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Keystone
State Education Coalition
PA
Ed Policy Roundup April 7, 2016:
Controversy continues over Gov. Wolf’s
school funding distribution
Campaign for Fair Education Funding - Rally for Public Education
Save the date: May 2nd at the Capitol
Wolf angers GOP with funding formula that
gives smaller hikes to most school districts
Morning Call by Steve Esack Contact Reporter Call Harrisburg
Bureau April 6, 2016
Most Lehigh Valley
school districts would get less of a financial boost from under Gov. Tom Wolf's
formula th
HARRISBURG
— Most Lehigh Valley school districts would get less of a financial boost from
the state under a formula developed by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf than they would under a
method championed by a bipartisan coalition spearheaded by the Legislature. With the start of next fiscal year less than
21/2 months away, Wolf's plan is drawing heat from Republican lawmakers who
accuse him of playing politics with students by forgoing the bipartisan formula
he previously praised. On Tuesday, Wolf
announced he will use his own mathematical formula to distribute the extra $208
million in education money to districts hardest hit by 2010-11 budget cuts. It's not right to start a new funding method
without first restoring $370 million in cuts districts endured five years ago,
Wolf said. "Since Day One, I have
been fighting for historic investments in education at all levels," Wolf
said in a statement. "The new fair funding formula, which I support,
cannot truly be fair unless the cuts are fully restored."
Here's what
the difference between school funding formulas means to your district
Penn
Live By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on
April 06, 2016 at 7:22 PM, updated April 06, 2016 at 8:16 PM
Gov. Tom
Wolf has a different idea from Republican lawmakers on how the $5.9 billion
included in the 2015-16 budget for basic education funding and Ready to Learn
block grants should be distributed. Gov. Tom Wolf opened up a new front in that nearly yearlong
budget battle by announcing his administration plans to distribute the $200
million in new education funding in a way of his choosing and not the
Republicans, who control the House and Senate.
He outlined his so-called restoration formula on Tuesday for the $200
million in new funding added to the basic education funding and block grant
budget lines. Meanwhile, Republican
leaders are challenging whether he has the authority to distribute the dollars
the way he sees fit. They want him to use the bipartisan-backed formula
recommended by the Basic Education Funding Commission last summer to distribute
the basic ed dollars and not stray from the formula used for the block grant
monies. So how would your district
fare under the two plans? The following is a spreadsheet modified from
information provided by the House Republican Appropriations Committee that
compares the two formulas.
Lehigh Valley
schools may finally see all of state school funding
By Sara K. Satullo | For lehighvalleylive.com Email the
author | Follow on Twitter on April 06, 2016 at 8:52 PM, updated April
06, 2016 at 10:53 PM
Nine
months after Pennsylvania's state budget deadline passed, Lehigh Valley school
districts got a glimpse of the total state funding they can expect to see this
year. Gov. Tom Wolf late on Monday announced his own restoration
school funding formula to allocate the remaining 2015-16 school funding. "Money will start going out to
districts," said Jeff Sheridan, Wolf's press secretary. Although,
Wolf's actions may spark another budget stand off with the GOP, which is
threatening a lawsuit, Pennlive.com reports. Lehigh
Valley school districts will see a total basic education funding increase of
$7.86 million under Wolf's restoration formula.
Most Lehigh Valley schools see less funding under Wolf's formula than
they would have under a bi-partisan new funding formula, according to a
spreadsheet being circulated by Republicans.
How school funding is being distributed
Centre
Daily Times BY MEGAN HEALEY APRIL 6, 2016 9:21 PM
Megan Healey is deputy press
secretary for Gov. Tom Wolf.
A major
part of the 2015-16 budget, which became law last week without Gov. Tom Wolf’s
signature, is determining how to allocate basic education funding to help to
restore the devastating education cuts by the previous administration and the
legislature in 2011 while making Pennsylvania’s funding for schools more
equitable. But first, let’s take a look back to when the school crisis in
Pennsylvania began.
What
happened to school funding beginning in 2011?
In
short? Republicans cut $1 billion from education.
The
effect? During that time, the state failed to fulfill its fundamental
responsibility of funding our schools. This led to massive staff reductions,
the elimination of academic programs, and soaring property taxes in more than
90 percent of districts. At the same time, student achievement levels fell
across the board.
Where
do we stand now?
While
Wolf allowed the 2015-16 budget to become law, he vetoed the accompanying
fiscal code bill. He did this, in part, because it directed the commonwealth to
borrow up to $2,500,000,000 for reimbursements for school construction projects
— that’s money that was never appropriated in the Republican budget. They also did not include any funding to make
the payments on that debt. Further, because of Pennsylvania’s growing
structural deficit and Republicans’ failure to address their own fiscal
gimmicks and irresponsibility, the state cannot go to the bond market to borrow
because of its current status.
How much money
will your school district get?
York Daily Record by Angie Mason, amason@ydr.com2:36
p.m. EDT April 6, 2016
Gov. Tom Wolf said he wants to make up for cuts of past years.
Gov. Tom
Wolf has released information about how he plans to distribute additional
school funding for 2015-16. After Wolf
allowed the Republican-crafted 2015-16 state budget to pass into law without
his signature, there remained questions about how additional money
included for schools would be dispersed among districts, because Wolf vetoed
the fiscal code. The fiscal code would
have distributed the money using a new basic education funding formula
recommended by a commission. But in January, after approving a half-year
budget, Wolf used a different formula, saying he wanted to make up for cuts of
past years.
Even with
funding increase, school leaders remain concerned
Times
Tribune BY SARAH HOFIUS HALL, STAFF WRITER Published: April 7, 2016
Northeast
Pennsylvania school districts will see an additional $10.1 million in state
funding under the budget that became law last month. After nine months without a state budget,
payments — especially an increase — are welcome, superintendents said
Wednesday. However, the leaders also said they have greater concerns, such as
being reimbursed for construction projects or charter school costs. During the budget impasse, districts borrowed
millions and warned that schools may be forced to close. This week, school leaders received their
first glimpse at what they can expect to receive. For the remainder of the 2015-16 school year,
an additional $50 million will be allocated to districts to restore partially
the charter school reimbursement program and restore other cuts made by former
Gov. Tom Corbett. In January, the state
released emergency funding, including an additional $50 million for the Ready
to Learn Block Grant program, which many districts use to fund full-day
kindergarten. “Obviously, we’re happy
with any type of money we can accept into our budget,” Carbondale Area
Superintendent Joseph Gorham said.
Slight uptick in schools seeking to exceed
tax limits
WITF Written
by Mary Wilson, Capitol Bureau Chief | Apr 5, 2016 6:11 PM
Pennsylvania
school board members came to the Capitol on Monday, some of them downright
weary. "It's been a grueling
year," said Nathan Mains, director of the Pennsylvania School Boards
Association. PSBA was in town for its annual legislative lobbying day. Its
members wanted to underscore the damage caused by the budget stalemate. Taken together, they said, school districts
have had to borrow more than a billion dollars to keep their doors open during
the more than eight-month impasse. As schools pay that back, they'll also be on
the hook for thousands of dollars in interest payments and legal fees. 35 of
the 500 school districts in the commonwealth have seen their credit ratings
take a hit. All this was mentioned by
Stacey Thompson, treasurer of Keystone School District in Clarion County. "These are sacrifices," said
Thompson, "that the school districts, students, parents, community, and
personnel had to endure due to our legislature and governor not working
together." Thompson also pointed
out the number of school districts that have applied for a special exception to
raise their local taxes above a state-mandated limit.
PA School
Funding Lawsuit
Going to Court for Fair Funding
Education
Voters PA website
Public
education advocates have a very important role to play in demanding action and
then holding state lawmakers accountable for ensuring that all schools receive
adequate and equitable funding to meet our children’s educational needs.
Public
Interest Law Center of Philadelphia (PILCOP) and Education Law Center- PA have
filed a lawsuit on behalf of individuals, school districts and organizations,
making the complaint that the funding system in Pennsylvania is not only wrong,
it violates the Constitution. Throughout
Pennsylvania, our schools have not received adequate and equitable funding to
meet our children’s educational needs. But our Constitution says, “The
General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and
efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the Commonwealth.”
PA fiscal code
veto a concern for Mahanoy Area business administrator
Republican Herald BY JOHN USALIS Published: April
6, 2016
MAHANOY
CITY — Mahanoy Area Business Administrator John J. Hurst provided an update on
the passage of the state budget and the governor’s veto of the state’s fiscal
code during Thursday’s meeting of the school board. Hurst presented his comments during his
administrator’s report, saying that the lack of the fiscal code will hurt
school districts, including Mahanoy Area. Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed the fiscal code
legislation on March 25, which is connected to the state budget that Wolf
decided not to sign but also said he would not veto. “As
regards to the state budget for the current fiscal year, there are two items on
a good note,” Hurst said. “One is that we have a budget now and, two, it
included $50 million more for education funding. However, the two negatives
associated with it is, one, the fiscal code was vetoed. Unfortunately, that
fiscal code included how that money was going to be given out to school
districts. We don’t know as of yet how much money we’re going to get.” Hurst added, “Secondly, the fiscal code also
includes the authorizing legislation for the PlanCon borrowing. That was vetoed
as well, so as of right now, there are no plans to borrow money for the PlanCon
funding that all schools across the state get.”
The PlanCon, Planning and Construction Workbook, fund is administered by
the state Department of Education and reimburses school districts for school
construction project.
“The district’s current $3.9 million deficit includes the
loss of $1.5 million in state reimbursements from the Planning and Construction
Workbook (PlanCon) program which were eliminated statewide in the 2015-16
budget. The district has traditionally been reimbursed a portion of debt
payments prior to this year.”
Baldwin-Whitehall school board hears
budget presentation that includes tax hike, expense cuts
Post Gazette
By Margaret Smykla April 7, 2016 1:14 AM
A
0.83-mill tax increase and $2.1 million in expense cuts will be required to
produce a balanced budget for the 2016-17 school year in the Baldwin-Whitehall
School District, according to district business manager Mark Cherpak. He made the remarks during his presentation
at Wednesday’s school board meeting on estimated revenue for the upcoming
school year. Expenditures will be discussed at next Wednesday’s board meeting. At 7 p.m. on April 19, a special board
meeting at the administration building will feature a detailed budget
presentation. The proposed new real
estate millage rate of 19.25 mills is the maximum hike allowed by the state
over the current millage of 18.42 mills. The increase reflects the district’s
Act 1 index for 2016-17 of 3.2 percent, or 0.59 mills, and $450,000 in approved
exemptions for retirement increase costs, or 0.24 mills.
State money
starts flowing to HASD
Hazelton
Standard Speaker by MARIA JACKETTI Published: April 5, 2016
During
days when every penny counts, the Hazleton Area School District has some good
news to report. During a brief, special
meeting of the board Tuesday night, district Business Manager Tony Ryba said $5
million in state funds were released to the district Monday. This is just a portion of the funds owed to
the district, but it was the first state-guaranteed money since January, when
Gov. Wolf released a lump sum for the fall term. “We were worried since last week we were
checking online and no funds had been released,” Ryba said. The district also received another financial
boost at a time when it is much needed. The
board approved a tax lien sale with Commonwealth Tax Strategies. This sale may bring another $3.6 million into
the district within the next few weeks. In
the meantime, the district remains in the same situation as 500 other districts
across the state ... waiting.
“The lion's share of the added expenses comes from
state-mandated retirement contributions, which will cost the district an extra
$846,000 next year.”
Greensburg
Salem's proposed budget shows spending increasing faster than revenue
Trib
Live BY JACOB TIERNEY | Wednesday, April 6, 2016,
11:00 p.m.
The
Greensburg Salem School District's earliest draft of its 2016-17 budget shows
expenses going up about $1.1 million while revenues would rise only about
$413,000 if there is no tax increase. District
Business Manager Jim Meyer presented the proposed budget to the school board at
its agenda meeting Wednesday.
“As required by the state, the district's retirement
contribution will increase by about $562,000, or 17 percent.”
Burrell
School District considers 3 percent tax hike
Trib
Live BY LIZ HAYES | Wednesday, April 6, 2016,
10:00 p.m.
Burrell
School Board is considering a nearly 3 percent property tax increase for the
2016-17 school year. Even with the
additional $383,000 a tax hike will bring in, district officials face a
$280,000 deficit in the $29.8 million spending plan presented by Business
Manager Jennifer Callahan. Next year's
expenses are expected to increase by about 2 percent over this year's $29.1
million budget due largely to three factors, according to Callahan:
Pennsylvania’s
budget deficit is a ticking time bomb
Chestnut
Hill Local Opinion Posted on April 6, 2016 by Sue Ann Rybak
According
to www.merriam-webster.com, there are three definitions for the word budget,
with the third stating that a budget is “an official statement from a
government about how much it plans to spend during a particular period of time
and how it will pay for the expenses.” Pennsylvania’s
2015-2016 state budget failed to include that. It contained a much-needed
increase in funding for education and other important services, but failed to
address the need for more revenue. The
state faces a $2 billion deficit that will only continue to grow unless
legislators and Gov. Tom Wolf agree on a way to close it. State spending is not unusually high, so why
is there a structural deficit? The bottom line is that over the years the state
has consistently lost revenue thanks to tax breaks and loopholes for corporations.
Pa.
Democrats: Governor punishing us for supporting GOP budget
TribLive
BY KARI ANDREN | Wednesday, April 6, 2016,
5:54 p.m.
A letter sent by 11 Pennsylvania
lawmakers to Gov. Tom Wolf, accusing him of punishing them for their support of
a Republican-crafted state budget.
Some
Democratic lawmakers who broke ranks and voted for a Republican-crafted state
budget say Gov. Tom Wolf is punishing them by hampering their ability to solve
basic constituent problems. In a letter
to the governor Tuesday, 11 lawmakers said that starting about two weeks ago,
their staffers were told by contacts at a number of state agencies they must go
directly through Wolf's office for assistance. Prior to that, staff members
worked through their agency contacts to resolve simple constituent issues, the
legislators said. “It's a very childish
effort. I don't know what anybody thinks they're proving by doing this,” said
state Rep. Nick Kotik, D-Kennedy, one of the signers of the letter. “I
represent 62,000 people, and I do the best job I can to vote what I think is in
their best interest. I don't think this kind of response is appropriate.”
Dissident
House Democrats accuse Wolf Administration of political bullying
Penn
Live By Charles Thompson | cthompson@pennlive.com Email the
author | Follow on Twitter on April 07, 2016 at 7:19 AM, updated April
07, 2016 at 7:37 AM
A group
of House Democrats who broke with Gov. Tom Wolf on the state budget impasse
last month are now asserting they are being politically bullied by Wolf's
office for their fiscal independence. The
lawmakers voiced their complaints in a letter to Wolf, and in a closed-door
caucus with their colleagues Tuesday. In
the letter, a copy of which was shared with PennLive, the members explained
their budget vote - which was believed to be a key to Wolf's March 23 decision to accept the budget package after
nine months of fighting. And they stated
they want to continue to work with the first-term governor to help achieve his
aims of increased school funding and fixing the state's structural budget
deficit.
Politicians,
union leaders, and teachers blast Philly school turnaround plans
Inquirer
by Martha Woodall, Staff
Writer Updated: APRIL 7,
2016 — 1:08 AM EDT
Randi
Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Katie
McGinty, candidate in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, joined local
union and political leaders Wednesday in opposing a turnaround plan for an
elementary school in North Philadelphia. "If
you didn't know the school was slated for essentially a destabilizing
turnaround, you would never have known that by walking through the
school," Weingarten said after an hour-long tour of E.W. Rhodes Elementary
School. "In fact, you would have said: 'Wait a minute. This is a place
where parents want to send their kids, where educators want to work, where the
kids are engaged.' " Rhodes, at
2900 W. Clearfield St., is one of four elementary schools Superintendent
William R. Hite has targeted for district-run academic makeovers. Under the
approach he outlined last month, staff will be required to reapply for their
jobs; no more than half could remain.
Make up your own mind about the Philly soda
tax
Al Dia By
Edgardo González April 5, 2016
Edgardo
González was born in Puerto Rico and has lived in Philadelphia for the past 30
years. He is the board chair of Taller Puertorriqueño, the oldest and
largest Latino arts and culture organization in Pennsylvania. He is a graduate
of Jefferson University, and is well-known as a community activist working
with civic, cultural and political groups in the Philadelphia area.
In the
weeks ahead, Latino Philadelphians will be bombarded by advertisements claiming
that a sugary drink tax will close bodegas and place a disproportionate burden
on poor Latino families. While I personally support Mayor Kenney’s plan to use
this tax to expand pre-k, create community schools and rehabilitate our
neighborhood parks, rec centers and libraries, I’m not writing to persuade you.
I am writing because — regardless of whether you’re for the tax, against it or
undecided — you should be able to form your opinion based on the facts. And,
unfortunately, the soda tax’s opponents have already shown little regard for
the truth in their advertisements.
While the opposition has frequently claimed that this tax would cause small businesses, especially bodegas and corner stores, to suffer, when a national sugary drink tax was enacted in Mexico, overall beverage sales did not decline. In fact, just the opposite happened: the rise of bottled water consumption outpaced the decline in sugary drinks. Additionally, in Berkeley, where a sugary drink tax was also passed last year, not one small business has closed due to the tax. Contrary to the opponents’ advertisements, the evidence suggests that, while a tax may cause people to drink fewer sugary drinks, it doesn’t mean they’ll stop buying from their local bodega — they’ll just buy bottled water or diet soda instead.
While the opposition has frequently claimed that this tax would cause small businesses, especially bodegas and corner stores, to suffer, when a national sugary drink tax was enacted in Mexico, overall beverage sales did not decline. In fact, just the opposite happened: the rise of bottled water consumption outpaced the decline in sugary drinks. Additionally, in Berkeley, where a sugary drink tax was also passed last year, not one small business has closed due to the tax. Contrary to the opponents’ advertisements, the evidence suggests that, while a tax may cause people to drink fewer sugary drinks, it doesn’t mean they’ll stop buying from their local bodega — they’ll just buy bottled water or diet soda instead.
Nationwide
Debate Over Transgender Bathrooms Comes To Pine-Richland School District
CBS
Pittsburgh April 6, 2016 8:38 PM By
Brenda Waters
RICHLAND
TOWNSHIP (KDKA) — The Pine-Richland School District doesn’t have a specific
policy on the use of restrooms for transgender students, but changes could be
on the way. Currently,
the practice in the district is that transgender students can use the bathroom
of the gender they identify with, or a private bathroom, such as one in the
nurse’s office. But it all came to a
head at a school board meeting Monday night when several parents talked about
their worries. They said they are concerned about safety, privacy and whether
their children will feel uncomfortable if they use the same restrooms as
transgender students.
A matter of
degrees
The good news is
that the number of Philadelphia high school students who graduate and enroll in
college is on the rise. The bad news? Only one in five get a degree.
The notebook
by Dale Mezzacappa April 5, 2016 — 10:27am
Nearly
six in 10 graduates from District high schools eventually enroll in college. But more than six years after graduation,
two-thirds of those who started college hadn’t finished. That means that only
one in five high school graduates had attained a post-secondary degree or
certificate in that time period. This
was the major finding of From Diplomas to Degrees, a report from Paul
Harrington and Neeta Fogg of the Center for Labor Markets and Policy at Drexel
University. The study was undertaken for the Philadelphia Youth Network and
Project U-Turn. Philadelphia’s college
enrollment rate for high school graduates – 58 percent – is below the national
average of 65 percent. But it is “close to what one would expect from a large
urban area,” Fogg said in an interview. Most
telling among the findings, she said: Success depends on “where and when you
enroll, if you enroll right away, if you have a plan, if you do this in a
deliberate way.” If students “stumble into college, it doesn’t lead to a
successful outcome.” Completing college
is crucial, because data show that students with some college, but no degree,
fare no better in the labor market than high school graduates. The data show that the great majority of
Philadelphia graduates “stumble” toward their future rather than get the kind
of guidance they need. Most enroll in two-year colleges, but success is more
likely in four-year institutions. And many delay their matriculation, even
though those who go to college immediately have a far better chance of
graduating. More than that, the data
show that many are unprepared, academically and otherwise, for the rigors and
demands of college.
Taking High School Courses In College
Costs Students And Families Nearly $1.5 Billion
When
Andrea Diaz was applying to colleges, she got good news and bad news. The good
news was that American University, a private four-year university in
Washington, D.C., wanted her. The bad news was that it required her to come to
campus early to take two summer developmental-level courses in math and
English. "I was traumatized by
it," Diaz says, "because I felt that they didn't see in me the
potential to do well in college." When
is a college course not really a college course? When it's classified as
"developmental," or, less euphemistically, "remedial."
These courses cover material considered high-school level, typically in math or
English composition. "It
was teaching us sentence structure and how to write an essay and verbs and
pronouns," Diaz says of the English course she took as a pre-frosh.
"It was such an elementary course, I was very surprised."
The Policy
That Could All But Eliminate Achievement Gaps Between Rich And Poor Students
Poor students enter
kindergarten already lagging behind their more affluent peers.
Rebecca Klein
Editor, HuffPost Education 04/05/2016 09:01 am ET
The odds
are stacked against low-income, black and Hispanic children before they even
start school. Low-income children enter
kindergarten 13 months behind their more affluent peers in reading. Black and
Hispanic children are nearly seven months and 12 months behind white students
in reading, respectively. The initial disparities make it difficult for
disadvantaged and minority students to catch up through high school and
college. But a simple policy
prescription could narrow those gaps, suggests a new paper from the Center for American Progress. The
analysis looks at how a high-quality universal preschool system could affect
achievement gaps between groups of students. Less than 20 percent of black,
Hispanic and lower-income students currently attend high-quality early-education
programs at schools or other education centers, the study’s authors estimate —
but about 24 percent of white children and nearly 30 percent of higher-income
children do. White children are more likely to be enrolled in high-quality
programs.
“New York had the most opt-outs of any state last year,
with more than 240,000 third through eighth grade students skipping tests, according to FairTest.
It was followed by high numbers in New Jersey, Colorado, Washington, Illinois,
California and Oregon. Hard numbers for
this year's exams aren't expected until summer, though some counties were
already reporting. In Mohawk Valley, N.Y., about 89 percent of students
declined to take the test, while in Rochester, about one-third opted out,
Politico reported.”
Common Core Opt-Out Debate: In New York,
Thousands Of Students Skip Standardized Tests
International
Business Times BY JULIA GLUM @SUPERJULIA ON 04/06/16 AT 12:19
PM
Spring
means more than just a fine dusting of pollen everywhere you look: For
elementary and secondary students, it's standardized testing time. And for a
growing group of frustrated parents, it's opt-out season. About 14,000 students in New York state
decided not to take their mandatory language arts exams this week in part
because they were aligned with Common Core, a national set of education
standards that have drawn political and parental ire since they were adopted
by states in 2010, Politico's Capital New York reported Wednesday.
It's at least the second year of widespread coordinated protests against
the standards, which critics have argued were badly implemented and are
too uniform, pointing to a general dissatisfaction with mandatory testing
and classroom intervention. “It’s a free
country,” mom Terri-Anne Davis told the Wall Street Journal. “People
should enjoy their civil liberties, which include determining what’s best for
their child.”
Susan Spicka of Education
Voters PA and PA Budget Secretary Randy Albright are guests on EPLC’s “Focus on
Education” one-hour program that will be broadcast initially on PCN
on Sunday, April 10, at 3:00 p.m.
Education Policy and Leadership
Center
Susan Spicka is the guest for the
first half of the program and discusses the work of Education Voters PA and the Campaign for Fair Education Funding and
related education funding issues.
Secretary Randy Albright is the
guest for the second half of the program and discusses a broad range of
education funding issues, including the 2015-2016 and the 2016-2017 budgets.
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.
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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