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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | March 19, 2013 04:02 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Patricia H. Vance |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Memo #16 - Community College Funding Flexibility Plan |
| In the near future, I plan to reintroduce SB1508, which Senator Piccola and I sponsored last year. This legislation would amend the Public School Code to provide school districts that sponsor community colleges more flexibility in the amount they contribute toward their community college’s annual operating costs and annual capital expenses. Under current law, local sponsors of a community college provide the community college with funding at least equal to the community college’s annual operating costs, less student tuition, and less the Commonwealth’s appropriation. In addition, the local sponsors must provide one-half of the community college’s annual capital expenses. While many school districts recognize the benefit community college sponsorship offers families in their communities, providing the required funding at the same time they are stretching their budgets and eliminating programs has become increasingly difficult. The proposed bill would alleviate this problem by providing that, for a community college that (1) is sponsored by one or more school districts, (2) has an enrollment head count in excess of 20,000, and (3) has more than four campuses that are approved by both the Department of Education and the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, the local sponsors will provide to the community college an amount negotiated by the governing body of the local sponsor and the community college. At this time, only Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC) would be impacted by the bill, thus allowing HACC’s sponsoring school districts to negotiate a more affordable funding level. Previous Co-Sponsors include: Piccola, Corman, M. White, Alloway, Smucker, and Folmer |
Introduced as SB874