Daily postings
from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1500
Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators,
legislators, members of the press and a broad array of education advocacy
organizations via emails, website, Facebook and Twitter.
These daily
emails are archived at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
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on Twitter at @lfeinberg
Please contact your State Rep. today and ask
them to cosponsor HB2364
Is your State Rep. on the cosponsor list for HB
2364? Charter school funding, accountability and transparency
The bill is now posted
on the General Assembly’s website:
Here’s more info on HB
2364 from PSBA:
Fleck Introduces HB 2364 Charter and Cyber Charter
School
PA House Republican Caucus website 6/4/2012
Fleck was joined at a Capitol news conference by other lawmakers, public school administrators, school board members and representatives from education-related organizations who support his proposal, including the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA), Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA), Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials (PASBO), Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators (PASA) and Pennsylvania Association for Rural and Small Schools (PARSS).
HB 2364: Push is on to fix charter school funding
House members propose bill, while the Corbett administration wants
commission to study the issue.
By Patrick Lester, Of
The Morning Call 11:25 p.m. EDT, June 4, 2012
The acrimonious tug of
war over tax dollars used to fund charter and virtual charter schools in Pennsylvania
Public school
officials, who have long clamored about the high cost of funding and lack of
oversight of schools responsible for teaching more than 100,000 Pennsylvania students, joined state representatives in Harrisburg
The issue could come
to a head over the next three weeks as lawmakers try to hammer out a 2012-13
budget.
HB 2364: Bill proposes reform of charter funding
Published: Tuesday, June 05, 2012
By JOHN KOPP jkopp@delcotimes.com @DT_JohnKopp
Legislation that could
reform the funding formulas for charter schools is being introduced to the
state House of Representatives.
State Rep. Mike Fleck, R-81, of Huntingdon County, held a press conference in Harrisburg Monday to announce the details of his proposed bill intended to better regulate charter and cyber charter schools.
State Rep. Mike Fleck, R-81, of Huntingdon County, held a press conference in Harrisburg Monday to announce the details of his proposed bill intended to better regulate charter and cyber charter schools.
June 5, 2012
Proposed Legislation
Changes Charter
School
Lawmaker Wants To Hold
Charters To Same Accountability As Regular Schools
LISTEN TO THIS STORY: Download
Legislation introduced
in the state House aims to increase accountability and transparency in the
funding of charter schools in Pennsylvania
The sponsor,
Representative Mike Fleck (R-Huntingdon), said House Bill 2364 would change the
current funding formula used to determine school districts’ tuition payments
for students who enroll in charter and cyber charter schools. The bill would
eliminate non-instructional services, such as athletic funds, from those
tuition payments. Fleck said his proposal would also eliminate what he calls
the “double dip” for pension costs which are currently not subtracted from
school district expenditures. He said this would save taxpayers an estimated
half billion dollars within five years.
In addition, the measure
would require an annual audit to document if charter and cyber charter schools
are being paid for the actual cost of educating students and prohibit the use
of funding to pay for advertising meant to increase charter school enrollment.
It would also put a cap on charter schools’ unused fund balances.
SB 1115: Senate bill would change the way Pennsylvania
By John L. Micek
and Steve Esack, Of The
Morning Call
11:26 p.m.
EDT, June 4, 2012
Legislation that would
change the way Pennsylvania
An identical bill,
sponsored by Rep. Bernie O'Neill, R-Bucks, is before the House. O'Neill said
Monday he hopes to have Browne's proposal cleared by the House Education
Committee on Wednesday and put to a vote by the full House next week.
House Education
Committee Chairman Paul Clymer, R-Bucks, supports the proposal.
BUDGET:
Pa.
Published: Tuesday, June 05, 2012
Delco Times By MARC LEVY, Associated Press
The plan was delivered to Corbett's staff Tuesday and was not released publicly, but some details were obtained by The Associated Press. Top Republican lawmakers were scheduled to meet later Tuesday with Corbett, who has poured cold water on lawmakers' hopes that he will approve their proposed spending figure.
“One of the
worst situations is faced by the Harrisburg
School District
Budget priorities:
Education, human services are key
Published:
Tuesday, June 05,
2012 , 6:05 AM
They must decide whether
to go with a $27.65 billion spending plan that the Republican-controlled Senate
passed or with the governor’s version, which slims down state monies by $500
million.
Can Shell Educate
Our Kids?
Yinzercation Blog— JUNE 5, 2012
Talk about hypocrisy.
Governor Corbett has been running around the state telling everyone who will
listen that Pennsylvania
$1.8 million: District price tag at Audenried and Vare this year
by Benjamin Herold for
the Notebook and WHYY/NewsWorks
The Philadelphia School District
Vouchers and the future
of public education
This was
written by education historian Diane Ravitch, a research professor at New York University
and author of the bestselling “The Death and Life of the Great American
School
By Diane Ravitch
I debated whether to give this blog post the
title you see or to call it “State Commissioner of Education John White
Acknowledges That He Doesn’t Know How to Improve Schools.”
I felt a sense of outrage as I read the latest account of
the Louisiana Louisiana Shreveport
The Reuters article skips the rhetoric about
“the civil rights issue of our era” and goes to the heart of the voucher program: “Louisiana is embarking on the nation’s boldest experiment in
privatizing public education, with the state preparing to shift tens of
millions in tax dollars out of the public schools to pay private industry,
businesses owners and church pastors to educate children.“
The voucher program is a bold effort to
privatize public education by taking money away from public schools and giving
it to anyone who claims that they can offer some sort of an educational or
tutoring or apprenticeship program, in person or online, regardless of its
quality.
Learning by Making
American kids should be building rockets and robots, not taking
standardized tests.
Slate.com By Dale
Dougherty|Posted Monday, June 4, 2012 , at 6:30
AM ET
On a morning visit to a Northern California middle school, I saw not a single
student. The principal showed me around campus, but I didn’t see or hear
students talking, playing, or moving about. The science lab was empty, as were
the library and the playground. It was not a school holiday: It was a state-mandated
STAR testing day. The school was in an academic lockdown. A
volunteer manned a table filled with cupcakes, a small reward for students at
day’s end.
This is what the
American public school looks like in 2012, driven by obsessive adherence to
standardized testing. The fate of children, their schools, and their teachers
are based on these school test scores.
Romney Hones Pitch on Education Policy
Education week By Alyson Klein Published
Online: June 5,
2012
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has
offered education proposals that include both market-driven, conservative
initiatives and continuation of some ideas aligned with the Obama
administration.
The Miseducation of Mitt Romney
New York June 5, 2012
On May
23, the Romney campaign released its education policy white paper titled
“A Chance for Every Child: Mitt Romney’s Plan for Restoring the Promise of
American Education.” If you liked the George W. Bush administration’s education
reforms, you will love the Romney plan. If you think that turning the schools
over to the private sector will solve their problems, then his plan will thrill
you.
STATEWIDE PRESS COVERAGE OF SCHOOL DISTRICT
BUDGETS
Here are more than 700 articles since
January 23rd detailing budget cuts, program cuts, staffing cuts and
tax increases being discussed by local school districts
The PA House Democratic Caucus has been tracking daily press coverage on
school district budgets statewide:
June 29 is deadline to submit proposals for PSBA’s 2013
Legislative Platform
Your school board is invited to submit proposals for consideration for PSBA’s 2013 Legislative Platform. The association is accepting proposals now until Friday,June 29, 2012 . Guidelines for platform submissions are posted on
PSBA’s Web site. The PSBA Platform Committee will review proposals
and rationale submitted for the platform on Aug. 11. The
recommendations of the committee will be brought before the Legislative Policy
Council for a final vote on Oct. 18.
Your school board is invited to submit proposals for consideration for PSBA’s 2013 Legislative Platform. The association is accepting proposals now until Friday,
PSBA accepting nominations for the Timothy M. Allwein Advocacy
Award
Last year, PSBA created a new award to honor the memory of its long-term chief lobbyist, who died unexpectedly. The Timothy M. Allwein Advocacy 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. The nomination process is now open and applications will be accepted untilJune 22, 2012 .
The award will be presented during the PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference
in October. For more information and criteria details, see the Allwein Advocacy Award page. To obtain an application
form, see the Allwein Advocacy Award Nomination Form. Completed
forms should be returned no later than June 22 to: Pennsylvania School Boards
Association, Advocacy Award Selection Committee, PO Box 2042 , Mechanicsburg ,
PA 17055-0790
Last year, PSBA created a new award to honor the memory of its long-term chief lobbyist, who died unexpectedly. The Timothy M. Allwein Advocacy 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. The nomination process is now open and applications will be accepted until
Absentee ballot procedures for election of PSBA officers
PSBA website 6/1/2012
All school directors
and school board secretaries who are eligible to vote and who do not plan to
attend the association's annual business meeting during the 2012 PASA-PSBA
School Leadership Conference in Hershey, Oct. 16-19, may request an absentee
ballot for election purposes.
The absentee ballot
must be requested from the PSBA executive director in accordance with the PSBA
Bylaws provisions (see PSBA Bylaws, Article IV, Section 4, J-Q.). Specify the
name and mailing address of each individual for whom a ballot is requested.
Requests must be in
writing, e-mailed or mailed first class and postmarked or marked received at
PSBA Headquarters no later than Aug. 15. Mail to Executive Director, P.O. Box 2042 , Mechanicsburg ,
PA 17055
