aily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now
reach more than 3900 Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors,
administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, Governor's
staff, current/former PA Secretaries of Education, Wolf education transition
team members, Superintendents, PTO/PTA officers, parent advocates, teacher
leaders, business leaders, faith-based organizations, labor organizations,
education professors, members of the press and a broad array of P-16 regulatory
agencies, professional associations and education advocacy organizations via
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These daily emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg
Keystone
State Education Coalition
PA
Ed Policy Roundup September 15, 2016:
Success
Starts Here Live Kickoff Today 10:30 am
Southeastern
PA Regional 2016 Legislative Roundtable: William Tennent High School (Bucks
Co.) SEP 22, 2016 • 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Auditor
General DePasquale slated to be Keynote Speaker
School Leaders from Northampton,
Lehigh, Bucks, Montco, Chesco, Delco and Philadelphia Counties encouraged to
attend.
More info & Registration: https://www.psba.org/event/2016-legislative-roundtable/
Success
Starts Here Live Kickoff Today at 10:30 am
Public education success is the
new black
A new public awareness campaign
called Success Starts Here makes its official launch on Sept. 15. The
campaign will kick off with a news conference at Central Dauphin East Middle
School that will be streamed live at 10:30 a.m. through Facebook Live
at www.Facebook.com/PASchoolBoards. Don’t
miss out on the launch of this exciting, multi-year campaign! Over the next
several weeks, you will see and hear TV and radio ads promoting public
education success. The campaign website is now live at www.SuccessStartsHere.org.
Browse the success stories and share your own through the online submission
form. Review the Fast Fact data on your school entity’s page and let us know if
anything needs to be updated by emailing SuccessStartsHere@psba.org.
“All of that leads us back to the
elephant in the room, the state’s reliance on property taxes to fund public
education. As anyone from a poor district can attest, that puts their children
at an immediate disadvantage simply because their tax rates don’t rase the same
revenue as property taxes in wealthier districts.
The results are not exactly surprising.
Pennsylvania has the largest funding gap between rich and poor districts in the
nation. The funding formula is a step in
the right direction, but it’s not yet a cure.
Right now the plaintiffs are simply asking for the opportunity to make
their case at trial.
We believe they deserve that chance.”
Editorial: Fair funding still elusive goal
in Pa. education
Delco Times Editorial POSTED: 09/14/16,
6:43 PM EDT
First the good news. It has not exactly been a secret for some
time now that the system Pennsylvania uses to fund public education has been a
mess. It’s pretty simple. The state was
shortchanging education by failing to adequately fund public schools, and the
money it did pony up was being unfairly doled out. To the surprise of absolutely no one, those
most in need were the ones getting the short end of the stick. The state had
created an uneven playing field, where students were accorded a lesser
education for no other reason than their zip code. It was Pennsylvania’s very
own version of the haves and have-nots. Districts in areas with struggling
economies, unable to raise revenue through tax hikes as their more well-to-do
neighbors did, lagged. To the surprise
of just about everyone, the Legislature finally got around to doing something
about it. Last spring they signed off on
a fair funding formula and made it a permanent part of the Pennsylvania School
Code.
http://www.delcotimes.com/opinion/20160914/editorial-fair-funding-still-elusive-goal-in-pa-education
“Affluent districts with strong local
tax bases are able to more easily raise revenue than poorer districts with
relatively weak tax bases. And while maintaining widely disparate funding, the
plaintiffs contend, the state has adopted common goals and standards that all
districts must meet. As as practical
matter, the plaintiffs are correct. Pennsylvania has the widest
per-student-spending differential among the states between affluent and poor
districts, primarily because most state governments provide a much higher
overall percentage of education funding.”
Editorial: Voters drive real reformTimes Tribune BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD / PUBLISHED: SEPTEMBER 15, 2016
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court
has preferred, over its long history, to leave questions of government funding
and policy to the political branches rather than dictating reforms.
So it was significant indeed when
the court decided to hear arguments Wednesday in a case brought by public
education advocates. They contend that the state government, by relying more
than any other state on local funding for public schools, has violated state
constitutional provisions requiring adequate public education funding and equal
treatment under the law. The plaintiffs are six relatively
poor school districts and seven parents. They contend that by leaving more than
65 percent of school funding to local property taxes, the Legislature has
created vast funding disparities across the state’s 500 school districts.
Beaver County Times Online By
Katherine Schaeffer kschaeffer@timesonline.com
September 13, 2016
For the first time this year,
Pennsylvania’s Department of Education distributed part of its education
funding through a student-weighted formula, but Beaver County school officials
say the effort hasn't helped offset increasing state-required expenses. The new fair-funding formula, championed by
Gov. Tom Wolf, takes into account school district-specific factors such as the
number of students living in poverty, how many students are learning English
and the district’s ability to cover costs with local tax revenue. But lawmakers have decided to use the new
formula only to disburse new increases to school funding. For the 2016-17
school year, that’s $200 million -- or about 3 percent -- of a $5.8 billion
pool. Locally, school officials say
their districts don't receive enough funding from the state and are forced to
rely too much on local tax revenue. Efforts like the fair-funding formula are a
step in the right direction, they say, but haven't done much to remedy their
struggle to balance stagnant state funding with steadily increasing
state-mandated contributions to employee pensions, charter school funding and
special-education programming.
Philly’s 7th Ward Blog BY SHARIF EL-MEKKI SEPTEMBER 14, 2016
A group of citizens and child
advocates brought a lawsuit against
the Pennsylvania Legislature and the Governor. Both want the Supreme
Court to ignore the current and stubborn inequity in
our schools so they can continue to play sandbox politics with our children’s
future. It is well documented that in
most places in America, if you are poor, you will have far fewer
opportunities than if you are wealthy. It plays out in access to healthy
food, air, good healthcare and schools, etc.
PA has the ignoble distinction of being the most inequitable state when
it comes to school funding. And, as education is a key determining factor in a
student’s future quality of life, our General Assembly has damned millions of
students to a lower quality of life because they choose to deliberately ignore
and further cement the inequities that exist.
America
has teacher shortage and it could get worse, study finds
Morning
Call by Joe HeimThe
Washington Post September 14, 2016
The United States is facing its
first major teacher shortage since the 1990s, one that could develop into a
crisis for schools in many parts of the country, according to a new study by
the Learning Policy Institute, an education think tank. The shortfall is a result of increased demand
for teachers as schools reinstate classes and programs axed during the Great
Recession. It has been compounded by a dramatic decrease in the supply of new
teachers entering the profession. Enrollment in teacher preparation programs
dropped from 691,000 in 2009 to 451,000 in 2014, a 35 percent decline,
according to the study, "A Coming Crisis in Teaching? Teacher Supply,
Demand and Shortages in the U.S." "Our
analysis estimates that U.S. classrooms were short approximately 60,000
teachers last year," Leib Sutcher, the study's co-author, told reporters Tuesday ahead
of the study's release. "Unless we can shift these trends, annual teacher
shortages could increase to over 100,000 teachers by 2018 and remain close to
that level thereafter."
York
Daily Record by Angie
Mason, amason@ydr.com5:16 p.m. EDT September 14, 2016
How much money should a school
district have set aside for a rainy day?
It's not an exact science,
according to business managers and financial experts. Have too much, and
it can seem like a school district is hoarding taxpayer money. Have too little,
and there's a chance the district won't be prepared for some unexpected expense
— or, say, an extended state budget impasse when state revenue stops
flowing. The state auditor general
recently flagged Eastern York School District's rapidly decreasing
unassigned fund balance — essentially, money left after
expenses, not designated for any specific use — raising concern
that without enough, the district could be unprepared or face higher
borrowing costs in the future. Eastern's
unassigned fund balance had fallen to less than 5 percent of its expenses.
Four other York County districts have hit that point, too, in recent years,
according to fund balance records available from the state.
WHYY Newsworks BY DAVE HELLER SEPTEMBER 14, 2016
Wednesday at 9 on WHYY-TV, “Nova:
School of the Future” reimagines the future of education for children in
America. As part of the effort to prepare kids to compete, the PBS program
touts the work of Simon Hauger, founder and principal of The Workshop School in
West Philadelphia. Hauger and one of his students,
junior Khandace Mitchell, discuss the school’s unique, project-based and
collaborative program with NewsWorks Tonight host Dave Heller.
Soda industry challenges Philly sweetened
beverage tax in court
WHYY Newsworks BY BOBBY ALLYN SEPTEMBER 14, 2016Groups including the American Beverage Association are trying to knock down Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney's sweetened drinks tax in court before it is supposed to take effect in January. The association and other plaintiffs have filed a lawsuit in state court alleging the 1.5-cents-per-once levy on regular and diet soda and other sweetened drinks is unconstitutional and should be immediately blocked. In June, City Council passed Kenney's tax on sweet drinks, one of the mayor's cornerstone policies intended to generate revenue to pay for expanded pre-kindergarten for children around the city and improvements to parks and recreation centers.
York
Daily Record by Alyssa Jackson, 505-5438/@AlyssaJacksonYD9:15
p.m. EDT September 14, 2016
Gov. Tom Wolf spent time with
several STEAM classes in York City’s Ferguson K-8 school Wednesday, taking
the opportunity to highlight some of the education initiatives he has worked on
as governor. In the York City School
District, the STEAM program — which stands for science, technology, engineering,
arts and mathematics — is offered only in Ferguson K-8 and only to students in
a few grades. Wolf spent time in a number of classes before giving a brief
news conference.
Agora Cyber
Charter Board Meetings
The
Agora Board of Trustees retains ultimate responsibility for the full operation
of the Agora Cyber Charter School. Board meetings will be held on the
first Monday of each month unless otherwise noted. These meetings are open to
the public. Individuals who are interested in attending a Board of Trustees
meeting but are unable to do so in person may attend virtually by clicking the
link below.
MONDAY,
OCTOBER 10, 2016 AT 7:00PM
590
North Gulph Road King of Prussia, PA 19406
Blogger note: I could not
find any info on public board meetings on the CCCS website. This is the state’s largest brick and mortar
public charter school, managed by GOP mega-donor Vahan Gureghian’s Charter
School Mgmt. Co.
Chester Community Charter School
PENNSYLVANIA
VIRTUAL CHARTER SCHOOL’S BOARD OF TRUSTEES
2016-2017
Board of Trustees Meeting Schedule
- September 26, 2016 at 6:30 pm*
- November 21, 2016 at 6:30 pm
- January 30, 2017 at 6:30 pm
- March 27, 2017 at 6:30 pm
- May 22, 2017 at 6:30 pm
- You can join the meeting via Collaborate
Link, or via phone (866-398-2885 Passcode: 252501).
Draft Agenda
Reach Cyber
Charter (formerly Connections Academy) School Board
Meeting
Dates and Agendas 2016-17 Reach Cyber Board Meetings
PA Cyber's Board of Trustees public
meeting
PA
Cyber's Board of Trustees public meeting is held on the third Monday of each
month. The meeting starts at 6:00pm and is held at 652 Midland Avenue, Midland,
PA 15059. For additional information, contact Roxanne Leone-Bovalino at roxanne.leone@pacyber.org.
Trombettta's legacy a complicated one
Beaver County
Times By The Times Editorial Board Aug 28, 2016
The
legacy of Nick Trombetta will be a complicated one to document for future
generations.
His
supporters will tell you the man saved the dying steel town of Midland,
transforming it into a state-of-the-art education complex that created hundreds
of jobs and became home to his creations -- the PA Cyber Charter School, the
Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School, several spinoff entities, and the
crown jewel of his empire, the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center. His critics will point out that he is a
convicted felon, having pleaded guilty to siphoning off some $8 million in
taxpayer funds for his own benefit and that of family and friends. They will
tell you he created a spider web of connected companies that he controlled,
directly or indirectly, and that his every move was self-serving, done to build
his own personal wealth and wield incredible power over the people who owed him
their livelihoods. If you were to try to
summarize Trombetta’s contributions to Midland, and to public education in
general, it would come down to this: The man did some very good things, and the
man did some very bad things.
On
Wednesday, Trombetta pleaded guilty to a tax conspiracy charge as part of a
scheme that involved funneling more than $8 million to his sister and four
“straw owners” of Avanti Management, a company he created to mask earnings from
the IRS. He will be sentenced on Dec. 20 and faces a maximum of five years in
prison, a fine of $250,000, or both.
His plea
came nearly three years after he was indicted by a federal grand jury on 11
charges of mail fraud, theft and bribery concerning a federal program, tax
conspiracy and filing false tax returns, a charge to which his sister, Elaine
Neill, has already pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.
Money For
Charter School Ballot Question Hits $18.8 Million, A Record, As Outside Donors
Mobilize
WGBH
Boston by ISAIAH THOMPSON
September 12, 2016
With
just eight weeks to go until the November election, groups advocating for and
against a ballot measure to lift the cap on charter schools in Massachusetts
have raised a combined nearly $19 million.
That’s more money than has been raised fighting over any ballot
initiative in the last decade, almost all of it raised in just a few months. And a remarkable amount of those donations,
especially in support of lifting the state’s charter school cap, have come from
outside Massachusetts: roughly four-fifths of the $12 million in donations
supporting the measure; and half from large donors in New York alone.
Arkansas Residents Jim And Alice Walton
Pony Up $1,835,000 To Raise Charter Cap In Massachusetts
HUFFINGTON
Post by Mercedes
Schneider Public school teacher, education activist, PhD 09/11/2016
09:16 pm ET
According
to the September 09, 2016, filing of the Massachusetts ballot committee, Yes on 2, billionaire Arkansas resident Alice Walton
is one of two individuals providing the $710,100 in
funding to promote MA Question 2, raising the charter school cap. Alice Walton provided $710,000. A second contributor, Massachusetts resident
Frank Perullo provided $100 in order to establish the committee. And then, the Alice Walton cash was moved to
another Question 2 ballot committee: $703,770.29 of Alice Walton’s Yes on 2
committee money was expended to fund Question 2 ballot committee, Campaign for Fair Access to Quality Public Schools, where
it was combined with billionaire Arkansas resident Jim Walton’s contribution of
$1,125,000, thus making the total Walton contribution to the two committees
$1,835,000 (and total Walton contribution to the latter committee,
$1,828,770.29). The Campaign for Fair
Access total on its Sept 09, 2016, filing was $2,292,183 for 43
contributors– with 79 percent of that money ($1,828,770 / $2,292183) arriving
from two out-of-state billionaires. In
other words, 95 percent of contributors (41 out of 43) provided only 21 percent
of the total funding on the Campaign for Fair Access Sept 2016 report.
$100 Million Awarded in Contest to Rethink U.S. High Schools
New York Times By ELIZABETH A. HARRIS SEPT. 14, 2016
An
organization announced on Wednesday that it had chosen the winners of $10
million grants in a competition to rethink the American high school. The organization — the XQ Institute, which is
backed by Laurene Powell Jobs — is funding 10 schools, for a total of $100
million. One of the winners, the
Somerville Steam Academy in Somerville, Mass., will operate without standard
class periods and without separating students by age. Rise High in Los Angeles will be designed for
students who are homeless or in foster care. It will share locations around the
city with service providers, like medical or mental health centers, and will
have a mobile classroom to teach or tutor students wherever they are. And in New York City, at the Brooklyn
Laboratory Charter High School, the school day will last from 8:30 a.m. to
5:15 p.m. “Each of these represent
schools that don’t exist today,” said Russlynn H. Ali, chief executive of the
XQ Institute and a former assistant secretary for civil rights at the federal
Education Department. Ms. Powell Jobs,
chairwoman of the XQ Institute’s board of directors, was the wife of Steven P.
Jobs, the Apple co-founder who
died five years ago next month.
Chronic
Absenteeism Is Most Severe in Poor Communities
Education Week By Lovey Cooper September 13, 2016
The vast
majority of the nation's school districts struggle with students who are
chronically absent, but the problem is especially concentrated in school
systems that serve large numbers of poor students, a new analysis of federal
data has found. While 9 out of 10 school
districts experience some chronic absenteeism, around half the 6.5 million
students who were chronically absent in the 2013-14 school year were enrolled
in just 4 percent of the nation's districts, according to researchers Robert
Balfanz and Hedy N. Chang.
Where and when to see migrant raptors in
central Pa.
Centre
Daily Times BY JON KAUFFMAN September 15, 2016
Each
fall, volunteer watchers put in countless hours sitting on scenic vistas that
provide excellent views of the ridges and valleys and a clear line of sight for
oncoming raptors in order to count the birds migrating south. Starting in early
September, multiple locations in our region are available to observe avian
behavior at its finest. Most raptor
migration occurs along “leading lines” — geographic features such as mountain
ranges, coastlines, or barriers like oceans — to guide their journey south. Since raptors are soaring migrants, they need
uplift or thermals to travel great distances to conserve energy. Uplift is a
term that refers to wind hitting a mountain range perpendicularly, causing the
wind to deflect up and over. Thermal soaring takes place when raptors circle in
warm pockets of rising air caused by the increase of the Earth’s ground
temperature by the sun. Once a raptor soars high enough, it will exit the
thermal and glide until it reaches another thermal farther down ridge. Central
Pennsylvania’s terrain and geographic location make this area well-known for
viewing migrant raptors.
Pat Metheny Lyle Mays September Fifteenth
YouTube
Runtime 7:48 71,638 views Published on Oct 8, 2012
From :
"As Falls Wichita, so Falls Wichita Falls" 1981
Lyle Mays - piano, synthesizer, organ, autoharp
Pat Metheny - electric and acoustic six and twelve string guitars, bass
Lyle Mays - piano, synthesizer, organ, autoharp
Pat Metheny - electric and acoustic six and twelve string guitars, bass
Education
Law Center: Join us September 19: UC-Berkeley economist Rucker Johnson in Philadelphia
September 19: Please join us at 4:30 PM in
the Mayor’s Reception Room in Philadelphia City Hall where economist and
UC-Berkeley professor Dr. Rucker Johnson will discuss his recent national research which finds that sustained
investment in education produces long-term economic benefits for communities.
Mayor Kenney and Dr. Hite will also make brief remarks. This event is sponsored
by the Education Law Center, The Mayor’s Office of Education, and Council
President Darrell Clarke. Please spread the word and join us on the 19th! RSVP
to Caitlyn Boyle: Caitlyn.Boyle@Phila.gov
To download the full invitation
to the event, please click here.
Southeastern
PA Regional 2016 Legislative Roundtable: William Tennent High School (Bucks
Co.) SEP 22, 2016 • 7:00
PM - 9:00 PM
PSBA website August 25, 2016
Take a more active role in public
education advocacy by joining our Legislative Roundtable
This is your opportunity for a
seat at the table (literally) with fellow public education advocates to take an
active role in educating each other and policymakers. Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, along with
regional legislators, will be in attendance to work with you to support public
education in Pennsylvania. Use the
form below to send your registration information!
Thursday, September 29, 2016 at 5:30 PM
The Crystal Tea Room, The Wanamaker Building
100 Penn Square East, Philadelphia, PA
Honoring: Pepper Hamilton LLP, Signe Wilkinson, Dr. Monique W. Morris
And presenting the ELC PRO BONO AWARD to Paul Saint-Antoine & Chanda Miller
of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
Registration
for the PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference Oct. 13-15 is now open
The conference
is your opportunity to learn, network and be inspired by peers and
experts.
TO REGISTER: See https://www.psba.org/members-area/store-registration/ (you must be logged in to
the Members Area to register). You can read more on How to Register for
a PSBA Event here. CONFERENCE WEBSITE: For
all other program details, schedules, exhibits, etc., see the conference
website:www.paschoolleaders.org.
The 2016 Arts and Education Symposium will be held on October 27 at the Radisson Hotel Harrisburg Convention Center. Sponsored by the Pennsylvania Arts Education network and EPLC, the Symposium is a Unique Networking and Learning Opportunity for:
·
Arts Educators
·
School Leaders
·
Artists
·
Arts and Culture Community Leaders
·
Arts-related Business Leaders
·
Arts Education Faculty and Administrators in Higher Education
·
Advocates
·
State and Local Policy Leaders
Act 48 Credit is
available.Program and registration information are available here.
PA Principals Association website Tuesday, August 2, 2016 10:43 AM
To receive the Early Bird Discount, you must be registered by August 31, 2016:
Members: $300 Non-Members: $400
Featuring Three National Keynote Speakers: Eric Sheninger, Jill Jackson & Salome Thomas-EL
PSBA
Officer Elections Aug. 15-Oct. 3, 2016: Slate of Candidates
PSBA members seeking election to
office for the association were required to submit a nomination form no later
than April 30, 2016, to be considered. All candidates who properly completed
applications by the deadline are included on the slate of candidates below. In
addition, the Leadership Development Committee met on June 24 at PSBA
headquarters in Mechanicsburg to interview candidates. According to bylaws, the
Leadership Development Committee may determine candidates highly qualified for
the office they seek. This is noted next to each person’s name with an asterisk
(*). Each school entity will have one
vote for each officer. This will require boards of the various school entities
to come to a consensus on each candidate and cast their vote electronically
during the open voting period (Aug. 15-Oct. 3, 2016). Voting will be
accomplished through a secure third-party, web-based voting site that will
require a password login. One person from each member school entity will be
authorized as the official person to cast the vote on behalf of his or her
school entity. In the case of school districts, it will be the board secretary
who will cast votes on behalf of the school board.
Special note: Boards should be
sure to include discussion and voting on candidates to its agenda during one of
its meetings in September.
SAVE THE DATE LWVPA Convention 2017 June
1-4, 2017
Join the
League of Women Voters of PA for our 2017 Biennial Convention at the beautiful
Inn at Pocono Manor!
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