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Keystone
State Education Coalition
PA
Ed Policy Roundup July 6, 2016:
HB530:PA Legislature Wants Taxpayers to
Pay for Unlimited Charter Expansion
Call your State Rep’s office and ask them to
oppose HB530
Call your State Senator’s office and ask
them to oppose HB530
More info on HB530 here:
“Has Pennsylvania's
charter experience been an unqualified success? Despite some excellent
charters, not enough data exist to say with any certainty how charter students
have fared in the long run compared with their public-school counterparts.
Overall, charter performance compared with traditional public schools is only
marginally better, and often worse. But
these are clouds the Legislature refuses to see, or care about. Eighteen years
ago, charters were created in the state, and there's been virtually no meaningful
reform to date. HB 530 is another faux reform bill that won't help - and could
actually hurt.”
DN editorial: Proposed charter reform -
cloudy with a chance of crisis
Philly Daily News Editorial Updated: JULY 6, 2016 — 3:00 AM EDT
THE FORECAST for education in
Pennsylvania is never sunny, but lately a number of troubling storm systems
have appeared on the horizon. And, as usual, Philadelphia is set to bear the brunt. Last month, for example, a survey
by the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators and Pennsylvania
Association of School Business Officials found that 60 percent of the state's
school districts plan to raise property taxes. These hikes reflect increasing
costs in education, particularly pensions and health care, as well as costs for
special education, health care and charter school contributions, all of which
represent $600 million in new costs.
Diane Ravitch’s Blog By dianeravitch July 5, 2016 //
The arrogance of the charter
industry is getting to be boundless. They want the authority to expand without
limits, with no accountability or transparency.
If the Democrats don’t stand up to this brazen effort to privatize
public education, who will? Steven
Singer writes
here about the latest raid on the public treasury in Pennsylvania.
PA
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE BILL ANALYSIS:
“HB530
proposes major revisions regarding the Charter School Law; however, it does not
provide any significant funding reforms or major savings to school districts or
provide significant accountability to taxpayers for payments made to charter
school entities.”
$31.5 billion question: How will Pa. pay
for budget?
Inquirer by Angela Couloumbis, HARRISBURG BUREAU Updated: JULY 5, 2016 6:51 PM
EDT
HARRISBURG - After failing to
enact a state budget on time, Gov. Wolf and the Republican-controlled
legislature now find themselves working against a new deadline. The two sides have until midnight Monday to
reach consensus on how to pay for the $31.5 billion spending plan that
lawmakers sent Wolf last week. If there
is no agreement by then, the Democratic governor will have to decide whether to
partially - or fully - veto the proposal. Wolf has signaled that he cannot sign
a budget without having secured a deal on how to finance it. The new fiscal year began July 1, and all
sides are trying to avoid last year's bruising budget stalemate that held up
critical funds to public schools and non-profit organizations offering social
services. Although budget negotiators
resumed talks behind closed doors Tuesday, they did not resolve their
differences, which center on whether to raise certain taxes. "I'm always encouraged by discussions,
but we have a long way to go," said Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman
(R., Centre). "We're still working at it."
Budget bill passed, money to fund it still in limbo
ABC27 By Dennis Owens Published: July 5, 2016, 5:36 pm Updated: July 5, 2016, 6:52 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – Tourists were easily spotted at the Capitol Tuesday as they took tours and pointed at the gilded artwork adorning the inside of the dome. Legislative leaders were much harder to find, but they were there and spent much of the day shuttling from one office to another. Budget meetings and talks are happening across the complex and behind closed doors. “There’s no question there’s pressure to get this done, yes,” said Steve Miskin, the House Republican spokesman. The clock is ticking. Last week, lawmakers sent a budget bill to Governor Tom Wolf’s desk. They agreed to spend $31.6 billion. They even agreed where to spend it. But they’re struggling to agree on exactly where the $31.6 billion is coming from. “We’re about, depending on who you talk to, about a billion dollars difference on what we have to spend and the revenues that we need,” said Jennifer Kocher, the Senate GOP spokeswoman.
http://abc27.com/2016/07/05/budget-bill-passed-money-to-fund-it-still-in-limbo/?cid=twitter_abc27News
Pennsylvania has a spending plan, but how to fund it?
WHYY Newsworks BY DAVE HELLER JULY 5, 2016 play audio runtime: 10:53
Five days after a budget was due,
lawmakers in Harrisburg continue trying to craft a fiscal funding plan for
Pennsylvania. Determined to avoid the months-long stalemate that stymied last
year's effort, both chambers of the Legislature and Gov. Tom Wolf have arrived
at a spending plan. "Now we've got to figure out
how to pay for it, which is always the trick," said state Sen. Vincent
Hughes, D-Philadelphia. "And that's the negotiation that's going on right
now." Hughes, the Democratic chair
of the Senate Appropriations Committee, gave an update and offered a look ahead
to NewsWorks Tonight host Dave Heller. Click on the audio link above to hear
their conversation.
Budget talks enter new week with no news
of a deal on taxes
Inquirer by MARC LEVY, The Associated Press Updated: JULY 5, 2016 — 1:31 PM
EDT
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -
Negotiators reported no agreement on financing state government's $31.5 billion
budget plan as top lawmakers met privately and apparently fruitlessly Tuesday
in the quiet state Capitol five days into the state's fiscal year. The state House of Representatives and Senate
weren't scheduled to resume session Tuesday as a divide over election-year tax
increases dragged out negotiations between Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and the
Republican-controlled Legislature. House
Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana, joined a brief meeting with other top
lawmakers and said he could not predict whether an agreement was imminent, or
even possible, this week.
House deadlocked on #PaBudget funding
plan, report: Tuesday Morning Coffee
Penn Live By John L. Micek |
jmicek@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on
July 05, 2016 at 7:15 AM, updated July 05, 2016 at 7:36 AM
After a week of bipartisan budget
hosannas in the state House, Republican and Democrats in the lower chamber have
hit a wall on how to pay for the $31.6 billion spending plan. As our friends at NewsWorks/WHYY-FM report this
Tuesday morning, majority Republicans and Democrats are about $150 million
apart on new revenue for the fiscal year that started on July 1. House Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana,
tells the station that his caucus has put together about $1.2 billion in new
funding - without any broad-based tax increases. "I think all five parties need to get on
board,"Reed told the station. "We're the only ones to
actually put revenue on the table — $1.2 billion worth of revenue out of the
House Republican Caucus."
The PLS Reporter July 6, 2016 (paywall)
After a late-week scrap over which sources of revenue to fill the roughly $1.3 billion budget hole have legislative support, caucus leaders returned from the July Fourth holiday Tuesday to once again sit down at the negotiating table, this time bringing additional options for how to fully fund the $31.6 billion spending plan sent to the governor’s desk last week. The leading proposal to emerge from a meeting of the four legislative caucus leaders Tuesday morning was one to include a $300 million loan from the State Workers’ Insurance Fund (SWIF) to replace revenue that could’ve been raised from the reimplementation of a now-controversial Gross Receipts Tax on natural gas.
Read the full story from The PLS Reporter HERE.
Editorial: Pa. Legislature
needs to work quickly to fund budget plan
Lancaster Online Editorial The
LNP Editorial Board July 6, 2016
THE ISSUE: Republicans and
Democrats in the Pennsylvania Legislature have reached an impasse on the budget
for fiscal year 2016-17. Last week, lawmakers passed a spending plan, but they
are now at odds over how to pay for it. Tax increases are the biggest stumbling
block, though there is also disagreement on exactly how much money it will take
to balance the budget. You’ve spotted your dream house.
It has everything you want — hardwood floors, granite counters, garden,
swimming pool, a view of the lake. But it’s way over your budget. The
conversation with your real estate agent would go something like this.
“The asking price is $1.5
million.” “I have $10,000 for a down
payment.”
“You'll need about $300,000.” “I don’t have it, but I really want the
house.”
“But you can’t afford it.” “I want it anyway.”
There’s a difference between a
willingness to spend and the ability to spend, the conundrum in which
Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled Legislature now finds itself. We were
really hoping we wouldn’t be here July 6. But we are. Last week, the state House and Senate
finalized a $31.5 billion spending plan and sent it to Gov. Tom
Wolf. Well done. Excellent progress. Bipartisan cooperation and all that. The
plan even arrived before the June 30 deadline. Wow! Of course — and here’s the
tricky bit — the key part of spending money is actually having the money, or,
at the very least, knowing from where it will come so you can then spend it.
York
Dispatch by Alyssa Jackson, 505-5438/@AlyssaJacksonYD10:44
p.m. EDT July 5, 2016
·
Most schools will see an increase in what they thought they would
get in education funding from the state.
·
This is the first year that the new fair funding formula was used.
·
The state budget will not be signed by Gov. Wolf until a revenue
plan is in place.
York County school districts will
see an overall increase in education funding if the current state budget is
signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf. The
Legislature still needs to pass the revenue package of the state budget,
which will fund the budget plan that the Pennsylvania House sent to Wolf on
Thursday night. Lawmakers were still deliberating Tuesday afternoon.
Wolf has said that he will sign the state budget into law once a
"sustainable" revenue package is presented. The current state budget calls
for a $200 million increase in basic education funding, bringing the total
number just under $6 billion for Pennsylvania schools. This is also the first
year that the new fair funding formula, signed into law by Wolf in June, was used to calculate how
much school districts would receive. According to numbers provided by the House, school
districts in York County will see an increase in the funding from the state
this year, and many are seeing an increase in what they budgeted from the state
in their 2016-17 school budgets, many of which can be found online on the
school districts' web pages.
“Use of a portion of the fund balance enabled
the budget to have a $4.3 million, or 4.5 percent, increase, yet stay under the
index. The district had to manage all contracted expenses and particularly deal
with the $1.2 million increase in retirement costs.”
Garnet Valley raises taxes in $101M budget
Delco
Times By Susan Serbin, Times Correspondent POSTED: 07/05/16, 10:11 PM EDT
The Garnet Valley School
District’s 2016-17 final budget inched over the $100 million mark. Even so, the
administrative team held the tax increase to 2.3 percent, just under the 2.4
percent index, or allowable rate increase set by the state. The school board
passed the budget of $100.7 million at the June meeting, with no public comment
at the legislative session. “When we
presented the preliminary budget in January, we had calculated a 3.1 percent
increase, and elected to apply for exceptions to give us some room,” said board
member Greg Chestnut, of the finance committee. “We have done our best with
this budget at the 2.3 percent without taking allowable exceptions.”
See
if your family qualifies for free food
2016-17 federal guidelines
announced for the free and reduced meal program
Local educator said percentage of
program-eligible students generally decreases as students get older
Centre Daily Times BY
BRITNEY MILAZZO bmilazzo@centredaily.com July
6, 2016
New guidelines show which local
students will be eligible for free or reduced lunches.
The state Department of Education
and the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday the federal income
eligibility guidelines for the 2016-17 school year. A report from PDE said school districts and
other institutions use federal guidelines to determine eligibility for the
National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, the Special Milk
Program for Children, the Child and Adult Care Food Program and the Summer Food
Service Program. Eligibility is
tabulated using poverty guidelines. Families with income falling below 130
percent of the poverty guideline are eligible for free lunches, and families
with income falling below 185 percent of the poverty guideline are eligible for
reduced lunches. For example, a family of five making less than $36,972
annually would be eligible for a free lunch and the same family making more
than that but less than $52,614 would qualify for a reduced lunch.
Times
Leader Editorial JULY 2ND, 2016 - 8:00 PM
Let’s agree the preschool
argument is settled. Ample evidence exists that high-quality, pre-kindergarten
education has real, lasting benefits for students and society. About 90 percent of a child’s brain is
developed by age 5. Children who enter kindergarten without the proper social
and academic skills can quickly fall behind, grow discouraged and become
life-long failures. High quality pre-k has been shown
to reduce special education placement, increase graduation rates, increase the
odds a child will go to college, reduce anti-social behavior and reduce the
likelihood a child will end up in the criminal justice system or become a
substance abuser. The problem, advocacy
groups argue, is making quality programs accessible to lower-income parents.
The campaign known as “Pre-K
for PA” cites an average annual cost of about $8,800 for participation in a
private, high-quality, pre-k program. If parents with one child are living at
the federal poverty level of $20,090, that’s nearly half their income. These arguments were reiterated when
representatives from different groups recently pushed for more state funding of
pre-k programs during a meeting at the Times Leader. The prognosis is bleak,
they told us.
“Everyone wants to
go to heaven. But no one wants to die”
Editorial | Do we really
need another study of school consolidation?
Tribune Democrat Editorial Jul 3,
2016
The state House of
Representatives has commissioned a new study to determine whether school
mergers would save money. That’s the
equivalent of research into whether smoking can have detrimental effects on
your health, and whether eating fatty foods without exercising can lead to
weight gain. We all recognize that
school mergers would save money – through reduced administrative costs,
streamlined functions such as payroll and purchasing, having fewer buildings
needing heat, lights, air conditioning, water and sewer. The question without an answer is: How do you
convince school district officials, parents and taxpayers that this needs to
happen? Another legislative study a
decade ago identified 88 school districts – some in our region – that would
benefit from merging or consolidating. That
study resulted in no mergers, no breaks for overburdened taxpayers. “It’s frustrating,” said state Sen. John
Wozniak, D-Westmont. “Everyone wants to go to heaven. But no one wants to die.” Pennsylvania has been holding steady at 500
school districts – all with their own superintendents and business offices and
sports, music, theater and academic programs.
“The bottom line:
The activists are worried that if she becomes president, she won’t depart much
from President Obama’s education reform policies, which critics say have
contributed to the privatization of public education.”
Why Hillary Clinton got booed (briefly) at
the National Education Association convention
Washington Post Answer Sheet
Blog By Valerie
Strauss July 5 at 4:33 PM
Hillary
Clinton addressed the National Education Association — the country’s
largest labor union — on July 5, and while there was plenty of applause, there
were some boos as well. Why did teachers
from the association boo the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential
nominee? And for that matter, why are education activists upset with the draft
version of the Clinton-led education plank of the Democratic Party’s 2016
platform?
Teachers union cheers Clinton for stance
on standardized testing and pay, but boos her embrace of charters
Washington Post By Emma Brown July
5 at 2:43 PM
Hillary
Clinton delivered plenty of applause lines Tuesday in a speech to the
nation’s largest teachers union at a gathering in Washington, calling for less
standardized testing, more support for vulnerable children and more respect and
pay for public school educators. “I want
to say, right at the outset, that I’m with you,” Clinton said to loud cheers
from thousands of delegates to the National Education Association’s annual
meeting. “If I am fortunate enough to be elected president, educators will have
a partner in the White House, and you’ll always have a seat at the table.” But Clinton also signaled her willingness to
challenge union orthodoxy on the lightning rod issue of charter schools, saying
that there are some successful charter schools whose approaches should be
studied and replicated. “When schools
get it right, whether they’re traditional public schools or public charter
schools, let’s figure out what’s working and share it with schools across
America,” she said to audible boos from the audience. “Rather than starting
from ideology, let’s start from what’s best for our kids.”
Hillary Clinton to NEA: If I Win, Educators
Will Have a Partner in the White House
Education Week Politics K12 Blog By Alyson Klein on July 5,
2016 12:27 PM
By Alyson Klein and Stephen
Sawchuk
Hillary Clinton, the presumptive
Democratic presidential nominee, told the National Education Association
Tuesday that, if elected, she would be educators' "partner in the
White House," invest in teacher training and wraparound services, and have
their back when "union busting governors" or "hostile
legislatures" try to take away their collective bargaining rights. Clinton thanked the 3 million-member NEA,
which is holding its annual convention here, for sticking by her in the
surprisingly fierce primary against Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. She promised that she would return the favor
by making sure that teachers—some of whom were blindsided by Obama
administration K-12 initiatives, especially around tying teacher evaluations to
test scores—will always be part of the policymaking process. "If I am fortunate enough to be elected
president, educators will have a partner in the White House, and you'll always
have a seat at the table," she said. "I have this old-fashioned idea
that when we are making decisions about education, we actually should listen to
our educators."
“At some charter
schools, however, the distinction between for-profit and nonprofit status is
murky. A school may be nonprofit, but it can hire a for-profit management
company, which can be run by the same people as
the nonprofit.”
Clinton's charter school comments prompt boos at teachers union
event
By KIMBERLY HEFLING 07/05/16 01:39 PM
EDT
Hillary Clinton on Tuesday
said traditional public schools and charter schools should share ideas — a
remark met with boos by delegates from the National Education Association’s
representative assembly. To the
thousands of teachers gathered at the labor union’s annual conference, Clinton
said “when schools get it right, whether they are traditional public schools or
public charter schools, let’s figure out what’s working ... and share it with
schools across America.” Some teachers
in the audience booed. Clinton continued
to preach cooperation.
“We can do that,” she said.
“We’ve got no time for all of these education wars.”
The presidential hopeful won back
the crowd by making a distinction between charter schools in general, and those
schools run by for-profit companies. Clinton said people on the outside are
pushing “for-profit charter schools on our kids.” “We will never stand for that. That is not
acceptable,” Clinton said to cheers.
Here Are the Parts of the Draft ESSA Rules
That Worry Members of Congress the Most
Education Week Politics K12 Blog By Andrew Ujifusa on July 5, 2016 9:56 AM
If you've been looking for
reactions to the draft accountability
rules for the Every Student Succeeds Act from Capitol Hill, now
you've got a lot of it. Both the House and Senate education
committees have had a chance to share their thoughts publicly about the
proposed regulations. And in their hearings, lawmakers have had a chance
to directly quiz Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. about the draft rules.
Based on those hearings, it's become relatively clear what their biggest concerns
are. Before we get to those,
however, it's important to keep in mind that top Democrats have praised King
generally for the U.S. Department of Education's approach. For example, Sen. Patty
Murray, D-Wash. and the Senate committee's ranking member, said in a
statement she was "very glad to see strong regulations coming out that
make sure the law operates as it was intended and truly accomplishes the clear
accountability goals we laid out." And Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va. and
the House committee's ranking member, said states need clear and robust
regulatory guidance from the department regardless of any election-related
political uncertainty.
Now, in no particular order, here
are elements of the draft rule that drew considerable and/or noteworthy concerns
from federal lawmakers:
“For evidence of
this, one need look only to the past. If the educational system had broken at
some point, a look backward would reveal an end to progress—a point at which
the system stopped working. Yet that isn’t at all the picture that emerges.
Instead, one can see that across many generations, the schools have slowly and
steadily improved.”
America's Not-So-Broken Education System
Do U.S. schools really need to be
disrupted?
The Atlantic by JACK
SCHNEIDER JUN 22, 2016
Everything in American education
is broken. Or so say the policy elites, from the online learning pioneer Sal
Khan to the journalist-turned-reformer Campbell
Brown. As leaders of the XQ
project succinctly put it, we need to “scrap the blueprint and
revolutionize this dangerously broken system.”
This, they explain, is the sad truth. The educational system simply
stopped working. It aged, declined, and broke. And now the nation has a mess on
its hands. But there’s good news, too. As Michelle Rhee’s group, StudentsFirst,
declares: Americans can “work together to fix this broken system.” All it takes
is the courage to rip it apart. This is
how the argument goes, again and again. The system used to work, but now it
doesn’t. And though nobody inside schools seems to care, innovators outside the
establishment have developed some simple solutions. The system can be rebuilt,
reformers argue. But first it must be torn down.
Testing
Resistance & Reform News: June 29 - July 5, 2016
FairTest Submitted by
fairtest on July 5, 2016 - 1:15pm
Though school is out for the
summer and the long, holiday weekend slowed coverage, there's still plenty of
assessment reform news. Please add your voice at the Save Our Schools rally,
march and conference in Washington DC at the end of this week
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.
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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