News, Entertainment, Enlightenment
Penn Delco School Director Lisa Esler has laid out in a letter to the Delaware County Daily Times an excellent set of priorities for protecting the Forgotten Taxpayer in Pennsylvania that includes eliminating the prevailing wage on all school, municipal, county and state construction and banning teacher strikes.
Hat tip Bob Guzzardi who notes that he would add natural gas production to lead to lower energy costs and a higher standard of living for including more jobs and a cleaner environment.
Act 3 of 2013 — The Special Education Funding Commission recently held a hearing in Bucks County to discuss the costs of educating students with special needs in Pennsylvania, said State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).
The commission, formed as a result of Act 3 of 2013, is made up of appointed House and Senate members, the secretaries of Education and Budget, and the deputy secretary for elementary and special education. It has been tasked with developing a new formula for distributing state funding for special education to Pennsylvania school districts.
Currently, funding is distributed based on an estimate that special education students make up 16 percent of the overall student population in each school district. This formula does not take into account a growing number of schools with greater special education funding needs, nor does it account for those schools with fewer needs.
The commission has until fall to recommend a new funding formula to more effectively pay for special education throughout the state.
Online College Students Grant Eligible — The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) is launching a pilot program to extend state grant benefits to the growing number of students pursuing college degrees online, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).
The pilot program is a step toward modernizing the Pennsylvania State Grant program to better serve the needs of students, as the grant program is currently only available to students who earn 50 percent or less of their college credits online, Cox said. Under the pilot program, students earning up to 100 percent of their credits online may qualify for grant assistance if they are attending a participating Pennsylvania school and otherwise meet grant program qualifications.
Applications from qualified higher education institutions are due by mid-September; PHEAA will then review the grant applications of students who were turned down for state grants because they exceeded the 50 percent threshold for online education. Students who qualify for grant funding under the pilot program will be notified later this fall, likely in November. Students need not take any other action at this time.
The five-year pilot program is being funded through PHEAA earnings and will not impact the traditional state grant program.
Homeschooled Kids Best Educated — An excellent article by Jack Kelly on Phillyburbs.com reveals that homeschooled kids score in the 89th percentile in reading, the 86th percentile in science, the 84th percentile in language, math, and social studies.
Public schoolers are in the 50th percentile in these categories.
About 2 million children are home schooled. Since 1999, the number being home schooled has increased 7 percent a year. Enrollment in public schools fell 5 percent between 2005 and 2010.
A mercenary willing to harm a child for better pay will never care as much as a parent.
Charter School Rescues Students — Today’s link comes from Commonwealth Foundation and describes how Propel Braddock Hills High is rescuing 250 kids from bad schools in a bad neighborhood in Pittsburgh.
Public Schools Fewer Students More Staff — For those who wonder why life seems to be getting harder with regard to the tax burden consider this tidbit from Commonwealth Foundation — Since 2000, public school enrollment has dropped by 60,000 students while staffing is up 17,000.
If the cost — salaries, benefits, insurance, tuition etc. — to the taxpayer for each extra staffer is about $75,000 then the taxpayer is unnecessarily burdened by $1.275 billion.
And remember, in a sane world you need actually need fewer staff for fewer students.
Vets Get Dibs At Public Colleges — The House last week unanimously approved a measure to help veterans who plan to take college courses, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).
House Bill 1164 would allow veterans who are students to receive priority course scheduling at public institutions of higher education in Pennsylvania to give them the flexibility to assimilate back into civilian society and receive the necessary education to rejoin the workforce. Unemployment among veterans is higher than the general population. The bill empowers veterans to use their VA educational benefits in the most efficient manner possible.
House Bill 1164 now goes before the Senate for consideration.
Homeschool Boom — Four percent of American children are now home-schooled. The number of children whose parents choose to educate them at home is growing seven times faster than the number of children enrolling in a traditional school
Boys Latin Hears Rand Paul At Commencement — Yesterday’s (June 10) commencement speech at Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia Charter School was given by Sen. Rand Paul, the outspoken, anti-corruption advocate from Kentucky and Tea Party favorite.
He used the opportunity to promote education and the empowerment of parents.
“I’m lucky to speak to a group of students who are not only an exception
to the rule, but come from a school that produces exceptional students
as a rule,” he said. “Boys Latin is a great example of the kind of
education I think we need to move toward, where parents can choose what
kind of education their children receive, where parents can choose an
education their children may not have otherwise had.”
The school has 368 students — all boys, 99 percent of whom are black and 86 percent of whom are eligible for a free lunch.
Cyber Schools Threatened By Pa. Cuts — The Pennsylvania House Education Committee will hold hearings, Monday, on proposals that threaten to slash funding for cyber schools, reports Commonwealth Foundation. And cyber schools already receive only 81 percent of what traditional districts receive per student!
These drastic cuts will make it difficult—if not impossible—for cyber schools to compete. Indeed, many will be forced to close if funding is reduced, the Foundation says.
Cyber schools are public charter schools that more than 32,000 Pennsylvania students have chosen as the school that best fits their needs. These kids should not be treated as separate and unequal second-class citizens by shortchanging their education funding.
The schools give children a chance to escape bullies and bad teachers, who do exist.
For those without children or whose children are beyond school age, the existence of cyber schools helps dissuade the unions from being completely unreasonable in their contract demands and placing even more of a burden on you home or business property tax.
The state’s porcine educational establishment sees them as a threat.
To send a message to our governmental leaders visit here