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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2015 - 2016
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | October 28, 2015 04:16 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Marguerite Quinn |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Nonpublic School Textbooks |
| In the near future, I will be introducing legislation to ensure that, in the event of a delay in the enactment of the state’s budget, students in nonpublic schools are not denied access to school workbooks. As you are no doubt aware, the protracted budget impasse for the 2015-2016 fiscal year has had a tremendous impact on our nearly 274,000 nonpublic school students, many of whom have already been in school for several months and yet have been without the use of workbooks. This delay in access to critical resources unnecessarily penalizes our nonpublic school students. Specifically, this legislation will authorize and require the PA Department of Education (PDE), in the event that a budget is not enacted by July 15th, to use any unspent funds previously appropriated for nonpublic school textbooks, materials and equipment for purchase of student workbooks. In the event that these funds are less than $2 million, the Department will be required to use unspent funds from general government operations. Any amount allocated from these funds shall be deducted from the total allocation appropriated for nonpublic school textbooks, materials and equipment once a budget has been enacted. Ensuring that these funds are available for the purchase of materials for nonpublic students before the start of the school year is particularly imperative, considering that the entire process of ordering and delivery of workbooks can take several weeks, potentially delaying the learning process for these students even further. I believe that it is unfair for our students in nonpublic schools to remain at disadvantage without the use of educational materials when the final state budget has not been enacted in a timely manner. I hope that you will join me in supporting our nonpublic students by co-sponsoring this legislation. |
Introduced as HB1706