Friday, October 21, 2011

“the question isn’t whether we can afford early childhood education, but whether we can afford not to provide it. We can pay for prisons or we can pay, less, for early childhood education “

Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg

Corbett vouchers plan taking hits from left and right in Pennsylvania

WHYY Newsworks, October 20, 2011, By Bill Hangley Jr.
This fall, Governor Tom Corbett is hoping to make good on a campaign promise by creating a voucher program for Pennsylvania's public school students. The state-funded vouchers would pay for tuition at private and religious schools. Some critics call Corbett's voucher plan unconstitutional and unaffordable. Others say they it doesn't go nearly far enough. And everyone agrees it will be hard to pass.

York County school superintendents blast governor's voucher, charter plans

York Daily Record, Updated: 10/20/2011 08:35:33 AM EDT
Editor's note: This letter from the association York County school superintendents was sent to Gov. Tom Corbett and local state legislators.
Dear Gov. Corbett:
As superintendents we are committed to quality education for all children in Pennsylvania not just those in our region. By focusing on tuition vouchers and the expansion of charter schools without appropriate reform and accountability, we believe your education reform plan raises many more questions than answers and may have negative short and long term effects on K-12 education in Pennsylvania.

Panel talks about education reform in communities of color
thenotebook by Wendy Harris on Oct 20 2011 Posted in Latest news
According to data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Black and Hispanic 17-year-olds are achieving math at the level of White 13-year-olds.
This is just one shocking statistic about the achievement gap and overall educational attainment among students of color that was shared at a convening of more than 50 education leaders Wednesday at Community College of Philadelphia.

Making the Grade – Virtual  Town Hall Meeting on November 1st to Discuss New Teacher Evaluation Process
PA Partnerships for Children and the PA Association of Intermediate Units are hosting a Virtual Town Hall Meeting on the new teacher evaluation process which was piloted by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) earlier this year.   As PDE prepares to commence phase two of the pilot, you might be interested in hearing from the superintendents, principals and teachers who participated in the first phase. The town hall meeting will take place on Tuesday, November 1 at 7:00 pm at one of the Intermediate Units in your area.  The event will be video linked to 28 other locations across the state.
If you are interesting in attending, you can pre-register at the following link http://makingthegrade.paiunet.org/PAIUnet_Reg_Form.asp
The agenda with panelists can be accessed here: http://www.papartnerships.org/publication_files/mtg-nov-1-agenda.pdf

"the question isn't whether we can afford early childhood education, but whether we can afford not to provide it. We can pay for prisons or we can pay, less, for early childhood education "
OP-ED COLUMNIST

Occupy the Classroom

New York Times By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF, Published: October 19, 2011
Occupy Wall Street is shining a useful spotlight on one of America's central challenges, the inequality that leaves the richest 1 percent of Americans with a greater net worth than the entire bottom 90 percent.  Most of the proposed remedies involve changes in taxes and regulations, and they would help. But the single step that would do the most to reduce inequality has nothing to do with finance at all. It's an expansion of early childhood education.

House Education Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Clymer and State Auditor General Jack Wagner are among those who have indicated that they plan to participate in this event.

RSVP for Bucks County PTO Legislative Forum on 10/27

Thursday, October 27, 2011 from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM Warminster, PA

William Tennant High School, 333 Centennial Road, Warminster, PA 18974
Please RSVP at: http://buckslegislativeforum.eventbrite.com/
(the above is a corrected link)
Pennsylvania has passed a state budget that cut over $900 MILLION from public education, and as the new school year begins we're starting to see the effects of these cuts on our kids and our communities.  Especially now, we need our legislators to make public education a priority to help strengthen our troubled economy and ensure a brighter future for all Pennsylvanians!
All public education stakeholders are invited to this special event.  Join us on Thursday, October 27th at William Tennent High School in Warminster from 7PM to 10PM for an evening with key state legislators from Bucks County.  Every legislator representing the Bucks County school districts is invited to attend and discuss their positions on public education and take questions from audience members.
Talking about our priorities with our elected officials and hearing their views on issues that are important to the community is a vital part of democracy!   Don't miss this important conversation!

Chester County League of Women Voters to Hold Forum on Public Education, Friday October 21, 7 – 9 pm

West Chester Patch By Jake Speicher
The League of Women Voters of Chester County will host a panel on public education on Friday, October 21, from 7-9 p.m at the East Goshen Township building.

Education Voters Video Contest - DEADLINE 10/30

Education Voters Institute of Pennsylvania (EVI) is conducting a video project to highlight both the impact of cuts to critical programs that serve kids, and the importance of education to our communities and our economy.

Senate Education Panel Approves ESEA Rewrite Bill

 Alyson Klein   | 
After a long delay, the Senate education committee has just approved a bill that would rewrite the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.