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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy
Roundup for March 23, 2015:
Budget sparring, pension
reform, charter reform, "test-in", background checks
Education Voters of PA will hold a forum
about public school funding in York: Wed., March 25th, 6:30pm to 8pm at York
Learning Center
More info/registration: http://www.educationvoterspa.org/index.php/site/news/2015-events/
GOP lawmakers chafe at Wolf's
plan to award school tax cuts
Philly.com by MARC LEVY, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS POSTED: March 21, 2015, 9:47 AM
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Raising taxes will be a battle among
Pennsylvania state lawmakers as they face Gov. Tom Wolf's call to correct a
persistent budget deficit and a school funding system riven by huge spending
disparities between rich and poor districts. And, should lawmakers agree to
raise taxes, deciding how the money is spent will be quite another battle. Wolf's administration pledges that every
homeowner across Pennsylvania
will get a property tax cut under the Democrat's plan to make school funding
fairer. But Republicans who control the Legislature are deciding that Wolf's
plan is less than fair to many of their districts.
Tom Wolf's Rendellian moves
Trib Live By Brad
Bumsted Saturday, March 21, 2015, 9:00 p.m.
HARRISBURG : During
the 2014 campaign, Republicans insisted if Democrat Tom Wolf won the governor's
race, Pennsylvanians would be looking at Rendell II — meaning a repeat of eight
years under Gov. Ed Rendell. Policy
similarities? Sure. Wolf wanted, as Rendell did, to dump as much money as
possible into secondary education. Many of Wolf's tax-hike proposals sound
familiar. But Wolf promised to be a
different kind of governor. He stressed bipartisanship and working together. He is working with one of the largest
Republican majorities in the General Assembly in recent history. It's not so
much his progressive agenda, which you'd expect, but the way Wolf is dealing
with the Legislature. He's playing
hardball.
Pa. lawmakers try to pinpoint
Wolf budget's winners, losers
WHYY Newsworks BY MARY
WILSON MARCH 22, 2015
For weeks, Pennsylvania
lawmakers have been asking for more details about how Gov. Tom Wolf's tax
proposals will affect their constituents. This week they got an answer from the
state House GOP. The caucus has
unveiled TaxpayersThatPay.com,
a site estimating how each school district will be affected by higher state
sales and income taxes and accompanying property tax relief proposed by Wolf. The website is a response to SchoolsThatTeach.com, the Wolf
administration's effort to break down the per-district effect of the Wolf
budget. The governor's page emphasizes
what each school district could expect in education funding and property tax
relief. The House GOP's site emphasizes
each school district's estimated tax burden under Wolf's plan. It organizes
districts into the very categories lawmakers have requested for several weeks
-- winners and losers.
This week's sparring over
school funding a test of leadership for Wolf, Senate GOP: John L. Micek
Penn Live By John L. Micek |
jmicek@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on
March 18, 2015 at 12:15 PM, updated March 18, 2015 at 12:28 PM
A note to Pennsylvania
political junkies - this is what actual divided government looks like.
In case you missed it, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and
majority Senate Republicans have spent much of the past week sparring over
education funding. But here's the rub,
the handbags-at-20-paces hostilities aren't over whether Pennsylvania 's 500 districts will get a bump
in funding in the fiscal year that starts July 1. Rather, it's over how much they'll receive
and how they might spend whatever manna falls from Harrisburg 's skies.
Did you catch our weekend postings?
PA Ed Policy Roundup March 21: Duncan
Here's why any public pension
fix has to include a 401(k) plan, Charlie Gerow
PennLive
Op-Ed By Charlie Gerow on March 22, 2015 at 11:30 AM
When he was running for governor, Tom Wolf consistently denied
there is a pension crisis.
As the rhetoric of the campaign has given way to the realities
of governing, he's slowly beginning to acknowledge that we do, in fact,
have a huge problem--one that has every Pennsylvania
taxpayer on the hook. Like most states, Pennsylvania provides
lifetime pensions to public employees. Those pensions are funded by the
public sector workers themselves, who have a portion of their pay withheld each
pay period, by taxpayers who pay the "employers" share, and by fund
gains in the invested monies from public employees and taxpayers. Unfortunately for taxpayers, through years of
hefty benefit increases, fund losses and negligent underfunding, the state's
two large pension funds--covering teachers and other state workers--are
more than $50 billion short.
Preserving existing pensions
has to be part of reform: Tony May
PennLive
Op-Ed By Tony May on March 22,
2015 at 10:30 AM, updated March 22, 2015 at 10:31 AM
Switch Pennsylvania
teachers and public employees from traditional "defined benefit"
pension plans to 401(k)-style "defined contribution" plans, say
conservatives, "because no one in the private sector has old fashioned
pensions anymore." This, they
add, will solve Pennsylvania 's
pension problems once a for all - at least for government, because they will
have unloaded their potential liability for pension solvency. This is the ugly little secret hidden inside
the debate over the "pension problem" -- or, if you'd rather,
the "pension crisis" or "pension conundrum." Liberals and conservatives seem to be able to
agree that the root causes of pension underfunding include the tanking of the U.S. stock
market almost a decade ago, the habitual underfunding of the state's share of
pension costs under four governors and the ongoing costs of the "pension
grab" of 1999. That was the
year that rank and file legislators were persuaded to believe that the teacher
and state employee pension systems were such money machines that they could pay
out pensions equal to 100 percent of annual salary for legislators with 30
years state service and to teachers and average state workers for 40 years of
service. Best estimates are that the two
state pension systems are about $50 billion shy in funding the total eventual
cost of meeting pension obligations.
Pension
reform hearing coming this week
The PLS Reporter March 23, 2015
The House State Government
Committee is scheduled to hold a public hearing on pension reform issues on Tuesday,
beginning at 9:00 a.m. in Room 205 of the Ryan Office
Building
"Killion’s “Town Hall on Pension
Reform” will be held at Penn State Brandywine
campus on at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in room 101 of the main building. The campus is
located at 25 Yearsley Mill Road ,
Middletown
Killion to host meeting on
pension reform conundrum
By Kristina Scala, Delaware
County Daily
Media>> As legislators face the looming pension debt issue,
GOP leaders are breaking out previously proposed pension reform plans that
failed to hold any weight under former Gov. Tom Corbett. Lawmakers can’t dodge the gaping hole in the
state’s public employee pension system. State Rep. Tom Killion, R-168, of Middletown , will present
a potential solution at a town hall meeting Thursday. He called it a “starting
point” for pension reform.
“The intent is to try to find a way to save the system and
protect the folks who are currently in it,” Killion said, adding that
discussion needs to begin with a bill on the table. “There are so many ideas
floating around the Capitol. There’s a mishmash of a lot of different ideas,
but you need a bill to start.” Democratic
Gov. Tom Wolf started at his end of the bargaining table by laying out a
pension reform plan that requires a $3 billion bond issue, cuts management fees
by $200 million per year for the state’s pension systems, and uses revenue from
the state liquor stores to help end the $50 billion debt in unfunded liability. The GOP-controlled legislation favors the
401(k) approach brought up under Corbett.
Wolf, legislators push for
charter school reform
By Erica Erwin
814-870-1846 Erie Times-News March 22, 2015 12:08 AM
Legislators on both sides of the aisle are working on common
cause: charter school reform.
Bills working their way through both the House and the Senate
would change the way charters operate and are funded, including one by state
Sen. Sean Wiley aimed at decreasing the cost of charters and increasing their
academic performance.
And Gov. Tom Wolf has proposed a budget that includes his own
set of charter reforms, including the establishment of a uniform tuition rate
and the elimination of fund balances.
Voices demanding charter reform aren't new, but they are
reaching new levels in Harrisburg . "We've been essentially trying an experiment with the
advent of charter schools, and in Pennsylvania
it has been over a 15-year experiment," said Erie schools Superintendent Jay Badams, who
has been a vocal opponent of current charter school law. "As with any
experiment, you should check your results and adjust accordingly.
Bill would allow charters
first refusal on school buildings
By Erica Erwin
814-870-1846 Erie Times-News Published: March 22. 2015
12:01AM
Charter schools might soon get first crack at buying school
districts' unused buildings.
New legislation proposed by state Rep. Mike Reese would grant
charter schools a right of first refusal on the purchase or lease of unused
school district buildings -- a move that could affect Millcreek Township School
District's planned sale of Ridgefield Elementary School should current plans
fall through. Montessori
Regional Charter
School has been persistent in its
ongoing efforts to buy Ridgefield ,
despite the district's repeated refusal to enter into an agreement with a
school it considers to be a competitor. Millcreek schools Superintendent William Hall has said
such a sale would be a bad business decision, and the Millcreek School Board
passed a resolution stating it would not sell the building to Montessori.
"Greg Taranto, principal of Canonsburg
Middle School — where more than 80 percent of students were proficient on each
of the most recent state tests — said, “I strongly believe in educating the
whole child.” He said his school is
unwilling to give up art, music, physical education and wellness classes to
concentrate on the tests. He thinks there is an overreliance on the results of
the tests and is concerned about data tracking of students. He also is concerned about the amount of time
and money spent on standardized tests. This fiscal year, the state is spending
more than $58 million on assessments, not counting the costs in individual
school districts."
‘Test-in’ for parents,
teachers finds they’re testy about tests
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette March 22, 2015 12:00 AM
The sticky notes told the story of what some parents and
teachers think of standardized tests: Students and teachers are too stressed. Children aren’t seen as
a whole. Test preparation takes the place of classes, activities and field
trips. Labels based on test performance damage students’ sense of self-worth
and limit their opportunities. Money is spent on testing that could go to other
needs. The sticky notes came from about
three dozen parents and teachers who attended a “test-in” on high-stakes K-12
testing hosted by Yinzercation and co-sponsored by Great Public Schools
Pittsburgh and the Carnegie
Mellon University
Center
"Board members and other district
officials are concerned that the requirement could result in the loss of
volunteers in areas ranging from band parents to sports booster to many other
extracurricular activities."
Penn Live By Roger Quigley |
Special to PennLive Email the author on March 03, 2015 at 9:00
AM, updated March 03, 2015 at 9:04 AM
MECHANICSBURG -- A wide range of new state laws designed to
prevent child abuse in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky case is forcing school
boards like Mechanicsburg to make painful decisions on how to pay the costs of
background checks to comply with those laws.
The new laws include significant changes to the background
check requirements for new and current employees, contractors with direct
contact with children and volunteers, including band and sports booster
organizations. Under the law, employees
having contact with children must obtain the following three clearances:
_ Report of criminal history from the Pennsylvania State
Police.
_ Child abuse history clearance from the Department of Human
Services.
_ FBI background check.
And they must be renewed every three years. Combined those clearances can cost about $50.
The Mechanicsburg Area School Board has decided that paid
employees will have to incur those costs.
The issue is what to do about volunteers.
Frequent background checks
are worth the cost to protect children: PennLive letters
By Letters to the
Editor on March 21, 2015 at 10:57 AM by ANGELA LIDDLE, President
and CEO, Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance, Susquehanna Twp.
I read with interest the March 10PennLive story
on Mechanicsburg Area School Board's struggle with how to pay for background
clearances now required of new and current employees, contractors and
volunteers who have direct contact with children. The charges for all three of the mandated
clearances can run as much as $47.50 per individual, every three years. These
new requirements clearly have bottom-line consequences for districts, staff and
volunteers engaged in children's extracurricular sports, activities and
programs. It is important to remember,
however, that the number-one priority, and the reason for these changes, is the
health, safety and well-being of our children.
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette March 19, 2015 12:00 AM
The home addresses of public school employees are private, at
least until a state Supreme Court decision.
Commonwealth Court
this week issued an order in the case which began in 2009 when the Pennsylvania
State Education Association filed a court petition after the state Right to
Know Law was passed. The PSEA has been seeking a declaration that the addresses
of school employees are exempt from disclosure under the state Constitution and
state law. The most recent order provides an injunction preventing the
release of addresses until the state Supreme Court decides whether to issue its
own injunction. So it remains to be seen whether the injunction will last until
the top court resolves the case itself.
Virtual Choices:
Opportunities and Challenges for Online Schools
Educated Reporter Blog MARCH 23, 2015 NATE ROBSON OF OKLAHOMA WATCH FOR EWA
For students looking for greater flexibility in their learning
environment, virtual schools can be a better option than a traditional
bricks-and-mortar K-12 campus. But some online programs operating in more than two dozen states have come under scrutiny
for reaping profits while yielding poor academic academic outcomes. Three education experts talked about the
accountability challenges facing the virtual charter school sector during a
panel at the Education Writers Associations’ Charters & Choice Seminar in Denver in February. They
also discussed trends in online education more broadly, including state-run
programs such as the Florida
Virtual School
9 Billionaires Are About to
Remake New York
The Nation by George Joseph on
March 19, 2015 - 5:07AM ET
Hedge-fund manager Whitney Tilson stands at a Harvard club
podium in midtown Manhattan ,
facing a room full of investors eating eggs and bacon, and eager to learn more
about charter schools. The walls of the wood-paneled room are lined with the
portraits of Tilson's Harvard forefathers. Above the podium where Tilson stands
hangs an ornamental gold ship, swaying. In the corner of the room is a large
screen, on which the logos of the day's sponsors, the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation, float like guardian angels. Two
large stone fireplaces dominate the west end of the room. Their exaggerated
mantelpieces are each decorated with two empty crests and a laurel—symbols of
power drained of any purpose.
Tilson begins an enormous PowerPoint presentation, speaking of
the inequities black and Latino children face in the public school system.
"Your entire prison population is in these red bars," he explains,
showing red bars indicating the high percentage of poor black and Latino
children who could not read at a fourth-grade level. No such children, nor
their parents, seemed to have been invited to this presentation. Despite the role poverty plays in determining
whose kids gets stuck in those red bars, Tilson declares to the room of Ivy
League investors, "This is not rocket science. Notice on my list there's
no #5, no Spend More Money. You get new facilities and smaller classrooms but
nothing changes. Nobody believes anymore that if you give us more money we'll
solve all the problems."
Curmuducation Blog Saturday, March 21, 2015
I don't get out much. I'm a high school English teacher in a
small town, and kind of homebody by nature. When I leave town, it's for family
or work. But in just over a month, on the weekend of April 25-26, I am taking a
trip to Chicago
for neither. The Network
for Public Education is the closest thing to an actual formal
organization of the many and varied people standing up for public education in
this modern era of privatizing test-driven corporate education reform. NPE held
a conference last year, and they're doing it again this year-- a gathering of
many of the strongest voices for public education in America today. Last year I followed along on line-- this year I will be there.
Register
Now for EPLC Forum on the State Education Budget – Philadelphia
Education Policy and Leadership Center Pennsylvania
Education Policy Forum
You are invited to attend one of EPLC’s Regional Education
Policy Forums on Governor Wolf’s Proposed Education Budget for
2015-2016 Space is limited. There is no cost, but an
RSVP is required. The program will
include a state budget overview presented by Ron Cowell of EPLC and a
representative of the PA Budget and Policy Center. The presentations are
followed by comments from panelists representing statewide and regional
education and advocacy organizations. Comments from those in the audience
and a question and answer session will conclude the forum. Wednesday, April 1, 2015– EPLC
Education Policy Forum on the Governor’s State Budget Proposal for
Education – 10 a.m.-12 Noon – Penn
Center for Educational Leadership, University of Pennsylvania
– Philadelphia , PA
For this event, sponsored by Public Citizens for Children and
Youth (PCCY), local dentists will provide free screenings and cleanings for
children. Give Kids a Smile Day is especially for children who do not
have health insurance or who have not had a dental exam in the last six months.
Appointments are necessary, so please call PCCY at 215-563-5848 x32 to
schedule one starting Monday, March 16th. Volunteers will be
on hand to answer calls. Smile Day information can also be found on the school
district website and on PCCY’s website - http://www.pccy.org/resource/give-kids-a-smile-day/.
Leaving Gifted Kids Behind Tuesday, March 24, 2015 1:00
-- 4:00 P.M.
In this session, participants will learn how Pennsylvania law affects and supports gifted children, as well as practical tips for ensuring gifted services. We will also discuss race and gifted services.
In this session, participants will learn how Pennsylvania law affects and supports gifted children, as well as practical tips for ensuring gifted services. We will also discuss race and gifted services.
This session is co-sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania
School of Policy and Practice, a Pre-approved Provider of Continuing Education
for Pennsylvania
licensed social workers.
Children with Emotional Problems: Avoiding the Juvenile Justice
System, and What Does Real Help Look Like? Friday, March 27, 2015 1:00
-- 4:00 P.M.
This session will focus on giving you the tools you need to
support children with emotional problems, including those in the foster care
system or those in the juvenile court system.
Note: This session was originally scheduled for February 17,
but had to be rescheduled due to inclement weather. Tickets purchased for the
original date still apply.
United Way Building 1709 Benjamin Franklin Parkway,
Philadelphia, 19103
Tickets: Attorneys $200
General Public $100 Webinar $50
Pay What You Can" tickets are also available
2015 Pennsylvania Budget
Summit
Wednesday, March 25, 2015 Hilton Hotel, Harrisburg
Pennsylvania
PA Budget and Policy Center
The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center will host its Annual
Budget Summit on Wednesday, March 25, 2015 at the Hilton Harrisburg. Join us
for an in-depth look at the Governor's 2015-16 budget proposal, including what
it means for education, health and human services, and local communities. The
Summit will focus on the leading issues facing the commonwealth in 2015, with
workshops, lunch, a legislative panel discussion, and a keynote speech.
Space is limited, so fill out the form below to reserve your
spot at the Budget Summit.
Education Voters of PA will
hold a forum about public school funding in Cumberland
County : Wednesday, April 1, 7:00 pm at
the Grace Milliman Pollock
Performing Arts
Center 340 North 21st Street
More info/registration: http://www.educationvoterspa.org/index.php/site/news/2015-events/
More info/registration: http://www.educationvoterspa.org/index.php/site/news/2015-events/
PSBA 2015 Advocacy Forum
APR 19, 2015 • 8:00
AM - APR 20, 2015 • 5:00 PM
Join PSBA for the second annual Advocacy Forum on April 19-20,
2015. Hear from legislative experts on hot topics and issues regarding public
education on Sunday, April 19, at PSBA headquarters in Mechanicsburg. The next
day you and fellow advocates will meet with legislators at the state capitol.
This is your chance to learn how to successfully advocate on behalf of public
education and make your voice heard on the Hill.
Agenda/Speakers: https://www.psba.org/event/advocacy-forum-day-hill-2015/
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