Daily postings
from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1500
Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators,
legislators, members of the press and a broad array of education advocacy
organizations via emails, website, Facebook and Twitter.
These daily
emails are archived at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us
on Twitter at @lfeinberg
Chester
Even amid a surge
of pro-voucher laws around the country, a
number of educational and political forces are likely to complicate and
possibly impede the future growth of private school choice, a leading supporter
of those policies predicts in a new essay.
…..a number of other complex factors are likely
to skew and possibly undermine the private school choice landscape going
forward, writes Chester Finn, a former Reagan
administration official and widely published author. Among them:
·
Resistance among some
private school operators, who are wary of sacrificing their independence and
individual standards as they have testing-and-accountability requirements
placed on them as a condition of receiving vouchers;
·
Provisions in state
constitutions—often called Blaine amendments—that block or restrict public
funding from going to religious institutions;
·
A lessening of influence
among "what was for decades the strongest lobby in favor of
vouchers," Finn says—the Roman Catholic Church. He says the church is "neither nearly as
strong as it once was nor nearly as committed to revitalizing its own schools.
It seems to have lost most of the wind from its sails."
·
Overall worries about
private schools having selective admissions processes and excluding minorities,
or students with disabilities;
·
The poor performance and
secrecy of some private education entities, including charter operators, who
tend to damage the reputation of the entire industry. "The word 'private'
has grown even more suspect in American education circles today than it was
yesterday," the Fordham official writes. And:
·
Unease among some state
and local Republican advocates of choice about the impact of charter, voucher,
and inter-district transfer policies on suburban schools.
Education Voters PA
Blog FRIDAY, APRIL
13, 2012
Governor Corbett: “Taxpayers need to help themselves.”
In an article released Wednesday, Governor Corbett blames
local tax increases on local school boards and states “taxpayers need to help
themselves.”
For two decades, the
state has ignored its responsibility to fund education and has transferred that
burden on to local taxpayers. Currently, Pennsylvania
Combining social studies with English would free up more time to learn
math.
Just the other week,
the Allentown School Board learned that some Dieruff
High School students have such weak
knowledge of U.S. history
and geography they have asked teachers if the Revolutionary War was fought over
slavery and if New Jersey is part of Pennsylvania
But with state math
scores that crash after fifth grade like the stock market of 1929, the Allentown School District
Congrats to
these outstanding teachers. I had an
opportunity to meet with most of them along with Congressman Pat Meehan last
week. If you are a legislator and would
like to know what’s actually going on in our public schools, ask these folks….
Delaware County 2012 Excellence
in Teaching award winners
The Excellence in
Teaching Awards recognize outstanding and dedicated teachers in Delaware County
Pennsylvania.
Congrats to the Inky and the
Patriot News on their Pulitzers…….
Posted: Mon,
Apr. 16, 2012 ,
3:25 PM
Inquirer wins Pulitzer Prize for
school violence series
By Mike
Armstrong INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
The
Inquirer's investigation of the climate of pervasive violence in Philadelphia
The
entire project can be found at http://www.philly.com/assaultonlearning.
The award is the 19th Pulitzer Prize for the 183-year-old newspaper and its first since 1997
The award is the 19th Pulitzer Prize for the 183-year-old newspaper and its first since 1997
Sara Ganim, Patriot-News staff win Pulitzer Prize for Jerry
Sandusky coverage
Published: Monday, April 16, 2012 , 3:00 PM Updated: Monday, April 16, 2012 , 4:49 PM
By The Patriot-News
Sara Ganim and The
Patriot-News staff have won journalism's top prize, a Pulitzer, for local
reporting. Ganim spent months dogging
what became one of the top international stories of 2011 - the sexual abuse
allegations against Jerry Sandusky, a former Penn State
Budget guts Pa.
Luzerne County Citizen’s Voice by Robert Swift Published: April 15, 2012
Three state offices that are supposed to
investigate, prosecute and prevent public corruption are taking huge budget
cuts, said Tim Potts, founder of the advocacy group Democracy Rising.
Read more: http://citizensvoice.com/news/budget-guts-pa-watchdog-agencies-offices-1.1300119#ixzz1sDB21Mdm
New York Times
EDITORIAL
ALEC: Embarrassed by Bad Laws
Published: April 16, 2012
A year ago, few people
outside the world of state legislatures had heard of the American Legislative
Exchange Council, a four-decade-old organization run by right-wing activists
and financed by business leaders. The group writes prototypes of state laws to
promote corporate and conservative interests and spreads them from one state
capital to another.
The council, known as
ALEC, has since become better known, with news organizations alerting the
public to the damage it has caused: voter ID laws that marginalize minorities
and the elderly, antiunion bills that hurt the middle class and the dismantling
of protective environmental regulations.
ALEC: Tennessee
Thanks to ALEC, the Volunteer
State
AlterNet by Katherine
Stewart April 14,
2012
Four score and seven
years ago, a Tennessee Tennessee Darwin
We now have compelling
evidence that evolution doesn’t happen — at least not in Tennessee April 10, 2012 , Tennessee
"The Department of
Education: I will either consolidate with another agency, or perhaps make it a
heck of a lot smaller. I'm not going to get rid of it entirely," Romney
said, explaining that part of his reasoning behind preserving the agency was to
maintain a federal role in pushing back against teachers' unions. Romney added
that he learned in his 1994 campaign for Senate that proposing to eliminate the
agency was politically volatile.
Romney offers policy details at closed-door fundraiser
MSNBC By NBC's Garrett
Haake
“….school autonomy and
teacher professionalism are often mentioned as the dominant factors explaining
strong educational performance in Finland
In Finland Finland
What the U.S. can’t learn from Finland
Gordon
Gekko: “gRheed is good.” RheeFirst, Hedge
Fund Managers and other Millionaires continue their assault on public education….
In New York
The future of the fight
over public schools has a fresh, highly visible face, and it’s called
StudentsFirstNY. But the new
school-reform supergroup, founded by former New York City Schools Chancellor
Joel Klein and ex-D.C. schools chief Michelle Rhee, is in fact not that new at
all. It builds directly one of the biggest lobbying forces in New York State
STATEWIDE PRESS COVERAGE OF SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGETS
Here are more than 400 articles since
January 23rd detailing budget cuts, program cuts, staffing cuts and
tax increases being discussed by local school districts
The PA House Democratic Caucus has been tracking daily press coverage on
school district budgets statewide:
http://www.pahouse.com/school_funding_2011cuts.asp?utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=http%3a%2f%2fwww.pahouse.com%2fschool_funding_2011cuts.asp&utm_campaign=Crisis+in+Public+Education
REMEMBER TO VOTE! TUESDAY, APRIL 24th
Tuesday,
April 24 is Primary Election Day
in Pennsylvania
Polls open at 7:00 a.m. and close at 8:00 p.m. Click here to find your polling place. During the Primary, registered members of the
Republican and Democrat parties are eligible to vote to nominate the candidates
that will represent their party on the ballot in the November General Election. ALL
voters will be required to show a photo ID before voting at a polling place in
the November 2012 Election. Click here for
more information on the new Voter ID law.
Stand Up for Public Education!
East Penn Education Forum on April 25th
7:00 – 9:00 pm
What’s at Stake? Discover how high-stakes testing and funding
cuts are impacting our kids and schools.
Hosted by: East Penn Invested Citizens (EPIC), Salisbury Parent Advisory,
Allentown Parent Groups and a coalition of Lehigh Valley Parents
Where: East Penn Administration Building School Board Meeting Room, 800 Pine Street
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.
http://www.psba.org/issues-advocacy/issues-research/state-budget/Budget_resolution-02212012.doc
PA Partnerships for
Children – Take action on the Governor’s Budget
The governor’s budget plan cuts funding for proven
programs like Child Care Works, Keystone STARS and the T.E.A.C.H. scholarship
program, Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts and the Head Start Supplemental Assistance
Program. These are among the most cost-effective
investments we can make in education. Gov. Corbett’s budget plan also runs counter
to a pledge he made when he ran for governor in 2010. He acknowledged the
benefits of early childhood education and promised to increase funding to
double the number of children who would benefit from early learning opportunities.
We need your help to tell lawmakers: if you cut
these programs – you close the door to early learning! Click here to tell your state legislators to fund early childhood education programs
at the same level they approved for this year’s budget.
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?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.