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Keystone
State Education Coalition
5 reasons why
Congress should protect public schools, reject tax plan“Members of a House-Senate conference committee signed the final version of the legislation Friday, sending it to the two chambers for final passage next week. They have been working to blend the different versions passed by the two houses.”
GOP senators fall in line on tax overhaul bill
Post Gazette by STEPHEN OHLEMACHER AND MARCY GORDON Associated Press 9:15 PM DEC 15, 2017
WASHINGTON — After weeks of quarrels, qualms and then eleventh-hour horse-trading, Republicans revealed their huge national tax rewrite late Friday — along with announcements of support that all but guarantee approval next week in time to give President Donald Trump a Christmas legislative triumph. The legislation would slash tax rates for big business and lower levies on the richest Americans in a massive $1.5 trillion bill that the GOP plans to muscle through Congress before its year-end break. Benefits for most other taxpayers would be smaller. “This is happening. Tax reform under Republican control of Washington is happening,” House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin told rank-and-file members in a conference call. “Most critics out there didn’t think it could happen. ... And now we’re on the doorstep of something truly historic.”
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/nation/2017/12/15/GOP-tax-plan-gains-enough-support-to-pass/stories/201712150194
Tax Bill
Could Hand DeVos First Major School Choice Victory
The GOP tax plan would allow people to use their
college savings accounts to pay for expenses at private and religious K-12
schools.
US News By Lauren
Camera, Education Reporter |Dec. 15, 2017, at 9:21
a.m.
The GOP
tax plan could hand the Trump administration and
Secretary of Education Betsy
DeVos their first major school choice victory. As it
stands, the brokered deal between House and Senate Republicans, which is slated
for a final vote sometime next week, includes language that would allow
individuals to use 529 savings accounts – currently reserved for
college-related expenses – to also cover expenses at K-12 private schools,
including religious schools. "Happy with the addition of the 529 piece in
the bill," DeVos told the Associated
Press on Thursday after a higher
education summithosted by the Education Department. "But beyond
that, I know that this is like sausage making, so I am looking forward to the
results and to a successful outcome." Indeed, final passage of the tax
package is not given, as a handful of Senate Republicans have voiced concerns
over various aspects of the bill. But should Republican leadership wrangle the
numbers needed, it would hand DeVos her first legislative win.
5 reasons
why Congress should protect public schools, reject tax plan
Too many of the provisions in the Republican
tax-cut plan would hurt public education.
Delco Times Opinion By
Lawrence Feinberg, Times Guest Columnist POSTED: 12/15/17, 9:45 AM EST
I am writing on behalf of the Delaware County School
Boards Legislative Council to urge readers and all public education
stakeholders to contact their members of Congress and ask them to vote No on
the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act when it returns to the House of Representatives. The
Legislative Council is comprised of locally elected volunteer school directors
representing each of the 15 school districts in Delaware County. More than 50
million (90 percent) of U.S. schoolchildren attend public schools. The tax
reform bill being considered in the U.S. Congress poses a very real threat to
our public school students, parents and taxpayers.
Here are five reasons for our members of Congress to
vote NO:
Find your Members
of Congress Here and Contact Them
Use GovTrack to find out who represents you
in Congress and what bills they have sponsored.
“Five groups that represent public
school superintendents, school business officials and rural schools authored a
letter opposing the tax overhaul, saying it “includes provisions that
undermine the strength of our nation’s public school systems and compromises the
ability of these systems to adequately and effectively provide educational
opportunities and services to the students they serve.”
Here’s
what the GOP’s proposal to overhaul the tax code means for schools, students
and parents
Washington Post By Moriah
Balingit and Danielle
Douglas-Gabriel December 15 at 9:45 PM
Republicans backed away from some of the most
controversial education proposals in their finalized tax bill Friday, leaving
in place a school supply deduction for teachers and breaks for student
borrowers while also declining to tax tuition benefits, a prospect that
infuriated graduate students. “On balance, the final bill is far better news –
especially for students and families — than it could have been,” said Terry W.
Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education, which
represents colleges and universities. But public school advocates assailed the
plan, which left intact provisions that could hurt public school funding while
providing tax breaks for parents who send their children to private schools. ….Here’s
a round up of some of the ways the tax bill could affect parents,
educators and students.
"We lost a policy fight. Our
schools and students lose more," said Noelle Ellerson Ng, the associate
executive director of AASA, the School Superintendents Association, which along
with other state and local groups sought to keep the current deductibility of
state and local taxes. “
Final Tax
Bill Keeps Teacher Deduction at $250, Cuts State and Local Deductions
Education Week By Andrew Ujifusa on December
15, 2017 5:57 PM
UPDATED
After extensive
negotiations, a congressional conference committee has agreed to a final tax reform bill that could
impact state and local funding and teachers' pocketbooks, as well as school
choice. The legislation still needs to be passed by both the House and Senate
and be signed into law by President Donald Trump, who wants a tax bill to
sign before Christmas. Here are a few key details we know about it:
State
and Local Tax Deductions
The final legislation allow taxpayers to deduct up
to $10,000 in either a combination of property and income taxes, or property
and sales taxes. (See page 81 of the bill's joint explanatory statement at the
link above.) Both the bills previously passed by the House and Senate would
have allowed people to deduct up to $10,000 in property taxes, but not income
or sales taxes. Reducing the amount of state and local taxes people
can deduct could exert significant pressure on some states and communities to
reduce their own taxes, and therefore reduce revenue available for funding for
schools. We discussed this on a recent episode of
Education Writers Association radio.
Washington
Did A Lot This Week And America's Schools Will Feel It
NPR by CORY TURNER December 16, 20176:04
AM ET
Hello and welcome to another roundup of the top
education stories. It's been a long week and a lot has happened. Here's our
recap.
The FCC votes to repeal net neutrality regulations
The Republican majority on the Federal
Communications Commission voted Thursday to repeal Obama-era rules that
restrict the power of Internet service providers to favor specific websites and
apps. This dramatic reversal in favor of providers has propelled the once-wonky
issue of net neutrality into the mainstream, turning it into an increasingly
political matter. The 2015 rules were put in place to prevent Internet
providers from controlling what people can access and how quickly they can
access it by, for example, blocking websites or apps and meddling with loading
speeds.
Tax Bill
Would Increase Abuse of Charitable Giving Deduction, with Private K-12 Schools
as the Biggest Winners
Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy REPORT December 14, 2017
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY: In its rush to pass
a major rewrite of the tax code before year’s end, Congress appears likely to
enact a “tax reform” that creates, or expands, a significant number of tax
loopholes.[1] One such
loophole would reward some of the nation’s wealthiest individuals with a
strategy for padding their own bank accounts by “donating” to support private
K-12 schools. While a similar loophole exists under current law, its size and
scope would be dramatically expanded by the legislation working its way through
Congress.[2] This report
details how, as an indirect result of capping the deduction for state income
taxes paid, the bill expected to emerge from the House-Senate Conference
Committee would enlarge a loophole being abused by taxpayers who steer money
into private K-12 school voucher funds. This loophole is available in 10
states: Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia.
Editorial: It's imperative that Congress reauthorize
CHIP now
Lancaster Online Editorial by THE LNP EDITORIAL
BOARD December 16, 2017
THE
ISSUE: Two-and-a-half months after its funding expired, the federal Children’s
Health Insurance Program, which covers 8.9 million kids nationwide, has still
not been reauthorized by Congress. Unless this changes, 16 states — including
Pennsylvania — will run out of CHIP money by the end of January, and
three-quarters of all states will exhaust their program funds by the end of
March.
Pardon us if we’re beginning to sound like a broken
record, but there’s no excuse for Congress’ ongoing failure to renew the
Children’s Health Insurance Program, which has always enjoyed strong bipartisan
support. It’s beyond disappointing to us that CHIP has become a casualty of the
national capital’s hyperpartisan atmosphere. We’ve criticized this
congressional inaction in previous editorials since CHIP funding expired Sept.
30, hoping the men and women who represent us in Washington would do the right
thing before the situation became dire. But by late January, this legislative
stalemate — should it continue — could start to have some very real
consequences for families in Lancaster County and around the country if the program
ends.
CHIP funding covers about 10,000 children in
Lancaster County and approximately 178,000 children statewide.
“Federal funding accounts for 90 percent
of the $450 million CHIP budget. Congress failed to reauthorize CHIP before the
Sept. 30 deadline and has not yet addressed funding for the more than 9 million
children nationally who benefit from it.”
Governor
Wolf Signs Bill to Protect Children’s Health Care, Urges Federal Action
Governor Wolf’s
Website December 15, 2017
Philadelphia, PA – With state legislators, cabinet
officials, health care providers, families, and Children’s Hospital of
Philadelphia (CHOP) administration and clinicians joining him, Governor Tom
Wolf today held a bill signing of legislation to protect children’s health care
through state funding of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, commonly
known as CHIP. “I am proud to sign this legislation that represents
Pennsylvania’s bi-partisan commitment to securing health insurance for our most
vulnerable – our children and pregnant women,” said Governor Wolf. “However,
this is just one step in ensuring children are cared for. Congress needs to do
its part and reauthorize CHIP at the federal level. Without federal funding,
more than 180,000 children in Pennsylvania could be without health care in
early 2018.”
Wolf signs
state CHIP bill, but still no federal action
Inquirer by Rita Giordano, Staff
Writer @ritagiordano | rgiordano@phillynews.com Updated: DECEMBER
15, 2017 — 4:08 PM EST
Gov. Wolf signed a bill Friday reauthorizing
Pennsylvania’s participation in the Children’s Health Insurance Program
(CHIP). The bigger worry, however, remains with Congress, which has yet to
renew this largely federally funded program that provides health care for
nearly 9 million low-income and special needs children, as well as more than
370,000 pregnant women nationwide. Pennsylvania’s CHIP program is
projected to run out of money by the end of January if federal lawmakers fail
to act soon. “Congress needs to do its part and reauthorize CHIP at the federal
level,” said Wolf. “Without federal funding, more than 180,000 children in
Pennsylvania could be without health care in early 2018.” CHIP, a 25-year-old
program which has enjoyed a long history of bipartisan support, has been
stalled on the state and federal levels this year. Many health advocates say
politics is to blame.
The Pa.
congressmen who pushed for net neutrality to be repealed (and the lobbying
money they received)
Penn Live By Candy Woodall cwoodall@pennlive.com Updated Dec
15, 8:26 AM; Posted Dec 15, 7:16 AM
Three U.S. congressmen from Pennsylvania were
among the 107 Republican House members who called for net neutrality to be repealed. They sent
a letter Wednesday to Federal Communications Commission
Chairman Ajit Pai that said, "The record is exhaustive, every viewpoint is
well represented, and the time has come for the Commission to act." These
are their names, the areas of the state they represent and how much special
interest money they've received from the telecom industry, which benefits from
the repeal:http://www.pennlive.com/news/2017/12/the_pa_congressmen_who_pushed.html#incart_2box_politics
Scranton School District may lay off 89 teachers
Times Tribune BY SARAH HOFIUS HALL, STAFF WRITER / PUBLISHED: DECEMBER 15, 2017
SCRANTON — The Scranton School District may lay off
89 teachers — mostly those who teach art, music, physical education, library,
industrial arts, and family and consumer sciences. District officials announced the cuts, meant to help
close a nearly $19 million budget gap for next year, during a committee meeting
Thursday night. Some teachers wept and others yelled out in frustration as
administrators discussed the plan. The school board must pass the budget by the
end of year, but directors learned Thursday the state would give the district
an additional three months to balance the $164.5 million spending plan because
of the district’s financial watch status. The 89 layoffs, which also include 10
special education teachers, would be effective July 1. The job cuts would only
save about $1 million in 2018, but that number would grow in subsequent years,
after the district stops paying unemployment benefits and sees a full year of
savings. Regular elementary classroom teachers would assume responsibility for
teaching subjects like art, music and gym. Some intermediate and high school
teachers in those subjects would keep their jobs, but fewer electives would be
offered. “We’re going back in education not 10 years, but 50,” said Rosemary
Boland, president of the Scranton Federation of Teachers. “You better bloody
well know this is about the kids in this district, and you’ve just hurt them.”
The board must still approve the changes and will
hold a budget hearing Monday at a time and place to be determined.
Administrators are also expected to explain the changes in greater detail.
Public comment, except for final remarks by Boland, was not permitted Thursday.
Gatekeepers:
Philadelphia Education Fund Adopts New Paid Access Policy
Wrench n the Gears Blog December 16, 2017
Farah Jimenez is a member of the Philadelphia School
Reform Commission and current director of the Philadelphia Education
Fund (PEF), a nonprofit that hosts monthly
conversations on topics related to public education in Philadelphia. These
days, if you want to attend one of their Education
First Compact meetings, you’re going to have to jump through
a lot of hoops. That wasn’t previously the case. Advance registration for
meetings is now required, a policy put in place after Ms. Jimenez was hired in
April 2016. When registering via the website, attendees are strongly encouraged
to financially support the organization as either a series subscriber or by
purchasing individual tickets. Corporate and foundation subscribers pay $750,
while individuals pay $100; though there is the option to donate more.
Cyber
Charters Continue to Struggle: A State-by-State Look at Reports of Trouble
Education Week By Arianna Prothero on December
14, 2017 9:14 PM
From California to Ohio to Nevada, cyber charter
schools often struggle mightily to graduate students and they frequently clash
with state regulators over their academic performance and financial management.
Nevertheless, the niche sector of K-12 schooling continues to expand
across states even in the face of such poor results. As part of an Education
Week investigation published a year ago, we plotted dozens of local
media reports and state audits on an interactive map. Now, we've updated the
map through 2017, which you can find here:
Cyber
Charters Have a Champion in DeVos
Although cyber charter schools have long struggled
with poor academic performance and financial mismanagement, they now have a
high-profile ally in the Trump administration: U.S. Secretary of Education
Betsy DeVos. The education secretary has a long track record on favoring
a range of school choice, incuding online schools operated by for-profit
companies. She was also an early invester in K12 Inc., the country's largest
virtual school operator.
DeVos Delays Rule on Racial Disparities in Special Education
New York Times By ERICA L. GREEN DEC. 15, 2017
WASHINGTON — The Department of Education is
proposing to delay for two years an Obama-era rule that requires states to
aggressively address racial biases that may be channeling disproportionate
numbers of minority children into special education. The department is
soliciting public
comment on its plan to postpone enforcement of the so-called
“significant disproportionality rule,” due to take effect July 1, 2018. The
rule, which was issued in the last weeks of the Obama administration, required
states to look at districts that had disproportionately high numbers of
minority students identified for special education services, segregated in
restrictive classroom settings or disciplined at higher rates than their peers.
If it is not scrapped, the rule would take affect in 2020. The Education
Department estimated in one analysis that nearly half of the school districts
in the country would be identified as having significant disproportions of
minorities in their special education populations if they were to adopt a
standard the department considered reasonable. It also estimated that it would
cost districts between $50 million and $91 million to implement the rule.
Trump
administration forbids CDC officials from using 7 words and phrases
Morning Call by Lena H. Sun and Juliet Eilperin Washington
Post December 15, 2017
Trump administration officials are forbidding
officials at the nation's top public health agency from using a list of seven
words or phrases - including "fetus" and "transgender" - in
any official documents being prepared for next year's budget. Policy analysts
at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta were told of the
list of forbidden words at a meeting Thursday with senior CDC officials who
oversee the budget, according to an analyst who took part in the 90-minute
briefing. The forbidden words are: "vulnerable,"
"entitlement," "diversity," "transgender,"
"fetus," "evidence-based" and "science-based." In
some instances, the analysts were given alternative phrases. Instead of
"science-based" or "evidence-based," the suggested phrase
is "CDC bases its recommendations on science in consideration with
community standards and wishes," the person said. In other cases, no
replacement words were immediately offered.
The '7
Dirty Words' Turn 40, but They're Still Dirty
The Atlantic by TIMOTHY
BELLA MAY 24, 2012
Four decades after George Carlin's legendary
monologue, the law still can't decide how to handle publicly broadcast
swearing.
On May 27, 1972, George Carlin took to the stage for
a show at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium to record his Class
Clown album, which was scheduled to come out that
fall. Carlin—a comedic champion of the counterculture with long hair, a thick
beard, earrings, and a propensity for recreational drugs—was writing material
that was going to upset some people. He didn't think much of what kind of
influence a seven-minute routine on those seven words would have on the culture
at large. He was aware, however, that what he was going to say that night could
put his career in jeopardy. A decade earlier, Lenny Bruce had been blacklisted
from performing in U.S. clubs because of his profanity-laced routines.
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.
Local School Board Members to Advocate on Capitol Hill in 2018
NSBA's Advocacy Institute 2018 entitled, "Elected. Engaged. Empowered: Representing the Voice in Public Education," will be held on February 4-6, 2018 at the Marriott Marquis in Washington, D.C. This conference will convene Members of Congress, national thought-leaders, state association executives and well-known political pundits to provide local school board members with an update on key policy and legal issues impacting public education, and tactics and strategies to enhance their ability to influence the policy-making process and national education debate during their year-round advocacy efforts.
WHAT'S NEW - ADVOCACY INSTITUTE '18?
·
Confirmed
National Speaker: Cokie Roberts, Political Commentator for NPR and ABC News
·
NSBA
will convene first ever National School Board Town Hall on School Choice
·
Includes
General Sessions featuring national policy experts, Members of Congress,
"DC Insiders" and local school board members
·
Offers
conference attendees "Beginner" and "Advanced" Advocacy
breakout sessions
·
NSBA
will host a Hill Day Wrap-Up Reception
Click here to register for the Advocacy Institute. The
hotel block will close on Monday, January 15.
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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