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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup October 5, 2015
Wolf tax plan
to face scheduled House vote Wednesday
Department Of Education Hires Art Teacher
To Spread Evenly Across All U.S.
The
Onion NEWS IN BRIEF September 29, 2015
Did you catch our weekend
postings?
PA Ed Policy Roundup Oct 3:
If you thought Arne Duncan was controversial, meet his successor
Wolf tax plan
to face House vote
Citizens Voice BY ROBERT SWIFT Published: October
4, 2015
Philly.com by MARK SCOLFORO, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS POSTED: Saturday,
October 3, 2015, 10:18 AM
GOP stymies Pa.
Inquirer
Letter by Jeffrey Sheridan, press secretary for Gov. Wolf, Harrisburg POSTED: Sunday, October 4, 2015, 1:09 AM
Stymied
by the GOP
The
Republican stopgap budget is yet another gimmick that shortchanges the people
of Pennsylvania .
Republicans in Harrisburg have become too
comfortable with politics as usual, and the stopgap they passed embraces a
failed status quo that is preventing Pennsylvania
from moving forward. The Republican
legislature has passed fiscally irresponsible budgets for four years. We are
facing a multibillion-dollar deficit and are trying to recover from numerous
credit downgrades. Statewide, schools
have been suffering from drastic funding cuts, and hardworking families have
been footing the bill through soaring property taxes. Meanwhile, oil and gas
companies have been let off the hook, as the Republicans have refused to pass a
commonsense severance tax. At every
turn, Republicans have refused to work with the governor to create a serious,
no-nonsense budget that works for our commonwealth. It's past time for a comprehensive plan that
moves Pennsylvania
forward.
Auditor General says budget impasse is
killing schools
PA
Independent October 1, 2015 | By Evan
Grossman | Posted in Education
Reading Eagle By David Mekeel
Sunday October 4,
2015 12:01 AM
Local
school districts aren't feeling the sting of a state budget stalemate, at least
not yet.
According
to data released by the Pa. Senate Republicans, all but two Berks County Reading will have difficulty starting this
month and Daniel Boone will begin to feel the pinch in February.
The data
was released after Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed a stopgap budget bill this week that
would have provided partial state funding to school districts. The report shows
that several districts across the state - mostly urban or poor rural districts
that rely heavily on state funding - will face cash flow problems by the end of
the year if state funds don't start flowing.
Here's a win-win
fix for Pa.
JOHN BAER, DAILY NEWS POLITICAL COLUMNIST POSTED: October 5, 2015,
12:16 AM
GOOD
NEWS, I've figured out how to solve Pennsylvania 's
budget mess.
In a
nutshell - and, trust me, there are lots of nuts involved - it's big new
spending without big new taxes. Democratic
Gov. Wolf gets to keep his promise of more money for schools and such.
Republicans running the Legislature get to keep their fiscal fidelity.
It's a
win-win. How, you might ask?
Read
more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20151005_Here_s_a_win-win_fix_for_Pa__budget.html#vG8omlqy0aRevOp1.99
Here are the more important
numbers. Republicans hold majorities in the House and Senate. If Wolf has any
chance of getting this plan through the Legislature, he needs Democrats to
stand united behind him, and get 18 House Republicans to cross over and support
the tax hikes. In the Senate, he would need all 19 Democrats on board as well
as six renegade Republicans.
Editorial:
Trick or Treat: Pa.
Delco
Times POSTED: 10/03/15, 6:44 PM EDT
It’s
arm-twisting time in Harrisburg . It’s about time.
Our
august leaders have just clicked another month off their calendars. August?
Forget that. We’re now into October, and there’s no state budget in sight. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and the Republican
leaders in the House and Senate have been locked in a standoff since the end of
June, when the mandated deadline for having a state spending plan in place came
and went. Try not to snicker. These folks were just getting warmed up. Independence Day? No freedom from the
partisan bickering that has dominated these budget talks. Labor Day? Well, most of us continue to go
to work every day. Our legislators didn’t seem terribly concerned that the
state did not have a fiscal blueprint. Welcome
to Month Four of the Harrisburg
follies. Maybe our elected representatives are planning an early Trick-or-Treat.
We’ve seen most of the tricks. We’re still waiting on a treat. And on a state
budget.
Here's a
closer look at Tom Wolf's 'faith-based' budgeting: Dennis Roddy
Penn Live Opinion
By Dennis Roddy on October 04, 2015 at 1:00 PM
Dennis Roddy, a
former Corbett administration speechwriter, is a PennLive/Patriot-News Opinion
Columnist.
Gov.Tom
Wolf has scaled back his proposed hike in the state's income tax by a few
clicks and now wants to expand the sales tax to fewer items. In other words, he will now try to persuade
the House Republican rank-and-file to shoot themselves in the head with a
smaller caliber bullet. Budgets
are transactional politics at its base. I watched House Democrats push through
a record tax increase in 1991 by trading favors and earmarks for votes so
offending members could go back and show their constituents a new park, a paved
road, or a new roof on the social hall.
Pat Howard: Schools debate should focus on
how, not just how much
GoErie.com
By Pat Howard 814-870-1721 Erie
Times-News October 4, 2015 01:01 AM
There's
something bracing about Erie schools
Superintendent Jay Badams' earnest outrage over the failure of Harrisburg politicos to
cut a budget deal and resume meeting their constitutional obligation to fund
public schools. The respect and
credibility attached to his performance in leading the Erie School District
Trib
Live Opinion By Joseph
Sabino Mistick Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015, 9:00 p.m.
As the
executive director of Allies for Children, Patrick Dowd is worried and he is
sounding the alarm. The state budget impasse hangs like a sword over many
programs that protect our children. And many of the proposed resolutions offer
faint hope for our children's future.
According
to Dowd, unlike past state budget standoffs, it has been hard to tell that deep
trouble is brewing this time around. To the average Pennsylvanian, it is
business as usual and that has created a false comfort that belies the coming
crisis for kids. Kids are going to
school, child care centers are open, child hunger and welfare programs that
protect children are operating. Parks have remained open for families and child
care payments continue to flow. “But all
of this,” says Dowd, “masks a dangerous reality. Our children will be hurt the
most if there is not a budget negotiated soon that makes their needs a
priority.”
Officials look
to improve on PSSA for next year
By Eric Devlin,
The Mercury POSTED: 10/04/15,
4:16 PM EDT
As predicted,
scores from the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment released last week
showed on average students in grades 3-8 did worse on the test than they did
the previous year. That was
expected because the test was changed this year, and local school officials
said they weren’t surprised by the drop. That doesn’t mean lower scores are
acceptable, however, and they are already looking ahead to see how they can
improve. “I didn’t go into shock,”
Spring-Ford Area School District Superintendent David Goodin on his reaction to
the district’s results. “We certainly anticipated scores would change in the
assessment. We knew that was going to happen. I was pleased to see they didn’t
drop as much as I anticipated.” Officials
say changes made to the test to align with the new Pennsylvania Common Core
Standards increased the level of difficulty of the test. Also changed were the
test’s cut scores, or the ranking each student receives based on their
individual results. Scores are divided into four categories: advanced,
proficient, basic and below basic. The cut scores changes made it more
difficult to land into the higher categories. One official compared the cut
score changes to increasing the distance it takes to hit a home run from 200
feet to 250 feet.
PSSAs:
Emphasis on standardized testing has gone too far
For a
few years, measuring education performance using standardized tests was all
about making “adequate yearly progress.”
But don’t look for any “progress” in the newest crop of Pennsylvania
standardized test scores — and not just because the scores are all lower.
Even the Pennsylvania Department of Education admits “it is
not useful to directly compare students’ scores on the new assessment to
students’ scores from previous assessments.”
That’s
because the most recent test is radically different than the test given the
year before. Further, halfway through the process, the department changed the
“cut score,” making it even harder to score well. Or, as Pottsgrove School Board President
Justin Valentine said at a recent board meeting, it is like being “told a home run is
305 feet and having them change it to 350 feet in the middle of the game.” This was all done to align the test — the
Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, or PSSA — with commonwealth’s new
“core” standards, a variation on the national core standards being implemented,
with some controversy, nationwide.
End the school-testing roller coaster ride
THE
ISSUE: Scores on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests were down
statewide this year — particularly in math, with about 40 percent of students
scoring “proficient” or above on their math PSSAs. Lancaster County schools, on average, achieved 47 percent
in math proficiency. Educators explain that the math and English language arts
tests were made more challenging this year to align with Pennsylvania Philadelphia public radio station WHYY’s
NewsWorks, while the 2014-15 decline was larger, it marked the fourth straight
year of falling scores on the PSSAs.
Disappointing test: The state says
students’ scores are an anomaly
Post
Gazette By the Editorial Board October 5, 2015 12:00 AM
Just
42.5 percent of Pennsylvania
students are proficient in English and only 26.1 percent of third- through
eighth-graders have mastered age-appropriate principles of math, according to
newly released numbers from the state Department of Education. While those numbers may cause students,
parents and taxpayers distress, the state Department of Education insists the
dismal performance on spring standardized tests is an anomaly born of rigorous
curricula implemented two years ago. Whether that’s a reason or an excuse won’t
be determined for a couple of years.
A Pa.
KATHY BOCCELLA, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER LAST UPDATED: Monday, October 5,
2015, 1:08 AM
An open
revolt against standardized testing is spreading among some Pennsylvania
school boards and administrators - but not in at least one Chester County Unionville-Chadds Ford School District
DN Editorial:
Let Philly schools chief Hite do his job
Philly Daily News Editorial POSTED: Monday,
October 5, 2015, 12:16 AM
WILLIAM
HITE holds the apparently radical idea that as superintendent of the Philadelphia 's public
schools he should make decisions about the schools. This is not a widely shared notion -
certainly not among the powers that be. City
Council would rather have the final say. The teachers union wants its agenda
followed. Education activists demand that before Hite takes a step he consult
with them. If he makes a decision these
forces do not like, they complain about how he ignored the process, ignored
parents and ignored the voices of activists.
Hite angered these critics again last week by making a series of
decisions on 15 public schools.
By
Clarece Polke / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette October 1, 2015 10:39 AM
A
special agreement by state officials has helped facilitate yet another loan for
the cash-strapped Penn Hills
School District Penn Hills
School District
"Most teachers who
receive an unsatisfactory rating leave. Over the past four years in the school
district, 157 teachers have received at least one unsatisfactory rating. Of
them, 106 have left, and 51 remain employed by the district.
A second consecutive
unsatisfactory rating for a tenured teacher triggers the process for dismissal.
Of the 44 who received a second unsatisfactory rating, only one continues to
teach, the only one to prevail in a binding arbitration hearing. Five others
took their cases to binding arbitration and lost, resulting in their being
dismissed by the school board. The others left."
Joe Giansante, the teacher who's fighting
his dismissal
Most public schoolteachers deemed
'unsatisfactory' go away quietly. But he's challenging the evaluation methods
By
Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette October 4, 2015 12:00 AM
Joe
Giansante didn’t become a teacher until he was 45 years old. “I thought I could save the world,” said Mr.
Giansante, who holds a bachelor’s degree in administration management science
and math from Carnegie
Mellon University Pittsburgh Westinghouse
High School in Homewood ,
received unsatisfactory ratings in both of his years teaching at Pittsburgh Brashear High School
PSBA launches an alumni
network
Are you a former school director or in your final term? Stay connected through the PSBA Alumni Network. Your interest in public education continues beyond your term of service as a school director. And as a PSBA alumnus, you have years of experience and insight into the workings of public education and school boards. Legislators value your opinions as a former elected official. Take that knowledge and put it to work as a member of the PSBA Alumni Network.
For a nominal yearly fee of $25 a year or $100 for a lifetime membership, you will receive:
Are you a former school director or in your final term? Stay connected through the PSBA Alumni Network. Your interest in public education continues beyond your term of service as a school director. And as a PSBA alumnus, you have years of experience and insight into the workings of public education and school boards. Legislators value your opinions as a former elected official. Take that knowledge and put it to work as a member of the PSBA Alumni Network.
For a nominal yearly fee of $25 a year or $100 for a lifetime membership, you will receive:
- Electronic access to the PSBA
Bulletin, the leading public education magazine in Pennsylvania
- Access to legislative information
pertaining to public education and periodic updates via email.
To join, complete
the registration below. For more details or questions, contact Member
Engagement Director Karen Devine at Karen.devine@psba.org or (800)
932-0588, ext. 3322.
SPECIAL
ANNOUNCEMENT: School Play is going on tour! Click below for more
information about tour dates in your county. All performances are FREE!
School
Play, a documentary-based live theatre piece, is here to put school funding
center stage. Compiled from a series of interviews, the play premiered in
Philadelphia in April, 2015 and is now available for free for
performances around the Commonwealth.
"This will be an opportunity for the
community to discuss its collective aspirations for our next
superintendent. We hope you'll join us for an evening of learning and
discussion about how we as a community can support our Board in its search for
our schools next leader."
Getting a Great
Superintendent
Pittsburgh, PA Wednesday, October 7, 2015 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM (EDT)
A+ Schools and its partners are hosting a community discussion
about innovative talent search models that have attracted high quality
leadership to key roles in the City of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Public Schools.
Come hear from Valerie Dixon, Executive Director and Founder of the PACT
Initiative, Leigh Halverson, Strategic Project Advisor to the President, Heinz
Endowments, Patrick Dowd, former school board member and Executive Director of
Allies for Children, Robert Cavalier, Director, Program for Deliberative
Democracy at Carnegie Mellon University, and Alex Matthews, former school board
member discuss the key lessons they've learned from being part of selection
processes for key leaders in our City.
The John Stoops Lecture
Series: Dr. Pasi Sahlberg "Education Around the World: Past, Present &
Future" Lehigh University October 8, 2015 6:00 p.m.
Baker Hall |Zoellner Arts
Center | 420 E. Packer Avenue | Bethlehem , PA 18015
Baker Hall |
Free and open to the
public! Ticketing is general admission -
no preseating will be assigned. Arrive early for the best seats. Please plan to stay post-lecture for an open
reception where you will have an opportunity to meet with students from all of
our programs to learn about the latest innovations in education and human
services.
School Leadership Conference
online registration closes Sept. 25
Register Now for PASA-PSBA
School Leadership Conference Oct. 14-16, 2015 Hershey Lodge & Convention
Center
Save the date for the
professional development event of the year. Be inspired at more than four
exciting venues and invest in professional development for top administrators
and school board members. Online registration is live at:
Register Now – PAESSP
State Conference – Oct. 18-20 – State College, PA
Registration is now
open for PAESSP's State Conference to be held October 18-20 at The
Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel in State College, PA! This year's
theme is @EVERYLEADER and features three nationally-known keynote
speakers (Dr. James Stronge, Justin Baeder and Dr. Mike Schmoker), professional
breakout sessions, a legal update, exhibits, Tech Learning Labs and many
opportunities to network with your colleagues (Monday evening event with Jay
Paterno). Once again, in conjunction
with its conference, PAESSP will offer two 30-hour Act 45 PIL-approved
programs, Linking Student Learning to Teacher Supervision and Evaluation
(pre-conference offering on 10/17/15); and Improving Student Learning
Through Research-Based Practices: The Power of an Effective Principal (held
during the conference, 10/18/15 -10/20/15). Register for either or both PIL
programs when you register for the Full Conference!
REGISTER TODAY for
the Conference and Act 45 PIL program/s at:
Registration is open for the 19th Annual
Eastern Pennsylvania Special Education Administrators’ Conference
on October 21-23rd in Hershey.
Educators in the
field of special education from public, charter and nonpublic schools are
invited to attend. The conference offers rich professional development
sessions and exceptional networking opportunities. Keynote speakers are
Shane Burcaw and Jodee Blanco. Register at https://www.paiu.org/epaseac/conf_registration.php
Register Now for the Fifth
Annual Arts and Education Symposium Oct. 29th Harrisburg
Thursday, October
29, 2015 Radisson Hotel Harrisburg Convention Center 8:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. Act
48 Credit is available. The event will be a daylong convening of arts education
policy leaders and practitioners for lively discussions about important policy
issues and the latest news from the field. The symposium is hosted by EPLC and
the Pennsylvania Arts Education Network, and supported by a generous grant from
The Heinz Endowments.
Register now for the
2015 PASCD 65th Annual Conference, Leading and Achieving in an Interconnected World, to be
held November 15-17, 2015 at Pittsburgh Monroeville Convention
Center.
The Conference
will Feature Keynote Speakers: Meenoo Rami – Teacher and Author
“Thrive: 5 Ways to (Re)Invigorate Your Teaching,” Mr. Pedro Rivera,
Pennsylvania Secretary of Education, Heidi Hayes-Jacobs – Founder and President
of Curriculum Design, Inc. and David Griffith – ASCD Senior Director of Public
Policy. This annual conference features small group sessions focused on:
Curriculum and Supervision, Personalized and Individualized Learning,
Innovation, and Blended and Online Learning. The PASCD Conference is
a great opportunity to stay connected to the latest approaches for innovative
change in your school or district. Join us forPASCD 2015! Online
registration is available by visiting www.pascd.org <http://www.pascd.org/>
Interested in letting our
elected leadership know your thoughts on education funding, a severance tax,
property taxes and the budget?
Governor Tom Wolf,
(717) 787-2500
Speaker of the
House Rep. Mike Turzai, (717) 772-9943
House Majority Leader Rep. Dave Reed, (717) 705-7173
Senate President Pro Tempore Sen. Joe Scarnati, (717) 787-7084
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Jake Corman, (717) 787-1377
House Majority Leader Rep. Dave Reed, (717) 705-7173
Senate President Pro Tempore Sen. Joe Scarnati, (717) 787-7084
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Jake Corman, (717) 787-1377
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