Where’s the $$$?

As expected, the Pennsylvania House passed a budget yesterday that does next to nothing to help our public schools. The debate now moves to the Senate, but if the strict party-line vote in the House was any indication, Republicans in Harrisburg are sticking to their mantra that the state is broke and can’t afford to adequately fund education. House Majority Leader Mike Turzai from here in Allegheny County claims that this proposed budget “lives within our means, just like families and businesses across the state.” [Penn Live, 6-12-13]

But when Rep. Turzai or Gov. Corbett and others say we have to “live within our means,” what they really mean is that our schools must continue to cut into the bone – ditching art, music, library, tutoring, Kindergarten, books, supplies, field trips, athletics, and thousands of teachers – while families struggle to make up the difference. That’s not living within our means, that’s just mean.

This is about budget priorities. There is money, but it’s not going to public education (or our other public goods). We could fully fund the vibrant, rich curricula and the educational programs our children deserve right now if our legislators wanted to. Here is our updated list of revenue ideas:

• Close the Delaware Loophole: It costs our state $500 million in missed tax revenue every year and more than 20 other states have already closed this loophole.
• Impose a severance tax on Marcellus shale: Most states with major mineral resources like ours have a severance tax and not having one has cost Pennsylvania over $314 million since October 2009 alone.
• Get rid of the new bonus depreciation rule: The state itself estimated that more than half of last year’s budget gap was due to a huge shortfall in corporate tax revenues – to the tune of $260 million. (See “We Have a Priority Problem.”)
• Keep the capital stock and franchise tax: Gov. Corbett wants to eliminate these as a gift to corporations and plans to eliminate them by next year. But if lawmakers freeze the tax at 2012 levels, the state could raise around $390 million.
• Eliminate sales tax exemptions: Helicopters and gold bullion top the list of hard-to-swallow exemptions. And what about smokeless tobacco? (See “Can They Fly Our Kids to School?”)
• Rescind the new Voter ID bill: It solves no actual problem in the state, is facing expensive legal challenge, and will cost taxpayers an estimated $11 million to implement. (See “There Goes $11-million for Our Schools.”)
• Fix the cyber-charter funding formula: Taxpayers and school districts could be saving $365 million per year — that’s $1million per day  — if cyber charter schools received funding based on what they actually spent per student. (See “One Million Per Day.”)
• Shut down the EITC programs: These two voucher-like giveaway programs now funnel $150 million (double the amount from last year) in public money to private and religious schools with no accountability for expenditures or student outcomes. [See “EITC: No Credit to PA” and “2-4-6-8, Who Do We Appreciate?”]
• Stop handing money to international giants. The new sweetheart deal with international giant Dutch Royal Shell will cost taxpayers $1.675 billion. (See “Can Shell Education Our Kids?”
• Close other tax loopholes. The “89-11″ real estate transfer scheme has cost Pittsburgh schools millions of dollars. (See details at “Corporate Grinches“)
• Insist on PILOT payments from large non-profits such as UPMC. They would be supporting Pittsburgh schools to the tune of $8.5 million if they did this. (See “UPMC’s Fair Share“)
• Hold corporations to their word. Rivers Casino is trying to wriggle out of paying $1million a year to Pittsburgh schools after promising to be a good neighbor when we gave them perks for setting up shop in our city. (See “Rivers Casino’s Fair Share“)

Taking it to Harrisburg

What are you doing on Tuesday, June 25^th? Our new coalition – called Great Public Schools (GPS) Pittsburgh – is partnering with other groups around the state for a large rally in Harrisburg. (Philadelphia is planning to send ten bus loads of people!) This will be right at the time the legislature is negotiating the final state budget and we need to be there to tell them to put students, schools, and communities first.

This week Republicans in the House refused to allow budget proposals from Democrats to come to a vote, effectively keeping the old Republican budget plan on the table. As you will recall, that plan puts $100 million back in the public education budget, but gets us nowhere near the almost $2 billion our students have lost these past two years. (See “Budget Talk.”)

The Post-Gazette reports that the Democrats “would have increased spending $378 million over the Republican budget, mostly on K-12 education but also on colleges and universities and on various human service programs.” Rep. Joe Markosek of Monroeville, the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, called the House Republican plan “a budget of missed opportunities” and said it “just continues the misery for a lot of people in this commonwealth.” [Post-Gazette, 6-11-13] This is the absolute truth.

We’ve got to get on the bus and go to Harrisburg to tell our legislators what two years of draconian cuts have done to our schools. It doesn’t have to be this way. They could vote right now to freeze the phase-out of the capital stock and franchise tax. The state has been rolling back this corporate tax and plans to completely eliminate it by next year. But if lawmakers freeze the tax at 2012 levels, the state could raise around $390 million. [PBPC, 5-29-13] That’s enough to pay for the Democrat’s budget plan – and then some.

State budgets are about priorities. And this budget hurts kids. We have no choice – we have to fight back. Please consider getting on the bus on June 25^th! Our coalition partners have paid for the trip, and will even provide snacks. It will be fun. All you have to do is show up: busses leave at 7:30AM from the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers parking lot on the South Side (10 S. 19^th St.) and will return that evening.

To hold your spot, please call the PFT at 412-431-5900 and put your name on the list. Tell them you are a Yinzercator and you’re ready to take it to Harrisburg.

More or Less

Three thousand, eight hundred. That’s how many teachers and school staff the students in Philadelphia are losing. You read that right: 3,800 – almost 20% of the city’s entire education workforce – received pink slips last week. Philadelphia public schools will no longer have any secretaries to answer the phones, counselors to help students, assistant principals, or cafeteria monitors. There will be no more teachers for music, art, or library. No books, supplies, after school activities, clubs, or field trips. [The Notebook, 6-7-13]

One Philadelphia teacher wrote to education historian Diane Ravitch this weekend to say, “Most of my co-workers laid off were history teachers – an untested subject in PA.” She went on, “What is happening in Philadelphia is a complete travesty and a failure of democracy … If I return to the classroom in the fall, the ‘education’ I will be able to give my students will not look anything like what I was taught education should be.” [DianeRavitch, 6-9-13] Jerry Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, said the cuts will leave only “something called a school.” [The Notebook, 6-7-13]

So why should we care over here in Southwest PA? For one thing, the travesty described by these Philadelphia educators is just the tip of the public-education-crisis iceberg. What’s happening in the city of brotherly love is happening all over Pennsylvania (and in fact, all over the country) with the systematic de-funding of our schools, the re-routing of public resources to private hands, and the re-writing of state education policies to benefit the few at the expense of the many.

Look at Duquesne school district, which is circling the drain and may not even be a school district after next year. Look at Wilkinsburg, which is on the state’s new “financial watch list” and is just inches from a state takeover. The Post-Gazette reports today that residents there think “the district has already fallen off the cliff”. One person told a reporter, “Honestly, it’s too far gone. … At this point, it needs to be totally dismantled.”  [Post-Gazette, 6-10-13] That’s the tragic sound of the public giving up on public education. Worse, it means people have given up on public school students.

This battle we are fighting for our schools is a battle for education justice. This past weekend, Yinzercator Kathy Newman and I presented at the Labor and Working Class History Association conference in New York City, along with our colleague Rebecca Poyourow from Philadelphia. We talked about the political, social, and economic context of public education today and our grassroots movement – and Rebecca spoke movingly about what is happening in our sister city.

In another session, teachers from New York and Chicago talked about the successful 2012 Chicago teachers strike, which was really a strike to save public schools for public school students. Peter Brogan, a Ph.D. student in geography and one of the panelists at that session, described the way that school closings reproduce poverty in particular neighborhoods and treat students as “surplus humanity.” What an apt phrase. When we give up on public schools in places like Wilkinsburg or Philadelphia, we condemn tens of thousands of children to living as surplus humanity. And we know that this “surplus” is mostly black and brown. In other words, education justice is also about racial justice.

I was struck by this photo taken at a recent rally in Philadelphia of a young African-American student holding a sign that reads, “Why take MORE when we already have LESS?” Indeed.

[Photo: Amy Yeboah, The Notebook, 5-30-13]

Think about this student. Think about Duquesne and Wilkinsburg. Think about Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and the devastating cuts to our educational programs. It’s time to get MORE for these students who have LESS.

Education Voters PA is urging everyone to call the State Senate today, explaining, “Over the past two years, the Senate has played a critical role in getting money back into the budget for public education. …Right now the Senate is where key decisions will get made to move things in the right direction.” Click here to get your Senator’s information and then call today and tell them to:

• Fight for $270 million in funding to be restored. If they can cut almost $1 billion in one year, then restoring a third of that shouldn’t be impossible. In addition, they should help identify resources for Special Education – which has been flat funded for 5 years – and they should fix the charter pension double dip.
• Adopt provisions to improve the funding allocation formula to make it fairer and to get to adequate funding levels for all students.
• Ask them NOT give away hundreds of millions this year by eliminating the state corporate assets tax (the Capital Stock and Franchise Tax). Tell them to delay this phase out so we can so we can invest in children instead of providing another corporate tax break.

That would do it, more or less.

Bleeding Out

School districts across Pennsylvania are on life support. After massive defunding of public education by the state the past two years, schools have made so many cuts there is almost nothing left to remove. A new study out this week reveals just how big this gaping wound is where strong public schools ought to be.

The Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials (PASBO) and the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators (PASA) surveyed all 500 school districts in May, and received responses from 187 (for a response rate of 37%). The results are sobering (all data from PASBO/PASA School Finance Report, June 2013):

• 75% of districts will continue to make cuts to educational programs this year – more than in either of the past two years.
• 47% of school districts expect to increase class size in 2013-14. That’s on top of larger class sizes imposed by 51% of districts last year, and 70% of districts the year before.
• 37% plan to reduce courses such as world languages, art, music, physical education and even some in math, science, English and social studies. Elective courses were already reduced by 43% of schools in 2012-13 and 44% of schools the year before that.
• 23% will delay the purchase of textbooks (following 40 and 41% of districts that delayed such purchases in the previous two years).
• 22% of districts will reduce or eliminate tutoring program for struggling students (on top of the 32 and 35% of districts that did this the past two years).
• 13% more districts will eliminate summer school (following 21% and 19% that cut these programs in the past two years).
• 31% will further reduce or eliminate student field trips (in addition to 43 and 55% in each of the past two years).
• 22% will reduce or eliminate extra-curriculars, including sports or will establish/increase fees for participation. That’s on top of the 30 and 33% of districts that have already done so in the past two years.
• 8% of districts will close school buildings this year. (7% closed buildings in 2012-13 and 10% in 2011-12).
• 64% will continue to decrease staff, with over 20% planning furloughs.

Despite these severe cuts, more than 70% of school districts are dipping into their fund balances to try to pay for basic educational programming. While the calculator-wielding business professionals at PASBO and PASA consider a one-time dip into these rainy-day funds acceptable, they call the current rate of depletion “alarming” and explain that, “sustained use of fund balance in this manner is fiscally devastating.” Those are strong words from accountants.

In laymen’s terms, our public schools are bleeding out. Governor Corbett needs to stop making ridiculous claims that he has increased education funding. Our schools can’t take any more lies or cuts. It’s time to put our resources back into public education, for the sake of our schools, our communities, and our kids.

AP and Equity

Here’s some welcome good news in Pittsburgh. The Heinz Endowments just gave the school district a three year, $930,367 grant so that more of our high school students can take advanced placement (AP) courses, which help students get a leg up on college. In a partnership with the National Math and Science Initiative – a non-profit based in Dallas – Brashear high school and Sci-Tech 6-12 will each receive funding to expand AP offerings in science, math, and English. [Post-Gazette, 6-5-13]

These kind of advanced opportunities are sorely needed in the district, and far too inequitably distributed at the moment. Last week we learned about Omari Payne, a remarkable high school senior, who was permitted to transfer from Pittsburgh Milliones 6-12 (U. Prep) to Pittsburgh Allderdice so he would have access to AP Chemistry. Omari had already taught himself AP Psychology (and this year taught himself AP computer science), but U Prep offers only 5 AP classes and he was forced to take chemistry on-line. Allderdice has 22 AP courses and after he switched schools this year he was also able to take AP calculus, physics, European history, and English. [Post-Gazette, 5-28-13]

Clearly Omari is an unusual student and Pittsburgh is going to be proud to have him as an alumnus. But his case raises a couple of sticky issues about equity. First is the issue of on-line courses. U Prep offers AP Chemistry on-line, but that means students like Omari are forced to learn alone, essentially teaching themselves on a computer. Technology holds a lot of promise for education, but purely on-line courses are clearly not the answer as a complete substitution for classroom learning. And when they are the only option at schools disproportionately serving our poorest students and students of color, then we also have to look at this as a problem of equity.

Sally Martin, a chemistry teacher at Allderdice, explained, “It is lonely learning alone, and you pick up so much hearing other students question and asking your own questions.” What’s more, she feels “the learning from online courses is superficial.” [Post-Gazette, 5-28-13] My own experience in Carnegie Mellon University’s teaching center working with faculty developing on-line courses for higher education revealed just how difficult it is to build an effective digital class. While there have been some real advances in the technology, the instructional methods and teaching strategies used in on-line courses also appear to lend themselves far more to certain disciplines than others. For instance, math or statistics appear to be better candidates for on-line classes than history or literature.

In short, I am wary of any plan to offer on-line courses simply as a potential cost-savings measure. We need to make very sure that the outcomes are good for students. And far too often it seems to me that corporations are the ones benefitting from these proffered digital “solutions.” (See also, “Big $.”) That’s what seems to have happened in Idaho two years ago when legislators decided they would dictate how teachers should use technology and passed a law there requiring all high school students to take some on-line courses to graduate. To pay for the program, the state shifted money away from paying actual teachers. Teachers and parents revolted together, marching in the streets and collecting 75,000 verified signatures on a petition.

Sabrina Laine of the American Institutes for Research, explains, “Teachers don’t object to the use of technology. … They object to being given a resource with strings attached, and without the needed support to use it effectively to improve student learning.” In the Idaho case, it also came to light that technology companies such as Intel and Apple were heavily lobbying state legislators for the bill. And they donated $44,000 to the campaign of a key superintendent who backed the plan. [New York Times, 1-3-12]

Fortunately, Pittsburgh appears headed in the right direction. I was delighted to learn that the district’s new AP initiative focuses on teachers – rather than computers – to work with our students. In fact, the grant will provide intensive training to about 65 teachers, both during the school year and over the summer, to help expand the number of AP offerings and successfully guide students through them. Dale Fleury from the National Math and Science Initiative explains their “teacher focused” program saying, “if a teacher is properly equipped, properly trained, the sky’s the limit for these young people.” The new program will also provide Saturday workshops with outside experts to help students get ready for the AP exams. And both schools will get $35,000 for equipment. [Post-Gazette, 6-5-13]

I was surprised to learn that the grant will include financial incentives for both students and teachers. Students can earn $100 for each successful AP exam (a 3 out of 5 is generally considered a qualifying score by colleges who then provide advanced placement in their programs). And teachers can get $1,000 for meeting enrollment and performance goals. This strikes me as bordering on the “merit pay,” concept, which has been soundly debunked by economists and social scientists – and failed in every school district where it has been tried. [VOX economic research analysis, 9-16-11; DianeRavitch.net 6-1-13] I am curious what local teachers think about this part of the program.

Pittsburgh hopes to expand the effort if it can find additional grant money. Allderdice, CAPA 6-12, and Westinghouse have all applied to the initiative. Meanwhile, the district has been making some headway in expanding offerings over the past few years. More students are now taking AP classes (currently 1,181, up about 15% from last year) including more African-American students (whose enrollment has doubled over the past three years). This is all good news, though progress is slow – and not just because the district doesn’t want to offer these courses. It has the real challenge of getting enough students in some buildings ready for AP classes so that it can offer them.

While the district allowed Omari Payne to transfer this year, it was initially reluctant. Allison McCarthy, the director of academic initiatives, explained, “Our first goal for any kid that wants to take an AP course is to provide it to them at their school.” She correctly stated, “You don’t want to bleed schools of their top students” by simply transferring AP students to different buildings. [Post-Gazette, 5-28-13] She took some heat on-line for those comments, but I think she’s right. Some Post-Gazette readers were upset that this doesn’t do what is best for individual students, and puts “schools” before individual student needs.

But we want lots of AP classes in all our high schools – and to afford to do that, we need to work on getting a large enough cohort in each building to support it. And all students benefit by having a mix of peers. It does not serve the equity work our district has been engaged in to simply send all the kids who need advanced classes to one school. That results in intellectual impoverishment. And though I’m not popular when I say it, this is actually similar to what I fear happens when we siphon our top artistic and scientific talent off to “special” schools within the district. How much better it would be if we could meet the art and science educational needs of those students in their home-schools, where all our children would benefit from a full rich curriculum – and from interaction with their talented peers.

In any case, I am thrilled to think this grant will help expand access to AP courses for all our students in their home schools. There is a self-fulfilling prophecy at work here too, as we offer these classes and they become visible and viable options to students who can then aim for them within their own buildings. We send a strong message to our kids when these resources are available in their schools – that they are not just Promise Ready, but Promise Worthy. Three cheers for AP equity.

Buzzing with Action

It’s June and Pennsylvania is starting to sound like a beehive on a sunny day, buzzing with public education activism.

In Philadelphia, grassroots public school advocates are pushing to restore a local, democratically elected school board after the state-imposed commission currently running the district passed a draconian budget, wiping out public education as we know it. The plan cuts 3,000 more employees (including teachers); completely eliminates counselors, librarians, and secretaries; provides only one nurse for every 1,500 students; and gets rid of athletics, music, and art. [Philly.com, 6-4-13] As Philly parents have pointed out, this is a plan to warehouse students, rather than educate them. [Philly.com, 6-2-13]

Meanwhile, in Allentown yesterday, public school advocates delivered a petition with hundreds of parent signatures protesting state budget cuts. Because of Governor Corbett’s massive de-funding of Pennsylvania’s public schools, Allentown has just proposed a plan to cut over 150 employees – nearly all teachers, and most of those in art, library, and physical education. As protestors marched past the Lehigh County Prison, one mother pointed at the building and observed that when students lose arts and extracurricular activities, “They wind up there.” [Lehigh Valley Live, 6-3-13]

Tonight in Shippensburg, our sister grassroots group Education Matters in the Cumberland Valley is hosting a rally to protest state budget cuts. The group will also be highlighting current budget priorities that drain resources away from public schools. All of the area’s state representatives were invited but are refusing to attend – a sign of just how out-of-touch many of our legislators are with their constituents. As Susan Spicka explains, “Our legislators … can choose to cut corporate taxes more or to fund public education. We need them to make funding public education their top priority.” [The Sentinel, 6-4-13]

And today in Harrisburg, a coalition of groups called on legislators to pass a responsible budget. Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner stressed, “Budgets are about priorities, and it is time for Harrisburg to put its priorities into what counts: schools, roads, safe and healthy communities.” Wager also said, “While I certainly recognize the need for balancing budgets, budgets should not be balanced on the backs of our students, working families and the elderly.” [Better Choices for Pennsylvania, 6-4-13]

Are the cuts to the state education budget and our schools making you feel like stinging someone? Here’s what you can do to get busy as a bee:

1. The Better Choices for PA coalition is asking for people across the state to flood the offices of the General Assembly today with calls demanding investment in our public goods. Find more information about this call-in-day here, along with a sample script you can read on the phone and an email form you can use to email your legislators afterwards.
2. If you miss your chance to call today, Education Voters PA has set its next state-wide call-your-legislator day for next Monday, June 10^th. Plan now to take a few minutes on that day to call your state representative, senator, and the governor’s office to let them know we must put $270 million back in this year’s budget – and each of the next two years – to replace the public funds cut to our schools.
3. In local action news, Pittsburgh Public Schools is asking for your input as it develops its strategic plan to deal with both financial and academic challenges. The plan is likely to include proposed school closings, along with increased class sizes and other measures.  We’ve learned that there will be no report from the district’s consultants – the administration is working right right now to develop recommendations. If you want your voice heard, now is the time to speak up! Take the survey today – it closes on Friday, June 7^th.
4. Finally, mark you calendars now for Tuesday, June 25^th! Yinzercation is part of a new coalition called GPS (Great Public Schools) Pittsburgh, which is sponsoring a bus trip to Harrisburg during the final week of budget negotiations. We will meet with our fellow grassroots advocates from all over the state – Philadelphia alone is planning to send 10 buses! – as we rally on the Capitol steps. We particularly want to encourage students to go, so please think about your own high school aged kids or student groups you work with and help us plan this action. Keep your eye out for more information on this exciting new coalition as well as the bus trip.

There’s nothing like an angry hive of parents, students, teachers, and community members fighting together for public education. These bees are ready to swarm. Join the action and buzz away!

Budget Talk

As we get closer to the end-of-June deadline, our legislators are finally talking about the state budget. Yesterday, the Republicans in the PA House proposed their own budget in response to Governor Corbett’s plan, announced in February. [See “Budget with a But”] Their version adds $10 million more for education, bringing the total increase to $100 million. [PA House GOP Proposed 2013-14 Budget] After two devastating years of cuts, any increase is good – but $100 million doesn’t get us close to the nearly $2 billion our kids have lost.

Perhaps most telling, the Republican plan counts on $85 million in “savings” from all the teachers who lost their jobs last year (since the state now won’t have to pay their portion of Social Security and pensions). However, rather than putting those “savings” fully back into education, the House GOP shifts $75 million over to other line items. Yet overall, this Republican budget spends $100 million less than even Gov. Corbett proposed, so there are plenty of cuts all around – including $32 million less for the Department of Public Welfare and a $3 million cut to child care services for the working poor. Meanwhile, the legislature would receive a $4 million increase for itself under this plan. [Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center analysis, 5-29-13]

The House GOP budget also fails to grapple with desperately needed pension reform. Gov. Corbett proposed some pension changes earlier this year, but this plan does not include any savings from those proposed changes. It also fails to take advantage of savings that Pennsylvania would see under the Affordable Care Act. By refusing to expand our Medicaid program using available federal aid, Gov. Corbett and the Republican-controlled legislature are refusing crucial funds that could free up other dollars to help school districts crippled by their own budget cuts. Is it any surprise that Corbett’s disapproval rating just ranked him as the 5^th worst Governor in the nation? [FiveThirtyEight at the NYT, 5-28-13]

At least his crazy plan to tie school funding to liquor privatization seems to be off the table for now. [See “Kids or Booze”] And the PA Budget and Policy Center reports that, “some lawmakers—and even the Corbett administration—are considering a delay in the phaseout of the capital stock and franchise tax.” The state has been rolling back this corporate tax, which is scheduled to be completely eliminated by next year. But if lawmakers freeze the tax at 2012 levels, the state could raise around $390 million to offset additional budget cuts. [PBPC, 5-29-13] This one is a no brainer. Pennsylvania taxpayers simply can’t afford all these corporate giveaways, which have tripled in just the past ten years: the legislature is now handing out well over $3 BILLION of our dollars to their corporate friends every year. [PBPC, 3-12-13]

While putting some money back into the “basic education subsidy” (one line item in the state education budget out of many), the proposed House Republican budget also leaves out many things. Our friend Larry Feinberg of the Keystone State Education Coalition reminds us that in fiscal year 2008-09, well before any federal stimulus money was applied to the state budget, “there were several line items in addition to the basic education subsidy that no longer exist or are significantly reduced.” [KSEC, 5-30-13] These include:

• High School Reform, $10.7 million eliminated
• Accountability Block Grant, $171.4 million reduction
• Tutoring, $65.1 million eliminated
• Dual Enrollment, $10.0 million eliminated
• Science: It’s Elementary, $13.6 million eliminated
• School Improvement Grants, $22.8 million eliminated
• Charter School Reimbursement, $226.9 million eliminated

That’s a total of $520.5 million eliminated to these programs alone. [See data comparison from Philadelphia Senator Vincent Hughes]

While House Republicans released their budget yesterday, House Democrats held a public hearing on education over on the other side of the state. Parents were invited to speak, along with our colleagues at the PA Budget and Policy Center and the Education Law Center. But I was disappointed to see that the corporate-reform group, Students First, was also given time on the agenda.

That is the organization founded by former D.C. school chancellor Michelle Rhee, most well known for firing people live on film, mass closings of schools, and a high-stakes-testing cheating scandal that appears to have unfolded with her knowledge. Despite that scandal, and confirmed cheating by adults in 37 other states, Rhee and her Students First continue to promote high-stakes-testing as the solution to our education woes. [See “A Plague of Cheating”] Students First PA promotes a school letter grading system based on the results of those tests, along with parent trigger laws – also known as parent “tricker” laws, which trick parents into thinking they have control over their schools, when in reality they are handing control over to privately managed companies. [See “Won’t Be Silent”]

Fortunately, our friend Colleen Kennedy, a public education advocate in Upper Darby and founder of the grassroots group, Save Upper Darby Arts, was at the hearing and reports, “Overall it was a productive meeting, and I think that most of the legislators are not falling for the corporate Students First approach.” Let’s hope she is right.

Speaking of Upper Darby, another group of parents in that district (which is right outside of Philadelphia), created a helpful petition on special education funding aimed at our state legislature during this budget negotiation season. This is a particularly detailed petition laying out the problems with the current way the state funds special education, negatively impacting all of our schools. I encourage you to read it and sign.

It’s time to get our legislators talking about what our kids really need in the next state budget: adequate, equitable, and sustainable public funding for their public schools. Get to work and fix special ed funding. Fix the charter funding formula. Fix the state funding formula. Get serious about pension reform. Accept available federal dollars to provide expanded healthcare coverage in Pennsylvania and free up funding for our schools. And stop giving away billions of our taxpayer dollars to corporations. You’ve got four weeks until the state budget is due. Go.

Can or Con

It must be all the spring rain – new corporate-style reform groups are popping up like weeds. The latest one just appeared in Pittsburgh on Tuesday with an Op Ed piece in the Post-Gazette promoting teacher evaluation. [Post-Gazette, 5-21-13] Called PennCAN, this group is an off-shoot of the Connecticut based ConnCAN, which has started a national effort known as 50CAN. So who are these “cans” and what are they saying?

ConnCAN was founded by investment manager Jonathan Sackler, who is also on the board of an oil and gas production company, a real estate investment company, and several pharmaceutical companies. He is also a trustee for Achievement First, which operates charter schools in four cities, as well as on the board of New Schools Venture Fund, which raises money to “invest” in “education entrepreneurs,” with a long history of funding charter schools and charter management organizations (CMOs).

Ten of the eleven members of ConnCAN’s board are hedge fund managers. In other words, these are not educators thinking about what is best for students: these are financiers who know about making money for their portfolios. Not surprisingly, ConnCAN promotes charter schools, vouchers (“money that follows the student”), teacher evaluation systems that eliminate union protections, and school turnaround (shorthand for firing teachers and principals, or even closing “under achieving” schools). ConnCAN makes bold claims about its work, though Rutgers School of Education scholar Dr. Bruce Baker recently shredded their assertion that their reforms are working in Connecticut. [School Finance 101, 3-7-13.]

Last fall, Mr. Sackler wrote a check for $50,000 to a superPAC (it’s largest donation) that is trying to eliminate the local, democratically elected school board in Bridgeport, Connecticut and replace it with a politically appointed board under the supervision of a corporate-reform mayor. Sackler’s ConnCAN has spawned a national effort, 50CAN, which is working to do the same thing in other states: for instance, in Minnesota, they supported the campaign of a pro-charter, Teach for America alumnus. (Unfortunately, Teach for America seems to be in the corporate-reform camp: a topic for a future blog post, but for starters, see educator and TFA alumnus Gary Rubinstein’s analysis of TFA’s biggest claims.) The chairman of 50CAN’s board is Mathew Kramer, the President of Teach for America, which also put money into that Minnesota race. [DianeRavitch 2-2-13] Other 50CAN board members include the presidents of two charter school chain operators and a representative from DFER (Democrats for Education Reform).

Jonathan Pelto, a former Connecticut state legislator, writes about ConnCAN and related groups explaining, “The charter school industry is spending record amounts to lobby government officials and buy local boards of education.” And he warns, “Backing up their lobbying effort is a broader strategy to change the rules and change the players as a way of ensuring they can build their charter schools and further privatize America’s public education system.” [Guest post on DianeRavitch 2-2-13; also see his alarming 12-2-12 analysis of the group’s teacher evaluation and explicitly anti-union work in Connecticut.]

So is this what we’re seeing here in Pittsburgh with the arrival of ConnCAN’s sister, PennCAN? The group actually started working last year and is just now moving into our part of the state (they’ve been advertising for a public affairs manager who lives in or has connections to Pittsburgh), but their agenda is clear. They want to expand charter schools and advocate for “systems that authorize schools,” which I take to mean a state-authorizer bill that would eliminate local control. (We already defeated this once last fall: see “Where are the Real Republicans?”) They also promote vouchers, which they call “scholarships to attend high-performing schools of [the student’s] choice, whether they be district, charter, private or parochial.” And, of course, PennCAN wants a “statewide evaluation system that incorporates student achievement” – in other words, using high-stakes-testing to evaluate our teachers. The only point of agreement it appears our grassroots movement has with this group is that we ought to preserve funding for early childhood education. [PennCAN 2012 Policy Agenda]

PennCAN’s opening salvo here in Pittsburgh focused on teacher evaluation, an issue that already has some traction given the district’s $40 million Gates Foundation grant for just that. And we’ve seen other local Gates-funded organizations promoting teacher evaluation, including A+Schools and Shepherding the Next Generation, giving the idea additional legs. [See “Big $” and “Astroturf”] Now guess who is funding the national 50CAN? You guessed it: the Gates Foundation. And the Waltons. And Google and Jonathan Sackler, to name a few.

Here in Pennsylvania, the operation is being funded by a Catholic group (the Catholic church in Philadelphia has been lobbying hard for vouchers and tax credits to help keep religious private schools afloat: See “2-4-6-8 Who Do We Appreciate?”). PennCAN donors also include the William Penn Foundation, now being sued by our sister-grassroots organization in Philadelphia for illegal lobbying efforts aimed at promoting more charter schools in that district. [See “When Foundations Go Bad”] And don’t forget Janine and Jeff Yass – that would be the Jeff Yass who made Pennsylvania’s top campaign donor list in the fall. He and two other of the top political donors in our entire state – Joel Greenberg and Arthur Dantchik – went to college together and then founded a Philadelphia hedge fund company. Then they founded the Students First superPAC to funnel millions of their dollars, plus those from out of state donors, into the races of pro-voucher candidates. [See “Charters are Cash Cows”]

So that’s who we’re dealing with. Nice bunch of corporate-style reformers bent on privatization. We’ll look at their claims more closely in a future piece, but for now, we’re calling this can a con.

A Rolling Rally

The wheels on the bus go round and round … Yesterday over 100 parents, students, teachers, and community members got on yellow buses for a tour of Pittsburgh. We drove through neighborhoods impacted by four rounds of school closures during the past ten years. Along the way we heard from students who told us about the effects of displacement from multiple school relocations and their disrupted education. And we got pledges from elected officials as well as candidates for school board, city council, and mayor, who agreed to three specific points in our grassroots call to action:

1. No school closings before neighborhood impact studies are conducted.
2. Make everyone pay their fair share: Explore and advocate for enhanced and additional sources of revenue before considering cuts or closings.
3. Keep public schools public: Reject any plan to give any control of our schools to the private sector.

Our new coalition, Great Public Schools (GPS) Pittsburgh, developed this three-point pledge and it truly represents the work of the grassroots: with many, many meetings and email conversations, dozens of people participated in this process from Action United, AFSCME, the Hill District Education Council, One Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network, Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, SEIU Healthcare PA, and Yinzercation.

It is far more specific about education issues than anything our legislators or candidates have been asked to sign before. As a result, both the pledge and the Rolling Rally brought out some key distinctions among our elected officials and would-be representatives. It’s now clear who is willing to hold the bus for Pittsburgh students, and who might throw our children under that bus.

Sitting school board member Regina Holley agreed to all three points and spoke briefly at the final Rally in front of the now-closed Schenley High School. Board member Mark Brentley arrived from another school event just at the end of the event to show his support, though he missed the chance to speak. Significantly, mayoral candidates Jack Wagner and Jake Wheatley committed to coming but never showed up. This was especially telling on a day when the Post-Gazette once again promoted Wagner as their candidate, yet he broke his own promise and failed to come support Pittsburgh students and their families. [Post-Gazette, 5-19-13]

However, Bill Peduto was there and spoke very movingly about the importance of great public schools for great communities. In fact, Bill Peduto has been at every single town-hall meeting, rally, community conversation, press conference, and education-related event our grassroots movement has sponsored. Where was Wagner? He seriously missed the bus on this one. There’s a reason Yinzercation strongly endorsed Bill Peduto. [See “Pittsburgh is Lucky”]

City council candidate Dan Gilman also came and spoke quite powerfully about the role of community schools in Pittsburgh’s future.

In the three contested school board races, six of the seven candidates hopped on the bus and rolled with us around the city. In District 9, both Carolyn Klug and Dave Schuilenburg agreed to the pledge (candidate Lorraine Burton Eberhard did not attend). Similarly, in District 1 both Lucille Prater-Holliday and Sylvia Wilson committed to the three point agenda. The real surprise came in District 5, where Terry Kennedy readily made the pledge, but Steve DeFlitch refused to commit to the second and third points (about advocating for state resources and not handing our public schools over to private corporations).

The Rolling Rally highlighted the serious subject of school closure now looming before our city once again. By getting pledges from our candidates, our grassroots movement is getting out in front on this issue and helping to promote a deep community conversation. And we’ve demonstrated who is literally willing to get on the bus for public education. Now it’s your turn: make sure you don’t miss your stop and get out to vote tomorrow!

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Sea to Shining Sea

Did you know that we organized Sunday’s Rolling Rally here in Pittsburgh to coincide with public education actions all over the United States? Starting tomorrow with an information picket line and student walkout in Philadelphia and running for six straight days there will be major actions in cities from coast to coast. Local organizers designed these events to show solidarity with the terrible situation in Chicago, where students are facing a tidal wave of 54 school closings. At all of these rallies you will likely see banners proclaiming:

Our City. Our Schools. Our Voice.
We Stand with Chicago!

Here’s how Pittsburgh fits into the national scene:

1. San Francisco (May 20^th at12 noon, City College of San Francisco (CCSF) Mission campus, 1125 Valencia Street). A rally and press conference will link the school closings in Chicago with the threatened closure of CCSF. Action will include street theater (“Chicago comes to San Francisco”), speakers (students, faculty, community organization rep), and a call to action.
2. New York City (May 18^th from 10am -4pm, PS 28 at 560 West 169^th Street). Mirabal Sisters, a member of the NYC Coalition for Educational Justice, is holding a Parent Convention and plans to organize a Skype session with Chicago parents to link school closings in both cities.
3. New York City (May 21^st from 5:30 8:00pm, Brooklyn Borough Hall). Training for approximately 75 parent leaders on the national school reform landscape, with a particular focus on the corporate school reform agenda. The link will be drawn between the school closing struggle in Chicago and the NYC 2013 parent-led education justice organizing led by the NYC Coalition for Educational Justice and the Urban Youth Collaborative.
4. Philadelphia (May 17^th, Philadelphia School District Building). Hundreds of teachers will organize a citywide informational picket in support of full funding for public schools as students arrive in the morning. A citywide student walkout & press conference at City Hall is being organized in the afternoon to call on local politicians to fund Philadelphia public schools with the supports students need.
5. Pittsburgh (May 19^th, buses pick up at Weil, Obama, Burgwin; end at Schenley). Bus tour with parents, students, educators and community activists of schools that have been closed or converted to charter schools. At each school, the bus will pick up more people, and speakers will talk about the impact of the school closing on the local neighborhood.
6. Houston (May 19^th, Harris County AFL-CIO located at 2506 Sutherland Street). Community Voices for Public Education, the Texas Organizing Project, and the Houston Federation of Teachers are organizing a teach-in to explain the corporate agenda for public education, with an emphasis on school privatization, charter expansion, and testing.
7. Kansas City (May 22^nd at 6pm, Kansas City Public Library located at 4801 Main Street where Michelle Rhee will be speaking). Community members from MORE2 will be leafleting outside the event linking Michelle Rhee to the national corporate agenda for public education and what is happening in Kansas City and Chicago. Teachers will be inside the event sitting in silent protest.
8. Boston (May 18^th, English High School at 144 McBride Street). Educators for Social Justice Conference with parents, students and educators, with a focus on “creating the schools we deserve” and exposing the corporate agenda.
9. Newark (May 22^nd, Roseville Avenue School located at 70 Roseville Avenue). Activists will hold a large press conference calling on the Mayor and Governor to halt school closings, end the State takeover of Newark Public Schools, and express solidarity with the struggle in Chicago.
10. Hillsborough County, Tampa, Florida (May 18^th, 9:30am-12:00pm, University Area Community Development Center, 14013 N. 22^nd ST, Tampa, FL). Public education advocates will hold a second Town Hall, with a partial focus on the national context.
11. New Orleans (May 20^th at 5pm, John Mcdonogh Senior High School, 2426 Esplanade Ave, New Orleans). A large press conference, followed by a town hall meeting, will highlight the national and local context of school closures and to end the state takeover of public schools.
12. New Orleans (May 21^st at 5pm, McDonogh 35 High School, 1331 Kerlerec Street, New Orleans). Another press conference will demand that the Orleans Parish School Board expands seats available in successful public schools so that parents and students have a real choice.
13. New Britain, CT (May 22^nd at 6pm, Central Park of New Britain). “Education is a Civil Right” is the message of this broad rally and march in support of funding for the public schools.
14. Cleveland (May 20^th, CASTLE Charter School located in downtown Cleveland). This action will draw the link between school closings and charter expansion, highlighting the lack of charter accountability.
15. Cincinnati (May 20^th, Cincinnati Public Schools headquarters). Testimony by union and community leaders at the School Board meeting will declare that Cincinnati must not adopt the school closing policy being proposed for Chicago, and that Cincinnati teachers and parents stand in solidarity with the Chicago Teachers Union and community.
16. St. Paul (May 20^th, Como Park at 1225 Eastbrook Drive). The St. Paul Federation of Teachers will express solidarity with teachers and parents in Chicago

Pretty exciting, eh? We here in Pittsburgh are not alone. We have grassroots colleagues from sea to shining sea working on the very same issues. And when we work together we are powerful.

Please plan to come to the Rolling Rally on Sunday to learn more about school closures – and take a tour of our Steel City. Yinzercation is co-sponsoring this Get on the Bus event with our partners: the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, PIIN, Action United, One Pittsburgh, AFSCME, SEIU Healthcare PA, and the Hill District Education Council. The school buses will make several pickups, so hop on at a stop near you:

• Weil School – 3PM
• Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (across from Obama School) – 3:30PM
• Manchester School – 3:45PM
• Burgwin School – 4:15PM

We will end the tour with a big action at the former Schenley High School in Oakland at 5PM. More information and RSVP on our Facebook event page. Come ride the bus in solidarity with Chicago, and come because we need to talk about school closure in Pittsburgh, too.