Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now
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administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, Governor's
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Keystone
State Education Coalition
PA
Ed Policy Roundup Nov. 8, 2017:
Ballot
question on property taxes passes 54.5% to 45.5%
Save the Date: Pitt Johnstown to host
Funding Lawsuit Panel at Murtha Center on campus November 15th at 7:00 pm
“As the Pennsylvania School Boards
Association put it, "the most that can be said at this point" is that
lawmakers can "adopt legislation to provide additional options for
property tax relief for residential property owners, likely with shifts in
other tax and revenue sources to help fund the exclusions and replace the
revenue needed for educational programs."
Pennsylvanians
take small wishful step toward tax relief
Morning Call by The
Associated Press November 8, 2017
The constitutional amendment that Pennsylvania
voters approved Tuesday could eventually lead to reductions in the state's
heavy dependence on property taxes, but it is only a tiny step in that
direction. The amendment gives the General Assembly the authority
to pass a law authorizing local governments to exclude up to the full value of
residents' homes that they own from taxation. The new language does not by itself change anything,
however. Local governments have had the ability for two decades to exclude up
to half the median value of homes in their area from taxation. Billions are
collected every year through property taxes to fund public schools — and the
amendment does not provide a way to make up for any cuts in that revenue. It's
a politically divisive topic that may prove a bigger challenge than it was to
get tax-weary voters to approve the constitutional amendment. At issue is the
so-called "homestead exemption," which lowers tax bills by reducing a
home's value before the taxes are determined.
Pa. ballot
question on property taxes passed. Here's what it means
Inquirer by Laura McCrystal, Staff
Writer @LMcCrystal | lmccrystal@phillynews.com Updated: NOVEMBER
7, 2017 — 10:36 PM EST
Pennsylvania took a first step toward a
potential property tax overhaul Tuesday, as voters approved a constitutional
amendment that could lead to change. The ballot question, which asked whether
taxing authorities should be able to exempt residents from paying property
taxes on their primary residences, was poised to pass, with preliminary results
showing the amendment winning approval with 93 percent of districts
reporting results. “I’m excited that the people of Pennsylvania got to speak,
and I think they made it pretty clear,” said Rep. David Maloney (R., Berks),
who sponsored the bill that created the ballot question. “I think it’s a
significant step forward, and I think, in some respects, the legislature
probably needed to see this.” The vote marked a concrete move toward
changing or eliminating a levy that has been a long-standing source of
complaint. Lawmakers and advocates say that the current reliance on
property taxes — which account for about 30 percent of local and state revenue
in Pennsylvania and are a primary source of school funding — is especially
harmful to homeowners on fixed incomes. The issue has gained greater traction in
recent years; Gov. Wolf has said he supports the elimination of property taxes.
But Tuesday’s vote will not change anything
immediately.
Voters
deliver a mandate about property tax relief in Tuesday's election
Voters on Tuesday voted to
amend the state constitution to raise the homestead exclusion level to up to
100 percent of the value of each "homestead," or primary residence,
which could open the door to long-awaited property tax relief for homeowners.
Penn Live By Jan Murphy jmurphy@pennlive.com Updated Nov
7, 11:48 PM
A constitutional amendment that opens the door
to property tax relief for homeowners won overwhelming approval of voters
in Tuesday's election. With almost 98 percent of the votes counted, the
unofficial results showed 54.5 percent of voters supported this state
constitutional change to raise the exclusion level to up to 100 percent of the
value of each "homestead," or primary residence, while 45.5 percent
opposed. The exclusion level that has been in place since its adoption in
1997 capped it at 50 percent of the median assessed value of all homesteads in
a school district, municipality, or county. The strong support for this
constitutional change sends a mandate to state lawmakers and Gov. Tom Wolf that
Pennsylvanians want them to act to provide property tax relief for homeowners. Plus,
Sen. David Argall, R-Schuylkill County, who has been championing a legislative
effort to eliminate property taxes for several years, said, "It gives the
General Assembly a lot of options that it does not possess today." For
example, he said previously if lawmakers passed a law to eliminate school
property taxes for homeowners while keeping them in place for commercial
properties, it could have been thrown out as unconstitutional.
“The constitutional amendment gives
legal authorization for state lawmakers to pass a law to let local governments
exempt the full value of homes from taxes, replacing what had been a 50 percent
cap on cuts. The amendment itself did not reduce any taxes, and the Legislature
may struggle to find revenue to replace the property taxes that currently
generate billions for schools and other purposes.”
Sallie
Mundy, GOP incumbent, keeps Pennsylvania Supreme Court seat
Morning Call by The Associated Press November 8,
2017
A Republican justice kept her seat on Pennsylvania's
highest court Tuesday and voters approved a constitutional amendment that could
eventually lead to property tax cuts. Justice Sallie Mundy held off Allegheny
County Judge Dwayne Woodruff, a former Pittsburgh Steeler, in what was the most
closely watched race in an off-year election. Mundy's victory gave her a full
10-year term and meant Democrats were unable to add to their 5-to-2 majority on
the high court. Two other incumbent justices were retained for another decade
in up-or-down retention votes. Mundy, a resident of Tioga in the state's
northern tier, was a Superior Court judge when Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf
nominated her and the Republican-controlled state Senate confirmed her to
replace Justice Michael Eakin. Eakin stepped down early last year, nearly three
months after being put on paid suspension to await an ethics trial for his role
in a salacious email scandal.
Republicans
maintain majorities on Superior, Commonwealth courts
DAN MAJORS Pittsburgh Post-Gazette dmajors@post-gazette.com 12:10 AM NOV 8,
2017
With voting results still being tabulated late
Tuesday night, some seats on the state’s intermediate appellate courts were
still being contested. But it seemed safe to say that both the Superior Court
and the Commonwealth Court would retain their Republican majorities. Three
Democrats and one Republican were leading in the vote count for four seats on
the Superior Court, but the margin between the two Republicans vying for fourth
place was too close to call. The two seats open on the Commonwealth Court
were split between a Democrat and a Republican, meaning that panel will
maintain its 7-2 Republican majority.
Fuzzy
math: GOP tax plan's eliminating educator tax break 'adding insult to injury
for teachers'
Penn Live By Jan Murphy jmurphy@pennlive.com Updated Nov 7
1:48 PM
When it comes to buying classroom supplies that
don't fit into the school budget, teachers increasingly are finding themselves
digging into their own wallets. A national survey found more than 90 percent of
teachers spend their own money to buy supplies and materials for their
classrooms and occasionally, clothing and personal hygiene products for their
students. They put out nearly $600 a year, on average, doing it, according
to Adoptaclassroom.org, a national
nonprofit based in Minneapolis, Minn., that raises money to assist teachers buy
classroom materials. For the past 15 years, K-12 teachers have been able to
enjoy a modest offset for that spending when it came to filing their federal
income tax return. They were able to deduct up to $250 of their out-of-pocket
expenses from their taxes through the educator
expense deduction.
But this is one of several popular deductions
that the House GOP tax reform plan calls for
eliminating.
Change to
Pa. school code allows districts to lay off teachers based on performance
ELIZABETH BEHRMAN Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Lbehrman@post-gazette.com 1:36 PM NOV 7,
2017
A new law that went into effect earlier this week
will allow financially pinched school districts to lay off teachers based on
their performance in the classroom, rather than their years of experience. It marks a major upheaval in the realm of
Pennsylvania teacher contracts, and one that unions furiously battled for
years. “These are significant changes,” said Ira Weiss, whose law firm
represents a number of local school districts, including Pittsburgh Public
Schools. So far this week, teacher unions have been relatively
tight-lipped on the subject and merely expressed their disappointment that
Gov. Tom Wolf allowed the legislation to pass into law without his signature Monday, despite his
“concerns.” Nina Esposito-Visgitis, president of the Pittsburgh
Federation of Teachers, said the state law will supersede the Pittsburgh
teachers’ contract, which bases furloughs on seniority. However, Pittsburgh
Public Schools hasn’t furloughed teachers in several years. "We were
really disappointed to see that go through,” she said. “Policy shouldn't be
part of funding package. It's disappointing, too, that furloughs will be based
on an unfair system." Pittsburgh labor attorney Michael Healey questions
whether the new statute could legally overrule seniority provisions in a
teachers’ contract.
Lawsuit
challenging GOP electoral maps to move forward
Penn Live By The Associated Press Updated Nov
7, 11:44 PM; Posted Nov 7, 11:22 PM
PHILADELPHIA -- A panel of judges has denied
a motion to quash a federal lawsuit charging that Pennsylvania's congressional
maps give Republicans an unfair electoral
advantage. The judges issued the ruling Tuesday after lawyers
for the state's Republican leaders asked them to dismiss the case brought by
five Pennsylvania voters against the governor and elections officials. Attorneys
for House Speaker Mike Turzai and Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati
said the legislative districts are lawful. But lawyers for the voters argue
they were illegally drawn to favor one party over another. Republicans won 13 of 18 congressional seats in the 2014
and 2016 elections despite earning a little over 50 percent of
the vote. The lawsuit also seeks to redraw lines before the 2018 midterm
election. It's scheduled for trial in December.
An open
letter to Dr. Hite
The notebook letter by Debra Weiner November 7, 2017
— 12:51pm
Dear Dr. Hite,
To improve the academic performance and
graduation rates of students of color, who now make up more than half of
the School District's enrollment, and to keep students from fleeing to other
districts or charter schools, one simple strategy does not require huge
investment in new curricula, tests, or professional development. And
it is particularly relevant to you personally as well to the District
organizationally. That strategy is to invest in increasing the number of black
men in the District’s teaching ranks. As we have learned from the remarkable
work of Sharif El-Mekki, principal of Mastery Charter School-Shoemaker and a
founder of the Fellowship: Black Male Educators for Social Justice, black males
constitute only 2 percent of teachers across the nation. The Fellowship
just had its first national convening of black male teachers in Philadelphia in
October. Our District's 5 percent rate is better, but still horribly
unfair to the tens of thousands of black male students who constitute a huge
percentage of school dropouts and participants in the school-to-prison
pipeline. Recent research shows the positive effects for students of
having black teachers:
Charter
schools, a viable option
Centre Daily Times Letter
by CINDY WAY, STATE COLLEGE NOVEMBER 07, 2017
11:22 PM
As a former public school teacher and parent who
chose a charter school for one of her three children, I would like to encourage
parents to look seriously at our charter schools as an option for children
having difficulty in the public school setting. My third child was a hands-on
learner who struggled with reading. He was not flourishing in traditional
education. I placed him in the tech-based, project-based Centre Learning
Community Charter School, for fifth through eighth grade, and he excelled! He returned
to public school in ninth grade with great success and went on to college to
pursue a degree in computer engineering. At CLC he pursued his interests in
computers and engineering via projects that engaged him fully. I don’t think he
would have obtained the level of success he did without the help of CLC. He had
the same teachers for two years at a time, had small math classes that allowed
him to enter double accelerated math in high school, and he chose a CLC teacher
as the most influential teacher he had for an awards ceremony his senior year.
I was surprised to see CLC still has openings for this year. For whatever
reason, from bullying to other social or academic concerns, I would encourage
parents to explore charter schools as a viable option if this school year is
not working well for your child. I am so glad we did!
For Online Schools, Unique Challenges in Serving Transgender Students
Education Week By Benjamin Herold November 6, 2017
Indiana Connections Academy faced a dilemma. Around 2013, a growing number of transgender students at the K-12 school began telling staff they wanted to be recognized by a different name and gender than was listed on their birth certificates. But Indiana Connections Academy is a full-time online charter. That means most of students’ interactions with teachers and classmates occur online, using technology platforms that display each child’s name and other information. The school couldn’t change what was displayed publicly without first wrestling with serious questions about student privacy, as well as changing what was stored in its back-end database, which at the time required students’ legal name and gender for state reporting purposes. Finding a technical fix was just part of the ongoing challenge, according to Melissa Brown, Indiana Connections Academy’s longtime executive director. The school has also had to consider its legal obligations around serving transgender students, which have shifted over the past two presidential administrations. And just as significantly, Brown and her team were forced to navigate a broader culture war in which advocates of LGBT rights have been pitted against some proponents of religious liberty.
Trib Live MERCURY
NEWS | Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017,
6:06 p.m.
When Twitter announced in September it was testing
longer tweets, some users praised the change while others feared the site would
lose its sense of brevity. Now the San Francisco tech firm is officially
doubling the character limit of its tweets to 280 characters. The change will
apply to all languages except for Japanese, Korean, and Chinese because users
can convey more information in those languages with fewer characters, Twitter
said Tuesday. Twitter's 140-character tweets have been a part of the site since
it launched in 2006, helping the company to set itself apart from other social
networks.
November School
Leader Advocacy Training
PASA, PASBO, PSBA, the Pennsylvania Principals
Association, the PARSS and PAIU are offering five, full-day School Leader Advocacy Training sessions at the
following locations:
Wednesday, November 15 – Berks County I.U. 14 (Reading)
Thursday, November 16 – Midwestern I.U. 4 (Grove City)
Friday, November 17 – Westmoreland I.U. 7 (Greensburg)
Take advantage of this great opportunity – at NO cost to you!
REGISTER TODAY at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SchoolLeaderTraining.
Wednesday, November 15 – Berks County I.U. 14 (Reading)
Thursday, November 16 – Midwestern I.U. 4 (Grove City)
Friday, November 17 – Westmoreland I.U. 7 (Greensburg)
Take advantage of this great opportunity – at NO cost to you!
REGISTER TODAY at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SchoolLeaderTraining.
Cyber Charter School Application; Public Hearing November 20
Pennsylvania Bulletin Saturday, October 14, 2017 NOTICES - DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Pennsylvania Bulletin Saturday, October 14, 2017 NOTICES - DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
The Department of
Education (Department) has scheduled one date for a public hearing regarding a
cyber charter school application that was received on or before October 2,
2017. The hearing will be held on November 20,
2017, in Heritage Room A on the lobby level of 333 Market Street, Harrisburg,
PA 17126 at 9 a.m. The hearing pertains to the applicant seeking to operate a
cyber charter school beginning in the 2018-2019 school year. The purpose of the
hearing is to gather information from the applicant about the proposed cyber
charter school as well as receive comments from interested individuals
regarding the application. The name of the applicant, copies of the application
and a listing of the date and time scheduled for the hearing on the application
can be viewed on the Department's web site at www.education.pa.gov. Individuals who wish to provide comments on the
application during the hearing must provide a copy of their written comments to
the Department and the applicant on or before November 6, 2017. Comments
provided by this deadline and presented at the hearing will become part of the
certified record. For questions regarding this hearing, contact the Division of
Charter Schools, (717) 787-9744, charterschools@pa.gov.
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Education
Cyber Charter School Application for Commonwealth Education Connections Cyber
Charter School 2017
Charter School
Application Submitted: September 27, 2017
Support the Notebook and see Springsteen on Broadway
The notebook October 2, 2017 — 10:57am
Donate $50 or more until Nov. 10, enter to win – and have your donation doubled!
"This music is forever for me. It's the stage thing, that rush moment that you live for. It never lasts, but that's what you live for." – Bruce Springsteen
You can be a part of a unique Bruce Springsteen show in his career – and support local, nonprofit education journalism! Donate $50 or more to the Notebook through Nov. 10, and your donation will be doubled, up to $1,000, through the Knight News Match. Plus, you will be automatically entered to win a pair of prime tickets to see Springsteen on Broadway! One winner will receive two tickets to the 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 24, show at the Walter Kerr Theatre. These are amazing orchestra section seats to this incredible sold-out solo performance. Don't miss out on your chance to see the Boss in his Broadway debut. Donate to the Notebook today online or by mail at 699 Ranstead St., 3rd Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19106.
http://thenotebook.org/articles/2017/10/02/springsteen-on-broadway
Registration now open for
the 67th Annual PASCD Conference Nov.
12-13 Harrisburg: Sparking Innovation: Personalized Learning, STEM, 4C's
This year's conference will begin on Sunday, November 12th
and end on Monday, November 13th. There will also be a free pre-conference on
Saturday, November 11th. You can
register for this year's conference online with a credit card payment or have
an invoice sent to you. Click here to register for the
conference.
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/PASCD-Conference-Registration-is-Now-Open.html?soid=1101415141682&aid=5F-ceLtbZDs
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/PASCD-Conference-Registration-is-Now-Open.html?soid=1101415141682&aid=5F-ceLtbZDs
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 10
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. 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.
Registration Opens Tuesday, September 26, 2017
