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Keystone
State Education Coalition
PA
Ed Policy Roundup June 29, 2017:
Contact
your legislators today and urge them to support a $100 million increase in the
Basic Education Funding (BEF) subsidy and a $25 million increase for special
education. Show your legislators the consequences of proposed $50M transportation
cuts
Click here to find your members of the Senate and House. When you find your
legislators, click on their names for phone numbers and other contact
information. PSBA estimates that 164 school districts will receive less money, even
with the proposed $125 million subsidy increases for 2017-18,
if the General Assembly cuts transportation funding.
The chart shows how much money
each district will receive if the $100 million increase in the BEF and the $25
million increase is enacted, along with how much money each district will lose
with a $50 million decrease for transportation. The final column shows the BEF
and special education funding increase less the transportation decrease. (Please remember that the chart is an estimate that utilizes the best
data available to calculate the funds.)
Here
are some notes from the Senate Education Committee’s consideration yesterday of
HB97, the charter expansion bill:
Amendment to ensure schools know what school students are attending - failed
Amendment to adjust teacher certification compliment at charter schools to 97%- failed
Amendment to ensure that all teachers use the same teacher evaluation tool in all public schools. - failed
Amendment to open charter management companies to audit - failed.
Amendment
that would maintain the makeup of the Charter Appeal Board in its current form,
eliminating the proposal to add charter seats - failed
HB97:
Overhaul of Pa.'s charter school law on the front burner, again
Penn Live BY JAN MURPHY jmurphy@pennlive.com Posted on June 28, 2017 at 8:58
PM
Charter school reform legislation has become the
perennial issue that always gets raised around budget time. This year is no
different. A House-passed bill to modernize the 20-year-old law
that created these independent public schools was brought up for a vote in the
Senate Education Committee on Wednesday at the urging of Senate GOP leaders. The bill seeks to address some of the
concerns that school districts as well as the charter school community have
raised over the years including ones that center around funding, the charter
approval process, ethics, and academic performance measures. However, the committee amended it and
voted 7-5 to send it to the full
Senate for consideration. A Senate vote on it could happen before the end of
the week and then it would have to go back to the House for concurrence. Its
fate in the House is uncertain given some of the changes the Senate made.
Among the changes the committee made were ones that narrowed the
scope of a commission that the House bill formed to look at charter issues to
focusing solely on their funding. Another killed a provision that would have
reduced school districts payments to cyber charter schools, saving districts a
combined $27 million for at least the 2017-18 school year.
Committee Chairman John Eichelberger, R-Blair County, who offered
the amendment, said the reduction in payments to cyber charters "shouldn't
have been in there to start with" and preferred to leave it to the funding
commission to recommend any new funding changes.
The argument behind the reduced payment is a general belief by
school district advocates that it costs less to educate students through an
online school than one that has a brick-and-mortar facility. It was among the
provisions in the bill that helped it win passage in the House in April.
But Eichelberger said, "A large part of what this bill is
going to do is create a study commission and they are going to look at what's
appropriate for cyber charters."
Sen. Jim Brewster, D-Allegheny County, said the Eichelberger
amendment could win bi-partisan support if it kept the $27 million savings for
school districts in it but the removal of that provision was "a bit of a
game-changer." He along with other
Democrats on the committee and Sen. Robert "Tommy" Tomlinson, R-Bucks
County, cast the dissenting votes
New
report on Pa. charter schools calls for reform, opposes House GOP bill
Leading legislator concerned bill
could be rushed through with budget
Rep. James R. Roebuck Jr. Website June 28, 2017 | 10:56 AM
HARRISBURG, June 28 – State Rep. James Roebuck, D-Phila., Democratic chairman of the
House Education Committee, said a major education bill could pass in a rush
around Friday's state budget deadline. So he's issuing a new report on charter
schools in Pennsylvania that calls for strong reforms and explains why a
House-passed Republican bill is mostly the opposite of reform. Roebuck's latest report, his fourth on the
topic, also comes as Pennsylvania's charter school law turned 20 years old this
month.
"Unfortunately, the House Republican charter school bill,
H.B. 97, is the equivalent of taking a leaky roof and drilling more holes in
it. We need to fix the problems with Pennsylvania's outdated charter school
law, not create more. Not all changes are 'reform,'" Roebuck said.
The report is available online at https://is.gd/2017CharterReport. One highlight is an update on
the performance of charter and cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania,
including:
·
For 2015-16, based on a scale of 100, the average School
Performance Profile, or SPP, score for traditional public schools was 70.3; for
charter schools, 58.4; and for cyber charter schools, 50.9.
·
As was the case in 2012-13 and 2013-14, charter schools,
particularly cyber charter schools, still performed academically worse than
other traditional public schools. For the 2015-16 school year, 54 percent of
traditional public schools had SPP scores at or above 70, while only 24 percent
of brick-and-mortar charter schools had SPP scores at or above 70 in 2015-16.
·
Since the enactment of the charter school law in 1997, 38 charter
and cyber charter schools have closed – with two more in process in
Philadelphia -- or about 18 percent of all the charter and cyber charter
schools opened in Pennsylvania.
Blogger
note: One of the amendments defeated yesterday would have opened the books of
charter management companies to audit.
Vahan and Danielle Gureghian are the principals at Charter School
Management Company which is under contract to manage the state’s largest brick
and mortar charter, Chester Community Charter School. They have also been prodigious donors to the
GOP. Under existing charter school law,
PA taxpayers know virtually nothing about how tens of millions of tax dollars
are spent. It appears that total lack of
transparency will continue.
Priciest
Palm Beach house listing drops $5 million to $64.9 million
Even with a new $5 million price
cut, a beachfront house at 1071 N. Ocean Blvd. remains the priciest property
for sale in the Palm Beach Board of Realtors Multiple Listing Service. Its new
price is $64.9 million.
By Darrell
Hofheinz – Palm Beach Daily News Real Estate Writer Posted: Friday,
May 12, 2017
End-of-the-season price drops aren’t uncommon in Palm
Beach real estate. But when the price is slashed by $5 million and the mansion is
new and on the ocean, it still draws attention.
For two years, the never-lived-in house at 1071 North Ocean Blvd. has been the priciest house
in Palm Beach’s multiple listing service — and it just saw its price tag drop
from $69.9 million to $64.9 million, according to an online search today. That price is nearly $20 million less than
the one it carried when it entered the market in March 2015.
The French Chateau-inspired house — with a bowling alley among its
features — was first listed for sale while it was still in construction. It
underwent subsequent price reductions after failing to attract a buyer. With
its stylized H-shape, the house occupies a 2-acre double lot with 242 feet.
Even with the price cut, the eight-bedroom, 35,993-square-foot
house still leads the entries in the Palm Beach Board of Realtors Multiple Listing
Service, the search showed. It is also the most-expensive MLS-listed
property in Palm Beach County. Broker
Christian Angle of Christian Angle Real Estate, meanwhile, has represented the
house on North Ocean Boulevard since it entered the market. His clients are
greater Philadelphia-based owners Vahan and Danielle
Gureghian, who originally planned the mansion as a custom home for
themselves.
Reprise June 2009: Charter school appeals
to block release of records
The Chester Community Charter School has filed a court appeal to a
recent Pennsylvania Office of Open Records ruling that gave The Inquirer access
to a wide range of financial records from the management company that operates
the school. The Chester Community
Charter School has filed a court appeal to a recent Pennsylvania Office of Open
Records ruling that gave The Inquirer access to a wide range of financial
records from the management company that operates the school. The Delaware County school, the state's
largest charter, and Charter School Management Inc., a private, for-profit
management company, have repeatedly denied requests by the newspaper for
details about how millions of dollars in public money were spent and how much
the company and its owner, Vahan H. Gureghian, were making.Because Charter
School Management Inc. is a private business that hires all school employees
and manages the school's finances, it has been able to keep many aspects of its
financial operations secret, in contrast to most charters, which have to disclose
more information in nonprofit reports. 'Trade secret' Randi J.
Vladimer, an attorney representing the charter school, said in the appeal,
filed Monday in Delaware County Common Pleas Court, that the management
company's records were not covered by the Right to Know Law because it was a
private business. She also argued that the Office of Open Records made a technical
error in the timing of its decision that invalidated it. Further, she said the
records were a "trade secret or confidential information" that could
hurt the management company's competitive position if disclosed.
SB383:
Arming school employees: Senator says 'it's all about our kids' and keeping
them safe
The Pennsylvania Senate voted 28-22 to pass a bill that
would allow school districts to have policies that allow trained school
personnel to carry firearms at school.
Penn Live BY JAN MURPHY jmurphy@pennlive.com Updated on June 28, 2017 at 8:05
PM Posted on June 28, 2017 at 7:57 PM
Calling it a response to the times and out of concern for
school safety, a majority of state senators on Wednesday approved legislation
that would give school districts the option of developing a policy to allow trained school personnel to carry
firearms on school premises. The measure, approved by a 28-22 vote, now
goes to the House for consideration, which is not expected to consider it until
after the summer break. The bill,
sponsored by Sen. Don White, drew a lengthy, passionate debate over whether
allowing school personnel to have a concealed weapon in school would make
schools more safe or more dangerous. But
in White's opinion after seeing the crime scene of the 2014 mass stabbing incident at Franklin
Regional High School in Murrysville, he became convinced that
his legislation is necessary.
Trib Live by NATASHA
LINDSTROM | Wednesday, June 28, 2017, 5:27 p.m.
Despite assurances from Gov. Tom Wolf that he would use his veto
power and opposition from school safety experts and Pennsylvania's largest
teachers union, the state Senate green-lighted Wednesday a proposal to let
teachers bring their guns to school. In
a 28-22 vote, the GOP-controlled Senate approved Senate
Bill 383 , which would allow school boards to authorize teachers and other
non-police school employees to carry firearms on school property. The proposal drew fierce opposition from education advocacy groups
and Democratic lawmakers who contend that expanding the number of guns in
schools threatens to do more harm than good. The bill's primary sponsor, Sen. Don White, R-Indiana, championed
the measure as a way to provide an extra tool for cash-strapped schools that
can't afford to hire more school police or resource officers. He stressed it
was a “may” bill — meaning districts won't be forced to do it — and
characterized the proposed legislation as an example of “local control at its
best.” “Certainly, we can pass the bill and none of the school districts
in the commonwealth will implement it, and to me, that's OK,” White told fellow
lawmakers before Wednesday's vote on the Senate floor.
SB383 Roll Call Vote June 28, 2017
SB383:
Most Bucks County educators oppose school gun legislation
Intelligencer By
Chris English, staff writer June 28, 2017
Reached before a vote on legislation to allow certain school
district personnel to carry guns on school property, most local educators and
state legislators contacted by this news organization said they were opposed to
anyone but law enforcement officials carrying guns inside schools. "I'm a gun owner and NRA (National Rifle Association) member
but I'm certainly not a fan of this," Council Rock teachers union
President Bill Gerhauser said of Senate Bill 383, which would allow school
boards to set up policies allowing certain personnel to carry guns, provided
they had licenses and received the required training. "In Council Rock, we've had local
resource officers (township police officers) stationed at both our high schools
for years," he continued. "They are the ones carrying guns and that's
the way it should be. To have it any other way carries the potential for a lot
more harm than good." Lucy Walter,
a teacher at Pennsbury High School and vice president and spokeswoman for that
school district's teachers union, agreed with her counterpart in Council Rock,
Gerhauser, that the legislation is a bad idea. "If you're going to have teachers or administrators roaming
the hallways with firearms, in an emergency situation when they are not trained
to respond to emergencies, it could take a horrific situation and make it
worse," Walter said. "We have trained professionals who can get to
our buildings in a matter of seconds. We feel that education should be left in
the hands of educators, and our protection left in the hands of those trained
to do that."
HB1213:
Pa. school districts worry bill puts millions of dollars in jeopardy
BY SARA K. SATULLO ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com, For lehighvalleylive.com
Updated on June 29, 2017 at 6:34 AM Posted on June 29, 2017 at 6:31 AM
On Wednesday, the state House passed an amended version of a bill
aimed at curtailing the ability of local taxing bodies to appeal
under-assessed properties. The original
version of the bill had Pennsylvania school leaders worried they stood to lose
millions of dollars, causing the Pennsylvania School Boards Association
to come out
against it. The amendment brought
forward by Rep. Kate Harper, R-Montgomery, means that the restrictions
would only apply to homes and farms, preserving local government's ability
to file reverse tax appeals against large commercial properties.
Crisci Associates Thursday PA Capitol Digest News Clips – JUNE 29, 2017
Senate Appropriations has scheduled an off the floor
meeting today on House
Bill 218 (Saylor-R-York) General Fund, House
Bill 59 (Moul-R- Adams), House
Bill 508 (Cox-R-Berks) Human Services Code, House
Bill 97 (Reese-R- Somerset) Public School Code, House
Bill 118 (Kaufer-R-Luzerne) Administrative Code and the remaining
nonpreferred appropriations bills--Senate Bills 326 (Penn State), 327 (Pitt),
328 (Temple), 329 (Lincoln University).
Pa.
Capitol's 'B' word for solving budget woes: Borrowing
Inquirer by Angela
Couloumbis & Karen
Langley, HARRISBURG BUREAUS
Updated: JUNE 28, 2017 — 7:05 PM EDT
HARRISBURG — With two days until the deadline to pass a state
budget, Gov. Wolf signaled on Wednesday that he could be willing to
borrow more than $1 billion to help balance the state’s books. Speaking to reporters after a bill-signing
outside the Capitol, Wolf characterized a portion of the state’s steep cash
shortfall as “a onetime gap.” He said he was open to borrowing as long as the
GOP-controlled legislature also comes up with ways to raise new dollars to
prevent future deficits. When asked how
much that onetime gap was, the Democratic governor said it was between $1
billion and $1.5 billion. “For that one
time, I’m comfortable,” Wolf added when asked what he would be comfortable
borrowing, although he avoided a firm dollar amount. Wolf’s comments were the first signs that
budget negotiators are seriously considering a significant loan to solve the
state’s $1.5 billion shortfall in this fiscal year.
Pa.
state budget may get done this week; tax and revenue package may need extra
innings
Penn Live BY CHARLES THOMPSON cthompson@pennlive.com Updated on June 29, 2017 at 1:55
AM Posted on June 28, 2017 at 9:57 PM
Gov. Tom Wolf and top legislative leaders voiced optimism
Wednesday that a roughly $32 billion budget setting out spending levels for
Pennsylvania state government will be completed by the end of the current budget
year on Friday. But the tax and revenue
package needed to pay for it? That's another matter that may need overtime. "Clearly we're not going to have the
revenue package completed by Friday. I feel fairly comfortable saying
that," said Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre County. That sets up the potential where all sides
will need to keep working through the 10-day window Wolf has to act on the
spending bill to find the necessary taxes, fees and, this year, loan proceeds
to make it all balance. They are
struggling to close a $2.2 billion gap consisting of a current-year deficit
estimated at $1.5 billion, plus about $700 million in new money needed to cover
new spending for 2017-18.
Written by Katie Meyer, Capitol Bureau Chief | Jun 28, 2017 4:02 AM
(Harrisburg) -- State lawmakers have made no secret of the fact that next fiscal year's state budget, which is due Friday, will be a hard one to enact. The commonwealth's contending with a roughly $3 billion structural deficit, and its reserves are tapped out. It's also facing skyrocketing pension and human services costs, and for the last year, it's been relying on a line of credit from the Pennsylvania Treasury to pay off immediate expenses. So how did we get here? Many of these fiscal issues can be traced back to the 2008 housing market crash. The governor at the time was Ed Rendell, a two-term Philadelphia Democrat. In his first budget address during the Great Recession, in February 2009, Rendell acknowledged the gravity of the situation. "The FY 2009-2010 budget," he told the General Assembly, "presents challenges the likes of which Pennsylvania and the nation have not seen since the Great Depression."
Those challenges lived up to expectations.
Children
will suffer the most from health-care cuts
Inquirer Opinion by Donna Cooper Updated: JUNE 27, 2017 — 9:23 AM EDTDonna Cooper is the executive director of Public Citizens for Children and Youth.
It’s hard to pick and choose the most cold-hearted element in
President Trump’s budget. But one stands out in its urgency and scale. The
cornerstone piece of the president’s massive agenda to transfer wealth from the
middle-class families to those who live in gated communities is careening
toward passage with the unveiling of the Senate’s version of its bill to repeal
Obamacare. The frenzied news coverage about the House and Senate efforts to
roll back access to health care has yet to shine an intense enough spotlight on
the most heart-wrenching fact that children will bear the brunt of this cut
more than any other Americans. Both bills slash hundreds of billions from the
federal Medicaid program, putting the health of more than two million children
in Pennsylvania and New Jersey at risk. Across the nation, Medicaid insures
four in 10 of all children and three-quarters of the poorest children.
At
summer school, teachers learn best methods to increase literacy
Inquirer by Adia
H. Robinson, STAFF WRITER Updated: JUNE
27, 2017 — 7:38 PM EDT
Stacy Dougherty stood before her class on Tuesday and asked if
anyone knew the meaning of “to interrupt.” Then, she began reading aloud from
David Ezra Stein’s Interrupting Chicken, a book about a young
chicken that keeps interrupting her father as he tries to read her bedtime
stories. “So the chicken has interrupted all of the father’s stories.
What’s going to happen next?” Dougherty asked.
Dougherty, a kindergarten teacher at Clara Barton Elementary in
Feltonville, was addressing a room full of her peers at Fels High School as
part of the district’s 2017 Early Literacy Summer Institute, where teachers
this week are learning the best methods to get more 8-year-olds reading on
grade level by 2020. Currently, about 30 percent of 8-year-olds are reading on
level. Emphasis on literacy is
important because “by the end of third grade, [students are] at the point at
which they need the foundation to master the more complex curriculum in fourth
grade,” said Diane Castelbuono, the Philadelphia School District’s deputy chief
of early childhood education. Donna
Frisby-Greenwood, president and CEO of the Fund for the School District of
Philadelphia, which helps fund the institute, agreed, saying students not
reading on grade level by age 8 are more likely to fall behind and drop out.
Lloyd
Smucker targets skilled-worker shortage with bill to improve career and
technical education
Lancaster Online by ALEX GELI | Staff Writer June 29, 2017
A bipartisan bill co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker and
aimed at strengthening career and technical education is on its way to the
Senate. Passed by the House last week,
the Strengthening
Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act updates the Carl D. Perkins
Career and Technical Education Act of 1984, which provided federal support to
state and local vocational programs. “I
think it’s such an important issue,” Smucker said. “I understand the need to
match potential employees with the jobs that are available, and to also prepare
them for those jobs.” The bill, Smucker
said, eases burdensome state and local requirements that end up restricting
students who seek in-demand, high-paying vocational careers. In addition, it
increases accountability to ensure CTE programs are performing at an optimal
level. One of the nation’s top trade schools is here in Lancaster County,
according to Forbes Magazine. It also encourages employers to work with schools
to ensure they are equipping students with the skills to match available jobs —
of which there are many, Smucker said.
“The
budget includes an increase in retirement contributions of about $345,000, an
increase in medical insurance of about $308,500, a charter school increase of
about $42,000 and an increase of $250,000 for required services for special
needs students.”
Penns Valley Area school board approves
final 2017-18 budget with no tax increase
Centre Daily Times BY BRITNEY MILAZZO bmilazzo@centredaily.com June 28, 2017
In a 6-3 vote Wednesday night, the Penns Valley Area school board
adopted a final general fund budget for the 2017-18 school year that would come
with no tax increase from the current year. The $26,751,238 budget for next school year is a 2.43 percent
increase, or $635,386 more, from 2016-17.
District business manager Lynn Naugle said the median homeowner living
in the district can expect to pay about $2,133 in school taxes annually — the
same as the current school year. The district millage rate is 46.69. The decision came after the board originally
failed to approve a budget recommended by district administrators that called
for a 2 percent tax increase, which Naugle said would keep district revenue and
expenditures equal. With a zero percent
tax increase, the district, instead, would gain at least a $260,000 deficit
that could be paid off by a fund balance.
P-O Area school taxes to decrease for
2017-18 school year
Centre Daily Times BY BRITNEY MILAZZO bmilazzo@centredaily.com June 28, 2017
Residents in the Philipsburg-Osceola Area School District will pay
less in school taxes next school year. At
a meeting Tuesday night, the Philipsburg-Osceola Area school board unanimously
approved the 2017-18 budget that calls for the tax decrease. Director of Finance Mike Conte said home
assessment values in the district increased, allowing for the school property
taxes to decrease. According to a
document from the district, Centre County millage rates for the 2017-18 school
year are 51.97, compared to 52.08 for the 2016-17 school year. That means Centre County homeowners who live in the P-O area, with
a home value of $100,000 or assessment of $50,000, would pay about $2,598 in
taxes next school year, a decrease of $6.
“William
Penn, like most other districts in the state, are left to cover rising
expenditures like charter and private school costs, state and federal mandates,
retirement contributions and other areas without seeing much of a bump in
funding outside of their own tax base. The district has long outsourced many of
its services including transportation and food services over the years to save
money.”
Taxes
go up but sports, activities are saved in William Penn budget
Delco Times By Kevin Tustin, ktustin@21st-centurymedia.com, @KevinTustin on
Twitter POSTED: 06/28/17, 8:32 PM
EDT | UPDATED: 8 SECS AGO
LANSDOWNE >> The William Penn School Board was confronted
with two options when adopting its $93.8 million budget on Monday evening:
Raise taxes to keep full-day kindergarten, sports and extracurricular
activities in the schools, or keep burdened taxpayers happy with a lower tax
increase that would, in turn, cut those programs. Ultimately, the board voted to adopt its
budget 8-1 with a 2.9 percent tax increase and most directors wanting to keep
the aforementioned programs like the award-winning track and field team,
marching band and speech and debate team intact. Solicitor David Conn reminded
the board that it was only voting on how much to raise taxes, considering the
money will be allocated as need be. Robert Wright was the sole dissenter on the
budget. The cash-strapped district has
no fund balance to use to supplement the budget and was originally looking at a
$3 million deficit in a $95.5 million spending plan. Added revenue from the tax
increase will bring in an estimated $1.2 million from an increased millage rate
of 45.01.
Spring-Ford
School District officials refuse salary raises until teacher contract settles
By Eric
Devlin, The Mercury POSTED: 06/28/17, 5:32 PM EDT | UPDATED: 9 HRS AGO
ROYERSFORD >> Spring-Ford Area School District’s two top
administrators say they won’t accept a pay raise until teachers get a new
contract. That was the word from
Superintendent David Goodin and Assistant Superintendent Allyn Roche during
Monday night’s school board meeting. Meanwhile the Spring-Ford Education
Association teachers union submitted its first official contract proposal to
the district at a recent bargaining session, which the district’s chief
negotiator said if approved would be “the most lucrative teachers contract
settlement in the region.” Talks between the two sides resume July 10. Goodin thanked the school board,
administration and faculty Monday for helping him and Roche achieve the 2016-17
district goals. “There is no motion on the agenda for our pay increase as is
customary,” he said. “Dr. Roche and I will forgo our pay increases until the
teachers contract is settled.”
The Pottsgrove School Board adopted a $66 million budget for the
coming school year Tuesday night that will include a tax hike of less than half
a percent. In fact, the tax hike will be
.39 percent, which will translate into an $18 tax increase for a home assessed
at $120,000, the district average. Board
Vice President Al Leach cast the only vote against the budget. He argued that
there were other options which would allow the district to close the $150,000
gap between revenues and expenses.
He said Boyertown, Pottstown, Owen J. Roberts and Spring-Ford had all
drawn heavily on reserve funds to close their budget gaps
“Major
cost drivers include a $1.5 million total increase in pension costs (PSERS),
$945,000 for wage increases, and a 10 percent hike in medical/prescription
premiums.”
Haverford
hikes takes 2.5 percent in new schools budget
Delco Times By Lois Puglionesi, Times
Correspondent POSTED: 06/28/17, 8:34 PM
HAVERFORD >> School directors voted unanimously at a recent
meeting to approve a $117.6 million final budget for 2017-18, identical to the
proposed final budget adopted in May. Reviewed
monthly since January, the budget includes a 2.5 percent increase in the real
estate tax rate, from 30.2964 to 31.0538 mills, which translates to an
additional $125 on a $165,605 residential property, the average assessment. The increase complies with this year’s Act 1
Index and does not require exceptions. School director Phil Hopkins noted that
it’s the lowest increase in years, and the first time the district has stayed
at or below the index. In light of
significant hikes in pension and medical costs, “That’s a signature
achievement,” Hopkins said. Board
President Denis Gray further noted that not one program had been cut. The tax increase will raise $2.26 million
additional local taxes, for a total $95.1 million, which comprises about 81
percent of revenues. State funds, at
$19.8 million, provide about 18 percent, while federal funds amount to 1
percent.
Trib Live by DEBRA
ERDLEY | Wednesday, June 28, 2017, 11:45 a.m.
VIRTUAL SCHOOLS: A new
study that examined online schools in Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan,
Washington and Idaho found that virtual schools there had a higher
student-teacher ratio than traditional K-12 public schools and that students
“under performed compared to their counterparts in traditional public schools.
The 58 page report out of the Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute
cautioned against unfettered expansion of such schools and recommended stricter
oversight and further research.
Virtual Schools in the US: Case Studies of
Policy, Performance, & Research Evidence June 2017
Michigan Virtaul Learning Institute June 2017 Written By: Michael
K. Barbour, Touro University, California Gary Miron, Western Michigan
University Luis Huerta, Teachers College, Columbia University
Online
school asks Ohio court to block $60M state clawback
Inquirer by KANTELE
FRANKO, The Associated Press
Updated: JUNE 28, 2017 — 11:34 AM EDT
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - One of the nation's largest online charter
schools on Wednesday asked the Ohio Supreme Court to block the state's efforts
to recoup $60 million from the school. It's the latest round in a multi-pronged legal fight by the
Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow against the state, stemming from how
attendance was tracked to determine school funding. The e-school of some 15,000 students contends officials unfairly
changed that. The state determined that ECOT didn't have documentation of
student logins to justify more than half of the nearly $109 million it got for
the 2015-16 school year, and the State Board of Education voted to pursue
repayment of that portion.
Inside
The NAACP’s Fight To Stop Betsy DeVos From Expanding Charter Schools
The nation’s oldest civil rights
organization is gearing up for a bigger battle with education reformers.
Huffington Post by By
Rebecca Klein June 28, 2017
President Donald Trump may call education the “civil
rights issue of our time,” but just weeks before he was elected, the nation’s oldest civil
rights organization strongly rejected the very type of schools he loves to
champion. In October, the NAACP voted on
a controversial
resolution calling for a moratorium on the growth of charter schools,
which exist in 43 states. Over six decades after the organization fought to
eliminate school segregation through the landmark case of Brown v. Board of
Education, leaders said charter schools were perpetuating the very same
segregation they fought so hard to stop. Not only that, but charter schools
also divert resources away from traditional public school systems. Charter school activists opposed the move. So
did some of the very people the NAACP seeks to serve, like the hundreds of
thousands of black families that choose charter schools for their children
every year. The controversial stance
threw the nation’s oldest civil rights organization into the spotlight during a
time when they were fighting for relevancy. In the months since, a task force
of a dozen NAACP leaders has traveled the country, listening to both charter
school advocates and opponents, parents and teachers, about what steps the
organization should take next. Next
month the NAACP will release a report detailing what the task force found.
HuffPost, through conversations with several task force leaders, received a
glimpse into what these findings might look like.
Trump
Ed. Dept. Gives States, Districts Extra Time on ESSA Financial Transparency
Requirement
Education Week Politics K12 Blog By Alyson
Klein on June 29, 2017 6:25 AM
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her team are giving
states and districts an extra year to comply with new financial transparency
requirements in the Every Student Succeeds that are aimed at shining a light on
how much schools spend on each student. And at least one key civil rights
group is unhappy about the delay. ESSA calls for states to report
per-pupil expenditures for all their schools on school report cards for
the first time beginning in the 2017-18 school year. The requirement was intended
in part to help local policymakers—and the public—figure out if there are
significant spending disparities between schools that serve high percentages of
poor kids and other schools, and whether schools that lag behind in
student achievement are getting as much money as more successful schools. When
ESSA passed, civil rights advocates were excited about the new transparency
around per-pupil spending. But school superintendents and state leaders warned
that providing that sort of detailed data on such a tight timeline could be a
tough lift. The Education Department is giving states until the 2018-19
school year to begin putting the per-pupil expenditure information on their
report cards.
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
Registration now open for the
67th Annual PASCD Conference Nov. 12-13
Harrisburg: Sparking Innovation: Personalized Learning, STEM, 4C's
This year's conference will begin on Sunday, November 12th
and end on Monday, November 13th. There will also be a free pre-conference on
Saturday, November 11th. You can
register for this year's conference online with a credit card payment or have
an invoice sent to you. Click here to register for the conference.
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/PASCD-Conference-Registration-is-Now-Open.html?soid=1101415141682&aid=5F-ceLtbZDs
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/PASCD-Conference-Registration-is-Now-Open.html?soid=1101415141682&aid=5F-ceLtbZDs
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