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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | May 23, 2022 01:43 PM |
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| From: | Senator Doug Mastriano |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | School Board Reform and Transparency |
| In the near future, I plan to introduce legislation to reform school boards across Pennsylvania and improve transparency. Term Limits My bill will implement term limits for all school board members to three “four-year” terms. Entrenched school board members have a particularly strong “name ID” and financial advantage at the local election level, making it difficult for new candidates and parents of children currently in school to have a chance to win a seat. The implementation of term limits will promote diverse ideas and perspectives that come from new and energetic candidates. Sixteen other states currently have some form of term limits for school board members. Transparency While we currently have laws that dictate how school boards provide notification for meetings, those same laws do not apply to subcommittees or executive sessions. In many cases, these meetings are held behind closed doors. The sessions often include deliberations of important topics that could affect the community and school such as curriculum, funding, procedures, etc. My bill will state that any board subcommittees or executive sessions shall mirror the same agenda notification requirements as a regular meeting of the board. It’s important that taxpayers and parents can view and submit comments/questions in response to agenda items for all executive session and subcommittees. My bill will also state that prior to each regular school board meeting, board members must include an internet link with further information as a part of any meeting agenda that includes discussion or votes on the following items:
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