Thursday, September 14, 2017

PA Ed Policy Roundup Sept. 14: What will S&P think of House GOP $$$ under sofa cushions plan?

Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 4050 Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, Governor's staff, current/former PA Secretaries of Education, Wolf education transition team members, superintendents, school solicitors, principals, PTO/PTA officers, parent advocates, teacher leaders, business leaders, faith-based organizations, labor organizations, education professors, members of the press and a broad array of P-16 regulatory agencies, professional associations and education advocacy organizations via emails, website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn

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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup Sept. 14, 2017:


Here’s the roll call vote for the revenue bill passed by the House late last night.
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/RC/Public/rc_view_action2.cfm?sess_yr=2017&sess_ind=0&rc_body=H&rc_nbr=678

Pennsylvania House GOP OKs borrowing, no-new-taxes plan to plug deficit
The Mercury By Marc Levy, The Associated Press POSTED: 09/14/17, 6:40 AM EDT 
HARRISBURG >> Up against an unprecedented cash crunch, Republicans who control Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives late Wednesday night approved a no-new-taxes borrowing package to help plug the state government’s $2.2 billion budget gap. In addition to a $1 billion loan, the House GOP’s package would siphon cash from off-budget programs, including accounts for mass transit, environmental protection and economic development. “We can either tax our constituents, or we can use the money we already have,” one supporter, Rep. Paul Schemel, R-Franklin, told colleagues during Wednesday night’s debate. The plan passed, 103-91, garnering one more vote than the 102 it needed to pass. Still, it is a small, if uncertain, step toward resolving Pennsylvania’s budget stalemate, now in its third month.
http://www.pottsmerc.com/general-news/20170914/pennsylvania-house-gop-oks-borrowing-no-new-taxes-plan-to-plug-deficit

Pa. House narrowly passes a tax-free budget funding plan
Written by Katie Meyer, Capitol Bureau Chief | Sep 14, 2017 7:14 AM
(Harrisburg) -- The state House of Representatives has narrowly voted to move a budget plan built largely on one-time fund transfers. Although it represents the first action on the overdue budget in well over a month, it's unclear how much it'll move the needle toward a resolution. The Senate and the administration of Governor Tom Wolf both support a very different plan that raises several taxes--something the House majority wants to avoid completely. Committee debate on the funding plan wasn't just a study in contrasting ideologies between Democrats and Republicans--it was a study in contrasting facts. House Democrats, like Minority Leader Frank Dermody, insist there needs to be more recurring revenue to balance the structural deficit (a budget shortfall that recurs year after year due to underfunding). "There is no free lunch," Dermody told his GOP colleagues in a committee meeting. "There's no way out of this with smoke and mirrors, double-counting revenue and not coming up with real revenue. That can't be done anymore." Most House Republicans are essentially saying that there is no structural deficit at all--just a shortfall left over from last year's low revenues, plus several hundred million more dollars that can be plugged with one-time sources. Many, like House Speaker Mike Turzai, pin the size of the shortfall on the governor.
http://www.witf.org/state-house-sound-bites/2017/09/house-narrowly-passes-a-tax-free-budget-funding-plan.php

State House passes $2.2 billion special funds transfers and borrowing plan to fill Pennsylvania budget hole
Penn Live By Charles Thompson cthompson@pennlive.com Updated on September 13, 2017 at 11:12 PM Posted on September 13, 2017 at 9:56 PM
The Pennsylvania House has passed a $2.2 billion revenue plan that should, at the least, serve as a re-set for budget negotiations that have been stalled through most of the summer. The bill is the majority House Republicans' belated, no-new-taxes answer to a Senate plan passed with the endorsement of Gov. Tom Wolf in July that would have imposed new taxes on energy consumption and natural gas production. The House plan, which passed 103-91, is a classic example of majority rule: All the 'yes' votes came from members of the 121-member Republican majority, after several days of intense, intra-caucus negotiations. Fifteen GOP members joined all 76 Democrats present in voting 'no'. The House package is unlikely to be the final solution to the state's budget woes, but it could be a significant part of it.
http://www.pennlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/09/house_passes_22_transfer_and_b.html#incart_river_index

How the House would raise $2.2 billion to balance the budget
Penn Live By Jan Murphy jmurphy@pennlive.com Updated on September 13, 2017 at 11:59 PM Posted on September 13, 2017 at 9:43 PM
The revenue package that passed the House on Wednesday by a 103-91 vote is projected to raise $2.2 billion and do it without a tax increase. Instead, this alternative to a Senate-passed tax and borrowing revenue package relies heavily on a different kind of borrowing scheme and dipping into reserves of off-line accounts dedicated for specific purposes, among other ways to generate additional revenue to bring the $32 billion enacted general fund budget into balance.  The biggest chunk of the new revenue comes from a controversial advance borrowing of $1 billion against a portion of the next 10 years of state tobacco settlement payments. House Republican leaders maintain their plan is not borrowing against the state tobacco settlement payments like the Senate proposed but rather a sale or "asset liquidation" of a portion of those payments. Aside from that tobacco securitization, here is a breakdown of other key parts of the revenue package:
http://www.pennlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/09/borrowing_fund_transfers_and_o.html#incart_river_index

Pa. House approves budget plan Gov. Wolf calls 'irresponsible'
Inquirer by Liz Navratil, HARRISBURG BUREAU Updated: SEPTEMBER 13, 2017 7:54 PM EDT
HARRISBURG — Working late into the night Wednesday to deal with a looming cash crunch, the state House of Representatives approved a budget-funding bill that if enacted would end a months-long impasse. Gov. Wolf, however, called the revenue plan “irresponsible,” and signaled that it won’t offset the need for him to make difficult cuts to the state budget as early as Friday. “There is some real hardship for people and institutions that people in this building really care about, and the people of Pennsylvania really care about,” the Democratic governor told the Inquirer and Daily News during an unrelated interview before the vote was taken.
The bill passed shortly before 10 p.m. by a vote of 103-91 and now moves to the Senate, where it faces an uncertain future.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/state/pa-house-to-vote-on-budget-plan-the-governor-calls-irresponsible-20170913.html

State GOP plan keeps Erie schools money
GoErie By Ed Palattella  Posted at 12:01 AM Updated at 6:18 AM
But budget proposal, which faces opposition, eliminates long-term funding boost.
A narrow vote Wednesday night in the state House of Representatives provided the Erie School District with more certainty that it will get $14 million in additional state funding this fiscal year. But the same vote put the district’s long-term plans for financial stability more in doubt. The revenue package that passed in the GOP-controlled House keeps the $14 million for the Erie School District in the state budget for 2017-18. At the same time, the proposal eliminates language that would have guaranteed the district receive the $14 million in additional funding year after year. The district considers such recurrent funding the primary long-term solution for it to achieve solvency and erase a structural deficit without further cutting programs for its more than 11,200 students.
http://www.goerie.com/news/20170914/state-gop-plan-keeps-erie-schools-money

Delco lawmakers push severance tax as cure to Pa. budget crisis
By Kathleen E. Carey, Delaware County Daily Times POSTED: 09/13/17, 8:43 PM EDT | UPDATED: 16 SECS AGO
With cas running put and a Friday deadline for Pennsylvania’s ability to pay its bills, some Delaware County legislators spoke about the severance tax. A supporter of the severance tax, state Sen. Tom McGarrigle, R-26, of Springfield, continued to look at the fee as a potential solution while state Rep. Leanne Krueger-Braneky, D-161 of Swarthmore, cast a critical eye to some of her Republican colleagues in the House. On Tuesday, state Treasurer Joseph M. Torsella and Auditor General Eugene DePasquale sent Krueger-Braneky a letter warning that $860 million in scheduled expenditures would be in jeopardy as of Friday. “Please be advised that without additional revenue, the balance in the General Fund is projected to fall below zero this Friday,” the letter read. “To our knowledge, this would be the first time the commonwealth would miss a payment as a consequence of insufficient funds in the General Fund.”
http://www.delcotimes.com/general-news/20170913/delco-lawmakers-push-severance-tax-as-cure-to-pa-budget-crisis

Pennsylvania budget limbo has 'everybody on edge': 5 things to know today
TRib Live NATASHA LINDSTROM  | Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017, 4:48 p.m.
"Everybody is on edge," Jay Himes, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials, told me by phone from Harrisburg this morning. More than two months after the 2017-18 state budget became law without Gov. Tom Wolf's signature , the Legislature has yet to resolve how to come up with $2.2 billion more needed to fully fund the $32 billion spending plan. Caucus leaders met with taxpayer advocates to work on a compromise and had planned to bring the amended version of the House GOP's latest budget plan up for a vote as early as today, but that seemed unlikely by early afternoon.
http://triblive.com/news/education/12728961-74/pennsylvania-budget-limbo-has-everybody-on-edge-5-things-to-know-today

“The changes to the Constitution being sought must be passed in the current legislative session, which ends in November 2018; again in the 2019-2020 session; and then passed in a voter referendum in order to be effective for the post-2020 Census redrawing.”
Gerrymandering: Supporters of redistricting reform take grassroots effort to Pennsylvania Capitol
Penn Live By Charles Thompson cthompson@pennlive.com Updated on September 13, 2017 at 9:13 AM Posted on September 13, 2017 at 7:00 AM
Scores of supporters who have been nourishing a grassroots effort to bring redistricting reform to Pennsylvania brought their campaign for change to the state Capitol Tuesday. That would be the same Capitol where maps for Pennsylvania's 18 Congressional districts - an exercise in data-mining that has earned us ratings as one of America's most gerrymandered states - were born. Those pushing for change found themselves on enemy territory. Bills calling for an amendment to the state Constitution to create an 11-person citizen's commission to handle post-Census redrawings of Congressional and legislative districts have gotten little traction in the state House or Senate to this point. And they have not, to date, been a front-burner item for Gov. Tom Wolf.
So to these civilian storm troopers, then,Tuesday's Capitol rally was kind of like the opening day for a campaign that must hit high gear now in order hit its long-term targets:
http://www.pennlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/09/supporters_of_redistricting_re.html#incart_river_index

Gerrymandering defenders slamming doors
Bill White Contact Reporter Of The Morning Call September 13, 2017 6:01 PM
Gerrymandering defenders find new excuse for stifling debate
Alexander Graham Bell generally is credited with the saying, "When one door closes, another one opens." The good people who have been trying to restore democracy to Pennsylvania have opened all the doors they can in hopes that reform will walk through one of them. But they've had to contend with obstruction from the door-slammers who run things in Harrisburg. So almost 100 advocates gathered in the Capitol on Tuesday to remind people what is at stake in the fight to end gerrymandering and why it's so difficult to enact meaningful positive change in our state government. I know many of you have attended one or more of the public informational sessions that the advocacy group Fair Districts PA has conducted over the last year to educate people about how Pennsylvania election district lines are drawn and why we need a nonpartisan system. I've gone to a couple of them, and they were well attended and enthusiastically received.
http://www.mcall.com/opinion/white/mc-bw-gerrymandering-20170913-story.html

The people, not politicians should draw voting maps
Beaver County Times Letter by Ashlee Caul Independence Township September 13, 2017
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
"You say you want a revolution? Well, you know, we all want to change the world."
Fair Districts PA is doing real work to make real change to Pennsylvania state government. Every 10 years, after the census, the politicians re-draw the map of voting districts. Often these politicians draw the map so that they can keep their seats with no competition in the elections. Members of Fair Districts PA believe that the people, not the politicians, should re-draw the map. The members of the Beaver County chapter are writing, phoning, and visiting our state legislators and are holding public information sessions about gerrymandering and fair reform. The Beaver County chapter meets the first Friday of every month at 7 p.m. at Kings Restaurant in Center Township. If you want to make real change, come to our next meeting and get involved.
http://www.timesonline.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/the-people-not-politicians-should-draw-voting-maps/article_f2b46dbe-989b-11e7-9665-6f61690444ec.html

Implications stark for Philadelphia in new charter report
The School District, however, has so far declined to comment
The notebook by Dale Mezzacappa September 13, 2017 — 5:58pm
The implications are stark for Philadelphia in a new report from Research for Action that analyzes the financial impact of charter schools on Pennsylvania school districts. The 55-page report, which studied the effect of charter school growth in six Pennsylvania districts including Philadelphia, finds that if charter schools grew at an annual rate of  4 percent, the School District would have to close 47 schools and lay off 1,200 teachers and 500 administrators in five years. That’s if no changes are made in the existing charter law or in the state education funding formula. “The report documents and explains in detail what we’ve known for years, that the absurd charter law and inequitable funding system means that this unfettered charter school growth is unsustainable,” said Councilwoman Helen Gym. “It’s a system that cannibalizes public school districts at the expense of all students.” RFA made available on its website the tool it used to study charter growth.  It was designed with the input of groups on all sides of the charter issue, from the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools to the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials.
http://thenotebook.org/articles/2017/09/13/implications-stark-for-philadelphia-in-charter-report

Report on Pa. charter school growth finds 'stranded costs' linger five years later
The notebook/WHYY Newsworks by Kevin McCorry September 13, 2017 — 10:21am
A new study finds that expanding the charter school sector in Pennsylvania creates a significant toll on traditional public school systems, which, based on an array of fixed costs, can't downsize at the same rate that students leave. The report, written by the Philadelphia-based nonprofit Research for Action, delves into one of the central questions of Pennsylvania's charter school debate. The central finding here, though, is not new. Past studies of the issue in Pennsylvania and elsewhere have consistently found that charter schools pose a negative fiscal threat to traditional systems. But past efforts have often raised more questions than answers, as their methodologies were not presented openly and transparently. RFA's study is different because it offers a public tool that makes plain its assumptions and calculations, a tool designed to help school districts better understand and prepare for the effects of authorizing new charter school seats.
http://thenotebook.org/articles/2017/09/13/new-report-on-pa-charter-school-growth-finds-stranded-costs-linger-five-years-later

Charter School Fiscal Impact Research Findings Gain Support
PASA/PASBO Press Release September 12, 2017
HARRISBURG (9/12/2017)—Two statewide education associations have endorsed the findings of a research project that estimates the fiscal impact of increasing charter school enrollments on school districts. The PA Association of School Business Officials (PASBO) and the PA Association of School Administrators (PASA) called the research project conducted by Research for Action (RFA) "a breakthrough in objectively measuring the stranded cost to school districts when students leave to attend charter schools." PASBO, PASA and the PA Coalition of Public Charter Schools partnered with RFA to conduct the research effort. Six school districts of different sizes with varying levels of charter school enrollment--Central Bucks School District (Bucks County), Mahanoy Area school District (Schuylkill County), Oxford Area School District (Chester County), Quaker Valley School District (Allegheny County), the School District of Philadelphia and South Western School District (York County)--provided extensive financial data using various charter enrollment rates through a tool developed by RFA. The data was then analyzed by two independent school finance experts.
http://file2.pasbo.org/PASBOPASARFA.pdf

“You’re getting a lease reimbursement for renting to yourself.”
Charter schools spin off building ownership to nonprofits, reap money from quirk in state law
Post-Gazette REPORTING Rich Lord September 14, 2017
The five-story brick and concrete building overlooking Brighton Road in Perry South features a Propel schools banner over its front door, with signs for the charter network at every approach. The 99,155-square-foot Propel Northside is owned, though, by School Facilities Development Inc., a nonprofit corporation with a very narrow role: Leasing property to Propel. SFD’s ownership allows Propel to collect around $322,000 in annual lease reimbursements from the state -- money it wouldn’t get if it owned its school buildings. It’s an arrangement that had drawn criticism from the state’s top auditor and is threatened by proposed legislation. “You’ve created this nonprofit and sort of in a sense, you control it,” said Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, a critic of the state’s charter school law. “You’re getting a lease reimbursement for renting to yourself.” Since 2004, SFD has spent $32.6 million buying a portfolio of seven schools, comprising most of Propel’s 11 locations. With no employees and just a few volunteers and part-time consultants, the nonprofit receives $3 million in annual lease payments from Propel schools, and after debt payments runs annual six-figure surpluses.
https://newsinteractive.post-gazette.com/nonprofit/#chCharterSchools

SRC begins school year with possibility of calling for its own end
WHYY Newsworks BY JENNIFER LYNN SEPTEMBER 14, 2017
Philadelphia's School Reform Commission meets Thursday for the first time since the new school year began. The five-member group — with a majority appointed by the governor — has overseen the city's traditional public schools and charter schools since 2001. Some see the state control as a way of addressing financial and academic problems to be a solution past its prime. Prior to last month's SRC meeting, there was talk about whether the commission would discuss its own dissolution. Advocates for that want a return to city control of the district. There was no such discussion last month ... and probably won't be tonight either. WHYY's Avi Wolfman-Arent covers education, and he sat down to talk with Morning Edition host Jennifer Lynn about what the SRC will cover Thursday — and in the months ahead.
http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/item/107161-src-begins-school-year-with-possibility-of-calling-for-its-own-end?_topstory

Gov. Tom Wolf, General Assembly violating state's balanced budget requirement: lawsuit
Penn Live By Jan Murphy jmurphy@pennlive.com Posted on September 14, 2017 at 5:30 AM
Saying Gov. Tom Wolf and the General Assembly have been violating the state constitution for the past two years by enacting unbalanced budgets, a trio of Pennsylvanians have decided the time is right to ask the court to put a stop to it. A lobbyist, a businessman and a lawmaker are expected to file a lawsuit on Thursday that aims to force state government to live within its means and prevent a recurrence of the unbalanced budget bind in which Pennsylvania now finds itself. The lawsuit to be filed in Commonwealth Court seeks the court to compel Wolf, the General Assembly, state Treasurer Joe Torsella and Auditor General Eugene DePasquale to uphold the balanced budget requirement in the state constitution.
http://www.pennlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/09/gov_tom_wolf_general_assembly.html#incart_river_index

Back-to-School Nightmare: Student Transcripts Vanish After Charter Closes
Some students were never given their records after Delaware Valley Charter shut down in June — and one dad tells Philly Mag that district officials “don’t care.”
Philly Magazine BY HOLLY OTTERBEIN  |  SEPTEMBER 13, 2017 AT 12:06 PM
When a high school suddenly shuts down, it can send a kid’s life into chaos. Families have to pick a new school for their child. If it isn’t a neighborhood school, they have figure out how to apply to it. If their kid gets in, they have to worry about whether they’ll fit in. And then there’s the question of whether the switch could hurt the high schooler’s ability to get into college or land a job. Now imagine fretting about all that while not being able to get ahold of your kid’s transcripts, either. That’s exactly what happened to some of the students who attended North Philadelphia’s Delaware Valley Charter High School. Kyle Lacy’s 15-year-old son, Rashan, is one of the 450-plus students who were forced to relocate when Delaware Valley Charter closed this June, after a state board denied its bid to stay open. The Charter School Appeal Board said it suffered from shoddy academic performance and several fiscal problems: It allegedly failed to complete criminal background checks for all employees, did not make several pension payments, and racked up negative fund balances of as much as $700,000 during some years.
Read more at http://www.phillymag.com/news/2017/09/13/delaware-valley-charter-closing-transcripts/#qgKSRYbKAeJx1Qig.99

Methacton School District contract negotiations at an impasse
The Mercury By Oscar Gamble, ogamble@21st-centurymedia.com@OGamble_TH on Twitter
POSTED: 09/13/17, 9:53 PM EDT | UPDATED: 5 HRS AGO
NORRISTOWN >> A teachers’ strike could be looming in the Methacton School District if an impasse in contract negotiations is not resolved within quickly approaching deadlines.
The school board announced in a press release last week that it has unilaterally filed a fact-finding request with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board in an effort to settle on a contract with the Methacton Education Association, which represents 403 educators who teach approximately 5,000 students in the district’s seven schools. If the PLRB accepts the school district’s request, a neutral third party will be assigned to perform a 40-day review of proposals from each side and file a report with contract recommendations. The district and the union would then have 10 days to accept or reject the report in a process that would culminate on Nov. 19.
http://www.pottsmerc.com/social-affairs/20170913/methacton-school-district-contract-negotiations-at-an-impasse


L.A. school board president faces felony charges over campaign contributions
In July, Ref Rodriguez was chosen as the new president of the Los Angeles Unified school board. He is part of a now-dominant faction backed by charter school supporters.
Los Angeles Times by Anna M. PhillipsDavid Zahniser and Howard Blume September 13, 2017
Los Angeles Unified School Board President Ref Rodriguez was charged on Wednesday with three felony counts of conspiracy, perjury, and procuring and offering a false or forged instrument, among other charges, the result of a months-long investigation by local authorities into donations to his successful first-time run for office in 2015. The charges against Rodriguez, 46, who represents District 5, which stretches from Los Feliz to South Gate, were detailed in a news release from Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. Prosecutors accuse Rodriguez of giving more than $24,000 to his own campaign, while illegally representing that the donations had been made by more than two dozen other contributors. The allegations come at a high point in Rodriguez's political career. Elected board president in July, he currently presides over the first L.A. Unified school board majority dominated by members who were, like him, elected with major financial support from charter school advocates.
http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-edu-school-board-rodriguez-ethics-20170913-story.html

Study: Public districts are strong providers of choice
TrustED POSTED BY: TODD KOMINIAK SEPTEMBER 13, 2017
It’s a common refrain among school choice advocates: Public schools and their “one-size-fits-all” approach to education leave many, if not most, students behind. But this image of America’s public schools as monolithic and inflexible simply isn’t true, says Tom Gentzel, CEO and executive director of the National School Boards Association. In fact, this is what Gentzel said yesterday as part of a panel discussion on Capitol Hill:
“Local school boards and administrators have been rethinking schools for quite a while. In fact, the local schools that our children and grandchildren are attending today don’t look at all like the schools many of us attended. Public education has changed dramatically to meet the diverse needs of students.”
Despite the prevailing narrative, much of which has been coopted by advocates of for-profit education, public school districts are evolving the old-guard model of K12 education from a top-down, teacher-led process, to one focused on personalized learning and exploration, Gentzel says. Many of these same districts are committed to providing exceptional choices for students and families within their systems.
http://trustedk12.com/study-nsba-school-choice/


CONSIDER IT: SCHOOL CHOICE AND THE CASES FOR TRADITIONAL PUBLIC EDUCATION AND CHARTER SCHOOLS
September 19 @ 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM Hilton Doubletree 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
Jonathan Cetel: Founding executive director of PennCAN
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.


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

Save the Date! NSBA 2018 Advocacy Institute February 4-6, 2018 Marriott Marquis, Washington D.C.
Registration Opens Tuesday, September 26, 2017


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