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
associations and education advocacy organizations via emails, website,
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These daily emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg
AP Analysis: Billionaires fuel powerful state charter groups
AP News by Sally Ho July 16, 2018
SEATTLE (AP) — Dollar for dollar, the beleaguered movement to bring charter schools to Washington state has had no bigger champion than billionaire Bill Gates. The Microsoft co-founder gave millions of dollars to see a charter school law approved despite multiple failed ballot referendums. And his private foundation not only helped create the Washington State Charter Schools Association, but has at times contributed what amounts to an entire year’s worth of revenues for the 5-year-old charter advocacy group. All told, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given about $25 million to the charter group that is credited with keeping the charter schools open after the state struck down the law, and then lobbying legislators to revive the privately run, publicly funded schools. It’s an extreme example of how billionaires are influencing state education policy by giving money to state-level charter support organizations to sustain, defend and expand the charter schools movement across the country. Since 2006, philanthropists and their private foundations and charities have given almost half a billion dollars to those groups, according to an Associated Press analysis of tax filings and Foundation Center data. The review looked at 52 groups noted by a U.S. Department of Education website as official charter school resources in the 44 states plus Washington, D.C., that currently have a charter law, as well as the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Most of the money has gone to the top 15 groups, which received $425 million from philanthropy. The Walton Family Foundation, run by the heirs to the Walmart fortune, is the largest donor to the state charter advocates, giving $144 million to 27 groups. “We ought to be paying more attention to who these organizations are, and what kind of vision they have, and what drives them. A lot of these organizations have extraordinary influence, and it’s often pretty quiet influence,” said Jon Valant, an education policy expert at Brookings.
https://apnews.com/92dc914dd97c487a9b9aa4b006909a8c
With the teacher supply plummeting, Pa. spending $2M to stem the tide
Post-Gazette by KRISTEN A. GRAHAM The Philadelphia Inquirer JUL 13, 2018 9:03 AM
Pennsylvania used to license more than 14,000 new teachers annually. Now, it issues certificates to fewer than 5,000. The state is aiming to do something about that. Gov. Tom Wolf announced grants Thursday to eight universities around the commonwealth — including Robert Morris University and Indiana University of Pennsylvania — to develop and implement residency programs for educators. “While Pennsylvania’s educator preparation system is one of the largest in the country, the commonwealth faces significant challenges, including a steep decline in the number of qualified teaching candidates,” Mr. Wolf said in a statement. “These grants will benefit our students by providing advanced training to better prepare teachers and school leaders to serve in our most high-need areas.” The number of education majors in Pennsylvania colleges and universities has dropped 55 percent since 1996, officials said. And the number of new teaching certificates issued in the state sunk 71 percent between 2009-10 and 2016-17, to just 4,412 from 14,247. The situation is not limited to this area. There is a nationwide shortage of teachers — most acute in special education, science and math. The supply of new teachers is declining, according to recent research, as the demand for educators is swelling.
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2018/07/13/teachers-supply-plummeting-Pennsylvania-residency-grants-program-wolf/stories/201807130103
Pennsylvania Announces $2 Million to Retain More Teachers, School Leaders
July 14, 2018 - by MyChesCo
HARRISBURG, PA — The Pennsylvania Department of Education has awarded approximately $2 million in grants to eight universities to develop and implement year-long residency programs for teachers and principals, a critical element in his commitment to increasing and retaining the number of qualified instructors and school leaders serving the Commonwealth’s public schools. “While Pennsylvania’s educator preparation system is one of the largest in the country, the Commonwealth faces significant challenges, including a steep decline in the number of qualified teaching candidates,” said Governor Wolf. “These grants will benefit our students by providing advanced training to better prepare teachers and school leaders to serve in our most high-need areas.” The organizations and awards include:
http://mychesco.com/a/education/governor-wolf-announces-2-million-to-retain-more-teachers-school-leaders/
New Pennsylvania law allows school boards to discuss security measures in private
Michelle Merlin and Sarah M. Wojcik Of The Morning Call July 15, 2018
There was a time when school safety protocol wasn’t so secret. Northampton Area School District Superintendent Joseph Kovalchik, a school administrator for the last 20 years, recalls when building floor plans were printed in handbooks and posted on school websites. Those days, he said, are long gone. Ever since the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, school districts have disclosed less and less about their security measures and plans. “And rightfully so,” Kovalchik said. “This is the world we live in. There’s no comparing it to years ago.” Yet as security information has become more confidential, the desire by parents to know more about what’s happening inside a school has grown. This has created a new balancing act for administrators, Kovalchik said. School administrators have new clarity about what they can and can’t discuss in public thanks to a Pennsylvania law signed June 22. The law allows school officials to discuss matters related to safety behind closed doors — in executive session— if airing them publicly would be “reasonably likely to impair the effectiveness of such measures” or are likely to jeopardize the safety or security of an individual or school.
http://www.mcall.com/news/education/mc-nws-pa-law-exec-session-school-security-20180710-story.html
Thousands March Through Pittsburgh To Call For Public School Funding
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) July 14, 2018
Crowds marched through Pittsburgh to call for public school funding after Saturday’s events at the American Federation of Teachers Convention. Thousands of union members and leaders have been attending the conference at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center this weekend, and they took to the streets around 4:30 p.m. to call for things like fair wages and better healthcare. Marchers stopped in a few spots around the city to listen to speakers like State Representative Ed Gainey, AFT President Randi Weingarten and a rising senior from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The union has 1.7 million members across the country but could soon be facing hard financial times after a recent Supreme Court decision saying unions can no longer extract agency fees from non-consenting employees. “This is to show solidarity in support of the union movement,” Debbie Jackett, of Rochester, N.Y., said. “Our public unions are under attack right now, especially given the Janus decision by the Supreme Court about two weeks ago.”
https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2018/07/14/elizabeth-warren-american-federation-of-teachers-convention/
On pensions, heads should but won’t roll
Times Tribune BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD / PUBLISHED: JULY 15, 2018
As every Lackawanna County school district and hundreds more statewide prepare to raise taxes this year, state Treasurer Joe Torsella has revealed appalling incompetence at the state level that contributes mightily to that local burden. Because state lawmakers have refused for 17 years to fix the pension systems that they broke in 2001, every school district in the state is required to contribute to employees’ pension plans an amount equal to 34 percent of their payrolls, and continue to do so for the next three decades. It is unsustainable. According to Torsella, the pension boards governing the plans for state government employees and public school employees have “wasted” $5.5 billion over 10 years in fees paid to poorly performing Wall Street investment managers. The pension funds are underfunded relative to their liability by about $75 billion, due to the Legislature vastly increasing benefits and reducing state and school contributions in 2001. Pension managers compounded the problem by hiring highly aggressive, highly paid investment managers to put pension money in “alternative” but supposedly lucrative investments.
https://www.thetimes-tribune.com/opinion/on-pensions-heads-should-but-won-t-roll-1.2361728
Pittsburgh Public Schools partners with Pa. on school improvement plan
ELIZABETH BEHRMAN Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Lbehrman@post-gazette.com JUL 16, 2018 6:00 AM
Pittsburgh Public Schools’ latest efforts to turn around its struggling schools are going to be a model for other Pennsylvania districts looking to boost their performance. The district was one of three across the state to participate in the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s school improvement pilot program, a new plan to more closely share state resources with districts that have the lowest-performing schools. The strategy is a major piece of the state blueprint under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, a new accountability plan that gives state more flexibility to measure student success beyond standardized testing. Previously, if the state's persistently lowest-achieving schools failed to meet standards, they would have to restructure, which could include reopening as a charter, replacing staff or installing a new principal. “What we wanted to do was design an approach to supporting school improvement that really built on what research shows does make a difference,” said Rosemary Hughes, the state Department of Education’s special adviser on school improvement.
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2018/07/16/Pittsburgh-Public-Schools-transformation-Pennsylvania-ESSA-improvement-pilot-plan/stories/201807150033
Gov. Wolf dismisses GOP rival Wagner's accusation that he is seeking cuts in rural school districts' funding
Trib Live by WES VENTEICHER AND NATASHA LINDSTROM | July 12, 2018, 11:23 p.m.
Gov. Tom Wolf clarified Thursday that he has no intention of seeking imminent cuts from so-called “overpaid” and shrinking school districts to compensate underpaid, growing ones — despite outcry earlier in the day from gubernatorial candidate Scott Wagner that Wolf backs a proposal that would “decimate” Western Pennsylvania’s smallest schools. “Tom Wolf, the guy who ran in 2014 as the education governor, who promised to put more money into education, is now saying ‘yes’ to a plan to decimate rural school districts. This is unacceptable,” Wagner, a Republican, said during a news conference at the Omni William Penn hotel in Downtown Pittsburgh. That “sounds like complete nonsense,” Wolf, a Democrat, said of Wagner’s remarks hours later during an unrelated visit to an electrical workers trade union in Pittsburgh’s South Side. “I ran four years ago on increasing education funding, and I will continue to do that,” Wolf told reporters, pointing to a $312 million year-over-year increase in state education spending in the 2018-19 budget he signed into law in late June. “Pennsylvania is a lagger when it comes to overall investment in education. We have a long way to go.”
https://triblive.com/news/adminpage/13861579-74/gov-wolf-dismisses-gop-rival-wagners-accusation-that-he-is-seeking-cuts
The butterfly effect of a good teacher
Tiffany Tavarez reflects on how a high school mentor changed her life.
The notebook by Alyssa Biederman July 13 — 4:49 pm, 2018
“A cupcake changed my life,” Tiffany Tavarez said.
Tavarez, now a community relations professional at Wells Fargo, was a hard-working senior in her Catholic high school when her art teacher, Charlene Kahse, held a bake sale that would forever change how Tavarez conducted her life. avarez grew up with a single mother after her father died when she was 6. Her mother, who had never gone to college, stressed that education was the path to success, but she also needed Tavarez and her younger brother to assume more responsibility at home. “[My mom] said, ‘OK, this is your adult time now. You have to help me take care of the household, you have to help me take care of your brother, and with that, I don’t want school to be an issue,’” Tavarez said. Tavarez said her mother focused on “humanizing educators.” “She would say, ‘They’re not aliens. They are adults who have your best interests in mind. Just connect with them and ask questions,’” Tavarez remembered. Tavarez was a good student, but never connected deeply with a teacher until high school, when she had Kahse as her art teacher. “Mrs. Kahse was the first person to ever really look at me,” Tavarez said. “She noticed me and paid mind to me in the classroom in a way that was different than any other educator.”
Kahse said Tavarez was set apart from other students immediately. “You know when you have friends or family who have a 3-year-old and they say, ‘yeah, she’s 3 going on 40?’ That’s how I think of Tiffany straight off the bat,” she said. “She was very mature for her age. Very goal-oriented.” Kahse became Tavarez’s mentor and helped Tavarez get into a dual-enrollment art program that allowed her to take high school and college classes at the same time.
http://thenotebook.org/articles/2018/07/13/the-butterfly-effect-of-a-good-teacher/
Philly Board of Education announces committee assignments
All meetings will be open to the public.
the Notebook July 13 — 5:23 pm, 2018
The new Board of Education has announced the members of its four committees, which will play a key role in the body’s work. Board Chair Joyce Wilkerson made the appointments after each of the nine members spoke at the board’s first public meeting about which committees he or she preferred and why. The appointments are still tentative and will have to be approved at the board’s next meeting on Aug. 16. The largest committee is the Student Achievement and Support Committee, which has six members and will be led by Chris McGinley and Angela McIver. That committee will also look at the role of charter schools. McGinley, who also served on the School Reform Commission, is a former teacher, principal, and suburban school superintendent. McIver has been a middle school teacher and runs a math enrichment program. Her three children attend District schools. Other members of that committee are Julia Danzy, Leticia Egea-Hinton, Mallory Fix Lopez, and Maria McColgan. “Committees will provide us with many opportunities to partner with the Philadelphia community that we serve around key District governance matters,” said Wilkerson in a statement. “We are encouraging the public and all stakeholders to participate in committee meetings.” The other committees and their leaders:
http://thenotebook.org/articles/2018/07/13/board-of-education-announces-committee-assignments/
“While all the current Supreme Court justices graduated from Ivy League law schools, they did not all attend exclusive private high schools. Five of the nine sitting justices—Anthony M. Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Samuel A. Alito Jr., and Elena Kagan—attended public high schools, while Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Clarence Thomas, and Sonia Sotomayor, along with Gorsuch, attended private schools. Kavanaugh’s appointment could reverse the current 5-4 public-private school split on the Supreme Court. He would replace the outgoing Kennedy, who graduated from public high school in California.”
The Supreme Court Justices Are All Ivy Law Grads, But What About High School?
Education Week By Corey Mitchell July 12, 2018
There are more than 31,000 public and private high schools in the United States. What are the chances that one of those schools would have two alumni on the U.S. Supreme Court? Pretty high, actually. With President Donald Trump’s nomination of Brett M. Kavanaugh, 53, to be the next U.S. Supreme Court justice, Georgetown Preparatory School, an exclusive all-boys Jesuit high school in suburban Washington, could have two grads on the nation’s highest court. Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, who was two years behind Kavanaugh at the school, was Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee and took the bench last year.
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/07/12/the-supreme-court-justices-are-all-ivy.html
PA Superintendent of the Year nominations requested by July 27th
PASA and the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) are seeking nominations for 2019 Pennsylvania Superintendent of the Year. Candidates will be judged on the following criteria: leadership for learning, communication, professionalism and community involvement. The nomination deadline is Friday, July 27. For more information, visit the AASA website, http://soy.aasa.org.
Apply Now for EPLC's 2018-2019 PA Education Policy Fellowship Program!
Applications are available now for the 2018-2019 Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP). The Education Policy Fellowship Program is sponsored in Pennsylvania by The Education Policy and Leadership Center (EPLC).
With more than 500 graduates in its first eighteen years, this Program is a premier professional development opportunity for educators, state and local policymakers, advocates, and community leaders. State Board of Accountancy (SBA) credits are available to certified public accountants.
Past participants include state policymakers, district superintendents and principals, school business officers, school board members, education deans/chairs, statewide association leaders, parent leaders, education advocates, and other education and community leaders. Fellows are typically sponsored by their employer or another organization. The Fellowship Program begins with a two-day retreat on September 13-14, 2018 and continues to graduation in June 2019.
Applications are being accepted now.
Click here to read more about the Education Policy Fellowship Program.
The application may be copied from the EPLC web site, but must be submitted by mail or scanned and e-mailed, with the necessary signatures of applicant and sponsor.
If you would like to discuss any aspect of the Fellowship Program and its requirements, please contact EPLC Executive Director Ron Cowell at 717-260-9900 or cowell@eplc.org.
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.
2nd Annual National Black Male Educators Convening, Oct. 12-14,
Philly
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 2nd National Black Male Educators
Convening to advance policy solutions, learn from one another, and fight for
social justice. All are welcome. Register to attend. Nominate a speaker.
Propose a workshop. Sponsor the event.
Save the Dates PASA/PSBA School Leadership Conference –
Hershey, Oct. 17-19, 2018
Mark your calendar! The Delegate Assembly will take place Friday, Oct. 19, 2018, at 2:30 p.m.
Housing now open!
Housing now open!
Our Public Schools Our Democracy: Our Fight for the Future
NPE / NPE Action 5th Annual National Conference
October 20th - 21st, 2018 Indianapolis, Indiana
We are delighted to let you know that you can purchase your discounted Early Bird ticket to register for our annual conference starting today. Purchase your ticket here.
Early Bird tickets will be on sale until May 30 or until all are sold out, so don't wait. These tickets are a great price--$135. Not only do they offer conference admission, they also include breakfast and lunch on Saturday, and brunch on Sunday. Please don't forget to register for your hotel room. We have secured discounted rates on a limited basis. You can find that link here. Finally, if you require additional financial support to attend, we do offer some scholarships based on need. Go here and fill in an application. We will get back to you as soon as we can. Please join us in Indianapolis as we fight for the public schools that our children and communities deserve. Don't forget to get your Early Bird ticket here. We can't wait to see you.
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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