PRINTER'S NO. 2300
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.
1848
Session of
2023
INTRODUCED BY COOPER, BRIGGS, MIHALEK AND BRENNAN,
NOVEMBER 14, 2023
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, NOVEMBER 14, 2023
AN ACT
Amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), entitled "An
act relating to the public school system, including certain
provisions applicable as well to private and parochial
schools; amending, revising, consolidating and changing the
laws relating thereto," in terms and courses of study,
further providing for dates and times of school terms and
sessions and commencement.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 1504 of the act of March 10, 1949
(P.L.30, No.14), known as the Public School Code of 1949, is
amended to read:
Section 1504. Dates and Times of School Terms and Sessions;
Commencement.--(a) (1) The board of school directors of each
school district shall fix the date of the beginning of the
school term.
(2) Unless otherwise determined by the board, the daily
session of school shall open at [nine ante-meridian] 9:00 a.m.
and close at [four post-meridian] 4:00 p.m., with an
intermission of one hour at noon, and an intermission of fifteen
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minutes in the forenoon and in the afternoon. Upon request of a
board of school directors for an exception to the aforesaid
daily schedule, the [Secretary of Education] secretary may, when
in his opinion a meritorious educational program warrants,
approve a school week containing a minimum of twenty seven and
one-half hours of instruction as the equivalent of five (5)
school days, or a school year containing a minimum of nine
hundred ninety hours of instruction at the secondary level or
nine hundred (900) hours of instruction at the elementary level
as the equivalent of one hundred eighty (180) school days.
(3) Beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, and each
school year thereafter, the instructional day for a secondary
school may not begin earlier than 8:15 a.m. By July 1, 2026, the
governing body of a public school entity shall inform its
community, including parents, students, school administrators,
school employes and other stakeholders, about the health, safety
and academic impacts of sleep deprivation on secondary school
students and the benefits of a later school start time, and
shall discuss with the community local strategies to
successfully implement the later school start time.
(4) Professional and temporary professional employes shall
be allowed a lunch period free of supervisory or other duties of
at least thirty minutes.
(5) The provisions of this subsection shall not be construed
to repeal any rule or regulation of any board of school
directors now in effect which provides for a lunch period longer
than the minimum prescribed [herein] in this section or to
repeal any action of any board of school directors taken in
compliance with section 7 of the act of July 25, 1913 (P.L.1024,
No.466), entitled "An act to protect the public health and
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welfare, by regulating the employment of females in certain
establishments, with respect to their hours of labor and the
conditions of their employment; by establishing certain sanitary
regulations in the establishments in which they work; by
requiring certain abstracts and notices to be posted; by
providing for the enforcement of this act by the Commissioner of
Labor and Industry and others; by prescribing penalties for
violations thereof; by defining the procedure in prosecutions;
and by repealing all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with
the provisions thereof," as amended.
(b) If a school in any district due to crowded conditions is
unable to provide for the full time attendance of all pupils
during the school day, the board of school directors, with the
approval of the [Department of Public Instruction] department
first obtained, may provide for two half-day sessions. The
approval of the [Department of Public Instruction] department
shall not exceed a period of one year. Annual extensions may be
granted by the [Department] department upon review of the
circumstances of each case. Each half-day session shall be four
(4) hours in duration: Provided, That the [Superintendent of
Public Instruction] secretary may reduce the half-day session in
the first and second grades, at the request of a school
district, for cogent reasons relating to the health, safety or
welfare of the children, if, in [his] the secretary's opinion,
the school program submitted by the district shows that the
local program is adequate for these grades. Half-day sessions
shall be regarded as two regular sessions. Teachers employed for
one half-day session shall not be employed for the other on the
same day for the entire half-session, but may be required by the
school district to serve every school day for the same number of
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hours prescribed by the board of school directors for regular
full-time teachers who teach full day sessions in the same
grades in the school district. Upon any violation or failure to
comply with the provisions of this subsection, the
[Superintendent of Public Instruction] secretary, on hearing,
after two (2) weeks' written notice to the board of school
directors, shall withhold and declare forfeited the State
appropriation for reimbursement on account of the instruction of
the pupils in average daily membership in the sessions in which
the requirements are not met.
(c) The board of school directors may fix the date of the
school commencement and shall pay such expenses in connection
therewith as it may determine.
(d) As used in this section, the following words and phrases
shall have the meanings given to them in this subsection unless
the context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Department." The Department of Education of the
Commonwealth.
"Public school entity." A school district, intermediate
unit, area career and technical school, charter school, regional
charter school or cyber charter school operating within this
Commonwealth.
"Secondary school." A building within a public school entity
that provides instruction in grades seven through twelve or any
combination of those grades.
"Secretary." The Secretary of Education of the Commonwealth.
Section 2. Any contractually agreed-upon school daily
schedule in effect on the effective date of this section between
a public school entity, as defined in section 1504 of the act,
and its professional or nonprofessional employees and that is in
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conflict with the provisions of this act shall remain in effect
for the duration of the contract.
Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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