With State Rep. Bill Adolph (second from right) are Delaware County Patriots Bill Lawrence, Regina Scheerer and Maria Heider.
Common Core Dead Pennsylvania Wise?
State Rep. Bill Adolph (R-165) told a contingent from the Delaware County Patriots , this morning, Aug. 28, that Common Core is likely dead in Pennsylvania.
He said that a draft of Pennsylvania academic standards being considered by the State Board of Education will specifically include the wording “There will be no required reading lists and curriculum will remain strictly a local decision by our school boards.”
He noted the name of the standards will be changed to PA Core Standards.
He distributed a memo from State House Education Committee Chairman Paul Clymer (R-145) that in the standards “there will be no national tests or assessments, except if one is deemed necessary for special education students and then only in consultation with parents, teachers and other interested parties.”
He said the action was prompted by House Resolution 38 which passed unanimously.
Adolph, echoing earlier remarks by state Sen. Ted Erickson (R-26) said liquor-sale privatization will likely occur albeit the likely result will not be as strong as he had hoped.
He said he expects the legislature to vote next June to change the state’s pension system to a 401K-type defined contribution one from its present defined benefit one.
He said he expects, unfortunately, to see a transportation bill pass that will feature either gas tax increases or more roads tolled. He said the state roads and bridges are in that bad of shape.
Adolph said he had some confidence in the passage of reform to the state’s prevailing wage law — namely raising the exemption level of work from $25,000 where it has been since the law was passed in 1961 to $185,000 which is today’s equivalent taking into account inflation.
It’s a relatively minor reform but it’s progress.
He said Medicaid expansion will not happen unless Gov. Corbett can negotiate a lesser cost-per-recipient with the Obama Administration. As of now, Pennsylvania pays about $7,500 per recipient which is one of the highest in the nation. He said the state can’t afford to accept the expansion at that rate. He said hospital administrators have been lobbying hard for the governor to accept it.
He said he supported paycheck protection legislation that would end union dues be involuntarily deducted from workers paychecks, and that he supported bills banning teacher strikes.
Adolph said legislation will be presented calling for the impeachment of Attorney General Kathleen Kane, who has refused to defend the Pennsylvania’s law restricting marriage to members of the opposite sex. He said the action has her worried. He pointed out that her refusal to enforce a law with which she disagreed is subverting the rule of law.
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Act 14 of 2013 makes it clear that a crime victim or representative for the victim may appear personally before the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole and provide testimony related to an inmate’s application for parole. Victims or their representatives also may choose to appear through video conference rather than by telephone if the board has that capability.