Sunday, December 3, 2017

PA Ed Policy Roundup Dec. 3: Here’s what the Senate tax bill could mean for K-12 education.

Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 4050 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, school solicitors, principals, charter school leaders, 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, Instagram 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 Dec. 3, 2017:
Here’s what the Senate tax bill could mean for K-12 education.


The tax bill approved by the Senate will be coming back to the House for another vote to reconcile differences between the bills passed by both chambers. You can find your Pennsylvania Congressman’s contact info here:



After a high-drama vote, here’s what the Senate tax bill means for schools, parents and students
Washington Post By Moriah Balingit and Nick Anderson December 2 at 5:35 PM 
The Senate on Dec. 2 passed a Republican bill overhauling the tax code. The bill passed by a 51-49 vote. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)
The Senate tax bill that passed in the wee hours of Saturday morning could have massive implications for schools and universities, students and parents. Public education advocates warned that certain provisions could put pressure on state and local spending for public schools while giving parents incentives to send children to private schools. The bill passed 51 to 49 after senators worked through the night on last-minute revisions and amendments — including some scribbled in the bill’s margins. The legislation has to be reconciled with a version passed by the House before being sent to President Trump, but many of the provisions affecting education are likely to stay. Public education advocates hammered the bill for offering incentives to private school parents through tax-free school savings accounts while eliminating the deduction for state and local taxes that fund public schools. “It’s crazy that we’re eliminating the ability of people to deduct their state and local taxes that go directly to local services, including schools . . . while at the same time providing a $10,000 incentive for folks to send their kids to private schools,” said Sasha Pudelski, assistant director for policy and advocacy at the American Association of School Administrators, which represents public school superintendents across the country.

Senate OKs Tax Bill Changing Teacher Deduction, Expanding School Choice
Education Week Politics K12 Blog By Andrew Ujifusa on December 2, 2017 1:51 AM
The U.S. Senate has passed its version of a tax overhaul package that contains potential changes for how teachers do their taxes and for state and local education funding, as well as a provision aimed at boosting school choice. Senators passed the GOP-backed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in the early hours of Saturday morning after extensive negotiations. It contains numerous changes to the current tax code with notable implications for K-12. The legislation approved by a 51-49 vote must now be reconciled with a House tax bill, which passed last month. And the legislation that results from those negotiations must get final approval from both House and Senate before being sent to President Donald Trump for his signature.  We went over key details of the Senate and House bills earlier this week. But the bills have grown more similar over the course of the week.  Both bills reduce the deductability of state and local taxes from individuals' federal taxes. Thanks to a late amendment from Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the Senate bill would still allow individuals to deduct up to $10,000 in state and local property taxes, while the House bill contains a similar provision for local property taxes. Some education advocates say increasing the federal tax burden for those with relatively high state and local taxes could lead state and local leaders to cut their own taxes, and therefore reduce the revenues that support public schools.

NSBA Statement in Response to Senate Action on Proposed Tax Reform
NSBA December 2, 2017
Alexandria, Va. (December 2, 2017) - NSBA Executive Director & CEO Thomas J. Gentzel today released the following statement in response to Senate action related to President Trump’s proposed tax reform:
“NSBA is deeply troubled by the U.S. Senate’s version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Tax reform should cultivate state and local investments and innovation, not impede them. In rushing to pass legislation, lawmakers are presenting Americans with a potential tax structure that offers tax breaks and benefits for the few at the price of supporting state and local efforts to invest in vital areas including education.
“While it’s unclear, the full extent of the impact the proposed changes will have on local decision making and resources available for public services, the threat it poses to students, parents and communities is very real. Limiting the current State and Local Tax deduction and providing tax-advantages for private school tuition accounts are misguided efforts and a significant step in the wrong direction.
“Districts already operate with limited resources to provide students with educational and other necessary support. Too many neighborhood schools struggle to balance diverse, growing populations with recessionary levels of funding. School infrastructure, teacher training, curriculum, transportation, health services, counseling, public and student safety measures and other vital services, which are all funded by state and local taxes, are placed at risk by these proposed changes in federal tax law.
“NSBA urges Congress to put students, parents, and communities first as the House and Senate bills move to conference. NSBA opposes any tax proposal that negatively impacts local decision makers’ ability to govern and operate in the best interests of our country’s students and the American taxpayer. To do anything less would be irresponsible and a reckless disinvestment in students and their future.”

AASA Issues Statement On Senate Vote On Tax Bill
Alexandria, Va. – December 2, 2017 – AASA Executive Director Daniel A. Domenech issued the following statement in response to the Senate’s vote to pass the Tax Cuts & Job Act.
“AASA is frustrated by Congress’ continued partisan efforts to pass the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act.
“Changes to tax policy can be a good thing, a chance for leadership and opportunity. The bill passed by the Senate fails on all of these fronts, threatens one of our nation’s original forms of infrastructure (public education) and stands to do far more harm, than good. As the national organization representing the leaders of our nation’s public school systems, we are frustrated with this tax plan and how those who voted for it lack an understanding of—or even care about—its impact on public schools.
“We are concerned with the continued disconnect from Congressional leadership on how the policies in this bill—including the elimination of the SALT-D deduction, reliance on deficit financing, and changes to bond financing for districts—will negatively impact schools. Just two years ago, a GOP-led Congress supported an overwhelmingly bipartisan ESSA reauthorization. It was a pinnacle demonstration of support for policies centered on compromise, practicality, and supporting and strengthening the nation’s public schools.
“While today’s vote is a significant pivot toward partisanship and corporate tax cuts paid for by the middle class, we remain committed to representing our members, the nation’s public school superintendents and will work tirelessly with our allies on Capitol Hill to mitigate the damages of this bill, to seek improvements in conference and to expand recognition of the importance of our nation’s public schools.” 

Winners and losers in the Senate GOP tax bill: A running list
Washington Post By Heather Long December 1 
The Senate on Dec. 2 passed a Republican bill overhauling the tax code. The bill passed by a 51-49 vote. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)
Republicans in the Senate just passed a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. tax code, the largest change since Ronald Reagan's presidency. The bill zipped through the process in a mere three weeks (you can get a quick rundown of what's in the bill here). It's still not a totally done deal though, as substantial differences between the House and Senate bills need to be ironed out before President Trump can sign the final piece of legislation into law. But there's little doubt this is a major victory for Trump. Here's a rundown of the winners and losers so far (you can read the entire 479 page document here):

Editorial: GOP tax plans stack deck for the wealthy
Delco Times Editorial POSTED: 12/02/17, 10:23 PM EST
If you believe the business of America is business, you’re going to love the Republican tax plan that passed the Senate in the wee hours of Saturday morning. You’ll love it even more if you’re one of the poobahs running one of those big businesses – or at least a wealthy American. They are the ones who stand to gain the most under this plan. Don’t get us wrong. Does this plan offer a tax break to most middle-class Americans? Yes, it likely will. But those benefits pale next to the huge benefits showered on the nation’s business elite. For starters, both the Senate plan as well as that passed by the House will roll back the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent. Most experts believe this is not a bad thing, that the corporate tax rate is too high, providing a competitive barrier to U.S. business. But the trickle-down theory, the notion that businesses will take all this newfound money and invest it in new plants – and jobs – has been trotted out before. It hasn’t worked. This plan amounts to a $2 trillion tax break for American’s corporate fatcats. Working stiffs, those making $75,000 a year or less, would see less benefit and – incredibly – in some instances could see their tax bill go up by 2027.

The Republican Tax Bill Is a Potential Disaster for Public Education Funding
Huffington Post Opinion by Daniel Katz, Chair, Department of Educational Studies, Seton Hall University11/29/2017 10:12 am ET
A great deal of ink has been spilled on how the Republican tax bill working through Congress would impact higher education for the worse.  The highest profile item is the plan in the House bill to tax graduate student tuition waivers as income, effectively making the young people who are helping the nation move forward with critical research pay taxes on “incomes” that are tens of thousands of dollars higher than they actually get paid.  However, higher education takes multiple hits in the House bill such as taxing endowment earnings that go towards school advancement, reducing incentives for charitable giving, and eliminating student loan interest deductions that benefited 12 million borrowers in 2014.  For a bill that the G.O.P. is trying to market as a “boon” to the middle class, the House bill does not just tax graduate student tuition waivers, but also it takes aim at tuition benefits for higher education employees and their children.  The New York Times portrayed a 64 year old night custodian at Boston College who managed to send all five of his children to college using such a benefit and who would never have been able to do so under the House bill.  Assurances from House leaders that their bill would grant most Americans so much tax relief that they would not need those benefits ring hollow as analyses show that various provisions in the bills could result in $1.6 trillion dollars of tax INCREASES on middle class earners over the next decade. So while the House and Senate bills are not friendly to higher education (the Senate bill somewhat less so), there has been little talk about the potential impact on K-12 education if the Senate bill passes, is reconciled with the House bill, and sent to the Oval Office for splashy signing ceremony.  There are several provisions in both pieces of legislation that would take serious aim at K-12 education at the state and local funding levels.  Reporters and editorials have stressed that eliminating the deductions for state and local taxes (SALT) including property taxes, as in the Senate bill, will heavily impact Democratic leaning states with higher tax burdens, but the Governmental Finance Officers Association (GFOA) reports that eliminating SALT deductions from the tax code will have a broadly negative impact on tax payers in all states.  According to the GFOA findings:

Senate Republicans are essentially defunding public schools to pay for private ones
Another big win for the wealthy.
Think Progress Opinion by E.A. CRUNDEN DEC 2, 2017, 11:35 AM
The new tax bill passed by Senate Republicans does away with crucial support for public schools while adding a provision beneficial to their private counterparts. That move would help wealthy parents pay for private schools, including religious schools, while hurting lower-income families. A similar provision is in the House version of the tax bill. In the early hours of Saturday morning, GOP lawmakers passed the biggest tax overhaul in several decades through a 51 to 49 vote. One lone Republican, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, voted against the legislation, citing deficit concerns. The bill, which includes a number of dramatic provisions and cuts, will have sweeping implications for many people across the United States. Under current law, parents can open 529 plans to help pay for future college costs. Those accounts, which differ by state, are tax-advantaged and grow as long as the money is spent exclusively on higher education. A last-minute provision added to the Senate tax bill allows for 529 plans to be used for K-12 private schools. 

DeVos calls America still ‘a nation at risk,’ cheers GOP tax plan
Chalkbeat BY MARTA W. ALDRICH  November 30, 2017
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos hearkened back Thursday to the landmark Reagan-era report indicting America’s public schools and declared that not much has changed. Today’s education system is still putting the nation at risk, she charged. Speaking in Nashville at the National Summit on Education Reform, she rallied education leaders to expand “school choice,” took swipes at teachers unions and Democrats, and spoke up for her boss’s campaign to overhaul the nation’s tax structure. DeVos’s 20-minute address drew a standing ovation from most of the 1,100 people attending the 10th annual summit hosted by her friend Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida who founded the Foundation for Excellence in Education, of which DeVos once served on the board. She used the occasion to encourage influencers — from lawmakers to faith leaders — to fight for options that give choices to parents, flexibility to teachers, and personalized attention to students.

Editorial: Good Government Amendment Deserves Vote By Pa. Citizens
The Elizabethtown Advocate Author Dan Robrish Posted on November 30, 2017
It’s a rare moment of encouraging news from the Pennsylvania Legislature: Republicans and Democrats are working together on something important. Members of both parties in both chambers are co-sponsoring legislation that would give the voters of Pennsylvania the power to end gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is a real problem in American politics. In Pennsyl­vania, state legislative and congressional districts were redrawn after the 2010 Census by a Republican-controlled Legislature; the measure was signed into law by Republican Gov. Tom Corbett. It’s no surprise that the district lines favored Republicans. So in last year’s congressional races, Republicans got just under 54 percent of the statewide vote, but got 13 of the 18 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, more than 72 percent. Before any Democrats start crowing about their party’s civic virtue, consider our neighbors in Maryland, where the Democrats were in charge. Democrats got less than 61 percent of the statewide congressional vote there last year, but won seven out of eight seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, or 87.5 percent.
Fortunately, a solution is in the works. Senate Bill 22 and House Bill 722 both propose an amendment to the state Constitution. If approved, the amendment would set up an 11-member commission to handle redistricting. Four members would be from the state’s largest political party; four would be from the second-largest political party and three would be independent voters or members of smaller parties. The Penn­sylvania secretary of state would pick the members and random from three pools of candidates of those three groups.

Erie School District to develop strategic plan
GoErie By Ed Palattella December 3, 2017
With additional state funding guaranteed, ‘crisis mode’ has shifted to academic improvement, superintendent says.
The Erie School District is ready to embark on an ambitious long-term strategic plan, a project similar to the one that produced the blueprint for the city of Erie’s future. “Think of it as Charles Buki for the Erie School District,” Erie schools Superintendent Brian Polito said. Just as Erie Refocused, by Buki’s consulting firm, set a course for the city’s recovery, the school district’s long-term plan will establish goals for the district to succeed, Polito said. He said the need for the plan is urgent in light of the General Assembly’s vote, in late October, to allocate an additional $14 million in annual state funding to the district beginning this fiscal year, which started July 1. In exchange for receiving the money, the district is to get a state-appointed financial administrator who will develop a financial improvement plan. While that state-driven plan will focus on maintaining the district’s financial health, the district’s strategic plan will center on how to focus the district’s energy and resources to improve educationally, including how it can boost its poor standardized test scores and offer more opportunities to its 11,500 students. About 74 percent of the students are economically disadvantaged, according to state figures.

6 things the new Philly school board absolutely should not do | Editorial
by The Inquirer Editorial Board Updated: DECEMBER 1, 2017 — 5:23 PM EST
The earthquake that registered 4.1 on the Richter scale in the region on Thursday was minor compared to the tremors two weeks ago, when the School Reform Commission voted to dissolve itself. Education has always been a deep fault line in the city, which might be healed by the move back toward local control. (Or, it might not.) There are many who worry that without state oversight, Harrisburg will not be as invested in providing necessary funding for the schools, although a recent analysis by the state Department of Education showed that Philadelphia actually got less state school aid than it should have, based on need alone. In actual dollar terms, the contributions from the state have remained about the same (when adjusted for inflation) since the SRC’s creation in 2001. Still, anyone expecting that local control will magically translate into more state dollars should prepare for a rude awakening. The city has already agreed to cover much of the district’s $1 billion deficit over the next five years, though we don’t yet know how that will happen. The new board won’t be installed until March; the mayor is assembling a nominating panel who will submit 27 names of potential members; Mayor Kenney will select nine.

GAO report sounds alarm about vouchers and students with disabilities
Washington Post By Moriah Balingit December 2 at 2:15 PM 
Across the country, thousands of children attend private schools through publicly funded voucher programs and education savings accounts, with states giving money directly to parents to spend at a school of their choice. But parents sacrifice legal safeguards if their child with a disability attends a private school through these programs, according to a report released Thursday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Protections that require public schools to provide speech therapy, tutoring and specialized education plans do not apply to private schools. The GAO report found that many states with voucher programs and education savings accounts do not inform parents of students with disabilities how their rights change when a child transfers to private school through a choice program. About half of the private schools the GAO surveyed offered little or no information about their special education services on their websites.



Register for New School Director Training in December and January
PSBA Website October 2017
You’ve started a challenging and exciting new role as a school director. Let us help you narrow the learning curve! PSBA’s New School Director Training provides school directors with foundational knowledge about their role, responsibilities and ethical obligations. At this live workshop, participants will learn about key laws, policies, and processes that guide school board governance and leadership, and develop skills for becoming strong advocates in their community. Get the tools you need from experts during this visually engaging and interactive event.
Choose from any of these 11 locations and dates (note: all sessions are held 8 a.m.-4 p.m., unless specified otherwise.):
·         Dec. 8, Bedford CTC
·         Dec. 8, Montoursville Area High School
·         Dec. 9, Upper St. Clair High School
·         Dec. 9, West Side CTC
·         Dec. 15, Crawford County CTC
·         Dec. 15, Upper Merion MS (8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m)
·         Dec. 16, PSBA Mechanicsburg
·         Dec. 16, Seneca Highlands IU 9
·         Jan. 6, Haverford Middle School
·         Jan. 13, A W Beattie Career Center
·         Jan. 13, Parkland HS
Fees: Complimentary to All-Access members or $170 per person for standard membership. All registrations will be billed to the listed district, IU or CTC. To request billing to an individual, please contact Michelle Kunkel at michelle.kunkel@psba.org. Registration also includes a box lunch on site and printed resources.

NSBA 2018 Advocacy Institute February 4 - 6, 2018 Marriott Marquis, Washington D.C.
Register Now
Come a day early and attend the Equity Symposium!
Join hundreds of public education advocates on Capitol Hill and help shape the decisions made in Washington D.C. that directly impact our students. At the 2018 Advocacy Institute, you’ll gain insight into the most critical issues affecting public education, sharpen your advocacy skills, and prepare for effective meetings with your representatives. Whether you are an expert advocator or a novice, attend and experience inspirational keynote speakers and education sessions featuring policymakers, legal experts and policy influencers. All designed to help you advocate for your students and communities.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.