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
“Students First is a familiar name in Pennsylvania politics.
The PAC’s primary backers are the co-founders of Susquehanna International Group, a global trading firm. They’ve given money to state legislators, gubernatorial candidates, and members of Philadelphia’s City Council. Recipients include Republicans and Democrats. The commonality is a commitment to school choice initiatives, which it spells out clearly on its website.
In the most recent reporting period, Students First’s only contributions came from Susquehanna International co-founder Jeff Yass, who donated $3 million.
During that same period, which stretches back to June 5th, Students First gave two $1 million donations: one to Scott Wagner’s campaign and another one to Commonwealth Leaders Fund, a conservative PAC based in Montgomery County.
It also gave money to a smattering of state legislators and candidates, including: Rep. Jordan Harris (D-Philadelphia), Republican State Senate candidate Stewart Greenleaf Jr., Rep. Margo Davidson (D-Delaware), and Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams (D-Philadelphia).”
A month before the election, Wolf, Wagner continue trading barbs over education
WHYY By Avi Wolfman-Arent October 1, 2018
Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidates Tom Wolf and Scott Wagner have continued to trade barbs over education policy. Wolf has hit Wagner twice in recent weeks, first by connecting the former state senator to lightning-rod U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. The Wagner-DeVos connection comes through a $1 million donation to Wagner’s campaign by Students First PAC. Students First, Wagner’s most generous contributor over the summer, has a long history of supporting candidates who favor school-choice measures such as charter schools and vouchers. The PAC is a partner organization of the American Federation for Children, a school-choice organization once chaired by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. DeVos’s cabinet nomination drew fierce opposition, particularly from teachers’ unions, a key Democratic constituency. Soon after the most recent campaign filings, Wolf’s camp seized on the DeVos connection in a press release about “DeVos’s dark money group.”
https://whyy.org/articles/with-first-debate-looming-wolf-wagner-trade-barbs-over-education/
“Act 1 base level of 2.3 percent, which drops .1 percentage points from 2018-19”
Act 1: Schools told max tax increase rate for 2019-20
Delco Times By Kevin Tustin ktustin@21st-centurymedia.com October 2, 2018
The Pennsylvania Department of Education released late last week Act 1 indices to approximately 500 districts to tell them how high they may raise real estate taxes in the 2019-20 school year. The Act 1 index is used to determine the maximum tax increase percentage a district can levy before going to a ballot referendum or filing a referendum exception with the state. Seven districts in the county will be held at the Act 1 base level of 2.3 percent, which drops .1 percentage points from 2018-19: Garnet Valley; Haverford; Marple Newtown; Radnor; Rose Tree Media; Springfield and Wallingford-Swarthmore. The eight other districts saw their respective indices drop .1 points in correlation with the drop in the base index: Chester Upland, 3.7; Chichester, 3.1; Interboro, 3.1; Penn-Delco, 2.8; Ridley, 3; Southeast Delco, 3.4; Upper Darby, 3.3; and William Penn, 3.4. Southeast Delco actually dropped .2 points from 2018-19
Districts have free reign to raise taxes any amount up to their index. If a school district wishes to raise taxes a percentage over its mandated index, it can be voted on by district residents through referendum, or a referendum exception may be filed with the state if the need to raise taxes higher due to retirement contributions, special education expenditures or school construction debt. Filing for an exception does not automatically mean a district will ultimately raise taxes over the index. Created in 2006, the Act 1 index was signed into law to “ease the financial burden of home ownership by providing school districts the means to lower property taxes to homeowners” by way of gaming revenues.
https://www.delcotimes.com/news/schools-told-max-tax-increase-rate-for/article_bce908f0-c682-11e8-a9b0-4bf7c40ede65.html
Twelve States (including PA) Offer Profitable Tax Shelter to Private School Voucher Donors; IRS Proposal Could Fix This
Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy October 2, 2018
A proposed IRS regulation would eliminate a tax shelter for private school donors in twelve states by making a commonsense improvement to the federal tax deduction for charitable gifts. For years, some affluent taxpayers who donate to private K-12 school voucher programs have managed to turn a profit by claiming state tax credits and federal tax deductions that, taken together, are worth more than the amount donated. This practice could soon come to an end under the IRS’s broader goal of ending misuse of the charitable deduction by people seeking to dodge the federal SALT deduction cap.
If finalized, the regulation would stop taxpayers who see much, or all, of their donations to voucher programs reimbursed by their state governments from pretending that the entire “donation” came out of their own pockets. For instance:
·
Someone who donates
$100 and receives all of it ($100) back in state tax cuts (i.e. tax credits)
would receive no (zero) federal charitable deduction under the proposed
regulation. They have done nothing truly charitable.
·
Someone who donates
$100 and receives three-quarters ($75) back in state tax cuts (i.e. tax
credits) would only be allowed to write-off the other one-quarter ($25) as a
gift eligible for the federal charitable deduction.
This type of
reform is essential to ending a long-running tax shelter under which private school voucher donors receive
lucrative state tax credits worth up to 100 percent of the amount they donate,
and yet write-off those “donations” on their federal tax forms.https://itep.org/twelve-states-offer-profitable-tax-shelter-to-private-school-voucher-donors-irs-proposal-could-fix-this/
End Tax Shelters that Harm Public Schools
National Coalition for Public Education
For many years the IRS has permitted taxpayers in 12 states to turn a profit by financially supporting private school voucher programs. This profitable tax shelter has fueled rapid growth in these voucher programs, leading to a major transfer of public dollars into private schools. Moreover, the profits being pocketed by these taxpayers come at the expense of state and federal budgets and do not find their way into any public school or public works project. Recently the IRS has proposed regulations that would shut down this tax shelter and could significantly weaken the popularity and growth of the voucher programs in these 12 states. We have an opportunity as public education advocates to weigh in with the IRS and support these regulations, but the IRS is already facing extreme pressure by pro-privatization entities and members of Congress to keep them on the books.
Please take 5 minutes to fill out this template and send it to the IRS today. This is an opportunity to send more dollars into public schools both at the federal and state level.
https://www.ncpecoalition.org/take-action
Nikole Hannah-Jones issues a challenge to parents in Philadelphia and beyond
The journalist and "genius grant" winner says integration is the only remedy that actually works to improve outcomes for children of color. But it is hard to achieve -- and full of complications.
The notebook by Dale Mezzacappa October 2 — 3:58 pm, 2018
Nikole Hannah-Jones warned her audience from the outset: “I don’t give inspirational speeches. The talk I give tonight, I hope it will make you feel uncomfortable.” In that, she succeeded. The award-winning writer, also a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” winner, covers race, civil rights and segregation for the New York Times Magazine. She spoke Saturday night at a fundraiser for the Mighty Writers, a nonprofit organization that helps students unlock their inner talents and ambitions through writing. Her appearance was one of the highlights of the organization’s first-ever MightyFest. She guessed that “everyone here is a self-selected progressive,” surveying the 100 or so people at the Ethical Society of Philadelphia who attended the event. And yet, she noted, most of them likely “do things daily that uphold conditions I write about.”
https://thenotebook.org/articles/2018/10/02/nikole-hannah-jones-issues-a-challenge-to-parents-in-philadelphia-and-beyond/
In Philly neighborhoods and online, library loyalists organize to reverse cuts
WHYY By Meir Rinde October 3, 2018
This story originally appeared on PlanPhilly.
For Erica Root and her 7-year-old son Aiden, visiting the Andorra branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia used to be a highlight of their week. He took a bookbinding mini-class there one Saturday last fall, and on another, he made a collage out of leaves and sticks from the nearby Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. One weekend he got to read a book to a Dalmatian as part of a program that lets kids learn to read without feeling pressure to avoid mistakes, his mother said. “We don’t have a lot of time during the school week, so on Saturdays when the library used to be open, I really looked forward to bringing him to the library so he could have a little bit of that experience,” Root said, during a community meeting Monday night in Mount Airy. “It was just so much fun for him, and I thought it was a really great way for him to get introduced to the library and find a passion for it, like I did.” But as Aiden played at her feet, Root explained to a room of library advocates that the Andorra branch, like many across the city, now keeps its door shut on the weekend. Weekend closures were formerly reserved for the summer when weekday hours are extended to accommodate children who are out of school. Every September, Saturday hours were restored. But not this year.
https://whyy.org/articles/in-neighborhoods-and-online-library-loyalists-organize-to-reverse-cuts/
Pa. will be first to launch statewide app, hotline for reporting school threats
Sandy Hook mom helps launch Pa. hotline for school-related threats
Penn Live By David Wenner dwenner@pennlive.com Updated Oct 1, 2:35 PM; Posted Oct 1, 1:43 PM
Pennsylvania will be the first state in the nation with state-wide deployment of a threat reporting system devised by people whose children were killed by a shooter at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, officials announced Monday. The program, called "Safe2Say," is expected to be up and running by early January. It will involve a mobile app, website and hotline which can be used to make anonymous reports of students and others showing signs they have the potential to carry out school violence. Safe2Say was devised by Sandy Hook Promise, a non-profit formed following the 2012 shooting to search for ways to prevent such violence. Nichole Hockley, who founded the organization and whose six-year-old son Dylan died in the shooting, attended an event in Dauphin County on Monday to announce a partnership with the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office, which will run the hotline program.
https://www.pennlive.com/news/2018/10/sandy_hook-spurred_group_partn.html
Guest Column: School safety requires innovation; there is no 1 solution
Delco Times Opinion By Senator Tom McGarrigle Times Guest Columnist
Tom McGarrigle of Springfield represents the 26th District in the Pennsylvania Senate.
Throughout Delaware and Chester County, students are starting to get into the swing of a new school year. This time of year generates the normal, age-old concerns for parents, questions about whether their child will make new friends, get good grades, do their homework unsupervised, or eat properly. But in these current times, parents are now faced with a more serious – and much more stressful – concern: “Will my child be safe at school?” A school is meant to be a place of learning, a place where all students – as well as teachers, administrators, and other education support professionals - feel safe. The number of school shooting in recent years have changed that dynamic, particularly since it seems schools are increasingly becoming a target of shooters. I raised three boys – now young men – and whenever I hear or read news of a tragic school shooting, I think about those who are living through every parents’ worst nightmare. As an elected official, I’ve worked hard to develop solutions to school safety problems that will protect our children and educators. Many policymakers have traditionally looked at school safety as a local school board or municipal police issue. But I’ve always been the type of person who looks at an issue and cares more about fixing it then worrying about what’s been done in the past.
https://www.delcotimes.com/opinion/guest-column-school-safety-requires-innovation-there-is-no-solution/article_ce98781e-c656-11e8-89e7-c7fa49115d92.html
Internal poll shows state House candidate Emily Skopov within five points of House Speaker Mike Turzai
The North Hills district traditionally backs Republicans, but has been trending towards Democrats over the last few years
Pittsburgh City Paper By Ryan Deto @RyanDeto October 2, 2018
Pennsylvania state House Speaker Mike Turzai (R-Marshall) won his 2016 re-election campaign by more than 30 points, receiving 65 percent of the vote in the 28th state House District in the North Hills. An internal poll shows his 2018 Democratic opponent could be much closer than that. A poll from Washington, D.C., polling company GBA Strategies shows challenger Emily Skopov (D-Marshall) within five points of the incumbent Turzai, with Turzai leading 49-44 among likely voters. Considering of Turzai’s past electoral dominance in this district and the fact that President Donald Trump won here by a margin of 52-43, the Skopov campaign is celebrating these figures. “This poll shows we can defeat Mike Turzai because voters disagree with his belief that our children have no right to an equal education, and they are sick of his obsession with controlling women’s bodies,” says Skopov in a statement, referencing Turzai’s support of “school-choice” legislation and his anti-abortion stance.
https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/internal-poll-shows-state-house-candidate-emily-skopov-within-five-points-of-house-speaker-mike-turzai/Content?oid=11038986
LNP, Philadelphia Inquirer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, team up to cover Pennsylvania state government
LANCASTERONLINE | Staff October 2, 2018
LNP Media Group is joining forces with two of the state’s largest news organizations, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, to create a new investigative reporting team covering Pennsylvania state government. The unprecedented partnership expands upon the work of The Caucus, launched by LNP Media Group in January 2017, to cast light on one of the largest and most expensive state governing bodies in the nation. “LNP Media Group is honored to join forces with two outstanding news organizations that are equally committed to exposing waste and fraud in the capital,” said Robert M. Krasne, the company's CEO. “This partnership brings together Pennsylvania’s premier investigative journalists for that common goal.” The partnership between the three news organizations formalizes collaborative efforts between the publications in recent months to report on major stories. The Caucus’ Brad Bumsted and Paula Knudsen, for example, teamed up with veteran Inquirer reporter Angela Couloumbis to cover allegations of sexual assault in state government. “With news resources shrinking in many state capitols across the country, The Caucus, the Inquirer and Post-Gazette are committed to reporting that challenges the status quo and brings more transparency to all three branches of government, said Brad Bumsted, bureau chief of The Caucus.
https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/lnp-philadelphia-inquirer-pittsburgh-post-gazette-team-up-to-cover/article_7b8832f2-c5b8-11e8-8986-5707424c18ee.html
AP: Lawmakers buy industry fix to protect schools from guns
ABC News By REESE DUNKLIN AND JUSTIN PRITCHARD, ASSOCIATED PRESS Oct 2, 2018, 8:07 PM ET
Security companies spent years pushing schools to buy more products — from "ballistic attack-resistant" doors to smoke cannons that spew haze from ceilings to confuse a shooter. But sales were slow, and industry's campaign to free up taxpayer money for upgrades had stalled. That changed last February, when a former student shot and killed 17 people at a Florida high school. Publicly, the rampage reignited the U.S. gun-control debate. Privately, it propelled industry efforts to sell school fortification as the answer to the mass killing of American kids. Since that attack, security firms and nonprofit groups linked to the industry have persuaded lawmakers to elevate the often-costly "hardening" of schools over other measures that researchers and educators say are proven to reduce violence, an Associated Press investigation shows. The industry helped Congress draft a law that committed $350 million to equipment and other school security over the next decade. Nearly 20 states have come up with another $450 million, and local school districts are reworking budgets to find more money.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ap-firms-sell-school-hardening-mass-shooting-solution-58227446
Testing Resistance & Reform News: September 26 - October 2, 2018
Submitted by fairtest on October 2, 2018 - 12:36pm
Controversies continue to swirl around policies that promote standardized testing misuse and overuse, and some policy-makers are taking action. There's real progress to report in many states -- check out this week's clips for details of assessment reform victories!
http://www.fairtest.org/testing-resistance-reform-news-september-26-octobe
Tax Hikes to Fund Schools? Once Taboo, the Idea Is Gaining Momentum
Education Week By Daarel Burnette II October 1, 2018
Politicians on the state campaign trail this year are making some eye-popping promises for parents and educators: billions more dollars for schools, double-digit pay raises for teachers, and hundreds of millions more to replace dilapidated schoolhouses. And in some states, Democrats are going so far as to broach a topic often seen as off-limits in election season: tax increases. Drawing confidence from poll data, an uptick in successful local referendum measures, and the swell of support for thousands of teachers who went on strike this spring for increased pay, Democrats in states such as Arizona, Florida, and Oklahoma are gambling that voters are so alarmed at the financial disrepair of their local school systems that they're willing to tax states' corporations and wealthiest citizens to bail them out. "You're seeing this confluence of larger political trends of income inequality and concerns about local government struggling after the Great Recession and not keeping teachers and school districts whole," said Tracy Gordon, a senior fellow with the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. "The politics of that have been fascinating."
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/10/03/once-campaign-year-poison-taxes-on-table-as.html
DeVos’ security detail projected to cost up to $7.7M during the next year
Politico By CAITLIN EMMA 10/02/2018 08:33 PM EDT
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' security detail is projected to cost up to $7.74 million from now through the end of September 2019, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service told POLITICO on Tuesday night. The Marshals Service said the final cost of protection for DeVos in fiscal 2018 was $6.79 million. That's more than the $6.54 million officials estimated last year as the maximum for fiscal 2018, which the Education Department at that time deemed a "high water mark" that the agency didn't plan to exceed. An agreement between the Education Department and the Marshals Service governing DeVos' protective detail was just renewed for fiscal 2019, which began on Monday. DeVos’ security detail is provided around the clock by the Marshals Service, which is highly unusual — the past four Education secretaries have been protected by the Education Department’s own small security force.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/02/devos-security-detail-millions-825948
EdPAC reception helps support election of pro-public education leaders
Do you want to help strengthen public education in the commonwealth? Join with EdPAC, a political action committee that supports the election of pro-public education leaders to the General Assembly. EdPAC will hold a fundraising reception at the 2018 PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference on Wednesday, Oct. 17 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. in Cocoa 2-3. More details to come! Visit the conference website to register online.
PSBA Officer Elections: Slate of Candidates
PSBA members seeking election to office for the association were required to submit a nomination form no later than June 1, 2018, to be considered. All candidates who properly completed applications by the deadline are included on the slate of candidates below. In addition, the Leadership Development Committee met on June 17 at PSBA headquarters in Mechanicsburg to interview candidates. According to bylaws, the Leadership Development Committee may determine candidates highly qualified for the office they seek. This is noted next to each person's name with an asterisk (*). Voting procedure: Each school entity will have one vote for each officer. This will require boards of the various school entities to come to a consensus on each candidate and cast their vote electronically during the open voting period (Aug. 24-Oct. 11, 2018). Voting will be accomplished through a secure third-party, web-based voting site that will require a password login. One person from each member school entity will be authorized as the official person to register the vote on behalf of his or her school entity. In the case of school districts, it will be the board secretary who will cast votes on behalf of the school board. A full packet of instructions and a printed slate will be sent to authorized vote registrars the week of August 7. Special note: Boards should be sure to add discussion and voting on candidates to their agenda during one of their meetings in August, September or October before the open voting period ends.
https://www.psba.org/2018/07/psba-officer-elections-slate-candidates/
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!
“Not only do we have a superstar lineup of keynote speakers including Diane Ravitch, Jesse Hagopian, Pasi Sahlberg, Derrick Johnson and Helen Gym, but there will be countless sessions to choose from on the issues you care about the most. We will cover all bases from testing, charters, vouchers and school funding, to issues of student privacy and social justice in schools.”
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
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