Chester Upland Education Association

  CUEA NEWS  610-328-6255

Last Revised:  03/16/10 02:21 PM

 Tax Time:    Dues - total $707.00    PSEA $415.00        NEA $162.00        CUEA $130.00

Easter Monday

Majority of the members agreed to work Easter Monday to make up the snow day.  School will be in session on Monday, April 5, 2010.

ACTION NEEDED – Education Funding Vote Imminent

Please call your State Representative as soon as possible and ask them to VOTE YES on HB 2279 and ask them to OPPOSE any amendments to the bill. This legislation contains next year’s proposed state budget, which includes a $354 million increase for basic education and continues the funding formula we have worked so hard to achieve and maintain.

This vote represents an important step in the budget process and it is imperative that HB 2279 pass with basic education funding levels intact at the governor’s proposed amount. So, please take a few minutes to make this important contact. Encourage your colleagues to make a contact too. Send them an email with the legislator’s emails phone number.

Your contact with your legislator on this bill could be the one that moves him or her to vote for children and public education, so thank you from your colleagues and your kids.
 

Capitol wire: Largest state teacher's union endorses Onorato for governor.

By Peter L. DeCoursey
Bureau Chief
Capitolwire

PHILADELPHIA (March 10) – The political action committee of the state’s largest teacher’s union is recommending that its members vote for Democrat Dan Onorato for governor in the May 18 primary election.

The support of the Pennsylvania State Education Association Political Action Committee for Education [PSEA-PACE] was announced by PSEA President James Testerman at a City Line Hilton here. The PSEA represents about 191,000 current, former and future teachers. It represents most of the state's public school teachers outside of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Scranton.

Auditor General Jack Wagner, Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel, Sen. Anthony Williams, D-Philadelphia, and Onorato, who serves as Allegheny County executive, are vying in the Democratic primary election.

Attorney General Tom Corbett and state Rep. Sam Rohrer, R-Berks, are contesting the Republican primary nomination. Rohrer did not ask for consideration for the PSEA endorsement.

The union interviewed Corbett but declined to endorse any Republican in the primary, Testerman said. He said many members of the 17-member board, which interviewed the candidates, “felt a disconnect with Corbett.”

Testerman said they were concerned that Corbett had signed a pledge not to raise net taxes, but would not commit as firmly to major future increases in public education and pre-K funding.

Corbett campaign manager Brian Nutt responded: "Tom's worried about reducing the tax burden on families. He is not going to recklessly agree to any of spending commitments now, until we see the economic and budget situation we are in when he takes office."

Onorato, on the other hand, separated himself during the interview process from Hoeffel and the other Democrats by convincing the board he shared and could achieve their joint educational goals, Testerman said.

Testerman said: “PSEA-PACE’s elected board invited the candidates for governor to a forum with education professionals in January,” CLICK HERE for a story about that forum, “and in February we interviewed every candidate who was interested in our support. In the end we recommended the candidate who most shared our vision for education, and on issues that matter most to our members.”

Onorato said after the endorsement: “This was a big win for us, because it showed a major organization understood I have a viable campaign and a serious campaign on the issues. A serious organization picked us on substance, and the ability to carry out the education plan this state needs, because I have governed and proved I can achieve tough goals.”

Wagner responded: "I've received endorsements from the Pennsylvania Business Council, the restaurant association - I'm sure there will be many endorsements of many kinds as this process goes along," Wagner said.

The campaigns of Hoeffel and Williams did not respond to a request for comment.

On the issues that PSEA has highlighted, Onorato and Hoeffel have largely agreed. Both have committed to funding public education and pre-K education as proposed by Gov. Ed Rendell and supported by the PSEA.

Wagner said that was a goal but given the difficult economic times, he could not promise to fund those programs as scheduled. Williams has said increasing education funding is not the solution, but rather proposed transforming education in ways the PSEA has not endorsed.

The PSEA endorsement is considered one of the most valuable a Democrat running for governor or U.S. Senate can win, Democratic insiders said. The union phone-banks its members for its endorsee, has given sums greater than $500,000, and repeatedly features endorsed candidates in mailings to members. Other highly-prized endorsements include the Building Trades councils in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh regions, the endorsement of the Service Employment International Union, and the backing of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO.

G. Terry Madonna, a pollster and political scientist at Franklin & Marshall Colleage, said: “They are one of the top-ten givers to candidates in the state, they have a very sophisticated and skillful political network, they know how to use their membership. They are in the top 10, if not top five, of organizations you want helping if you are running statewide.

“They give money, they have people, they do mailings and put the people on the street. If you are a Democratic candidate, their support is not proof you are going to win, but it is invaluable.”

Testerman said: “We plan on putting the organization behind Dan. We want to see where we can best use our political action resources. We don’t do this with dues money, and make sure we invest in ways that will give him the biggest bang for his buck in this primary.”

At the PSEA forum in mid-January, Hoeffel sought, as he has throughout the primary to portray himself as “the true progressive, the proven progressive” in the race.

Onorato has countered by saying: “I have a record of governing progressively, and you will see that as we go forward, and you will see groups responding to that.”

Testerman said the union committee interviewed Hoeffel, Onorato and Wagner, since Williams had not entered the race when the union did its forum and candidate interviews.

Asked how the union PACE board, which only endorses if a candidate gets a two-thirds vote, picked Onorato over Hoeffel, Testerman said: “The ability to win is definitely part of what we consider. We also look very closely, and depend more on the interview, and during the interview, Dan was most closely aligned with what we believe will make the most difference for the children of the commonwealth.

“One of the things that made the difference for us was that Dan was able to much better articulate the issues we laid out in our vision document, on class size, transition programs, early childhood and really seemed to have a clear idea of how he was going to get there,” Testermand said.

That was not as true of Hoeffel, Testerman said.

But he said: “We’re also glad Joe’s in the race because he’s forcing folks in the race to talk about some of the more progressive issues, some of the progressive solutions to the state’s problems. Joe is the one talking about coming up with resources to generate the revenues for public education and public services, he is forcing that conversation and that is a good thing.”

After the endorsement announcement, Onorato said: “Let’s be clear. Joe’s campaign talks about taxes” on income, gas and other levies “that I don’t support. But I am saying if we want the most-skilled, best-trained workforce, if we want to have the best jobs and more jobs, we have to invest in education. And if we are serious about not raising property taxes, the state has to pay its share. Because if the state doesn’t, local property taxes are going up. That is what the candidates who won’t commit to the education funding formula increase aren’t telling voters.”

Testerman said Onorato’s ability to raise funds – Onorato had $6.5 million in the bank when last year ended, compared to $400,000-plus for Hoeffel – helped persuade the union he was their best choice for a fall candidate.

“When you look at their ability to raise funds and the statewide campaign infra they have, the ability to campaign statewide, there is a clear difference,” Testerman said.

Support from groups like the PSEA and other unions that have backed Onorato will only widen that gap, Madonna said.

“We are coming to the point where in the last four to six weeks of the campaign, it is going to come down to who can afford to air TV ads and who can’t,” Madonna said. “This is the kind of thing that helps you get your message out in ads.”

James Vaughan

Assistant Executive Director Government Relations

PSEA

Promethean ActivEducator Mini-Conference
Chester-Upland School District
Science and Discovery Campus
Science & Discovery High School

1100 W. 10th Street

Chester, PA 19013

Negotiations Update

CUEA Negotiation Committee.

CUEA met with the negotiation committee on Tuesday, February 23, 2010.  The members who are volunteering their time are:  Connie Sierra, Michelle Paulick, Bonita Davis, George Walker, John Shelton, Stephanie Donofry, J’Me McLaughlin, Karen Kelly, Jennette Smith, Stan Borek, Sara Ferguson, Roland Gosselin, Pam Richers, Jennette Smith.

 From the CUEA survey returns, the committee reviewed the contract, making corrections, adding language and deleting language. 

 Negotiations  

We are just beginning to negotiate with the school district.  Our contract ends on June 30, 2010.  Our goal is to have a new contract by the end of June.

 CUEA and the school district met on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 for the first session.  The purpose of the session was to establish procedures for negotiating.  The district and CUEA will be negotiating in two parts; one part will only be dealing with non-economic issues (such as language in the contract); the other part will be dealing with economic issues (salaries, benefits).

  CUEA members will be kept abreast on negotiations.

 We are asking all CUEA members to make sure that their Reps have their email addresses (not district) and telephone numbers. 

 Please contact me if you have any concerns or questions.

PSEA Pre-Retirement Workshops

Monday, March 22, 2010                                         Tuesday, March 23, 2010

5:30-8:30 P.M.                                                            5:30 - 8:30 P.M. 

Drexelbrook Country CLub                                        The Desmond 

Drexelbrook Drive and Valley Road                            One Liberty Boulevard

Drexel Hill, PA                                                                Malvern, PA

$20.00 per person                                                            $20.00 per person

Registration information will be mailed to PSEA members age 50 and older.

Can register online at www.psea.org/mbworkshops and over the phone.

Praxis Test

People can take the Praxis for free if they made an attempt and were not successful. Studies have shown
that a person who was shy a few points of passing will most likely pass it the second time (but of course there is the fee).

Link to the above information is:  http://www.teaching.state.pa.us/teaching/lib/teaching/FreePraxisRetest.p

Approaching Medicare --65th Birthday

Please inform all members who are approaching their 65th birthday, that one must register for Medicare part B in the period covering the three (3) months prior to one becoming age 65, as well as three (3) months following one's 65th birthday.  If a person does not enroll in Medicare Part B when first eligible, he/she may sign up from January 1 through March 1 of each year.  However, one will incur a premium penalty which will never go away!

Click Here to Contact CUEA

The Pennsylvania Department of Education recently finalized the changes it is making to its review of Master's Equivalency (MEQ) applications. At issue is PDE's interpretation of the following longstanding language from Chapter 49, specifically the underlined language:

“The Letter of Equivalency for Master’s Degree is issued to persons holding a valid Instructional I, Instructional II, Educational Specialist I, Educational Specialist II certificate, Vocational Instructional I, Vocational Instructional II certificate, or their equivalents, upon the accumulation of 36 hours of graduate level credit. A minimum of 18 academic graduate credits shall be earned in the content area of the applicant’s primary teaching assignment at a college or university approved to offer graduate work. A maximum of 18 of the credit requirement may be satisfied through in-service programs approved by the Secretary for meeting master’s equivalency requirements.” 22 Pa. Code- §49.191(2) [Emphasis added.]

Full text of the October 2007 Penn*Link release is available on PSEA’s website at http://www.psea.org/content.cfm?Filen=esd_pennlink.pdf.doc

Some History

While the above language has been in the certification regulations for many years, the Department used a very liberal interpretation to the extent that approximately 40% of the applications contained credits related to neither the applicant’s certification nor assignment. An example cited is a school nurse’s application that contained 36 credits in Art. That application was approved.

In the late summer/early fall of 2006, PSEA became aware that PDE had changed its practice and was rejecting MEQ applications. PDE began to apply a stricter interpretation of the language and our members complained of the change. Specifically, the Department reduced the latitude regarding what kinds of credits were acceptable. After a number of discussions between PSEA and PDE, PDE realized that the dramatic change without warning was, at best, unfair. PDE subsequently reevaluated the applications and approved those that would have been approved under the old standard.

When Will the Change Take Place?

The Department considers November 1, 2007 as the date by which all teachers in the state have been notified of the change.  This notification was accomplished via a Penn*Link on October 25.   While this may appear to be short notice, the Department is not using that date in terms of “applications received after...”; but rather “courses taken after” that date. Applications received with all courses taken before November 1, 2007 will be reviewed under the more flexible interpretation. Teachers registering for courses after that date will need to make sure the courses will be applicable under the new interpretation by PDE.

What Will Change?

PDE officials believe the current standard of review is not in compliance with the regulation. To bring its practice in line with the regulations, the Department “will no longer accept graduate credits submitted by an educator that are not in an educator’s certified content area. The Department will permit the required 18 academic graduate credits to be in any certified content area held by the educator rather than in just the content area of the educator’s primary teaching assignment.” In other words, the following apply:

• Realizing that assignments change, sometimes annually, the Department’s review of the credits will be based on the applicant’s certification(s). If there are multiple certifications, the credits can be related to any/all regardless of whether the certification is being used.
• Any applicant can take up to 18 credits of in-service (IU) courses approved by the Secretary, as the regulations clearly state.
• Elementary certified applicants will be expected to take at least 18 credits in content or pedagogy, methodology, or instructional environment related to elementary.
• Secondary certified applicants will be expected to take at least 18 credits in their content area(s) or pedagogy, methodology, or instructional environment related to secondary.
• All course credits must be graduate-level or PDE-approved IU credits and completed with a grade of “C” or higher.

Past Practice?

A question often raised with this issue is “Isn’t this a violation of a past practice?” The answer is no. Past practice is a term used to argue that the prior behavior of one party or the other to a bargained agreement constitutes practice under that agreement; whether the language of the agreement specifies the behavior or not. We are in no such situation with the state. The regulatory language is not bargained language and the behavior of the Department, when found to be out of compliance with the regulations, can be corrected at any time. PSEA was fortunate to procure a delay in the implementation of the correction.

Questions or Concerns

PSEA fully realizes that this change creates some hardship for some of our members. PSEA has worked very hard to ameliorate the impact and, as the language of the regulation is clear, had little latitude with which to work.

 

Act 48 Hours

Any members with problems in their PDE Act 48 records for the 2005-2010 cycle should contact their Region Director (info below).  These will be dealt with on a case by case basis.

PDE will not be dealing with errors in the first cycle that worked in an educator’s favor. (per Marian Sutter, 8/24/06)

We are IU #25

IU #    Director        Phone #

14, 20-26 and 29        Delorez Cobb-Jones      717-783-4307   

New Sites --Keep Informed

Legislation introduced week of March 20:
http://www.progressivepapolitics.com/Legislation/06-3-20.html
To find out more about a particular bill go to:
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/session.cfm
And type in bill number for either House or Senate
Don't forget to add the legislative session page to your favorites for a quick trip to check out legislation, session dates or other legislature related questions

Chester Upland School District State Board of Control Meetings

2009-2010 Meetings--All Meetings will begin at 6:30 P.M.

February 18, 2010
March 24, 2010
April 15, 2010
May 20, 2010
June 17, 2010

 

 

No Child Left Behind Act also known as 2001 Reauthorization of the Elementary & Secondary Education Act.  Important for all members to read.  Details on page "Important Info".