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Keystone
State Education Coalition
PA
Ed Policy Roundup Sept. 18, 2017:
Billionaires gaining too much influence on
public education“No one elected these billionaires, and they are accountable to no one. We can’t call our members of Congress to object to their policies. While Americans continue to condemn the power of the very rich to influence elections, we must also fight to stop them from having more influence over the future of our young people than the constituents of democratically elected school boards.”
Billionaires gaining too much influence on public education | Opinion
Inquirer Opinion by Lisa Haver Updated: SEPTEMBER 17, 2017 — 9:24 PM EDT
Lisa Haver is a retired Philadelphia teacher and co-founder of the Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools.
When President Trump nominated Betsy DeVos, a woman with no degree or experience in education, as U.S. Secretary of Education, defenders of public education organized an unprecedented effort to fight her confirmation. Unfortunately, her stunning display of ignorance about education and the rights of public school students was not enough to stop the Senate from confirming her. But we now know who DeVos is and what her agenda is: advancing the privatization of public education under the guise of “choice.” She is a government official, accountable to the American people. We can call our elected officials when she fails to uphold the rights of all schoolchildren. But whom can we call to stop Priscilla Chan from imposing her will on public education? Or Laurene Jobs? Priscilla Chan is a physcian and wife of Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, now the world’s fifth wealthiest person. Laurene Jobs is the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and the world’s fourth wealthiest woman. Neither has a degree in education or any experience teaching in public schools, but both have embarked on massive projects to impose their ideological visions of education on schoolchildren across the country.
http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/commentary/billionaires-gaining-too-much-influence-on-public-education-opinion-20170917.html
“In
theory, the state's adoption of the new formula should be a huge boon to Erie.
The formula uses objective need factors like poverty levels to allocate state
money, and Erie ranks highly on those factors. But because lawmakers have
decided to use the formula only to distribute new funding increases — which so
far account for about 7 percent of the state's largest pot of public school
money — the outlook for Erie remains grim.”
Fair funding advocates decry Pa. leaders for playing politics with specialty school money
WHYY Newsworks BY KEVIN MCCORRY SEPTEMBER 18, 2017
For years in Pennsylvania, school funding coming from state
government was criticized as being irrational, unpredictable, and too-tied to
backroom politics. That's a large part of why many celebrated last year when
the state adopted a new student-weighted school funding formula built entirely
on objective data. But there are still times when lawmakers throw that
objectivity out the window. Take for instance the $23 million lawmakers agreed
to funnel into what they call a "educational access program" in this
year's budget, $14 million of which is earmarked for the Erie School District. Erie
has had it rough for many years. It serves a large population of poor, needy
students, it has a weak local tax base to draw from, and it suffers from a
state government that, on the whole, prioritizes funding other relatively
better-off districts. "For us, we're in the bottom 2 or 3 percent as far
as state and local revenue per pupil," said Erie superintendent Brian
Polito. "So we're still on the losing end."
Delco Times Editorial POSTED: 09/16/17, 10:31 PM EDT | UPDATED: 2 HRS AGO
Only in Pennsylvania.
Yes, we have a budget in place, one calls for our friends in Harrisburg to spend $32 billion of your hard-earned tax dollars. It’s been in place since the state-mandated deadline of July 1. What we don’t have is a way to pay for it. Still, two and a half months later. Actually that’s not technically correct. We actually have two of them. That’s right. There are now two funding plans floating around the state Capitol. At this point we might remind you that Republicans control both the House and Senate, so why is it that they have yet to agree on a way to fund the budget? One word: Taxes. The Senate version calls for some new levies, including something many people have been calling for now for years — a new severance tax on the state’s natural gas drillers. But Republicans in the House, under the thumb of Speaker Rep. Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, chafe at the idea of any new taxes.
http://www.delcotimes.com/opinion/20170916/editorial-its-budget-business-as-usual-in-harrisburg
Yo, Harrisburg, snap out of it!
Philly Daily News by John Baer, STAFF COLUMNIST baerj@phillynews.com Updated: SEPTEMBER 17, 2017 — 1:07 PM EDT
I have a suggestion. Send your state House and/or Senate member a rubber band. Tell him or her to put it on his or her wrist and snap it. And keep snapping it. It’s worth a try. If they do it long enough, maybe they’ll snap out of it. Don’t know your lawmakers? Google “PA General Assembly,” go to “Find My Legislator,” and type in your address. Oh, and send Gov. Wolf one, too: Office of the Governor, 508 Main Capitol Building, Harrisburg, Pa. 17120. It might take him several snaps, but maybe it’ll wake him up. Maybe he’ll snap out of it. The “it,” of course, is Harrisburg’s locked-in lunacy of doing the same things over and over. For lawmakers (the same party runs both chambers), it’s their failure to meet their one responsibility — enacting an annual balanced state budget — then collect their automatic annual pay raises and run for reelection.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/yo-harrisburg-snap-out-of-it-20170917.html
"We've been told it's going out next week," said Jay Himes, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials. "After that, we've been told, 'Don't hold your breath.'" John Callahan, of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, said the organization was relieved that Wolf's administration would be able to make the pension payment to districts, but it worried about the fate of a bigger payment, in excess of $1 billion for public school operations, that is due from the state in October.”
Pennsylvania delays $1.7B in payments amid budget stalemate
AP By MARC LEVY Published: Sep 16, 2017
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvania state government will delay more than $1.7 billion in payments due largely to Medicaid insurers and school districts, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf said Friday, amid an unprecedented cash crunch and a fight in the Republican-controlled Legislature over how to plug a projected $2.2 billion budget hole. Wolf's office issued the brief statement acknowledging the delays on the day the state's main bank account was projected to dip below zero. Wolf did not make a public appearance to discuss the payment delays, but his office said he would speak with top lawmakers by telephone over the weekend to discuss the budget stalemate. The payments are reimbursements for medical care, addiction treatment and mental health counseling under Medicaid and for the state's share of pension obligation payments to Pennsylvania's school employees pension fund. The Medicaid reimbursements, due Friday, will be delayed for at least a week, Wolf's office said. School districts expected the pension obligation reimbursements to be delayed by a matter of a few days, although state officials expect rolling delays of payments, at least until spring, for as long as the budget stalemate goes on.
http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_268748/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=pVgFS2p8
Wolf says budget impasse forcing him to withhold nearly $1.2 billion in Medicaid payments
Post-Gazette by LIZ NAVRATIL AND ANGELA COULOUMBIS Harrisburg Bureau 3:11 PM SEP 15, 2017
HARRISBURG — With the state still mired in a stubborn budget impasse, Gov.Tom Wolf on Friday said he is being forced to withhold nearly $1.2 billion in payments to Medicaid program providers across the state. In a short statement, the governor said his administration will be unable to pay out $1.16 billion to managed care organizations for at least week, possibly longer. Those organizations are private health insurers that provide insurance plans to the state's Medicaid recipients, many of them children, elderly and disabled. Mr. Wolf also said that come next week, his administration will also have to delay a $581 million payout to cover the state's share of pension obligations for the fund that covers the state's public school teachers and employees. The governor has also warned that without a completed budget, other funding may be in jeopardy, including for schools and roads.
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2017/09/15/Wolf-says-budget-impasse-forcing-him-to-withhold-nearly-1-2-billion-in-Medicaid-payments/stories/201709150180
Pennsylvania's ugly budget fight gets personal and regional
Penn Live By Marc Levy The Associated Press Updated on September 16, 2017 at 2:55 PM Posted on September 16, 2017 at 2:37 PM
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- The feel-good bipartisan spirit that Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf tried to instill last year in Pennsylvania's Capitol is gone, stomped to bits in an increasingly ugly budget stalemate. Now, the Capitol seems gripped by a feud that is perhaps less partisan than it is regional and personal. To a significant degree, that feud is between the huge Republican majorities that run the House and the Senate. It is also inside of those majorities, pitting southeastern Pennsylvania moderates against anti-tax conservatives who hail from much of the rest of the state. "There's so many factions, just so many factions," said Sen. Don White, R-Indiana. "Everybody from the southeast. It's geographical. It's about commitments made. It's a real mess and I've never seen anything like it in my 17 years." Nearly three months into the fiscal year, lawmakers are grappling with how to resolve state government's largest cash shortfall since the recession, now a projected $2.2 billion gap in a $32 billion budget.
http://www.pennlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/09/pennsylvanias_ugly_budget_figh.html#incart_river_index
Pa.'s budget stalemate causes payment delays but no urgency visible at Capitol to address it
Penn Live By Jan Murphy jmurphy@pennlive.com Updated on September 16, 2017 at 7:57 AMPosted on September 15, 2017 at 7:44 PM
Pennsylvania's incomplete 2017-18 budget is now starting to cause a pinch in the way the state conducts its business. It can no longer pay all of its bills on time. The state's top financial officers who are empowered to authorize stopgap loans won't do it any more due to not having a revenue plan in place to fully fund the enacted $32 billion budget. And this stranglehold continues to hold up $600 million in state funding for Penn State, Pitt, Temple and Lincoln universities and Penn's vet school. "It's a pretty serious situation," said Gov. Tom Wolf's spokesman J.J. Abbott. But that wasn't obvious at the Capitol on Thursday and Friday.
http://www.pennlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/09/pas_budget_stalemate_causes_pa.html#incart_2box_politics
80 days without a complete state budget
GoErie September 18, 2017 Posted at 2:01 AM
The state Legislature is more than 11 weeks past its constitutional deadline to pass a complete 2017-18 budget. Lawmakers in late June approved a $32 billion spending plan but no revenue package to balance it. The Senate on July 27 passed a $2.2 billion revenue package that is meant to cover a $1.5 billion deficit from the 2016-17 budget and a projected $700 million gap in this year’s budget. That measure is now before the House for consideration. You can call the offices of Gov. Tom Wolf or our state legislators to discuss this issue.
http://www.goerie.com/opinion/20170918/80-days-without-complete-state-budget
State Budget Battle May Hit Poor School Districts
Sanatoga Post by Joe Zlomek | September 18, 2017
By Andrea Sears, Public News Service, and The Post Publications
HARRISBURG PA – Pennsylvania state senators are due to return today (Monday, Sept. 18, 2017) from their summer vacations, but it’s unlikely they’ll find anything relaxing in the status of the $32 billion 2017-2018 budget. A revenue plan passed in July to support its funding remains in disarray, and the state treasurer announced he would not authorize more short-term borrowing to keep cash flowing. Checking accounts were empty by Friday (Sept. 15), according to state Treasurer Joe Torsella, leaving Pennsylvania unable to pay its bills. On the same day, Gov. Tom Wolf reported he would delay almost $1.2 billion in Medicaid payments, and an almost $600 million payment due to the state’s School Employee Retirement System. Dolores McCracken, president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, predicted public schools could be among casualties of the budget crisis. “If the House (of Representatives) doesn’t act soon, our schools could miss $1 billion in state funding payments in September and October,” she claimed. School funding in Pennsylvania depends heavily on local property taxes. Its probable that poorer school districts – under state guidelines, their ranks include Pottsgrove and Pottstown – may feel the most immediate impact, McCracken said. “We have districts that will actually worry about whether or not they can make payroll,” she added.
http://sanatogapost.com/2017/09/18/schools-may-hit-state-budget-battle/
Berks County schools anxiously await state spending plan
Reading Eagle Written by David Mekeel Friday September 15, 2017 12:01 AM
It's not dark yet, but it's getting there. The state has passed the two-month mark without a way to fund the 2017-18 budget and the impacts of the delay are starting to show. Notably, public school districts are unsure when they'll get state funding they're due. Money has been trickling in. Local districts have reported getting some special education funding and funds for the state's property tax relief program. And the state has released the first installment of basic education payments, the largest stream of state money to schools. The payments were the result of Gov. Tom Wolf transferring $700 million from PennDOT's Motor License Fund to the state's general fund to cover them, along with state police costs. But if and when future payments will come is unclear. The state House did pass a spending plan Wednesday night, but it has yet to pass the state Senate and head to the governor's desk for signature. Gov. Tom Wolf has said he opposes the plan. Further delays could leave districts across the state at least a bit short on cash, much like they were two years ago when the state budget itself was eight months late.
http://www.readingeagle.com/news/article/berks-county-schools-anxiously-await-state-spending-plan
Gerrymandering: Folmer puts redistricting reform on hold due to lawsuit
York Dispatch by Jason Addy, 505-5437/@JasonAddyYD Published 2:09 p.m. ET Sept. 14, 2017
Efforts to change the way Pennsylvania’s congressional district maps are drawn will have to wait, with state Sen. Mike Folmer postponing hearings on the issue until a gerrymandering lawsuit against legislative leaders is resolved. Advocates from Fair Districts PA, the League of Women Voters, the NAACP and other good-government groups rallied in the state Capitol Tuesday, Sept. 12, to call on Folmer to reschedule a hearing on Senate Bill 22, which aims to establish an independent redistricting commission through an amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution. As chairman of the Senate’s State Government committee, Folmer has “hit the pause button” on holding any hearings on redistricting reform because of the League of Women Voters’ lawsuit filed in June, Fred Sembach, the senator's chief of staff, said Wednesday, Sept. 13.
http://www.yorkdispatch.com/story/news/politics/2017/09/14/folmer-puts-redistricting-reform-hold-due-lawsuit/663904001/
Can a school transform this North Philly neighborhood?
Inquirer by Kristen A. Graham, Staff Writer @newskag | kgraham@phillynews.com Updated: SEPTEMBER 15, 2017 — 2:03 PM EDT
In a crime-scarred section of the poorest big city in the U.S., Sharswood still sticks out.
Once dominated by high-rise housing projects, this North Philadelphia neighborhood sees high school graduation rates that have hovered around 35 percent. Trauma touches nearly everyone. So when city housing officials promised $500 million to remake Sharswood into a place where people wanted to live, they knew there had to be a school. Four years ago, citing dwindling enrollment and lagging academics, the school district shuttered two schools: Reynolds Elementary and Vaux High School. This month, with a multimillion dollar boost from the Philadelphia Housing Authority, the school system reopened the school at 23rd and Master Streets — now known as Vaux Big Picture High School — featuring or soon to feature medical and dental clinics, after-school programs, and a team of “resilience specialists.”
http://www.philly.com/philly/education/can-a-school-transform-this-north-philly-neighborhood-20170915.html
Pa.'s public schools must protect transgender students | Opinion
Penn Live Guest Editorial By Cooper Toothman Updated on September 16, 2017 at 8:32 AM Posted on September 16, 2017 at 8:30 AM
Cooper Toothman is a tenth-grade student at McConnellsburg High School in Fulton County. She is also a transgender youth leader with the Pennsylvania Youth Congress.
Transgender students in Pennsylvania's public schools want an educational environment that is safe, free from harassment, and nurtures learning. That's why the recent federal court decision in favor of the Boyertown Area School District's practice of recognizing and respecting its students' gender identity was so important. I know this from personal experience as a transgender student at McConnellsburg High School in Fulton County. It's hard to explain to a cisgender person - that is, someone who identifies with the gender that they were assigned at birth - just how liberating it is to be able to go about my day being recognized by school administrators, staff, and my classmates as a girl.
http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2017/09/pas_public_schools_must_protec.html#incart_2box_opinion
Crowd pleads for Philadelphia SRC to abolish itself
FOX29 WTXF By: Shawnette Wilson POSTED: SEP 14 2017 09:43PM EDT UPDATED: SEP 14 2017 10:31PM EDT
PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - Crowds packed the first School Reform Commission meeting tonight. They are saying time is up. "Harrisburg said they had a fix to make our schools alright. 15 years later no solution is in sight," the crowd sang as community leaders, teachers and parents packed the first SRC meeting of the school year to send a strong message. "Closing schools and budget cuts and many other woes," the crowd continued to sing. They came to tell the School Reform Commission that its time is up. "Tick, tick, tick, tick," the crowd chanted while holding clocks. The SRC was put in place 16 years ago to take control away from the Philadelphia School District and put it into the hands of the state. The Coalition of Our City Schools wants the SRC abolished.
http://www.fox29.com/news/crowd-pleads-for-philadelphia-src-to-abolish-itself#/
'You build your imagination': Minecraft draws hundreds of kids to Philly schools fundraiser
WHYY Newsworks BY AVI WOLFMAN-ARENT SEPTEMBER 18, 2017
Standing before a room of 100 kids on 100 laptops, Donna Cooper, executive director of the nonprofit Public Citizens for Children and Youth (PCCY), made what should have been an exciting announcement. "If you want to take a short break to see the fire truck that's outside you're welcome to go do that," Cooper said amid a chorus of key clacks and mouse clicks.
That's right, a bright, red fire truck — with real, live firemen waiting to give tours. Could there be anything more alluring? "I just wanna let you know it's right outside this door," Cooper said. "Ok? Alright kids..." As the kids remained firmly in place, it became clear there is something more alluring. And that something is Minecraft. "We have a time limit on making this challenge and I've seen a firetruck before," explained Ellie Zdancewic, 12, as she glanced down at her computer screen. Minecraft has sold more than 100 million copies worldwide. It is, very simply, one of the most popular computer games ever created. The Block By Block Party, held this weekend at the University of the Sciences, offered a glimpse inside that popularity. Over two days, hundreds of kids gathered -- in person, in the actual flesh -- to play Minecraft together. The event's stated purpose was to raise money for Cooper's organization. With the cash, PCCY plans to start a fund that will give grants to Philly public schools who need better tech.
http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/homepage-feature/item/107235-15awmine?linktype=hp_impact
Methacton teachers will strike Monday; district cancels classes
Inquirer by Linda Loyd, Staff Writer @LoydLinda | lloyd@phillynews.com Updated: SEPTEMBER 17, 2017 — 10:10 PM EDT
The Methacton School District in Montgomery County has canceled classes for Monday after failing to reach a contract agreement with teachers. Bargaining talks began at 2 p.m. Sunday between the school board and the union representing the district’s 403 teachers. Talks broke off a little after 8:30 p.m. Teachers said a strike would begin at 7:30 a.m. Monday. The teachers’ union notified Methacton school officials Friday of its intent to walk off the job Monday morning. Teachers have been working without a new contract agreement since January. Support staff are bargaining separately. The Methacton Education Association said it was “disappointed” that it was unable to reach an agreement. “The school board’s position of dramatically increasing the employees’ share of the health-care premium, while not adequately increasing salaries, is unacceptable,” the union said. The teachers’ association said it was “willing to increase premium share by over 23 percent in three years, but that was not sufficient to the district.”
http://www.philly.com/philly/education/methacton-teachers-will-strike-monday-district-cancels-classes-20170917.html
North Penn board approves new teacher, support staff contracts
Intelligencer By Chris English Staff Writer Sep 16, 2017
North Penn School District teachers and others in their union will get base salary increases totaling 5.4 percent under a new, four-year contract recently approved by the school board.
Also approved was a new, three-year deal for the support staff union that has base salary increases totaling 6.75 percent. Base increases for teachers are 1.3 percent, 1.2 percent, 1.6 percent and 1.3 percent a year. When accounting for step movement — an employee's movement on a salary matrix based on years of service — actual increases are 2.97 percent, 2.98 percent, 3.04 percent and 2.88 percent. Support staff base salary increases are 2 percent the first year, 2.25 percent the second and 2.5 percent in the final year. Actual pay hikes are 2.74, 2.89 and 3.03 percent when accounting for step movement. After 16 years, employees no longer get additional pay based on step movement, district officials added. Both contracts are retroactive to July 1, when the previous deals expired. The deal with the North Penn Education Association teachers union extends through June 30, 2021. The North Penn Educational Support Professionals Association's contract runs through June 30, 2020.
http://www.theintell.com/news/local/north-penn-board-approves-new-teacher-support-staff-contracts/article_e9040eb2-9a32-11e7-8264-c3f143b4974a.html?hp=top-mainstory
“There’s an argument to be made that we should cut back on his activities or make him go to bed earlier so that he gets more sleep. Teens aren’t wired for that, though. They want to go to bed later and sleep later. It’s not the activities that prevent them from getting enough sleep — it’s the school start times that require them to wake up so early. More than 90 percent of high schools and more than 80 percent of middle schools start before 8:30 a.m.”
The Economic Case for Letting Teenagers Sleep a Little Later
New York Times by Aaron E. Carroll THE NEW HEALTH CARE SEPT. 13, 2017
Many high-school-age children across the United States now find themselves waking up much earlier than they’d prefer as they return to school. They set their alarms, and their parents force them out of bed in the morning, convinced that this is a necessary part of youth and good preparation for the rest of their lives. It’s not. It’s arbitrary, forced on them against their nature, and a poor economic decision as well. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute recommends that teenagers get between nine and 10 hours of sleep. Most in the United States don’t. It’s not their fault. My oldest child, Jacob, is in 10th grade. He plays on the junior varsity tennis team, but his life isn’t consumed by too many extracurricular activities. He’s a hard worker, and he spends a fair amount of time each evening doing homework. I think most nights he’s probably asleep by 10 or 10:30. His school bus picks him up at 6:40 a.m. To catch it, he needs to wake up not long after 6. Nine hours of sleep is a pipe dream, let alone 10.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/13/upshot/the-economic-case-for-letting-teenagers-sleep-a-little-later.html
Confidence in U.S. Public Schools Rallies
Gallup.com by Valerie J. Calderon, Frank Newport and Nate Dvorak SEPTEMBER 14, 2017
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
·
36% of Americans are confident in U.S. public schools
·
Highest level of confidence since 2009
·
Republicans, Democrats both more confident in public schools
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans' confidence in the nation's
public schools edged up in 2017. The 36% of U.S. adults who express "a
great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in public schools is
a six-percentage-point increase from 2016 and marks the highest confidence
rating in eight years.http://www.gallup.com/poll/219143/confidence-public-schools-rallies.aspx#pq=hJegji
“Compare that investment of time, talent and philanthropy in successful charter schools with the approach taken by the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) online schools and the White Hat family of schools — arguably Ohio’s worst charters. Rather than investing in kids, their owners mastered the use of Ohio’s weak charter-school regulation to make personal fortunes. The networks of schools they established technically are nonprofit, but they also operate for-profit companies that sell management services, educational software and the like to the schools they control. It’s a handy setup; ECOT founder William J. Lager was broke in 2000, when he persuaded a sponsor to back his idea for an online school. By 2016, ECOT had collected more than $1 billion from taxpayers, $170 million of which went to Lager’s for-profit companies. ECOT students haven’t fared so well. Very few of them are able to pass state proficiency tests and fewer than 40 percent graduate from high school. ECOT now proposes to refashion itself as a dropout-prevention school, allowing it to meet even lower standards.”
Editorial: At KIPP, a charter puts kids first
Columbus Dipatch Editorial Posted Sep 13, 2017 at 12:01 AM Updated Sep 13, 2017 at 6:17 AM
KIPP Columbus is a happy example of what can happen when charter-school operators view their work as an investment that enriches the future of children, rather than themselves. KIPP Columbus — part of the Knowledge is Power Program nationwide charter network — has advantages that many other charter schools don’t. It was brought to Columbus by community leaders, and benefactors have donated tens of millions of dollars to give the school gleaming new buildings. The school this year added grades 9 and 10 in a new high-school building and opened a standalone life-sciences lab with a grant from Battelle. But the investment that really makes KIPP special began in 1994, when two former teachers started a fifth-grade program in a Houston elementary. They believed that high expectations, more time with students, and intense commitment from teachers could help even the most-deprived, furthest-behind students achieve. They were right. The KIPP middle schools they opened in Houston and New York achieved such striking results that investors have helped the program to grow to nearly 200 schools, with grades K-12. Every KIPP teacher invests heavily in the school’s success, by signing on for longer school days, including some Saturdays and summer days, and promising to be available to students by cellphone after hours. KIPP students are expected to invest time, attention and hard work into their education.
http://www.dispatch.com/opinion/20170913/editorial-at-kipp-charter-puts-kids-first
Betsy DeVos Waiting for 'Right Time,' Circumstances for a Choice Initiative
Education Week Politics K12 Blog By Alyson Klein on September 17, 2017 7:47 PM
Indianapolis - U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who has spent decades advocating for private school vouchers and charter schools, came to Washington with one item at the top of her agenda: to push for a new federal school choice initiative. Her vision is running into trouble on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers in both chambers have failed to fund either of the school choice proposals in the president's budget. And it's looking less and less likely that the White House will push to include a federal tax credit scholarship program in a sweeping tax overhaul package that's slated to be unveiled soon. So where does that leave the secretary? She is not giving up, she said in a wide-ranging interview with Education Week last week. And she wants to make sure the administration pursues the best possible school choice policy. "I think what's most important that—whatever is done or originated at the federal level—that it not be a new and expansive program to be administered at the federal level, and secondly that we do it at the right time and under the right circumstances," she told me as we rolled past strip malls on the outskirts of Indianapolis to rural Charlottesville, Ind., the final stop on the secretary's "Rethink School" tour.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2017/09/betsy_devos_school_choice_essa_interview.html
U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' 163-foot yacht docked in Milwaukee
Bruce Vielmetti, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Published 12:16 p.m. CT Sept. 17, 2017 | Updated 4:30 p.m. CT Sept. 17, 2017
Boats this big always get attention in Milwaukee, and even more so when they belong to a member of President Donald Trump's cabinet. SeaQuest, a 163-foot, $40 million yacht, belongs to Dick and Betsy DeVos of Michigan. Betsy DeVos is the U.S. secretary of education. A Department of Education spokesperson said DeVos is not in Milwaukee and has no plans to be in the area, and that some other family must be using the boat. The department's website shows that last week she was scheduled to visit six Western and Midwestern states as part of her Rethink School tour. There was no activity around the boat, and no clear sign anyone was on board Sunday morning. Websites that track yachts show the SeaQuest arrived in Milwaukee on Saturday and had spent last week at Harbor Springs, in the far northwestern corner of Michigan's lower peninsula. According to several sites, the SeaQuest sleeps 12 guests in six cabins, and a crew of 12 in six more cabins. It was built by Westport in Port Angeles, Wash., and delivered to the DeVoses in 2008. It is registered in the Cayman Islands.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2017/09/17/u-s-education-secretary-betsy-devoss-163-foot-yacht-docked-milwaukee/674959001/
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.
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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