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Keystone
State Education Coalition
SB2: Vote delayed
on Pennsylvania school voucher bill
“Allentown, Bethlehem Area and Easton
Area school districts would lose nearly $50 million annually under the bill if
a third of eligible students left, according to an analysis by Pennsylvania
State Education Association union, which opposes the measure. In October, the
bill failed to pass the committee in a deadlocked 6-6 vote. By Tuesday, bill
opponent Sen. Dan Laughlin, R-Erie, was supposed to have been replaced by Sen.
Richard Alloway, R-Franklin, a supporter. That did not happen, but will next
year, committee Chairman John Eichelberger, R-Blair, indicated. The committee
will vote in 2018 when the new member takes over, he said.”
SB2
Vouchers: Vote delayed on Pennsylvania school voucher bill
Morning
Call by Steve
Esack Contact
Reporter Call Harrisburg Bureau December 12, 2017
A Pennsylvania Senate panel postponed a vote Tuesday
on a school choice bill that would allow some parents to use state tax money to
send children to a private school.
It was the second time this year Senate Bill 2
failed to get out of the Education Committee.
The bill, backed by Sen. John DiSanto, R-Dauphin,
would allow parents of students in the lowest-performing schools to use their
child's state per-pupil expenditure as a voucher to pay for private schools,
tutors, standardized tests, textbooks and special education services. Under the
bill, the money would go into an education savings account that would be
controlled by the state Treasury. Unused money could roll over to the next
school year. The bill’s proponents say children deserve a chance to succeed by using
state tax money to escape schools that perpetually have standardized test
scores in the bottom 15 percent of all schools in the state. Opponents say the
affected schools serve some of the state’s poorest urban and rural children,
and taking state funding would cripple the schools’ ability to function.
SB2 Vouchers:
Fate of school choice bill hinges, for now, on Erie’s Laughlin
GoErie by Ed Palattella Posted
Dec 12, 2017 at 5:14 PM Updated
Dec 12, 2017 at 5:37 PM
The Republican state senator has requested to leave
the state Senate Education Committee, where he has been a key vote opposing the
creation of education savings accounts, similar to vouchers. State Sen. Dan
Laughlin’s whereabouts in Harrisburg were closely watched on Tuesday. Where he
ended up might have helped slow legislative movement on a school choice bill
that, by one estimate, could cost the Erie School District at least $14.7
million. Laughlin, of Millcreek Township, R-49th Dist., appeared for a 10:30
a.m. meeting of the state Senate Education Committee, on which he sits. But
speculation at the Capitol was that Laughlin before Tuesday might have left
that committee, by his request, to sit on the state Senate’s committee on
economic development. Laughlin’s departure likely would have allowed the
Education Committee to approve moving Senate Bill 2 — which would create
education savings accounts, similar to vouchers — out of committee and on to
the floor of the GOP-controlled Senate. The education savings accounts would
allow students in the bottom 15 percent of the state’s public schools, in terms
of academic performance, to use public money to attend nonpublic schools and
buy school supplies, such as textbooks. Several Erie School District schools
would be on the low-performing list.
WITF Written by Katie Meyer, Capitol Bureau Chief | Dec 12, 2017 4:35 AM
(Harrisburg) -- A contentious proposal to let students use state money to pay for private school is getting another chance to make it onto the Senate floor. Senate Bill 2 would create education savings accounts--a similar concept to private school vouchers--that would let students in the lowest-performing public schools use the money the state would have spent on their education for alternative school options, as well as related expenses like textbooks. It failed to pass the Senate Education Committee in a tie vote in late October, and is now scheduled to be reconsidered in the same committee Tuesday. However, Republican Senator Daniel Laughlin of Erie County, one of the only GOP lawmakers to vote against the bill in October, may be moving off the panel.
That could change the outcome of the vote, though Laughlin maintains his likely departure is unrelated to the bill. "I can see why it looks the way it does," he said. "It had nothing to do with my decision, no." He said he asked to leave "a month or two ago" to join the Economic Development Committee, though he didn't give an exact date.
Toomey:
Tax bill could be finished next week
GoErie By Doug Oathout Posted
at 2:01 AM
Pat Toomey didn’t have much of a weekend. “I
spent most of it on the phone with other conferees,” explained the junior U.S.
senator from Pennsylvania, referring to other members of the conference
committee that will reconcile the House and Senate tax bills this week and
next. Toomey is one of eight Senate Republicans named to the committee. No
other legislator from Pennsylvania is on the committee. During a 30-minute interview
Monday morning, Toomey said he expects there will be an agreement among
conference committee members this week and a vote by the end of next week. He
fully expects the bill to be on President Donald Trump’s desk before
Christmas. “I feel like we’re on the one-yard line. It’s first-and-goal from
the one. We’ve had quite a drive, and momentum is on our side. I think we’re
going to get it over the goal line,” he said.
Day 2
testimony in gerrymandering lawsuit delves deeper into making Pa.’s
congressional map
By Emily Previti, WITF December 12, 2017
The gerrymandering case
that could force a new congressional map continued
Tuesday in Harrisburg. Eighteen Democrats are suing, alleging Pennsylvania’s
map – considered
the nation’s most gerrymandered, by some measures – was drawn
unfairly by state GOP leaders to advantage Republicans. So far, the minutiae of
mapmaking have dominated testimony. The plaintiff’s first
expert witness Jowei Chen has testified that partisan concerns trumped
best practices for redistricting based on 1,000 computer-generated alternatives
to the state’s current map. But one of his findings might overlap with counter
arguments from the defense’s expert taking the stand later this week.
'This is a
gerrymandered map,' West Chester professor says in redistricting trial
Inquirer by Jonathan Lai, Staff
Writer @Elaijuh | jlai@phillynews.com Updated: DECEMBER
12, 2017 — 7:24 PM EST
HARRISBURG — A West Chester University political
science professor testified Tuesday in a state gerrymandering trial that
Pennsylvania’s congressional map splits “communities of interest” such as
municipalities, counties, and other areas to an extent unseen in previous maps.
“The 2011 map carves up Pennsylvania’s communities of interest at an
unprecedented level and contains more anomalies than ever before,” said John J.
Kennedy, who has been at West Chester University for two decades. The effect of
the map, he said, is to disadvantage Democratic voters and favor Republicans. “This
is a gerrymandered map,” he said. His testimony came Tuesday afternoon in the second
day of a trial that will ultimately be decided by the Pennsylvania Supreme
Court. The suit is brought by a group of Democratic voters who are
challenging the map as a gerrymander to maximize the number of Republicans
winning seats in the House of Representatives and thus discriminates against
Democrats.
Citing
seniority, existing districts, legislative lawyers say map-making can't be
academic exercise
Penn Live By Charles Thompson cthompson@pennlive.com Updated Dec
12, 10:09 PM; Posted Dec 12, 8:40 PM
Attorneys for Republican legislative leaders who
built Pennsylvania's current Congressional districts began building their
defense of those politically-driven maps in court Tuesday.
They argued that an expert who portrayed the current map as a freakish
outlier Monday when compared to 1,000 computer-generated maps
he drew based on traditional redistricting principles was largely undertaking
an academic exercise. University of Michigan professor Jowei Chen drew his maps
from scratch, they noted, as if Pennsylvania's political history did not exist,
or Pennsylvanians had no attachment to their Congressmen. Chen, under
cross-examination Tuesday, conceded his computer algorithms did their
map-building work on a clean-slate Pennsylvania. The legislature's map-makers,
by contrast, were working from a playing field that already had 19 established
districts, which they had to reduce to 18.
York Daily Record by Ed
Mahon, emahon@ydr.com Published 8:27
a.m. ET Dec. 12, 2017 | Updated 10:57 a.m. ET Dec. 12, 2017
In the database above, you can see your school's
performance score. (Having trouble seeing the database? Refresh the page or
click here.) The Pennsylvania Department of Education grades
schools based on student achievement and progress for each school year. You can
search by school or district to see the 2017 School Performance Profile
scores. If you type in a score amount, you'll see results greater than or
equal to that amount. The system is based on a 100-point scale, although
schools can earn extra points for advanced performance on state tests and
defined national tests, according to the department.
Debunking
the false narrative against PSSA tests | Opinion
Inquirer Opinion by Jeff Hellrung, For
Philly.com Updated: DECEMBER 12, 2017 — 3:01 AM EST
Jeff
Hellrung is a retired Navy captain, a former business manager, and a retired
Pennsylvania public school teacher. He is currently serving his fourth
term on the Unionville-Chadds Ford School Board and represents his school
district on the CCIU Board.
Gov. Wolf joined Education Secretary Pedro Rivera,
advocates, and educators in August to announce a significant reduction in standardized
testing for elementary students: Students will spend less time taking the tests – 48 fewer
minutes on math, 45 fewer minutes on English, and 22 fewer minutes on science. We
all know that our elementary students are subjected to far too many state and
federally mandated high stakes standardized tests, right? So this reduction in
PSSA testing time must be a fine idea. But it’s not. PSSA tests are designed to
measure student achievement and year-to-year growth for individual students and
their cohorts. They are the only state or federally mandated standardized tests
for our elementary students. Math and ELA are tested annually in grade 3
through grade 8 and science is tested in grade 4 and grade 8.
Pa.
lawmakers need to carefully consider changes to teaching certification
standards | Opinion
Penn Live Guest Editorial By Kathleen
M. Shaw Updated Dec 12, 8:00 AM
Kathleen M. Shaw is executive director of
Research for Action, an independent educational research organization. She
writes from Philadelphia.
What really matters? A bill now before the House Education Committee would amend
Pennsylvania's teacher certification grade spans to better align with the way
our schools are organized and allow for more flexibility in teacher placement. The
bill (HB1386), sponsored by Rep. Kristin Phillips-Hill, R-York, would also give
educators the option of choosing a K-6 K-6 certification in lieu of a pre-K
through 4th grade option. Supporters, including the
Pennsylvania State Education Association, contend that the current
certifications -- Pre-K - 4th grade; 4th - 8th grade,
and 7-12th grades--do not align with the way most elementary,
middle and high schools are set up. They argue that this
"misalignment" has caused issues with educator assignments and led to
teacher shortages. Yet there's no systematic evidence to support this
contention. A review of the state's most recent teacher shortage data
indicates that most occur at the high school level, in specialized areas, and
in special education.
Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools by Karel Kilimnik December 10, 2017
Alert: The SRC posted its resolution lists and summaries on Monday December 4. On Friday afternoon, they added three additional items: renewal votes on Aspira Olney and Aspira Stetson, and a vote on the revocation of Khepera Charter. These items are not formal resolutions, as they provide nothing other than the topic of the resolution—they do not state exactly what the SRC will be voting on. That is a clear violation of the PA Sunshine Act. After having postponed renewal votes on Aspira Olney and Aspira Stetson for a year and a half, the SRC is now poised to take a vote of some kind on these schools. The SRC’s Charter School Office, citing failure to meet academic, organizational and financial standards, recommended non-renewal for Aspira Olney and Aspira Stetson in April 2016. Stetson’s charter expired in June 2015, Olney’s in June 2016.
Eyes on the SRC: December 14, 2017
SB166: Pennsylvania
House rejects bill targeting unions' political activity
In a stunning defeat for conservatives and a
rare showing of union solidarity, the Republican-controlled Legislature has
rejected a bill that would have weakened labor’s political footing.
Morning Call by Steve
Esack Contact
Reporter December 12, 2017
In a defeat for conservatives and a win for union
solidarity, the Republican-controlled Legislature has rejected a bill that
would have weakened labor’s political footing. Senate Bill 166, which the House
shot down in a 102-90 vote on Tuesday night, would have prohibited state,
county and local governments from using their payroll systems to let workers
make voluntarily contributions to their respective union’s political action
committees. The bill would have applied to teachers, police officers,
firefighters and other public sector union members after their current
contracts expire. The bill only targeted the extra PAC money deductions, not
normal union dues.
The bill previously passed the House twice and the
GOP-controlled Senate three times. Even if it passed, Gov. Tom Wolf, a
Democrat, had vowed to veto it. No veto was needed after enough moderate
Republicans sided with Democrats to reject the bill Tuesday. The bill was
favored by the GOP’s vast conservative majority and the Commonwealth
Foundation, an influential lobbying group that advocates against unions and has
a political wing that raises money for conservative candidates.
Democrat
Jones wins stunning red-state Alabama Senate upset
Inquirer by KIM CHANDLER & STEVE
PEOPLES, The Associated Press Updated: DECEMBER 13, 2017 — 3:53 AM EST
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - In a stunning victory aided
by scandal, Democrat Doug Jones won Alabama's special Senate election, beating
back history, an embattled Republican opponent and President Donald Trump,
who urgently endorsed GOP rebel Roy Moore despite a litany of sexual misconduct
allegations. It was the first Democratic Senate victory in a quarter-century in
Alabama, one of the reddest of red states, and proved anew that party loyalty
is anything but certain in the age of Trump. Tuesday's Republican loss was a
major embarrassment for the president and a fresh wound for the nation's
already divided GOP.
Trump Taps
Ex-Florida Chief, Lt. Governor for Top K-12 Post Under DeVos
Education Week Politics K12 Blog By Alyson
Klein on December 11, 2017 9:57 PM
President Donald Trump has tapped Frank Brogan,
who served as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's lieutenant governor, as assistant
secretary of elementary and secondary education, the top post at the Education
Department overseeing K-12 policy. Brogan was elected Florida's commissioner of
education in 1994, a gig he held until 1999, when he became lieutenant
governor. He then served as Bush's second banana from 1999 to 2003. He has also
held just about every possible job in K-12 education policy and instruction.
He's been a teacher, principal, and superintendent of schools in Florida's
Martin County. The news isn't exactly a shocker. We told
you he was likely to be hired for the role way back in August. Brogan
recently stepped down as the chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of
Higher Education.
Brogan championed
higher academic standards while overseeing Florida's schools, including
a push to require students to take Algebra I or a comparable math course in
order to graduate. The plan also called for students to earn a 2.0 grade-point
average on a four-point scale to graduate from high school or to participate in
sports or other extracurricular activities while they were in school. Brogan
also supported using tax dollars for private schools, a priority
for U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. Early in his tenure as
Florida state chief, he
proposed eliminating 350 jobs from the 1,500-person state education department—a pitch in line with
DeVos' own push to slim down regulations at the federal level.
Testing
Resistance & Reform News: December 6 - 12, 2017
Submitted by fairtest on December 12, 2017 -
1:21pm
Your financial support makes it possible for
FairTest to assist and promote grassroots campaigns with tools such as our new
"Testing Reform Victories Surge in 2017: What's Behind the Winning
Strategies?" report (http://fairtest.org/fairtest-report-test-reform-victories-surge-in-2017). Please make a
year-end contribution today to help build an even stronger movement in 2018
Register
for New School Director Training in December and January
PSBA Website October 2017
You’ve started a challenging and
exciting new role as a school director. Let us help you narrow the learning
curve! PSBA’s New School Director Training provides school directors with
foundational knowledge about their role, responsibilities and ethical obligations.
At this live workshop, participants will learn about key laws, policies, and
processes that guide school board governance and leadership, and develop skills
for becoming strong advocates in their community. Get the tools you need from
experts during this visually engaging and interactive event.
Choose from any of these 11
locations and dates (note: all sessions are held 8 a.m.-4 p.m., unless
specified otherwise.):
·
Dec. 8, Bedford CTC
·
Dec. 8, Montoursville Area High School
·
Dec. 9, Upper St. Clair High School
·
Dec. 9, West Side CTC
·
Dec. 15, Crawford County CTC
·
Dec. 15, Upper Merion MS (8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m)
·
Dec. 16, PSBA Mechanicsburg
·
Dec. 16, Seneca Highlands IU 9
·
Jan. 6, Haverford Middle School
·
Jan. 13, A W Beattie Career Center
·
Jan. 13, Parkland HS
Fees: Complimentary to All-Access
members or $170 per person for standard membership. All registrations will be
billed to the listed district, IU or CTC. To request billing to
an individual, please contact Michelle Kunkel at michelle.kunkel@psba.org. Registration also includes a
box lunch on site and printed resources.
NSBA 2018
Advocacy Institute February 4 - 6, 2018 Marriott Marquis, Washington D.C.
Register Now
Come a day early and attend the Equity
Symposium!
Join hundreds of public education advocates
on Capitol Hill and help shape the decisions made in Washington D.C. that
directly impact our students. At the 2018 Advocacy Institute, you’ll gain
insight into the most critical issues affecting public education, sharpen your
advocacy skills, and prepare for effective meetings with your representatives. Whether
you are an expert advocator or a novice, attend and experience inspirational
keynote speakers and education sessions featuring policymakers, legal experts
and policy influencers. All designed to help you advocate for your students and
communities.
Registration is now open for the 2018 PASA Education Congress! State College, PA, March 19-20, 2018
Don't miss this marquee event for Pennsylvania school leaders at the Nittany Lion Inn, State College, PA, March 19-20, 2018.
Learn more by visiting http://www.pasa-net.org/2018edcongress
SAVE THE DATE for the 2018
PA Educational Leadership Summit - July 29-31 - State College, PA sponsored by
the PA Principals Association, PASA, PAMLE and PASCD.
This year's Summit will be held from July 29-31, 2018 at the Penn Stater
Conference Center Hotel, State College, PA.
Any comments contained herein are my comments, alone, and
do not necessarily reflect the opinions of any other person or organization
that I may be affiliated with.
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