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Keystone
State Education Coalition
PA
Ed Policy Roundup Feb 1, 2017
Senate
HELP Cmte moves DeVos nomination to full Senate on 12-11 party line vote
Senate Panel Approves Betsy DeVos as
Education Nominee
Vote sets up full Senate
consideration; two GOP senators say they are undecided about final vote
Wall Street Journal By JOSH
MITCHELL Updated
Jan. 31, 2017 2:58 p.m. ETWASHINGTON—President Donald Trump’s nominee for education secretary cleared a key hurdle Tuesday in the Senate, but her nomination faces a close vote after two Republicans said they hadn’t decided whether to support her. The Senate committee that oversees education approved the nomination of Betsy DeVosby a vote along party lines, 12 to 11, with Republicans providing the support she needed to advance. The vote allows Ms. DeVos’s nomination to head to the full Senate, where she needs the support of a simple majority before becoming the nation’s top education official. Mr. Trump’s Republican Party holds a 52-48 Senate majority. But two GOP senators, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, said Tuesday they had concerns about Ms. DeVos and hadn’t decided how they would vote. Each supported advancing Ms. DeVos’s nomination to the full Senate.
Trump's
Embattled Education Department Pick May Face Senate Fight
New
York Times By REUTERS JAN. 31, 2017, 4:06 P.M. E.S.T.
WASHINGTON — Billionaire
philanthropist Betsy DeVos, already known as one of the most controversial
nominees for education secretary in U.S. history, now risks a rare
congressional rejection. The deeply
divided U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Tuesday
agreed to send her nomination to the full chamber for a vote, the final step in
the confirmation process. But the
committee's executive session showed DeVos faces choppy waters ahead for a post
for which there is typically little congressional debate or public attention. The chairman, Republican Lamar Alexander, acted as
tie-breaker after all 11 Republicans voted for Republican President Donald Trump's pick and all 11
Democrats voted against. Two Republicans - Maine's Susan Collins and Alaska's Lisa Murkowski - expressed grave misgivings
about the charter school advocate's limited experience
with public schools. They said they voted yes only so the entire Senate can
debate whether DeVos is the right fit. Murkowski said she may not support DeVos
in the Senate vote.
Senate Committee Backs Betsy DeVos, But
Two Future GOP Votes Uncertain
Education Week Politics K12 Blog By Andrew Ujifusa on January 31, 2017 12:13 PM
Washington The Senate education committee
voted to move the nomination of Betsy DeVos for education secretary to the full
Senate by a vote of 12 to 11 on Tuesday, following remarks that showed the
bitter divisions between many Democrats and Republicans about President Donald Trump's nominee. However,
two Republicans on the committee expressed serious concerns about DeVos and
wouldn't commit to voting for her in the full Senate. Both Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said
they had lingering worries about DeVos' stance on traditional public schools
and her understanding of the U.S. Department of Education's role. The 12-to-11
vote broke along party lines, but not before some drama because in the
committee's first vote on DeVos, one senator voted by proxy. The date of the
full Senate vote on DeVos has yet to be set, but Republicans hold 52 seats,
compared to just 48 for Democrats. If Collins and Murkowski decide to vote
against DeVos, Democrats would still need to pick up an additional GOP
"no" vote on DeVos to defeat her nomination, since Vice President
Mike Pence holds the tiebreaking vote.
“No education secretary nominee before
her was the target of such protests, mass email campaigns, petitions and
impassioned denunciations at a Senate confirmation hearing.”
Why Betsy DeVos is the most polarizing
education secretary nominee ever
Washington Post Answer Sheet
Blog By Valerie Strauss January 31 at 1:55 PM
President
Barack Obama had two education secretaries who were highly divisive in the
education world. In fact, the man who ran Obama’s Education Department for
seven years, Arne Duncan, became so controversial that members of two teachers
unions — long supporters of Democrats — approved resolutions against him in
2014. Duncan’s successor, John King, faced the closest confirmation vote,
in March 2016, on the Senate floor of any education secretary nominee up to
that time. But Betsy DeVos, the Michigan
billionaire chosen by President Trump to be education secretary, brings a whole
new dimension to the discussion of polarizing figures in education leadership. DeVos is clearly the most controversial
education nominee in the history of the nearly 40-year-old Education
Department. While the Senate education committee on Tuesday sent her nomination
to the full Senate on a party-line vote, a few Republican senators said they
are not certain if they will support her on the Senate floor. Democrats say
they have 48 solid votes against her, but they need 51 to defeat the
nomination.
Two Republican senators say they aren’t
committed to voting for Betsy DeVos on Senate floor
Washington Post Answer Sheet
Blog By Valerie Strauss January 31 at 11:39 AM
Two Republican senators — Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — said Tuesday they are
not yet committed to voting for Michigan billionaire Betsy DeVos for U.S.
education secretary on the Senate floor. It was the first time that any
Republican senators said they might not vote for President Trump’s nominee, the
most polarizing education secretary nominee in the department’s history. Collins and Murkowski made the comments
during a meeting of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions, which voted, on party lines, to favorably send the recommendation to
the full House.
Under
DeVos, Here's How School Choice Might Work
NPR by ANYA
KAMENETZ January 31,
201711:44 AM ET
A key Senate committee voted
Tuesday to approve the nomination of Betsy DeVos, a school choice activist and
billionaire Republican donor, to be secretary of education, despite the fierce
objections of Senate Democrats, teachers unions and others. There's much
speculation as to exactly how she might carry out President Trump's stated
priority of increasing school choice. A significant clue comes
from the American
Federation for Children, the advocacy organization DeVos chaired
until she was nominated. AFC supports both publicly funded charter schools and
even more so, "private school choice" — publicly sponsored programs
that give families money to spend on tuition at private schools. Last fall, AFC issued a
report ranking the existing private school choice programs.
There are 50 of them, located in 25 states and Washington, D.C., by AFC's
count. AFC included only those programs that explicitly allow students to
attend religious schools. DeVos, whose family has long supported causes
associated with the Christian religious right, has publicly called education
reform a way to "advance
God's kingdom."
Coalition forms to call for increased
investment in Pennsylvania's public schools, services
Penn Live By Charles
Thompson | cthompson@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow
on Twitter on January 31, 2017 at 1:04 PM, updated January
31, 2017 at 2:01 PM
A diverse group of public
interest groups rallied at the Capitol in Harrisburg Tuesday, throwing their
support behind several targeted tax increases to solve the state's budget
deficit with new investment, rather than spending cuts. Under the slogan that Pennsylvania does
better "when we all chip in," the group intends to advocate for: * A new tax on natural gas production in the
Marcellus Shale region. * A higher
personal income tax rate on income derived from sources like capital gains,
dividend payments, royalties and business profits. * Cutting loopholes in the state's corporate
net income tax to make sure that it applies to a broader base of Pennsylvania
companies. The coalition includes some
of the state's most powerful public sector unions, but also grassroots groups
that work on issues like access to health care, pre-school programs and
services for the intellectually disabled.
Gov. Tom Wolf is considered likely to call for a boost to state
investment in public schools when he unveils his 2017-18 budget proposal next
Tuesday.
Bucks County Courier Times By
Gary Weckselblatt, staff writer January 31, 2017
School officials in Bucks County
criticized state lawmakers Tuesday for seeking to have greater control over
property taxes while the commonwealth has been unable to get its own fiscal
house in order. They expressed concern
with a proposal to significantly limit most property taxes in favor of
increased sales and income taxes at a time when mandated spending for
retirement costs and charter schools have plagued district budgets, forcing
property tax increases. "The state is looking at
taking over public education totally and turning it into a charter school
state," said Wayne Lewis, a member of the Bensalem School Board and Bucks
County Technical School Joint Board Committee. "If the state can't control
their spending on those issues, how are they going to control the funding for
all school districts? "They're
taking away the responsibility of school board members to educate the students
in their communities. Let them fix their house first before they control
ours." The press conference, held
in the Centennial School District's administrative offices in Warminster, was
put together by Tom Seidenberger, a former superintendent of the East Penn
School District in Lehigh County, as part of a project organized by several
organizations that push for greater school funding.
“PASA has good reason to be opposed to
the bill – it would overturn one of the most stable school funding streams and
make a sometimes hostile state Legislature entirely responsible for
distributing educational funding. While the bill would be a step toward ending
unequal funding between rich and poor school districts – long a goal of
educational advocates – the current legislation would freeze current inequities
in perpetuity as a sop to wealthy school districts.”
The grassroots movement to eliminate
property taxes in Pennsylvania
City & State By: RYAN BRIGGS JAN 26, 2017 AT 11:31 AM
David Baldinger is eating a slice of pizza inside
an Italian restaurant outside of Reading when his cellphone rings. The balding,
70-year-old cancer survivor’s eyes light up as he listens to the voice on the
other end. It’s state House Majority Leader Dave Reed’s office. They’d like to
set up a meeting, please. Baldinger, a
retired radio and TV producer, is quick to animation and articulation in a way
that belies his age, but nothing outwardly differentiates him from any other
guy in the pizza shop. His phone’s caller ID is the only indication that he
leads Pennsylvania’s most powerful grassroots anti-tax coalition and is the
public face of a legislative push to make it the first state to abolish
property taxes. “There’s no such thing
as property tax reform; there is no such thing as property tax relief,” he
said. “It’s the only tax we have that isn’t based on your ability to pay. We
just need to get rid of it.”
GUEST COLUMN: Eliminating school property
taxes will hurt poorer districts
Pottstown Mercury
Opinion by Michael Churchill POSTED: 01/29/17,
5:38 PM ESTMichael Churchill is an Attorney, Public Interest Law Center
Eight state senators are
sponsoring the Property Tax Independence Act, a bill to end all property taxes
for schools in Pennsylvania. If passed, the bill as drafted would end all
chances for equitable funding in Pennsylvania and would be the single most
unfair and destructive piece of school legislation in the 130 years since
schools became mandatory. There are much
fairer alternatives to fixing property tax inequity, including proposals that
would virtually end residential property taxes.
What is wrong with eliminating property taxes for schools? Start with
the fact that it will end not only residential property taxes but also property
taxes on commercial, industrial and oil and gas properties. The state will need
to raise $12 billion from new income taxes and sales taxes paid primarily by
individuals. Shifting the burden of commercial and industrial property taxes to
individual taxpayers is unnecessary to fix the problem of residential
taxpayers.
Gerrymandering: Congressional
redistricting event draws surprising crowd in Philly
WHYY Newsworks BY KYRIE
GREENBERG JANUARY
30, 2017
This week, more than 800 people
filled Arch St. United Methodist Church, to learn about a subject that you may
have missed in civics class — congressional redistricting. Carol Kuniholm, chair of Fair Districts PA, walked the
audience through the process of Gerrymandering, where Congressional districts
are redrawn to serve one political party.
Gerrymandering has a long history in the US. It gets its name from
a Massachusetts governor back in 1812. Pennsylvania, because it's swing state
where the legislature gets to draw district lines is a prime target. The state
is also not growing as quickly as the rest of the country, putting it at risk
for losing seats in Congress. Comparing
district maps over the past 50 years, Kuniholm described how political parties
have adopted advanced mapping technology, and accelerated redistricting
efforts.
Educators must bargain for sick days under
new proposal; 'it's a fairness issue,' lawmaker says
Penn Live By Jan
Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on January 31, 2017 at 4:18 PM,
updated January 31, 2017 at 4:19 PM
Sabbatical, sick and bereavement
leaves have been a staple in public school educators' benefits package for
decades because state law required them to be.
Legislation that narrowly won Senate Education Committee approval on
Tuesday would change that and allow them to become a topic at the bargaining
table. The bill, sponsored by committee
Chairman John Eichelberger, passed by a 7-5 vote and was one of the first pieces
of business the committee dealt with in the new legislative session. "This is a major step backwards
particularly for women." Pa. State Education Association's David Broderic Senate Bill 229 was offered
at the request of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association to give school
directors more flexibility in managing their personnel and costs associated
with it.
Scott Wagner loans himself $4M to
kick-start run against Gov. Tom Wolf
Penn Live By Wallace
McKelvey | WMckelvey@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow
on Twitter on January 31, 2017 at 3:25 PM,
updated January 31, 2017 at 3:38 PM
Republican state Sen. Scott
Wagner kicked off his gubernatorial campaign with a nearly $4.3 million war
chest, thanks in large part to a $4 million loan from the candidate himself. Wagner, who owns a York County waste-hauling
company, listed the loan in his first campaign finance filing with the
Department of State for the 2018 race. The campaign also received a $90,000
contribution from his senatorial campaign.
Tom Wolf, another York County millionaire, has not yet filed his report.
In 2014, he contributed $10 million to his gubernatorial campaign.
Senate Republicans revive effort to limit
public unions' use of dues for political activity
Penn Live By Wallace
McKelvey | WMckelvey@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow
on Twitter on January 31, 2017 at 2:26 PM,
updated January 31, 2017 at 2:46 PM
Senate Republicans revived an
effort Tuesday to limit public-sector labor unions' ability to marshal the
political power of their membership. Legislation passed out of the State
Government Committee would prohibit the unions from using automatically deducted dues and
contributions for any political purpose, including get-out-the-vote
efforts, lobbying or voter registration drives. Historically, both public and
private labor unions were powerful forces in state politics although their
influence waned in recent election cycles due to dwindling membership. In recent years, many unions
formed their own political action committees to pool resources to be used in
both electoral and lobbying efforts in Harrisburg.
Pa.'s top education official talks
community schools, Phila. school building conditions
Inquirer by Kristen
A. Graham, Staff
Writer @newskag Updated: JANUARY
30, 2017 4:15 PM
For the eight years that Chuanika
Sanders-Thomas has been principal of Logan Elementary, she’s done her best to
build partnerships and keep the small school moving forward. This year, Logan became one of the city’s
first round of community schools -- places that provide not just education, but
also other programs and social services to remove students’ barriers to
academic success. Logan and the other eight schools got community-schools
coordinators to help identify needs and find outside help. On Monday, Pennsylvania’s top education
official came to tour Logan and see how the community-school model is working
out. After a tour and a sit-down with Sanders-Thomas, other school personnel,
and three bright Logan students, Education Secretary Pedro A. Rivera said he
was wowed.
Federal appeals court rules against
Lancaster school district in refugee education lawsuit
WHYY Newsworks BY EMILY
PREVITI, WITF JANUARY
30, 2017A three-judge panel's ruling issued Monday backed a prior decision letting student refugees choose where they want to enroll in the School District of Lancaster. The district's appeal was the first considered by the Third Circuit court stemming from an Equal Educational Opportunities Act claim that a school failed to take appropriate steps to overcome language barriers, according to the 46-page decision. The district was sued last July by the ACLU and Education Law Center on behalf of six student refugees over the age of 16. They'd been placed in Phoenix Academy, a magnet school with a fast-track curriculum designed to make sure students graduate on time. District officials say that's because refugees often arrive with little or no high school credit. And all students are no longer entitled to a free public education in Pennsylvania after they turn 21.
York Dispatch
by Alyssa
Pressler , 505-5438/@AlyssaPressYDPublished 12:20 p.m. ET Jan. 31, 2017 | Updated
11 hours ago
·
Act 86 allows districts to hire students studying education as
substitute teachers.
·
Southern York School District will be using this act to alleviate
a substitute teacher shortage.
·
Districts across the county are dealing with a shortage of
teachers and substitute teachers.
Southern York County School
District will begin using a program that allows college students studying
education to work as substitute teachers in the district. Act 86 allows school districts to hire
students as substitute teachers for the district so long as they are enrolled
in an accredited Pennsylvania college or university pursuing a teacher
certification. Through the act, which
was passed last July as a School Code bill, students who are in their
post-60-credits phase of their coursework can work up to 20 days per school
year as a paid substitute teacher. Congressman Lloyd Smucker, formerly a state
senator for Lancaster, championed the bill.
Philadelphia releases latest batch of
School Progress Reports
WHYY Newsworks BY AVI
WOLFMAN-ARENT FEBRUARY
1, 2017
The School District of
Philadelphia released its latest batch of School Progress Reports (SPR)
Tuesday, honoring those schools that made the biggest jumps in 2015-16. During a ceremony at Olney Elementary School,
a roster of local officials — including SRC chair Joyce Wilkerson, Mayor Jim
Kenney, and Superintendent William Hite — saluted schools that finished at
the top of their class in SPR. High
honors went to Loesche Elementary School, McCall Elementary School, Girard
Academic Music Program, and Franklin Town Charter High School, each of whom had
the best SPR for their respective grade bands.
Watson Comly School, Chester Arthur School, Academy for the Middle Years
at Northwest, and Paul Robeson High School for Human Services earned the title
of "most improved." District
officials also gave a shout out to Olney Elementary School, which they said has
shown consistent improvement in recent years.
Parents and community members can find the latest SPR scores for
district and charter schools on the school
district's website.
Top, most improved Phila. schools named
Inquirer by Kristen
A. Graham, Staff
Writer @newskag Updated: JANUARY
31, 2017 — 8:23 PM
Shiny trophies sat on a table
waiting to be collected. Dignitaries made speeches and shook hands. A house
band and choir played hopeful music. For
25 city principals, Tuesday was their Academy Awards, as the Philadelphia
School District honored the best and most improved schools in the traditional
public and charter sector. Schools were
evaluated on the basis not just of test performance, but of overall student
growth, climate, and other measures used to calculate each building’s School
Performance Report (SPR) score based on data from the 2015-16 school year. Citywide, the leaders
are Loesche Elementary in Somerton for elementary schools;
McCall Elementary in Society Hill, for K-8 schools; GAMP in South
Philadelphia, for middle schools; and Franklin Towne Charter High
School in Bridesburg, for high schools. Loesche and McCall are
neighborhood schools; GAMP is a magnet, and
Franklin Towne is a citywide admission school.
Also recognized were four of the
most improved schools in the city: Watson Comly Elementary,
in Somerton, for elementary schools; Chester A. Arthur Elementary, in
Southwest Center City, for K-8; AMY Northwest in Roxborough, for middle
schools; and Paul Robeson High School for Human Services, in West Philadelphia,
for high schools. Comly and Arthur are neighborhood schools; AMY
Northwest is a magnet, and Robeson is a citywide admission school.
Pa. auditor general to audit Aspira
charter schools
Inquirer by Martha
Woodall, Staff
Writer @marwooda Updated: JANUARY
31, 2017 6:41 PM
The Pennsylvania auditor general
announced Tuesday that his office would begin an audit of the five charter
schools operated by Aspira Inc. of Pennsylvania. Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said he
decided to begin the audit of the four charter schools Aspira operates in
Philadelphia and a statewide cyber charter based in the city ahead of schedule
because of news reports that the organization had paid a former
administrator $350,000 to settle a sexual-harassment complaint and lawsuit she
had filed against Aspira president and CEO Alfredo Calderon. DePasquale said that although he was troubled
by all allegations of sexual harassment, his financial review was triggered
because taxpayer funds paid for the insurance policy that was used to settle
the case.
State auditor general to audit Philly
ASPIRA schools
by the notebook
January 31, 2017 — 4:34pm
Pennsylvania Auditor General
Eugene DePasquale has announced that he will conduct an audit of five charter
schools in Philadelphia run by ASPIRA. The District's charter office has
recommended non-renewal for Olney High and Stetson Middle schools, citing operational,
financial, and academic problems. For
months, the recommendations have been held
up in the School Reform Commission, which has been split on what to do. But
since the last attempt at a vote, three members have left and two
new members have been added. Estelle Richman is awaiting Senate
confirmation, so the SRC currently lacks its full complement of five
members.
Among the concerns cited by the
charter office are tangled finances among the schools and between the
schools and the parent organization. In
addition to Olney and Stetson, which are converted District schools, ASPIRA
runs a bilingual cyber charter and two K-8 Philadelphia
charters started from scratch, Eugenio Maria De Hostos and Antonia
Pantoja.
Charter Arts school earns state award
By lehighvalleylive.com
staff Email
the author | Follow on Twitter on January 31, 2017 at 3:13 PM,
updated January 31, 2017 at 3:22 PM
School administrators from
the Lehigh
Valley Charter High School for the Arts were presented with an award
for the school's its Reward: High Achievement designation at a conference
in Pittsburgh this week. Executive
Director Diane LaBelle and Carise Comstock, dean of academic affairs, attended
the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Title I Improving Schools'
Performance Conference where the Division of Federal Programs honored the top
performing Title I schools in Pennsylvania during the Distinguished Schools
Award Ceremony.
Standard Speaker BY JILL WHALEN / PUBLISHED: FEBRUARY 1, 2017
The Hazleton Area School Board’s
Finance Committee had its first look at the district’s 2017-18 proposed general
fund budget that shows a nearly $5 million deficit. The Tuesday evening meeting was the first
discussion of the year on the spending plan and Business Manager Anthony Ryba
cautioned that numbers will likely change.
According to Ryba, directors are scheduled to approve the preliminary
plan at their Feb. 15 regular meeting. From
there, they can choose to make changes but must have a final budget in place by
June 30.
As its stands, the plan shows
projected revenue of $143,138,497, projected expenditures of $148,135,859 and a
$4,997,372 shortfall.
Replace school property tax with local
income tax | Guest column
By Express-Times
guest columnist Ed Inghrim on January 30, 2017 at 2:33 PM
Harrisburg, once again, is discussing
school property tax relief. One method under consideration is
shifting some or all of the burden for funding schools to
higher sales and income taxes. But based on Harrisburg's past
history of fixing the school property tax problem, they are likely to fail.
Local school boards and
administrators are opposed to funding
schools with sales and income taxes because
they don't want to lose control of their current major revenue source, property
taxes. Further, they don't trust Harrisburg controlling the distribution of
those new sources of revenues. As a
school board member I personally don't like driving elderly home owners out of
their homes because they can't pay their school property taxes, and I would
like to suggest a different solution -- taxing total personal income, which is
what taxpayers claim on their federal income tax form. A personal income tax (PIT)
places the cost of funding public education on ability to pay and does not
burden struggling lower-income families with higher sales taxes.
At Ben Franklin High, students and
teachers in the cold
Inquirer by Kristen
A. Graham, Staff
Writer @newskag Updated: JANUARY
31, 2017 6:55 PM
Students and teachers at
Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin High School have been in the cold for days,
they say. The large school on North
Broad Street has been experiencing problems with its heating system since last
week, one teacher said. On
Tuesday, with temperatures in the low 30s, the heating problems were
particularly difficult, said the teacher, who asked not to be identified for
fear of retribution. When the heat is turned on, the sewer backs up in the
school's basement. "Some of the
rooms are in the 50s," the teacher said Tuesday morning. "My feet are
icicles." Staff and students are
bundled up in coats, and some staff are trying to use space heaters to warm
their rooms.
Maybe that’s why he doesn’t pick up his phone — too busy refilling
the machine.
PhillyMag BY CLAIRE SASKO | JANUARY
31, 2017 AT 10:50 AMPennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey receives more faxes than any other U.S. lawmaker, according to Fax Zero, a website that lets people send faxes for free and keeps tabs on who’s raking up the most. According to the website, Toomey has received more than 1,000 faxes within the last 24 hours. That’s almost double the amount that runner-up California Sen. Dianne Feinstein has received in that same time span – more than 600 faxes. (By the way, Pennsylvania Rep. Bob Casey, who reportedly received close to 200 faxes within the last 24 hours, ranks sixth on the website’s list.)
Testing
Resistance & Reform News: January 25 - 31, 2017
Submitted by fairtest on
January 31, 2017 - 2:21pm
With the 2017 K-12 school testing
season beginning soon in some jurisdictions, FairTest has released several new
and updated fact sheets to help assessment reform activists organize resistance
to standardized exam overuse and misuse. At the same time, many state
legislatures are considering proposals to reduce testing overkill.
New
PSBA Winter Town Hall Series coming to your area
Introducing a new and exciting
way to get involved and stay connected in a location near you! Join your PSBA
Town Hall meeting to hear the latest budget and political updates affecting
public education. Enjoy light hors d’oeuvres and networking with fellow
school directors. Locations have been selected to minimize travel time. Spend
less time in the car and more time learning about issues impacting your
schools.
Agenda
6-6:35 p.m.
Association update from PSBA
Executive Director Nathan Mains
6:35 -7:15 p.m. Networking
Reception
7:15-8 p.m.
Governor’s budget address recap
Dates/Locations
Monday, February 20 Forbes Road Career and Technology Center,
Monroeville
Tuesday, February 21 Venango Technology Center, Oil City
Wednesday, Feb 22 Clearfield County Career and Technical
Center, Clearfield
Thursday, February 23 Columbia Montour AVTS, Bloomsburg
Monday, February 27 Middle Bucks Institute of Technology,
Jamison
Tuesday, February 28 PSBA, Mechanicsburg
Wednesday, March 1 Bedford County Technical Center, Everett
Thursday, March 2 West Side CTC, Kingston
Registration
This is a complimentary PSBA
member event – please register and complete the check-out process through the Store/Registration section of Members area of the
website.
Ron Cowell at
EPLC always does a great job with these policy forums.
RSVP Today for a Forum In
Your Area! EPLC is Holding Five Education Policy Forums on Governor Wolf’s
2017-2018 State Budget Proposal
Forum #1 – Pittsburgh Thursday, February 23, 2017 – Wyndham University Center –
100 Lytton Avenue, Pittsburgh (Oakland), PA 15213Forum #2 – Harrisburg Area (Enola, PA) Tuesday, February 28, 2017 – Capital Area Intermediate Unit – 55 Miller Street (Susquehanna Room), Enola, PA 17025
Forum #3 – Philadelphia Thursday, March 2, 2017 – Penn Center for Educational Leadership, University of Pennsylvania, 3440 Market Street (5th Floor), Philadelphia, PA 19104
Forum #4 – Indiana University of Pennsylvania Tuesday, March 14, 2017 – 1011 South Drive (Stouffer Hall), Indiana, PA 15705
Forum #5 – Lehigh Valley Tuesday, March 28, 2017 – Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit #21, 4210 Independence Drive, Schnecksville, PA 18078
Governor Wolf will deliver his
2017-2018 state budget proposal to the General Assembly on February 7. These
policy forums will be early opportunities to get up-to-date
information about what is in the proposed education budget, the budget’s
relative strengths and weaknesses, and key issues. Each of the forums will take following
basic format (please see below for regional presenter details at each of
the three events). Ron Cowell of EPLC will provide an overview of the
Governor’s proposed budget for early education, K-12 and higher
education. A representative of The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center
will provide an overview of the state’s fiscal situation and key issues that
will affect this year’s budget discussion. The overviews will be followed by
remarks from a panel representing statewide and regional perspectives
concerning state funding for education and education related items. These
speakers will discuss the impact of the Governor’s proposals and identify
the key issues that will likely be considered during this year’s budget
debate.
Although there is no
registration fee, seating is limited and an RSVP is required.
Offered
in partnership with PASA and the PA Department of Education March 29-30, 2017 at
the Radisson Hotel Harrisburg - Camp Hill, PA . Approved for 40
PIL/Act 48 (Act 45) hours for school administrators. Register online
at http://www.pasa-net.org/ev_calendar_day.asp?date=3/29/2017&eventid=63
PA
Educational Technology Exposition & Conference (PETE&C), February
12-15, Hershey Lodge and Convention Center.
PASBO
62nd Annual Conference, March 21-24, David L. Lawrence Convention Center,
Pittsburgh.
Register now
for the 2017 NSBA Annual Conference March 25-27 Denver
Plan to join public education leaders for networking and learning at the 2017 NSBA Annual Conference, March 25-27 in Denver, CO. General registration is now open at https://www.nsba.org/conference/registration. A conference schedule, including pre-conference workshops, is available on the NSBA website.
Plan to join public education leaders for networking and learning at the 2017 NSBA Annual Conference, March 25-27 in Denver, CO. General registration is now open at https://www.nsba.org/conference/registration. A conference schedule, including pre-conference workshops, is available on the NSBA website.
Register
for the 2017 PASA Education
Congress, “Delving Deeper into
the Every Student Succeeds Act.” March 29-30
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!
Save the Date
2017 PA Principals Association State Conference October 14. 15, 16, 2017
Doubletree
Hotel Cranberry Township, PA
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