PRINTER'S NO. 2349
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.
1759
Session of
2019
INTRODUCED BY RAVENSTAHL, MARKOSEK, McNEILL, JOHNSON-HARRELL,
HILL-EVANS, TOOHIL, KINSEY, YOUNGBLOOD, A. DAVIS,
CALTAGIRONE, DeLUCA, GALLOWAY, McCLINTON, FRANKEL AND KIM,
AUGUST 16, 2019
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, AUGUST 16, 2019
AN ACT
Providing for early college high school programs.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Short title.
This act shall be known and may be cited as the Early College
High School Act.
Section 2. Definitions.
The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Department." The Department of Education of the
Commonwealth.
"Early college high school." An evidence-based whole school
approach that provides students, including those traditionally
underrepresented in postsecondary education, with the
opportunity to access college-level courses and college degree
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
credits in high school with the combined support of high school
and college staff and resources.
Section 3. Early college high school program.
(a) Purpose.--It is the goal of the Commonwealth to offer
evidence-based early college high school programs to interested
students.
(b) Establishment of plan.--Within 100 days of the effective
date of this subsection, the department shall establish a plan
to expand the availability of early college high school programs
in this Commonwealth by 25% over a five-year period. The
department shall publish the plan on its publicly accessible
Internet website.
(c) Contents of plan.--
(1) The plan may include:
(i) Expansion of existing early college high school
programs.
(ii) Establishment of new early college high school
programs.
(iii) Plans to obtain and leverage Federal and
foundation grant funding and use existing State grant
funds or other available State resources.
(iv) Other initiatives the department identifies
that would result in an efficient expansion of early
college high school programs.
(2) The plan shall target expansion of early college
high school programs by at least 5% per year.
(d) Department actions.--The plan shall detail actions that
the department may pursue without additional legislative action.
Within 60 days of the plan's publication on the department's
publicly accessible Internet website, the department shall
20190HB1759PN2349 - 2 -
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
commence those actions.
(e) Action by General Assembly.--For aspects of the plan
that require additional action by the General Assembly, the
department shall include in the plan specific requests and
outlines of legislative action needed, including budget
requests.
Section 4. Effective date.
This act shall take effect in 60 days.
20190HB1759PN2349 - 3 -
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8