Thursday, October 27, 2011

Statewide Press Coverage of Passage of Voucher Bill SB1 in the PA Senate Yesterday

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Statewide Press Coverage of Passage of Voucher Bill SB1 in the PA Senate Yesterday
Dale Mezzacapa at the notebook, Jan Murphy at the Patriot News, Tracie Mauriello at the Post-Gazette, Brad Bumstead at the Tribune-Review and Eric Boehm at PA Independent.

PSBA: October 26, 2011 PA Senate Passes Voucher Bill SB1 Without Further Amendment by a vote of 27-22

Senate Passes Voucher Bill Without Further Amendment
This posting includes a roll call vote on SB1.

EDUCATION LAW CENTER NEWS ALERT, Oct. 26, 2011
Senate Bill 1 Fiscal Note Shows Majority of Voucher Dollars Going to Students Already Enrolled in Private and Religious Schools
The final draft of the Republican Senate Appropriations Committee's Fiscal Note on the amended Senate Bill 1 reveals the majority of taxpayer-funded school vouchers will go to students already enrolled in private and religious schools.  

What Works: Raising achievement in underperforming schools
PSBA Education Research & Policy Center  (October 2011) 
Through research, literature reviews and interviews, the PSBA Education Research & Policy Center has gathered what experts cite most often as the best way to improve school performance. Through the findings, the Center developed three recommendations for raising student achievement.
Download the 32 page report PDF Raising achievement in underperforming schools

 

What Works: PSEA Solutions That Work

Solutions That Work is a blueprint for change that is grounded in firsthand knowledge, supported by research, and tested in practice.
We invite you to see for yourself. On this site, you can explore the full text of Solutions That Work in greater detail. Learn how districts and individuals throughout Pennsylvania are making a difference. And discover some of the newest and most exciting findings in education research.

 

PO EDITORIAL: Doesn't much matter what you think of school vouchers

Chambersburg Public Opinion Online
By Matthew Major, opinion editor and member of Public Opinion's editorial board
What should be the proper response from elected officials when a large majority of the people who elected them opposes what they intend to do?
Host public hearings? Educate people on the need? Make adjustments to satisfy their concerns?
Not in Pennsylvania. Especially not when it comes to creating a new entitlement program to subsidize private schooling with public dollars.

Charter schools are public schools, right?
The Notebook by Guest blogger on Oct 24 2011 Posted in Community voices
This guest blog post is from David Stovall, associate professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
"The charter school movement has always denied - and is very sensitive to - charges that it represents a deeper agenda to privatize public education. Indeed, many charter schools go out of their way to identify as "public charter schools."  But with New Media's "private employer" claim, it appears charters want to have it both ways: they are "public" when they want public dollars, but "private" when they want to prevent teachers from unionizing."

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/
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.

Building One Pennsylvania Public Meeting: Advancing an Agenda for Regional Change, Thursday Oct. 27th in Lancaster

Thursday, October 27 – 11:30 am

More than 500 local elected, faith and civic leaders from the older, financially distressed boroughs, towns and cities in Pennsylvania who have already registered to attend Building One PA's October 27 meeting to call for state and federal policy changes that will stabilize our Main Street communities. 
The Building One Pennsylvania Public Meeting will take place on Thursday, October 27, 2011 from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm at the Bright Side Baptist Church, 515 Hershey Avenue, Lancaster, PA 17603. Doors open at 10:30 for registration.
Leaders from throughout the state will convene to present an agenda for change to state and federal policymakers that will stabilize and revitalize our communities.
This event is free but you must register in advance to reserve your seat.  Register at www.BuildingOnePa.org or by emailing name, title and organizational affiliation (if applicable), address, phone and email to info@buildingonepa.org. To defray the costs of the event, we are accepting donations. Suggested donation: $15. 

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

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.


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