Category Archives: Education

Philly & Allentown Students Protest Education Cuts

Posted on May 20, 2013 by | 1 Comment |

Hundreds of students in two major cities in Pennsylvania recently organized, rallied, and marched in protest of continued slashing of education funding for their schools. In Philadelphia and in Allentown, students held signs and chanted to fight against cuts to … More after the jump →

Posted in Budget/Taxes/Spending, Education, Northeast PA, Philadelphia and suburbs

Senate Democrats’ Plan for PA’s Distressed Older Cities Falls Far Short of What’s Needed

Posted on December 19, 2012 by | 1 Comment |

I was venting about this on Twitter earlier, but it deserves a proper blog post. The problems of PA’s distressed mid-sized cities are an issue I care about a great deal. Older cities are badly disadvantaged by state-level municipal finance and annexation … More after the jump →

Posted in Budget/Taxes/Spending, Education, Land Use, The Economy

America the Segregated

Posted on November 1, 2012 by | 3 Comments |

If you read one long form web article this week make it ProPublica’s authoritative piece, by Nikole Hannah-Jones, on segregation in America and the unfulfilled promise of the Fair Housing Act. The article is packed with revealing facts about the political cowardice … More after the jump →

Posted in Civil Rights, Education, Elections, National Politics, Social Services Tagged , , , , , ,

Is Montco’s Vereb Plotting a PA House GOP Leadership Challenge?

Posted on October 25, 2012 by | 1 Comment |

Why would a state representative from a moderate suburban Philadelphia district: – Boast of his 100% rating from the far-right American Conservative Union by posting this photo, – Post a photo of himself shaking hands with unpopular-in-Southeast-PA Gov. Corbett on the occasion … More after the jump →

Posted in Education, House of Representatives, LGBT / Gay Rights, Philadelphia and suburbs, Regional News, State Government Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

If You’re Explaining, You’re Losing: PA GOP Education Funding Edition

Posted on October 10, 2012 by | Comments Off |

Tom Corbett’s education cuts continue to be a hot issue in a lot of state legislature races, and my advice to Democrats is to keep pushing this as hard as possible. Blame the Republicans for the cuts to school districts, blame them … More after the jump →

Posted in 2012 - Election or End-of-days?, Education

Charles Gehret vs. Justin Simmons on PA Republicans’ Education Funding Record

Posted on October 9, 2012 by | 1 Comment |

Charles Gehret, the Republican mounting a doomed challenge to Daylin Leach in SD-17, directly contradicts Justin Simmons and friends in this new ad: “This is where Governor Tom Corbett and I part ways. I believe it’s a mistake to cut … More after the jump →

Posted in 2012 - Election or End-of-days?, Budget/Taxes/Spending, Education

How to Improve the Pittsburgh Promise

Posted on October 4, 2012 by | 1 Comment |

Good piece at the Atlantic Cities blog on what the Pittsburgh Promise program can learn from the Kalamazoo Promise: The Pittsburgh Promise began in 2007 as an unfunded idea to offer college tuition to those who enrolled in Pittsburgh Public … More after the jump →

Posted in Education

James Roebuck’s Common Sense Reforms for Greater Charter School Accountability

Posted on October 3, 2012 by | 3 Comments |

I’m more pro-charter schools than I would guess the median KP reader is, but one thing I think PA’s charter skeptics are absolutely right about is the lack of accountability. The key virtue of a liberal regulatory approach to charters … More after the jump →

Posted in Education

Well-funded Public Education is a Bigger Progressive Transfer Than Progressive Taxes

Posted on October 2, 2012 by | Comments Off |

The Independent Fiscal Office is out with an analysis of HB1776 – the bill that would replace school property taxes with increases in the personal income and sales taxes, and they say it raises more money than the Department of Revenue … More after the jump →

Posted in Budget/Taxes/Spending, Education

#HD131: Kevin Deely Brings the Real Numbers on Justin Simmons’ School Funding Cuts

Posted on October 1, 2012 by | 1 Comment |

Kevin Deely cuts through Justin Simmons’ sad attempts to confuse voters about his record on school funding with the actual numbers: Rep. Simmons disingenuously boasts of actually increasing funding to Lehigh Valley schools. In reality,our schools are suffering from the … More after the jump →

Posted in 2012 - Election or End-of-days?, Education