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Keystone
State Education Coalition
PA
Ed Policy Roundup July 21, 2016:
Crackdown
on Educators in Turkey Continues After Coup Attempt
Taking a Break Until August 1st
The PA Ed Policy Roundup will be taking
a break starting tomorrow until Monday August 1st. If you need a daily ed policy fix please consider
joining the 1000+ tweeps following us on Twitter at @lfeinberg
Philly
Councilwoman Gym’s Office Seeking Student Interns
Councilwoman Gym's Office July 19, 2016
We are excited to offer a few
young students the opportunity to work closely within City Council of
Philadelphia throughout the 2016-17 school year.
“Mr. Conti became CEO in June 2012 when
founder and former CEO Nicholas Trombetta left the Beaver County-based school.
Mr. Trombetta was indicted two months later by a federal grand jury on a
variety of fraud and tax charges and is expected to go to trial in September.
He has pleaded not guilty.”
PA Cyber's COO to become acting chief executivePittsburgh Post-Gazette July 20, 2016 11:19 PM
Pennsylvania Cyber Charter
School’s chief operating officer will take over as acting CEO following the
resignation this week of CEO Michael J. Conti.
Nicole Granito will serve in that role “as the board assesses
appropriate means to appoint a full-time replacement,” PA Cyber’s school board
said in a statement. She has held several positions, including chief operating
officer and senior administrator, during her 10-plus years at the state’s
largest cyber charter school. Mr. Conti
has “captained our ship through smooth and rough waters, and kept us on course
for the past several years,” school board president Brian Hayden said in a
statement. Reached by phone Wednesday,
Mr. Conti said he doesn’t have another job lined up yet and is enjoying the
downtime. “I just kind of want to
de-stress my life a little bit. I think it’s a good time to move on. The school
is in a good place,” he said.
Letter to the Editor: School tax increases
are out of control
Delco
Times Letter by David D. Waltz, President, Rutledge Borough Council POSTED: 07/20/16, 9:43 PM
EDT | UPDATED: 4 HRS AGO
To the Times: Well, the Wallingford-Swarthmore School Board
did it again. I invited the board to a council meeting here in Rutledge a
couple of months ago to explain the proposed 3.9 percent tax increase. The
answer was that more money was needed for special education and pension funds.
I would like to thank them for only increasing our taxes 3.4 percent - that
will cost the average home owner $253 out of their pockets, some of which are
empty already. So when does it stop? Seniors on
fixed income are losing their houses and many people are still out of work and
have trouble making their mortgage payment each month. Only one school board
member, Dr. Robert Reiger, abstained from the vote because he disagreed with
the increase … but why didn’t he vote “no” to the increase? We have voted the
board members into office so, unless you like paying these high and increasing
taxes, maybe it is time that the residents of Neither Providence, Swarthmore,
Rose Valley and Rutledge vote them out at the next election. It is true that we
have a good school district but the increases have to stop. The state has limits as to how high taxes can
be raised in any one year, but apparently there are exceptions to the rule. If
we can’t get property tax reform then at a minimum the exception should be
taken out of the law.
York
Daily Record Opinion by Sen. Scott Wagner 4:31 p.m. EDT July 20, 2016
Harrisburg has a spending
problem, not a revenue problem. How many times have I made that statement
in the last two years? I could probably do some back-of-the-napkin math
to calculate an estimate, but let’s just say too many. Regardless, I will
continue saying it until something changes with how our state government
budgets your money. On June 29, the
Legislature approved a $31.53 billion spending plan, which increased spending
by $1.406 billion or 4.7 percent. Once it was determined how much to spend, it
was time to figure out how to pay for it. Is that how you budget in your
household? That certainly isn’t how I budget for my businesses. I realize no one wanted a repeat
of last year’s budget impasse. However, I have stood firm on my promise
not to vote for a tax and spend budget, and that is exactly what we have, yet
again. The revenue package for this
year’s budget, contained in House Bill 1198, calls for $600 million in new
taxes, including a $1-per-pack cigarette tax increase, taxes on tobacco and
e-cigarettes, a new sales tax on digital downloads such as books and apps, and
an expansion of the income tax to lottery winnings. One-time revenues from fund
transfers are also heavily relied on. Unfortunately, transfers from the $4.3
billion that schools have in their reserve funds is not one of
them. Instead, Pittsburgh School District, which a recent audit found to
have a $129 million surplus, is getting an increase of more than $3 million in this
year’s budget.
Philly’s 7th Ward Blog BY SHARIF EL-MEKKI JULY 20,
2016
“An educator in a system of
oppression is either a revolutionary or an oppressor.” –Lerone Bennett, Jr.
There is a war going on. When war
is mentioned, most folks will immediately think about what is happening
overseas or in our streets. But, the war I am talking about is the war against
Black boys. In our classrooms. The carnage is real. When you reflect on the number of Black boys
who are not finding even mediocre success in our schools, it is alarming and
infuriating. And, the worst part isn’t just that our youth, our very future,
are being academically maimed and stunted, it is that so many so called experts
and educators are okay with the current results. Sure, folks will pander for
votes or positions by claiming they are committed to the cause. But, their
cause and our community’s cause are not one and the same. The Black male enrollment in our city’s
public schools is a little over 34,000. That equals about 26% of the total
student population in Philadelphia (not including charter schools). Yet, 47% of
the students suspended are Black boys. As far as academics, 80% struggle with
passing the state reading exams. Black boys graduate at paltry rates.
Unionville student pushes hard for delayed
school start
By Fran Maye,
Daily Local News POSTED: 07/20/16,
6:15 PM EDT UPDATED: 8 HRS AGO
EAST MARLBOROUGH >> Matt
Daniels remembers when one of his friends got into a car accident while driving
to school one morning. He knew right away that lack of sleep played a huge
factor. Daniels, a senior at Unionville
High School, is pushing hard to delay the start of school for those in high
school and middle school. He said students should get a little more than nine
hours of sleep to perform optimally, but often only get four or five hours. “The misconception is students can stay up
late because they want to and get up early,” he said. “This is a systemic issue
seen all across the country and all around the world. Everyone agrees on the
science that students are not getting enough sleep and school should start
later.” Daniels has been on the
forefront of the problem for several years. He, along with other members of the
Chester County Intermediate (CCIU) Student Forum, have launched an initiative
to study school start times at school districts in Chester County, and examine
ways the school day can start later with minimal interruptions.
Vice-Presidential Nominee Pence Says Trump
Will Embrace School Choice
Education Week Politics K12 Blog By Alyson Klein on July 20,
2016 11:57 PM
Cleveland Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, the
Republican nominee for vice president, vouched for the man at the top of
the ticket when it comes to expanding educational options, in his speech to the
Republican National Convention Wednesday night.
Pence, who has made bolstering vouchers and charter schools a
centerpiece of his tenure at the helm of the Hoosier State, said GOP nominee Donald
Trump "will fight for equal educational oppportunity and loves school
choice"—echoing a theme two other high-profile speakers, Sen. Ted
Cruz of Texas and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, also hit during
their speeches Wednesday. Pence
also gave a quick nod to his own K-12 experience, saying that as governor, he's
been able to grow Indiana's economy while "making record investments in
education." Trump made a similar claim about Pence when introducing him as
his No. 2 on Saturday—the increase of about $480 million in the current
two-year budget was indeed the largest dollarwise, according to a fact check by
the Associated Press. But percentagewise, it isn't nearly as impressive; it
amounts to 2.3 percent, compared to the increases of 2.7 percent from 2000 to
2008, AP found.
Pre-K Drops From Republican Platform,
School Choice Praised
Education Week By Christina Samuels on July
19, 2016 6:33 PM
A plank criticizing
prekindergarten as intrusion into the family dropped from the final Republican platform that
was released Monday, along with any other specific reference to early-childhood
education. The Dallas Morning News
had reported that a member of the 211-person draft committee wanted to oppose
prekindergarten because it "inserts the state in the family relationship
in the very early stages of a child's life." That language was
subject to approval by all the delegates.
Though prekindergarten did not come up for censure, it also was not
praised or even mentioned. Nor was child care. The platform did say that
"Parents are a child's first and foremost educators, and have primary
responsibility for the education of their children. Parents have a right to
direct their children's education, care, and upbringing. We support a
constitutional amendment to protect that right from interference by states, the
federal government, or international bodies such as the United Nations."
“Turkey alleges that the Harmony schools
are part of a network of more than 160 charter schools in more than 25 states
started by Turkish men, all said to be inspired by Fethullah Gulen, the preacher
who lives in seclusion in Pennsylvania. The complaint in Texas alleges, among
other things, that the schools have abused public funds, funneled money to
Gulen’s movement — known as Hizmet (or
Service) — violated legal requirements surrounding open and competitive
bidding, and discriminated against employees on the basis of national origin
and gender.”
Turkey seeks probes of American charter
schools it says are linked to Fethullah Gulen
Washington Post Answer Sheet
Blog By Valerie
Strauss July 20 at 5:47 PM The government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has asked education officials in Texas and California to investigate publicly funded charter schools in those states that it says are linked to a Muslim cleric living in the United States, a man the government alleges was the mastermind of a coup attempt this month. The Turkish government also is planning to bring more complaints in other parts of the U.S. The Erdogan government, through the international law firm Amsterdam & Partners LLP, recently filed a formal complaint with the Texas Education Agency against a charter network called Harmony Public Schools, which operates 46 math, science and technology campuses in Texas and has received more than $250 million in federal and state funds.
“In 2011, more than 100 members of
Congress and their staff accepted private trips from different non-profit
groups. But an ethics investigation last year revealed evidence that a Turkish
religious movement was hiding the true source of funding for many trips
provided to lawmakers and their staff. That probe, by the Office of
Congressional Ethics, was leaked to The Washington
Post in May 2015. USA TODAY later found about 200 congressional
trips that appeared to have been improperly funded.”
Congress stops traveling to Turkey
after ethics probes, political turmoil
Fernanda
Crescente and Paul Singer, USA Today
7:11 p.m. EDT June 21, 2016
WASHINGTON — Members of Congress
have abandoned privately funded trips to Turkey, once a favorite destination
for such junkets, after investigations by House ethics panels and USA
TODAY indicated many of these trips had been illegally funded. No lawmakers have accepted a privately
sponsored trip to Turkey since May 2015, with the exception of one congressman
who made an August trip sponsored by a Norwegian group, according to data compiled
by the Clerk of the House. That wasn’t
always the case.
Crackdown
in Turkey Continues After Coup Attempt
Educators and university officials have been particularly targeted
Wednesday.
US News By Curt Mills |
Staff Writer July 20, 2016, at 2:51 p.m.
The Turkish government is closing
down schools, firing academics and university deans, and banning international
travel for professors, in the latest measures in response to last week's coup
attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Reports vary, but the crackdown in Turkey appears to be widespread
across professional fields, as the government seeks to root out opposition and
more fully determine the perpetrators of last weekend's coup attempt. [READ: Erdogan
Works to Cleanse Security Forces After Failed Coup] The
Guardian reports the Erdogan government has now fired more than 15,000
employees at the education ministry, 257 officials at the prime minister's
office, and 492 clerics at the directorate for religious affairs, while
demanding the resignation of 1,500 university deans. The private NTV broadcaster
says at least 262 military judges and prosecutors were suspended. The press
credentials of at least 34 Turkish journalists have been revoked, the
Washington Post reports, and a "temporary measure" has been put in
place banning travel by university academics.
Additionally, Turkish State Media says 626
private schools and other establishments will be closed down.
Philly
Councilwoman Gym’s Office Seeking Student Interns
Councilwoman Gym's
Office July 19, 2016We are excited to offer a few young students the opportunity to work closely within City Council of Philadelphia throughout the 2016-17 school year. This internship will expose interns to Council office operations, policy, communications, and research. As an office, we are passionate about equity, education, child welfare, juvenile justice reform and many other issues involving children and youth in Philadelphia. Applications should display a strong interest in equity and justice and a strong familiarity with Councilwoman Gym's story and platform. Applicants should be eager to work and receptive to constructive criticism as you learn the workings of the office. As this is a paid internship, it is expected that interns be punctual and dependable.
Here is the link to sign up and
for instructions:
“EdPAC empowers education advocates
to strengthen public education in the commonwealth through its dedication to
supporting the election of pro-public education leaders to the Pennsylvania
General Assembly.”
EdPAC: Imagine the impact of a pro-public
education legislature!
EdPAC is a newly formed
political action committee whose membership is comprised of school directors,
school administrators, parents and public education advocates who want to
support state- level candidates that do what’s right for our students and
schools. Pennsylvania school districts
are directly impacted by the actions of our elected officials. Every year, the
state legislature spends months considering proposed legislation that affects
how public schools in the commonwealth are funded and the rules by which they
must operate. EdPAC supports those elected officials who promote local control
in education, oppose mandates, and support the work of our school districts. EdPAC is
organizing the efforts of individual and school district advocates across
Pennsylvania, to raise funds for more effective political action, and to make
contributions from those funds for the benefit of the candidates that help our
students the most.
PSBA
2016-17 Budget Update JUL 22, 2016 •
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Please join PSBA’s Assistant
Executive Director of Public Policy and Chief Lobbyist John Callahan for an
in-depth dive into Pennsylvania’s budget. In this complimentary member webinar,
see what is behind the numbers, get the trends and analysis for the 2016-17
fiscal year. Find out what is in the school code and policy changes to come.
Participate in a question and answer period.
Register online with PSBA’s webinar host
GoToWebinar at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/rt/7915829886509395715
Education Policy and Leadership Center
Applications are available now for the 2016-2017 Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP). The Education Policy Fellowship Program is sponsored in Pennsylvania by The Education Policy and Leadership Center (EPLC). Click here for the program calendar of sessions. With nearly 500 graduates in its first seventeen years, this Program is a premier professional development opportunity for educators, state and local policymakers, advocates, and community leaders. State Board of Accountancy (SBA) credits are available to certified public accountants. Past participants include state policymakers, district superintendents and principals, school business officers, school board members, education deans/chairs, statewide association leaders, parent leaders, education advocates, and other education and community leaders. Fellows are typically sponsored by their employer or another organization.
The Fellowship Program begins with a two-day retreat on September 15-16, 2016 and continues to graduation in June 2017. Click here to read more about the Education Policy Fellowship Program, or here to see the 2016-2017 program calendar.
Applications are being accepted now.
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.
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