Weekly Legislative Report

Monday, January 4, 2010

In this report…

·        Lawmakers Return to Capitol

·        Race to the Top Focus of House Education Hearing

·        Piccola Introduces New Education Empowerment Proposal

Lawmakers Return to Capitol

The Senate and House return to session tomorrow to possibly try and pass table games legislation. The Governor has threatened to lay off 1,000 state employees if they do not pass the bill by Friday.  

The following bills are on Second Consideration on the Senate Calendar:

SB 1011 (Dinniman): Amends the School Code, establishing a “residency certificate” and allows the Secretary of Education to issue a residency certificate on a one-time-only basis to permit and individual with content knowledge to serve in a particular shortage area of instruction while completing an intensive teacher training program.

SB 1073 (Piccola): Amends the School Code, establishing a co-pay schedule for persons enrolling in the Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts Program that are above Head Start and subsidized day care income eligibility levels but below defined eligibility criteria.

SB 1086 (Dinniman): Amends the School Code, eliminating primary elections for school director nominations and requiring school directors to be elected at November municipal elections beginning in 2011.  

SB 1135 (Orie): Amends the School Code, allowing the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) to set its own Right-to-Know policy with the approval of the PIAA Oversight Committee.

Race to the Top Focus of House Education Hearing

The House Education Committee will hold a hearing this week on Race to the Top funding. Secretary of Education Gerald Zahorchak will discuss the Race to the Top program and Pennsylvania’s application for the funding.

Piccola Introduces New Education Empowerment Proposal

Senate Education Committee Chairman Jeff Piccola (R-15) held a news conference last week to discuss the details of his legislative proposal that would create a new Education Empowerment Law for the Commonwealth, replacing the current statute to comply with federal standards and providing under-performing schools in the state the tools necessary to turn themselves around. Under the proposal, districts and schools persistently failing to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) will face increasingly serious consequences. Districts and schools that fail to make AYP for eight or more years will fall under the control of a three-member School Reform Commission (SRC) reporting to the Secretary of Education. The Secretary would have the authority to order the SRC to close a school or dissolve a district. The legislation would apply to all school districts except the Philadelphia School District which would continue to be governed under school improvement provisions of the School Code. The Senate Education Committee will hold public hearings on the proposal.