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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for May 19, 2015: Hey You - Go Vote!!!
Remember to vote. Good luck to folks on the ballot today.
School directors,
superintendents and administrators are encouraged to register and attend this
event.
Bucks / Lehigh / Northampton Legislative
Council
Wednesday, May 20, 2015 from 7:00 PM to
9:00 PM Quakertown Community School District, 100 Commerce Drive Quakertown, PA 18951
Featured
Guests: Former House Education Committee Chair Paul Clymer and New PSERS Chief
(former Rep) Glenn Grell
"We also tried to undo
the bill’s weakening of local control — it would stack the state charter school
appeals board, which has generally been even-handed and approved about 50
percent of the charter school applications that reach it. An unelected, stacked
board in Harrisburg
Another improvement we wanted
involves the hard-to-miss ads and billboards for charter and cyber charter
schools that often claim they’re “free.” That’s misleading — your income, sales
and property taxes fund them. Republicans voted down an amendment to bar the
ads from claiming tuition or transportation are “free” and instead require the
ads to mention the cost is borne by taxpayer dollars."
Letter to the Editor: Pennsylvania
Delco Times Letter By James Roebuck, Times Guest Columnist POSTED: 05/19/15, 12:06 AM
State Rep. James Roebuck, D-Phila. is
Democratic chairman of the House Education Committee
Students and
taxpayers have much at stake as charter school reform is debated in Harrisburg . Unfortunately,
a bill House Republicans passed recently (H.B. 530) would not deliver for our
kids or taxpayers. That’s why it passed on party lines, without enough votes to
survive a potential veto from new Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. I have worked with Republicans on numerous
education issues over the years. We can achieve good things when both parties
the voters sent to Harrisburg
work together and have input. I and
other Democratic representatives tried to improve H.B. 530, but our amendments
were rejected on party lines. We tried to include stronger protections for
taxpayers against charter schools leasing their buildings from entities owned
by a board member or administrator, or their families. …This bill could also cost local property
taxpayers money and jobs by giving charter schools right of first refusal on
unused school properties the community might want for another use, such as
locating a new business.
Follow this link periodically
to see the status of PSBA's RTK requests.
Tracking PSBA's Charter Schools Right-to-Know Requests
PSBA filed a Right-to-Know
request with Pennsylvania
charter and cyber charter schools on May 15, 2015. PSBA is tracking the
response from each charter in the table below and updating it on a weekly
basis. According to Right-to-Know Law, public entities have five days from
receipt of an open records request by the agency’s open records officer to
either 1) provide the requested records (indicated by a green check); 2) deny
the request and give reasons for the denial (indicated by a red X); or 3)
invoke a 30-day extension for specific legal reasons (indicated by an (E)).
Boom! Penn. School
Diane Ravitch's Blog
By dianeravitch May
18, 2015 //
The Pennsylvania
School Boards Association has
filed a “right to know” action to gain access to the financial records of
the state’s charter schools, including Cybercharters. Charters were supposed to be more accountable
and transparent than public schools, but they are neither. Some charter operators
have made millions of dollars in profits from taxpayer dollars, with neither
accountability nor transparency. “The
Pennsylvania School Boards Association today said it has filed Right-to-Know
requests with charter and cyber charter school operators asking for financial
information about their schools. “The
requested items include advertising costs, contracts with private management
companies, advanced academic courses offered, salary and compensation
information for all 180 brick and mortar and cyber charter schools in the
state.
PRWatch Posted by Jonas Persson on May 07, 2015
PRESS RELEASE, May 8, 2015, Contact: Nikolina
Lazic, 608-260-9713, nikolina@prwatch.org
(Madison , WI
This Election Day - a
historic opportunity to reshape the Pa. Supreme Court: Editorial
By PennLive Editorial
Board Email the author on May 18, 2015 at 10:33 AM
It's often said that elections are about choices. And when they head to the polls tomorrow, Pennsylvania voters will be confronted with a historic
choice: For the first time in some 300 years, voters will pick three new members of the Pennsylvania Supreme
Court. From potential rulings on
abortion rights and gun control to death penalty appeals and voting rights,
it's safe to say there are few areas of public life where Pennsylvania 's highest court does not make
its presence felt. Thus any partisan
shift in the seven-member court's membership will affect its jurisprudence for
years to come. While judges make decisions based solely on the merits and the
law, their individual political philosophies will invariably shape their view
of the cases that come before them. Twelve
well-qualified candidates, six Democrats and six Republicans, who range in age
from 48 to 68, are vying Tuesday for the right to face each other in November's
general election.
Five of twelve
Supreme Court candidates participated in this PCN forum. The question on the role of the court in
evaluating the adequacy of a thorough and efficient public education is covered
from minutes 31:55 to 37:58 of this PCN video
What do you believe the role
of the Supreme Court should be in evaluating the adequacy of a thorough and
efficient public education?
PCN: April 8th PA Supreme Court Candidates Forum
By Rob Krout on Apr 10, 2015
Philadelphia Neighborhood Networks election forum with PA
Supreme Court candidates David Wecht (D), Dwayne Woodruff (D), Cheryl Lynn
Allen (R), John Forodora (D) and Anne Lazurus (D). .
"Just a few years ago, schools paid
about 5.5 percent of employee salary to the pension fund. This year, they must
pay 21 percent. Next year, they'll pay 26 percent. The rate will peak at 32
percent in 2019."
MAY 19, 2015 PENNSYLVANIA
PENSIONS: IS THE PROMISE BROKEN?
State pension crisis: how did
we get here?
WHYY Newsworks BY KEVIN
MCCORRY
The strategy of kicking the can down the road works -- sort of
-- until the can gets too big and the road narrows. Pick your favorite issue or cause in Pennsylvania : public
education, services for the poor, tax breaks for businesses. Chances are, there's going to be less money
for any of these moving forward because the state's public employee pension
bill is growing exponentially, with a current unfunded liability of $53
billion. To keep up with rising costs,
school districts across the state have been making tough choices — either cutting
programs or hiking property taxes.
School budget wonks are reeling from the massive pension
payment spikes that have been hitting lately.
Wolf administration takes
shot at Senate GOP pension bill
WHYY Newsworks BY MARC
LEVY FOR THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MAY 18, 2015
Gov. Tom Wolf's administration fired a new volley Monday
against a Senate Republican bill to overhaul benefits in Pennsylvania 's two big public employee
pension systems, saying that they voted to line their own pockets. A Senate Republican spokeswoman countered
that the administration is using a selective, salary-based argument. Although lawmakers have a history of giving
themselves a cushier pension benefit, the Senate GOP says the bill gives
lawmakers no special treatment and actually reduces their benefits. In any case, Wolf, a Democrat, has said that
the Senate GOP bill lacks fairness for workers as both sides advance their own
plans to blunt the effect of rising pension obligation payments. In a speech Monday at a Pennsylvania Press
Club luncheon, Wolf's chief of staff, Katie McGinty, lambasted the Senate GOP
bill as unfair to taxpayers and other public employees.
"Pennsylvania Cyber
Charter School founder Nick Trombetta , who now faces 11 federal criminal
charges, including tax evasion, created NNDS in 2005 to provide management
services and curriculum to PA Cyber and other online schools.
Two years later, Trombetta
directed PA Cyber to convey its Lincoln
As PA Cyber 's revenues grew,
the agreement netted NNDS hundreds of millions of dollars. According to the
Form 990 filed by NNDS for 2012, it received nearly $51 million from PA Cyber
for curriculum and management services, nearly 88 percent of NNDS' total
support of $58 million that year."
NNDS changes name to
Lincoln Learning Solutions
"Truebright, which
opened in 2007, is one of more than 120 charters nationwide founded and
operated by followers of Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish imam who lives in
self-imposed exile in the Poconos."
Truebright charter to appealCommonwealth
Court
Truebright charter to appeal
MARTHA
WOODALL, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER LAST
UPDATED: Tuesday, May 19, 2015, 1:08 AM POSTED: Monday, May 18, 2015,
6:43 PM
"Last year’s addition of
$20 million to the state’s special education line item was a good first step to
jump-starting the use of the formula. But
we need to take bigger steps if we’re going to close the $380 million special
education funding gap that the state identified in 2009. Until last year’s
allocation of $20 million, school districts and students had gone six years
without any added state-level investments. That’s too long."
Wolf’s $100M, plus new
formula, would aid those with disabilities
the notebook By Vincent Hughes on
May 18, 2015 10:39 AM
Sen.
Vincent Hughes of West Philadelphia, a Democrat, represents the Seventh
District in the legislature. He is the Democratic chair of the Pennsylvania
Nearly 270,000
children with disabilities, one out of every 6.5 students, receive special
education services in Pennsylvania ’s
public schools. Schools provide a broad range of services – from least
intensive to most intensive – to those students. That’s why last year Pennsylvania adopted a
new funding formula for students with disabilities that directs resources based
on the needs of the student and the corresponding level of services provided. My colleagues and I in the state legislature,
along with disability advocates throughout Pennsylvania , supported this new formula as
a better, student-focused approach to providing resources to students with
disabilities. The new formula applies only to new dollars in the state’s
special education line item.
MAP: A look at graduation rates for Lehigh Valley
By Eugene Tauber Of
The Morning Call May 18, 2015
The nation’s
overall high school graduation rate has reached 81 percent based
on 2013 statistics and is on track to reach 90 percent by 2020, according to
the annual Grad Nation report produced in part by America’s Promise Reliance
organization. How do Pennsylvania schools fare? The state’s
average is 87.85 percent, according to 2104 statistics. The map below shows the
rates for all public and charter schools that reported 2014 statistics to the state
Education Department.
Click on the map to
see individual school rates. Drag and zoom to see schools statewide. Red
droplets indicate graduation rates under 80 percent. Yellow droplets indicate
rates between 80 and 90 percent. Green droplets indicate rates higher than 90
percent.
Bethlehem updating middle
school math to align with Pa. Core
By Sara K. Satullo | For
lehighvalleylive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on May 18, 2015 at 8:32 PM,
updated May 18, 2015 at 8:44 PM
Bethlehem schools are
starting an overhaul of the middle school math curriculum to better prepare
students for new academic standards. The
implementation of the Pennsylvania Core Math Standards has meant changes to the
math concepts students are expected to know and when they should master them. The curriculum standards have led to updates
to the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSAs) tests, making them more
rigorous. The school board voted Monday
night to adjust the math curriculum sequence in the district's four middle
schools. It is the first minor step in what is likely to be a multi-part
update.
BY BRITNEY MILAZZO bmilazzo@centredaily.com May 18,
2015
Read more here: http://www.centredaily.com/2015/05/18/4754743_state-college-school-board-wont.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy
"Board member Chris Judd
pointed out that of about $5 million budgeted for personnel costs in 2015-2016,
$3.3 million will go to state-mandated pension contributions. "The line items we have control of are
barely edging up," Judd said. Board
member Stephen Smith said the tax increase will raise about $1.2 million, less
than half of the district's pension obligation for next year. He urged district
taxpayers to pressure state legislators for pension reform. "I implore you to take time, reach out,
let those people know how important it is to you."
By Marijon Shearer | Special to PennLive
on May 18, 2015 at 10:15 PM
The Central Dauphin
School Board approved a $174 million preliminary budget Monday that calls for a
1.79 percent tax increase. School taxes
will rise 1.79 percent in Central
Dauphin School
District Central Dauphin School District
By M. Diane McCormick | Special to
PennLive on May 18, 2015 at 9:53 PM, updated May 18, 2015
at 9:54 PM
Budget uncertainty plagues
principals, planning
School
leaders must plan for austerity and provide a wish list for what more dollars
could buy.
the notebook By Dale Mezzacappa on
May 18, 2015 02:32 PM
Governor Tom Wolf,
seen here as a 2014 Democratic gubernatorial candidate greeting teachers at the
Solis-Cohen Elementary School, has proposed a school funding plan that would
provide significantly more money for the District. Carver
High School Philadelphia , Domers is
one of the luckier principals. Carver, a special admission school, can control
its enrollment, making it easier to plan a schedule and roster classes.
Neighborhood schools, on the other hand, often can’t predict with any precision
how many students will turn up in September, and some lack basics like science
books.
Another union reaches deal
with Philly schools
Inquirer by Kristen
Graham POSTED: MONDAY, MAY 18, 2015, 2:22 PM
Another union has a
deal with the Philadelphia
School District
The members of Unite
Here Local 634, which represents school cafeteria workers and noontime aides,
has ratified a four-year contract that contains benefits savings and work-rule
changes including a weakening of seniority rights. The workers - the district's lowest-paid -
will actually get pay bumps made possible, officials said, by allowing the
district to temporarily stop payments to the union's health and welfare fund.
Most workers in the union are part-time, earning $10.88 hourly, or about $8,000
annually. Under the terms of the new
contract, by the end of the deal, all will earn what the city considers to be a
"21st Century Living Wage," approximately $12.67 hourly.
By Brendan Wills,
The Times Herald POSTED: 05/18/15,
9:58 PM EDT |
NORRISTOWN>> A
host of students attended the Norristown Area school board work session Monday
night to protest the $142,410,350 proposed final budget for the 2015-2016
school year, which calls for the cutting of several teaching positions at
Norristown Area High School. The
Norristown Area school board will vote to accept the proposed final budget at
the Monday, May 25, board meeting. The budget carries with it a 2.3 real estate
tax increase to make up for the deficit from the projected $137,384,870 in
revenues. The board must adopt a
proposed final budget by May 31, and can make changes to it before they must
adopt a final budget by the end of June.
"Such a lesson is
commonplace in every parochial school in the city - but rare in Philadelphia public schools, where Common Core
State
Curses! Whatever happened
to cursive writing?
PATRICIA LAFFERTY
has some rules for pupils learning cursive writing in her class.
"Proper posture
for proper penmanship," Lafferty told her third-graders yesterday at St.
Anthony of Padua Regional
Catholic School
in South Philadelphia . "Put your feet
under your desk, not under your chairs."
They were learning to write a proper cursive "n" in their
handbooks. Each page had a sample cursive letter and an area to practice it,
with three lines to help guide their writing.
The boys and girls watched Lafferty write a lowercase "n" on
the chalkboard, which also had the three lines. Two bumps should hit the middle
line - not three, or it would be an "m," she told them.
Now if we can just keep art
in the curriculum……
Ohio District Preserves
Cursive by Teaching It in Art Class
Education Week
Curriculum Matters Blog By Jessica Brown on May 1, 2015 1:54 PM
Cursive handwriting
is often described as a lost art. So why not teach it in art class? That's
exactly what one Ohio
school district plans to do. At a time
when some states are dropping cursive handwriting writing instruction from
their curriculum, the 4,000-student Green Local school district south of Akron has found an
innovative way to keep it in the curriculum. The district will reintroduce handwriting
in the fall, only now it will become part of art instruction whereas
traditionally, cursive instruction has been part of English/language arts
teaching.
Teaching cursive in
art class is a creative and intriguing solution to a problem that has been
vexing educators and script lovers for years: how to save handwriting
instruction in an increasingly digital age.
The idea is getting attention. The Akron Beacon Journal wrote about the decision earlier this week.
When school district officials posted the story on the district's Facebook page, it got more than 39,000 hits within
24 hours. "The vast majority of
comments have been very positive," said Kimberly Brueck, the
director of technology and secondary curriculum, who led the charge.
"People are saying 'it should never have gone away; my grandchildren will
now be able to read my letters.'"
Congress weighs funding
for D.C. school vouchers
By Andrea Noble - The Washington Times - Thursday, May 14, 2015
Shirley-Ann
Tomdio, a junior at George
Washington University
The daughter of
Cameroonian immigrants, Ms. Tomdio earned
honors before graduating from Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, was an
editor of her school’s literary magazine, won awards on the track team and
serves as a leader of a women’s empowerment group. Speaking about her
accomplishments before a panel of federal lawmakers Thursday in the auditorium
of Archbishop Carroll High School
School directors, superintendents and
administrators are encouraged to register and attend this event.
Bucks / Lehigh / Northampton
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM Quakertown Community School District, 100 Commerce
Drive Quakertown, PA 18951
Welcome by Paul Stepanoff , Board President , QCSD
Introduction of Paul Clymer, State of State Education
Mr. Glenn Grell , PSERS Executive Director
Introduction by Dr. Bill Harner, Superintendent QCSD
Panel of Superintendents and Elected School Directors from Bucks / Lehigh
/ Northampton Counties
Introduction by Mark B. Miller, Board Vice President, Centennial SD
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION:
1) The status of 2015-16 budget in their district (including proposed tax
increase)
2) PSERS impact on their budget
3) Proposed use of any new funding from Commonwealth
Larry Feinberg and Ron Williams
Benefit and need for County Wide Legislative Council in Delaware and
Montgomery Counties respectively
Dr. Tom Seidenberger (Retired Superintendent ) - Circuit Rider Update
SAVE The DATE: Northwestern PA School Funding Forum
May 28, 2015 7:00 PM Jefferson Educational
Society 3207 State St.
Erie , PA 16508
Panelists
Conneaut School
District
Mr. Jarrin
Sperry, Superintendent, Ms. Jody Sperry, Board President
Corry School
District
Mr. William Nichols,
Superintendent
Fort LeBoeuf
School District
Mr. Richard Emerick,
Assistant Superintendent
Girard School
District
Dr. James Tracy,
Superintendent
Harbor Creek
School District
Ms. Christine
Mitchell, Board President
Millcreek School
District
Mr. William Hall,
Superintendent Mr. Aaron O'Toole, Director of Finance and Accounting
Keynote Speaker
Mr. Jay Himes,
Executive Director, Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials
PHILLY DISTRICT TO HOLD
COMMUNITY BUDGET MEETINGS
Wednesday,
May 20
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