Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now
reach more than 3600 Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors,
administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, Governor's
staff, current/former PA Secretaries of Education, Wolf education transition
team members, Superintendents, PTO/PTA officers, parent advocates, teacher
leaders, business leaders, faith-based organizations, labor organizations,
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, Twitter and LinkedIn
These daily emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg
Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for May 15, 2015:
MULTIPLE CHOICES:THE INS AND OUTS OF SCHOOL FUNDING IN
PENNSYLVANIA
School directors,
superintendents and administrators are encouraged to register and attend this
event.
Bucks / Lehigh / Northampton
Wednesday, May 20, 2015 from 7:00 PM to
9:00 PM Quakertown Community School District , 100
Commerce Drive
Quakertown , PA
18951
MULTIPLE CHOICES:THE INS AND OUTS OF SCHOOL FUNDING IN
PENNSYLVANIA
Keystone Crossroads
Series
Wait ... the Legislature
actually did something this week? Now what?: Thursday Morning Coffee
By John L. Micek | jmicek@pennlive.com Email
the author | Follow on Twitter on
May 14, 2015 at 8:20 AM
Good Thursday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
If you were in theBig Building on the Hill on Third Street on Wednesday, you might have
had cause to pause, check yourself, and wonder whether you were really in Pennsylvania .
If you were in the
For the
third time this week, Pennsylvania 's
253-member General Assembly, which has never been saddled with a reputation for
either bravery or productivity, voted on not one, not two, but three pieces of
legislation of actual import. The ball
got rolling in the Republican-controlled Senate earlier this week with
the passage of a bill legalizing medical marijuana.
Then, on Wednesday,
the Senate struck again,passing a huge bill
curbing state employee pension benefits. The majority-GOP House
followed suit later in the day with a
Republican-authored property tax reform bill. Faster than you could say "6
p.m. fund-raiser at McGrath's," the General Assembly actually
looked like what it purports to be -- a full-time, professionalized state
Legislature. But here's the rub: Each of
the three bills faces gigantic hurdles before any one of them can ever become
law.
It's on to the Pennsylvania
Penn Live By Charles Thompson |
cthompson@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on May 13,
2015 at 9:30 PM, updated May 14, 2015 at 7:17 AM
Sweeping aside
decades of legal precedent and policy-making tradition, Senate Republicans
passed a pension reform bill
Wednesday that, as written, would change benefit formulas
mid-career for more than 360,000 current state workers and school employees. The 28-19 vote was a ringing endorsement for
Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman's insistence that killing Pennsylvania 's tax-eating pension tapeworm
is a must-have for the 30-member Senate GOP caucus in this spring's state
budget talks.
What do states owe
workers? For a lesson in what not to do, look to Illinois' pensions mess: Megan
McArdle
PennLive Op-Ed By
Megan McArdle on May 14, 2015 at
11:00 AM, updated May 14, 2015 at 11:02 AM
What do states owe
workers?
That's a question
we're going to be asking a lot as states wrestle with growing pension
obligations that weren't properly funded. Illinois courts have just ruled that the
state's attempt to curtail its pension benefits cannot go forward. The Chicago Tribune boils it down: "In
its ruling, the court restated that state worker retirement benefits that are
promised on the first day of work cannot be later reduced during their term of
employment, only increased."
"Former board member Tim
Potts told board members that they should not think about the budget as a vote
to raise taxes, but a vote to educate children. Those concerned
about property taxes should understand that it is an issue to take up with
the state legislislature, he said."
Penn Live By Elizabeth Gibson | Special to PennLive on
May 14, 2015 at 10:31 PM
Following a plea to
rethink cuts to funding for institutional aides, and a salute to a solid
spending plan for next year, the Carlisle Area School Board voted 9-0 to
tentatively approve its budget. Carlisle Area School
Board members, including President Nancy S. Fishman, right, shown in a meeting
last year with former school board member Tim Potts, approved its
tentative budget. Potts told the board he supported the spending plan.Elizabeth
Gibson | Special to PennLive
The proposal may be
viewed online or
at the district office at 623 W.
Penn St .
The tax rate will
be 13.2436 mills, a 2.4 percent increase over this year's 12.9333
rate.
The tax boost will
bring in an extra $950,000 next year.
Allentown School Board wants no tax increase, more
teachers for related arts
By Jacqueline
Palochko Of The Morning Call May 14, 2015
Allentown School
Board wants no tax increase and restoration of related arts
Saucon Valley School Board cites surplus, won't raise
taxes
By Christy Potter Special
to The Morning Call May 14, 2015
The Saucon Valley
School Board wants to draw on a surplus instead of raising taxes.
The Saucon Valley
School Board has found a way to avoid a tax hike it had warned property owners
could come their way. It will tap into the district's surplus to balance the
2015-16 budget. The board voted 8-1
Tuesday night to pass the $42.9 million proposed final budget and draw on the
district's $15.2 million fund balance to close a $478,725 gap. Director Ed Inghrim, who made the motion to
approve the spending plan with no tax increase, said he didn't want to increase
property taxes when the district is running a surplus. "Or likely running a surplus," he
added, clarifying that the district has had a surplus in the past.
The district has
gone about six years without raising taxes.
Pottstown Schools Budget Proposes Zero Tax Hike
Digital Notebook Blog by Evan Brandt May 15, 2015
Last year, the Pottstown
school administration asked for a budget that raised property taxes by 2.9
percent with the caveat that the following year, they would produce a budget
that didn't raise taxes at all. Thursday
night, they delivered. During the
meeting of the school board's finance committee, Business Manager Linda Adams
unveiled the proposed $57,136,928 proposed budget for the 2015-2016 school
year. Despite a 2.16 percent increase in
expenditures, the proposal does not raise taxes.
Penn Live By Monica Von Dobeneck | Special to
PennLive on May 14, 2015 at 9:12 PM, updated May 14, 2015
at 9:15 PM
The Palmyra Area
School Board gave its official stamp of approval to a 2.5 percent tax increase
for the 2015-16 year during its meeting Thursday night. It was the same $44.9 million preliminary
budget that had been presented a week earlier, but board
president Chris Connell said it could still change between now and passage of
the final budget June 18.
Inquirer Think Tank
Blog By Thomas Hylton POSTED: THURSDAY,
MAY 14, 2015, 1:46 PM
After decades of
talking but not doing, Pennsylvania
finally appears ready to reform public school financing. Both Gov. Wolf and Republican legislators
agree the state should boost its share of school funding by substituting
increased state income and sales taxes for local real estate taxes. With a
bipartisan vote, the House passed such a bill Wednesday, which the governor
praised as the beginning of a conversation on substantive property tax relief.
This is a critically important breakthrough.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/thinktank/Overhaul-Pas-failing-education-model-.html#JZ3yjlvEoG8G763V.99
What's the point of
testing when Pa.
the notebook By Jan Gillespie-Walton on May
14, 2015 12:15 PM
Jan Gillespie-Walton is a former teacher,
principal, and assistant superintendent. She is currently the CEO of
Gillespie-Walton, an education consulting firm, which mentors teachers and
administrators.
The PSSA booklets
have been batched and packed. The No. 2 pencils are back in their boxes. The
sheets of paper covering every inch of bulletin board have been removed.
Everyone is breathing a little better now that schools are no longer paying
homage to The Test. Watching the annual
ritual, I was struck by mind-boggling incredulity. Many schools even held
extraordinary rallies designed to spur Test Warriors on to success. How could
anyone believe that bravado, cheers, and songs about overcoming adversity would
somehow make up for years of meager funding, skeletal staffing, and few instructional
materials? With the end of this year’s
examination behind them, many urban schools sent up a collective Amen and
exhaled. But the day of reckoning is coming, with all its acrimonious blame and
finger-pointing.
Kids Who Can’t See Can’t Learn
New York Times By PAMELA F. GALLIN MAY 15, 2015
Pamela F. Gallin is a professor of ophthalmology
and of pediatrics at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center.
LAST year, I went
with a small group of ophthalmologists to
a South Bronx middle school to conduct vision
exams. One neatly dressed boy had trouble seeing the big E at the top of the
chart. He hesitated and made mistakes on the second line, and then put his head
down, embarrassed. “I don’t think you can see the chart,” I said. He told me he couldn’t remember ever having
an eye exam. I thought he might be an anomaly.
I was wrong. My colleagues and I have conducted 2,400 screenings on
students in three New York City middle schools:
one in the South Bronx, one in Williamsburg and
one in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan . We have prescribed and distributed
450 free pairs of glasses to the nearly one-fifth of the kids who had 20/40
vision (which means street signs and chalkboards are blurry) or worse. Many of
the kids knew they couldn’t see the board, but hadn’t thought to ask for a
checkup, because their vision had deteriorated gradually.
School directors, superintendents and
administrators are encouraged to register and attend this event.
Bucks / Lehigh /
Northampton Legislative Council
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM Quakertown Community School District, 100 Commerce
Drive Quakertown, PA 18951
Welcome by Paul Stepanoff , Board President , QCSD
Introduction of Paul Clymer, State of State Education
Mr. Glenn Grell , PSERS Executive Director
Introduction by Dr. Bill Harner, Superintendent QCSD
Panel of Superintendents and Elected School Directors from Bucks / Lehigh
/ Northampton Counties
Introduction by Mark B. Miller, Board Vice President, Centennial SD
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION:
1) The status of 2015-16 budget in their district (including proposed tax
increase)
2) PSERS impact on their budget
3) Proposed use of any new funding from Commonwealth
Larry Feinberg and Ron Williams
Benefit and need for County Wide Legislative Council in Delaware and
Montgomery Counties respectively
Dr. Tom Seidenberger (Retired Superintendent ) - Circuit Rider Update
SAVE The DATE: Northwestern PA School Funding Forum
May 28, 2015 7:00 PM Jefferson Educational
Society 3207 State St.
Erie , PA 16508
Panelists
Conneaut School
District
Mr. Jarrin
Sperry, Superintendent, Ms. Jody Sperry, Board President
Corry School
District
Mr. William Nichols,
Superintendent
Fort LeBoeuf
School District
Mr. Richard Emerick,
Assistant Superintendent
Girard School
District
Dr. James Tracy,
Superintendent
Harbor Creek
School District
Ms. Christine
Mitchell, Board President
Millcreek School
District
Mr. William Hall,
Superintendent Mr. Aaron O'Toole, Director of Finance and Accounting
Keynote Speaker
Mr. Jay Himes,
Executive Director, Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials
CONFERENCE ON THE STATE OF EDUCATION IN PENNSYLVANIA
A CALL FOR ADEQUATE AND EQUITABLE SCHOOL FUNDING
Sponsored by Coatesville and Media Area
NAACPs
9:00 AM – 1:30 PM SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015
MARCUS FOSTER STUDENT UNION 2ND
FLOOR
CHEYNEY UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA DELAWARE
COUNTY CAMPUS, CHEYNEY, PA
Our children have to
pass the state mandated tests in order to move on with life. SO - it is time
for the PA Assembly to provide adequate and equitable funding to the public
schools of Pennsylvania.
FREE AND OPEN TO THE
PUBLIC. SPACE IS LIMITED.
COME AND ASK YOUR
PERSONAL QUESTIONS AND SHARE YOUR OPINIONS WITH PRESENTERS WHO ARE EXPERTS AND
POLICY MAKERS.
Pre-Registration is
required for meals. Deadline for Pre-registration is May 12, 2015
PRE-REGISTER
ON-LINE: HTTPS://www.surveymonkey.com/S/JTZB9F8
Additional Info: http://www.naacpmediabranch.org/cse.html
Spanish Version: http://www.naacpmediabranch.org/cse-spanish.html
PHILLY DISTRICT TO HOLD
COMMUNITY BUDGET MEETINGS
Wednesday,
May 20
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.