, 2016 — 12:49pm
In 2009,
Youth United for Change launched its Pushed Out chapter to target students who
felt they were being forced out of school by factors such as harsh
discipline, an unengaging curriculum, and unsupportive teachers and staff. Now,
the chapter has a new campaign that zeroes in on how LGBTQ and homeless
youth are being affected by the shortage of high school counselors in the
District. Through its new campaign,
Youth United for Change is calling on the District to increase the number
of high school counselors, saying that the lack of them could be playing a role
in LGBTQ and homeless students' inability to achieve. Superintendent William Hite recently pledged
to place a full-time counselor and nurse in every Philadelphia school by next
fall, a plan that is contingent on the approval of Gov. Wolf's proposed 2016-17
budget.
All-day
kindergarten coming to Saucon Valley schools
By Sara K. Satullo | For lehighvalleylive.com Email the
author | Follow on Twitter on March 22, 2016 at 8:25 PM, updated March
22, 2016 at 9:16 PM
The Saucon Valley School District is joining the full-day
kindergarten trend spreading across the Lehigh Valley. The school board voted 7-2 Tuesday night to
only offer full-day K for the 2016-17 school year. Directors Ed Inghrim and Linda Leewright
voted against the program change. Saucon's
current half-day program has 126 students enrolled and 39 students are in an
extended day program for at-risk students. Teachers report there are more
students in need than available seats. A
growing number of Lehigh Valley school districts are adding universal full-day
kindergarten programs as part of a push to have children reading on grade level
by third grade, a key marker of student success.
Education researchers blast Common Core
standards, urge ban on high-stakes tests
Washington
Post Answer Sheet By Valerie Strauss March 16
More than 100 education researchers in California have joined in a
call for an end to high-stakes testing, saying that there is no “compelling”
evidence to support the idea that the Common Core State Standards will improve
the quality of education for children or close the achievement gap, and that
Common Core assessments lack “validity, reliability and fairness.” The California Alliance of Researchers for
Equity in Education, a statewide collaborative of university-based
education researchers, recently released a research brief (see in full below
below) describing concerns with the Common Core standards and the assessments
being given to millions of students in California and other states around the
country this spring. The researchers,
from public and private universities in California — including Stanford
University, UCLA, and the University of California Berkeley — say that the
Common Core standards themselves do not accomplish what supporters said they
would and that linking them to high-stakes tests actually harms students.
New York is in for a sea change in
education policy. Here’s what and why.
Washington
Post Answer Sheet By Valerie Strauss March 22 at 1:20 PM
Something big has happened in New York, something potentially
huge. A new education chancellor was named, and, on April 1, a new direction
for public schools could start to be forged. In this post, Carol Burris, a
former New York high school principal who is now executive director of the
nonprofit Network for Public Education, introduces you to the new chancellor
and analyzes the legacy of the one who is soon departing. Burris was named the
2010 Educator of the Year by the School Administrators Association of New York
State, and in 2013, the same organization named her the New York State High
School Principal of the Year. She has been chronicling botched school reform
efforts in her state for years on this blog, and this is her newest piece.
“In all, enrollments are
down by more than a third from 2009-10, while completers are down by a quarter.
The period with the heaviest declines seems to have been between 2011-12 and
2012-13.”
Teacher-Preparation
Enrollments Continue to Fall, But Less Steeply
Education
Week Teacher Beat By Stephen Sawchuk on March
22, 2016 1:09 PM
Newly
released data show that the numbers both of enrollments in—and completers
of—teacher-preparation programs continued to decline through
2014, but not as sharply as a few years before that. It's just one of the many important data
points you can find in the U.S. Department of Education'smost recent set of teacher-preparation data, released March 18. (The
data are collected under Title II of the Higher Education Act and include
state-by-state report cards. Do spend some time exploring the site.) Below is a graphic illustrating the total
number of enrollments in teaching programs between 2009 and 2014, as well as
the number of "program completers"—those who have successfully
completed all elements of their programs and, ostensibly, could be recommended
for a teaching certificate. (Not all will actually go on to get one—elsewhere
in the Title II collection, you can see how many actual credentials each state
handed out.)
PSBA
Advocacy Forum & Day on the Hill April 4th
APR 4, 2016 • 9:00
AM - 5:30 PM
Join
PSBA and your fellow school directors for the third annual Advocacy Forum on
April 4, 2016, at the State Capitol in Harrisburg. This year’s event will have
a spotlight on public education highlighting school districts’ exemplary
student programs. Hear from legislators on how advocacy makes a difference in
the legislative process and the importance of public education advocacy.
Government Affairs will take a deeper dive into the legislative priorities and
will provide tips on how to be an effective public education advocate. There
will be dedicated time for you and your fellow advocates to hit the halls to
meet with your legislators on public education. This is your chance to share
the importance of policy supporting public education and make your voice heard
on the Hill. Online advanced registration will close on April 1, 4 p.m. On-site
registrants are welcome.
Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators
(PASA) 2016 Education Congress April
6-7, 2016
professional
development program for school administrators
Focus: "The
Myths of Creativity: The Truth about How Innovative Companies Generate Great
Ideas" Featured Presenter: Dr.
David Burkus
April 6-7, 2016 Radisson
Hotel Harrisburg in Camp Hill
The program will
focus on how school leaders can develop and utilize creativity in education
management, operations, curriculum and leadership goals. The second day will
allow participants to select from multiple discussion/work sessions focusing on
concepts presented by Dr. Burkus and facilitated by school leaders who have
demonstrated success in creative thinking and leadership in schools across the
commonwealth.
Deadline for
hotel accommodations: March 15
See the PASA website
for more information at: www.pasa-net.org/2016edcongress.
PenSPRA's Annual Symposium, Friday
April 8th in Shippensburg, PA
PenSPRA,
or the Pennsylvania School Public Relations Association, has developed a
powerhouse line-up of speakers and topics for a captivating day of professional
development in Shippensburg on April 8th. Learn to master data to
defeat your critics, use stories to clarify your district's brand and take
your social media efforts to the next level with a better understanding of
metrics and the newest trends. Join us the evening before the
Symposium for a “Conversation with Colleagues” from 5 – 6
pm followed by a Networking Social Cocktail Hour from 6 – 8 pm.
Both the Symposium Friday and the social events on Thursday evening
will be held at the Shippensburg University Conference Center. Snacks at the
social hour, and Friday’s breakfast and lunch is included in your
registration cost. $125 for PenSPRA members and $150 for non-members. Learn
more about our speakers and topics and register today at this link:
Briefing:
Public Education Funding in Pennsylvania
TUE, APR 12 AT 8:30 AM, PHILADELPHIA,
PA
Join
attorneys Michael Churchill, Jennifer Clarke and Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg for a
briefing on:
- the current budget impasse
- the basics of education funding
- the school funding lawsuit
- the 2016-2017 proposed budget
1.5
CLE credits available to PA licensed attorneys.
Light breakfast provided.
WHEN:
Tuesday, April
12, 2016 from 8:30 AM to 10:00 AM (EDT)
WHERE:
United Way of
Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey - 1709 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
1st Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19103
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.
Join the Pennsylvania Principals Association at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, June 21, 2016, at The
Capitol in Harrisburg, PA, for its second annual Principals' Lobby Day.
Pennsylvania
Principals Association Monday, March 21, 2016 9:31 AM
To register, contact Dr. Joseph Clapper at clapper@paprincipals.org by Tuesday, June 14, 2016. If
you need assistance, we will provide information about how to contact your
legislators to schedule meetings.
Click here for the informational
flyer, which includes important issues to discuss with your legislators.
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
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.