PRINTER'S NO. 160
No. 147 Session of 1989
INTRODUCED BY LASHINGER, D. W. SNYDER, NAHILL, CORNELL, MRKONIC,
ITKIN, TIGUE, VROON, DISTLER, SCHULER, E. Z. TAYLOR, PETRARCA
AND SAURMAN, JANUARY 30, 1989
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, JANUARY 30, 1989
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," further providing for the education
6 of children with severe learning disabilities.
7 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
8 hereby enacts as follows:
9 Section 1. Section 1376 of the act of March 10, 1949
10 (P.L.30, No.14), known as the Public School Code of 1949,
11 amended December 20, 1983 (P.L.267, No.73), is amended to read:
12 Section 1376. Cost of Tuition and Maintenance of Certain
13 Exceptional Children in Approved Institutions.--(a) When any
14 child between the ages of six (6) and twenty-one (21) years of
15 age and resident in this Commonwealth, who is blind or deaf, or
16 afflicted with cerebral palsy and/or brain damage and/or
17 muscular dystrophy, and/or mentally retarded and/or socially and
18 emotionally disturbed and/or severely learning disabled, is
19 enrolled, with the approval of the Department of Education, as a
1 pupil in an approved school for the blind or deaf, or cerebral
2 palsied and/or brain damaged and/or muscular dystrophied and/or
3 mentally retarded, and/or socially and emotionally disturbed
4 and/or severely learning disabled, approved by the Department of
5 Education, in accordance with standards and regulations
6 promulgated by the Council of Basic Education, the school
7 district in which such child is resident shall pay twenty per
8 centum (20%) of the actual audited cost of tuition and
9 maintenance of such child in such school, as determined by the
10 Department of Education; and the Commonwealth shall pay, out of
11 funds appropriated to the department for special education,
12 eighty per centum (80%) of the cost of their tuition and
13 maintenance, as determined by the Department. If the residence
14 of such child in a particular school district cannot be
15 determined, the Commonwealth shall pay, out of moneys
16 appropriated to the department for special education, the whole
17 cost of tuition and maintenance of such child. The Department of
18 Education shall be provided with such financial data from
19 approved schools as may be necessary to determine the
20 reasonableness of costs for tuition and room and board
21 concerning Pennsylvania resident approved reimbursed students.
22 The Department of Education shall evaluate such data and shall
23 disallow any cost deemed unreasonable. Any costs deemed
24 unreasonable by the Department of Education for disallowance
25 shall be considered an adjudication within the meaning of Title
26 2 of the Pa.C.S. (relating to administrative law and procedure)
27 and regulations promulgated thereunder.
28 (b) When any person less than six (6) or more than twenty-
29 one (21) years of age and resident in this Commonwealth, who is
30 blind or deaf, or afflicted with cerebral palsy and/or brain
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1 damage and/or muscular dystrophy, and/or severely learning
2 disabled, is enrolled, with the approval of the Department of
3 Education, as a pupil in an approved school for the blind or
4 deaf, or cerebral palsied and/or brain damaged and/or muscular
5 dystrophied and/or severely learning disabled, approved by the
6 Department of Education, the Commonwealth shall pay to such
7 school, out of moneys appropriated to the department for special
8 education, the actual audited cost of tuition and maintenance of
9 such person, as determined by the Department of Education,
10 subject to review and approval in accordance with standards and
11 regulations promulgated by the Council of Basic Education, and
12 in addition, in the case of any child less than six (6) years of
13 age, who is blind, the cost, as determined by the Department of
14 Education of instructing the parent of such blind child in
15 caring for such child.
16 (c) Each approved school, prior to the start of the school
17 year, shall submit to the department such information as the
18 department may require in order to establish an estimate of
19 reimbursable costs. [Based upon this information, any other data
20 deemed necessary by the department and in accordance with
21 department standards, the department shall develop for each
22 approved school an estimate of reimbursable costs. Based upon
23 such estimate, the department shall provide each approved school
24 with quarterly payments in advance of department audit. The
25 department may withhold a portion of such payments not exceeding
26 five percent (5%) of such payment, pending final audit. In no
27 event shall either the advance payments or final reimbursement
28 made by the department following audit exceed the appropriation
29 available for approved schools.] The department shall enter into
30 an agreement with each approved school prior to the school year.
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1 Such agreement shall set forth an estimate of reimbursable costs
2 based on audit standards promulgated by the department and the
3 estimate of daily average attendance. Based upon such estimate,
4 the department shall provide each approved school with quarterly
5 payments in advance of final department audit. The audit
6 standards, promulgated by the department, shall specify as
7 reasonable any cost allowed publicly operated education
8 programs. In addition, the audit standards shall specify as
9 reasonable, costs associated with the operation of a private
10 nonprofit business (such as director's liability insurance or
11 interest on money borrowed to operate the instructional program
12 necessary to meet the requirements of an approved school). The
13 department may withhold a portion of the advance quarterly
14 payments. In no case, however, shall such withheld money exceed
15 in total for any one (1) year or a combination of years, a sum
16 equal to five per cent (5%) of the most recent year's agreement
17 of estimated reimbursable costs. In no event shall either the
18 advance payments or final reimbursements made by the department
19 following the final audit exceed the appropriation available for
20 approved schools.
21 (d) No private institution receiving payment in accordance
22 with this section shall impose any charge on the student and/or
23 parents who are Pennsylvania approved reimbursable residents for
24 a program of individualized instruction and maintenance
25 appropriate to the child's needs; except that charges for
26 services not part of such program may be made if agreed to by
27 the parents.
28 (e) Any private institution or approved school refusing to
29 cooperate with the Department of Education's audit process shall
30 be ineligible for the payments provided for in subsection (c).
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1 Section 2. This act applies to the school year 1989-1990 and
2 each year thereafter.
3 Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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