PRINTER'S NO. 1159
No. 1006 Session of 1983
INTRODUCED BY FREEMAN, BURNS, STEWART, WOZNIAK, COHEN, WAMBACH,
DEAL, DALEY, KASUNIC, AFFLERBACH, KOSINSKI, CARN,
J. L. WRIGHT, VAN HORNE, PISTELLA, DeWEESE, WACHOB, GALLAGHER
AND DeLUCA, MAY 11, 1983
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, MAY 11, 1983
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), entitled "An
2 act relating to the public school system, including certain
3 provisions applicable as well to private and parochial
4 schools; amending, revising, consolidating and changing the
5 laws relating thereto," providing for the teaching of labor
6 history in public high schools.
7 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
8 hereby enacts as follows:
9 Section 1. Section 1511 of the act of March 10, 1949
10 (P.L.30, No.14), known as the Public School Code of 1949,
11 amended July 31, 1968 (P.L.1020, No.301), is amended to read:
12 Section 1511. Subjects of Instruction; Flag Code.--In every
13 elementary public and private school, established and maintained
14 in this Commonwealth, the following subjects shall be taught, in
15 the English language and from English texts: English, including
16 spelling, reading and writing, arithmetic, geography, the
17 history of the United States and of Pennsylvania, civics,
18 including loyalty to the State and National Government, safety
19 education, and the humane treatment of birds and animals,
1 health, including physical education, and physiology, music and
2 art. Other subjects shall be taught in the public elementary
3 schools and also in the public high schools as may be prescribed
4 by the standards of the State Board of Education. In the public
5 high schools the history of labor in the United States shall be
6 taught as a planned course for credit. All such subjects, except
7 foreign languages, shall be taught in the English language and
8 from English texts: Provided, however, That, at the discretion
9 of the [Superintendent of Public Instruction] Secretary of
10 Education, the teaching of subjects in a language other than
11 English may be permitted as part of a sequence in foreign
12 language study or as part of a bilingual education program if
13 the teaching personnel are properly certified in the subject
14 fields. Each school district shall provide and distribute to
15 each pupil, enrolled in the eighth grade of the public schools,
16 one illustrated copy of the National Flag Code, and shall, from
17 time to time, make available such copies as are necessary for
18 replacements from year to year. It shall be the duty of each
19 teacher in the public schools to make such use of the code as
20 may, from time to time, seem proper.
21 Section 2. This act shall apply to the school year 1984-1985
22 and thereafter.
23 Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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