Thanks for this email submitted by a reader from Rep. Galloway. It looks like the Democrats and Rep. Galloway are working FOR the Pennsylvania taxpayer. The Republicans? The Republicans tried to stop the funding requested by Governor Rendell. Senator McIlhenney? I guess you'll have to ask him yourself.
Independence from school property taxes closer than ever
I am pleased to announce that on the eve of the Independence Day holiday, we are closer than ever to independence from school property taxes.
On July 3, I voted to move a bill out of the House Finance Committee that would eliminate school property taxes and replace them with an increase in the state sales and/or income tax (read more about it).
Eliminating school property taxes was a promise I made to the people of the 140th Legislative District, and it is a promise I work tirelessly to keep, which is a key reason why I am here in Harrisburg working through the July Fourth holiday (hear my comments).
Please visit my Web site to sign a petition to help keep the momentum going on eliminating school property taxes.
As always, please contact me if I may be of service to you and your family, and may you have a happy and safe Fourth of July.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Changes in Philly
The new superintendent in Philadelphia has started streamlining the behemoth district. "We're in the business of education here, which means that we need to think strategically and thoughtfully about how we use taxpayer dollars," [Superintendent Ackerman] said. I'm sure these words warmed the cold Grinch-like heart of the Emperor, but before we set off to feasting in Who-ville, there's another little detail.
Jerry Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, which represents most of the affected coaches, said he was not surprised by the shake-up. "This is the kind of thing that happens each time a superintendent takes over," Jordan said. "It's not unusual. We have to wait and see what Dr. Ackerman's plan is."
A PLAN!! A public, open for all to see, real-life plan! What a quaint notion. Ackerman needs to get a grip, and contact the Emperor. He can do to Philly what he's doing to Morrisville.
Phila. School District lays off 200
Posted on Wed, Jul. 2, 2008
By Kristen A. Graham, Inquirer Staff Writer
Call it Arlene Ackerman's opening salvo.
More than 200 Philadelphia School District staffers received layoff notices this week, a move the new schools chief hopes will begin to de-centralize the district and move resources into classrooms.
The employees were all academic coaches, mostly veteran educators who supported teachers in a variety of roles, from technology to mentoring new teachers.
The 218 coaches will be eligible to apply for other jobs within the district, and Ackerman said she did not expect anyone to be laid off completely. The notices come one month into Ackerman's tenure, as she begins to address "incoherency" in the district.
Similar shake-ups will happen in other departments throughout the summer, said Ackerman, who previously ran the Washington and San Francisco school systems.
"This is not the only resource that I'm going to take a look at," Ackerman said. "It's just the beginning."
The academic-coach position was too nebulous, a catch-all, and not all coaches were based in schools, said Ackerman, whose background is in instruction. Some coaches worked 10 months a year, some worked 12, and there was no common training.
"When I asked what these coaches do, people would sort of shrug their shoulders and say, 'Well, I don't know.' We need to be more intentional in terms of how we use those coaches," Ackerman said.
She called the district "top-heavy and with no real rhyme or reason for why it's organized the way it is" and said that she wants "new job descriptions that clearly define what the coaches are doing, how they're going to be trained, and what kind of measurable outcomes we expect."
And though all coaches will be invited to re-apply for a yet-to-be determined replacement position, which could be advertised in a week, there will be fewer coaching spots in the future.
"We're reducing the number significantly, as we will be reducing the size of central office again in terms of other positions," Ackerman said. She has not yet figured out how many coaches she will need, she said.
When the certified letter came to her home Monday, Tara Ardary, who has 14 years in the district, was stunned. She thought her job as a school-growth coordinator - a type of coach - at Edison High might change, but never dreamed it would be eliminated.
"School is out of session, and now everyone's eliminated? The letter said we were demoted, and now we have nobody to talk to," said Ardary, whose job includes helping teachers focus instruction and teaching them how to interpret data.
Now she's not sure if she should wait or apply for a classroom job.
Cyvi Levin has worked in the district for 20 years and been a coach for five years. She's a school-growth coordinator based at Frankford High and worries that a reduced number of coaches will hurt schools.
"I don't know if the students of Philadelphia are going to be best served by providing their teachers with fewer supports," Levin said.
Ackerman said that although the move was not made to cut costs, the district does have a deficit - currently about $5 million in a $2.3 billion budget - and resources will be carefully monitored.
"We're in the business of education here, which means that we need to think strategically and thoughtfully about how we use taxpayer dollars," she said.
Jerry Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, which represents most of the affected coaches, said he was not surprised by the shake-up.
"This is the kind of thing that happens each time a superintendent takes over," Jordan said. "It's not unusual. We have to wait and see what Dr. Ackerman's plan is."
Though Ackerman wants to streamline the central administration, she will also move to re-open two regional offices - Southwest and Central East - that had previously been shuttered, and to create new regional offices for early-childhood education and alternative schools, she said.
"It seems to me that we need to provide services to parents where they live," Ackerman said. "Plus, I'm trying to bring everything together so that we have no people working in isolation."
The moves come amid many changes at the district. Interim chief academic officer Cassandra Jones left the district Monday, and her job will be temporarily filled by Ackerman herself. LaVonne Sheffield, the well-respected chief accountability officer, recently left for New Orleans, and top finance and operating positions will also be turning over.
Jerry Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, which represents most of the affected coaches, said he was not surprised by the shake-up. "This is the kind of thing that happens each time a superintendent takes over," Jordan said. "It's not unusual. We have to wait and see what Dr. Ackerman's plan is."
A PLAN!! A public, open for all to see, real-life plan! What a quaint notion. Ackerman needs to get a grip, and contact the Emperor. He can do to Philly what he's doing to Morrisville.
Phila. School District lays off 200
Posted on Wed, Jul. 2, 2008
By Kristen A. Graham, Inquirer Staff Writer
Call it Arlene Ackerman's opening salvo.
More than 200 Philadelphia School District staffers received layoff notices this week, a move the new schools chief hopes will begin to de-centralize the district and move resources into classrooms.
The employees were all academic coaches, mostly veteran educators who supported teachers in a variety of roles, from technology to mentoring new teachers.
The 218 coaches will be eligible to apply for other jobs within the district, and Ackerman said she did not expect anyone to be laid off completely. The notices come one month into Ackerman's tenure, as she begins to address "incoherency" in the district.
Similar shake-ups will happen in other departments throughout the summer, said Ackerman, who previously ran the Washington and San Francisco school systems.
"This is not the only resource that I'm going to take a look at," Ackerman said. "It's just the beginning."
The academic-coach position was too nebulous, a catch-all, and not all coaches were based in schools, said Ackerman, whose background is in instruction. Some coaches worked 10 months a year, some worked 12, and there was no common training.
"When I asked what these coaches do, people would sort of shrug their shoulders and say, 'Well, I don't know.' We need to be more intentional in terms of how we use those coaches," Ackerman said.
She called the district "top-heavy and with no real rhyme or reason for why it's organized the way it is" and said that she wants "new job descriptions that clearly define what the coaches are doing, how they're going to be trained, and what kind of measurable outcomes we expect."
And though all coaches will be invited to re-apply for a yet-to-be determined replacement position, which could be advertised in a week, there will be fewer coaching spots in the future.
"We're reducing the number significantly, as we will be reducing the size of central office again in terms of other positions," Ackerman said. She has not yet figured out how many coaches she will need, she said.
When the certified letter came to her home Monday, Tara Ardary, who has 14 years in the district, was stunned. She thought her job as a school-growth coordinator - a type of coach - at Edison High might change, but never dreamed it would be eliminated.
"School is out of session, and now everyone's eliminated? The letter said we were demoted, and now we have nobody to talk to," said Ardary, whose job includes helping teachers focus instruction and teaching them how to interpret data.
Now she's not sure if she should wait or apply for a classroom job.
Cyvi Levin has worked in the district for 20 years and been a coach for five years. She's a school-growth coordinator based at Frankford High and worries that a reduced number of coaches will hurt schools.
"I don't know if the students of Philadelphia are going to be best served by providing their teachers with fewer supports," Levin said.
Ackerman said that although the move was not made to cut costs, the district does have a deficit - currently about $5 million in a $2.3 billion budget - and resources will be carefully monitored.
"We're in the business of education here, which means that we need to think strategically and thoughtfully about how we use taxpayer dollars," she said.
Jerry Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, which represents most of the affected coaches, said he was not surprised by the shake-up.
"This is the kind of thing that happens each time a superintendent takes over," Jordan said. "It's not unusual. We have to wait and see what Dr. Ackerman's plan is."
Though Ackerman wants to streamline the central administration, she will also move to re-open two regional offices - Southwest and Central East - that had previously been shuttered, and to create new regional offices for early-childhood education and alternative schools, she said.
"It seems to me that we need to provide services to parents where they live," Ackerman said. "Plus, I'm trying to bring everything together so that we have no people working in isolation."
The moves come amid many changes at the district. Interim chief academic officer Cassandra Jones left the district Monday, and her job will be temporarily filled by Ackerman herself. LaVonne Sheffield, the well-respected chief accountability officer, recently left for New Orleans, and top finance and operating positions will also be turning over.
Another Quiet Board Meeting
This time in Detroit. The scale is larger, but there's just as much fun.
"It's gonna hurt": DPS school board OKs massive budget cuts
by: Minehaha Forman
Wednesday (07/02) at 15:23 PM
Angry mood at meeting
A buzz of anxious voices carries through the crowded auditorium of Martin Luther King High School in Detroit. It's 6 p.m. on Monday, time to start the last Detroit Public School (DPS) board meeting before the proposed budget for the 2008-2009 school year is voted on and submitted to the state, but there's one problem: The budget has not arrived.
When the meeting finally begins at 6:40 p.m. without copies of the budget, many are not shy about vocalizing their frustrations. There are shouts from the crowd, demanding to see the budget. About 10 DPS security and Detroit police officers with watchful eyes line the walkways leading to the door. One man who is referred to as "Elder" goes up as the meeting begins and asks School Board President Carla Scott to change the order in which the meeting will be conducted so that action items, or issues the board would vote on, would come after they heard public comments, not before. Scott said she heard him but called one of the DPS security officers to remove him from the microphone.
Within the first five minutes of the meeting, it became clear that there was a split in the audience between the more reserved supporters of Scott and Superintendent Connie Calloway and those who were vocally opposing them by shouting insults even as they spoke. Board members Marie Thornton and Tyrone Winfrey -- the two who voted down the budget -- seemed to be more in the protesters' favor.
But one woman felt there was no escaping tough times ahead for DPS no matter who was in charge. "It's gonna hurt. It's not gonna be pretty," Maureen Stapleton said about fixing DPS' plight. "I think [Calloway is] doing the best job she can do with the situation. But there are people throwing bombs at her, keeping information from her so nothing gets done."
The school board voted 9-2 Monday night to approve a budget proposal calling for $500 million in cuts for 2009 and 2010, including more than 1,700 layoffs, seven school closures, and delaying contractual pay raises for union and non-union workers. The board faced a record $400 million budget deficit for this year and next.
State legislators have been watching DPS, too. Over the weekend, the Michigan Senate passed a resolution for a state investigation of DPS finances after reports of questionable money management. Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop (R-Rochester) sponsored the legislation and has been criticized by community leaders and Senator Irma Clark-Coleman (D-Detroit) for "plotting" to dismantle public education in Detroit.
DPS officials project enrollment to drop this fall to 98,356, a record low that would take away DPS' first-class title and with it the state limit for the number of charter schools that can open in the district. Under current law, a first-class district is defined as having enrollment over 100,000 and is qualified the for extra funding of more than $15 million annually. More charter schools would make the enrollment drop for DPS even more steeply, and further stretch the deficit, leaving DPS in a grim situation. In fact, some are speculating that it could mean a dissolution of public education in Detroit.
One parent was very upset about the whole situation. "[The government is] dismantling public education," said the parent who did not wish to give her name. "It's happening all over the country. They're closing schools because of so-called deficits." She sighed and put her hand on her forehead, then continued in a softer voice, "No one cares about the children."
The revised budget met some criticism from the two board members who voted not to approve it. "Why is the state beating up on Detroit?" Thornton asked, to some cheers from the audience. "Birmingham, Benton Harbor … these school districts are in debt. No one is threatening to shut off the lights on them. This is a scare tactic, this is racism," Thornton said.
Throughout the meeting, Connie Calloway hardly spoke. She observed the proceedings and interjected when she needed to answer a question. For the most part she simply nodded or shook her head. Most of the hostility in the audience was directed at Carla Scott and Joyce Hayes-Giles.
Ruby Johnson, a teacher at Marquette Middle School, felt there was something missing in the board's discussion. "The children are my main concern with all of this. Students are getting lost in this. We need a corporate person who knows about money to take over the money so that the superintendent and the school board focus on the children."
Another concern in the meeting was the proposal to cut out social workers and school psychologists from DPS and "outsource" the jobs to a third-party agency, leaving no social workers in schools. The council voted down this strategy to loud applause.
"If you look around you'll see the loud people are the ones that get attention," said parent Steve Perkins, who sat listening quietly throughout the entire meeting. "This meeting is tame compared to the last one. Usually the police have to take somebody out."
Standing outside after the meeting, one laid-off teacher was sharing his frustrations with other DPS workers. When asked if he was content with how the meeting went, he responded quickly, "I'm never happy with anything they do. Everything is political."
"It's gonna hurt": DPS school board OKs massive budget cuts
by: Minehaha Forman
Wednesday (07/02) at 15:23 PM
Angry mood at meeting
A buzz of anxious voices carries through the crowded auditorium of Martin Luther King High School in Detroit. It's 6 p.m. on Monday, time to start the last Detroit Public School (DPS) board meeting before the proposed budget for the 2008-2009 school year is voted on and submitted to the state, but there's one problem: The budget has not arrived.
When the meeting finally begins at 6:40 p.m. without copies of the budget, many are not shy about vocalizing their frustrations. There are shouts from the crowd, demanding to see the budget. About 10 DPS security and Detroit police officers with watchful eyes line the walkways leading to the door. One man who is referred to as "Elder" goes up as the meeting begins and asks School Board President Carla Scott to change the order in which the meeting will be conducted so that action items, or issues the board would vote on, would come after they heard public comments, not before. Scott said she heard him but called one of the DPS security officers to remove him from the microphone.
Within the first five minutes of the meeting, it became clear that there was a split in the audience between the more reserved supporters of Scott and Superintendent Connie Calloway and those who were vocally opposing them by shouting insults even as they spoke. Board members Marie Thornton and Tyrone Winfrey -- the two who voted down the budget -- seemed to be more in the protesters' favor.
But one woman felt there was no escaping tough times ahead for DPS no matter who was in charge. "It's gonna hurt. It's not gonna be pretty," Maureen Stapleton said about fixing DPS' plight. "I think [Calloway is] doing the best job she can do with the situation. But there are people throwing bombs at her, keeping information from her so nothing gets done."
The school board voted 9-2 Monday night to approve a budget proposal calling for $500 million in cuts for 2009 and 2010, including more than 1,700 layoffs, seven school closures, and delaying contractual pay raises for union and non-union workers. The board faced a record $400 million budget deficit for this year and next.
State legislators have been watching DPS, too. Over the weekend, the Michigan Senate passed a resolution for a state investigation of DPS finances after reports of questionable money management. Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop (R-Rochester) sponsored the legislation and has been criticized by community leaders and Senator Irma Clark-Coleman (D-Detroit) for "plotting" to dismantle public education in Detroit.
DPS officials project enrollment to drop this fall to 98,356, a record low that would take away DPS' first-class title and with it the state limit for the number of charter schools that can open in the district. Under current law, a first-class district is defined as having enrollment over 100,000 and is qualified the for extra funding of more than $15 million annually. More charter schools would make the enrollment drop for DPS even more steeply, and further stretch the deficit, leaving DPS in a grim situation. In fact, some are speculating that it could mean a dissolution of public education in Detroit.
One parent was very upset about the whole situation. "[The government is] dismantling public education," said the parent who did not wish to give her name. "It's happening all over the country. They're closing schools because of so-called deficits." She sighed and put her hand on her forehead, then continued in a softer voice, "No one cares about the children."
The revised budget met some criticism from the two board members who voted not to approve it. "Why is the state beating up on Detroit?" Thornton asked, to some cheers from the audience. "Birmingham, Benton Harbor … these school districts are in debt. No one is threatening to shut off the lights on them. This is a scare tactic, this is racism," Thornton said.
Throughout the meeting, Connie Calloway hardly spoke. She observed the proceedings and interjected when she needed to answer a question. For the most part she simply nodded or shook her head. Most of the hostility in the audience was directed at Carla Scott and Joyce Hayes-Giles.
Ruby Johnson, a teacher at Marquette Middle School, felt there was something missing in the board's discussion. "The children are my main concern with all of this. Students are getting lost in this. We need a corporate person who knows about money to take over the money so that the superintendent and the school board focus on the children."
Another concern in the meeting was the proposal to cut out social workers and school psychologists from DPS and "outsource" the jobs to a third-party agency, leaving no social workers in schools. The council voted down this strategy to loud applause.
"If you look around you'll see the loud people are the ones that get attention," said parent Steve Perkins, who sat listening quietly throughout the entire meeting. "This meeting is tame compared to the last one. Usually the police have to take somebody out."
Standing outside after the meeting, one laid-off teacher was sharing his frustrations with other DPS workers. When asked if he was content with how the meeting went, he responded quickly, "I'm never happy with anything they do. Everything is political."
July 4th
Independence Day is a little unusual in Morrisville. Despite our well-documented colonial heritage, there are no large parades or parties, and we get to watch the Trenton fireworks rather than having some of our own. (Does a school board meeting count as a fireworks display? We certainly seem to set enough off...)
Morrisville can also proudly lay claim to Summerseat and the distinct honor to have TWO signers of the Declaration of Independence to have called our little town on the banks of the Delaware home.
As you relax today and celebrate the freedom they helped to create, remember that freedom is not free. It has to be repurchased and renewed daily. Protection of the freedoms you possess can only be sustained by giving away those same freedoms. Check out Matthew 16:19 and Matthew 18:18. What you give is what you receive. What you sow is what you reap.
Posting and comment approval will be sporadic over the holiday weekend and will depend on the connections my laptop can obtain as we hit the highway and join the other gas guzzlers on the congested interstates.
Happy Independence Day everyone!
Robert Morris
Wikipedia
Virtuology.com
The Men Behind the American Revolution: Robert Morris
Gravesite, Philadelphia, PA
George Clymer
Wikipedia
Entry from Penn State University
From the Clymer, Indiana County, PA website
Gravesite, Trenton, NJ
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