Daily postings from the Keystone State
Education Coalition now reach more than 3250 Pennsylvania education
policymakers – school directors, administrators, legislators, legislative and
congressional staffers, Governor's staff, current/former PA Secretaries of
Education, 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
These daily emails are archived and
searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg
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?
Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for June
16, 2014: Tenure Is Not the Problem
Did you catch our weekend postings?
PA Ed Policy Roundup June 14: Only 'how,' not 'how
much' The new commission will examine only resource allocation, not funding
levels.
EPLC Education Notebook
Friday, June 13, 2014
Delco Times Editorial:
End natural-gas industry's huge tax break
POSTED: 06/14/14, 10:00 PM EDT | UPDATED: 14
SECS AGO
Every year, state legislators make a lot of noise about
reforming or ending property taxes.
And for good reason. Property
taxes are not progressive, and the state’s reliance on them to pay for our
public schools creates serious fiscal issues for school districts. As costs
increase, school boards have little choice but to raise property taxes to cover
their budgets — and that especially hurts people on fixed incomes. Taxpayers
deserve a break, our legislators constantly remind us.
But there is one group of property owners that is getting a
huge break on property (and other) taxes.
The natural gas drilling industry.
Because of a 2002 Supreme Court ruling, gas drillers are exempt from
paying property taxes on the oil and gas reserves they own. The exemption
doesn’t apply to other minerals. Nor does it apply to any other industry.
With city schools needing
more funds, eyes turn to Harrisburg
TROY GRAHAM, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER POSTED: Sunday,
June 15, 2014, 1:09 AM
To pupils and parents,
the story line is all too familiar: The School District of Philadelphia needs
at least $216 million next year to maintain an educational environment few would
claim to be adequate - and school leaders are hoping for much more money on top
of that. City Council approved a bill
last week that guarantees the schools $120 million next year from Philadelphia 's extra 1
percent sales tax. But the civic purse
now is likely to snap shut. "We've
played our hand," Majority Leader Curtis Jones Jr. said. "This is the
best effort we could put forward." The action now shifts to Harrisburg , where state legislators are
dealing with a complex swirl of issues, including the commonwealth's own $1
billion deficit.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20140615_With_city_schools_needing_more_funds__eyes_turn_to_Harrisburg.html#poAqWtABhGr5j7i1.99
Here's how NOT to fix
Pennsylvania's pension mess: Stephen Herzenberg
By Stephen Herzenberg on June 15, 2014 at 12:10 PM
Stephen Herzenberg is the Executive Director of the Keystone Research
Center in Harrisburg
There is a reason the
payday loan industry is so successful. It preys on vulnerable families
with the promise of fast cash now to take care of pressing needs. The
catch is, as with any debt, the bills will always come due. This is the fundamental problem with
Gov. Tom Corbett's current state pension proposal. It preys on a legislature desperate to take
care of a pressing need – a $1 billion budget shortfall of its own making. To help address this shortfall, the Governor
wants to "reduce the pension collars." In plain English, this
would allow the state to lower its legally required payments into the pension
system. But lowering this year's
pension payments is like putting more debt on the state credit card. The
bill will always come due.
Charter schools fight to
prevent funding cuts
By Chris Barber, Daily Local News POSTED: 06/14/14, 6:21 PM
EDT | UPDATED: 1 DAY AGO
LONDON GROVE — Parents
and administrators aligned with Pennsylvania ’s
brick and mortar charter schools (as opposed to cyber charters) are facing the
threat of reduced state funding for special education that could lead to their
closings. On Monday, about 200
representatives of the Avon Grove Charter School rode to Harrisburg to protest
the passage of two identical bills — one in the state Senate and one in the
state House of Representatives — that change the criteria by which money is
allotted for students with disabilities.
According to Avon Grove Charter Head of School Kevin Brady, it involves
applying a three-tiered system to determining how much funding will be given.
The tiers represent levels of disability, with students whose disabilities are
more severe qualifying for higher subsidies than those with lesser ones.
"While it had renewed the school's charter in the past,
the board of Pittsburgh Public Schools voted unanimously in spring 2012 against
renewal, saying the school serving grades 9-12 didn't meet all of the
conditions of its charter, didn't meet requirements for student performance,
and didn't provide expanded choices or serve as a model."
As Lawrenceville charter
school closes its doors, a sense of loss prevails
High school's shuttering expected to displace hundreds of
students
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette June 15, 2014 10:38 PM
C.J. Nemit, a sophomore at Career Connections
Charter High
School Pittsburgh Brashear High School
in Beechview, which has about 1,400 students, Mr. Nemit, 18, of Arlington , had found his
niche at Career Connections in Lawrenceville, which has 225 students. He
repeated ninth grade there and is finishing 10th grade. To him, the school is "almost like a
family unit." As to where he will go next, he said, "I have no
idea." Tim McIlhone, CEO since
March 2011, said, "We're going to really make sure we help him
transfer." Founded by the Boys
& Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania, Career Connections opened in 1999
with a school-to-career focus, starting with ninth grade and expanding a grade
per year. It already was on the ropes when Mr. Nemit arrived.
The state of education: A
necessary slap
Editorial By The Tribune-Review Published: Sunday, June 15, 2014, 9:00 p.m.
A ruling that teacher tenure and layoffs by seniority violate the California Constitution deals a sharp, much-needed blow to laws and practices that put the interests of teachers before those of students. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu compared Vergara v.California to the
U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Brown v. Board of
Education racial-segregation case. He wrote that Brownwas about the
right of students “to equality of the educational experience”
and Vergara is about their right to “quality of the educational
experience.” He ruled that California
violates public school students' constitutional right to equal education by
granting teachers tenure — after just two years — that makes firing even the
worst practically impossible; by disregarding effectiveness with “last in,
first out” teacher layoffs; and by disproportionately assigning ineffective
teachers to predominantly minority and low-income schools. He said the
“compelling” evidence “shocks the conscience” — but self-interested teachers
unions quickly vowed they'd appeal anyway.
Editorial By The Tribune-Review Published: Sunday, June 15, 2014, 9:00 p.m.
A ruling that teacher tenure and layoffs by seniority violate the California Constitution deals a sharp, much-needed blow to laws and practices that put the interests of teachers before those of students. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu compared Vergara v.
"Racial segregation continues to
bedevil American society and is closely coupled with rising income segregation.
Concentrations of poverty have much more to do with why poor and minority
students often end up with the worst teachers than do tenure laws. If the
plaintiffs were genuinely concerned about connecting great teachers with poor
and minority kids, they would go after that problem, not the due process rights
of teachers."
Tenure Is Not the Problem
Teacher protections are not why poor schools
are failing. Segregation is.
Slate By Richard D.
Kahlenberg June 13, 2014
On
Tuesday, a California
court struck down state teacher tenure and seniority protections as a violation
of the rights of poor and minority students to an equal education. The
decision, which will make it easier to fire bad teachers, who are
disproportionately found in high-poverty schools, is being hailed as a great
triumph for civil rights. Bruce Reed, president of the Broad Foundation and a
former Democratic staffer, suggested the
ruling was “another big victory” for students of color, in the tradition of Brown v. Board of Education. But modifying teacher tenure rules is not the
new Brown. The decision in Vergara v. California
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/education/2014/06/vergara_v_california_the_court_s_decision_to_gut_teacher_tenure_will_not.single.html
If 2 years is not enough time to develop
teaching skills, as Judge Treu in Vergara says, where does that leave Teach For
America
Bloomberg Review By Noah Feldman 29 JUN 11, 2014 11:33 AM EDT
State constitutions are law’s Cinderellas. Ignored most of the
time by their cruel stepsisters in the federal courts, they emerge suddenly as
belles of the ball when a spectacular state court decision puts them front and
center. The latest Prince Charming is the California judge who struck
down teacher tenure as violating
the right to education and equal protection. Unfortunately, the glass slipper
doesn’t fit. The decision yesterday by Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu is
terribly reasoned -- and it should be reversed.
Begin with the obvious: California ’s
teacher tenure laws seem hard to justify, apparently allowing tenure after two
years, even before the credentialing process is complete. As a result, some
teachers might be tenured without being credentialed.
But if every ill-drafted state and federal law were held
unconstitutional, every court would have to be night court while the judges
toiled overtime to strike them down.
Arne Duncan issues new
statement with the ‘right lessons’ from Vergara trial
In case you weren’t sure what to think about last week’s
verdict in the “Vergara trial” — in which a Los Angeles judge tossed out state statutes
giving job protections to teachers — Education Secretary Arne Duncan issued
a new statement Sunday offering what he thinks are the “right lessons”
from the case.
"Almost all New
York City
Common Core, in 9-Year-Old
Eyes
New York Times By JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZ JUNE 14,
2014
He could have written about the green toy truck he kept hidden
in his room, a reminder of Haiti ,
a place he did not yet fully understand.
He might have mentioned the second-place trophy he had won for reciting
a psalm in French at church — “le bonheur et la grâce m’accompagneront tous les
jours de ma vie...” — his one and only award.
He could have noted his dream of becoming an engineer or an architect,
to one day have a house with a pool and a laboratory where he would turn wild
ideas about winged cars and jet packs into reality. But on a windy April afternoon, as the first
real sun of spring fell on Public School 397 in Brooklyn ,
and empty supermarket bags floated through the sky, Chrispin Alcindor’s mind
was elsewhere.
IS PENNSYLVANIA
Education Voters of Pennsylvania, the NAACP and the Keystone
State Education Coalition are sponsoring a public meeting with speakers from
the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia and
the Education Law Center.
When: Monday June 16th, 6-7 PM
Where: Delaware County Community College Southeast Center,
Room 135
2000
Elmwood Ave, Sharon Hill, PA 19079
Learn about how a statewide legal strategy could help students
in William Penn, Southeast Delco and neighboring districts and how you
might participate. Legal experts and attorneys will be present to
talk about the law, your children’s rights and a potential lawsuit against the
state of Pennsylvania based on the state Constitutional requirement to
provide an education.
More info: http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.blogspot.com/2014/06/is-pennsylvanias-system-of-school.html
Come to Harrisburg to Speak
Up for Public Education
Wednesday, June 18, Monday, June 23, and Monday, June 30
Education Voters PA
Governor Corbett’s “election-year” budget is falling apart.
Revenue projections are down and Corbett and state legislators are looking to
make more than $1.2 billion in cuts to his proposed 2014-2015
budget. Lobbyists will be swarming the
Capitol in the month of June and we need to be there, too. Join Pennsylvanians from throughout the
commonwealth as we send a loud and clear message that after three years of
balancing the state budget on the backs of Pennsylvania’s public school
children, it is time for our state government to do what is right and pass a
fair budget that will provide students with the opportunities they need to meet
state standards and be successful after they graduate.
Details: http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/6041/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=7059
PA Basic Ed. Funding
Campaign: Building capacity to advocate for adequate, equitable school funding
PSBA website 6/10/2014
The Pennsylvania Basic Education Funding Campaign seeks up to
ten (10) regional "circuit riders" statewide to work with and support
school system leaders to build capacity and advocate for an adequate and
equitable school funding system.
Regional Circuit Riders Contract Employment Announcement
The Pennsylvania Basic Education Funding Campaign seeks up to
ten (10) regional "circuit riders" statewide to work with and support
school system leaders to build capacity and advocate for an adequate and
equitable school funding system. Circuit riders will support school system
leaders by providing education and training about past and current school
funding systems, principles and models of good school funding systems and
effective advocacy strategies using information and materials provided by the
Campaign. School system leaders include school directors, Intermediate Unit
executive directors, district superintendents, business managers and other key
school district leaders. Building
capacity among Pennsylvania school system
leaders to advocate for an adequate and equitable school funding system is one
component of a broader multi-year effort that involves more than 25
organizations across Pennsylvania .
This component is a collaborative effort of the PA Association of School
Business Officials (PASBO), PA Association of School Administrators (PASA), PA
School Boards Association (PSBA), PA Association of Rural and Small Schools
(PARSS) and PA Association of Intermediate Units (PAIU). PASBO serves as the
fiscal agent for the collaborative.
- See more at: http://www.psba.org/news-publications/headlines/details.asp?id=7943#sthash.rYZzUteD.dpuf
EPLC Education Issues
Workshop for Legislative Candidates, Campaign Staff, and Interested Voters - Harrisburg
Register Now! EPLC will again be hosting
an Education Issues Workshop for Legislative Candidates, Campaign Staff,
and Interested Voters. This nonpartisan, one-day program will take place
on Thursday, July 31 in Harrisburg .
Space is limited. Click here to learn more about workshop and
to register.
PSBA opens nominations for
the Timothy M. Allwein Advocacy Award
The nomination process is now open for the Timothy M. Allwein Advocacy Award. This award may be presented annually to the individual school director or entire school board to recognize outstanding leadership in legislative advocacy efforts on behalf of public education and students that are consistent with the positions in PSBA’s Legislative Platform. Applications will be accepted until July 16, 2014. The July 16 date was picked in honor of Timothy M. Allwein's birthday. The award will be presented during the PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference in October. More details and application are available on PSBA's website.
The nomination process is now open for the Timothy M. Allwein Advocacy Award. This award may be presented annually to the individual school director or entire school board to recognize outstanding leadership in legislative advocacy efforts on behalf of public education and students that are consistent with the positions in PSBA’s Legislative Platform. Applications will be accepted until July 16, 2014. The July 16 date was picked in honor of Timothy M. Allwein's birthday. The award will be presented during the PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference in October. More details and application are available on PSBA's website.
Education
Policy and Leadership Center
Click
here to read more about EPLC’s Education Policy Fellowship Program, including:
2014-15 Schedule 2014-15 Application Past Speakers Program Alumni And More
Information
2014 PA Gubernatorial Candidate Plans for Education
and Arts/Culture in PA
Education Policy and Leadership Center
Below is an alphabetical list of the 2014
Gubernatorial Candidates and links to information about their plans, if
elected, for education and arts/culture in Pennsylvania. This list will be updated, as more
information becomes available.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.