Sunday, June 30, 2013

Pennsylvania Education Policy Roundup for June 30, 2013: Ongoing Budget Coverage; PA House and Senate back in session Sunday at 11:00 am

Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1900 Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, PTO/PTA officers, parent advocates, teacher leaders, education professors, members of the press and a broad array of P-16 regulatory agencies, professional associations and education advocacy organizations via emails, website, Facebook and Twitter.

The Keystone State Education Coalition is pleased to be listed among the friends and allies of The Network for Public Education.  Are you a member?
These daily emails are archived at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg

Keystone State Education Coalition:
Pennsylvania Education Policy Roundup for June 30, 2013:
Ongoing Budget Coverage; PA House and Senate back in session Sunday at 11:00 am

As the budget process continues please consider contacting the legislative leadership listed below regarding the education budget ; here’s part of their job description:

PA Constitution - Public School System Section 14.

“The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the Commonwealth.”
PA Legislature Republican Leadership 2013
Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi
717-787-4712
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Jake Corman
717-787-1377
Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati
717-787-7084
House Majority Leader Mike Turzai
717-772-9943
House Appropriation Committee Chairman William Adolph
717-787-1248
House Speaker Sam Smith
717-787-3845
Governor Tom Corbett 
717-787-2500, Fax: 717-772-8284

Pennsylvania Budget: Saturday analysis from John Micek
Video runtime :00:53
PennLive Opinion editor John Micek talks about the Pennsylvania budget.
By Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.com 
on June 29, 2013 at 6:01 PM, updated June 29, 2013 at 6:05 PM
While the Pennsylvania budget deadline is hours away, lawmakers continue to discuss the big topics of late: liquor privatization, transportation, pension reform and Medicaid expansion. But what about the spending plan itself? 

Lawmakers risk missing state budget deadline
Governor optimistic after some progress on liquor privatization but much remains unresolved.
By Megan Rogers and Steve Esack, Call Harrisburg Bureau 11:58 p.m. EDT, June 29, 2013
HARRISBURG — Progress on transportation funding — and potentially the entire budget process — came to a screeching halt Saturday, leaving Republicans and Democrats pointing fingers.
House Republican leaders did not have enough support within their caucus to pass a $1.9 billion transportation bill, one of Republican Gov. Tom Corbett's key budget initiatives. The House was expected to debate transportation Saturday night, but abruptly recessed shortly after 8 p.m. without discussion.  As a result, the Legislature is planning to be in session Monday — and possibly Tuesday — to finish a budget bill and attempt to eke out some sort of policy victory for Corbett.
Pa. Senate Advances $28.375 Billion Budget
PA Budget and Policy Center June 29, 2013
The Pennsylvania Senate Appropriations Committee has approved a 2013-14 state budget (amended into HB 1437) that spends $28.375 billion, roughly $645 million (or 2.3%) more than in the current fiscal year.
…The basic education subsidy will increase by 2% to $5.526 billion. It is unclear how the additional funds will be distributed across the state’s 500 school districts.
Funding for Accountability Block Grants (providing support for pre-kindergarten and full-day kindergarten programs, class size reduction, and tutoring) remains flat at $100 million, still well below the 2010-11 levels of $254.5 million. 
Special education remains flat at $1.027 billion, although a commission to review the special education formula has been established and is expected to issue a report late in the fall.
Funding for Pre-K Counts is increased by $5 million (6%) from 2012-13 to $87.3 million, and the Head Start Supplemental gets a $2 million (5.4%) increase to $39.2 million – consistent with the Governor’s proposal.

Live Updates: Pennsylvania's 2013-14 Budget
PA Budget and Policy Center June 29, 2013

PA Independent Budget Live Blog: Lawmakers plan session days for Monday, maybe Tuesday
By Melissa Daniels, Eric Boehm | PA Independent June 29, 2013
HARRISBURG – It looks like this year’s budget session may take an extra day or two.
The state House announced plans Saturday evening to hold session on Monday and possibly Tuesday.  The Senate doesn’t have plans to do that, yet. But Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, said it is possible the high-profile transportation funding and liquor privatization bills will get resolved at a later date.

EPLC Education Notebook – Friday, June 28, 2013
Education Policy and Leadership Center

GOP accuses Democrats of holding transportation funding plan hostage
By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com  on June 29, 2013 at 11:12 PM, updated June 30, 2013 at 12:33 AM
House Republicans are accusing their Democratic colleagues of holding a transportation funding hostage and refusing to negotiate the terms for its release.
The House Republican leadership adjourned abruptly on Saturday night, hoping that the break might buy the time needed to prod the Democrats to share what their demands were in exchange for providing the votes needed to pass a bill out of the chamber.

Corbett agenda down to discarded House Democrats: column
By Robert J. Vickers | rvickers@pennlive.com  on June 29, 2013 at 7:12 PM, updated June 29, 2013 at 10:17 PM
For nearly three years Pennsylvania Democrats have not had the governor's office, the state House, or the Senate.
Politically impotent, they've been forced to watch from the peanut gallery as GOP lawmakers captained the commonwealth in directions liberals and progressives often found repugnant.
But Saturday, with Republican Gov. Tom Corbett's budget and 'big three' agenda items hurtling toward the midnight Sunday deadline,House Democrats looked to have Corbett's whole world in their hands.

Senate Appropriations Committee moves a $28.4 billion budget bill to Senate for a vote
By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com on June 29, 2013 at 8:28 PM, updated June 30, 2013 at 12:59 AM
As the midnight Sunday deadline approaches for getting a state budget done on-time, the Senate Appropriations Committee took the first step toward meeting that deadline.
It voted 16-10 along party lines to approve a nearly $28.4 billion spending plan that has been agreed to by Gov. Tom Corbett and GOP legislative leaders. It now is in a position to be voted by the full Senate on Sunday morning and then would go to the House for consideration.
View full sizeThe Senate Appropriations Committee voted 16-10 along party lines to approve a nearly $28.4 billion spending plan for 2013-14.Jan Murphy/PennLive
The spending plan that represents a 2.3 percent increase over this year’s $27.8 billion budget.
It provides $100 million increase in basic education funding for school districts and $22.5 million for financially distressed and fast-growing districts.

Philly schools getting far less than requested as Pa. Senate advances budget
WHYY Newsworks By Holly Otterbein, @hollyotterbein June 29, 2013
The Pennsylvania Senate has advanced a budget that increases Philadelphia's basic education funding by $14 million next year, far short of the additional $120 million requested by school district officials.  The GOP-led Senate appropriations committee approved the plan Saturday night, 16-10. Philadelphia's education funding was detailed in Senate GOP documents attached to the bill, which must now be approved by the full Senate and House.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Jake Corman (R-Bellefonte) said that the budget makes a "significant investment" in schools, including about $120 million in new basic education funding statewide.  "As always, there's areas that we would like to have probably made stronger investments in," Corman said. "But we can only spend what we have."
Sen. Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia) said that the budget is inadequate.

Down to the wire on schools funding, nonprofit pushes a labor proposal
WHYY Newsworks By Holly Otterbein, @hollyotterbein June 29, 2013
As the state legislature approaches a critical deadline with little progress toward a funding solution for Philadelphia schools, a local nonprofit is shopping legislation linking any extra state funding to work-rules changes for public school teachers.
The Philadelphia School Partnership has been urging lawmakers for weeks to impose three conditions on additional state funding for the school district, which faces a $304 million budget gap next year.

With hours before budget deadline, Pa. needs to get serious about closing tax loopholes: As I See It
Patriot-News Op-Ed  By Sharon Ward June 28, 2013 at 12:00 PM
A decade ago, Pennsylvania’s Business Tax Reform Commission laid out a vision to bring greater fairness to the state’s tax structure and to make it more competitive in the 21st century. The plan included new business tax breaks but was balanced with measures to close tax loopholes that companies use to avoid paying Pennsylvania taxes. New revenue from closing those loopholes would pay for tax reductions without impacting other services, such as universities and public schools, that are also vital to the state’s economic success.
Since then, many of the business tax breaks have become law, but policymakers have taken no action to close tax loopholes. The cost of business tax cuts has mounted to close to $3 billion annually and is one big reason why the state is now facing an education funding crisis.
As the clock ticks toward a new state budget, lawmakers and Gov. Tom Corbett have turned their attention once again to closing loopholes. This is welcome news. If done right, it will help balance the scales after a decade of significant business tax cuts – recovering hundreds of millions of dollars that can be invested in neighborhood schools and health services.
Unfortunately, lawmakers are under heavy pressure from the business community to water the plan down, and that could mean Pennsylvania ends up with a law that protects loopholes, rather than closing them.

Defined-benefit plans should be fixed,not dumped
BY DAVID CRANE Bloomberg News  Published: June 29, 2013
Some hedge-fund managers recently came under pressure from the American Federation of Teachers to quit the boards of certain organizations, such as Students First and the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, that favor the elimination of public-sector defined-benefit pension plans.  Those organizations should reconsider their view. Defined-benefit plans aren't to blame for the crushing costs of pension liabilities in the U.S.

Delaying the phaseout of the capital stock and franchise tax cut could raise $360 million.
Letter to the Editor: Time running out to delay Capital Stock and Franchise tax cut damaging to schools
Delco Times LTE by Lawrence A. Feinberg Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Time is running out for students across Pennsylvania. Less than two weeks remain for state lawmakers to begin to undo the damage they have done with deep funding cuts to schools. A House budget plan leaves nearly 85 percent of those cuts in place, doing little to hire back nurses and counselors or to restore music, arts and sports programs that districts have been forced to cut.  Senate leaders and Gov. Corbett’s administration have signaled a willingness to delay a business tax cut next year. That is welcome news. Keeping the tax rate at 2012 levels could raise $360 million to restore some of the deepest school cuts. In response to critics, Sen. Jake Corman, R-34, asks: “Is that (tax) phaseout more important than education dollars?”

Some estimates say the Delaware loophole causes Pennsylvania to lose as much $450 million a year in tax receipts.
Pa. Shouldn't Miss an Opportunity to Close Loopholes
PA Budget and Policy Center June 27,2013
In the coming days, the Pennsylvania Legislature will be hammering out a deal to balance the 2013-14 state budget. One piece of the package will be a budget-related tax plan that may include a provision designed to close corporate tax loopholes.  Specifically, lawmakers are discussing the creation of a so-called "addback" rule. Such rules require corporations to add back interest and intangible expenses (such as for copyrights and patents) paid to related companies — often affiliates in Delaware or Nevada where the income is not taxed.


Save the Date: Diane Ravitch will be speaking at the Main Branch of the Philadelphia Free Library on September 17 at 7:30 pm.  Details to come.


PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference
October 15-18, 2013 | Hershey Lodge & Convention Center
The PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference is the largest gathering of elected officials in Pennsylvania and offers an impressive collection of professional development opportunities for school board members and other education leaders.
See Annual School Leadership Conference links for all program details.

PAESSP State Conference October 27-29, 2013
The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, State College, PA
The state conference is PAESSP’s premier professional development event for principals, assistant principals and other educational leaders. Attending will enable you to connect with fellow educators while learning from speakers and presenters who are respected experts in educational leadership.
 Featuring Keynote Speakers: Charlotte Danielson, Dr. Todd Whitaker, Will Richardson & David Andrews, Esq. (Legal Update).

EPLC Education Policy Fellowship Program – Apply Now
Applications are available now for the 2013-2014 Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP). The Education Policy Fellowship Program is sponsored in Pennsylvania by The Education Policy and Leadership Center (EPLC).
With more than 350 graduates in its first fourteen years, this Program is a premier professional development opportunity for educators, state and local policymakers, advocates, and community leaders.  State Board of Accountancy (SBA) credits are available to certified public accountants.
Past participants include state policymakers, district superintendents and principals, school business officers, school board members, education deans/chairs, statewide association leaders, parent leaders, education advocates, and other education and community leaders.  Fellows are typically sponsored by their employer or another organization.
The Fellowship Program begins with a two-day retreat on September 12-13, 2013 and continues to graduation in June 2014.

Building One America 2013 National Summit July 18-19, 2013 Washington, DC
Brookings Institution to present findings of their “Confronting Suburban Poverty” report
Building One America’s Second National Summit for Inclusive Suburbs and Sustainable Regions will involve local leaders and federal policy makers to seek bipartisan solutions to the unique but common challenges around housing, schools and infrastructure facing America’s metropolitan regions and its diverse middle-class suburbs. Participants will include local elected and grassroots leaders from America’s diverse middle class suburban towns and school districts, scholars and policy experts, members of the Obama Administration and Congress.  The summit will identify comprehensive solutions and build bipartisan support for meaningful action to stabilize and support inclusive middle-class communities and promote sustainable, economically competitive regions.

Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School FAST FACTS
Quakertown Community School District March 2013

PA Charter Schools: $4 billion taxpayer dollars with no real oversight

Keystone State Education Coalition Prior Posting
Charter schools - public funding without public scrutiny

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Pennsylvania Education Policy Roundup for June 29, 2013: “With hours before budget deadline, Pa. needs to get serious about closing tax loopholes”

Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1900 Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, PTO/PTA officers, parent advocates, teacher leaders, education professors, members of the press and a broad array of P-16 regulatory agencies, professional associations and education advocacy organizations via emails, website, Facebook and Twitter.

The Keystone State Education Coalition is pleased to be listed among the friends and allies of The Network for Public Education.  Are you a member?
These daily emails are archived at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg

Keystone State Education Coalition:
Pennsylvania Education Policy Roundup for June 29, 2013:
“With hours before budget deadline, Pa. needs to get serious about closing tax loopholes”

As the budget process continues please consider contacting the legislative leadership listed below regarding the education budget ; here’s part of their job description:

PA Constitution - Public School System Section 14.

“The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the Commonwealth.”
PA Legislature Republican Leadership 2013
Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi
717-787-4712
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Jake Corman
717-787-1377
Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati
717-787-7084
House Majority Leader Mike Turzai
717-772-9943
House Appropriation Committee Chairman William Adolph
717-787-1248
House Speaker Sam Smith
717-787-3845
Governor Tom Corbett 
717-787-2500, Fax: 717-772-8284

With hours before budget deadline, Pa. needs to get serious about closing tax loopholes: As I See It
Patriot-News Op-Ed  By Sharon Ward June 28, 2013 at 12:00 PM
A decade ago, Pennsylvania’s Business Tax Reform Commission laid out a vision to bring greater fairness to the state’s tax structure and to make it more competitive in the 21st century. The plan included new business tax breaks but was balanced with measures to close tax loopholes that companies use to avoid paying Pennsylvania taxes. New revenue from closing those loopholes would pay for tax reductions without impacting other services, such as universities and public schools, that are also vital to the state’s economic success.
Since then, many of the business tax breaks have become law, but policymakers have taken no action to close tax loopholes. The cost of business tax cuts has mounted to close to $3 billion annually and is one big reason why the state is now facing an education funding crisis.
As the clock ticks toward a new state budget, lawmakers and Gov. Tom Corbett have turned their attention once again to closing loopholes. This is welcome news. If done right, it will help balance the scales after a decade of significant business tax cuts – recovering hundreds of millions of dollars that can be invested in neighborhood schools and health services.
Unfortunately, lawmakers are under heavy pressure from the business community to water the plan down, and that could mean Pennsylvania ends up with a law that protects loopholes, rather than closing them.

“Facing a $304 million shortfall July 1, the district has laid off several art teachers and all 76 itinerant music teachers who work with orchestras and ensembles at several schools. Their loss will end several music groups, including the All-City High School Orchestra.”
The Real Consequences of School Reform: As Phila. schools make arts cuts, two luminaries retire
Martha Woodall, Inquirer Staff Writer POSTED: Saturday, June 29, 2013, 1:07 AM
As the Philadelphia School District braces for massive cuts to art and music education, two women who were considered the heart and soul of those programs made a bittersweet exit Friday. Virginia Lam, the district's music specialist, who has overseen the annual all-city music festival at the Kimmel Center, is retiring. So is one of her best friends, Tessie Varthas, the art specialist who coordinated the citywide competition and exhibition of student artists.
Read more at

Gov. Tom Corbett will not go 4 for 4 on his budget wishlist
By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com  on June 28, 2013 at 10:27 PM
Now that the countdown to the midnight Sunday deadline is being counted in hours, instead of days, it's starting to become clear that Gov. Tom Corbett will not be going four-for-four on his wishlist of big-ticket items. But what his final tally on achievements still be remained in question late Friday evening.

State Senate panel OKs liquor privatization in session that goes until 1:38 a.m.
The vote moves Pennsylvania a step closer to ending Prohibition-era liquor store system, part of Gov. Tom Corbett's 2013-14 budget plan.
By Meg Rogers and Steve Esack, Call Harrisburg Bureau 3:43 a.m. EDT, June 29, 2013
The state Senate pulled an all-nighter as Republicans and Democrats haggled over a liquor privatization deal Gov. Tom Corbett covets.  At 1:17 a.m. Saturday the 27-member Republican majority won and the 23 Democrats lost.  At that time, which was more than two hours past the Senate's self-imposed 11 p.m. curfew to wrap up legislative work, all Republicans supported an amendment to a bill that could end the state's 80-year monopoly on wine and spirits sales.

Delaying the phaseout of the capital stock and franchise tax cut could raise $360 million.
Letter to the Editor: Time running out to delay Capital Stock and Franchise tax cut damaging to schools
Delco Times LTE by Lawrence A. Feinberg Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Time is running out for students across Pennsylvania. Less than two weeks remain for state lawmakers to begin to undo the damage they have done with deep funding cuts to schools. A House budget plan leaves nearly 85 percent of those cuts in place, doing little to hire back nurses and counselors or to restore music, arts and sports programs that districts have been forced to cut.  Senate leaders and Gov. Corbett’s administration have signaled a willingness to delay a business tax cut next year. That is welcome news. Keeping the tax rate at 2012 levels could raise $360 million to restore some of the deepest school cuts. In response to critics, Sen. Jake Corman, R-34, asks: “Is that (tax) phaseout more important than education dollars?”

Some estimates say the Delaware loophole causes Pennsylvania to lose as much $450 million a year in tax receipts.
Pa. Shouldn't Miss an Opportunity to Close Loopholes
PA Budget and Policy Center June 27,2013
In the coming days, the Pennsylvania Legislature will be hammering out a deal to balance the 2013-14 state budget. One piece of the package will be a budget-related tax plan that may include a provision designed to close corporate tax loopholes.  Specifically, lawmakers are discussing the creation of a so-called "addback" rule. Such rules require corporations to add back interest and intangible expenses (such as for copyrights and patents) paid to related companies — often affiliates in Delaware or Nevada where the income is not taxed.

Lawmakers call for quashing the Common Core standards in Pennsylvania
By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com  on June 28, 2013 at 7:13 PM
A group of House Republican lawmakers plan to introduce a five-bill package aimed at halting implementation of the Pennsylvania Common Core academic standards once and for all.
At a Capitol news conference on Friday morning, the lawmakers maintained that the Common Core movement that originated with national organizations of unelected bureaucrats that want to standardize education across states is not the path to raising student achievement in Pennsylvania.  “For me, one of the biggest concerns about the Common Core standards is that there is no empirical academic or scientifically conducted peer-review studies to show that the Common Core standards will actually raise U.S. student performance,” said Rep. Stephen Bloom, R-North Middleton Twp., who sponsored one of the bills.

PA School Funding: What's Really Going on at Sto-Rox school district?

Op-Ed: Our schools need more state funding
Pottstown Mercury Opinion by Ronald Williams June 26, 2013
On becoming a school board director, I vowed to do all I could to ensure that our children get the best quality education possible, a mission shared by my fellow school board members. This has become increasingly difficult to fulfill after two years of state funding cuts.
Cuts in funding for Pottstown schools have forced us to let good teachers go and eliminate all but mandated teacher’s aides. Administrative positions are at bare bones and we are maneuvering through the intricacies of attempting to maintain programs that are vital to a healthy learning environment. Music, arts and athletics have been spared so far.
Right now our lawmakers are on track to approve a budget that does little to restore damaging education cuts or help school districts address the higher costs we expect next year. One way to provide relief to local taxpayers is to stop giving businesses new tax breaks.

Wilkinsburg school boards budget cuts teachers and staff
By Alex Zimmerman / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette June 29, 2013 12:34 am
The Wilkinsburg school board voted Friday night to approve a $28 million budget that eliminates nearly 10 faculty positions and at least three administrators.  Business manager Philip Martell said four to five of the teacher reductions will likely occur through attrition without requiring layoffs.

On funding for our schools, give Corbett an F
PhillyBurbs.com By STATE REP. MIKE STURLA Posted: Friday, June 28, 2013 6:00 am
As the school year ends and students hit the road for summer vacation, I think it is fair to say if Pennsylvanians — students, parents, educators and taxpayers — were able to grade Gov. Tom Corbett on his education policies, they’d give him an F.
For the third year, the Republican-backed state budget proposal axes education funding across the board. Early childhood programs, higher learning and career schools, science-based curriculum, improvements to aging school buildings — nothing is safe in the GOP’s spending plan.  The chronic underfunding our schools have endured during the Corbett administration have already had huge impacts on students, their families, property taxpayers and educators, resulting in nearly 20,000 layoffs, larger class sizes and fewer course offerings.

Pennsylvania Political round-up with John Baer and John Micek
June 28, 2013
WHYY RADIO TIMES WITH MARTY MOSS-COANE; GUESTS: JOHN BAER & JOHN MICEK
The $28.4 billion Pennsylvania state general fund budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year is due by midnight Sunday, June 30th, and is supposed to start Monday, July 1st. There are many items to consider including three transportation funding plans, a liquor privatization overhaul, property-tax reform, public education funding, pension reform, and a plan for the state to respond to the national Affordable Healthcare Act regarding its Medicaid coverage strategy. Also, will Governor Corbett be running for a second term in 2014? The governor, who continues to score low public opinion ratings, has been reported scheduling 29 campaign meeting in the first four months of this calendar year. He has recently noted Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate has dipped to a (lower) 7.5 percent, and responded to President Obama’s “Climate Action Plan” speech this week with it was "not only a war on coal … but also a war on jobs." Marty talks to JOHN BAER, columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News, and JOHN MICEK, editor of the editorial and opinion pages for The Patriot-News and PennLive.

NAEP results show minority students making strong gains, but gaps remain
National School Boards Association’s Center for Public Education (Alexis Rice|June 28th, 2013
This was republished from the National School Boards Association’s Center for Public Education (CPE), The EDifier and written by Jim Hull, CPE’s Senior Policy Analyst.
Minority students have made significant gains over the past four decades in both math and reading, according to the 2012 long-term NAEP results. While most white students made significant gains as well, achievement gaps narrowed considerably since minority students made much larger gains than their white peers. However, large achievement gaps still remain.


Save the Date: Diane Ravitch will be speaking at the Main Branch of the Philadelphia Free Library on September 17 at 7:30 pm.  Details to come.


PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference
October 15-18, 2013 | Hershey Lodge & Convention Center
The PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference is the largest gathering of elected officials in Pennsylvania and offers an impressive collection of professional development opportunities for school board members and other education leaders.
See Annual School Leadership Conference links for all program details.

PAESSP State Conference October 27-29, 2013
The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, State College, PA
The state conference is PAESSP’s premier professional development event for principals, assistant principals and other educational leaders. Attending will enable you to connect with fellow educators while learning from speakers and presenters who are respected experts in educational leadership.
 Featuring Keynote Speakers: Charlotte Danielson, Dr. Todd Whitaker, Will Richardson & David Andrews, Esq. (Legal Update).

EPLC Education Policy Fellowship Program – Apply Now
Applications are available now for the 2013-2014 Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP). The Education Policy Fellowship Program is sponsored in Pennsylvania by The Education Policy and Leadership Center (EPLC).
With more than 350 graduates in its first fourteen years, this Program is a premier professional development opportunity for educators, state and local policymakers, advocates, and community leaders.  State Board of Accountancy (SBA) credits are available to certified public accountants.
Past participants include state policymakers, district superintendents and principals, school business officers, school board members, education deans/chairs, statewide association leaders, parent leaders, education advocates, and other education and community leaders.  Fellows are typically sponsored by their employer or another organization.
The Fellowship Program begins with a two-day retreat on September 12-13, 2013 and continues to graduation in June 2014.

Building One America 2013 National Summit July 18-19, 2013 Washington, DC
Brookings Institution to present findings of their “Confronting Suburban Poverty” report
Building One America’s Second National Summit for Inclusive Suburbs and Sustainable Regions will involve local leaders and federal policy makers to seek bipartisan solutions to the unique but common challenges around housing, schools and infrastructure facing America’s metropolitan regions and its diverse middle-class suburbs. Participants will include local elected and grassroots leaders from America’s diverse middle class suburban towns and school districts, scholars and policy experts, members of the Obama Administration and Congress.  The summit will identify comprehensive solutions and build bipartisan support for meaningful action to stabilize and support inclusive middle-class communities and promote sustainable, economically competitive regions.

Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School FAST FACTS
Quakertown Community School District March 2013

PA Charter Schools: $4 billion taxpayer dollars with no real oversight

Keystone State Education Coalition Prior Posting
Charter schools - public funding without public scrutiny

Friday, June 28, 2013

Pennsylvania Education Policy Roundup for June 28, 2013: NAEP: "If we have a crisis in American education, it is that it isn't moving fast enough to educate minorities.”

Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1900 Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, PTO/PTA officers, parent advocates, teacher leaders, education professors, members of the press and a broad array of P-16 regulatory agencies, professional associations and education advocacy organizations via emails, website, Facebook and Twitter.

The Keystone State Education Coalition is pleased to be listed among the friends and allies of The Network for Public Education.  Are you a member?
These daily emails are archived at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg

Keystone State Education Coalition:
Pennsylvania Education Policy Roundup for June 28, 2013:
NAEP: "If we have a crisis in American education, it is that it isn't moving fast enough to educate minorities.”

As the budget process continues please consider contacting the legislative leadership listed below regarding the education budget ; here’s part of their job description:

PA Constitution - Public School System Section 14.

“The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the Commonwealth.”
PA Legislature Republican Leadership 2013
Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi
717-787-4712
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Jake Corman
717-787-1377
Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati
717-787-7084
House Majority Leader Mike Turzai
717-772-9943
House Appropriation Committee Chairman William Adolph
717-787-1248
House Speaker Sam Smith
717-787-3845
Governor Tom Corbett 
717-787-2500, Fax: 717-772-8284

Lots of meetings, few details as Pa. lawmakers' scramble behind closed doors
Delco Times by AP Published: Friday, June 28, 2013
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Tom Corbett and top Republican lawmakers worked behind closed doors Thursday, providing few details about their ongoing efforts to piece together a budget and draft legislation on transportation funding, private wine and liquor sales and public employee pensions.  The House and Senate both scheduled a fourth straight day of voting Thursday and planned to work through Sunday as they scramble to wrap up a $28 billion-plus budget and reach consensus on the three issues that Corbett wants completed before their looming summer break.

House speaker says pension bills may have to wait
Philly.com by PETER JACKSON, The Associated Press Wednesday, June 26, 2013, 6:23 PM
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvania lawmakers still have time to finish work on major bills, but changes to the state's major public employee pension systems may have to wait until after the Legislature's summer break, House Speaker Sam Smith said Wednesday. Smith's comments came amid conflicting estimates of the cost of the potential pension changes as the hours ticked down to lawmakers' expected Sunday departure from Harrisburg for the summer.
Read more at  http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20130626_ap_d2868ed77f784dc38614c446aabde642.html#kJHUxcGs061Ovrpv.99

Delaying the phaseout of the capital stock and franchise tax cut could raise $360 million.
Letter to the Editor: Time running out to delay Capital Stock and Franchise tax cut damaging to schools
Delco Times LTE by Lawrence A. Feinberg Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Time is running out for students across Pennsylvania. Less than two weeks remain for state lawmakers to begin to undo the damage they have done with deep funding cuts to schools. A House budget plan leaves nearly 85 percent of those cuts in place, doing little to hire back nurses and counselors or to restore music, arts and sports programs that districts have been forced to cut.  Senate leaders and Gov. Corbett’s administration have signaled a willingness to delay a business tax cut next year. That is welcome news. Keeping the tax rate at 2012 levels could raise $360 million to restore some of the deepest school cuts. In response to critics, Sen. Jake Corman, R-34, asks: “Is that (tax) phaseout more important than education dollars?”

Some estimates say the Delaware loophole causes Pennsylvania to lose as much $450 million a year in tax receipts.
Pa. Shouldn't Miss an Opportunity to Close Loopholes
PA Budget and Policy Center June 27,2013
In the coming days, the Pennsylvania Legislature will be hammering out a deal to balance the 2013-14 state budget. One piece of the package will be a budget-related tax plan that may include a provision designed to close corporate tax loopholes.  Specifically, lawmakers are discussing the creation of a so-called "addback" rule. Such rules require corporations to add back interest and intangible expenses (such as for copyrights and patents) paid to related companies — often affiliates in Delaware or Nevada where the income is not taxed.

Philly SRC recesses again, hopes for miracle in Harrisburg by Sunday
Notebook by Dale Mezzacappa on Jun 27 2013 Posted in Latest news
Doomsday is getting closer.
The School Reform Commission met again Thursday morning, only to recess again until Sunday afternoon. The SRC hopes that Harrisburg will come up with some money so Philadelphia can open schools in September that have more than a skeleton crew of teachers and a principal.
"I can't predict what will happen, but we’ve made it clear for the past 20 months what must happen," said a grim SRC chair Pedro Ramos after the meeting. "Throughout, we kept everyone apprised of our situation with candor. We've done everything we can within the prerogative of the SRC. Now it is up to Harrisburg for officials to do what they were elected to do."

Legislators discuss funding for education amid protest
By TIMOTHY LOGUE tlogue@delcotimes.com @timothylogue Wednesday, June 26, 2013
State Sen. Daylin Leach was not as familiar with the faces at Tuesday’s education funding protest at the state Capitol as he was with their cause.  “I think it was mostly people from Philly at the protest, but I was down there,” said Leach, D-17, of Upper Merion, whose district includes Radnor and Haverford. “The funding crisis may be most acute in Philadelphia, but this is a problem faced by school districts all across the state, including places like Duquesne, Harrisburg, Erie and, obviously, Chester Upland.
“We can’t continue to neglect our public schools.”
While that certainly seems to be the opinion in Philadelphia, where 3,783 employees, including 676 teachers, were laid off earlier this month, Republicans in Harrisburg view the problem differently.

Allentown schools cut 151 jobs, hike taxes 8.2 percent
Final budget drops 127 teachers, uses $10 million from district's savings.
By Adam Clark, Of The Morning Call 11:03 p.m. EDT, June 27, 2013
Allentown School Board approved a final 2013-14 budget Thursday that spares full-day kindergarten and most elementary school related arts positions but cuts 151 jobs, sending a ripple effect throughout the district.
School directors voted 5-4 to adopt a spending plan that slashes 127 teachers, 14 administrators and 10 maintenance/custodial workers from the district's payroll. The cuts are accompanied by an 8.2 percent tax increase and a $10 million contribution from the district's savings to keep the district afloat for another school year.
Hunger strikers protest deep cuts to Philadelphia schools
Reuters by By Daniel Kelley PHILADELPHIA | Wed Jun 26, 2013 6:45pm EDT
(Reuters) - Children wrote letters. Parents staged rallies in Pennsylvania. But Earlene Bly, a hotel housekeeper, didn't feel like anyone was listening.  A more dramatic gesture was needed, Bly thought, to protest an austerity budget passed last month that stripped Philadelphia public schools of art and music, nurses and librarians, guidance counselors, assistant principals and hundreds of cafeteria and recess monitors.
So the 46-year-old Bly stopped eating.

Big Business Helps Starve Philly Schools
City Paper by Daniel Denvir Posted: Thu, Jun. 27, 2013, 12:00 AM
Hostile Witness
What's necessary to save Philly schools, the refrain goes, is “shared sacrifice.” That, as I’ve noted ad nauseam, translates to an expectation that educators sacrifice the most to avert devastating cuts, including the layoffs of 3,859 teachers, aides, administrators and other staff. But big business, thanks to laissez-faire sentiment stretching from City Hall to Harrisburg to Congress, will contribute almost nothing.

It was a Moving Day
Yinzercation Blog June 28, 2013
This is a guest blog by Kathy Newman, who helped lead the Yinzercation charge to Harrisburg on Tuesday.
What do you do when you realize that thousands of teachers and staffers in the City of Brotherly Love are going to lose their jobs, and that come this fall Philadelphia school children won’t have administrative assistants, music, art, sports, library and basic supplies? What do you do to support the people who are now on their eleventh day of a hunger strike to protest this calamity? What do you do when you are MOVED to act?

Duquesne's fate: Dissolve the district for the sake of the students
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Opinion June 28, 2013 12:11 am
Children in the Duquesne City School District will be stuck in a failing building with inadequate instructional programs for another year.
Those aren't the words that the district's state-appointed receiver used Tuesday when he said the Duquesne Education Center for kindergarten through sixth grade will remain in operation for the 2013-14 academic year, but that's what Paul Long's announcement means.

Budget shortfall could spell trouble in Chester Upland
By JOHN KOPP jkopp@delcotimes.com @DT_JohnKopp Friday, June 28, 2013
The Chester Upland School District will have to furlough teachers and possibly close Main Street Elementary School unless it receives a boost in student enrollment or increased funding from the General Assembly.  Receiver Joseph Watkins approved the district’s 2013-14 operating budget at a public meeting Thursday night. The budget forecasts $122.745 million in expenses, but only $102.056 million in expected revenue — a shortfall of $20.688 million.

Bristol Twp raises school taxes, enacts cuts, uses savings
PhillyBurbs.com By DANNY ADLER Staff writer Posted on June 28, 2013
Bristol Township School District will raise taxes 2.2 percent, use nearly half of its savings and enact about $2 million in cuts and cost reductions to fill a multimillion-dollar gap for 2013-14.

Retiring Steel-High superintendent gives 5 changes lawmakers should make to public education
PennLive By Julianne Mattera | jmattera@pennlive.com   on June 27, 2013 at 9:04 AM
With years of experience working in education, and in particular, financially distressed school districts, PennLive.com wanted to pick Audrey Utley's brain before she retired from her role as superintendent at Steelton-Highspire School District.
We asked her to list the top five things the state Legislature should consider to better public education in Pennsylvania. Her answers are below.

"When you think about it, these results very clearly put to rest any notion that our schools are getting worse," Kati Haycock, president of the Education Trust, an organization that promotes academic achievement, said in the webinar announcing the results.
"If we have a crisis in American education," she said, it is that it isn't moving fast enough to educate minorities.
2012 NAEP Results: Students ages 9, 13 outscore those in '70s
17-year-olds stay flat, report finds
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette June 28, 2013 12:07 am
The latest Nation's Report Card shows 9- and 13-year-olds on average are doing significantly better in reading and math than their counterparts of about 40 years ago, but the achievement of 17-year-olds on average is flat.  The findings also show a narrowing of some racial achievement gaps.  The report on long-term trends for the National Assessment of Educational Progress -- known as NAEP or the Nation's Report Card -- was released Thursday. It compared results on the 2012 long-term trend exams given in public and nonpublic schools with those of students who were tested in the early 1970s.

U.S. education gap narrows between whites and minorities: NAEP report
Reuters By Stephanie Simon BOSTON | Thu Jun 27, 2013 11:37am EDT
(Reuters) - The achievement gap between white and minority children has narrowed considerably in recent decades, as black and Hispanic students have posted strong gains on math and reading tests, according to a new report out Thursday.

NAEP: Results of the 2012 Long-Term Assessments in Reading and Mathematics
National Assessment of Educational Progress

U.S. Standards for School Snacks Move Beyond Cafeteria to Fight Obesity
New York Times By STEPHANIE STROM Published: June 27, 2013
The Agriculture Department on Thursday effectively banned the sale of snack foods like candy, cookies and sugary drinks, including sports drinks, in schools, making it harder for students to avoid the now-healthier school meals by eating snacks sold in vending machines.

New U.S. school snack food rules clamp down on calories, fat
Morning Call by Yasmeen Abutaleb Reuters 6:04 a.m. EDT, June 27, 2013
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Snacks sold in U.S. schools must be lower in fat, salt and sugar, according to federal rules released on Thursday aimed at giving students more nutritious options and fighting childhood obesity.  The regulations, originally due in 2011, largely mirror the U.S. Department of Agriculture's proposal from February that limited the fat, salt and sugar content in school snacks and capped portion sizes.  The standards are seen as a critical step in improving students' eating options under a 2010 law revamping school foods.

Save the Date: Diane Ravitch will be speaking at the Main Branch of the Philadelphia Free Library on September 17 at 7:30 pm.  Details to come.

Friday June 28th is the deadline to submit proposals for PSBA’s 2014 Legislative Platform
There is one week remaining to submit proposals for consideration for PSBA’s 2014 Legislative Platform.The deadline to submit proposals is Friday, June 28.  Guidelines for platform submissions and submission forms are posted on PSBA’s Web site. Boards may submit new proposals as well as revisions to the current platform and should include a brief statement (about 50 words) of rationale for each proposal submitted.  The rationale should include a summary of the reasons why your board believes this issue should be addressed in the platform, any specific problems your district has encountered, and how your board believes the problem could be resolved.  In addition, your board is encouraged to submit any data related to the issue as it affects your district, or any draft language that could be crafted into proposed legislation. This information will be shared with the PSBA Platform Committee. All submissions should be directed to PSBA’s Office of Governmental and Member Relations. All items submitted must be verified by the board secretary. The PSBA Platform Committee under the direction of Chairman Mark B. Miller will review proposals and rationale submitted for the platform on Aug. 10. 
The items recommended by the Platform Committee will be presented to the new PSBA Delegate Assembly for final determination by the voting delegates present. Next week, PSBA will be mailing to all school board secretaries a memo and response form for the appointment of their voting delegates to the Delegate Assembly. Selection of voting delegates for the Delegate Assembly meeting is the same as it was for the Legislative Policy Council.  Each PSBA member entity has the opportunity to participate in the meeting the debate and vote on all of the agenda items.

PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference
October 15-18, 2013 | Hershey Lodge & Convention Center
The PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference is the largest gathering of elected officials in Pennsylvania and offers an impressive collection of professional development opportunities for school board members and other education leaders.
See Annual School Leadership Conference links for all program details.

PAESSP State Conference October 27-29, 2013
The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, State College, PA
The state conference is PAESSP’s premier professional development event for principals, assistant principals and other educational leaders. Attending will enable you to connect with fellow educators while learning from speakers and presenters who are respected experts in educational leadership.
 Featuring Keynote Speakers: Charlotte Danielson, Dr. Todd Whitaker, Will Richardson & David Andrews, Esq. (Legal Update).

EPLC Education Policy Fellowship Program – Apply Now
Applications are available now for the 2013-2014 Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP). The Education Policy Fellowship Program is sponsored in Pennsylvania by The Education Policy and Leadership Center (EPLC).
With more than 350 graduates in its first fourteen years, this Program is a premier professional development opportunity for educators, state and local policymakers, advocates, and community leaders.  State Board of Accountancy (SBA) credits are available to certified public accountants.
Past participants include state policymakers, district superintendents and principals, school business officers, school board members, education deans/chairs, statewide association leaders, parent leaders, education advocates, and other education and community leaders.  Fellows are typically sponsored by their employer or another organization.
The Fellowship Program begins with a two-day retreat on September 12-13, 2013 and continues to graduation in June 2014.

Building One America 2013 National Summit July 18-19, 2013 Washington, DC
Brookings Institution to present findings of their “Confronting Suburban Poverty” report
Building One America’s Second National Summit for Inclusive Suburbs and Sustainable Regions will involve local leaders and federal policy makers to seek bipartisan solutions to the unique but common challenges around housing, schools and infrastructure facing America’s metropolitan regions and its diverse middle-class suburbs. Participants will include local elected and grassroots leaders from America’s diverse middle class suburban towns and school districts, scholars and policy experts, members of the Obama Administration and Congress.  The summit will identify comprehensive solutions and build bipartisan support for meaningful action to stabilize and support inclusive middle-class communities and promote sustainable, economically competitive regions.

Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School FAST FACTS
Quakertown Community School District March 2013

PA Charter Schools: $4 billion taxpayer dollars with no real oversight

Keystone State Education Coalition Prior Posting
Charter schools - public funding without public scrutiny