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Keystone
State Education Coalition
PA
Ed Policy Roundup April 13, 2016:
Auditor
general: "simply the worst charter school law
in the United States."
Campaign for Fair Education Funding - Rally for Public Education
Save the date: May 2nd at the Capitol
“DePasquale targeted a few specific actions during Gov. Tom
Corbett's tenure for deepening Philadelphia's woes, including eliminating funds
that helped cover the added costs of the charter sector. "The tension between the district that
authorized them and the charter school has to end," he said. "And
when the charter school reimbursement was pulled away, that exacerbated the
tension. So it literally became a fight for funding, and that has to
stop."
Pa. charter
school law 'worst in US,' state auditor general says
WHYY
Newsworks BY KEVIN MCCORRY
APRIL 12, 2016
Pennsylvania
Auditor General Eugene DePasquale issued a scathing report damning the state charter law Tuesday, and he
blamed many of the School District of Philadelphia's fiscal woes on state
lawmakers who have not revised the nearly 20-year-old measure. "Our charter school law is simply the
worst charter school law in the United States," said DePasquale at a news
conference at Philadelphia's district headquarters. Specifically, DePasquale said, the law fails
to give districts the power to ensure that only high-performing charters that
serve equitable populations of children are opening. And he lamented that
districts waste too much time and too many resources fighting to close
underperformers. He blamed recent failed
efforts in Harrisburg to reform the charter law on special interest lobbying. "What else could it be?" he said, citing
the popularity of reforms in preliminary votes.
"If there's one thing that needs to come out of this
audit report," he said, "it is that Pennsylvania must reform its
charter school law." He called it "simply the worst charter school
law in the United States."
Auditor
general: City charter schools need more oversight
Inquirer
by Martha Woodall, Staff
Writer Updated: APRIL 13,
2016 — 1:08 AM EDT
The
Philadelphia School District's charter school office is too small to oversee
the 83 charter schools in the city, state Auditor General Eugene A. DePasquale
said in a report released Tuesday morning.
"By failing to have sufficient staffing and resources to adequately
perform and document routine oversight measures, the district is unable to
verify the validity of hundreds of millions of dollars it is paying to charter
schools in tuition payments," DePasquale wrote in the performance audit. During a briefing at the district's
headquarters Tuesday, DePasquale said most of the problems the district faces
in managing charter schools stem from weaknesses in the state's 1997 charter
law, which he said provides insufficient oversight requirements and allows
poorly performing schools to operate for years.
“To throw another interesting wrinkle into things, the
amendment passed the Senate by a 39-10 vote, a number that would be veto proof
should it hold. In response to Tuesday's
Senate action, the Wolf administration had the following response. “Since day one, Gov. Wolf has been fighting
for historic investments in education at all levels, including K through 12
basic education, to restore the devastating cuts that forced educator layoffs,
increased class sizes, program cuts, and soaring property taxes," said
press secretary Jeff Sheridan.
"The governor has also made clear that he supports the basic education funding formula that his administration helped create to end Pennsylvania's inequitable distribution of education dollars, one of the most inequitable in the country, but the new formula can only be fair once we have turned the page on the damage of the past five years. The governor also believes the state must responsibly pay for the bills it has racked up, including reimbursing school districts for promises made by Harrisburg.”
"The governor has also made clear that he supports the basic education funding formula that his administration helped create to end Pennsylvania's inequitable distribution of education dollars, one of the most inequitable in the country, but the new formula can only be fair once we have turned the page on the damage of the past five years. The governor also believes the state must responsibly pay for the bills it has racked up, including reimbursing school districts for promises made by Harrisburg.”
Senate tries
again with BEF formula, PlanCon bond in new iteration of Fiscal Code
The PLS
Reporter Author: Jason Gottesman/Tuesday, April 12,
2016
While it
started out as a barebones solution to the governor’s veto of the Fiscal Code
bill sent to his desk back in March, the Senate early Tuesday evening put back
into House Bill 1589 provisions providing for the use of the bipartisan Basic
Education Funding Commission formula in the current school year and allowing
schools to draw from a $2.5 billion bond to fund school construction projects
under PlanCon. Both of the provisions
placed in the legislation by the Senate were noted by Gov. Tom Wolf in his veto
message as reasons why he disapproved the legislation. On the BEF formula, the governor said its
implementation without addressing past basic education funding cuts would only
serve to perpetuate a basic education funding distribution that he says “is one
of the most inequitable in the nation.” “[T]he
bill’s provisions permit the reduction of funds to certain school districts,
which would otherwise be available, based solely on how the districts were
funded earlier this year,” the governor said of the veto of the Fiscal Code
bill in March. “My veto of this bill ensures that the school districts will not
be subject to this underserved treatment from a funding perspective.” He also said the taking out of the PlanCon
bond is irresponsible without first fixing the structural deficit.
“The Pennsylvania School Boards Association has
a lawsuit pending in Commonwealth Court to accomplish the same
goal as this bill. A survey conducted by the school boards association found
school districts borrowed money, cut programs, saw their credit rating take a
negative hit, and drew down reserves to keep their doors open during the budget
impasse.”
Bill
eliminating schools from becoming budget hostages wins Senate panel approval
Penn
Live By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on April 12, 2016 at 5:08 PM, updated April 12, 2016 at 9:08 PM
Legislation
that would ensure school districts would not find themselves cut off from state
funding in the future was advanced out of the Senate Education Committee on
Tuesday. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Ryan Aument,
R-Lancaster County, would create the Emergency Basic Education Subsidy Fund.
The state Treasurer would be authorized to transfer money into the fund to
ensure that scheduled payments of basic education dollars aren't missed. The legislation would guarantee districts
would receive scheduled payments in the same amount as they received the prior
year should the state budget not be finalized by Aug. 15.
House GOP
leader questions Pennsylvania Gov. Wolf’s school funding decisions
Delco Times By The Associated Press POSTED: 04/12/16, 5:44 PM
HARRISBURG
>> A top Republican in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives wants
the state treasurer to weigh in on Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s plans to
distribute state aid to public schools. Appropriations
Committee Chairman Bill Adolph wrote Treasurer Timothy Reese on Tuesday,
saying Wolf vetoed legislation that would have given him authority to
distribute $150 million in public school aid.
That’s on top of nearly $6 billion in aid already going to public
schools for instruction and operations. Treasury
spokesman Scott Sloat says his agency doesn’t expect to field those funding
requests until June, near the end of the state’s fiscal year. He says it’s
premature now to say if those requests will be legal. olf’s office says his funding decisions align
with provisions in the main budget bill that he let become law without his
signature earlier this month.
Pa. governor
reallocates money for schools
Herald
Mail Media by Jennifer Fitch Posted on Apr 12,
2016
WAYNESBORO,
Pa. — Pennsylvania’s 2015-16 budget saga did not end neatly.
Gov. Tom
Wolf, a Democrat, and the Republican-controlled legislature were in gridlock
for more than a year, setting the state up for a historic budget impasse that
finally was resolved at the end of March.
However, the infighting hasn’t stopped.
Wolf, who did not sign the final budget, vetoed the fiscal code that
authorizes spending. For basic-education funding, he developed different
allocations from the budget within the overall pot of money. Franklin County’s Republican lawmakers have
criticized Wolf’s actions, although four out of five of the county’s school
districts will receive more basic-education money than planned.
Wolf’s plan
offers less funding to area schools
Altoona Mirror By Russ O’Reilly (roreilly@altoonamirror.com) , The Altoona Mirror April 12, 2016
Blair
County schools would receive $400,000 less under Gov. Tom Wolf's school funding
formula this year than they would under the Legislature's revised basic funding
formula, House Republicans said. Statewide,
428 of the 500 school districts would get less money under Wolf's plan than the
new basic education funding formula, Capitolwire reports. Neither plan has been enacted, so districts
are still waiting for overdue state money to complete the school year. "No
one ever dreamed this would happen," Bellwood-Antis Superintendent Tom
McInroy said. According
to documents released by House Majority Leader Rep. Dave Reed, only a few area
districts will get more under Wolf's division of $200 million tied up in the
state's historic budget impasse. But no
school would get less than it did last year with Wolf's plan.
Wolf threatens
to cut school funding
Republican Herald BY STEPHEN J. PYTAK Published:
April 13, 2016
In late
March, Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed House Bill 1327, which supports school funding,
because he believed some of its measures were too costly. his week, the governor unveiled a new
education funding formula which will cut a cumulative total of $2,758,013 from
local schools in Berks and Schuylkill counties, state Sen. David G. Argall,
R-29, said Tuesday. “The state budget approved by lawmakers in March included
an additional $200 million for public schools. The formula to determine how the
money is driven out was contained in House Bill 1327, also known as the
budget-related Fiscal Code. The formula was developed after months of public
hearings and bipartisan cooperation among lawmakers, school administrators,
education advocates, teachers and parents in order to reflect the factors that
drive the cost of education,” Jon Hopcraft, a spokesman for Argall, said in a
press release Tuesday. “On April 4,
2016, the governor vetoed the Fiscal Code and created his own formula to drive
out public education funding. As a result, 86 percent of Pennsylvania’s 500
public school districts will receive less money under this plan than they would
have received under the bipartisan Basic Education Funding Formula. All but one
school district in the 29th Senatorial District will receive less money under
the governor’s plan,” Hopcraft said.
Harrisburg's
hothouse scared off potential 2016 candidates, report: Tuesday Morning Coffee
Penn
Live By John L. Micek | jmicek@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on April 12, 2016 at 8:23 AM
on April 12, 2016 at 8:23 AM
Good
Tuesday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
What do you get when you mix an endless debate over the state budget, plummeting public confidence and increasingly sharp partisan elbows under the Capitol dome? Well, in an even-numbered year, you end up with a dearth of candidates who can be convinced to leave hearth and home to run for open seats in the 253-member General Assembly. As our pal, Kari Andren, of The Tribune-Review reports this Tuesday morning, 18 lawmakers will be hanging up their spurs come year's end. And no one's rushing to fill their spots.
What do you get when you mix an endless debate over the state budget, plummeting public confidence and increasingly sharp partisan elbows under the Capitol dome? Well, in an even-numbered year, you end up with a dearth of candidates who can be convinced to leave hearth and home to run for open seats in the 253-member General Assembly. As our pal, Kari Andren, of The Tribune-Review reports this Tuesday morning, 18 lawmakers will be hanging up their spurs come year's end. And no one's rushing to fill their spots.
Teachers to strike in Highlands School
District
Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette April 12, 2016 10:41 PM
Teachers
and representatives of the Highlands School District negotiated into the night
Tuesday in an effort to agree on a contract and head off a strike, but the
effort was for naught. The school
district announced on its website that schools would be closed today because of
what it called a teacher work stoppage. The teachers union — the Highlands
Education Association — planned to set up picket lines this morning. The
district said the strike could last no more than eight days. “We are
hopeful that we will be able to reach an agreement that is best for the
students, teachers, and community while being fiscally responsible to the
financial state of the district,” the district said in a statement earlier
Tuesday.
“Executive Director Donna Frisby-Greenwood said in a NewsWorks interview in January
that “the Fund is committed to transparency.” But when I called to ask when the
next board meeting would be held, Frisby-Greenwood told me “those meetings are
private.” The fund’s website says that
the board will be working with Superintendent William Hite to "help set
funding priorities … toward the needs of Philadelphia’s public schools to
improve educational services and academic achievement.” But it is not the role
of a handful of people from one stratum of society to make those decisions.
Giving corporations and foundations a larger voice in decisions on education
cedes control of the democratic process to those with the highest net worth.
The rest of us get three minutes a month at the SRC meeting.”
The problem
with the District's philanthropic fund for literacy
The notebook
Commentary by Lisa Haver April 12, 2016 — 3:29pm
The
state takeover of the School District of Philadelphia more than 15 years
ago brought a new set of problems, not the least being the failure of the
School Reform Commission — and a succession of highly paid superintendents
and CEOs — to fulfill its stated purpose of restoring the District's financial
stability. At the same time, the
public’s ability to be heard on these and other issues has been squelched by
growing corporate influence, as grants from outside organizations, including
the Gates Foundation, the Philadelphia School Partnership, the William Penn
Foundation, and others, have come with mandates for school closures, charter
expansion, and weakening of some collective bargaining rights such as
longstanding seniority protections. The Great Schools Compact Committee,
which oversaw distribution of the Gates money, acted as a shadow school board. The revival of the Fund for the School
District of Philadelphia appears to be an extension of that model, in which
private money has a growing influence on a public institution.
Kenney team
honing arguments in case of legal challenge over drinks tax
WHYY
Newsworks BY BOBBY ALLYN APRIL
13, 2016
Even if
Mayor Jim Kenney is able to persuade City Council to approve his
3-cents-an-ounce soda tax proposal, there will likely be another fight awaiting
him. The response to potential lawsuits
aimed at blocking the mayor's bold plan for funding universal
prekindergarten and supporting improvements to Philadelphia's parks and
libraries is being calculated by a team of attorneys drafting a legal
defense strategy. It comes on the heels
of city solicitor Sozi Tulante's internal memo to the mayor in
March, obtained by WHYY/NewsWorks, stating he has a "high degree of
confidence" that the city can survive any legal brawls on the horizon.
“The district’s largest expenditure increase for next year
is its mandated contribution to the state Public School Employees Retirement
System. That is rising from 25.84 percent to 30 percent, costing the district
an additional $1.3 million from its 2015-16 contribution, Assistant
Superintendent Alan Vandrew said last month.”
Mechanicsburg
Area budget includes rise in taxes, meal prices
Phyllis
Zimmerman For The Sentinel April 12, 2016
The
Mechanicsburg Area School Board approved a proposed final general fund budget
for 2016-17 that would increase district real estate taxes by 2.8 percent if
finalized in June, as well as increasing school meal prices by 10 cents. The proposed budget has expenditures of $64
million for next year but anticipated revenues of only $6.2 million, which
includes revenue from the tax increase. District officials proposed to use
nearly $1.8 million from the district’s fund balance to erase the deficit. The
school board plans a final vote on the budget on June 14. The proposed tax increase would increase the
district’s current millage rate of 12.535 mills to 12.885 mills. A property
owner assessed at the district’s median value of $177,475 would pay an
additional $62 per year for an annual total of $2,287.
30 York area
school directors recognized for service
York Daily Record1:53 p.m. EDT April 5, 2016
The York
County Alliance for Learning honored 30 area school directors with service
recognition awards as a recent event. Recipients
were given an award certificate by Kathie Ingoglia, a board chair with the
alliance.
http://www.ydr.com/story/life/announcements/2016/04/05/thirty-directors-recognized-service/82658638/
Teach for America applications fall again,
diving 35 percent in three years
By Emma Brown April
12 at 8:00 AM The Washington Post)
Applications
to Teach for America fell by 16 percent in 2016, marking the third
consecutive year in which the organization — which places college graduates in
some of the nation’s toughest classrooms — has seen its applicant pool shrink. Elisa Villanueva Beard, TFA’s chief
executive, announced the figures in an online letter to supporters Tuesday morning, describing the
steps that the organization is taking to stoke interest and reverse the trend. “Our sober assessment is that these are the
toughest recruitment conditions we’ve faced in more than two decades,” she
wrote. “And they call on us all to reconsider and strengthen our efforts to
attract the best and most diverse leaders our country has to offer.”
Sen. Alexander
to John King: Rethink Your Draft ESSA Spending Rules, Or Else
Education
Week By Andrew Ujifusa on April
12, 2016 12:37 PM
Washington
- The federal
requirement that federal dollars supplement state and local spending on
education is proving to be one of the thorniest issues under the Every Student
Succeeds Act. In a testy Senate
education committee hearing Tuesday, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., told
Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. that he believed the U.S. Department of
Education's proposal for regulating that spending requirement violates the
language and spirit of ESSA. "Not
only is what you're doing against the law, the way you're trying to do it is
against another provision in the law," Alexander told King in his opening
remarks. And Alexander said he'd use
every power available to him, including the federal appropriations process, to
overrule the regulations King's department comes up with. He also said he'd
encourage a lawsuit against the Education Department if it does not reconsider
its proposed language. But King
denied that his department was overstepping its authority. He said the agency
is merely trying to ensure that districts are using an appropriate approach to
following federal requirements for accessing federal funds.
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.
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.
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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