Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now
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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,
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These daily emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
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Keystone
State Education Coalition
PA
Ed Policy Roundup March 31, 2016:
“If the governor and General
Assembly think schools can weather another eight-month budget impasse, they are
sorely mistaken.”
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
Thanks to all the school board members, superintendents and
administrators who attended last evening’s PSBA Region 15 meeting held jointly
in Delaware and Chester Counties and heard updates on the budget, the Campaign
for Fair Education Funding and advocacy efforts.
“If the governor and General Assembly think schools can
weather another eight-month budget impasse, they are sorely mistaken.”
Pa's school
funding crisis had no winners, but a few heroes: Nathan Mains
PennLive
Op-Ed By Nathan Mains on
March 30, 2016 at 11:00 AM
Nathan Mains is the executive
director of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.
There
was a collective sigh of relief and some celebration last week when Gov. Tom
Wolf let what's left of the 2015-16 state budget lapse into law without his
signature. The impending crisis for
schools and other social service agencies has passed for the moment, but there
is no time for prolonged jubilation as we are less than 100 days away from the
June 30 deadline for the 2016-17 state budget, and there couldn't be more to
do. Schools will be entering the 2016
academic year in a wounded state after months of funding delays requiring them
to borrow money, delay payments and purchases, and cut programs.
“Start with this: Even under the pressure of an election
year, put the unaccomplished items back on the table for the 2016-17 budget.
Pension reform. Privatization of the state liquor monopoly. Move ahead with
constitutional efforts to downsize the state legislature and enact a fairer
system of redistricting. Legislators
should take a tip from the
credit rating services, Standard & Poor's and Moody's
Investor Services, which recently said Pennsylvania is joining New Jersey in a
descent toward junk-bond status. S&P observed that Pennsylvania lacks the
political courage to correct its snowballing budget deficits. Something has to be done. A repeat of the
brinkmanship of the last nine months — essentially buying time while the ship
of state keeps taking on water — is unacceptable.
Pa. budget
just a temporary relief valve | Editorial
Lehigh
Valley Live By Express-Times
opinion staff on March 31, 2016 at 6:00 AM, updated March 31,
2016 at 6:08 AM
After
enduring 38 weeks without a state budget, Pennsylvania is now one week into
a "new"
budget year. Did we learn anything from that standoff? Only this: The partisan divide in state
government looks like it's going to dictate the budget course for at least a
few more years. And that's a political belly-flop on several levels. The
best we can expect is a series of budgets put together with continuing gimmicks
and one-shot revenues, pushing off a recurring structural deficit projected at
$2 billion for the budget year that begins in three months. If you thought last year was complicated, the
budget stakes are now higher for the same cast of characters with the same
agendas.
Letter to the
Editor: Courts must enforce state constitution on education
Delco Times Letter by Cécile Lefebvre-Burgert,
Haverford POSTED: 03/29/16,
9:49 PM EDT | UPDATED: 1 DAY AGO
To the
Times: Finally a new state budget is passed but with continued unequal funding
and underfunding for our public schools.
It is time to support the school funding lawsuit against the state of
Pennsylvania for failing to provide a “thorough and efficient system of public
education” as mandated by section 14 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania. Here in Pennsylvania, we have an unfair school funding formula
resulting in fewer resources in low wealth and minority rural and urban school
districts. It is clear that our elected
officials are not making the necessary efforts to correct the problems and
ensure equal chances for all our children regardless of income or race. It is
time for the courts to intervene and ensure fair funding for public schools and
equal opportunities for all children.
The budget impasse is over, but schools
are still in the dark over funds
Lancaster
Online by KARA NEWHOUSE
| Staff Writer March 30, 2016
School
leaders in Pennsylvania waited almost nine months for a state budget.
Now a $30 billion spending plan is in place, but they are still
waiting.
"It's
a step forward but I wouldn't call it a full step," said Bob Hollister,
superintendent at Eastern Lancaster County School District, which serves about
3,300 students. "Until we know what
kind of money we're talking about, everything's the same." Gov. Tom Wolf allowed a budget to pass this
week without his signature. It delivers a $200 million boost to public school
aid, half of what Wolf originally sought, according to The Associated Press. But the governor vetoed accompanying legislation — the
fiscal code — that indicates how portions of the budget will be distributed,
including among K-12 schools. That veto
keeps schools in a waiting game for this year's funds even as they plan next
year's budgets.
School officials: Budget passage sigh of
relief, and warning of possible repeat next time
Johnstown
Tribune Democrat By
David Hurst dhurst@tribdem.com March 30, 2016
Last
week’s passage of the belated 2015-16 budget will be directing dollars to local
public schools in the coming weeks. Or,
for many of the area’s school administrators, just in time. “It’s a huge weight off our shoulders,”
Greater Johnstown schools Assistant Superintendent Amy Arcurio said, noting
that school officials already borrowed $3 million to get the district through
the year. “After Governor Wolf announced
he wasn’t going to veto that budget, it was honestly the best night sleep I’ve
had since January,” said Portage Area Superintendent Eric Zelanko said. “It
saved us from having to make some very difficult decisions.” But Zelanko and fellow school leaders across
the state are hardly celebrating the fact a historic nine-month budget impasse
has come to an end. The 2015-16 budget’s
passage, which frees up $3 billion in basic education funding, comes as local
public schools are already preparing budgets for the 2016-17 school year – one
superintendents predict could be a repeat of this year, given that little
progress was made on a host of issues that deadlocked Wolf and state lawmakers
on both sides of the aisle for nine months.
Financial
uncertainty still lingers for area school districts
Bradford Era By ALEX DAVIS Era Reporter a.davis@bradfordera.com Posted: Wednesday, March 30,
2016 10:00 am
Local
school officials are suffering from yet another financial headache caused by
the state — and this time it deals with getting reimbursed for school
construction and renovation projects. Gov. Tom
Wolf recently vetoed the state's fiscal code that serves as a guide for
spending state funds, which Senate Republicans say eliminates $289 million that
would have been earmarked for reimbursements for school construction and
renovation projects. What’s more, Wolf’s move puts a hold on $150 million in
additional school funding, Republican lawmakers say. “The conversation needs to be about funds
that directly benefit our students,” Otto-Eldred School District Superintendent
Matt Splain told The Era on Tuesday. “Otto-Eldred is already
owed well over a half-million dollars in PlanCon (Planning and Construction
Workbook) reimbursement. We have facility repairs that need to be made.”
School
districts brace for next round of budget fights
Hazelton Standard Speaker by MARIA JACKETTI
Published: March 30, 2016
Cuts in
personnel, athletic programs and tax increases — possibly large ones — loom for
area school districts as July 1, the due date for the upconing state budget,
gets closer. On Monday, Hazleton Area
School District superintendent Craig Butler said that it would constitute
“erroneous thinking” not to plan ahead for additional potential fiscal
struggles. “We need to make cuts,” he
said, “and put money away and into our reserve.” To do this, Butler said that staff reductions
are inevitable. He said the district
cannot consider a budget which would stay the course of current spending. Hazleton Area School District Director Tony
Bonomo agrees. “There are going to be
cuts in personnel,” Bonomo said. “There is no doubt about it.”
Board OKs
cutting 43 teachers in Pennsylvania district
Inquirer
by The Associated Press Updated: MARCH
30, 2016 — 8:43 AM EDT
PENN
HILLS, Pa. (AP) - The board of a cash-strapped western Pennsylvania school
district has approved furloughing 43 teachers - including 23 special education
instructors - at the end of this school year.
The Penn Hills School Board voted 7-2 to cut the teacher positions
Tuesday night. The teachers' union says that violates an agreement to not cut
any teaching jobs until the current teachers' contract expires in 2018. The district has nearly $30 million in
various kinds of debt. It borrowed $18 million in October to cover continued
operating expenses and finished last school year with a nearly $11 million
deficit. The district is blaming falling
enrollment and increasing payments to charter schools in the district just east
of Pittsburgh.
Once again, the budget's main driver is the $10 million
combined increase in state-mandated employee pension contributions and tuition
payments to charter schools. They account for 21 percent of district spending. Charter schools are privately operated public
schools that are funded by tax dollars funneled from a student's home district.
Bethlehem projects spending almost $26 million to educate 2,068 students in
charter and cyber schools. It would cost
the district about $7 million to educate all of those students if they
returned. There would be no budget deficit, Roy said. "I think it is important for the public
to know there is a cost for school choice," Roy said, adding there are
some legislative fixes that politicians refuse to address.
No good
scenarios, with $11.6M hole in Bethlehem school budget
Bethlehem taxpayers
will be seeing another school tax hike.The question is just how much.
Lehigh
Valley Live By Sara K.
Satullo | For lehighvalleylive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on
March 30, 2016 at 9:11 PM, updated March 31, 2016 at 1:11 AM
The Bethlehem
Area School District is weighing a 4.6 percent tax hike, increasing
class sizes and cutting jobs through attrition to close its $11.6 million
budget hole. Wednesday night the
administration updated the school
board on its efforts to reduce the $15.2 million deficit the district
began the 2016-17 budget process with in January. It looks as if the school board is again
pushing for a mix of spending cuts, raising taxes and using district savings to
balance the $263 million budget by June 30.
"None of the scenarios are good," school board President Mike
Faccinetto said. "Certainly we don't want to tax to the max if we don't
have to." Faccinetto knows another
tax hike won't sit well with the community but with such political gridlock in
Harrisburg it seems inevitable, he said. The district's current budget raised
taxes by 2.9 percent.
"Is
this really the best we can do in Pennsylvania?," Superintendent Joseph
Roy asked. "We can't pass a budget and we can't support public education
appropriately. It's embarrassing."
The Sound of
Silence: Where was our voice in Pennsylvania’s Budget Battle?
Blog Post
Posted on March 31, 2016 by thesecondhalf61 Charlene M. Brennan, D.Ed.,
Opinions are my own
“Thinking
he had a voters’ mandate when he was elected, Wolf played a strong hand out of
the box, expecting that the Republicans would cave after a while when residents
and the educational community would put pressure on them to pass a budget with
significant funding increases for education. The pressure never came,
at least not to the degree to sway the GOP leadership. They calculated —
correctly — that residents had no stomach for major tax increases.” (Emphasis
mine) From: PA Budget Battle:
Gov. Wolf blinked; Editorial by Bruce Fassinelli, Times News, (tnonline.com),
March 30, 2016 The pressure
never came. So true. I heard from several legislators that their phone
seldom if ever rang about the battle for a state budget. Although I don’t
know the Governor, reliable sources told me he was surprised about the silence
from Pennsylvania’s citizens. The silence was deafening.
Plancon: Schools
looking at Pennsylvania IOU on construction costs
WHYY
Newsworks BY MARY WILSON
MARCH 31, 2016
Pennsylvania's
budget gridlock is over, but school districts are focusing on another piece of
unwelcome news: After years of delayed reimbursements for state-approved
construction and building maintenance, they'll go without any state funding for
such projects. About $306 million in
construction reimbursements was nixed when Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed a
budget-related piece of legislation known as the fiscal code last week. Schools desperate for their state aid were
the single largest source of pressure on lawmakers and Wolf to end the nearly
nine-month budget impasse. Will the holdup of state money for construction
costs prompt a similar outcry?
OPED: Wolf's
2016-17 budget plan would close 160 charter schools
York Dispatch Opinion by TIM ELLER, Keystone
Alliance for Public Charter Schools10:47 a.m. EDT March 30, 2016
Supporters
of public school choice next year will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Pennsylvania’s
Charter School Law. Since 1997, the number of brick-and-mortar charter schools
has grown to 160 and enroll nearly 100,000 students, with tens of thousands
more on waiting lists. At a
time when the charter school sector should be gearing up to celebrate this
significant milestone, instead, it is preparing to battle anti-school choice
advocates’ efforts to close down charter schools and force students back into
the very schools they fled that failed them year after year. Governor Wolf in February proposed a 2016-17
spending plan that calls for cutting nearly $500 million in funding to charter
schools, which would result in the shutting down of virtually every charter
school across the state.
Blogger note: Mr.
Eller’s hyperbole above notwithstanding, here’s a 2014 piece by Dan Hardy detailing
how the state’s charters are overpaid for special ed services….
“Last year, the state association of school business
officials said state data showed that Pennsylvania charters received close to
$200 million for special education students that was not spent on services for
them. Charter proponents hotly disputed that analysis while arguing that many
charters are reliant on excess special ed dollars to stay afloat.”
Reprise 2014: State's
special education funding rules are slow to change
The
notebook by Dan Hardy October 20, 2014 — 12:36pm
Pennsylvania’s
special education funding system is complicated and in flux. But it has
generally discouraged districts from identifying too many special education
students while rewarding charters that do so.
Until this year, state special education funding for school districts
assumed that 16 percent of their students had special needs, allocating money
based on that percentage of total enrollment.
A legislative special education funding commission late last year
recommended that districts get funding based on the actual numbers, with three
tiers of payments based on the severity of a student’s disability. That concept
was applied only to the small amount of new special education funding in the
2014-15 state budget. Charters, however,
continue to receive the same amount for each special education student – the
District’s average per-student cost – regardless of the actual cost to the
charter of services. And they are not required to spend the special education
funds on those students.
Amended
recovery plan shifts focus to York City district structure
York Dispatch by Sean
Philip Cotter, 505-5437/@SPCotterYD4:13 p.m. EDT March 30, 2016
Carol
Saylor's recovery plan for the York City School District focuses on
working within the current system — reform instead of the revolution the
previous plan sought. Saylor, the
district's chief recovery officer, authored a revised plan, which the
district's school board passed earlier this month. The district administration,
school board and union broadly support her approach over that of her
predecessor, David Meckley. Formerly
a superintendent in Adams and Lancaster counties, Saylor was appointed to
her current position in April 2015 by then newly elected Gov. Tom Wolf, a York
County Democrat. Meckley, the previous chief recovery officer, resigned
the month before that; appointed by Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, the local
businessman had set the district on a path toward full conversion to charter
schools, which drew strong community opposition.
Northwestern Lehigh School Board to vote
on fact finder's report in teacher negotiations
Sarah
M. Wojcik Contact Reporter Of The Morning
Call mARCH 30, 2016
Northwestern
Lehigh School Board to vote on fact finder's report in teacher negotiations
LYNN
TOWNSHIP — The Northwestern Lehigh School District will vote next week on a
fact finder's report that the district and teachers union hope will carve out
common ground on unresolved issues for a contract that's 10 months overdue. District teachers have been working without a
contract since July 1. Both sides have been meeting at the bargaining table
since January 2015. According to the district, the average salary in the
district for the 2014-15 school year was $60,637. On Feb. 17, the district and the Northwestern
Lehigh Education Association mutually agreed to enter the fact-finding process,
according to the district. That report was delivered to the district around
midnight Monday, but won't be made public until it's voted upon. A fact
finder is an independent, state-appointed investigator brought into the
bargaining process to sift through the specifics from both sides and come up
with a way to resolve the remaining sticking points.
“Thanks to the 2010 U.S.
Supreme Court decision Citizens United, campaign cash has
flowed into national politics at unprecedented levels. The decision gave birth to, among other
things, so-called "dark money," where the identity of
donors are shielded from public view. At
the state level, Pennsylvania is one of 11 states that allows for limitless
contributions to political candidates. The only prohibition is on direct
corporate contributions to candidates. Apart
from that, it's a free-for-all. And
incumbents who benefit from this atmosphere, and from a redistricting system
that only shores up their re-election chances, have shown little inclination to
upset their very lucrative apple cart. Proposals
that would reform Pennsylvania's campaign finance laws come and go with each
legislative session.
Most never escape from committee for a vote on the floor of
the state House and Senate.”
A prescription
to crash the millionaires' party in Pa. politics: Editorial
By PennLive Editorial
Board on March 30, 2016 at 4:15 PM, updated March 30, 2016 at
9:36 PM
In 2007,
Philadelphia-area philanthropist Ronald Krancer donated $600,000 to
support his son, Michael Krancer's, Republican bid for a seat on the state
Supreme Court. In 2014, Louis Appell
Jr., of York, a former head of Pfaltzgraff Co., contributed $725,000 to
now-Gov. Tom Wolf and now-Lt. Gov. Mike Stack's successful effort to capture
the state's top spot. In 2010, charter
school magnate Vaughan Guereghian dumped $325,714 into Republican Tom Corbett's
ultimately successful campaign for the Governor's Office. And in 2006, Christine Toretti, an Indiana
County resident, head of S.W. Jack Drilling Co., and a longtime Republican
activist, contributed $114,089 to former Pittsburgh Steelers great Lynn Swann's
Republican campaign for governor. What do
they all have in common? They are among
the 13 men and women who have donated $1 million or more to political campaigns
across Pennsylvania over the last 16 years.
Support an Independent Citizens
Redistricting Commission
Join Us in Ensuring
Fair Districts & Fair Elections for Every PA Voter
Fair
Districts PA website
When we
vote, we want our elections to be fair. We want our votes to count and we want
our voices to be heard. Partisan
redistricting allows politicians to choose voters instead of allowing voters to
choose politicians. The process happens behind closed doors, with no
transparency and no accountability to voters.
Fortunately, a bipartisan group of legislators from both the
Pennsylvania Senate and House wants to change that and put real power back into
the hands of voters. Companion
bills SB
484 and HB
1835 would create an impartial, independent citizens
redistricting commission with rules ensuring fairness and transparency.
Join
Fair Districts PA in asking our legislators to pass these constitutional
amendments to restore accountable government that is of, by and for the people.
For more
information, visit www.fairdistrictspa.com.
Who Gave Millions?
Penn
Live by Candy Woodall March 30, 2015
Individual
donors have poured nearly $515 million into Pennsylvania political campaigns
over the past 16 years.
State Sen.
Scott Wagner: 'We’re purging Senate members out'
York Daily Record by Ed Mahon,
emahon@ydr.com8:38 p.m. EDT March 30, 2016
State
Sen. Scott Wagner said lawmakers don’t follow directions from legislative
leaders as much as they used to. “There
was a time when leadership in the House and Senate told their members what to
do,” Wagner told a crowd at The Yorktowne Hotel on Wednesday. “They went down
the hall, they cut a deal with the governor or whatever … and they came back
and told their members: You vote for this.”
Wagner, of Spring Garden Township, said most members listened. But now,
he said, that day is gone. “It’s truly
over. And I can tell you, we’re purging Senate members out, and there’s a large
purge out in the House,” Wagner said. “...There is a movement taking place.”
“The stakes are high this year: Results from the 2015 PSSAs
were not included in schools’ 2014-15 School Performance Profile score, the
state’s measure of academic performance and growth, because it was the first
year the test had been aligned with the more rigorous Pennsylvania Core
Standards. This year, the results will be included. To see your school’s SPP
score, click here.”
If it’s spring, it must be standardized
test time
GoErie.com
by Erica Erwin March
30, 2016 8:00 am
Birds
chirping. Motorcycles roaring. Pencil sharpeners whirring, prepping a batch
of No. 2s to tackle the next stack of standardized tests. Such are the sounds of spring.
The Erie
School District will administer the 2016 Pennsylvania System of School
Assessment, or PSSA, in reading and math to students in grades three through
eight, and in science to students in grades four and eight, in
April. Also coming up: Keystone exams to students taking
Algebra I, Literature and Biology.
The district recently sent home letters
to parents informing them of the tests and some basic rules (no cell
phones allowed, please), along with a testing schedule. “Please encourage your child to try their
very best on these tests and be sure they come to school well-rested and ready
to demonstrate all that they have learned this year,” Erie schools
Superintendent Jay Badams wrote.
Philly
releases charter school profiles
Inquirer
by Martha Woodall, Staff
Writer Updated: MARCH 31,
2016 — 1:08 AM EDT
For the
first time, the Philadelphia School District has created profiles that provide
key information for every charter school in the city. The one-page descriptions - posted on the
district's website - provide application deadlines, grades taught, school
hours, and information about enrollment, racial demographics, attendance,
academic offerings, and extracurriculars.
The summaries also show the college-bound rates for high school charters
and break down the percentages of grads who enroll in two- and four-year
colleges and whether they are public or private institutions. The
pages for each of the 83 charters also tell when the school opened and when its
operating charter is up for renewal. "The
idea is for parents to have charter information in one simple format,"
Fernando Gallard, district spokesman, said Wednesday. He said similar information had been
available for district schools. The link
for the profiles can be found on the left at www.philasd.org/charter_schools
West Chester
approves full-day kindergarten to start in 2017-18
Daily Local By Candice Monhollan, cmonhollan@
21st-centurymedia.com, @CMonhollanDLN on
Twitter POSTED: 03/30/16,
3:33 PM EDT | UPDATED: 10 HRS AGO
WEST
GOSHEN >> Superintendent Jim Scanlon said voting to implement full-day
kindergarten in the West Chester Area School District was the most important
decision in his seven years. After
Tuesday night’s school board meeting approved the implementation to begin in
2017-18 with an 8-1 vote, Scanlon, the board and the district will now leave a
lasting legacy in the community. “This
is my ninth year on the board … and even over all those times, I don’t think
anything came before the board that is more important and more critical to the
future of the children and this community than this right here,” said Ricky
Swalm, president of the board. “This is powerful. (This) sets this community
and district apart from others.” As has
been mentioned during informational meetings with parents and community
members, full-day kindergarten has been in discussion in the district for at
least 20 years.
Education in
Crisis and the Threat of Privatization
Huffington
Post by Diane Ravitch
Research Professor of Education, New York University; Author, ‘Reign of
Error’ 03/29/2016 12:59 pm ET | Updated 1 day ago
It has
become conventional wisdom that “education is in crisis.” I have been asked
about this question by many interviewers. They say something like: “Do you
think American education is in crisis? What is the cause of the crisis?” And I answer,
“Yes, there is a crisis, but it is not the one you have read about. The crisis
in education today is an existential threat to the survival of public
education. The threat comes from those who unfairly blame the school for social
conditions, and then create a false narrative of failure. The real threat is
privatization and the loss of a fundamental democratic institution.” As we have seen again and again, the
corporate education industry is eager to break into U.S. public education and
turn it into a free marketplace, where they can monetize the schools and be
assured of government subsidization. On the whole, these privatized
institutions do not produce higher test scores than regular public schools,
except for those that cherry-pick their students and exclude the neediest and
lowest performing students. The promotion of privatization by philanthropies,
by the U.S. Department of Education, by right-wing governors (and a few
Democratic governors like Cuomo of New York and Malloy of Connecticut), by the
hedge fund industry, and by a burgeoning education equities industry poses a
danger to our democracy. In some communities, public schools verge on
bankruptcy as charters drain their resources and their best students.
Nationwide, charter schools have paved the way for vouchers by making “school
choice” non-controversial.
“Several large, diverse states still maintain state school
finance systems in which the highest need districts receive substantially less
state and local revenue per pupil than the lowest need districts. These states include
Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas, among others.”
Is School Funding Fair?
America’s Most Fiscally Disadvantaged School Districts - March 2016
By:
Bruce Baker, Theresa Luhm, Danielle Farrie and David G. Sciarra; Education Law
Center and Rutgers University
This
report identifies the most fiscally disadvantaged school districts in the
country — those with higher than average student needs in their labor‐market location and lower than average resources when state and
local revenues are combined. This report
is a companion to Is School Funding Fair? A National Report Card (NRC), in
which we evaluate and compare the extent to which state finance systems ensure
equality of educational opportunity for all children, regardless of background,
family income, place of residence, or school location. The NRC shows that both
the overall level of state funding and the extent to which states provide
additional resources to districts with higher concentrations of children in
poverty vary widely.
ESSA May Offer
Megaphone for Parent, Community Voices
Advocates See Chance for Greater
Impact Under New K-12 Law
Education Week By Andrew Ujifusa & Sarah
Tully Published
Online: March 22, 2016
Advocates
for parent and community engagement see the newly revised federal K-12 law as
an opportunity to expand their impact on states' academic goals, plans for
school improvement, and other areas of policy.
Requirements in federal education law for parental involvement in public
schools are nothing new. But because the new Every Student Succeeds Act shifts
significant responsibility over accountability and other matters to states and
districts, there's renewed hope that parent, community, civil rights, and other
groups will have more sway over what has been, in many cases, a narrower
decisionmaking process. There are some
caveats, however. Since
ESSA deals only with authorizations for programs, federal funding for some of
these engagement efforts is not guaranteed. And various groups say that it's up
to all sides—including policymakers, advocates, and community members—to become
more active so that the promise ESSA holds for them is fulfilled.
Electing PSBA Officers – Applications Due
by April 30th
All
persons seeking nomination for elected positions of the Association shall send
applications to the attention of the chair of the Leadership Development
Committee during the month of April, an Application
for Nomination to be provided by the Association expressing interest
in the office sought. “The Application for nomination shall be marked received
at PSBA Headquarters or mailed first class and postmarked by April 30 to be
considered and timely filed. If said date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or
holiday, then the Application for Nomination shall be considered timely filed
if marked received at PSBA headquarters or mailed and postmarked on the next
business day.” (PSBA
Bylaws, Article IV, Section 5.E.).
Open
positions are:
- 2017 President
Elect (one-year term)
- 2017 Vice
President (one-year term)
- 2017-19 Central Section at
Large Representative – includes Regions 4, 5, 6, 9 and
12 (three-year term)
In
addition to the application form, PSBA Governing
Board Policy 302 asks that all candidates furnish with their
application a recent, print quality photograph and letters of application. The
application form specifies no less than two and no more than four letters of
recommendation, some or all of which preferably should be from school districts
in different PSBA regions as well as from community groups and other sources
that can provide a description of the candidate’s involvement with and
effectiveness in leadership positions. PSBA Governing
Board Policy 108 also outlines the campaign procedures of candidates.
All
terms of office commence January 1 following election.
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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