Elected Officials
How (and why) to Run for School Board
From the good people at Education Voters of PA This year school board elections will be on the ballot! Have you considered running for school board and would like to learn more? Join Education Voters of Pennsylvania and guests Sandra Miller and Larry Feinberg, current Pennsylvania school board members, for a discussion on the…
Read MoreICYMI – PA Republicans pass massive charter school & school voucher expansion
Form our friends at Education Voters of PA: Last week in the House, Republicans passed four charter school bills. One bill in the package, HB 357, is the Holy Grail expansion bill that the charter industry has been seeking for years. If HB 357 becomes law, charter school expansion will be turbocharged throughout the commonwealth.…
Read MoreCALL TO ACTION – Act now to push for necessary change to the Charter Appeals Board (CAB)!
Act now to push for necessary change to the Charter Appeals Board (CAB)! As BASD Proud Parents recently posted, of the Pennsylvania Charter Appeals Board’s 5 active members… ALL are serving long past the end-date of their initial term, and NONE are directly affiliated with or bringing the perspective of traditional public schools to CAB…
Read MoreICYMI – Stop the Charter School Expansion Bills!
From Our good friends at Education Voters of PA! Last week Republican members of the House Education Committee advanced two charter school expansion bills that deliver the charter school industry’s wish list. We anticipate that the House will vote on these bills in early June. Click HERE to send a letter to your state representative telling…
Read MoreICYMI–PETITION–End Tom Corbett’s influence over education in PA
From our good friends at Education Voters of Pennsylvania http://educationvoterspa.org/: Tom Corbett was voted out of office more than four years ago, yet his appointees continue to control the Charter School Appeal Board (CAB), a powerful body that can overturn school board decisions to deny charter school applications and strip communities of control over their…
Read MoreHow Much Would Your School District Receive in Gov. Wolf’s Proposal?
Recently, Governor Wolf gave his budget address and proposed the following increases in K-12 funding in the 2019-2020 state budget: $10 million for career and technical education funding $50 million for special education funding $168 million for Basic Education Funding that will be distributed to school districts through the formula* $45 million in grant funding…
Read MoreKnow Your House and Senate Education Committee Members
House Education Chair: Representative Curt Sonney Democratic Chair: Representative James Roebuck Majority members: Minority members: ◾ Brown, Rosemary M. ◾ Gainey, Ed ◾ Gaydos, Valerie S. ◾ Hill-Evans, Carol ◾ Gillen, Mark M. ◾ Isaacson, MaryLouise ◾ Gleim, Barbara ◾ Kim, Patty ◾ Hickernell, David S. ◾ Madden, Maureen E. ◾ Jones, Mike ◾ McCarter, Stephen ◾ Kail, Joshua D. ◾ Miller, Dan L. ◾ Knowles, Jerry ◾ Mullery, Gerald J. ◾ Ortitay, Jason ◾ Solomon, Jared G. ◾ Puskaric, Michael…
Read MoreResolution No. 2019 – in Support of Fair Funding Formula for Pennsylvania Schools
How bad is Pennsylvania in the area of equitable education funding? A 2015 Washington Post study found that Pennsylvania’s state and local per-pupil spending in its poorest school districts is 33 percent lower than per-pupil spending in the state’s most affluent school districts, nearly double that of the next worse state and the highest differential…
Read MorePublic Education Questionnaire – Candidate Dr. Dean Donaher
The Following answers are from Dr. Dean Donaher from our Bethlehem School District Board of Directors, running for State Representative, Northampton County 138th Legislative District 1. Do you believe state funding for public education is adequate to meet all student’s needs? No. Currently state funding is not equitably distributed. The “Fair Funding Formula” recently passed by…
Read MoreHow Your Elected Officials Vote
Are you unsure about how your elected officials and legislators have or are voting? There is a great site called Vote Smart that lets you do just that. All you need to do is search for your elected official’s name. When their profile comes up, select whatever issue you are inquiring about from the drop-down…
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