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, charter school
leaders, 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
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These daily emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
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Stop Betsy
DeVos’s National Voucher Program Before Congress Approves It.
Help
stop a federal voucher bill that has NPE and other national allied
organizations very concerned.
Network for Public
Education Website April 22, 2018 by Darcie Cimarusti
Send an email with a click to Congress to stop money
being drained directly from public schools to fund a national voucher program. Here is the link: https://bit.ly/2J8Rd9P
“Allowing property owners to appeal based on current market value following a sale but prohibiting school districts and municipalities from doing the same would, “in a material respect, upend fundamental notions of justice and fair play in our court system,” the judge wrote in his ruling last month.”
Not neighborly? Judge says school district appeals of home assessments are legal
MARK BELKO Pittsburgh Post-Gazette mbelko@post-gazette.com APR 26, 2018 8:45 AM
Allegheny County property owners who just bought their dream homes might detest the appeals filed by school districts and municipalities challenging their assessments. But a judge has ruled that the practice is perfectly legal, if not neighborly. In a 32-page opinion and order, Common Pleas Judge Robert J. Colville dismissed a lawsuit filed last year claiming the practice amounted to “de facto spot assessments” and violated the uniformity clause of the state constitution. Judge Colville maintained that such appeals did neither — and may in fact help to make the system fairer. In doing so, he not only upheld the right of taxing bodies to file such appeals on recently sold properties but invalidated sections of the county’s administrative code and board of property assessment appeals and review rules that limit such actions.
http://www.post-gazette.com/business/development/2018/04/26/Judge-says-taxing-bodies-can-appeal-assessments-after-homes-sell/stories/201804260069
A game of gotcha: Even if ruled legal, spot assessments are unfair
THE EDITORIAL BOARD Pittsburgh Post-Gazette APR 27, 2018 12:00 AM
In a recent ruling, Allegheny County Judge Robert J. Colville gave his approval to what is derided as the “newcomer’s tax,” the practice some municipal governments have adopted of challenging the assessments of homes when their sales prices and assessed values seem out of kilter. Judge Colville concluded that these selective assessment challenges are legal and, by ensuring new home buyers pay their fair share, make the real estate tax system more equitable for everyone. Fairness and equitability indeed are integral to the property tax system. However, municipal governments are happy to ignore the salient point that those qualities are best achieved through regular reassessments of all residential and commercial properties in a county, not through spot challenges to a handful of them. Municipalities and school districts should have just two options — live with the revenue from existing assessments or pressure the county to reassess everyone’s property on a regular basis.
http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/editorials/2018/04/27/A-game-of-gotcha-Even-if-ruled-legal-spot-assessments-are-unfair/stories/201804270017
New season of WHYY’s ‘Schooled’ podcast explores student trauma, charter school debate
WHYY By Jennifer Lynn April 27, 2018 Listen 4:09
Public education is a topic many care deeply about. Creating successful schools that serve poor students of color is thought to be a defining civil rights issue of our time. But what does that quest really look like up close, on a school day-by-school day basis? Morning Edition host Jennifer Lynn discusses this with Kevin McCorry, host of the WHYY podcast “Schooled.” The second season of “Schooled” began this week and delves into this very question.
https://whyy.org/articles/new-season-of-whyys-schooled-podcast-explores-student-trauma-charter-school-debate/
Lame duck Philly SRC approves Franklin Towne's third charter school and votes to close Eastern University Academy Charter
The notebook by Greg Windle and Avi Wolfman-Arent April 26, 2018 — 9:16pm
With their time in office drawing short, the four remaining School Reform Commission members voted to approve one new charter school and close another at their April 26 meeting. The commission, which will dissolve on June 30 and give way to a locally appointed school board, decided not to renew the charter of Eastern University Academy Charter School in East Falls. The vote was unanimous. The School Reform Commission also voted to approve an application from Franklin Towne Charter School with conditions, despite a dissenting vote from former SRC chair Marge Neff. Franklin Towne Charter, which already operates two schools, plans to open a middle school in the Bridesburg section of Philadelphia. The conditions will limit the size of Franklin Towne’s new school and include stipulations designed to make sure the school serves a representative proportion of minority students. In its review of Eastern University Academy Charter School, officials from the District's charter office found the school failed to meet academic benchmarks. On the latest round of PSSAs, 20 percent of students in the school’s middle school students scored proficient in English and one percent were deemed proficient in math. The school serves grades 7-12 and opened in 2009.
http://thenotebook.org/articles/2018/04/26/lame-duck-src-approves-franklin-towne-s-third-charter-school-and-votes-to-close-eastern-university-academy-charter
Kids of color get kicked out of school at higher rates - here's how to stop it | Opinion
Penn Live Guest Editorial By Samuel Song Updated Apr 26, 9:00 AM; Posted Apr 26, 9:00 AM
Samuel Song is an associate professor of school psychology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He wrote this piece for The Conversation, where it first appeared.
When two black men were arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks where they had been waiting for a business meeting on April 12, the incident called renewed attention to the bias that racial minorities face in American society. A few days later, a similar incident unfolded at an LA Fitness in New Jersey. While these two incidents involved adults at places of business, the reality is black children face similar treatment in America's schools. The latest evidence is in a recent federal report that shows boys, black students and students with disabilities get kicked out of school at higher rates than their peers. Findings like this are disturbing, but they are hardly surprising. As a trainer of school psychologists, consultant and researcher, I have worked with schools on the matter of racial disparities in school discipline, along with other problems of justice.
http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2018/04/kids_of_color_get_kicked_out_o.html#incart_2box_opinion
29 New Ken-Arnold teachers on furlough list
Trib Live MADASYN CZEBINIAK | Thursday, April 26, 2018, 10:45 p.m.Updated 23 minutes ago
It's deja vu in the New Kensington-Arnold School District. School directors on Thursday voted to furlough more than two dozen teachers — including 22 active teachers and seven teachers who currently are laid off — at the end of the school year. There were no dissenting votes. No one on the board commented during the votes, nor did anyone in the audience address the potential furloughs. The agenda cited school consolidation, enrollment declines and expected program cuts as reasons for the move. Superintendent John Pallone said the district is required to announce its list for potential furloughs by May 1, even though the district's budget isn't finalized until June 30, because of its contract with the teachers.
http://triblive.com/local/valleynewsdispatch/13581157-74/29-new-ken-arnold-teachers-on-furlough-list
Quakertown school director with bank fraud conviction: 'I plan to continue to serve'
Austin Sedicum says District Attorney has to make decision if he should resign.
Sarah M. Wojcik and Jacqueline Palochko Contact Reporters Of The Morning Call April 26, 2018
At a heated school board meeting, that at times brought intense interactions with those in the audience, a Quakertown school director acknowledged his past criminal history that includes a bank fraud conviction, but said he will not resign unless the District Attorney’s office in Bucks County says he must. Director Austin Sedicum’s convictions include a 1993 bank fraud conviction, a pair of DUIs in 2005 and charges in 2011 pertaining to the use of a fake license years before. Two school directors openly said Thursday night that Sedicum should resign, but other board members came to his defense. The majority of the school board said the D.A.’s office must make the decision.
http://www.mcall.com/news/education/mc-nws-quakertown-school-board-sedicum-20180426-story.html
Seeing red: Teacher walkouts shut Arizona, Colorado schools
Inquirer by MELISSA DANIELS & ANITA SNOW, The Associated Press Updated: APRIL 26, 2018 — 7:10 PM EDT
PHOENIX (AP) - Teachers in Arizona and Colorado turned their state Capitols into a sea of red Thursday as they kicked off widespread walkouts that shut down public schools in a bid for better pay and education funding, building on educator revolt that emerged elsewhere in the U.S. but whose political prospects were not clear. Tens of thousands of teachers wearing red shirts and holding "Money for Schools" signs launched the first-ever statewide strike by marching 2 miles in 90-degree heat to a rally at the Arizona Capitol. They plan to walk out again Friday to press lawmakers for their demands as will Colorado educators. Educators in both states want more classroom resources and have received offers either for increased school funding or pay, but they say the money isn't guaranteed and the efforts don't go far enough. The walkouts are the climax of an uprising that spread from West Virginia, Oklahoma and Kentucky. Most of Arizona's public schools will be closed the rest of the week, and about half of all Colorado students will see their schools shuttered over the two days as teachers take up the Arizona movement's #RedforEd mantle.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20180426_ap_89a24152327845d1876822a02640d4ca.html
PASA Women's Caucus Annual Conference "Leaders Lifting Leaders"
May 6 - 8, 2018 Hotel Hershey
**REGISTRATION NOW OPEN**
Featured Speakers...
*Dr. Helen Sobehart - Women Leading Education Across Continents: Lifting Leaders from Here to There
*Dr. Tracey Severns - Courageous Leadership
*Dr. Emilie Lonardi - Lead and Lift: A Call for Females to Aspire to the Superintendency
*Deputy Secretary Matt Stem - Update from the PDE
Registration: https://www.pasa-net.org/wcconf
Electing PSBA Officers: Applications Due by June 1st
Do you have strong communication and leadership skills and a vision for PSBA? Members interested in becoming the next leaders of PSBA are encouraged to submit an Application for Nomination no later than June 1, 11:59 p.m., to PSBA's Leadership Development Committee (LDC). The nomination process
All persons seeking nomination for elected positions of the Association shall send applications to the attention of the chair of the Leadership Development Committee, during the months of April and May an Application for Nomination to be provided by the Association expressing interest in the office sought. “The Application for nomination shall be marked received at PSBA Headquarters or mailed first class and postmarked by June 1 to be considered and timely filed.” (PSBA Bylaws, Article IV, Section 5.E.).
Open positions are:
In addition to the application form, PSBA Governing Board Policy 302 asks that all candidates furnish with their application a recent, print quality photograph and letters of application. The application form specifies no less than three letters of recommendation and no more than four, and are specifically requested as follows:
https://www.psba.org/2018/03/electing-psba-officers/
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD! Join the PA Principals Association, the
PA Association of School Administrators and the PA Association of Rural and
Small Schools for PA Education Leaders Advocacy Day at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, June
19, 2018, at the Capitol in Harrisburg, PA.
A rally in support of public education and important education
issues will be held on the Main Rotunda Steps from 1 p.m. - 2 p.m.
Visits with legislators will be conducted earlier in the day. More information will be sent via email, shared in our publications and posted on our website closer to the event.
Visits with legislators will be conducted earlier in the day. More information will be sent via email, shared in our publications and posted on our website closer to the event.
To register, send an email to Dr. Joseph Clapper at clapper@paprincipals.org before Friday, June 8,
2018.
Click here to view the PA Education
Leaders Advocacy Day 2018 Save The Date Flyer (INCLUDES EVENT SCHEDULE AND
IMPORTANT ISSUES.)
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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