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Keystone
State Education Coalition
PA
Ed Policy Roundup March 9, 2017:
Value
your public schools? You’d better step up and defend them
Pennsylvania public schools are currently at risk of losing millions of dollars in federal funding to help pay for mandated services for students with special needs.
A PSBA Closer Look March 2017
https://www.psba.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/ACL_ACCESS-program-jeopardized.pdf
Call
your Congressman’s office today to let them know that Pennsylvania could lose
over $400 million in reimbursement for services that school districts provide
to special education students
By Tracie Mauriello / Post-Gazette Washington Bureau March 9, 2017 12:00 AM
WASHINGTON — U.S. Reps. Tim
Murphy and Mike Doyle live 17 miles away from each other, but
they are a million miles apart when it comes to health care policy. Both are getting to have their say this week
as the House Energy and Commerce Committee, on which both serve, wrestles with
an effort to replace the Affordable Care Act with something Republicans say
provides more choice, flexibility and affordability. Another Western Pennsylvania lawmaker, Mike
Kelly, R-Butler, is grappling with the same issues on another committee, House
Ways and Means. Both committees began their work
Wednesday in simultaneous meetings that pit Republicans and Democrats against
each other on one of the most contentious and political fights facing
lawmakers. Outnumbered Democrats began
gumming up the works immediately by forcing clerks to read the
US
House Ways and Means Committee members
“The message is simple. Tell Congress to keep their hands off
Medicaid funds for kids.”
Network
for Public Education Legislative Alert March 9, 2017
Did you know that many
schools use Medicaid funding to help cover the cost of services to students in
special education? Medicaid funding is used for speech therapy, occupational
therapy, special education providers, school-based health services and
assistive devices, such as wheelchairs. In some states, Medicaid dollars are
used by schools for vision and hearing screening for eligible students. The American Association of School
Administrators (AASA) estimates that districts receive about $4 billion a year
through Medicaid funding. Read their informative booklet, which you can find here to find out how our most vulnerable students
could be hurt by cuts. Right now the
House of Representatives led by Paul Ryan is debating whether to slash Medicaid
or to shift it to a block grant as part of their "repeal and replace"
the Affordable Care Act. Neither choice is good for children. If a
per-capita cap or block grant is enacted, schools would lose a dedicated
funding source for services, and would have to compete with health care
providers and hospitals for limited funds.
And all of this would be part of a budget package with large tax cuts
for the rich.
We need you to act now.
1. Click here to send an email to your Congressperson.
2. Call today. Call your representative directly, or call the U.S.
Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.
Student Login Records at Ohio E-Schools Spark $80 Million Dispute
Education Week By Benjamin Herold and Alex Harwin March 7, 2017
The Ohio education department could seek repayment of more than $80 million from nine full-time online schools, based on audits of software-login records that led state officials to determine the schools had overstated their student enrollment. The Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, for example, was paid for 15,322 full-time students during the 2015-16 school year. But state officials said they could document just 41 percent of that total. An Education Week analysis of both the login records submitted by ECOT and the results of the state's audit for that year further demonstrates the scope of the discrepancy:
“Dinniman says PSSA tests and
Keystone exams have only conclusively proven one thing: that kids in poor
districts perform poorly compared to wealthier peers. We’re impoverishing
ourselves, he said, to prove that. “We’re
punishing the very students who we don’t give the resources to by stamping
failure on them and on their teachers and on their schools,” he said. “I’m
trying to understand what the philosophy of the department is.”
Standardized
tests aren’t worth the hefty cost, state senator says
ABC27 by Dennis OwensPublished: March 7, 2017, 6:57 pm Updated: March
8, 2017, 9:00 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – Sen.
Andrew Dinniman (D-Chester) began with pleasantries.
“First, good morning to everyone
and it’s good to see you all here,” he said with a warm smile to the Secretary
of Education and his staff during an appropriations hearing Tuesday morning. But his tone changed dramatically
when the topic changed to the cost of standardized testing. “Since 2008, we have spent
$1.2 billion on a testing and alignment system in this commonwealth while
students don’t have nurses or guidance counselors,” Dinniman said emphatically. “Rather than put the money where
the rubber meets the road, which is in the classrooms of this commonwealth.”
Haverford activists press school board for
transgender student policy
Inquirer by Kathy Boccella, Staff Writer @Kathy_Boccella | kboccella@phillynews.com Updated: MARCH 8, 2017 — 2:51 PM
EST
On Nov. 9, stunned and depressed
over the election of President Trump, Allie Armstrong of Havertown took to
social media to ask her friends how to spin something positive from a result
they viewed as not just a defeat but a national crisis. “I put out a random Facebook post and had a
dozen friends say, ‘Oh, me too,’ ” recalled Armstrong, a stay-at-home mom with
two young children and a background in social work. “I thought that I and my
dozen friends would be getting together to write letters, or protest.” Less than four months later, nearly 60
members of the group they founded – the Havertown Area Community Action
Network, or HCAN – packed a standing-room-only Haverford Township School
District board meeting to demand an inclusive policy toward transgender
students in response to the Trump administration’s retreat on the issue. Last week's big turnout impelled
district officials to promise a policy – either a new stand-alone or an amended
nondiscrimination code that specifically addresses transgender issues — as
soon as September. HCAN's victory was
emblematic of forces, unleashed by Trump’s election, that are beginning to
shake up politics, even at local levels.
Transgender complaints about bathrooms
have nothing to do with access to public education: Marc A. Scaringi
PennLive Op-Ed By Marc A. Scaringi on March 08, 2017
at 9:15 AM
Last week PennLive ran a story
that featured a Camp Hill mother of a 9-year old boy who self-identifies as a
girl. The mother is calling upon
"everyone in the school system to be trained just on what transgender is,
what gender fluid is" so they can support transgender children and make
their lives in school better. The
mother wants schools and lawmakers to "do their jobs" and guarantee
the "rights" and "safety" of transgender children. There's
no mention whether the Camp Hill mom will take her case to Court. But there is ample precedent. Across the
country, transgender students, encouraged by parents and advocates, are filing
lawsuits to compel schools to do just that.
Last week, a federal court in Pittsburgh issued a preliminary injunction
compelling the Pine-Richland School District to permit transgender students to
use the communal bathroom of the sex they identify with rather than their
biological sex.
Transgender
student faced bias, retaliation over bathroom use, suit claims
Peter
Hall Of The
Morning Call March 8, 2017
Transgender second grader claims
Coal Region school denied her use of girl's room.
Weeks after the Trump administration rolled back protections for
transgender students in public schools, a Schuylkill County school district
faces a federal lawsuit that claims a transgender second-grader and her mother
are victims of discrimination and retaliation over the student's use of girls'
restrooms. Tracey Handling insisted that
her daughter, who was born a boy but identifies as a girl, be permitted to use
a girls' restroom at Minersville Elementary School when she started first
grade, instead of boys' restrooms or unisex restrooms that the district created
for her. The Minersville School District
relented last year after the Obama administration instructed public schools
that federal law allows transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms
matching students' gender identities, rather than the gender on their birth
certificates. But Handling's lawsuit
alleges the district has systematically discriminated against her daughter and
that district officials harassed and retaliated against Handling, reporting her
to a child welfare agency and refusing to provide educational assessments for
her daughter.
York
Dispatch by Alyssa
Pressler , 505-5438/@AlyssaPressYD Published 1:22 p.m. ET March 8, 2017 | Updated 2 hours ago
·
Legislation to get rid of school property taxes has been
reintroduced to the Legislature.
·
Local administrators are not opposed to lessening school property
taxes, but are wary of the legislation.
Legislation to
eliminate school property taxes in Pennsylvania
might sound like music to the ears of property owners, but
it wouldn't happen overnight — in some cases, some local taxpayers wouldn't see
relief for more than 15 years. In the
meantime, property owners also would be paying more in sales and income taxes. Sen. David Argall, R-Schuylkill County, plans
to introduce legislation that would shift about $14 billion in taxes from
property owners, including businesses, to consumers and anyone earning a
paycheck. He said he's still working with Gov. Tom Wolf on the details of
the bill, but plans to unveil it in the next few weeks. In 2015, similar legislation was
defeated in the Senate with a 25-24 vote. Argall said he will re-introduce it
this year because he believes the recent election has provided him with support
he needs for it to pass.
“Philadelphia has long offered a free
breakfast to every student, but participation is typically lackluster -- less
than half citywide. When principal Connie Carnivale arrived at Brown five years
ago, only about 30 percent of students ate breakfast there. She and her faculty
decided to make the meal more accessible, feeding students in their classrooms
just after the school day began. Since
the new program was begun two years ago, the school has higher attendance, less
truancy, and more students reading at grade level, and Carnivale said she
thinks breakfast is a part of that.”
Free breakfasts mean better academics at
one Philly school
Inquirer by Kristen A. Graham, Inquirer Staff
Writer @newskag | kgraham@phillynews.com Updated: MARCH 8, 2017 — 2:05 PM EST
Breakfast at home isn’t always a
given for the 512 students at H.A. Brown Elementary School. But as soon as the bell rings,
students know they can count on a meal served with the first lessons of the
day. On Wednesday, fourth-grade classes worked on morning editing exercises
while feasting on chocolate chip muffins, fruit, and milk. “The food is tasty,” said Saniyah Roseingram. “Breakfast is healthy for us,” added Senniyah
Mtagwa. Mayor Kenney, School
Superintendent William R. Hite Jr., and City Councilwoman Helen Gym toured
Brown on Wednesday, sharing a meal and marking National School Breakfast Week.
Brown, on East Sergeant Street in
Kensington, is a leader in the Philadelphia School District’s breakfast
program, with 75 percent of the students partaking in the meal daily.
“Turzai’s measure would increase the
city’s charter enrollment from 65,000 students to 80,000 by the 2021-22 school
year. By then charter school costs, currently budgeted at $875 million, could
far exceed $1 billion. Just think what
might be done to improve traditional public schools if that money were instead
invested in them. Turzai, and other legislators who think like him, have given
up on making regular schools better, but that attitude does nothing to help
students whose parents, for whatever reason, don’t enroll them in charters. Choice is fine, but don’t forget about the
kids who choose to stay in their neighborhood schools. “
Inquirer Editorial: Don't let Turzai
dictate Philly's number of charters
Updated: MARCH
8, 2017 — 1:14 PM EST
Two years ago, then-State Rep.
Cherelle Parker, a Democrat and now a member of Philadelphia City Council,
seconded the nomination of Republican Mike Turzai of Allegheny County to become
speaker of the House. Unfortunately, on too many occasions that gracious
gesture of bipartisanship has come back to bite this city in the rear end. Turzai, who was unanimously reelected speaker
in January, has introduced a bill that would usurp all local authority and
require the Philadelphia School District to add 3,000 new charter seats every year. The bill would
also require Pittsburgh schools to add 500 charter seats annually. The heavy-handed legislation is completely
unnecessary since the Philadelphia district had already projected charter
enrollment to grow by 2,700 to 3,000 seats annually in its five-year plan.
Turzai’s bill, however, could hamstring the district’s ability to adjust
charter growth to reflect future budget deficits. A $64.5 million deficit is
expected in two years unless the district receives more revenue.
Nearly one thousand Philadelphia teachers
take part in 'A Day Without a Woman' protests
WHYY Newsworks BY AVI WOLFMAN-ARENT MARCH 8, 2017
The Philadelphia teachers union
used Wednesday's international women's strike to highlight the importance women
play in schools and to call for a better contract. Over 930 teachers in the School District of
Philadelphia did not show up Wednesday, although it's unclear how many of those
absences were related to the "A Day Without a Woman" protest.
District officials said teacher absences were higher than normal, but not
unprecedented. "A Day Without a
Woman" was intended to highlight gender inequality and the important role
women play in society. The movement was not specific to teachers, but
Philadelphia educators seized on the opportunity to make their own political
statement about fair pay. The
Philadelphia Federation of Teachers encouraged teachers across the district to
hold "informational pickets" before the school day began to
underscore the lack of a valid contract for union members. Teachers and other
school staff represented by the PFT haven't had a contract since 2013. They've
gone without raises since 2012. Roughly
75 percent of PFT members are female, said union officials. Teachers picketing
outside of H.A. Brown School in Kensington said their plight related to broader
inequities women face in the work place.
The
York Dispatch Published
5:29 p.m. ET March 8, 2017 | Updated
10 hours ago
·
Two years after a scathing state audit, Helen Thackston Charter
School continues to struggle.
·
School officials have been tight-lipped about a recent staff
shake-up.
·
The community deserves some answers.
A 2015 state audit of Helen
Thackston Charter School painted a picture of a leaderless institution in
disarray. At the time, state Auditor
General Eugene DePasquale, in effect, threw up his hands in frustration. "There is no way to account for every
dollar, or to know if the school operated as intended, because of a
breakdown of internal controls," he said. "The lack of documentation
makes it nearly impossible to draw any sound conclusion." Nearly two years later, the publicly funded
independent school is still struggling, and the York City school board has
notified Thackston it’s at risk of losing its charter to operate.
Lancaster Online by ALEX GELI | Staff Writer March
9, 2017
Two Lancaster County high schools
that claim to be moving away from a teaching-to-the-test approach made the most
gains in SAT
scores this year. Ephrata and
Garden Spot high schools, where administrators say they are dialing back on the
pressure that often comes with high-stakes testing, saw their average composite
scores jump 62 points and 58 points from 2015, respectively. Manheim Township High School students earned
the highest scores for the fourth consecutive year. And, students enrolled at
McCaskey East and J.P. McCaskey high schools scored the lowest for the ninth
straight year. “I’d love to take credit
for it, but I can’t,” Garden Spot Principal Matt Sanger said. “I would say our
staff and our students have really bought into the notion of setting the bar
high.” Garden Spot, in Eastern Lancaster
County School District, has revamped its math, science and language arts
programs, he said, but simply adjusting the curriculum isn’t what does the
trick.
Local senators leading way on
redistricting reform | Letter
Express-Times
Letters to the Editor by Mary Erdman, Fair Districts PA on March 07,
2017 at 9:09 AM, updated March 07, 2017 at 9:10 AM
The march toward fairly
drawn legislative districts in Pennsylvania has finally begun. Senate
Bill 22 was introduced last week by its primary sponsor and author,
Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Northampton-Lehigh; co-author and sponsor, Sen. Mario Scavello,
R-Monroe-Northamption; and joined in sponsorship by Sen. Pat Browne, R-Lehigh. The Lehigh Valley should be very proud of
these three local politicians who have embraced this bill and the positive
impacts it will produce. This is a nonpartisan project that will result in
fairly drawn districts and more fair representation; it will begin to unlock
the dysfunction that exists in both Harrisburg and Washington, D.C.
Pennsylvania Coalition of Public
Charter Schools Press Release February 28, 2017
The Board of Trustees of
the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools (PCPCS) selected Ana
Meyers as its next Executive Director, replacing Bob Fayfich who will be
retiring at the end of March. In her new
position, Ana will be responsible for driving the PCPCS mission of achieving
choice for parents, high quality for students, and fiscal accountability for
taxpayers in Pennsylvania’s K-12 educational system. Ana moves to this position from being
Director of Legislative Affairs for LeadingAge PA and, before that, Director of
Policy and Legislative Affairs for the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. She
also served as Pennsylvania Field Director for FreedomWorks, advocating for
school choice and charter reform legislation. In all of those roles she
developed a deep knowledge of the legislative process and a stellar reputation
with legislators. Ana is a native of Brazil, earned her Bachelor of
Business Administration in Marketing and International Business from Baylor
University, and is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese as well as English. “We were extremely fortunate to have a lot of
outstanding candidates interested in this position” said Toni Rath, President
of the PCPCS Board, “and even more fortunate to have a person with Ana’s
passion, experience, and capabilities accept the role. We are excited to be
working with her.” One of the first
actions Ana will undertake is a statewide listening and learning tour of
charter schools to hear directly from the charter school leaders what issues
they face and how PCPCS can be most effective in contribution their success.
“Puig formerly served as state director
of Freedomworks, the Washington-based conservative advocacy group founded by
former U.S. House Majority leader Dick Armey. In that role Puig was a fixture
in the Capitol after Corbett took office in 2011, leading the unsuccessful
effort to bring school vouchers to Pennsylvania. B That battle was marked by an
unusually bitter single-issue campaign by Freedomworks and its allies to force
some GOP lawmakers to sign on to the voucher bill that included mounting
primary challenges against incumbent lawmakers.
Among the targets was Sen. Pat Vance a Republican from Cumberland
County, who called the Freedomworks tactics "bullying." Vance
withstood a primary challenge in 2012 largely funded by the pro-voucher group
Students First.”
Reprise 2013: Corbett 'troubled' by
statements of controversial new hire
Inquirer by Amy Worden @AngelasInk Updated: AUGUST 26, 2013 — 7:47
AM EDT
Gov. Corbett is concerned about
the inflammatory social media trail left by a Bucks County tea party leader
recently hired by his administration. A
top Corbett aide said some statements made by activist-turned-Revenue
Department employee Ana Puig are disturbing.
"Has she said some things that are troublesome and offensive to the
governor? Yes," said Corbett's communnications direcotr Lynn Lawson
in an interview Friday. In her role as
legislative liaison Puig will be tasked with advancing the governor's agenda in
the House and Senate - not her own, she said. "He doesn't have to agree with her personal views, he doesn't agree with
many of the things she has stated, but as an employee of the Commonwealth she
needs to properly represent the views of the governor," said Lawson. "If we find that is not the case, that's
a different discussion," she said. Our
Inquirer colleague Tom Fitzgerald first reported Puig, 41, was hired to the
$68,000-year-job last week. Puig founded Kitchen Table Patriots in 2009 to
advocate for conservative causes - like tax reform and limited government. In a 2009 interview with the Village Voice,
Puig said President Obama was advancing his health-care plan just as Hugo
Chavez had taken over Venezuela, by "infiltration of the education system,
political correctness, class warfare ideology, voter fraud, brainwashing
through the mainstream media." In
YouTube videos, Facebook posts and Tweets, Puig has variously compared Obama to Hitler, a
Communist, a Marxist, a socialist.
Senate Votes to Block Obama Teacher-Preparation
Rules
Education Week Politics K12 Blog By Andrew Ujifusa on March 8, 2017 3:03 PM
The Senate voted 59 to 40 on
Wednesday to overturn regulations governing teacher-preparation programs that
were approved by the Obama administration late last year. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., introduced the
measure blocking the rules late last week. Senate Joint Resolution 26 had nine
other Republican co-sponors, including Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the
chairman of the Senate education committee. The House also voted last month to
block the rules, approving a resolution introduced by Kentucky Republican Rep. Brett
Guthrie, and President Donald Trump is widely expected to back the
move. "This regulation
actually makes the assumption that bureaucrats in Washington are competent to
micromanage teacher-training programs in America. That's what this regulation
ultimately does, and it's absurd," Sasse said on the Senate floor before
the vote. However, Sen. Patty
Murray, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the education committee, said the rules
would ensure that prospective teachers have more and better information about
teacher-training programs. She also said the rules would protect teacher
preparation from the as-yet unknown approach that Secretary of Education Betsy
DeVos would take. (Murray led the opposition to DeVos in the Senate before
DeVos was confirmed.)
"It helps to improve
teacher-preparation program accountability," Murray said on the floor
about the rules.
Trump Education Adviser Wants 'Robust
Portfolio of Options' For K-12 Students
Education Week Politics K12 Blog By Alyson Klein on March 8,
2017 4:39 PM
Arlington, Va. Jason Botel, a top adviser to
President Donald Trump on education issues, sees school choice as a
vehicle for furthering educational equity for all students. And he thinks a new
pilot program in the Every Student Succeeds Act could help districts expand
those student choices. "We need to
build more robust portfolio of school options," said Botel in a speech
Wednesday to the National Parent Teacher Association's legislative
conference. The White House and the U.S. Department of Education are working
together, Botel, said, "on the best ways to ensure that all students have
the resources they need, as some choose to attend public schools, some choose
to attend public charter, public magnet schools, and some choose private
schools, online learning." Botel
didn't say this specifically, but a federal tax credit scholarship program—like
the one created in a bill introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., seems to
be one likely route for furthering choice. In kicking off his remarks, Botel framed
school choice as a strategy to make sure all kids get access to an equitable
education. Advocates need to collaborate to combat "our common
adversaries, inequity of opportunity and inequity of outcome," he said.
Botel, who served as the
president of MarylandCAN, an advocacy organization, before joining the Trump
administration and who has taken some heat from Democratic education
"reformers" for working with the Trump administration, gave a quick
primer on how he came to embrace private school choice for at-risk students.
Trump's education adviser promotes private
schools
ABC News By MARIA DANILOVA WASHINGTON — Mar 8, 2017, 5:40 PM ET
A
senior presidential aide said Wednesday that American families should have
various school options for their children, including private schools. Jason Botel, Donald Trump's education
adviser, told a National PTA conference that some children may not thrive in
traditional public or charter schools and should have an opportunity to attend
private schools. "We need an
education landscape that offers high quality options to all students and
parents," Botel told the conference.
Botel, who has worked in both traditional public and charter schools,
told the story of some of his students who were only able to succeed
academically after going to private schools. "We are committed to ensuring
that students and parents of all backgrounds for whom public school may not be
the best option have access to high quality private schools," he added.
Botel's message highlighted the focus of the Trump administration on
school choice. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is
a longtime charter school advocate, and Trump recently visited a small, private
Catholic school in Florida to
promote private-school voucher programs. The administration has talked about
expanding voucher programs, which are publicly funded scholarships for
low-income families to attend private schools, and tax credits to give more
children access to private schools.
http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/wireStory/trumps-education-adviser-promotes-private-schools-46001990
DeVos praises Orthodox Jewish group that
strongly backs public funding for religious schools
Washington Post Answer Sheet
Blog By Valerie
Strauss March 9 at 3:05 AM
U.S. Education Secretary Betsy
DeVos, who has made school “choice” a policy priority, met on Wednesday with
leaders of an Orthodox Jewish group that has been instrumental in pushing
voucher programs across the country. She praised their “leadership and commitment”
in helping communities secure schools that “meet the academic and religious
needs of their families” and said she looks forward to working with them. DeVos met with leaders of Agudath Israel of
America, which is based in New York and has active branches in more than 25
states, including Texas, Florida, California, Maryland and New Jersey. Its
leaders have successfully lobbied for using public taxpayer dollars to
subsidize religious schools in several states.
How Trump Can Expand School Choice
A scholarship tax credit would
put poor kids in good private schools—and relieve packed public ones.
Wall Street Journal Opinion
By TIMOTHY MICHAEL DOLAN March
8, 2017 6:41 p.m. ETCardinal Dolan is archbishop of New York.
While addressing Congress last
week, President Trump called for passage of “an education bill that
funds school choice for disadvantaged youth.” He added that families should be
able to choose “public, private, charter, magnet, religious or home” schooling.
These comments, and his subsequent visit to St. Andrew Catholic School in
Orlando, Fla., are encouraging. I hope Mr. Trump will push Congress to makes
scholarship tax credits available to working-class families nationwide. These programs provide tax credits for
individuals or corporations that donate to nonprofit scholarship organizations.
St. Andrew’s is a classic example of how students benefit. Some 300 students at
the school receive scholarships through the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship
program. Statewide, nearly 98,000 low-income children attend parochial or
private schools thanks to this program.
‘We are angry’: Families of transgender
children meet with Betsy DeVos
Washington Post By Moriah Balingit March
8 at 2:04 PM
With tears in their eyes, Vanessa
and JR Ford recounted to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos the story of their
transgender daughter Ellie, sharing the drawings where Ellie depicted herself
as a stick figure in a little dress and telling her about Ellie’s fourth
birthday, where she declared “I am a girl in my brain and my heart.” In the Department of Education conference
room, Ellie sat nearby sketching characters from Sonic the Hedgehog and
munching on apple sauce. She had just met the secretary, the Fords later
recalled, giving DeVos her classic fake-out handshake in which she ran her tiny
fingers up the woman’s arm, squealing “squirrel!” The Fords, who live in the District and send
Ellie to a charter school, joined other families of transgender children at a
Wednesday meeting hoping to persuade DeVos to do more to protect transgender
students, whom they say have been imperiled by the Trump administration’s move
to roll back Obama-era protections two weeks ago. “It was very painful to have to do. Both my
husband and I fought through tears trying to tel her how difficult the past two
weeks have been,” Vanessa Ford told The Washington Post. “These are our
families. These are our friends. And we are angry.” The emotional meeting took place immediately
before DeVos met with representatives of three LGBTQ groups — National Center
for Transgender Equality; the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network; and
Equality Michigan -- who echoed the parents’ message and outlined policy
recommendations.
Briefing:
Public Education Funding in Pennsylvania March 15, from 5:30-7:00 p.m.,
On March 15, from 5:30-7:00 p.m.,
join attorneys Michael Churchill, Jennifer Clarke and Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg
for a briefing on public education.
Topics include:
·
the basics of education funding
·
the school funding lawsuit
·
the property tax elimination bill and how it would affect school
funding
1.5 CLE credits available to PA
licensed attorneys.
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 #4 – Indiana University of Pennsylvania Tuesday, March 14,
2017 – 1011
South Drive (Stouffer Hall), Indiana, PA 15705Forum #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
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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