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Keystone
State Education Coalition
PA
Ed Policy Roundup Aug 16, 2017:
I
requested the following info from PSBA.
Charter Schools
In 2015-16, Pennsylvania school district
costs for charter tuition were broken down like this:
Cybers - $ 463,584,396
Brick and Mortar - $1,085,859,769
TOTAL - $1,549,444,165
That represented 5.5% of all school district spending and was up 4.2% from 2014-15.
Cybers - $ 463,584,396
Brick and Mortar - $1,085,859,769
TOTAL - $1,549,444,165
That represented 5.5% of all school district spending and was up 4.2% from 2014-15.
Tax Credit Programs
The OSTC and EITC numbers are harder to come by. The PA Budget and Policy Center issued a report on the lack of accountability in those programs and they list the total contributions in 2014-15 as follows:
EITC - $ 65,163,395
OSTC - $ 59,283,958
TOTAL - $124,447,353
The OSTC and EITC numbers are harder to come by. The PA Budget and Policy Center issued a report on the lack of accountability in those programs and they list the total contributions in 2014-15 as follows:
EITC - $ 65,163,395
OSTC - $ 59,283,958
TOTAL - $124,447,353
Pocono Record Letter by Merlyn Clarke Stroud Township Posted Aug 12, 2017 at 6:00 PM
A block of legislators appears determined to undermine public
education. Their efforts include the promotion of for-profit charter schools,
vouchers, private school tax credit schemes, education savings accounts, and
property tax elimination.
All of these efforts are based on the flawed proposition that
there should be taxpayer-funded “choice” when deciding how a child should be
educated. In no other public policy area do we subsidize choice, whether it is
the roads, sewers or the police. We don’t ask taxpayers to pay for a private
golf-club membership because we prefer it to the municipal course.
The proposition that taxpayers should fund school choice, along
with the gimmicks to facilitate it, is a manufactured principle originating
with the 1954 Brown Supreme Court decision that required integrated schools.
Southern states scrambled for ways to avoid integration. School vouchers became
the answer. While the motives have changed little over the years, the
justifications have proliferated, including the notion that somehow an
education “market” would produce better schools. It has not done so, but the
argument is bolstered by the existence of failing schools, especially in urban
districts.
What choice proponents seldom acknowledge is that the reason
schools fail is the inequitable funding policy that virtually insures that some
schools will fail. Philadelphia schools, for instance, are underfunded by some
$333 million every year below what the state’s fair-funding formula would
provide. Districts here in Monroe are shorted almost $50 million a year — a
shortfall made up by taxpayers unwilling to see schools fail.
A fair and equitable distribution of existing state funding is the
solution to fixing failing schools, as well as solving the property tax burden.
With such an obvious fix at hand, one is obliged to ask, “What are the motives
driving those promoting gimmicks as a solution to public education?”
Trib Live by THE
ASSOCIATED PRESS | Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017, 6:42 a.m.
WASHINGTON — Expanding charter schools around the country is
losing support among Americans, even as President Donald Trump and
his administration continue to push for school choice, according to a survey
released Tuesday. Trump campaigned on a
promise to dramatically improve school choice — charter schools and private
school voucher programs — and his Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has made it a
priority. But so far the message does not appear to have hit home with the
public. About 39 percent of respondents
favor opening more charters — schools that are funded by public money, but
usually operated independently of school districts — according to the survey by
Education Next, a journal published by Harvard's Kennedy School and Stanford
University. That's down from 51 percent last year.
Blogger
note: about 100 people attended last evening’s joint public forum held by the
Senate Majority and Minority Policy Committees.
Thanks to Senator McGarrigle for bringing this event to Upper Darby, to
Majority Policy Chair Argall and Minority Policy Chair Boscola and to Senators
Killion and Folmer who also attended. The forum included an extensive
presentation on SB76 which would abolish the property tax as a means of funding
education in Pennsylvania, followed by a roundtable discussion. To my knowledge, no other state in the county
has successfully abolished the property tax.
Alternative
Solutions to our Existing School Property Tax System
PA GOP Website Posted on Aug 14, 2017
Senate Majority Policy Committee PUBLIC FORUM
“No
one seems particularly excited about the annual battery of state exams, not
students, teachers, not parents. It’s
long past time for Pennsylvania to de-emphasize high-stakes standardized tests
that, while not without some merit, fail to engage students on an individual
level. There’s so much more to education than test-taking.”
State
Department of Education makes the right move in de-emphasizing standardized
testing
Lancaster Online Editorial by The LNP Editorial Board August 16,
2017
THE ISSUE: In its recently
released Every Student Succeeds Act Consolidated State Plan, the Pennsylvania
Department of Education proposes to reduce the time students spend taking
standardized tests. It also aims to lessen the importance of high-stakes tests
when assessing schools, as LNP's Alex Geli reported Sunday.The commonwealth’s
plan calls for reducing testing time for the Pennsylvania System of School
Assessment tests starting in spring 2018. Long-term goals include
increasing the four-year graduation rate, bolstering college and career
readiness, and slashing in half the number of students not proficient on
PSSAs and Keystone Exams. Remember learning? American history, civics, art and music, career
preparation? They were all squeezed into a corner of the classroom while
students and teachers cleared a space for the World Series of standardized
tests. “Standardized testing has a place
in education — but not the place,” Manheim Central School District
Superintendent Peter Aiken told LNP. “We need to get kids excited about
learning. I (have) yet to see a student get excited about PSSA or Keystone
testing.” Well said.
“Keep
in mind, this administration continues to forge full-steam ahead in pouring
significant sums of money into and requiring schools to dedicate days of vital
classroom learning time to the Keystone Exams, while they can’t even tell us
what the purpose is. It’s not for graduation, as we’re creating alternative pathways
to get a diploma. It’s not for remediation because nowhere in the ESSA is there
such a requirement and typically, Keystone Exam results are not received until
the next school year – after the students have moved on – anyway.”
Dinniman
critical of PSSA changes, Ed. department conduct
Unionville Times Aug 15th, 2017
WEST CHESTER – State Senator Andy Dinniman, Minority Chair of the
Senate Education Committee, released the following statement in response to
Governor Tom Wolf’s announcement Monday on the Pennsylvania System of School
Assessment (PSSA) and the administration’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
Consolidated State Plan: “While I’d be
the first to welcome any real reduction in required standardized testing and
their exorbitant expenses on our schools, both Governor Wolf and Education
Secretary Pedro Rivera either glossed over or outright ignored a number of
crucial points in their press conference.
“First, remember that students in grades 4 through 8 will still spend
six days on mandated PSSA testing and students in grade 3 will still spend an
entire school week on them! In addition, the notion that such a minimal cut in
test taking will result in a large reduction to test preparation is clearly
flawed, since teacher evaluation is still based on test results. As was
explicitly mentioned in the press conference, our schools and teachers spend
days and weeks not just teaching to this test, but teaching to multiple layers
of redundant testing imposed on our students. This morning’s announcement and
the state ESSA plan do nothing to amend that.
What
white supremacy sounds like in Philadelphia: How to talk about Charlottesville
in your classroom
The notebook Commentary by Fatim Byrd, Keziah Ridgeway
and Tyra Washington August 15, 2017 — 11:45am
We all have the images in our minds. The torch-lit faces of white
supremacists out in the open for all the world to see. The bravery and
commitment of protesters seeking to disrupt a rally based on hatred and
exclusion. And the horror of bodies thrown in all directions by a vehicle
seeking to destroy human life – and succeeding. As humans, we all understand the tragedy that
took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend. But as
educators, how should we respond? Unfortunately, national events that happen over the summer can be
easy to ignore at the start of the school year. Teachers seek to create a
“positive culture” as students return, and that can encourage them to
avoid topics that seem difficult. But
make no mistake, as a school district with a majority non-white population,
Philadelphia public school students deal with the impact of racism every day.
FairDistricts
PA will fight gerrymandering with week of educational events and campaign for
voting reform
Pittsburgh City Paper Posted By Rebecca
Addison on Fri, Aug 11, 2017 at 5:35 PMAccording to a report released in May, Pennsylvania is among the three worst gerrymandered states in the country. And others say Pennsylvania is the most gerrymandered it has ever been. But what is gerrymandering, and how does it impact elections and local politics? Next week, local organizers will attempt to answer these questions and more with a series of events around the city. "Gerrymandering is a little complicated, a little wonky," says Kitsy McNulty, coordinator of the Pittsburgh Local Group of FairDistricts PA. But essentially the term refers to the practice of manipulating voting-district boundaries in order to benefit a particular political party or candidate.
Eyes
on the SRC: August 17, 2017
Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools by Karel Kilimnik August
14, 2017
The August resolutions include contracts and grants for over $14
million in district spending. A regular feature of Eyes is showing the history
of spending on one program or company. The public’s ability to know about these
issues has been compromised by the district’s decision to erase the history of
SRC resolutions, minutes, amendments and actions on charters prior to last
year. For reasons yet to be explained, the Communications Office put up a new website with missing information, but has not kept the previous
website up (and since the Director and Assistant Director of that office went
on vacation just after the change, answers have been in short supply). This is
a simple technological matter. The City of Philadelphia has done exactly that
so that the public still has access to public information. We do wonder whether
the replacement of the previous website with an incomplete one signals a
decision by the SRC to limit public access to district information. The SRC
must rectify this matter and make sure that the people of the district can find
all of the information they need.
Schools
in Allegheny County look to texting to help tackle student attendance problems
MOLLY BORN Pittsburgh Post-Gazette mborn@post-gazette.com 7:45 PM AUG 15, 2017
Local schools will soon be tackling chronic absenteeism using a
tool familiar to students themselves: texting.
The United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania and the University of
Pittsburgh will introduce a pilot program as part of its Be There Attendance Initiative.
The Be There program is expanding to more schools this fall with a $30,000 gift
from Pitt and the same amount in matching funds. Participating schools will encourage parents
to sign up for the texting platform, which will send an automated message once
a month updating parents on their child’s attendance. Pitt’s Office of Child
Development created the program. “The
family member can text back if they’re having any issues with child getting to
school,” and a real person from the 211 helpline will follow up, said Shauna
McMillan, United Way manager of Programs for Children and Youth, United Way. According to a Pitt study, housing
instability is the top reason students are chronically absent, which means
missing at least two days of school a month. Those students are more likely to
be suspended or drop out of school, research suggests.
Comcast
expands reach of Internet Essentials
The notebook by Dale Mezzacappa August 15, 2017 — 1:01pm
In its effort to bridge the digital
divide, Internet Essentials, Comcast's six-year-old program for helping
low-income families get online, has reached the milestone of connecting one
million households and four million individuals to broadband service, company
officials announced Tuesday. Philadelphia
ranks third among the nation's cities in the number of households connected to
the internet through Internet Essentials, and Pennsylvania ranks fourth
among the states. In the city, 31,000 families, comprising about 125,000
people, receive the $9.95-a-month service. For the greater Philadelphia
area, the number is 47,000 families, or about 190,000 individuals. In
Pennsylvania, 68,000 households – or about 272,000 people – use the
program. In a press call on Monday, David L. Cohen, Comcast's senior
executive vice president and chief diversity officer, said that Internet
Essentials has reached "more homes than all other similar programs
combined by several orders of magnitude."
"When we launched this six years ago, we had no idea how it would
be received," Cohen said. A Comcast
survey of users indicated that 98 percent said their children used the
internet service for schoolwork, and 93 percent said they thought the program
had a positive impact on their child's grades.
Keystone
Oaks Education Association prepared to go on strike
ANDREW GOLDSTEIN Pittsburgh Post-Gazette agoldstein@post-gazette.com 12:03 AM AUG 16, 2017
The Keystone Oaks Education Association said it plans to go on
strike later this month if the union and the school district can’t agree on a contract.
The association, which represents 160 teachers, counselors and nurses at
four Keystone Oaks School District locations, issued a strike notice Tuesday to
the school board. The association said it will strike Aug. 24, the first day of
school, if it does not reach an agreement with the district during a bargaining
session Thursday. “Bargaining sessions are currently scheduled for Aug. 16 and 17 at
7 p.m.,” union president Kevin Gallagher said in a statement Tuesday night. “We
are establishing at deadline at 11:59 p.m. on Aug. 17 to finalize a tentative
agreement. This deadline is being established to allow all staff, parents and
students to plan accordingly for the beginning of the school year.”
Several
school districts in Bucks and Montgomery counties named among best in the state
Intelligencer by By
Chris English, staff writer Aug 10, 2017
Fifteen school districts in Bucks or Eastern Montgomery counties
are in the top 100 of the Niche.com 2018 list of the best
districts in Pennsylvania. Area
districts making the grade are North Penn at No. 11, Central Bucks (12),
Council Rock (18), Lower Moreland (19), Upper Dublin (24), New Hope-Solebury
(33), Abington (43), Pennsbury (46), Souderton Area (56), Jenkintown (59),
Pennridge (62), Hatboro-Horsham (70), Centennial (89), Neshaminy (90) and
Palisades (96). Niche.com staffers looked at all 500
school districts in the state and, according to the website, rankings are based
on "rigorous analysis of academic and student life data from the U.S.
Department of Education along with test scores, college data and ratings collected
from millions of Niche users." Among
many factors considered were survey responses from students, teachers and
parents; student and teacher absenteeism; test scores; expulsion rates and
participation in extracurricular activities, the website said.
Education Week By Arianna Prothero August 15, 2017
President Donald Trump’s vocal support for charter schools and private-school vouchers has had some school choice supporters wringing their hands over whether it will have a negative impact on the policies they champion. This is particularly true for charter school backers who, over time, have built up bipartisan support. Now a new public opinion poll from Education Next, a journal published by Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, is providing insights into whether the president—as well as the broader political dynamics in play—have swayed the public’s views on school choice. Support for charter schools has fallen 12 percent from last year, the largest change in opinion that EdNext saw on any single policy from last year. The steepest drop-off came from white participants. At the same time, the survey found that opposition toward school vouchers and other similar policies that direct public aid toward private schools has softened.
Testing Resistance & Reform News:
August 9 -15, 2017
FairTest National Center for Fair and Open Testing on
August 15, 2017 - 12:43pm
A broad range of voices -- from parents and teachers to scholars
and researchers to legislators and governors -- continue to speak out against
testing overuse and misuse. As the assessment reform movement grows, it has an
ever-increasing impact on public policy, particularly at the district and state
level.
PSBA Officer Elections: Slate of
Candidates
PSBA Website August 2017
PSBA members seeking election to office for the association were
required to submit a nomination form no later than June 1, 2017, to be
considered. All candidates who properly completed applications by the deadline
are included on the slate of candidates below. In addition, the Leadership
Development Committee met on June 17 at PSBA headquarters in Mechanicsburg to
interview candidates. According to bylaws, the Leadership Development Committee
may determine candidates highly qualified for the office they seek. This is
noted next to each person's name with an asterisk (*).
The
deadline to submit cover letter,
resume and application is August 25, 2017.
PSBA seeking experienced education
leaders: Become an Advocacy Ambassador
POSTED ON JUL 17, 2017 IN PSBA NEWS
PSBA is seeking applications for six Advocacy Ambassadors who
have been involved in day-to-day functions of a school district, on the school
board, or in a school leadership position. The purpose of the PSBA Advocacy
Ambassador program is to facilitate the education and engagement of local
school directors and public education stakeholders through the advocacy
leadership of the ambassadors. Each Advocacy Ambassador will be an active
leader in an assigned section of the state, and is kept up to date on current
legislation and PSBA position based on PSBA priorities to accomplish advocacy
goals. PSBA Advocacy Ambassadors are
independent contractors representing PSBA, and serve as liaisons between PSBA
and their local and federal elected officials. Advocacy Ambassadors also commit
to building strong relationships with PSBA members with the purpose of engaging
the designated members to be active and committed grassroots advocates for
PSBA’s legislative priorities. This is a
9-month independent contractor position with a monthly stipend and potential
renewal for a second year. Successful candidates must commit to the full
9-month contract, agree to fulfill assigned Advocacy Ambassador duties and
responsibilities, and actively participate in conference calls and in-person
meetings
September 19 @ 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM Hilton Reading
Berks County Community Foundation
Panelists:
Carol Corbett Burris: Executive
Director of the Network
for Public Education
Alyson Miles: Deputy Director of Government
Affairs for the American
Federation for Children
James Paul: Senior Policy Analyst at
the Commonwealth Foundation
Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig: Professor
of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies and the Director of the Doctorate
in Educational Leadership at California State University Sacramento
Karin Mallett: The WFMZ TV
anchor and reporter returns as the moderator
School choice has been a hot topic in Berks County, in part due to
a lengthy and costly dispute between the Reading School District and I-LEAD Charter
School. The topic has also been in the national spotlight as President
Trump and U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos have focused on expanding education choice. With this in mind, a
discussion on school choice is being organized as part of Berks County
Community Foundation’s Consider It initiative. State Sen. Judy Schwank and
Berks County Commissioners Chairman Christian Leinbach are co-chairs of this
nonpartisan program, which is designed to promote thoughtful discussion of
divisive local and national issues while maintaining a level of civility among
participants. The next Consider It
Dinner will take place Tuesday, September 19, 2017, at 5 p.m. at the DoubleTree
by Hilton Reading, 701 Penn St., Reading, Pa. Tickets are available
here.
For $10 each, tickets include dinner, the panel discussion, reading material,
and an opportunity to participate in the conversation.
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.
Using Minecraft to Imagine a Better World
and Build It Together.
Saturday, September 16, 2017 or Sunday,
September 17, 2017 at the University of the Sciences, 43rd & Woodland
Avenue, Philadelphia
PCCY, the region’s most influential
advocacy organization for children, leverages the world’s greatest video game
for the year’s most engaging fundraising event for kids. Join us on Saturday, September 16, 2017 or Sunday, September 17,
2017 at the University of the Sciences, 43rd & Woodland Avenue for
a fun, creative and unique gaming opportunity.
Education Law Center’s 2017
Annual Celebration
ELC invites you to join us
for our Annual Celebration on September 27 in Philadelphia.
The Annual Celebration will take place this year on September
27, 2017 at The Crystal Tea Room in Philadelphia. The
event begins at 5:30 PM. We anticipate more than 300 legal,
corporate, and community supporters joining us for a cocktail reception, silent
auction, and dinner presentation. Our
annual celebrations honor outstanding champions of public education. This proud
tradition continues at this year’s event, when together we will salute these
deserving honorees:
·
PNC Bank: for the signature philanthropic cause of the PNC Foundation, PNC
Grow Up Great, a bilingual $350 million, multi-year early education initiative
to help prepare children from birth to age 5 for success in school and life;
and its support of the Equal Justice Works Fellowship, which
enables new lawyers to pursue careers in public interest law;
·
Joan Mazzotti: for her 16 years of outstanding leadership as the Executive
Director of Philadelphia Futures, a college access and success program serving
Philadelphia’s low-income, first-generation-to-college students;
·
Dr. Bruce Campbell Jr., PhD: for his invaluable service to ELC, as he rotates out of
the chairman position on our Board of Directors. Dr. Campbell is an Arcadia
University Associate Professor in the School of Education; and
·
ELC Pro Bono Awardee Richard Shephard of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
LLP: for his exceptional work as pro bono counsel, making lasting contributions
to the lives of many vulnerable families.Questions? Contact Tracy Callahan
tcallahan@elc-pa.org or 215-238-6970 ext. 308.
STAY WOKE: THE INAUGURAL
NATIONAL BLACK MALE EDUCATORS CONVENING; Philadelphia Fri, Oct 13, 2017 4:00 pm
Sun, Oct 15, 2017 7:00pm
TEACHER DIVERSITY WORKS. Increasing the number of Black
male educators in our nation’s teacher corps will improve education for all our
students, especially for African-American boys.
Today Black men represent only two percent of teachers nationwide. This
is a national problem that demands a national response. Come participate in the inaugural National
Black Male Educators Convening to advance policy solutions, learn from one
another, and fight for social justice. All are welcome.
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
Registration Opens Tuesday, September 26, 2017
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