Education
New report claims $250M savings from cyber-charter funding reform
A progressive advocacy group says fixing the way Pennsylvania funds cyber-charter schools would save the taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year, cut down on waste at the schools, and improve student outcomes. The group, Education Voters of Pa., says it wants lawmakers to set a statewide tuition rate for the online schools at […]
Schuylkill County teachers will continue legal fight against arming school staff
A Schuylkill County judge says she needs more information from a local teachers union before ruling on a policy that would allow employees to carry firearms in schools. The Tamaqua Education Association said Thursday it will file an amended complaint in the coming days against the Tamaqua School District, which adopted a policy last year permitting some […]
Parkland, One Year Later: This is what these South Florida high school shooting survivors want you to know
To relive what I experienced every single day and be saddled with the guilt of survival, leads to an excruciating existence. But I know I’m not alone. All of us at MSD are inexorably linked to a frighteningly growing list of mass shooting survivors.
Taxing video games won’t be enough to keep Pa. schools safe, bipartisan legislators say
A suburban Philly lawmaker’s suggestion to furnish school safety dollars by taxing violent video games received a lot of press — with occasional blowback — this week. Bills from Rep. Chris Quinn, R-Delaware, would slap a 10 percent tax on all games rated M or higher to pay for school safety funding. According to the video […]
Wolf panned Corbett’s education policies, but inherited his charter review board without complaint: report
Gov. Tom Wolf ran for the state’s top spot in 2014 promising to improve education across the Commonwealth, but he’s had a light touch on charter school regulation during his first term in office. Wolf hasn’t made a single appointment to the state’s Charter Schools Appeal Board, according to a report in The Notebook, a […]
Lehigh County lawmaker blasts lack of Latino enrollment in Pa’s state-owned universities
An Allentown lawmaker whose district is majority Latino laced into the head of Pennsylvania’s state university system Tuesday, saying it’s “shameful” that new Latino enrollment has dropped, even as the system schools have touted their recruiting efforts. State Rep. Peter Schweyer, a Democrat, told Daniel Greenstein, the new chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, […]
Suburban Philly lawmaker’s bill would require schools to teach students about dating violence
A Montgomery County lawmaker is hoping the second time’s the charm on bill that would require Pennsylvania high schools to teach “dating violence” education to their students. In a ‘Dear Colleague’ memo sent out late last week, Rep. Thomas P. Murt, a Republican from Hatboro, cited Centers for Disease Control data showing that “approximately 10 percent […]
Bipartisanship is passé. No one told Jordan Harris.
The new House Democratic whip is savvy enough to forge allies in unlikely places.
School shooters usually show these signs of distress long before they open fire | Opinion
By Jillian Peterson James Densley Two years before he lined his schoolmates up against a classroom wall and executed them one by one, the student, who would become the gunman, tried to show his English teacher something important. He had quietly slid up his sleeves to reveal the cut marks running down his arms. The […]
Higher teacher salaries sound appealing, but can districts afford them long term?
Gov. Tom Wolf’s budget proposal contains a provision that’s hard to argue with, at least on the surface: higher salaries for teachers. In his 2019-20 budget, Wolf provides nearly $14 million to bump up salaries in districts where teachers make less than $45,000 per year to start. According to state Department of Education records, 178 […]
This Pa. university helps single moms and their kids get out of poverty. The Wolf administration wants to copy that success
In his Tuesday budget address, Gov. Tom Wolf focused on ways to get Pennsylvanians into good-paying jobs, from more investment in early education to revamped workforce programs. He also highlighted the work of Misericordia, a 2,879-student liberal arts university in Northeastern Pa. The school “is home to one of only eight programs in the country that […]
Democrats are happy with Wolf’s budget proposal — but want to go further
The reaction from Gov. Tom Wolf’s own party to his Tuesday budget address? It’s a start. Members of the Democratic minority from both chambers sees Wolf’s proposed budget as an uncontroversial kickoff to negotiations they hope to expand to include more policies in the coming months. “It’s consistent with the previous budgets of the governor, […]