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Keystone
State Education Coalition
PA
Ed Policy Weekend Roundup June 30, 2016:
Happy
Fiscal New Year’s Eve; HB530 Charter Bill Moving Today
URGENT–Lawmakers
and Governor Wolf MUST oppose HB 530–legislation that would make PA’s charter
school law even WORSE
Education Voters PA Posted on June 29, 2016 by EDVOPA
The PA House is moving charter
school legislation today that would make PA’s charter school law even
WORSE than it already is.
HB 530 is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It is NOT a
genuine effort to improve the quality of education children in the Commonwealth
receive, but instead, a massive giveaway to charter schools that would damage
school districts throughout the Commonwealth and undermine the quality of
education children in all schools receive.
Blogger
Commentary: In addition to charter provisions, HB530 would also increase the
limit for the EITC program, which primarily diverts public tax dollars to
unaccountable private and religious schools, from $150 million to $175
million. These are tax dollars that are
not available for the general fund.
|
Speaker Turzai, members of REACH
foundation urge support of House Bill 530
|
|
Speaker of the House Rep Mike
Turzai (R-Allegheny) along with Executive Director of the REACH Foundation,
Otto V. Banks, help a press conference at the McCormick Riverfront Library to
urge the passage of House Bill 530. This
legislation would increase the educational improvement tax credit (EITC)
program and other programs from $150 million to $175 million allowing for
more scholarships and education for children inside and out of the REACH
foundation.
CLICK HERE to
read the full story from The PLS Reporter.(paywall)
|
This
is a PA House GOP list of proposed budget distribution estimates by county by
school district; this is not finalized yet
Proposed
16-17 Basic Education Funding (BEF) Distribution Estimate
“The
Senate version kept the underpinnings of the House plan - namely, more money
for public schools, including $200 million for K-12 classroom education - but
added slightly less than $40 million for higher education. The House had not
included any new aid for state system universities, community colleges, and the
four state-related universities. The
changes have to be approved by the House before going to Wolf for his
signature. Both houses are controlled by Republicans.”
Inching toward budget deal? Pa. Senate OKs
$31.5B spending plan
Inquirer by Angela Couloumbis and Karen Langley,
HARRISBURG BUREAU Updated: JUNE
30, 2016 — 1:08 AM EDT
HARRISBURG - The
Republican-controlled legislature appears determined to beat the clock and send
Gov. Wolf a budget before the start of the new fiscal year. Less than 24 hours after the House passed a
$31.5 billion spending plan, the Senate on Wednesday tweaked the proposal and
swiftly passed it in a 47-3 floor vote. The measure won the vote of every
Democrat - a strong signal that it has tacit support from the Democratic
governor. "We've learned from our
past, not to repeat it but to move forward," said Sen. Vincent Hughes (D.,
Phila.), referring to last year's nine-month impasse. "We learned from the
fact that this is a divided government, learned from the fact that incremental
gains are gains nonetheless." Getting
a spending plan to the governor before the Friday start of the fiscal year is a
big step toward achieving an on-time budget, but does not guarantee one. The
House and Senate have yet to finalize how to pay for the plan, and there's no
assurance that Wolf will sign off.
Pa.
Senate OKs $31.6 billion budget; how to pay for it is next
The Senate has passed the budget,
which now returns to the House.
Steve Esack Contact Reporter
Call Harrisburg Bureau
State Senate OKs $31.6 billion
budget; how to pay for it comes next HARRISBURG
— The state Senate voted Wednesday to
approve a $31.6 billion budget for the fiscal year that begins Friday.
That's about $95 million more than what the House had approved Tuesday night,
when other spending is adjusted. A big
chunk of the Senate's proposed increase would provide an additional $40 million
for a college loan program and all taxpayer-supported universities. That would
be a 2.5 percent increase for the publicly funded higher education system,
which the House had flat-lined while increasing spending in all other education
categories. The Senate's 47-3 vote moves
the budget back to the House, which must reconcile the differences between the
two chambers and move a final spending package to Gov. Tom Wolf for his signature or veto.
After the Senate vote, Wolf
thanked the leadership, saying in a statement: "As the budget moves
through the process, I look forward to continuing to engage with the Legislature
to discuss a sustainable revenue package."
State Senate advances House budget bill,
with funding in limbo
Delco
Times By Marc Levy, The Associated Press POSTED: 06/30/16, 5:40 AM EDT
HARRISBURG >> The
Pennsylvania Senate took quick action on the House’s just-passed budget package
Wednesday, a day before the state government’s fiscal-year deadline, although
divisions remained over how to pay for the nearly $31.6 billion spending plan. The Republican-controlled Senate voted 47-3
after making changes to the plan the House passed a day earlier with bipartisan
support. Both chambers adjourned
Wednesday, to return Thursday. House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, said his
chamber would move quickly to review the Senate’s changes, but did not say how
his chamber would handle it. The swift
movement comes barely two months after the end of a record-breaking stalemate
that marked the first budget between Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and the
Republican-controlled Legislature.
$31.5 billion Pa. state budget goes back
to House's woodshed, at least for a day, after Senate changes
Penn Live By Charles Thompson |
cthompson@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on
June 29, 2016 at 9:23 PM, updated June 29, 2016 at 11:51 PM
With some deft accounting, the
state Senate came up with more money for Pennsylvania's public colleges and
universities Wednesday, even as it lowered total spending from a budget bill
passed by the state House a day before. The
winners are the state-related universities (Penn State, Pitt and Temple), the
14 members of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, and the
state's 14 community colleges. All stand
to receive a 2.5 percent bump in 2016-17 state allocations that had been frozen
by the House at current-year levels. To
create the head room for that $40 million increase, the Senate took a $95.3
million annual expense for bond-funded, economic development projects out of
the general fund budget
“Only three Senators—Sen.
Scott Wagner (R-York), Sen. John Eichelberger (R-Blair), and Sen. Scott
Hutchinson (R-Venango)—opposed the spending plan.”
Senate returns budget to House with increased higher education
funding, lower spend numberThe Senate Wednesday afternoon returned to the House the budget that chamber passed less than a day earlier, but increasing higher education funding by 2.5 percent and lowering the overall spend number to $31.53 billion. Only three Senators—Sen. Scott Wagner (R-York), Sen. John Eichelberger (R-Blair), and Sen. Scott Hutchinson (R-Venango)—opposed the spending plan. The spending plan voted on by the Senate Wednesday found its $40 million increase to be shared by Pennsylvania’s state-related schools by shifting money from lines said not to be priorities to the House or the governor and was able to obtain its bipartisan support by increasing funding in areas like the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.
Read the full story from The
PLS Reporter HERE.
(paywall)
These are the five biggest things to know
about the #PaBudget: Wednesday Morning Coffee
Penn Live By John L. Micek |
jmicek@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on
June 29, 2016 at 7:35 AM, updated June 29, 2016 at 7:52 AM
THE MORNING COFFEE
Good Wednesday Morning, Fellow
Seekers.
As some of you may have heard by now, Pennsylvania could be on track to an on-time state budget for the first time in Gov. Tom Wolf's young administration. But before you break out the party hats and start planning celebrations for 12:01 a.m. on July 1, here are the five things you need to know about where things stand:
As some of you may have heard by now, Pennsylvania could be on track to an on-time state budget for the first time in Gov. Tom Wolf's young administration. But before you break out the party hats and start planning celebrations for 12:01 a.m. on July 1, here are the five things you need to know about where things stand:
Five more things to know about the
#PaBudget: Thursday Morning Coffee
Penn Live By John L. Micek |
jmicek@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on
June 30, 2016 at 7:37 AM, updated June 30, 2016 at 7:39 AM
THE MORNING COFFEE
Good Thursday Morning, Fellow
Seekers.
Today is June 30, which means it's the end of the 2015-16 fiscal year is nearly upon us.
Today is June 30, which means it's the end of the 2015-16 fiscal year is nearly upon us.
And, at midnight tonight, state Rep.
Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, festooned with garland and blinking lights, will
make a 60-second descent down the Commonwealth statue at the top of the
Pennsylvania Capitol, officially ringing in the start of the 2016-17 fiscal
year at 12:01 a.m. on Friday. Okay ...
so it doesn't really happen like that ... but how cool would it be if it did?
But one part is true: Lawmakers
and Gov. Tom Wolf do have until midnight tonight to pass a new
state budget. And, all things being equal, it looks like they might (more or
less) pull it off.
So, with that in mind, here's
five more things to know about what's happening:
Chester County lawmakers applaud state
budget
By Ginger Dunbar,
Daily Local News POSTED: 06/29/16,
9:50 PM EDT
HARRISBURG >> As the clock
ticks toward the state budget deadline, several Chester County legislators have
shown their support for the $31 billion spending plan. The House voted 132-68 Tuesday to approve the
budget bill that has a Friday deadline as the fiscal year ends on July 1. The
state Senate then voted on the 2016-17 budget, which includes additional
educational funding, Wednesday. All
state representatives from Chester County voted in favor of Senate Bill 1073
except state Rep. John Lawrence, R-13, of West Grove, and state Rep. Dan
Truitt, R-156, of East Goshen. Lawrence faces Democrat Nancy Dean of London
Grove in the Nov. 8 election; Truitt faces West Chester Mayor Carolyn Comitta,
a Democrat.
Budget peace in Harrisburg?
The political reasons for the calm
Lancaster Online by John Baer |
Philadelphia Daily News Jun 29, 2016
As Harrisburg moves toward a new
state budget, let’s take a look at the short- and long-term politics involved. You might want to sit down. This gets
dizzying. First, the budget is getting
done more or less on schedule without any big-time personal taxes and amid a
new cordiality under Harrisburg’s Big Top.
I sense you have questions: Didn’t
the last budget take forever because our Democratic governor and Republican
Legislature are ideological opposites, and isn’t that still the case? Yes. Hasn’t
our Democratic governor for two years called for higher personal income taxes,
increased or expanded sales taxes, taxes on natural gas, all while claiming the
state’s in “crisis,” tumbling into fiscal hell?
Yes. And isn’t his argument that
taxes are needed because there isn’t revenue to meet “the math” for a
constitutionally mandated balanced budget, and didn’t he tell lawmakers just a
few months back that they should get serious or “find another job?” Correct. Well, then, how to explain a fairly sudden —
shall we say friendly? — shift in thinking?
Court dismisses PSBA suit over
budget-fight holdup of school aid
Inquirer by The
Associated Press Updated: JUNE
29, 2016 — 6:19 PM EDT
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A
Pennsylvania judge is dismissing a lawsuit over held-up state and federal
school aid during a record-breaking budget stalemate. In Wednesday's decision, Commonwealth Court
Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt said the Pennsylvania School Boards Association
lawsuit is effectively moot because of budget legislation that became law March
28. The school boards association had
asked the court to prevent the state from withholding the dollars in the
future, and it asked for damages for the districts' borrowing costs and loss of
investment income on dried-up reserves. In
her decision, Leavitt wrote that a challenge to the constitutionality of
delayed budget legislation requires current evidence. She also wrote that such
a stalemate is unlikely to happen again, but the issue could be litigated
should another occur.
A school boards association
spokesman says it's too soon to say whether it will appeal.
Commentary: 'Reform' plan doesn't fix Pa.
pension crisis
Inquirer Commentary By
Richard C. Dreyfuss Updated: JUNE
30, 2016 — 3:01 AM EDT
Richard C. Dreyfuss is an actuary
and business consultant.
Someone once quipped that a camel
is a horse designed by committee. A perfect example of this metaphor is the
"stacked-hybrid" public pension plan passed by the Pennsylvania House
in mid-June. Rather than fixing our broken state pension system, this plan keeps
all the problems that led to billions in debt and continues to avoid paying for
the promises made to public employees. Pennsylvania taxpayers already
face an unsustainable $63.2 billion pension debt - 730 percent more than just
10 years ago. This threatens future plan solvency and transfers costs to future
generations. Those seeking to live, work, or invest in our state will not be
pleased at a welcome committee holding out a bill for billions in unfunded
pension liabilities. Though lawmakers
should be applauded for making this critical issue a priority, this latest
attempt at pension reform isn't the short- or long-term solution Pennsylvanians
have been waiting for.
Blogger
commentary: based upon their consistent, dismal academic performance over
several years, it seems to me that cyber schools have already severely impacted
their students, not to mention the taxpayers who have to fund them.
Funding cuts to cyber schools in Pa. would
severely impact students: PennLive letters
Letters to the
Editor by TILLIE ELVRUM,
president, PublicSchoolOptions.org, Colorado Springs, Colorado on
June 29, 2016 at 3:00 PM, updated June 29, 2016 at 7:31 PM
As the Pennsylvania General
Assembly considers the state budget, parents with children in public cyber
charter schools hope they won't be treated like second-class citizens again. Funding cuts ignore that cyber charters
already begin with an average of 25 percent less in funding than traditional
district schools, although they are required to provide an equal education.
That's even more perplexing when you consider that many of our students come
from traditional public schools that have failed them. They're often behind
their peers and turn to cyber schools for help. Funding cuts would severely
impact our cyber schools' ability to properly educate our children, especially
those with specialized needs, causing them to only fall further behind.
School
funding in Pa, NJ
WHYY
Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane June 28, 2016
Guests:
Kevin McCorry, Donna Cooper, John Mooney runtime 48:58
Pennsylvania has adopted a new
school funding formula, yet the state still distributes money largely without
regard for the actual needs of students. In fact, the state gives the most
funding per student to districts where enrollment has dropped sharply over the
last 25 years. We’ll talk about the funding formula and how the state divides
up its education cash, with KEVIN
McCORRY, a statewide education reporter for Keystone
Crossroads. We’ll hear from DONNA
COOPER, executive director of Public Citizens for Children and Youth
as well. And we’ll get an update on New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s school
funding plan from JOHN MOONEY, education reporter
and founding editor and CEO of NJ Spotlight.
PA's rural schools are at a precipice
City and State PA By: RYAN BRIGGS JUN 29, 2016 AT 12:29 PM
Along
the maze of
state roads that wind through Pennsylvania’s remote Northern Tier, wildflowers
are blooming white and purple, and the canopy of trees glows verdant across the
folds of endless rolling hills. On Route 6, the main road into Potter County, a
wooden sign proclaims, “Welcome to Potter County: God’s Country.” To the seasonal tourists and anglers, it must
seem to be so. But behind this idyllic facade, God’s country is dying. “The economic base is pretty poor here, so we
lose all our best people,” says Jerry Sasala, superintendent of Austin Area
School District. “A lot of retired people move in because the land is so cheap,
but it’s not putting money in the economy. Everything is being hollowed out.
We’re killing ourselves just to try and keep the schools up.” Sasala’s class size is down 20 percent from a
decade ago, mirroring the county’s flagging birth rate. His special education
costs are way up, in backwards lockstep with a faltering local economy – 42
percent of his students come from families living near the federal poverty
line. It’s a district where fracking wells, once viewed as an economic boon,
now sit idle, victims of cratering petroleum prices. Longtime factory employers
have shuttered – the Piper Aircraft factory down the road from Austin was
long ago converted into a state prison. Drug overdose rates in the county have
doubled over the last 10 years. But the
problems in this remote school district are easy for outsiders to ignore, as
might be expected for the commonwealth’s smallest school district, which
graduated just 12 students this year.
Nearly all Philly teaching positions
filled, district says
The notebook/WHYY
Newsworks BY AVI WOLFMAN-ARENT
JUNE 28, 2016
The School District of
Philadelphia announced Wednesday it has filled 99 percent of its teaching
positions, a notable accomplishment given the district’s endemic vacancy woes. The announcement follows a sustained and
public push to fill every teaching position by Friday. The district will fall
short of that goal, but only barely. By the end of this week, just 45 vacancies
will remain, according to district superintendent William Hite. Before
hiring began, 1,940 positions were open.
The district has approximately 8,100 total teaching slots — down about
300 from last year. “We made a
commitment to fully staff all schools by the start of the school year, and we
plan to meet that goal,” said Hite.
In 2015, 118 positions were open when the school year began, and the
shortage continued throughout the school year. When school let out just a week
ago, the district had 132 unfilled teaching slots, said district spokesman
Fernando Gallard.
Hite: 99% of Philly teacher positions
filled
Inquirer by Martha Woodall, Staff Writer Updated: JUNE 30, 2016 — 1:08 AM
EDT
Philadelphia School
Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. announced Wednesday that the School District
had filled 99 percent of its teaching positions and was on target to have all
filled by the start of the school year. "These
classrooms are empty right now for the summer, but come September, they will be
full of teachers," Hite said at a news conference at Roxborough High
School. "Last year there were too
many vacancies in our schools," he said. "We recognized the problem;
we took action with an aggressive recruitment and hiring strategy. We made a
commitment to fully staff all of our schools by the start of the school year,
and we plan to meet our goal. Families can rest assured that schools will be
ready and completely staffed to welcome students in September." Hite said the district expected to have only
45 vacancies left by week's end.
Trib Live BY ELIZABETH
BEHRMAN | Wednesday, June 29, 2016, 6:54 p.m.
The majority of the Pittsburgh
Public Schools board reaffirmed its support of the district's next
superintendent, with the board president saying an independent investigation
found Anthony Hamlet did not intentionally embellish his record or plagiarize a
part of his resume. The board voted 7-2
in a special meeting Wednesday night to allow Hamlet to be sworn in as
superintendent Friday. “We're hopeful
the community will come together to welcome him on the job,” said board
President Regina Holley, who voted to protect his contract. “The work that he
will do is too important to continue debating over Dr. Hamlet's resume.” Hamlet did not attend Wednesday's meeting,
but the district released a statement on his behalf after the vote: “I regret
the concern this situation has caused and I apologize to the parents and
communities for this unintended distraction. My focus has always been the
children.” The board unanimously
approved Hamlet's five-year, $210,000 contract May 18. He has been embroiled in
controversy since plagiarism and apparent data embellishments were revealed in
his resume, with several education-advocacy and civil rights groups calling on
the school board to conduct a new search.
“Factors
affecting the district's budget in the future include its contributions to the
Public School Employees' Retirement System, to which Chartiers Valley will
contribute $4.5 million in 2016-17. In 2010-11, by comparison, Chartiers
Valley's contribution totaled about $712,000.”
Chartiers Valley reverses course, votes to raise taxes
Trib Live BY JIM
SPEZIALETTI | Wednesday, June 29, 2016, 12:09 p.m.
Chartiers Valley School District
officials had a change of plans with the district's $62 million budget for
2016-17. Instead of dipping into savings
to balance the budget, board members approved, by a 7-2 vote, the final budget
with a 0.39-mill property tax increase. “We
really worked hard not to have a millage increase,” Superintendent Brian White
said. The property tax increase is the
first for the district since 2010. The new millage is 16.6067 mills, which is
lowest among Allegheny County school districts. For residents who own property
assessed at $100,000, their increase will amount to $38.92. It will generate
$884,000 for the district. In May, the
board approved a preliminary budget with no property tax increase by using $1.3
million in savings. Since the preliminary approval, administrators trimmed
$500,000 in expenses.
“A
major increase in expenditures comes from what the district must contribute to
the Public School Employees' Retirement System. Districts contribute a
percentage based on salaries. This year's rate is 30.03 percent, meaning South
Fayette must contribute $6.45 million to the pension fund, an increase of
$883,743 from last year.”
South Fayette raises taxes, uses savings to balance final budget
Trib Live BY JIM
SPEZIALETTI | Wednesday, June 29, 2016, 6:00 p.m.
The South Fayette School Board
approved a $52.75 million budget for 2016-17 that increases property taxes by
0.58 mills and uses nearly $1.75 million in savings. The new property tax rate is 26.7 mills. The
average value of a home in South Fayette is $143,000, translating to an
increase of $83.54. Board members had
asked Director of Finance Brian Tony previously presented three other options:
no tax increase while using $2.47 million in savings; a 0.5-mill increase while
using $1.85 million in savings; and raising the millage up to the index allowed
by the state, which is 0.8357 mills, and taking $1.4 million from savings. By increasing the rate 0.5832 mills, the
district will generate $727,253 more in revenue. The district's savings now
will total $16.5 million.
“The
2016-17 budget is about $1 million larger than the previous year and most of
the increase, about $877,000, comes from mandatory pension increases.”
Greensburg Salem school board raises property taxes, OKs $43.5
million budget
Trib Live BY JACOB
TIERNEY | Wednesday, June 29, 2016, 11:00 p.m.
Greensburg Salem School District
residents' property tax bills will go up 2.7 mills this year after a 5-4 school
board vote Wednesday. This brings the
total millage to 87.22, and will fund the district's 2016-17 budget of about
$43.5 million. The budget also passed 5-4 Wednesday. Board members Frank Gazze, Rick Payha, Robin
Savage, Stephen Thomas and Barbara Vernail voted for the budget and the tax
increase, with Charlotte Kemerer, Ronald Mellinger, Jeffrey Metrosky and Nick
Rullo opposing both. “This is for the
betterment of our students and the quality of education at Greensburg Salem,”
Vernail said. The increase is the
maximum allowed by the state and will cost the average taxpayer about $52 more
a year. This is not enough to cover all expenses, so the district will use
about $281,000 from its reserves to cover the cost.
Neshannock OKs school
budget, tax increase
By Nancy Lowry New Castle News
June 29, 2016
A budget featuring $18.7
million in expenses and $17.9 in revenue was adopted Tuesday night by the
Neshannock Township School Board. The
budget includes a 0.4261 mill property tax increase, setting the new millage
rate at 15.118. To further support the
budget, board members voted to continue the one-half percent earned income tax
which is shared with Neshannock Township; retained a one-half real estate
transfer tax, also shared with the township and continued a $10 per capita ta,
a $5 per capita tax and a $10 emergency and municipal services tax. The budget was adopted by a unanimous 7-0
vote of the board. Voting for it were members David Antuono, Melissa Johnson,
Karen Houk, James McFarland, Amy Na, Raymond Omer, and board president P.J.
Copple. Absent were Dr. William Cosgrove and Larry Keith. The district cut $13.3 million from its
initial spending plan which anticipated a $2 million deficit last month.
Following Tuesday’s special
meeting, Superintendent Dr. Terence P. Meehan said the difference in revenue
and expenses will be made up from the district’s fund balance. He said he also
anticipates the district will receive more in 2016-17 from the state than it
received in the school year just finishing.
By Molly Born / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette June 29, 2016 4:55 PM
The Wilkinsburg school board
unanimously passed a 2016-17 budget Tuesday night that includes no
tax increase. The property tax
rate will remain at 32.63 mills. The vote came a week after the board approved
furloughing 20 teachers as part of the official closing of the district’s
high and middle schools. About 270
students from Wilkinsburg’s middle and high schools will move to Pittsburgh
Westinghouse 6-12 on a tuition basis starting next school year, making Wilkinsburg
a pre-K-6 school district this fall.
Education Secretary Spars With Senators
Over School Ratings, ESSA Timeline
Education Week Politics K12 Blog By Andrew Ujifusa on June 29, 2016 1:41 PM
Washington The top GOP Senate lawmaker for
education criticized accountability proposals from the U.S. Department of
Education that would require summative ratings for schools, saying such a
requirement is not found in the Every Student Succeeds Act and would infringe
on state autonomy. Sen. Lamar
Alexander, R-Tenn., the Senate education committee chairman, told Secretary of
Education John B. King Jr. in a hearing here Wednesday that he was also worried
that the proposed ESSA accountability rules might give the department improper
oversight over states' content standards. And both Alexander and Sen. Patty
Murray, D-Wash., the committee's ranking member, expressed concerns the draft
rules would make states and schools shift to the new law too quickly. The meeting was the first time Alexander, one of
ESSA's main architects, shared concerns about specific policies
in the draft ESSA accountability
rules, which were released late last month.
Oklahoma teachers fight education cuts by
winning elections
Washington Post By Sean Murphy | AP June 29 at
7:26 PM
OKLAHOMA CITY — Inner-city high
school English teacher Mickey Dollens was fed up with low pay and cuts to
public education, so he decided to run for the state Legislature to fix the
problem.
Then the 28-year-old from
Oklahoma City became a casualty of those cuts and was laid off. He has since
become a poster boy for a movement of teachers, parents and other supporters of
public education trying to elect candidates who will resist cuts imposed by
majority Republicans.
The group passed its first major
hurdle with flying colors on Tuesday when candidates it backed knocked off two
incumbent House Republicans and came close to beating a third, a rarity in
Oklahoma politics. Only three GOP incumbents have lost to a primary challenger
in the last 16 years. “They’ve already
cut some sports and extra-curriculars like a welding program,” said Dollens,
who won his Democratic primary with more than 90 percent of the vote and now
faces a Republican in November. “Then my principal brought me in and said we
have to let you and 19 other teaches go.
Education Bloggers Daily Highlights
6/30/2016
Testing
Resistance & Reform News: June 22 - 28, 2016
Submitted by fairtest on
June 28, 2016 - 12:54pm
A number of states are already
moving to take advantage of the flexibility to overhaul assessments included in
the new, federal Every Student Succeeds Act. But proposed U.S. Department of
Education regulations could inhibit reforms that help improve learning and
learning. If you have not weighed in already, now is the time to submit a
comment -- it's easy; just click on the first link below
Appointment
of Voting Delegates for the October 15th PSBA Delegate Assembly
Meeting
PSBA Website June 27, 2016
The governing body boards of all
member school entities are entitled to appoint voting delegates to participate
in the PSBA Delegate Assembly to be held on Saturday,
Oct. 15, 2016. It is important that school boards act soon to appoint
its delegate or delegates, and to notify PSBA of the appointment.
Voting members of the Delegate
Assembly will:
1. Consider and act upon proposed
changes to the PSBA Bylaws.
2. Receive reports from the PSBA
president, executive director and treasurer.
3. Receive the results of the
election for officers and at-large representatives. (Voting upon
candidates by school boards and electronic submission of each board’s votes
will occur during the month of September 2016.)
4. Consider proposals recommended by
the PSBA Platform Committee and adopt the legislative platform for the coming
year.
5. Conduct other Association
business as required or permitted in the Bylaws, policies or a duly adopted
order of business.
The 2016 Delegate Assembly will meet on Saturday,
Oct. 15, at the conclusion of the regularly scheduled events of the
main PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference.
Apply Now!
EPLC’s 2016-2017 Pennsylvania Education Policy Fellowship Program
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.
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:
PA Supreme Court sets Sept. 13 argument
date for fair education funding lawsuit in Philly
Thorough
and Efficient Blog JUNE 16, 2016 BARBGRIMALDI LEAVE A COMMENT
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