Category: Education

Daylin Leach Wants To Trap Kids In Violent Schools

This article is being reprinted with the permission of Bob Guzzardi

By Bob Guzzardi


The Republicans of Lower Merion and Narberth have done an excellent compare and contrast on the critical issue of a parents Freedom to Choose, and the need for poor kids to escape violent and educationally failing schools.

This piece by Party Chairman Lance Rogers takes aim at State Sen. Daylin Leach’s (D-17) attack on Students First, an education advocacy group started by Michelle Rhee, who was chancellor of the Washington D.C. public school system.

And here is the Students First response to Leach’s vicious piece.

Democrats want to trap kids in violent and educationally dysfunctional schools and Republicans want to free them. The Choice is Clear: Coercion or Freedom. Choice or Compulsion.

Abraham Lincoln would be proud. I am proud. And where does Senator Leach send his kids to school? And you? Where do you choose to send your kids to school?

Sen. Leach is, uncharacteristically, silent. Not a bad thing but I would like to know if he is as hypocritical as I think he is. Poor Sen. Daylin, the victim of Rich Right Wingers…oh wait, the proponents aren’t Republicans and aren’t getting rich from bad government as so many of Sen. Daylin’s colleagues.

Democrats cannot be trusted with educational policy. The Democratic agenda enriches the entrenched status quo bureaucracy at the expense of effective education and parental choice. To the Democrat, the state, the collectivist system, and the bureaucratic professionals know what is best for a child, better than a parent. More money being taken from citizens and given to a sclerotic system does not translate to better eduction.

 

Daylin Leach Wants To Trap Kids In Violent Schools

Daylin Leach Wants To Trap Kids In Violent Schools

Pa. Should Follow Tenn. Lead On Teachers Union

Tennessee , June 1, ended collective bargaining for school teachers, a story pointedly ignored by the in-the-pocket-for-the-left news media.

The law signed by Gov. Bill Haslam allows for a process called “collaborative conferencing” but leaves the school boards with the final say — the teachers get no right to appeal; no right to ask for binding arbitration.

Further, there are certain things the teachers may not negotiate namely staffing decisions, the use of grant money, the employee evaluation process and whether or not payroll deductions can be made for
political purposes.

It sounds almost like what existed in Pennsylvania before 1970 when the teachers got their right to strike.

Pennsylvania, the state most tortured by child-hating teacher strikes and “work to rule” negotiating strategies, is pondering plans to replace teacher strikes with binding arbitration and allow for seniority-based economic furloughs.

That’s not the way to solve the problem.

What Tennessee did is the way to solve the problem.

Hat tip FreeRepublic.Com

Middle Class Parents Vs. Billionaire Corporations

Middle Class Parents Vs. Billionaire Corporations — The article is being published with the kind permission of Tea Party activist Bob Guzzardi.

The House Republicans are considering giving $ 603,543,000, in this year alone to billionaire private corporations. This is $181, 113,000 more than Governor Corbett proposed.

The entire cost of SB 1, Vouchers/EITC over four years, is: $ 734, 947, 772

SB 1 is designed to subsidize, as required by Article III, section 14 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, the education of children, particularly the poor caught in violent and educationally dysfunctional schools and middle class struggling economically.

In comparison consider the how the state subsidizes  education’s  Princes and Princesses:

UPENN’s president Amy Gutmann’s compensation: $1,367,000 and Penn State’s Graham( $800, 592 according to Journal of Higher Education) flies in one of Penn State’s three airplanes from its own airport. UPITT’s Chancellor;$600,045, Temple U President Anne Weaver Hart; $602, 403) UPITT Chancellor Mark Nordenberg received a 5.7% increase in 2010, $26,500, for a total annual salary of $486,000. This is base salary and not total compensation.

A change in course directing money away from billionaire private corporations to those who need it most may be an idea worth considering. Misallocating taxpayer resources is not in the public interest or advance the general welfare.

 

 

Middle Class Parents Vs. Billionaire Corporations

House Vs Senate On Teacher Furloughs

The Pennsylvania House and the Pennsylvania Senate have competing bills to allow school districts to furlough teachers for economic reasons, an action the traditionally union-dominated state has long prohibited.

House Bill 855, introduced March 1  by Scott Boyd (R- 43) would  allow the furlough decision to be guided by several factors including the teacher’s specialization and performance evaluations.

The good ol’ boys in the Senate Appropriations Committee, however, did not think of the children or the taxpayer but listened to the lobbyists and cut out all factors but seniority — with one minor caveat  — from Senate Bill 612, which was introduced Feb. 18 by Mike Folmer (R-48).

The caveat is that tenured teachers who have been placed on an improvement plan due to poor evaluations would not be protected by seniority. This would only apply to very few teachers who are the worst of the worst and one wonders why such teachers are protected from anything now.

Think of the children.

SB 612 was referred to the House Education Committee, May 11, where HB 855 has remained stuck since it was introduced.

Big Man Gets $800G And PSU Wants More From Taxpayers

The Chronicle of Higher Education is reporting that the total cost of employment to Penn State University for President Graham  Spanier is $800,592.  The figure comes from adding  salary– which in Spanier’s case is $620,000 — to things like housing, bonuses, deferred compensation, retirement set aside, car allowances, tuition assistance and related spousal pay.

On the basis of salary, Spanier does not rank in the top 10 of public college compensation. When everything is included he jumps to number five.

Number one in both categories is Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee who has a $1.322 million salary and $1.818  million total cost of employment.

Penn State, like Temple, Pitt and Lincoln, is a “state-related” school in that while it gets public money, its governance is independent of the state.

The budget  passed May 24 by the State House would give PSU $252 million in tax dollars this year, which is $81 million less than last year. Spanier is upset about this but he is not as upset about this as he was about Gov. Corbett’s proposed budget which sought to cut $168.76 million in tax funds from the institution.

It should be noted the state contribution has traditionally made up about 10 percent of Penn State’s budget.

There is nothing wrong with someone earning $800 thousand in compensation despite what some, such as Philadelphia Inquirer cartoonist Tony Auth, might think. There is a lot wrong, however, with someone getting that money when some of it is obtained through the threat of force which is how taxes are obviously obtained.

If Spanier wants to be among the filthy rich his school should not get a penny in state subsides.

And yes, that applies to Joe Paterno, about whom you can actually make a case that he objectively earns his paycheck, too.

For the record, the House budget provides subsidizes of

  • $125 million to Pitt, which is a cut of $42 million
  • $129 million to Temple, which is a cut $43 million
  • $10.3 million to Lincoln, which is a cut of $3.4 million.

Hat tip to Tea Party activist Bob Guzzardi.

Adolph Says Vote Likely On Pa. NoBamaCare Bill

The man accused of bottling up a bill that would make much of Obamacare hard to enforce in Pennsylvania told the Delaware County Patriots, Thursday, May 19, that it will likely come up for a vote this year.

State Rep. Bill Adolph (R-165), who chairs the House Appropriations Committee has been accused of sitting on HB 42 by Tea Party activists. The bill has been tied up in Adolph’s committee since Feb. 8.

HB 42, introduced by Matthew Baker (R-68) on Jan. 19, says A law
or rule shall not compel, through penalties and fines, directly or
indirectly, any individual, employer or health care provider to
participate in any health care system.

It also specifically
says that an individual or employer may pay directly for lawful health
care services and shall not be required to pay penalties or fines for
doing so; and specifically allows  health care providers to accept
direct payments without penalties. It also prohibits state law enforcement and regulatory agencies from
participating “in compliance with any Federal law, regulation or policy”
that would compromise the “freedom of choice in health care” of any
resident of the state.

Adolph told the group, which met at Knights of Columbus hall in Newtown Square, that the biggest budget problem facing the state was the expiration of federal stimulus money. He said  last year’s $28 billion budget contained $3.1 billion of the fed dollars.

The $27.3 billion budget proposed by Gov. Corbett places a heavier burden on the state taxpayers despite it being smaller. House Republicans have tweaked the budget by easing some of the cuts the Governor had made to education while adding cuts to welfare. Adolph said the House budget gives state higher education 75 percent of what it had gotten last year, while Corbett would have cut the outlay in half.

Adolph said that the House budget actually ends up being few hundred thousand dollars less than the Governors.

Concerning the questions fielded by Adolph — and HB 42 was one — he said:

— He supported in principle privatizing the state-owned liquor stores but would not commit to any specific legislation as the “devil was in the details”.

— He supported giving school boards the power to furlough teachers for economic reasons. He, however, ducked the other half regarding his position on ending the requirement that school districts and municipalities pay prevailing wage for renovation and construction projects.

–He is not familiar with the First Suburbs issue which is starting to be discussed in Tea Party groups and appears to be an attempt to use government programs such as Section 8 housing to economically “diversify” Philadelphia’s older suburbs in accordance with the preferences of academics and activists.

–He supported abolishing the inheritance tax.

–He voted for and supports HB 1330, which expands the state’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit, and that he was only aware of the highlights of SB 1, the school choice bill bottled up in the Senate. He said he supports school choice in principle.

–That teachers should not be allowed to strike.

— He supports voter ID.

— He believes in state sovereignty.

— He supports cutting the size of the state legislature.

The only matter on which he incurred the crowd’s wrath concerned state pensions, and his unwillingness to condemn former State Sen. Bob Mellow’s $300,000 pension in significantly vociferous terms. He said Mellow’s pension plan had been grandfathered from before 1974, and that he should get it. He did not seem to get that it may fairer and more just to change the terms of an old poorly conceived contract rather than make a widow who was not party to it lose her home trying to fulfill it.

Insurgents Fall In GOP State Races; Dem Battle Close

Insurgents Fall In GOP State Races; Dem Battle Close — The Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judges who actively sought Tea Party support fell handily  to the endorsed candidates in the Republican Primary state judicial races.

With 97 percent of the returns tallied, Paula Patrick was trailing Harrisburg attorney Vic Stabile  361,772 votes  to 190,231 in the Superior Court race, while Paul Panepinto had 167,455 votes to Anne Covey’s 386,751 in the Commonwealth Court race.

The 15-member Superior Court is the intermediate appellate court for civil and criminal cases from county Common Pleas Courts. The nine-member Commonwealth Court is the
intermediate appellate court for issues involving taxation, banking,
insurance, utility regulation, eminent domain, election, labor
practices, elections, Department of Transportation matters, and liquor
licenses.

On the Democrat side, party-endorsed Kathryn Boockvar, a private attorney known for her work with activist groups, was leading Barbara Behrend Ernsberger 300,389 votes to 297,635 to be the Commonwealth Court candidate.

On some local notes, incumbent Springfield (Delco) 6th Ward Commissioner Bob Layden appears to have held off a challenge from former commissioner Jim Devenney, who resigned after a minor scandal involving family memberships to the township swim club. The unofficial tally is 437 to 396.

And Tea Party activists Lisa Esler and John Dougherty 3rd will be on both party ballots in this November’s Penn Delco School Board race. Elections are being held for five seats. Cross filing is allowed in Pennsylvania school board races which means that in this fall’s race ticket totals will be combined to determine the winners.

Mrs. Esler had the most votes of six candidates on the Democrat side with 424, and had the third highest tally out of seven candidates on the GOP side with 1,239.

Dougherty had the most votes on the GOP side with 1,534 and the second highest total on the Democrat side with 377.

The candidates who won on both tickets — additionally Kevin Tinsley and Kimberly Robinson — while having a significant advantage do not have a guaranteed victory. Lewis Boughner appears to have failed to win on the Democrat ticket while James S. Porter 2nd appears to have failed to win on the Republican one, so there will be six people seeking five seats. It is in the realm of possibility that a person appearing on just one ballot will be among the top five votegetters.

In Newtown, embattled supervisor Linda Houldin was crushed 1,732 votes to 480 votes  in her GOP primary by former Marple Newtown School Director Edward C. Partridge. Partridge had sought Tea Party support.

SB1 Middle Class Vouchers Addition Seems A Small Bone Thrown

SB 1, the school choice bill pending in the Pennsylvania legislature, was reported out of the Senate Appropriations Committee, yesterday, April 11, on a 15-11 vote with the  addition of it now providing vouchers to “middle class” students starting in the 2014-2015 school year. These “middle class” vouchers, however, would be funded by part of an excess scholarship fund so it seems a rather small bone to be thrown to the Tea Party groups looking out for the middle class.

And the latest version of the bill, PN 1031, also now limits the aggregate amount of all opportunity scholarships awarded to low-income children  starting in the 2013-2014 school year to $250 million

The vote was generally party-line although Democrats Lisa Boscola and Lawrence Farnese voted for it and Republicans Lisa Baker and Stewart Greenleaf voted against it.

Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, whose 9th District includes large parts of Delaware and Chester counties and is an ex-officio member of the committee, voted for it.

The latest version, also among other things, changes  the methodology for defining the lowest performing five percent of schools; changes some of the reporting requirements; removes specific dates on the timeline;  penalties for misuse of scholarships, which includes disqualification from future eligibility for an opportunity scholarship; and requires participating non-public schools to  annually a standardized achievement test.

The new version also would create a “public school choice demonstration grant program”, which would let a school district establish a program of tuition grants for resident students who wish to attend a nonresident public school.

Pa Leadership Panel Provokes Tea Partyers On SB1

Statements made regarding conservative skeptics of SB 1, the pending school choice legislation in the Pennsylvania legislature, at the 2011 Pa. Leadership Conference has those skeptics seeing blue.

An email blast sent by Lisa Esler of the Delaware County Patriots notes that critics of SB1 were not represented on a panel aimed at discussing the bill and that those on the panel were insulting to the critics and painted a false picture of their motives.

Mrs. Esler, in her email, said that Matt Kibbe of Freedomworks called the critics “bedwetters” while State Sen. Jeff Piccola (R-15), who is one of the authors of the bill, implied that racism was what was driving them.

The truth is that the Tea Party groups who are criticizing SB1 are for the most part strong supporters of school choice. Their objections to the bill are not that it helps kids from destitute families in failing school districts but that it fails to help struggling families in overrated suburban districts who may have a child stuck for a year with one of the many incompetent, union-protected teachers that fill those districts.

These Tea Party groups are filled with people who strongly supported helping destitute “inner-city” kids escape bad schools when it “wasn’t cool” so it is a rather serious smear to accuse them of racism.

Mrs. Esler also noted that unlike other panels, questions regarding SB1 were  pre-screened.

The conference, held April 9, brought A-list conservative speakers to the Radisson Penn Harris Hotel and Conference Center in Camp Hill including Dr. Charles Krauthammer, Sen. Pat Toomey, columnist John Fund and activist Herman Cain.

Public School Budgeting Burdens Revealed

Public School Budgeting Burdens Revealed — The Springfield School Board’s Finance and Audit Committee gave, tonight, April 7, a detailed update of the district’s preliminary budget to a dozen or so persons most of whom were part of a Tea Party contingent led by Regina Scheerer. Public School Budgeting Burdens Revealed

The budget  now calls for spending $62,479, 521 for 2011-2012 which is $544,000 less than the initial budget proposed in February but still $2,192,822 more than the budget approved last year.

The district’s actual expenditures for this year are projected to be $59,172,082 which is expected to leave the district with a $1.09 million surplus, which is a good thing since as of now revenue is  $206,000 less than expenses.

Real estate taxes are expected to provide $46,456,313 of the new budget, which would be an increase of $2.033 million from the last one and translate to a tax hike of $128 for the average homeowner.

Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed state budget would cut $750,000 in assistance to Springfield noted Don Mooney, the district’s executive director of operations although the state is still expected to provide $8,635,330 to the district. Mooney pointed out, however, that pending legislation may result in another $847,000 being cut to the district.

The meeting before the small group lasted over two hours, and Mooney and Committee Chairman Doug Carney described the ways that the board is trying to save money and the ways in which their hands are tied.

Carney said that the biggest constraints facing the district, in descending order, were special education mandates, contributions to the Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS), and employee contracts.

It was noted that there was one special education student for whom the district was paying $125,000 annual tuition to an outside facility as per a court order.

One way the Committee said the district was fighting to keep taxes down for homeowners was by  using innovative ways of keeping non-residents from using its services
and that these have resulted in the removal of 10 students from classes
so far this year.

It also said the District was aggressive and generally successful in fighting real estate tax assessments — it was pointed out that the Springfield Mall is trying to lower its valuation from $84.7 million to $64.96 million despite the addition of the successful new Target store.

Claude de Botton, the township’s biggest landowner, was singled out for praise as being someone who never fought his assessments.

The Committee also noted that the District was considering increasing walking radius by a half-mile, which would still be within the mandated guidelines, and that this would greatly curtail the use of buses. It noted that it had eliminated early dismissals which meant that it was no longer required to provide buses for early dismissal at Cardinal O’Hara and other schools. The Committee said the District will be eliminating three crossing guards next year, and will begin charging for the summer wood shop program.

The Committee expressed specific concern over SB 911 now pending in the state legislature that would remove existing exemptions from the calculation as to when a proposed tax increase triggers the requirement for a referendum. Those exemptions, Mooney explained, were for Special Education obligations, PSERS contributions and contracted obligations. Since the obligations would remain it was expected that  just about every budget would end up being decided by referendum and be invariably voted down leaving the district no choice but to end unprotected programs like music and shop, and jamming students into classrooms of 40.

Carney expressed opposition to the referendum plan noting that the nation was founded as a representative republic. He said people will always vote to cut taxes and increase services.

Major looming expenses unveiled at the meeting were the replacement of the District’s six-year-old bus fleet, and, hold onto your hats, the replacement of the high school.

And of course the District’s PSERS contribution is going to increase from $2.3 million this year to $6 million in 2014-2015. It was $1.075 million in 2005-2006.

Springfield School District has 23 administrators — whose combined salaries are $2.1 million; 260 certified staff which is expected to increase by two next year; 217 other staff, which is expected to decrease by four; and 3,684 pupils which is expected increase by 116.

Public School Budgeting Burdens Revealed