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Keystone
State Education Coalition
PA
Ed Policy Roundup June 20, 2017:
Rumor
of $100M cut in education budget rattles fair school funding campaign
Daily Local By Evan Brandt, ebrandt@21st-centurymedia.com, @PottstownNews on
Twitter POSTED: 06/19/17, 9:54 PM
EDT | UPDATED: 4 HRS AGO
PHOENIXVILLE >> Worried by rumors that the state Legislature
may cut the additional $100 million planned for K-12 education funding in the
state budget, advocates called a press conference Monday to press their point
that the money is needed to begin leveling the playing field for underfunded
districts. Pennsylvania already ranks
worst in the nation for the gap between rich and poor school districts and Gov.
Tom Wolf’s proposed budget had included $100 million more in education funding
to be distributed through the fair funding formula adopted last year by the
Legislature. All other state education
funding is distributed the way it always has been, an opaque political method
which has resulted in the current disparity between rich and poor districts. Without that additional funding, the state
would be making no effort whatsoever to try to close the nation’s worst funding
gap, the advocates said. However, it is
not at all clear that funding cut is on the table at all.
STATE BUDGET PROPOSAL: PA LAWMAKERS MUST
HEAR FROM CONSTITUENTS THAT SCHOOL FUNDING IS A PRIORITY
Public Interest Law Center Website June 19, 2017
We filed our school funding lawsuit because across Pennsylvania,
children attend schools that are inequitably and inadequately funded. Far from
a silver bullet, the lawsuit is one piece of a larger strategy to provide all
Pennsylvania children with the sound education they deserve. That larger
strategy relies on you, engaged citizens, determined to fix this problem for
the next generation, and willing to engage with state officials who have the
power to do something about it. For the
upcoming year, the Governor has proposed a $100 million increase in basic
education funding. That proposal is not close to enough—particularly in a
system that is underfunded by $3 billion. But we may not even get that $100
million: Rumors are flying in Harrisburg that even the Governor’s proposal may
be scaled back as lawmakers attempt to pass a budget. Cutting back on an already inadequate proposal will only make this
problem worse: our public schools will continue to be forced to make more cuts,
and impose ever higher local taxes on their communities. Lawmakers must hear from constituents that
school funding is a priority, and that the state needs to increase basic
education funding—by at least $100 million—and make no other cuts to public
schools.
Please
consider taking action on this alert to urge your legislators to keep the $100
million increase for Basic Education Funding that the Governor proposed and the
House agreed with.
ALERT:
$100 million in funding for PA's schools is in jeopardy
Education Voters PA Legislative Alert June 19, 2017
State lawmakers are working to pass a budget for next year
and we are hearing that many do not support Governor Wolf's proposed $100
million increase in funding for public school students. Unless the state invests more in Basic Education Funding, our
public schools will continue to be forced to make cuts that hurt students and
enact local tax increases that hurt communities. To keep our schools from falling too far behind, state lawmakers
must reject any budget that does not contain at least a $100 million increase
in Basic Education Funding and they must make no other cuts to public schools. Please take action. Lawmakers need to hear
from their constituents so they make students a priority.
Rural
Schools: Inadequate state support hampering education
Tribune Democrat By Ed Albert (www.parss.org) and Joan Benso (www.papartnerships.org) June 19, 2017
Ed Albert is executive director of Pa. Association of Rural
and Small Schools.
Joan Benso is president and CEO of Pennsylvania Partnerships for
Children.
Insufficient school funding is not just an urban or suburban
problem; it is a state problem. That is the main takeaway from a report on
rural schools recently released by Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children. The report, “Spending Impact on Student
Achievement: A Rural Perspective,” found that of Pennsylvania’s 260 rural
school districts, 202 are not receiving their fair share of state funding,
forcing districts to either spend less and risk student achievement or increase
local taxes. In turn, 158 rural
districts spend below the amount needed to properly educate students – or the
“adequacy target.” When rural school districts do not reach that adequacy
target, the underspending is a direct result of inadequate state support. That lack of support negatively affects
student achievement. Like urban school
districts and those in less affluent suburbs, many rural schools educate
significant numbers of children living in poverty. Their students live in
economically disadvantaged communities that are confronting serious social
challenges such as the growing opioid problem. These rural schools must deal
with smaller student populations across larger and sparsely populated areas
that present higher transportation costs and that limit the ability to save
money through economies of scale. Rural school districts frequently lack the
local tax base to raise sufficient funds through property taxes. That is a significant problem since the state
shoulders only 37 percent of the cost of K-12 education, ranking it 46th in the
country in state share.
Pennsylvania
badly needs new revenue, top Senate Dem says
Inquirer by Karen
Langley, HARRISBURG BUREAU
Updated: JUNE 19, 2017 — 6:45 PM EDT
HARRISBURG — Senate Democratic leader Jay Costa painted a bleak
picture of state finances Monday, predicting that lawmakers and the governor
will put Band-Aids on the next two budgets instead of fixing problems by
enacting steady revenue increases. Though
the June 30 deadline for the next fiscal year’s budget is less than two weeks
away, the Republican-controlled General Assembly and Democratic Gov. Wolf have
made little visible progress in negotiations.
“A year from now, someone will be standing here and probably repeating
the same thing: We’re a billion-and-a-half dollars short, and there’s no
willingness to be able to address the problems that we have going forward,”
Costa said, speaking at a luncheon of the Pennsylvania Press Club. “We’ll make
up ways to figure it out, to get through it, and then June 30 will pass and
we’ll have some discussions about whether the revenue stream is appropriate or
not.” The state Independent Fiscal
Office projected last week that the current year’s revenue will fall more than
$1 billion below the Wolf administration’s estimate at the beginning of the
fiscal year, putting budget makers in a hole as they plot the 2017-18 spending
plan.
Editorial board, The York Dispatch3:42 p.m. ET June 19, 2017
Facing a $2.2 billion budget shortfall in their own spending plan,
some Pennsylvania House Republicans are fretting about how to bridge that gap
without some form of tax increase.
“This budget is going to be difficult,” Sen. Bob Mensch, R-Montgomery,
told The Associated Press. “And any solution is going to involve pain.” Take a couple of guesses as to who exactly is
likely to feel that pain. In the past,
it was homeowners, who saw higher school taxes when state education funding was
cut; motorists, when gas taxes were raised and licensing and registration fees
were hiked; smokers when tobacco taxes went up; and even small entrepreneurs
forced out of business under last year’s 40 percent inventory tax on vape
shops. Now guess who always survives
these budgets feeling pretty darn good? Natural
gas drillers, who continue making a bundle off Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale
reserves without having to worry about an extraction tax — which they pay in
every other large natural gas-producing state.
Most state Republicans in control of the Legislature have long resisted
calls for a fair extraction tax, often trotting out the ridiculous argument
that drillers would leave if asked to pay such a tax. And go where? For one thing, Pennsylvania sits atop the largest natural gas
reserve in the United States. Secondly, as we already noted, no other state has
lawmakers foolish enough to give drillers a free ride at the expense of their
constituents.
Pa.
lawmakers want to kiss Keystone Exams and seniority-based layoffs goodbye
Penn Live BY JAN MURPHY jmurphy@pennlive.com Updated on June 19, 2017 at 7:27
PM Posted on June 19, 2017 at 7:25 PM
School may be out for the summer but state lawmakers are busy at
the Capitol working to change the rules governing standardized testing for high
school students as well as evaluating and furloughing teachers. House and Senate education committees on
Monday approved bills that would:
·
Replace the Keystone Exams with the
Scholastic Aptitude Test(SAT), an aligned vocational test, GED or the military entrance
exam to meet the federal Every Student Succeeds Act's accountability requirement
for high school students.
·
As part of that legislation, it also would make revisions to the
teacher evaluation system including allowing parents and students to offer
input in rating their teachers.
·
Allow school boards to lay off teachers for economic reasons and
allow those furloughs to be based on recent teacher
evaluation ratings instead of seniority.
Both bills can now advance through their respective chambers for
consideration.
For
20 years, charter schools have provided quality education options for families:
Tom Ridge
PENNLIVE OP-ED By Tom Ridge Posted on June 19, 2017 at 8:30 AM
Tom Ridge, a Republican, is the former governor of Pennsylvania
and the nation's first Secretary of Homeland Security.
Twenty years ago this week, I was privileged to sign the
Commonwealth's first charter school law, which provided meaningful educational
options for Pennsylvania families whose children were stuck in underperforming
public schools. My purpose in leading
the fight for charter schools was to create a new model for public education
that would put the needs of students first, giving all children a better chance
at a quality education. Two decades
later, with nearly 160 charter schools statewide that serve more than 100,000
students, plus a waiting list of tens of thousands more children, it is clear
that charter schools are an invaluable asset in public education, particularly
when it comes to serving those in poverty.
Despite the remarkable success of charters, however, there remains much
work to be done in the effort to secure a quality public education for all
children. All schools must be accountable for the children they serve,
and we must end the bitter debates that too often pit charters against
traditional public schools.
Reprise:
Yes, we need charter school reform. This House bill isn't the way to do it:
Lawrence A. Feinberg
PENNLIVE OP-ED By Lawrence A. Feinberg Posted on May 8, 2017 at 10:00 AM
After 20 years, it is long past time for meaningful reforms to
Pennsylvania's charter school law that will benefit students and parents while
also protecting our taxpayers. But
in its present form, reform legislation (HB97) sponsored by Rep.
Mike Reese, R-Somerset, is not the legislation to do that. The bill would significantly diminish local
oversight and control by elected school boards who have a fiduciary
responsibility to represent the taxpayers who pay for these publicly funded but
privately managed schools. Reese's
bill also encourages expansion of the charter sector without appropriate
measures to ensure that they are of high quality. Our costly and chronically underperforming
cyber charters, authorized by the state, are a prime example of that approach. Charter operators have no accountability to
the taxpayers footing the bill. Their funding comes "shrink-wrapped',
based on local school district spending, with no local press coverage of
charter board meetings; no public budget process; no public check
registers. The House of
Representatives on Tuesday sent a charter school reform bill to the Senate
renewing the perennial effort to strengthen the state's 20-year-old charter law
that state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale calls the "worst in the
nation." For charters that are run
by private management companies, like Chester Community Charter, the state's
largest brick and mortar charter, taxpayers know virtually nothing about how
their money is spent.
Diane Ravitch’s Blog By dianeravitch June 19, 2017 //
The Pennsylvania legislature is considering a bill to “reform”
charter schools, but it still allows charters to drain resources from public
schools without reimbursement, and it still preserves the low-performing
cybercharters that milk resources from public schools with providing a decent
education to any students. Many
grassroots groups oppose this bill, and the
Haverford School Board just voted 7-1 against it.
The board of school directors recently joined Education Voters of
Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, Pennsylvania School
Boards Association, Education Law Center and other school districts around the
state that have voiced opposition to provisions for charter school reform in
House Bill 97. School directors voted
7-1 to adopt a resolution opposing the bill, which they allege “fails to
establish meaningful change” from the state’s 20-year-old Charter School Law.
The
Supreme Court is going to hear a case on partisan gerrymandering - That is a
very big deal.
Penn Live BY JOHN L. MICEK jmicek@pennlive.com Updated on June 19, 2017 at 4:46
PM Posted on June 19, 2017 at 4:44 PM
The Washington Post reports this afternoon: The Supreme Court declared
Monday that it will consider whether gerrymandered election maps favoring one
political party over another violate the Constitution, a potentially
fundamental change in the way American elections are conducted. The justices regularly are called to invalidate state
electoral maps that have been illegally drawn to reduce the influence of racial
minorities by depressing the impact of their votes. But the Supreme Court has never found a plan
unconstitutional because of partisan gerrymandering. If it does, it would have
a revolutionary impact on the reapportionment that comes after the 2020
election and could come at the expense of Republicans, who control the process
in the majority of states. The court
accepted a case from Wisconsin, where a divided panel of three federal judges
last year ruled last year that the state's Republican leadership in 2011 pushed
through a plan so partisan that it violated the Constitution's First Amendment
and equal rights protections. Reformers in Pennsylvania have long pushed for changes to the way the
state draws both its legislative and congressional maps in the decennial
redistricting. Under state law, a
bipartisan commission, made up of Republican and Democratic members of the
state House and Senate, joined by an independent chairman (usually, but not
always, a retired judge), oversee the redrawing of legislative districts.
Justices to Hear Major Challenge to Partisan
Gerrymandering
New York Times By ADAM LIPTAK JUNE 19, 2017
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court announced on Monday that it
would consider whether partisan gerrymandering violates the Constitution,
potentially setting the stage for a ruling that could for the first time impose
limits on a practice that has helped define American politics since the early
days of the Republic. The term
gerrymander was coined after Elbridge Gerry, Massachusetts’s governor, signed
an 1812 law that included a voting district shaped like a salamander to help
the electoral prospects of his party. Over the centuries, lawmakers have become
ever more sophisticated in redrawing legislative maps after each decennial
census, carving out oddly shaped districts for state legislatures and the House
of Representatives that favor their parties’ candidates. While the Supreme Court has struck down
voting districts as racial gerrymanders, it has never disallowed a legislative
map because of partisan gerrymandering. The
new case is an appeal of a
decision striking down the legislative map for the Wisconsin State
Assembly drawn after Republicans gained control of the state’s government in
2010. The decision was the first
from a federal court in more than 30 years to reject a voting map as an
unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.
Baer:
Gerrymander lawsuit: not perfect but a start, and valuable
Philly Daily News by John Baer, Political Columnist baerj@phillynews.com
Updated: JUNE 19, 2017 — 8:05 AM EDT
There’s some fun stuff in a sweeping anti-gerrymandering lawsuit
filed in Commonwealth Court last week. The
suit seeks to get Pennsylvania’s 2011 congressional map scrapped as
unconstitutional on grounds it was drawn by Republicans for Republicans to
ensure that Republicans, now and forever, represent the state in Congress. One example offered is the ridiculously
shaped, oft-ridiculed Seventh District in the Philly burbs (GOP
Rep. Pat Meehan’s seat). The suit
notes that there’s a place in Coatesville where the district is so narrow the
only thing connecting one part of it to another is a medical endoscopy center. I’m betting the example is there to suggest
GOP mapmakers were thinking: “Hey, Dems, we got a new district for you. Bend
over.” It’s just one example in a list
intended to prove Republicans packed Democratic voters into a few districts and
dispersed such voters across other districts to guarantee GOP wins.
Trib Live by JAMIE
MARTINES | Sunday, June 18, 2017, 11:00 p.m.
School districts are required to provide “a free and appropriate
education” to all students under the federal Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act. Providing those services
can be expensive and hard to plan for, according to Janet Sardon, Yough School
District superintendent. For example, a
new student could move into the district over the summer and require services
ranging from a personal aide, which could cost a district about $30,000 per
year, to attending classes off site, which could cost closer to $60,000 per
year. The district must also absorb transportation costs for those students. Almost one in five of the rural Westmoreland
County district's 2,100 students are enrolled in special education services.
York Dispatch by Junior
Gonzalez , 505-5439/@JuniorG_YDPublished 5:21 p.m. ET June 19, 2017
The vote will occur in the district’s administration
building, 31 N. Pershing Ave. in York City, and is expected to bring a
larger than usual audience to the board room.
In a special meeting June 5, several administrators and board members
from the Helen Thackston Charter School were present, including current Helen
Thackston board member Lisa Kennedy, who is one of three people on the ballot
for four open seats on the York City school board in November's municipal
election. At the June 5 meeting,
York City Superintendent Eric Holmes cited several issues Thackston has either
not followed up on or has come up short on following the district’s
initial resolution outlining deadlines in February. According to the new resolution, some of the
deadlines and standards missed include the 75 percent professional staff
certification threshold required by the Pennsylvania School Code and the
absence of many background checks and clearances of school board members and
employees that the school is required to have on file.
In total, the resolution introduced at the June 5 meeting listed
24 reasons for revoking the school’s charter.
Philly
teachers OK new contract; now, how to pay for it?
Inquirer by Kristen
A. Graham, Staff Writer @newskag | kgraham@phillynews.com
Updated: JUNE 19, 2017 — 9:05 PM EDT
The longest contract stalemate in Philadelphia School District
history appears to be over, with teachers overwhelmingly approving a new
contract worth $395 million Monday night after four bitter years. The three-year deal will mean raises for the
more than 11,000 members of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, the city’s
largest union, though it will not make educators whole for five years of frozen
wages. “We are really, really pleased
about the agreement,” Jerry Jordan, PFT president, said after a general
membership meeting at the Liacouras Center of Temple University. But even as union leadership celebrated the
vote — 95 percent of members who voted endorsed the contract — politicians made
clear there is no plan in place to pay for it.
And some officials in Harrisburg sounded ominous notes about their
willingness to help foot the bill, which is $245 million more than the district
has budgeted. A source close to the negotiations has said that the deal could
mean teacher layoffs down the road. Republicans
who control both legislative chambers in Harrisburg threw cold water on any
expectation that the state would send Philadelphia more money to help it pay
for the contract. “It makes it very
difficult to take any request from Philadelphia seriously when they do nothing
that appears to help themselves – and then they negotiate a contract which they
admit is based on fantasy,” said Steve Miskin, spokesman for House Republicans. Drew Crompton, the top lawyer for Senate
Republicans, said he was flabbergasted by the move to approve a contract for
which the district does not have the money.
“I can’t fathom the school board signing a deal that they fundamentally
know that they can’t pay for,” he said. “It’s perplexing.”
PFT
overwhelmingly approves contract settlement
Most teachers said they voted yes, if reluctantly, glad the ordeal
is over.
The notebook and Breaking
News,Newsworks by Avi Wolfman-Arent and Dale
Mezzacappa June 19, 2017 — 8:33pm
Philadelphia teachers ratified a new labor deal Monday night, all
but assuring city educators of their first valid contract since the old pact
expired four years ago. The contract
will go into effect if a majority of the five-member School Reform Commission (SRC)
approves it at a meeting scheduled for Tuesday. District sources expect the SRC
to approve the deal, though there may be a dissenting vote or two. Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president
Jerry Jordan announced the vote at a news conference after the meeting
concluded. “We have a contract,” he said.
The vote, tallied by the American Arbitration Association, was
overwhelming – 4,399 yes, and 2,013 no.
“We’re glad the contract is settled,” Jordan said. “We know it will
bring stability to the School District of Philadelphia. The retention of
teachers, I believe, will be much better because people will be able to plan
their futures and Philadelphia will be a place where we can recruit once
again.” Superintendent William Hite
issued a statement saying he was "pleased" and that the contract
represents "stability." The
new contract runs through 2020 and is expected to cost the School District of
Philadelphia $395 million. It includes some retroactive pay and salary
increases for union members, whose wages haven’t budged in almost five years.
Even as they gained experience and in some cases earned advanced degrees, they
did not receive increments. Asked
whether he had any commitments from Mayor Kenney or other city officials
for additional funds to help pay for it, Jordan said he did not. “There was never ever a time I can remember
when a contract has been settled where there has been a boatload of money
waiting to pay for [it],” Jordan said. “We have to rely on our funders in the
state as well as the city.”
Bethlehem Area School Board approves new
teacher contract, budget
Jacqueline Palochko Contact Reporter Of The Morning Call June 19,
2017
BETHLEHEM — Bethlehem Area School District teachers have a new
two-year deal that gives them more than a 2 percent raise each year. At a special meeting Monday night,
the school board unanimously voted to approve a new teachers contract. The
contract was approved a week before the current one is set to expire. For 2017-18, teaches will receive a 2.1
percent raise; for the next year, it's a 2.9 percent raise. Starting salary, currently $47,076, will
increase to $48,441 in the final year of the contract. Top salary, currently
$88,157, will increase to $90,713 in the final year of the contract. Teachers union President Jolene Vitalos said
union members voted and approved the contract earlier in this month. The union
represents slightly more than 1,000 teachers in the district. The contract includes an increased stipend
for the high schools' theater departments. Vitalos said the stipend comes to
just under $20,000 for both high schools. There are no changes to health care benefits. School board President Michael Faccinetto
said the contract is for two years and not longer because of uncertainty about
what could happen in Harrisburg. In the
last contract, approved two years ago, teachers took a one-year salary freeze.
Another
teachers union agrees to short contract amid uncertainty
BY SARA K. SATULLO ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com, For lehighvalleylive.com Updated
on June 20, 2017 at 6:34 AMPosted on June 20, 2017 at 6:30 AM
Recognizing Pennsylvania's rocky state finances and
legislative uncertainty, Bethlehem
Area School District teachers have inked a new two-year contract. The school board approved the agreement at
Monday night's special board meeting where directors also
passed the 2017-18 budget. The contract covers the
2017-18 and 2018-19 school years and carries average raises of 2.17 percent and
2.99 percent, said Michael Faccinetto, board president. The 400-some teachers at the top of the
salary schedule will see a one-time $500 stipend this year but not the next
year, said Jolene Vitalos, union president.
Both the district and the Bethlehem Education Association preferred a
longer contract, but there are just too many unknowns on the horizon,
Faccinetto said.
Spring-Ford
teachers authorize strike, continue talks
By Eric
Devlin, The Mercury POSTED: 06/19/17, 5:21 PM EDT | UPDATED: 9 HRS AGO
ROYERSFORD >> The Spring-Ford Education Association teachers
union announced Sunday its membership approved a strike authorization as
contract talks continue with the school board. The two sides of the bargaining
table plan to meet again Wednesday. An
“overwhelming majority,” or approximately 95 percent of the 420 union members
present, approved the decision in the floor vote, said union President Zach
Laurie. The union has 628 total members.
“Our membership feels we’ve come to a stand still in the bargaining
process,” Laurie told Digital First Media Monday. The move isn’t a guarantee a strike will
happen, but it does allow the union’s leadership to make that decision if it
thinks the action is needed, Laurie said.
The news comes less than a week after the first contract talks took
place between the school board and the union in over two months, when the two
sides met June 9. Until that point, there had been no discussions after March
30.
“Because
all current employees will get the pension benefits they’ve been promised, the
new retirement structure isn’t projected to draw down the billions in
accumulated pension debt until 2048.”
Editorial:
Pension reform bill not exactly historic
Delco Times Editorial POSTED: 06/19/17, 7:22 AM
EDT | UPDATED: 19 HRS AGO
Could we stop using the word “historic” to portray legislative
efforts better described as overhyped, overdue and half-baked? Pennsylvania lawmakers and Gov. Tom Wolf
reached for their favorite adjective last week in praising a pension reform
bill that will do little to reduce a $77 billion public pension debt over the
next 30 years — ensuring that school districts will keep passing along
“automatic” property tax hikes in the foreseeable future. This is reform? This is historic? Senate Bill 1 accomplishes something that
should have been done two or three decades ago — shift future state employees
and teachers into more of a self-funded retirement plan. Those hired after Jan.
1, 2019 will have a choice between a hybrid system (part 401(k), part
traditional defined-benefit) or a full 401(k)-type plan. Some employees,
including state troopers and corrections workers, are exempt because the nature
of their jobs. Wolf has promised to sign the bill.
AG:
Manheim Township school board wasted taxpayer money, operated in secrecy in
former superintendent's early termination
Lancaster Online by Susan Baldrige and Alex Geli | Staff writers Jun
19, 2017
The Manheim Township school board wasted taxpayer money and
operated in secrecy in its handling of a separation agreement with the
district's former superintendent, according to the state's top fiscal watchdog. Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene
DePasquale called the board's actions "inexcusable" and "not in
the best interest of the public" during a press conference Monday at
Lancaster City Hall . DePasquale said he
will refer the issue to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, which, he
said, could withhold basic education funding from the district. Most of DePasquale's findings from his recently completed audit of
the school district were related to the expense and secrecy surrounding the termination of former Superintendent John
Nodecker in 2016, and his separation agreement.
Faced
with a scathing audit, Lancaster Co. school district blames the media, of
course: John L. Micek
Penn Live BY JOHN L. MICEK jmicek@pennlive.com Updated on June 19, 2017 at 2:04
PM Posted on June 19, 2017 at 12:56 PM
LANCASTER -- So if your local school district violated state law by
failing to publicly vote to blow $358,000 in your money to buy out the contract
of a former superintendent, and then got called on it by Pennsylvania's top
fiscal watchdog, you'd probably expect some degree of penitence. Right? Not in the Manheim
Township schools, where gross incompetence, a penchant for operating behind
closed doors, and messenger-shooting is apparently the order of the day. Here's what Mark Anderson, the township school board's president,
had to say Monday when state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale blistered the
suburban Lancaster County district in a new audit: "This has been a long, but successful,
road for this District and the current school board,"
Anderson said in a statement posted to the district's web
site. "Our community has rallied together to show positive
support for the board and school district that, as this final, full performance
audit shows, had unwarranted negative reporting by the local media."Titusville Area School District adopts budget with tax hike
With growing retirement contributions, district officials try to maintain programs
By Natalie Dodd Herald Staff Writer | 0 comments Posted: Tuesday, June 20, 2017 5:00 am
The Titusville School Board officially adopted its 2017-18 general fund budget of $33,690,764 during Monday’s meeting. The number, according to Business Manager Shawn Sampson, has not changed since the previous meeting on June 12. In addition to the final approval of the budget, the board also approved the tax millage increase for the 2017-18 fiscal year. With one “no” vote cast by Carol Shaffer, the official millage for the upcoming fiscal year is set at 40.27 mills for Crawford County, an increase of 1.14 mills; 16.94 mills for Venango County, an increase of .28 mills; and 50.32 mills for Warren County, an increase of 1.32 mills. This translates to a 2.9 percent increase for Crawford County, a 1.7 percent increase for Venango County, and a 2.7 percent increase for Warren County residents. A mill equals $1 for every $1,000 in a property’s assessed value.
Bethlehem
school board OKs tax hike (but hardly its biggest)
BY SARA K. SATULLO ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com, For lehighvalleylive.com Updated
on June 19, 2017 at 10:36 PMPosted on June 19, 2017 at 9:09 PM
Bethlehem
Area School District tax bills will rise 1.24 percent on average, a tax
hike that the superintendent says is the lowest in 25 years. But the news is not so good for the 20
percent of district residents in Lehigh County, who are seeing an
almost 6.7 percent tax hike largely due to a state
calculation change. The Bethlehem Area School
Board on Monday night approved a $268.5 million 2017-18 final budget in a 7-1
vote, with Director Thomas Tomasik dissenting. Director Dean Donaher called
into the meeting to cast his affirmative vote.
The district began the budget season with a $12.5 million deficit, which
was shaved down to $3.29 million through a mix of job and spending cuts, new
revenue and postponing educational initiatives, like the new elementary Spanish
program. It relies on $4 million from district savings to close the hole.
Trib Live by MICHAEL
DIVITTORIO | Monday, June 19, 2017, 10:24 p.m.
Riverview School District property owners will pay 2.5 percent
more in real estate taxes next school year.
A property owner in Oakmont or Verona with the district's median home
value of $134,000 would pay about $73 more in real estate taxes. The board voted 8-0 Monday night to approve
the districts' final in 2017-18 budget with a 0.5611-mill tax hike. That sets
next year's millage rate at 23.0073. The
current tax rate is 22.4462 mills. Business
Manager Tammy Good said the tax hike was unavoidable largely due to pension
increases. “Our expenditures are
beginning to outpace our revenues, and it will continue,” Good said.
Trib Live by DILLON
CARR | Monday, June 19, 2017, 10:42 p.m.
The Gateway School Board plans to furlough teachers in 10
positions at Tuesday night's meeting, but many could remain district employees. Citing a 24-percent enrollment drop over the
past decade, school officials are proposing to cut three elementary teachers,
three physical education teachers, two reading teachers and one each in science
and technology. Each employee would be
given the chance to bid for other open positions June 27, and to be recalled in
August, district human resources director Patricia Crump said. The bidding process is based on seniority and
certifications, as regulated by the contract with the Gateway Education
Association. Gateway Education Association President Mark Spinola couldn't be
reached for comment Monday.
Trib Live by MATTHEW
GUERRY | Monday, June 19, 2017, 11:00 p.m.
The Hempfield Area School Board on Monday night passed a budget
for next school year that will raise property taxes by nearly 3 percent. Officials blamed the hike on increases in the
amount the district will pay in state pension funds and salaries. The real estate tax hike is Hempfield's ninth
in 12 years. The $95.75 million budget
raises the property tax to from 79.74 mills to 82.21. That's an increase of
$82.21 for every $1,000 of a property's assessed value. Hempfield's budget adoption comes at a time
when similar hikes are being made in neighboring districts, officials said.
Trib Live by PATRICK
VARINE | Monday, June 19, 2017, 8:57 p.m.
Franklin Regional School Board officials approved a 2017-18 budget
that bumps up property taxes by 2.63 mills.
The $56.5 million budget has not changed substantially from the
preliminary version the board approved last month. The proposed final budget would see millage
rise to 93.62 mills; the new millage translates to an annual increase of $45
for homes valued at $100,000. Revenue is
supplemented by $830,000 from a fund earmarked for pension contributions, as
well as just over $100,000 from the district's unassigned fund balance.
“PA
is #5 with $253.3 million heading back to school districts. As a state with one
of the most expensive special education budgets in the country, I’m sure PA
districts are eager to have this funding to support their students.”
What States Receive The Most Money For
School-Based Medicaid?
AASA Website June
19, 2017
The GOP health care proposal to change Medicaid from an
entitlement program to a block grant could mean that school districts are cut
off from receiving Medicaid reimbursement permanently. With a significant
shortage of federal funding to support Medicaid, districts will be in the
unenviable position of competing with hospitals, doctors and other providers
for limited reimbursement from states. While districts receive less than 1% of
the federal Medicaid allocation, that money represents the third largest
federal funding stream in education. Here are the states that will lose the most most school-based
Medicaid funding:
#1 by a wide margin is Texas. Districts in Texas receive about 444
million dollars annually from the Medicaid program (250 million of which comes
from the feds).
#2 is my home-state of NJ which captures about 286.6 million annually.
Yeah Jersey!
Coming in right behind NJ is IL, which is #3. IL school districts
receive $286.4 million annually.
#4 is New York with $273.6 million in school-based Medicaid
reimbursements.
If You're A Supt Who Hasn't Taken Action
To Protect Medicaid In Schools Now, You're Missing A Major Opportunity To Make
A Difference In The Debate On Capitol Hill
AASA Website June
13, 2017
As a school leader you know school-based Medicaid programs are
really important to students, to school personnel and to communities. We need
Congress to understand this point now more than ever. Please take 5 minutes.
Make a call, send an email, do whatever you can to weigh in with your Senators.
If you miss the opportunity to protect school-based Medicaid programs you are
missing an opportunity to make a meaningful difference in this debate.
Richard Wolf , USA Today Published 9:34 a.m. ET June 19, 2017
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear a potential
landmark case that addresses how far lawmakers can go in choosing their voters,
rather than the other way around. Venturing into what one justice recently called the "always
unsavory" process of drawing election districts for partisan advantage,
the court will try to set a standard -- something it has failed to
do in the past. The case under review
comes from Wisconsin, but about one-third of the maps drawn for Congress and
state legislatures could be affected by the justices' ruling. Similar cases are
pending in North Carolina and Maryland. The
issue is reaching the high court at a time when both Republicans and Democrats
have improved the art of drawing congressional and legislative maps to entrench
themselves in office for a decade at a time. Computer software
increasingly helps them create safe districts for their most conservative and
liberal candidates, whose success invariably leads to more partisan gridlock in
government.
Diane Ravitch’s Blog By dianeravitch June 19, 2017 //
Legislators in South Carolina must have been following an ALEC
script when they authorized Virtual charter schools to enroll students and take
money away from their underfunded public schoools. Or maybe they were paid off
by lobbyists. There is certainly massive evidence, even from charter advocates,
that virtual charters get terrible results. Yet no matter how much they fail,
they are never closed or held accountable.
Consider this report
in the “Post & Courier” in South Carolina: “Online charter schools have
grown exponentially across South Carolina and the nation — and questions about
their effectiveness are growing, too. “Today,
the state has five virtual charter schools that together enroll roughly 10,000
students, up dramatically from about 2,100 students nine years ago when the
state’s first cyber schools opened. A 2007 bipartisan bill fueled their growth
by authorizing the state’s virtual schools program, and since then, taxpayers
have footed the bill to the tune of more than $350 million. “Despite this hefty investment, online
charter schools have produced dismal results on almost all academic metrics,
according to state and district data. On average, less than half of their
students graduate on time. At one cyber school, nearly a third of students
dropped out last school year. Data from the S.C Public Charter School District,
which oversees these schools, shows just one in two virtual students enroll for
a full year.
Apply Now for EPLC's 2017-2018 PA Education Policy Fellowship
Program!
Education Policy and Leadership Center
Applications are available now for the 2017-2018
Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP). The
Education Policy Fellowship Program is sponsored in Pennsylvania by The
Education Policy and Leadership Center (EPLC). Click here for the program calendar of sessions. With more than 500 graduates in its
first eighteen years, this Program is a premier professional development
opportunity for educators, state and local policymakers, advocates, and
community leaders. State Board of Accountancy (SBA) credits are available
to certified public accountants. Past participants include state policymakers,
district superintendents and principals, school business officers, school board
members, education deans/chairs, statewide association leaders, parent leaders,
education advocates, and other education and community leaders. Fellows are
typically sponsored by their employer or another organization. The Fellowship Program begins with a two-day
retreat on September 14-15, 2017 and continues to graduation
in June 2018.
The Timothy M. Allwein Advocacy
Award was established in 2011 by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association and
may be presented annually to the individual school director or entire school
board to recognize outstanding leadership in legislative advocacy efforts on
behalf of public education and students that are consistent with the positions
in PSBA’s Legislative Platform. In
addition to being a highly respected lobbyist, Timothy Allwein served to help
our members be effective advocates in their own right. Many have said that Tim
inspired them to become active in our Legislative Action Program and to develop
personal working relationships with their legislators. The 2017 Allwein Award nomination process
will begin on Monday, May 15, 2017. The application due
date is July 16, 2017 in the honor of Tim’s birth date of July 16.
Pennsylvania Education Leadership Summit July 23-25, 2017 Blair
County Convention Center - Altoona
A three-day event providing an excellent opportunity for
school district administrative teams and instructional leaders to learn, share
and plan together
co-sponsored by PASA, the Pennsylvania Principals
Association, PASCD and the PA Association for Middle Level Education
**REGISTRATION IS OPEN**Early Bird Registration Ends
after April 30!
Keynote speakers, high quality breakout sessions, table
talks on hot topics, and district team planning and job-alike sessions will
provide practical ideas that can be immediately reviewed and discussed at the
summit and utilized at the district level.
Keynote Speakers:
Thomas Murray, Director of Innovation for Future Ready Schools, a project of the Alliance for Excellent Education
Kristen Swanson, Director of Learning at Slack and one of the founding members of the Edcamp movement
Thomas Murray, Director of Innovation for Future Ready Schools, a project of the Alliance for Excellent Education
Kristen Swanson, Director of Learning at Slack and one of the founding members of the Edcamp movement
Breakout session strands:
*Strategic/Cultural Leadership
*Systems Leadership
*Leadership for Learning
*Professional and Community Leadership
*Strategic/Cultural Leadership
*Systems Leadership
*Leadership for Learning
*Professional and Community Leadership
CLICK HERE to access the Summit website for
program, hotel and registration information.
Save the Date 2017 PA Principals Association State Conference
October 14. 15, 16, 2017
Doubletree Hotel Cranberry Township, PA
Save the Date: PASA-PSBA
School Leadership Conference October 18-20, Hershey PA
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