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from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1500
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legislators, members of the press and a broad array of education advocacy
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Yesterday the Keystone State Education Coalition Blog got its
50,000th hit. Thank you for your
continuing interest and support.
Central Dauphin
School Board plans to cut 84
jobs, raise taxes to balance budget
The Central Dauphin
School District must slash
jobs and programs and raise taxes to avoid bankruptcy, the school board was
told Monday night.
Up to 84 employees, including 74 teachers, could
lose their jobs, district officials said.
Middle schools would lose foreign language,
family and consumer science programs, and kindergarten offerings including art,
music, physical education and library would be eliminated.
Taxpayers in the 118-square-mile district could
also expect a 3.3 percent property tax increase in the upcoming budget based on
preliminary budget reports.
TIOGA County: SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS
Corbett’s budget puts
the ‘hurt’ on Tioga
County schools
March 25, 2012
WELLSBORO - Tioga County
school districts are not alone in trying to deal with a budget from Gov. Tom
Corbett that threatens to leave both programs and staff out in the cold.
All three school
district superintendents and business managers in Tioga County
recently discussed their options should nothing change before the budget is
passed in June.
Pittsburgh City schools learning to do more with less
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette March 26, 2012 12:00 am
Cutting school budgets
is in vogue these days, but Pittsburgh
is trying to save money this fall by approaching cost-cutting from a different
angle.
The first question is
not cost but equity: What should all children have in the Pittsburgh Public
Schools? The second is: How can that be
accomplished and save money?
The result is a plan --
now in its final stages of development -- that changes the way the district
determines how much money each school gets, increases class sizes and is part
of an expected $29.1 million in annual savings.
Chester
County: Avon Grove School Board talks state mandates with
legislators
By
MARCELLA PEYRE-FERRY Journal Register News Service Posted: 03/26/12
PENN
— Avon Grove school officials recently discussed their problems with unfunded
state mandates and other requirements with state legislators.
Senate
Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi and state Reps. John Lawrence and Chris Ross
attended a March 22 Avon Grove School Board Meeting to discuss views on
education and the state’s education budget.
Lawmakers seek clarity
on Duquesne schools
By Rachel Weaver,
PITTSBURGH
TRIBUNE-REVIEW Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Sen. James Brewster said
he and other legislators will meet this morning with Education Secretary Ron
Tomalis to discuss the future of the embattled Duquesne City
School District.
"The folks in
Duquesne need to have clarity as to what's going on," said Brewster,
D-McKeesport. "There are a lot of unanswered questions."
Since 2000, a
state-appointed board has managed the district, which has struggled financially
and academically. In October, the board sent a letter to parents stating it was
unlikely Duquesne would continue to function in its current form beyond the
2011-12 school year.
Residents soon could
learn what that means. The board has scheduled a meeting at 6 p.m. April 5 on
the direction of the district.
UPDATED DAILY –
STATEWIDE PRESS COVERAGE OF SCHOOL DISTRICT
BUDGETS
As districts consider their preliminary budgets and we await the
Governor’s February 7th budget
announcement, the PA House Democratic Caucus has been tracking daily press
coverage on school district budgets statewide:
“Here’s what I want you to say,” ….. “Public
schools are a public good.”
I told the White House to stop talking about
failing schools as if they were the rule rather than the exception, which only
serves to paint all public education with the same toxic brush. That’s not to
say we shouldn’t fix problems where they occur, or focus on significant issues
such as graduation rates for some populations. I believe we have to address
trenchant disparities along lines of race, class, and gender. But we’ve got to
shift the larger debate and start talking about the good that public education
serves. Because public education is one of America’s great success stories.
Because public education is the key to our children’s future. Because it’s for
our common good.
What I Told the
White House
Yinzercation Blog MARCH 26, 2012
You have five minutes
to talk to the White House about something that you really care about – what
are you going to say? I had this rare opportunity last Friday when the
President’s Office of Public Engagement invited 150 community leaders from Pennsylvania to the
White House for a briefing. Through my work with our grassroots public
education movement and Yinzercation, I was invited to attend the White House
with Education Voters PA and Keystone Progress.
John Kuhn Roars Back: Texans Rebel Against
Testing
Education Week Living in Dialogue Blog By Anthony Cody on March 26, 2012 11:33 AM
Here is what Superintendent Kuhn had to
say.
Tenn. Senate Passes Bill Allowing Anti-Evolution Talk in Classroom
New York Times OP-ED COLUMNIST
ALEC: Lobbyists, Guns and Money
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: March
25, 2012
Many ALEC-drafted bills
pursue standard conservative goals: union-busting, undermining environmental
protection, tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy. ALEC seems, however,
to have a special interest in privatization — that is, on turning the provision
of public services, from schools to prisons, over to for-profit corporations.
And some of the most prominent beneficiaries of privatization, such as the
online education company K12 Inc. and the prison operator Corrections
Corporation of America,
are, not surprisingly, very much involved with the organization.
What this tells us, in
turn, is that ALEC’s claim to stand for limited government and free markets is
deeply misleading. To a large extent the organization seeks not limited
government but privatized government, in which corporations get their profits
from taxpayer dollars, dollars steered their way by friendly politicians. In
short, ALEC isn’t so much about promoting free markets as it is about expanding
crony capitalism.
NPR
WBUR Boston
Friday, March 23,
2012
Schools Abandon Textbooks To Go All iPad
Apple
reports schools in more than 600 districts have bought iPads for all of their
students. And it’s not happening just in wealthy suburbs. Schools in urban
districts like New York City and Chicago are also handing
out iPads.
In
the Boston area, Burlington High School
launched a one-to-one iPad program in the fall, providing a tablet for each
student. It cost the school about
$500,000 for the devices, and the principal, Patrick Larkin, said the school
paid for them within its existing budget.
“I will also give you the
best advice I can, advice from the Nobel Prize-winning writer, Juan Ramón
Jiménez. Ray Bradbury thought this was so important, he used it as the epigraph
at the beginning of Fahrenheit 451: “When they give you lined paper, write the other way.”
About Those Tests I Gave You • An Open Letter to
My Students
Rethinking
Schools Spring 2012 By Ruth Ann Dandrea
Dear
8th Graders,
I’m
sorry. I didn’t know.
I
spent last night perusing the 150-plus pages of grading materials provided by
the state in anticipation of reading and evaluating your English Language Arts
Exams this morning. I knew the test was pointless—that it has never fulfilled
its stated purpose as a predictor of who would succeed and who would fail the
English Regents in 11th grade. Any thinking person would’ve ditched it years
ago. Instead, rather than simply give a test in 8th grade that doesn’t get kids
ready for the test in 11th grade, the state opted to also give a test in 7th
grade to get you ready for your 8th-grade test.
But
we already knew all of that. What I
learned is that the test is also criminal.
Chester Upland's Stetser Elementary School students help first
lady plant garden
Delco Times Published: Tuesday, March 27, 2012
WASHINGTON — Michelle Obama
planted vegetables and plants at the White House with children from across the
country as part of her broader initiative to promote healthy eating Monday. The first lady was helped by school children
from Stetser Elementary
School in Chester,
among others, in planting potatoes, spinach, broccoli, carrots, radishes and
onions at her fourth annual spring planting.
Students' Basketball-Playing Robots Face Off at
Rebound Rumble
Education Week Schooled in Sports Blog By Bryan Toporek on March 26, 2012
Worried that you won't be able to get your fill
of youth basketball once the NCAA tournament wraps up next week?
Allow me to introduce you to the Rebound Rumble, the 2012 edition of the FIRST Robotics Competition. Ever since January,
teams of high school students and volunteer engineers have gathered together to
design robots created entirely to shoot basketballs into hoops.
Stand Up for Public Education!
Wed., April 11, 2012 7:00 pm Town Hall Meeting on Education at Bucknell University
Meeting with legislators from Columbia, Northumberland,
Montour, Snyder & Union counties
Where:
The Forum, Room 272, Elaine
Langone Center
Bucknell University
701 Moore Avenue Lewisburg, PA 17837
7
p.m. – School directors and administrators meet with legislators (PSBA
Legislative Meeting)
7:30
p.m. – Town Hall Meeting on Education – Please invite your PTO/PTA and other
parent/ community groups to join us!
The
purpose of the 7 p.m. meeting is for school directors and administrators to
discuss the impact of the governor’s 2011-12 budget proposal on their school
districts. At 7:30 p.m., the meeting will be open to all interested parents and
other members of the community who would like to come out in support of their
public schools and ask their legislators to take their message back to Harrisburg.
Stand Up for Public Education!
Thursday April 12th,
7:00 pm Allegheny County
Legislative Forum
WHERE: North Hills Senior High School 53 Rochester
Road Pittsburgh, PA 15229
WHEN: Thursday, April
12, 2012 @ 7:00pm
REGISTER for this event: NorthernAreaLegislativeForum.eventbrite.com
All public
education stakeholders are invited to this special event, which will be
moderated by the League of Women Voters.
Join us on Thursday, April 12th at North
Hills Senior
High School at 7PM
for an evening with several key state legislators from Allegheny County
and other education experts who will help explain local impacts. State
Representatives and Senators representing surrounding school districts have
been invited to attend and discuss their positions on public education as they
head into negotiations over next year’s budget.
Please
join EPLC this Wednesday, March 28, 8:00
am at the Harrisburg
Hilton for breakfast and discussion about the Arts and Education Initiative's
(AEI's) new policy report: Creating PA's Future through the Arts and
Education.
Hear from AEI staff and
Study Group members and share about plans for advocacy in 2012. Breakfast
begins at 8 am and the
program starts at 8:30 am.
This EPLC program is free of charge, but online registration is required:
To learn more about the
Arts and Education Initiative (AEI) and to read the new policy report, please
visit www.aei-pa.org.
Arcadia University's Education Department presents:
Panel: Unpacking the PA School Budget: What
Does This Mean for Me?
Join us for a panel discussion that
will delve into details of the Commonwealth's School Budget as announced by the
Governor in February 2012. This event
will tell you how the budget will affect your schools, community, and children.
Has your board considered this draft resolution yet?
PSBA Sample Board
Resolution regarding the budget
Please consider bringing this sample resolution to
the members of your board.
Education Voters PA –
Take action on the Governor’s Budget
The Governor’s proposal starts the process,
but it isn’t all decided: our legislators can play an important role in
standing up for our priorities. Last year, public outcry helped prevent
nearly $300 million in additional cuts. We heard from the Governor, and
we know where he stands. Now,
we need to ask our legislators: what is your position on supporting our
schools?
