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Keystone
State Education Coalition
PA
Ed Policy Roundup March 25, 2016:
Moody’s & PNC on #PABudget: Go Borrow
Money from Grover Nordquist
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
Save the date: May 2nd at the Capitol
The #voterregistration
deadline for the #PaPrimary
is 3/28
Online PA Voter Registration
here:
EPLC
"Focus on Education" TV Program on PCN - Sunday, March
27 at 3:00 p.m.
Part 1: A Discussion on High
School Career and Technical Education in Pennsylvania, featuring:
Dr. Lee Burket, Director, Bureau of Career and Technical Education, PA Department of Education; Jackie Cullen, Executive Director, PA Association of Career and Technical Administrators; Dan Fogarty, Director of Workforce Development / Chief Operating Officer, Berks County Workforce Development Board; Seth Schram, Principal, Chester County Technical College High School - Brandywine Campus
Dr. Lee Burket, Director, Bureau of Career and Technical Education, PA Department of Education; Jackie Cullen, Executive Director, PA Association of Career and Technical Administrators; Dan Fogarty, Director of Workforce Development / Chief Operating Officer, Berks County Workforce Development Board; Seth Schram, Principal, Chester County Technical College High School - Brandywine Campus
Part 2: A Discussion on Citizens
for the Arts in Pennsylvania and Statewide and National Arts Education
Advocacy, featuring:
Jenny L. Hershour, Managing Director, Citizens for the Arts in Pennsylvania
Jenny L. Hershour, Managing Director, Citizens for the Arts in Pennsylvania
Moody's: Pennsylvania $6.6B budget ignores
fiscal challenges
AP State
Wire March 24, 2016
HARRISBURG,
Pa. (AP) - A credit rating agency on Thursday welcomed the end of
Pennsylvania's nine-month budget stalemate but said the spending package
doesn't resolve the state's structural budget deficit or address its looming
pension crisis. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf
backed off a veto threat and agreed to permit a Republican-penned $6.6 billion
supplemental spending package to become law, saying he relented because it was
"time to move on" and start work on the next budget. Moody's said Thursday that while the budget
represents an improvement over "political gridlock," it fails to
address the state's long-term fiscal challenges. "The
approved budget ... casts no light on the government's ability to reach
compromise on its long-term fiscal challenges," Moody's said in a
statement.
“There is nothing that has
occurred in recent weeks or months that leads us to believe the spending plan
will begin to put Pennsylvania back on a path to structural balance,” the PNC
report states. “We do not expect the budget to come close to solving
Pennsylvania's fiscal pressures, including its structural budget gap, which is
sizeable and growing.”
Pennsylvania's
budget woes bring warning from lenders, ratings agencies
Trib
Live BY ELIZABETH BEHRMAN | Thursday, March 24, 2016,
11:05 p.m.
Lawmakers
in Harrisburg may have pushed a budget through for 2015-16, providing
much-needed relief for school districts and human services providers, but
financial institutions say the state's money troubles are far from over. In a PNC report released hours after Gov. Tom
Wolf said he would allow a Republican-designed spending plan to become law, the
bank warned that the state's general obligation ratings could be downgraded if
nothing is done to address a looming deficit.
It's the latest warning about what could happen if legislators can't
come up with a way to correct the state's “fiscal course.” Standard and Poor's
threatened to downgrade the state's rating this month and placed it on credit
watch with negative implications, according to the report.
Even with a
budget, Moody's sees little hope for Pa.'s finances
Inquirer by Michaelle Bond Updated: MARCH 24, 2016 — 8:39 PM
EDT
Pennsylvania's
historic budget impasse may be over, but Moody's Investors Service said it may
be only a short reprieve. Gov. Wolf said
Wednesday he would not veto the latest $30 billion Republican budget plan,
allowing it to become law. He had vetoed previous spending plans, leaving the
state without a budget for 266 days. "While
the nine-month stalemate is over, it does not solve any of the ongoing
questions over the state's progress toward structural balance over the
long-term and therefore is likely to elicit a new stalemate for the next fiscal
year beginning July 1," Moody's said in a statement Thursday. The New York ratings agency picked apart the
2016 budget, saying it increases spending without approving the governor's
proposed taxes to work toward fiscal balance. Moody's also criticized the
budget's reliance on nearly $1 billion in one-time funds and said it does not include
adequate pension contributions and "casts no light on the government's
ability to reach compromise on its long-term fiscal challenges."
“Moody’s
predicted a new budget stalemate for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.”
Pennsylvania's $6.6B Budget Ignores Fiscal
Challenges: Moody's
NBC10.com
March 24, 2016
A credit
rating agency on Thursday welcomed the end of Pennsylvania's
nine-month budget stalemate but said the spending package doesn't resolve the
state's structural budget deficit or address its looming pension crisis. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf backed off a veto
threat and agreed to permit a Republican-penned $6.6 billion supplemental
spending package to become law, saying he relented because it was "time to
move on" and start work on the next budget. Moody's
said Thursday that while the budget represents an improvement over
"political gridlock," it fails to address the state's long-term
fiscal challenges. "The approved
budget ... casts no light on the government's ability to reach compromise on
its long-term fiscal challenges," Moody's said in a statement.
Governor’s BLOG: Financial Crisis Coming
to Pennsylvania, Warns Another Financial Institution
Governor Wolf’s website March 24, 2016 By: Jeff Sheridan, Press
Secretary
Governor
Wolf announced yesterday that he would allow the general appropriations and
non-preferred appropriations bills sent to him by Republicans to become law, as
is, without his signature. The governor believes it is time to move on from the
protracted 2015-16 budget impasse and this will allow funding to go out to
schools and other services in the short term, but we still face enormous
problems that this budget does not even pretend to address. The math
in the Republican budget still does not work and the massive multi-billion
dollar deficit is left unaddressed. S&P,
Fitch and Moody’s along with the Independent Fiscal Office have all sounded the
alarm and warned of the consequences of not addressing the commonwealth’s
massive deficit. And today, less than a
day after the governor announced he would let the Republican budget become law,
PNC put out a notice warning that Pennsylvania’s credit rating could still be
downgraded. According to PNC, “It is possible Pennsylvania’s general obligation
(GO) ratings could be downgraded in the near term, even though the governor
allowed the Republican budget to become law.”
Wolf warns of impending 2016-17 budget
crisis
By Ron Leonardi 814-870-1680 Erie Times-News March 25, 2016 05:12 AM
Democratic
Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday warned Pennsylvanians that state finances are far
from healthy despite his decision Wednesday to allow the Republican-backed
2015-16 state budget to become law. Wolf
said Thursday he has to move forward and address a looming $2 billion deficit
for the 2016-17 fiscal year, and he warned in a blog post that "we need a
budget Pennsylvanians can be proud of -- one that funds essential services,
invests in education, eliminates the $2 billion deficit, and brings us back from
the brink. That's our job.''
Local
legislators, school officials respond to budget
Republican Herald BY STEPHEN J. PYTAK Published:
March 24, 2016
Following
the governor’s decision to end the 266-day budget impasse Wednesday,
school officials from Schuylkill County expressed relief. “Mahanoy Area didn’t have to borrow money,
but we would have run out of money in late April or early May. We would have
had to do something,” Jack J. Hurst, Mahanoy Area’s business administrator,
said. Hurst and Stephen C. Curran,
Pottsville Area’s business manager, were among school district officials from
across the state who gathered in Harrisburg on Wednesday to take a
stand on the matter. They attended a press conference organized by the PA
Association of School Business Officials which was held at the Capitol Rotunda on
Wednesday morning, an effort to urge Governor Wolf to sign the budget bill
to allow schools to remain open and avoid increased costs and financial chaos.
Delco Times Editorial:
Pa. has a budget, but no answers
Delco
Times POSTED: 03/24/16, 10:12 PM EDT | UPDATED: 27 SECS AGO
After a
nine-month showdown over spending and taxes, Gov. Tom Wolf was the first to
blink.
It might
take a little while longer for the rest of Pennsylvania to come to grips with
what happened. Democrat
Wolf, who was under increasing pressure to give up his pipe dream of a massive
package of tax hikes and increased spending, finally relented when some in his
own party, wary of talk of schools that might shut their doors, urged him to do
so. Wolf made clear he would hold his
nose and allow the latest GOP budget plan to become law this Sunday. After months of wrangling that got us exactly
nowhere, we’re reminded of the old Peggy Lee tune: “Is That All There Is?” Wolf made pretty clear he was not signing the
Republican budget because “he could not sign something he did not agree with.” So after nine months, we’re right back where
we were. The
state still faces huge fiscal issues, including a budget shortfall that,
according to Wolf, is now over $2 billion.
Luckily, because of their inaction, the governor and Republicans in the
Legislature get to do it all over again.
BCCT
Editorial: Wolf relents, but it's not over
Bucks County
Courier Times Editorial Posted: Friday, March 25, 2016 12:15 am
The
nearly nine-month stare-down between Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and the
Republican-controlled Legislature over the 2015-16 state budget ended
Wednesday. Wolf blinked, agreeing to no longer stand in the way of part of a
GOP-crafted budget that provides $3 billion in critical aid to public schools. Without that money, some school districts
were quite literally functioning day to day, and the need to possibly close
schools was being openly discussed. Faced with that prospect, plus increasing
pressure from Democrats who hinted strongly they might bolt and join ranks with
Republicans to override a veto of the GOP budget, Wolf relented. He said he
won’t sign the Republican spending plan, which provides about half the
education aid he wanted, but he won’t veto it, either. The symbolic protest is
just that; the supplemental Republican budget takes effect Monday, and school
districts will begin receiving the money to which they are entitled. We wish
we could say this puts a lid on one of the more grievous examples of government
ineptitude in Pennsylvania’s long and storied history. But not so fast. Wolf’s
finally giving in on the 2015-16 budget can hardly be considered a surrender;
it’s more like a tactical retreat. All along, it has been Wolf’s strategy to
hold out for higher education spending and huge tax increases to close what he
says is a growing structural deficit; Democrats estimate it will hit $2 billion
for 2016-17.
Budget issues may arise again for Wolf,
GOP in 2016-17
By Karen
Langley, Kate Giammarise & Chris Potter Post-Gazette March 25, 2016 12:22
AM
After
nearly nine months of watching the Pennsylvania state budget impasse, some
observers said Thursday that the coming year could look a lot like
the past year. Whether a similar outcome
would be acceptable was a matter of perspective. “This is an interregnum,” said Terry Madonna,
director of the Franklin & Marshall College Poll and a longtime observer of
state politics. “This isn’t a truce. This is just a temporary moment, and a
transition to the next battle, which actually has been going on. Both sides are
going to stay exactly where they are as we move into the next round.”
“The funds that we will receive fall well short of what we need
to truly meet the needs of our students.”
Pa. budget
does little to help schools
York Daily Record Opinion by Shelly Merkle, Guest
Columnist1:31 p.m. EDT March 24, 2016
Shelly Merkle is superintendent
of the York Suburban School District.
It seems
that as of today, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has a 2015-16 budget. Hip,
hip hooray! Unfortunately, this budget
does little to help education in Pennsylvania.
Fact: Education remains woefully underfunded in Pennsylvania. You have
heard the cries from your local school districts that we need immediate funds
to close out the school year. Mercifully, we will now receive these funds. We
can pay our bills. Unfortunately, the
funds that we will receive fall well short of what we need to truly meet the
needs of our students. The budget that lumbered and finally eeked its way
through the system includes funding at the 2014-15 level. Indeed, it does
include an additional $150 million, but we still have no idea if or how these
funds will be distributed.
Local school
districts react to passage of Pa. budget
Lynn Ondrusek Pocono Record Writer Posted Mar. 23, 2016 at 4:56 PM
After starting the 2015-16 school year without a state budget, Monroe County school districts can now breathe a little easier over the spring break and Easter holiday before moving forward with next year’s budget. Gov. Tom Wolf passed a $30 billion budget Wednesday after a nine-month gridlock with lawmakers, which will bring the remaining state funding to schools throughout the commonwealth. The news comes the day before the Easter and spring break for districts in the county. “It’s time,” said East Stroudsburg Area School District Superintendent Sharon Laverdure. “We can’t rest one second. We have to start the 16-17 budget after the holiday. There’s a lot of work to be done.” She said the district will have a better idea on what it will be receiving for their basic education subsidy for the 2016-17 school year, but work needs to be done for the underfunded districts, such as East Stroudsburg, Laverdure said.
After starting the 2015-16 school year without a state budget, Monroe County school districts can now breathe a little easier over the spring break and Easter holiday before moving forward with next year’s budget. Gov. Tom Wolf passed a $30 billion budget Wednesday after a nine-month gridlock with lawmakers, which will bring the remaining state funding to schools throughout the commonwealth. The news comes the day before the Easter and spring break for districts in the county. “It’s time,” said East Stroudsburg Area School District Superintendent Sharon Laverdure. “We can’t rest one second. We have to start the 16-17 budget after the holiday. There’s a lot of work to be done.” She said the district will have a better idea on what it will be receiving for their basic education subsidy for the 2016-17 school year, but work needs to be done for the underfunded districts, such as East Stroudsburg, Laverdure said.
Quakertown
officials fear budget battle not over
Intelligencer By Gary Weckselblatt, staff writer Posted: Thursday, March 24,
2016 10:30 pm
School
officials in Quakertown expressed relief Thursday night that money would begin
flowing from Harrisburg to cash-starved districts next week, but at the same
time warned that they could find themselves in the same place next year. "Although the immediate crisis is over,
we're not out of the woods yet," school board President Paul Stepanoff
said. On Wednesday, Wolf said he would
not stand in the way of a Republican-crafted budget. While he won't sign the
measure, he decided not to veto it after meeting with concerned Democratic
lawmakers this week. His non-veto will release $3 billion in subsidies to the
state's 500 districts. Many had been forced to take out $1 billion in loans to
pay bills.
Pennsylvania
Budget Stalemate Ends, Clearing Way for School Aid
Education
Week State Ed Watch By Daarel Burnette II on March
23, 2016 5:45 PM
An
eight-month budget stalemate in Pennsylvania ended Wednesday when Gov. Tom
Wolf, a Democrat, backed off his threat to veto a spending plan passed by
Republican lawmakers, freeing up millions of dollars in education funding to
districts. But the plan, which will go
into effect Monday, provides school districts with just half of the $400
million funding increase Wolf originally sought, according to the Associated Press.
It will will distribute $6.6 billion—a 3 percent increase in statewide
spending— without raising taxes. It's
the last piece of a $30 billion spending plan, of which more than $9 billion will be spent on
the state's K-12 system.
“More registered voters
hold the state legislature (50%) than the governor (35%) responsible for the
state’s late budget, a proportion that has remained consistent since August. As
with previous surveys, responses about the budget are heavily influenced by
party; about twothirds (68%) of Democrats believe the state legislature is more
responsible than the governor for the budget impasse, but one in two (59%)
Independent voters and only one quarter (25%) of Republicans believe so. More
(79%) voters believe that elected leaders should compromise to complete the
budget than believe they should stand firm on their principles even if a budget
does not get passed (17%). More registered voters believe the state should
enact a mix of spending cuts and tax increases to balance the budget (44%) than
believe that only program cuts (35%) or increased taxes (12%) should be used.
Large majorities support taxing companies that extract and sell natural gas
(73%) and increasing tobacco taxes (79%) as a way to balance the state budget.”
The Franklin & Marshall College Poll
March 2016
The
March 2016 Franklin & Marshall College Poll of Pennsylvania registered
voters reveals stark party differences in the presidential nominating contests.
The Democratic presidential primary race in Pennsylvania has changed little
since January. The poll shows Hillary Clinton with a sizable lead over Bernie
Sanders, 53% to 28%, which is consistent with her leads in January and
February. The poll also shows that both candidates are considered favorably by
registered Democrats. On the other side, though, the Republican presidential
primary race continues to shift. Donald Trump (33%) leads, as he has
since October, but John Kasich (30%) is now a close second. Unlike registered
Democrats, registered Republicans do not have uniformly positive feelings about
their candidates. Hillary Clinton currently
holds a double-digit lead over both Donald Trump (46% to 33%) and Ted
Cruz (45% to 35%) in Pennsylvania. The Republican candidates are deeply
unpopular among Pennsylvania’s registered voters.
View
the latest Franklin & Marshall College Poll (PDF):
“He also said that
starting in 2017-18, he expects the district will have to close three schools
annually to offset the increase of 10,000 charter students projected over the
next five years. The increase stems from new schools and charter expansions the
SRC has approved.”
SRC adopts $2.8 billion spending outline; no new city revenues sought
SRC adopts $2.8 billion spending outline; no new city revenues sought
Inquirer
by Martha Woodall, Staff
Writer Updated: MARCH 25,
2016 — 1:07 AM EDT
The
Philadelphia School Reform Commission on Thursday approved the broad outlines
of a proposed $2.8 billion budget for next year that, while anticipating it
will have to pay more for charters and pensions, does not see the district's
having to ask City Council for new revenue. In a
briefing before the SRC meeting, Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said the
district would ask Harrisburg for more money in the fiscal year that begins
July 1, but for the first time in years the city will not be tapped for more. "There's no 'ask' to City Council,"
he told reporters. But amid
the somewhat upbeat report, Hite expressed concerns about the district's
long-range financial health. Its
five-year spending plan forecasts deficits beginning with fiscal 2017-18 if the
district does not get new sources of revenue. That usually means more money
from the state, city, or federal governments.
Despite
uncertainty, District plans $440 million in new investments
Officials project
high charter growth and plan to close 3 schools a year starting in 2018. They
will not ask City Council for more money.
The notebook
by Dale Mezzacappa March 24, 2016 — 5:57pm
School
District officials outlined a five-year plan Thursday that shows a system in continued
financial peril, even as it tries to make new investments in schools and
classrooms – about $440 million over that period. The School Reform Commission adopted
a $2.8 billion “lump sum” budget for the 2017-18 school year at a meeting
the same evening. Expenditures are
growing by 4.5 percent a year, while revenue is only anticipated to grow by 2.2
percent a year, said Uri Monson, the School District’s chief financial officer.
The District will not ask City Council for additional funds this year,
officials said. Though the District
is projecting higher revenues from the state, there is nothing but
uncertainty there. Gov. Wolf, who has
unsuccessfully sought historic new investments in education, this week allowed
a Republican budget to become law. The spending plan would give Philadelphia
$52 million in additional funds for the rest of this year and $80 million more
next year – maybe.
Philadelphia's pathway to universal pre-K
Daily
Pennsylvanian By CHARLOTTE LARACY ・ 03/23/16 1:40am
Philadelphia
is demanding implementation of universal preschool to every 3- and 4-year old,
regardless of their need or neighborhood. Mayor Jim Kenney has made strong
campaign promises to make universal preschool a priority and now the city is
trying to bring these promises to fruition.
In May 2015, Philadelphians voted overwhelmingly — with an 80 percent
vote — to create the Philadelphia Commission on Universal Pre-Kindergarten. The
Commission’s goal is to propose a pre-K program that provides
quality, affordable and accessible services for three- and four-year-old
children throughout Philadelphia. In
February, the Commission published a draft of their recommendations to
implement universal pre-K. One of their suggestions was to obtain funding from
multiple sources including federal Head Start, state-funded Pre-K Counts and
local private funding. While there is no
single representative estimate for the cost of quality preschool in
Philadelphia, the Commission has found that the average cost would be $13,000
per preschool child. This would provide quality care for eight hours a day and
260 days per year.
Receiver Barnes
leaving top post in Chester Upland School District
By the Delco Times Staff POSTED: 03/24/16, 10:10 PM
EDT | UPDATED: 31 SECS AGO
CHESTER
>> Chester Upland School District Receiver Francis V. Barnes announced
his resignation Thursday from the top job in the school district. Barnes told the elected school board his last
day will be May 1, 17 months after then-Pennsylvania Education Secretary
Carolyn Dumaresq appointed him chief recovery officer of the district. A former state education secretary himself,
as well as former superintendent of three school districts, principal and
classroom teacher, Barnes, 66, of Bucks County, told school board members that
the Pennsylvania Department of Education is actively searching for his
successor. “Obviously Chester Upland
School district had tremendous financial problems when I took this job, and it
still does,” Barnes stated in a prepared press release. “That said, progress
has been made.
Fitch Downgrades Chester Community Charter
School's (PA) Revs to 'BB'; Rating Watch Negative
Reuters – Fitch Press Release | Fri Feb 24, 2012
1:11pm EST
Fitch
Ratings downgrades to 'BB' from 'BBB' the rating on approximately $57.4 million
of outstanding charter school revenue bonds issued by the Delaware County
Industrial Development Authority, PA (DCIDA) on behalf of Chester Community
Charter School (CCCS). In
addition, Fitch places the bonds on Rating Watch Negative.
Seven Generations Charter School to
suspend middle school pending OK from East Penn
Andrew Wagaman Contact Reporter Of The Morning
Call March 24, 2016
EMMAUS —
Seven Generations Charter School will shut down its middle school for at least
the 2016-17 school year if it gets the OK from the East Penn School District. Seven Generations' board of trustees voted
6-0 Thursday to request an amendment to its charter to suspend the sixth,
seventh and eighth grades after the current school year. If East Penn approves the amended charter,
the administration and trustees will collaborate to develop a transition plan
for students and their families, according to the approved proposal. Trustee
Stephen Peters said they have not yet discussed the transition plan with East
Penn. Trustees said at previous meetings
they were considering closing the middle school because of discipline problems
and other issues they say have prevented the school from fulfilling its
project-based learning and environment-focused mission.
It's official:
Nazareth Area teachers have a contract
By Rudy Miller | For lehighvalleylive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on March 24, 2016 at 4:10 PM, updated March
24, 2016 at 4:18 PM
Nazareth Area School District teachers approved a
four-year contract on Thursday.
Their
vote following the school board's vote on Friday seals the deal. The contract was tentatively settled hours before the teachers planned to strike on Friday.
"The teachers would like to thank the entire community -- parents
and students alike, for their overwhelming support," said teachers union
President Adele Mitch. "Without the diversion of working without a
contract, teachers can again go back to their main focus of education."
West Chester
Area School District considers full-day kindergarten
Daily Local By Candice Monhollan, cmonhollan@
21st-centurymedia.com, @CMonhollanDLN on
Twitter POSTED: 03/24/16,
6:37 PM EDT | UPDATED: 7 HRS AGO
WESTTOWN
>> As West Chester Area School District Superintendent Jim Scanlon sees
it, this is the biggest decision facing the district in the seven years he has
been there. On March 29, the school
board will decide if the district will move from half-day kindergarten to
full-day kindergarten starting in 2017-18.
“It’s something that has been talked about probably 20 years ago and
every year it comes up a little bit,” Scanlon said. “We went through a process
this year, a full cost-benefit analysis of having full-day kindergarten.” On Tuesday night, Scanlon held the second of
two informational meetings about full-day kindergarten at Stetson Middle
School, which was open to anyone interested.
“Philadelphia has become
the poster child of the school nurse deficiency.
In 2011, the school
district laid off or did not fill the positions of retiring school nurses,
reducing its nursing staff by 100 from about 280. Today, the city district
employs about 180 nurses for its 332 schools and 200,000 students.”
Many School
Districts Don't Have Enough School Nurses
Less than half of
the country’s public schools employ a full-time nurse.
US News By Lauren Camera March 23, 2016, at 3:58 p.m.+ More
Less
than half of the country’s public schools employ a full-time nurse, and in some
of the worst cases – largely in poor, urban school systems – there’s only one
school nurse for every 4,000 students. “This
absolutely has real consequences,” says Beth Mattey, president of the National
Association of School Nurses. “If you have a child who isn’t healthy, who
doesn’t feel well, who has a toothache, they will not learn. School nurses keep
kids in schools.” As a result,
teachers, principals and administrative staff are tending to playground cuts,
doling out medication, keeping tabs on food allergies, and watching the blood
sugar levels of students with diabetes. The
problem isn’t new. School districts have steadily shed school nurse staff since
the early 2000s as budgets tightened heading into the Great Recession. But
since then, most districts haven’t made a concerted effort to rehire and
instead have opted to rotate nurses among schools.
Indeed,
more than 30 percent of schools only have a part-time nurse, according to the
latest figures available from the National Association of
School Nurses.
Chicago Teachers Union votes to hold
one-day strike on April 1
Washington
Post By Emma Brown March 24 at 12:49 PM
The Chicago Teachers Union has decided to walk off the job for one
day on April 1, an effort meant to draw attention to ongoing contract
negotiations and city schools’ dire financial outlook. he
one-day strike means that the city’s 400,000 students will miss class on two
consecutive Fridays: They were already scheduled to be out of class on
March 25, when city schools close for the first of three furlough days meant to save the
cash-strapped district approximately $30 million.
The
nation’s third-largest school district faces a $1.1 billion structural deficit,
largely due to growing pension payments, and its financial troubles have given
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) an opening to push for state takeover.
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
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