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Keystone
State Education Coalition
PA
Ed Policy Roundup May 19, 2016:
With over half of all US
kids attending public schools in poverty, fewer kids could receive free school
meals under House bill
Make
the new funding formula permanent; pass a budget for 2016-17 that increases
funding for public schools by at least $400 million
Pennsylvania has the widest funding gap between wealthy & poor
schools in the country.
Contributing only 36%, PA is ranked 46th in the US for its
share of education funding.
Campaign for Fair Education
Funding Website
Pennsylvania Congressmen Glenn Thompson and Lou Barletta
are members of the House Education
and the Workforce Committee
Fewer kids could receive
free school meals under House bill
Inquirer by MARY CLARE JALONICK, The Associated
Press MAY 18, 2016 5:11 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) -
Fewer students would receive free and reduced-price meals at school under
legislation that Republicans pushed through a House committee Wednesday.
On a vote of 20-14,
the Education and Workforce Committee backed the bill, which would scale back
the number of schools in which all students receive free or reduced-price
meals. The measure would allow a trial period of so-called block grants for
school meals in three states - meaning those states would no longer receive
unlimited federal dollars for students who qualify for the free and
reduced-price lunches, and states wouldn't have to follow most federal
nutrition standards. The legislation,
which the full House will consider, would also roll back some healthier school
nutrition rules championed by first lady Michelle Obama. Some schools say they
are too restrictive and the healthier meals are not appetizing enough to
students. Republicans, including bill
sponsor Rep. Todd Rokita of Indiana and committee chairman John
Kline of Minnesota, said the changes would help redirect money to other
programs while ensuring that those with the highest need are still guaranteed
meals. Hunger and nutrition advocates
from the American Academy of Pediatrics to the American Heart Association sharply
criticized the legislation, saying it could mean that some children go hungry
at school.
Just over half of all students attending public schools in
the United States are now eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, according
to a new analysis of federal data.
Percentage
of Poor Students in Public Schools Rises
New York Times By MOTOKO RICH JAN. 16, 2015
Just over half of
all students attending public schools in the United States are now eligible for
free or reduced-price lunches, according to a new analysis of federal data.
In a report released
Friday by the Southern Education Foundation, researchers found that 51
percent of children in public schools qualified for the lunches in 2013, which
means that most of them come from low-income families. By comparison, 38
percent of public school students were eligible for free or reduced-price
lunches in 2000. According to the
report, which analyzed data from the National Center for Education Statistics,
a majority of students in 21 states are poor. Close to two-thirds of those
states are in the South, which has long had a high concentration of poor
students. In Mississippi, for example, close to three-fourths of all public
school students come from low-income families.
For the 2012-13 school year, only 36.1 percent of public
education in Pennsylvania was funded by the state — almost 10 percent lower
than the national average of 45.6 percent. In 1974, the government funded 54
percent of public education. For this particular school year, Pennsylvania
ranked 46th in the nation for state funding, trailing only Illinois, Nebraska,
New Hampshire and South Dakota. While this ranking varies every year,
Pennsylvania normally hovers around this same position, Cowell said. Another way of looking at this, he said, is
to analyze the state funding appropriated per student. While Pennsylvania, at
$6,014 per student, is above the national average of $5,650 per student, it is
still about $1,000 behind the neighboring state of Maryland. With roughly 1.7
million students in grades K-12, this means the state would have to increase
the state budget by $1.7 billion to match Maryland. To get to West Virginia’s
level, $7,182, the state would have to increase that budget by almost $2
billion.
Pennsylvania system for
funding schools 'awful,' speaker says
Indiana Gazette by CASEY KELLY on May 18, 2016
10:59 AM
Pennsylvania’s system for funding public education is broken and creates deep inequity among school districts, an expert on the subject said Tuesday during the 43rd annual meeting of the League of Women Voters of Indiana County. “In summary, we have the worst system in the country, by many measures,” said Ron Cowell, president of the Education Policy and Leadership Center. Cowell, who has served as a representative in the state House and as chairman of the House Committee on Education, said EPLC is focused on four major projects: K-12 funding, arts in education, career and technical education and teacher recruitment and retention. He briefly touched on each topic during his discussion at the Park Inn by Radisson, but he concentrated heavily on K-12 funding. “We have an awful statewide school funding system,” Cowell said. “It is not only inadequate, but it’s totally unpredictable. School districts went until April this year not knowing how much money they were going to get from the state to support anything they were trying to do.”
Pennsylvania’s system for funding public education is broken and creates deep inequity among school districts, an expert on the subject said Tuesday during the 43rd annual meeting of the League of Women Voters of Indiana County. “In summary, we have the worst system in the country, by many measures,” said Ron Cowell, president of the Education Policy and Leadership Center. Cowell, who has served as a representative in the state House and as chairman of the House Committee on Education, said EPLC is focused on four major projects: K-12 funding, arts in education, career and technical education and teacher recruitment and retention. He briefly touched on each topic during his discussion at the Park Inn by Radisson, but he concentrated heavily on K-12 funding. “We have an awful statewide school funding system,” Cowell said. “It is not only inadequate, but it’s totally unpredictable. School districts went until April this year not knowing how much money they were going to get from the state to support anything they were trying to do.”
Governor Wolf Vetoes House Bill 805
Governor Wolf’s website May 18, 2016
Harrisburg, PA – Governor Tom Wolf today vetoed House
Bill 805. The text of Governor Wolf’s letter to the House of Representatives
can be viewed below.
TO THE HONORABLE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA:
Pursuant to Article
IV, Section 15 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, I am returning herewith,
without my approval, House Bill 805, Printer’s Number 1843. For months, the Department of Education and I
have sought input on how to improve accountability in education. We have
engaged with stakeholders including educators, parents, lawmakers,
administrators, higher education faculty, and industry and workforce leaders to
determine how best to measure success in the classroom and how to increase
accountability. We believe that our common goal should be working together to
invest in education, strengthen accountability, and place more educators in
overcrowded classrooms to provide our children with the attention they deserve
as well as the tools they need. This
bill relies heavily on a single score from the teacher evaluation system, as
opposed to using the entire method of evaluation. At a time when there is
bipartisan agreement that we need to reduce our reliance on high-stakes
testing, we should not use high-stake test scores as the benchmark for teacher
quality.
Wolf shoots down teacher layoff bill
Steve Esack Contact Reporter Call Harrisburg
Bureau May 18, 2016
Gov. Tom Wolf vetoes
GOP-driven bill to layoff teachers for economics and student test scores
HARRISBURG —
Sticking to his pledge, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf has vetoed a
Republican-crafted bill that would reduce teachers' seniority rights in
layoffs. And he did it quickly,
announcing it via Twitter. Wolf axed the
bill within a few hours of it reaching his desk Wednesday afternoon. That ends,
, for now, GOP lawmakers' plans to change
how school districts can lay off teachers under a bill they coined the
Protecting Excellent Teachers Act. The
veto could ignite another long budget fight between Wolf and the GOP-controlled
Legislature. On Tuesday, House
Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny and other
GOP leaders in the House and Senate said Wolf would not get the extra education
money he seeks for the 2016-17 fiscal year if he vetoes the seniority bill,
which originated in the House.
Gov. Tom Wolf vetoes new
rules for teacher layoffs in Pennsylvania
Penn Live By Charles Thompson | cthompson@pennlive.com Email the
author | Follow on Twitter on May 18, 2016 at 6:29 PM, updated May
18, 2016 at 8:04 PM
Gov. Tom Wolf made
good Wednesday on his threat to veto legislation that
would stop public school districts from making teacher layoffs based on
seniority. The bill has, and may
continue to be, a policy priority for House and Senate Republicans, who mounted a major public relations effort over the last
two weeks to try to get the Democratic governor to change his
mind. Under their
proposal, seniority levels would be replaced with recent teacher evaluation
ratings as the first priority by which school administrators assign furloughs
in the event of budget-based staffing cuts.
Wolf vetoes teacher layoff
bill
Inquirer by Karen Langley, HARRISBURG BUREAU Updated: MAY 19, 2016 — 1:08 AM
EDT
HARRISBURG - Gov.
Wolf on Wednesday upheld his promise to veto a bill that would lessen the role
of seniority in teacher layoffs. The
Protecting Excellent Teachers Act, passed this month by the House and Senate,
had become a political football. This week, a key Republican in the legislature
warned the governor that the issue could resurface in next month's budget
negotiations if he vetoed the bill. Supporters,
including the state School Boards Association, said the measure would let
districts protect their best teachers by using performance ratings, not
seniority, in determining layoffs. The bill also would have let districts lay
off solely for economic reasons. Opponents,
including the state's largest public-school teachers union, said the evaluation
systems were too new and unproven to be reliable.
Inquirer editorial:
Schools suffer amid political standoff
Updated: MAY 19, 2016
— 3:01 AM EDT
It's beyond
frustrating to watch Pennsylvania politicians satisfy their penchant for
partisan mud fights while failing to resolve the funding and accountability
issues keeping public schools in distress. Both Democrats and Republicans
propose ideas that they know will get nowhere just so they can accuse the other
side of being intransigent. Take
legislation to allow school districts to lay off teachers based on budget
constraints and without considering seniority, which Gov. Wolf vetoed
Wednesday. Schools currently may lay off teachers only when enrollment falls,
programs change, or schools are consolidated. Meanwhile, seniority rules can
protect underperforming teachers while innovative instructors are let go. Given those realities, the bill seemed
well-intended. But comments by Republicans after Wolf's veto suggested they
cared less about enacting it than portraying him as siding with teachers'
unions.
Editorial: Close Delaware
loophole and enact severance tax
Citizens Voice BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD Published: May 19, 2016
Republican
majorities in the Legislature and Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf don’t agree on much.
But just about everyone agrees that the state government has a systemic deficit
of between $1.6 billion and $2 billion. That deficit, unlike the state
government’s credit rating, survived the nine-month 2016 budget impasse that
ended just in time for the 2017 budget battle.
Means are available to eliminate the deficit while increasing
state-level school funding to diminish pressure on local property taxes. And there is a bonus. Acting aggressively to
eliminate the deficit also would increase the fairness of the state tax
structure. Republican lawmakers and
their supporters in the business community often lament the state’s very high
corporate net income tax rate of 9.9 percent.
But according to the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, a
left-leaning policy think tank, more than 70 percent of companies that do
business in Pennsylvania and are subject to the tax don’t actually pay it. They
evade taxation through the gaping Delaware loophole.
“Volkman said the problems with recording attendance raise
concerns about whether Agora is submitting accurate bills to school districts
and is billing for students who are no longer enrolled, and whether students
are receiving the education to which they are entitled.”
Pa. warns Agora Cyber: Provide accurate data - or else
Pa. warns Agora Cyber: Provide accurate data - or else
Inquirer by Martha Woodall, Staff Writer Updated: MAY 19, 2016 — 1:08 AM
EDT
The Pennsylvania
Department of Education has delivered a stark warning to Agora Cyber Charter
School, the state's second-largest online charter, which has had troubles
throughout this academic year. A top
department official told the school it must provide accurate data on student
testing and attendance by May 27, or the department "will take appropriate
actions against the school." Agora,
based in King of Prussia, with 8,500 students statewide, has been trying to
obtain a five-year renewal of its operating agreement from the department since
October 2014. According to a
letter obtained by the Inquirer, David Volkman, the department's executive
deputy secretary, notified Agora's CEO on Monday of "very serious data
quality issues." The data problems,
Volkman wrote, "have far-reaching implications and appear to be another
symptom of Agora's ongoing operational issues."
“The report said state law "does not specifically
authorize school districts to monitor or hold accountable education service
providers such as Aspira and Universal. . . . Nonetheless, these providers
receive huge amounts of taxpayer funds to operate charter schools. There are no
obvious restraints over these charter school operator organizations and how
they choose to allocate millions of dollars in public money received from the
school district as well as state and federal governments."
Butkovitz criticizes charter firms Aspira and Universal
Butkovitz criticizes charter firms Aspira and Universal
Inquirer by Martha Woodall, Staff Writer Updated: MAY 19, 2016 — 1:08 AM
EDT
The day before the
Philadelphia School Reform Commission is scheduled to vote on several charter
school renewals, the city controller on Wednesday released a report criticizing
the financial management of two charter operators. The Controller's Office outlined problems it
found when it examined the operations of Aspira of Pennsylvania and Kenny
Gamble's Universal Companies. Among
other things, the report found questionable financial transactions among
related entities, including loan guarantees; school-lease arrangements with
parent organizations; and charter board members serving on boards with ties to
the schools.
Sugary drinks tax gets
love at Council hearing
WHYY Newsworks BY TOM MACDONALD MAY 18, 2016
Supporters of Mayor
Jim Kenney's proposed soda tax made their case Wednesday at a City Council
hearing on the school district's budget proposal. Anne O'Brien came to Council chambers to
support the sugary drink tax. As a lifelong resident of Philadelphia and a
pre-kindergarten provider, she said the city must do more to help
underprivileged youth. "Law
enforcement officials tell us that they support high quality pre-K because it
lowers incarceration rates," O' Brien said. "I have waiting lists for
my pre-K programs, but there is no waiting list for prison - there's lots
of room there." Donna Cooper of
Public Citizens for Children and Youth reminded Councilmembers that just a year
ago 80 percent of voters approved a pre-K referendum. "More 'yes' votes were cast for Pre-K
than for mayoral candidates Williams, Abraham, Oliver, Diaz and Street
combined," Cooper said.
"I'm urging you ... to consider passing a budget that
is not balanced. Consider saying 'No.' Consider telling the state we will not
cut our kids anymore,"
Badams speaks out against proposed Erie schools cuts
By Erica Erwin 814-870-1846 Erie Times-News May 19, 2016 06:09 AM
ERIE, Pa. -- Erie
schools Superintendent Jay Badams laid out a menu of cuts he said are necessary
to bridge a $4.3 million budget gap in 2016-17.
And then he told the Erie School Board not to make any of them. "I'm urging you ... to consider passing
a budget that is not balanced. Consider saying 'No.' Consider telling the state
we will not cut our kids anymore," Badams said Wednesday. Badams' comments drew applause from more than
60 people who had gathered at the district's administration building for a
roughly two hours long School Board meeting focusing on district finances and a
budget deficit that has the board members considering a host of cuts, including
the elimination of sports, extracurricular activities, arts and music programs. The state requires districts to pass a
balanced budget by June 30, but the cuts required to make that happen are
"unconscionable," Badams said.
Area school superintendents weigh in
Erica Erwin 19 May
2016 — Erie Times-News
Closing all four
Erie School District high schools and busing the 3,200 students they serve to
other schools would be an unprecedented move in northwestern Pennsylvania, one
that would send ripple effects through districts across the region. "It would obviously require a tremendous
amount of planning and meetings," Millcreek schools Superintendent William
Hall said. Hall and other
superintendents said it was too early to discuss how and under what
circumstances their districts might accept Erie School District students should
the Erie School Board decide to close Strong Vincent High School, East High
School, Central Career and Technical School, and Northwest Pennsylvania
Collegiate Academy as early as 2017-18. Erie
schools Superintendent Jay Badams has asked the Erie School Board to consider
the possibility because, he says, deep cuts needed to balance the 2016-17
budget would only widen the divide between Erie and neighboring districts in
terms of what Erie can provide to its students.
"I wholeheartedly support (Badams') vigilance in pursuing funding
equity for all kids," Hall said. "That's what this is all about. If
(school closures) were to come to fruition, it would have a profound effect on
Millcreek, no doubt, but I think they have exhausted all of the means at their
disposal. It's just sad."
“The cost for employee benefits is projected to go up 9.7
percent from $12.95 million in 2015-16 to $13.99 million in 2016-17. That increase is largely driven by the
employer contribution rate for the Public School Employees' Retirement System,
or PSERS, increasing 18.3 percent for the next school year.”
Proposed Bangor school tax
hike linked to salaries, benefits
By John Best | For lehighvalleylive.com on May 18, 2016 at
9:59 AM, updated May 18, 2016 at 7:44 PM
Bangor Area School District residents will see a 1.97
percent real estate tax increase for the 2016-17 year if the budget passes as
proposed. District salaries, wages and
benefits are projected to increase $1.6 million, which represents 70 percent of
the total $2.1 million increase in expenditures for the district next school
year. The total proposed 2016-17 budget
is $55.1 million, which is up 4.2 percent from 2015-16. Total local revenues, without a tax millage
increase, are expected to increase $420,000 based on increased home tax
assessment values by Northampton County and upward trending earned income tax
revenues.
Greensburg
Salem staring at 2.7-mill tax hike
Trib Live BY JACOB TIERNEY | Wednesday, May 18, 2016,
11:00 p.m.
The preliminary
2016-17 budget that Greensburg Salem school board members will vote on next
week would raise taxes 2.7 mills and still have a deficit of more than
$500,000.
The $43.6 million budget is
about $1 million larger than last year's, with most of the increase driven by
an additional $877,000 in mandatory retirement contributions. If it weren't for these pension costs, the
budget would be slightly smaller than it was in 2009, according to district
business manager Jim Meyer. “We're
spending less than we did five years ago when you take out the pension,” he
said. “Where is your money going? It's getting funneled out in the form of a
contribution back to the state.”
Franklin
Regional school board approves $54.4M preliminary budget
BY THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW | Wednesday, May 18, 2016,
2:54 p.m.
The Franklin
Regional school board on Monday approved a proposed $54.4 million budget that
includes a 0.75-mill tax hike for the 2016-17 school year. The budget includes $53.7 million in revenue,
with the district using $700,000 from its pension stabilization fund and just
over $46,000 from its fund balance to offset costs. The proposed tax hike would bring in $261,000
and raise the tax rate to 90.99 mills. A
vote to adopt the final budget will take place in June.
“Looking into the proposed final budget, $9.6 million in
expenditures have been added over the current year, with retirement
contributions accounting for $3.76 million of that. Charter school expenses and
special education placement tacked on $1.9 million and purchasing of
professional/technical services adding on $1.6 million. Salary increases and added staff positions
add on $1.3 million.”
Upper Darby school board
avoids tax increase despite $6.5M shortfall
Delco Times By Kevin Tustin, ktustin@21st-centurymedia.com, @KevinTustin on Twitter POSTED: 05/18/16, 9:38 PM EDT | UPDATED:
4 HRS AGO
Upper Darby>>
The school board has decided to bite the bullet and hold the line on property
taxes, despite the growing amount of red ink in their first look at the
proposed final budget for the 2016-17 school year. District Chief Financial Officer Patrick
Grant suggested during a special meeting of the board Tuesday evening an unprecedented
zero percent tax increase for next year, despite a $6.5 million shortfall in a
$189 million budget. The use of
unassigned fund balance will make up for the budget gap. Grant said now is the time for the district
to take this “one-time” opportunity to freeze taxes, a situation made possible
by a projection of $4 million in revenues over expenditures realized by the end
of the current fiscal year (June 30), and putting back $2.5 million of fund
balance that was originally slated to balance the 2015-16 budget.
DePasquale:
Penn Hills audit 'one of worst school audits I have ever seen'
Trib Live BY NATASHA
LINDSTROM AND MICHAEL DIVITTORIO |May 18, 2016, 10:54 a.m.
Rampant fiscal
mismanagement, bad business decisions and a gaping lack of oversight have
thrust Penn Hills School District onto the edge of a “self-inflicted” financial
cliff and might warrant criminal charges, Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene
DePasquale said Wednesday. Taxpayers in one of
Western Pennsylvania's largest school districts are on the hook for debt that
has ballooned from $11 million in 2010 to more than $170 million — almost twice
as much as the Penn Hills district's annual budget of about $90 million. After
ending 2011 with a surplus of nearly $1 million, the district is more than $18
million in the red, DePasquale said, and its tax rate is likely to climb later
this year. “It will take a Herculean
effort to turn the district around,” DePasquale said.
Penn Hills schools could face criminal investigation
By Molly Born / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette May 18, 2016 11:30 PM
The release
Wednesday of a withering audit of the Penn Hills School District underscored
the school system’s precarious financial situation. What may come next is a
criminal investigation. Concerned about
possible lawbreaking, state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said he referred
the conclusions of his long-awaited audit to the Allegheny County District
Attorney’s office, the U.S. Attorney’s office, the state Department of Revenue
and the state Ethics Commission. The
DA’s office said it had been made aware of Penn Hills’ problems but would wait
for a complete review of the audit before deciding whether criminal charges are
necessary in the district of about 3,900 students. Calling the audit findings the worst of his
tenure, Mr. DePasquale cited a “total breakdown” in oversight and management
and a “shocking” deficit that topped $18.8 million.
Investigate Lehigh Valley
Academy charter school, district says
By Sara K. Satullo | For lehighvalleylive.com Email the
author | Follow on Twitter on May 18, 2016 at 6:30 AM, updated May
18, 2016 at 6:32 AM
The Bethlehem school districtbelieves a Hanover Township charter
school violated state public bidding laws each time it expanded. The Bethlehem Area School District has sent a
letter to Auditor General Eugene DePasquale asking him to explore whether
Lehigh Valley Academy Regional Charter School violated state law. "Districts really have no further power,
other than to do what we've done," Superintendent Joseph Roy said Monday night. Charter school CEO Susan Mauser said Tuesday
the school has received a copy of the letter and is waiting to hear
DePasquale's take on the issue and will try to comply. She declined to address
further specifics.
PSBA’s Mains testifies on ESSA recommendations
Today, Nathan Mains,
executive director of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA),
testified before a joint meeting of the Senate and House Education committees
on implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in Pennsylvania. His
full testimony can be found online. Mains’ testimony was drawn from a report with recommendations that was developed by a
diverse group of more than 80 school directors, school administrators and
subject experts, which PSBA convened at the beginning of March. A full list of
study group participants can be found in the report. All states, including Pennsylvania, are now
in the process of crafting new state plans that are expected to be submitted
for approval to the U.S. Department of Education in Fall 2016 and take effect
beginning in 2017-18. ESSA was signed into law in December 2015 and replaces
the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).
“For every 100 students who graduate on time, 80 do not. Even as the national on-time graduation rate has hit a record high
of 82 percent, publicly funded online schools like the Electronic
Classroom have become the new dropout factories.”
Online
School Enriches Affiliated Companies if Not Its Students
New York Times By MOTOKO RICH MAY 18, 2016
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The
Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, an onlinecharter school based
here, graduated 2,371 students last spring. At the commencement ceremony, a
student speaker triumphantly told her classmates that the group was “the
single-largest graduating high school class in the nation.” What she did not say was this: Despite the
huge number of graduates — this year, the school is on track to graduate 2,300
— more students drop out of the Electronic Classroom or fail to finish high
school within four years than at any other school in the country, according to
federal data. For every 100 students who graduate on time, 80 do not. Even as the national on-time graduation rate has hit a record high of 82 percent, publicly funded online
schools like the Electronic Classroom have become the new dropout factories.
“But if he could see the Constitution amended, the most
important change, he said, would be to prohibit partisan gerrymandering. “It
has adversely affected our electoral process over and over again,” Stevens
said. “It would make a huge difference in how the country is governed.” He added he does not know why the Supreme
Court has failed to address partisan gerrymandering which, he said, is not
harder to confront than racial gerrymandering. “It is to me a fairly simple
problem.”
John Paul Stevens Calls Senate Inaction on Garland
'Unfortunate'
Marcia Coyle, The National Law Journal May 17, 2016 | 0 Comments
An eight-justice
U.S. Supreme Court is an “unhappy situation,” retired Justice John Paul Stevens
said on Tuesday in urging the Senate to act on the nomination of Judge Merrick
Garland.
Although the
justices adjust in “due course,” Stevens called for Senate action to fill the
current vacancy—“the sooner the better,” he said—because the court does not
function efficiently with only eight members.
Stevens made his remarks in a conversation with his former law clerk,
Carol Lee, special counsel at Taconic Capital Advisors L.P., at the annual meeting of the American Law Institute in
Washington.
Nominations now open for PSBA Allwein Awards (deadline
July 16)
PSBA Website POSTED
ON MAY 16, 2016 IN PSBA
NEWS
The Timothy M.
Allwein Advocacy Award was established in 2011 by the Pennsylvania School
Boards Association and may be presented annually to the individual school
director or entire school board to recognize outstanding leadership in
legislative advocacy efforts on behalf of public education and students that
are consistent with the positions in PSBA’s
Legislative Platform. The 2016 Allwein Award nominations will be
accepted starting today and all applications are due by July 16, 2016. The
nomination form can be downloaded from the website.
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:
“NATIONAL ANTHEM “SING-A-LONG”
When: September 9, 2016, 10:00 am PST/1:00pm EST
Where: Schools across America
Sponsor: American Public Education Foundation (APEF)
The National Anthem “Sing-A-Long” is a movement to teach K-12 students the
words, meaning,
music and history of the Star-Spangled Banner. This annual event is held
each year on the
second week of September to honor 9/11 families, victims and heroes and
celebrate the historic
birthday of the National Anthem on September 14. Those who join the
“Sing-A-Long” are singing in unison at the exact same time at multiple sites
across the U.S. The APEF has also created a robust, companion curriculum
recognized by numerous State Departments of Education, available online
at www.theapef.org (see the “Educate”
tab) for free download.
The Foundation hopes to have the support of the Alabama Department of
Education as we
commemorate the 15th Anniversary of 9/11 this year. Teachers are encouraged
to sign up
before the end of the school year at www.theapef.org.
Also online is a "how-to" guide on
holding an event at your school and sample press release. If you do not
wish to hold a full
ceremony at the school, your students can simply stand up and sing
at 10 am PST/1:00pm EST.
The Star-Spangled Banner Movement is a simple, elegant way to honor 9/11
while also teaching students how the world came together in the days, weeks and
months after the September 2001 terrorist strikes. The APEF also offers a host
of other free educational material on its website, including polls, contests
and grant information.
Pennsylvania
Partnerships for Children (PPC), a statewide children's advocacy organization
located in Harrisburg, PA has an immediate full-time opening for an Early
Learning and K-12 Education Policy Manager.
PPC's vision is to be one of the top ten states in which to be a child
and raise a child. Today, Pennsylvania ranks 17th in the nation for child
well-being. Our early learning and K-12 education policy work is focused on
ensuring all children enter school ready to learn and that all children have
access to high-quality public education. Current initiatives include increasing
the number of children served in publicly funded pre-k and implementing a fair
basic education formula along with sustained, significant investments in
education funding.
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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