PRINTER'S NO. 3028
No. 2341 Session of 1996
INTRODUCED BY TULLI, E. Z. TAYLOR, COWELL, STAIRS, EGOLF,
NICKOL, MASLAND, DRUCE, LEH, MILLER, WAUGH, M. N. WRIGHT,
MAITLAND, GORDNER, COY, MARKOSEK, PETTIT, CONTI, FLICK,
SATHER, SAYLOR, DeLUCA, D. W. SNYDER, S. H. SMITH AND
SCHRODER, JANUARY 31, 1996
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, JANUARY 31, 1996
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 temporary
6 professional employees, for contracts with professional
7 employees, for termination of professional contracts and for
8 ratings.
9 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
10 hereby enacts as follows:
11 Section 1. Section 1108 of the act of March 10, 1949
12 (P.L.30, No.14), known as the Public School Code of 1949,
13 amended August 10, 1951 (P.L.1157, No.259) and January 14, 1970
14 (1969 P.L.468, No.192), is amended to read:
15 Section 1108. Temporary Professional Employes.--(a) It
16 shall be the duty of the district superintendent to notify each
17 temporary professional employe, at least twice each year during
18 the period of his or her employment, of the professional
19 quality, professional progress, and rating of his or her
1 services. No temporary professional employe shall be dismissed
2 unless rated unsatisfactory, and notification, in writing, of
3 such unsatisfactory rating shall have been furnished the employe
4 within ten (10) days following the date of such rating. The
5 rating of a temporary professional employe shall be done as
6 provided in section one thousand one hundred twenty-three of
7 this act.
8 (b) A temporary professional employe employed by a school
9 district prior to June 1, 1996, whose work has been certified by
10 the district superintendent to the secretary of the school
11 district, during the last four (4) months of the second year of
12 such service, as being satisfactory shall thereafter be a
13 "professional employe" within the meaning of this article. A
14 temporary professional employe employed by a school district, on
15 or after June 1, 1996, whose work has been certified by the
16 district superintendent to the secretary of the school district,
17 during the last four (4) months of the third year of such
18 service, as being satisfactory shall thereafter be a
19 "professional employe" within the meaning of this article. The
20 attainment of this status shall be recorded in the records of
21 the board and written notification thereof shall be sent also to
22 the employe. The employe shall then be tendered forthwith a
23 regular contract of employment as provided for professional
24 employes. No professional employe who has attained tenure status
25 in any school district of this Commonwealth shall thereafter be
26 required to serve as a temporary professional employe before
27 being tendered such a contract when employed by any other part
28 of the public school system of the Commonwealth.
29 (c) Any temporary professional employe employed by a school
30 district prior to June 1, 1996, who is not tendered a regular
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1 contract of employment at the end of two years of service,
2 rendered as herein provided, shall be given a written statement
3 signed by the president and secretary of the board of school
4 directors and setting forth explicitly the reason for such
5 refusal.
6 (d) Any temporary professional employe employed by a school
7 district on or after June 1, 1996, who is not tendered a regular
8 contract of employment at the end of three (3) years of service,
9 rendered as herein provided, shall be given a written statement
10 signed by the president and secretary of the board of school
11 directors and setting forth explicitly the reason for such
12 refusal.
13 [(d)] (e) Temporary professional employes shall for all
14 purposes, except tenure status, be viewed in law as full-time
15 employes, and shall enjoy all the rights and privileges of
16 regular full-time employes.
17 Section 2. Section 1121 of the act, amended September 28,
18 1951 (P.L.1551, No.395), is amended to read:
19 Section 1121. Contracts; Execution; Form.--In all school
20 districts, all contracts with professional employes shall be in
21 writing, in duplicate, and shall be executed on behalf of the
22 board of school directors by the president and secretary and
23 signed by the professional employe.
24 Each board of school directors in all school districts shall
25 hereafter enter into contracts, in writing, with each
26 professional employe employed by a school district prior to June
27 1, 1996, who has satisfactorily completed two (2) years of
28 service in any school district of this Commonwealth. Each board
29 of school directors in all school districts shall hereafter
30 enter into contracts, in writing, with each professional employe
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1 employed by a school district, on or after June 1, 1996, who has
2 satisfactorily completed three (3) years of service in any
3 school district of this Commonwealth. Said contracts shall
4 contain only the following:
5 "IT IS AGREED by and between .....................
6 Professional Employe, and the Board of Directors (or Board of
7 Public Education) of the school district of
8 ....................., Pennsylvania, that said professional
9 employe shall, under the authority of the said board and its
10 successors, and subject to the supervision and authority of the
11 properly authorized superintendent of schools or supervising
12 principal, serve as a professional employe in the said school
13 district for a term of ........months, for an annual
14 compensation of $............., payable monthly or semi-monthly
15 during the school term or year, less the contribution required
16 by law to be paid to the Public School Employes' Retirement
17 Fund, and less other proper deductions for loss of time.
18 "This contract is subject to the provisions of the 'Public
19 School Code of 1949' and the amendments thereto.
20 "AND IT IS FURTHER AGREED by the parties hereto that none of
21 the provisions of this act may be waived either orally or in
22 writing, and that this contract shall continue in force year
23 after year, with the right of the board of school directors (or
24 board of public education) to increase the compensation over the
25 compensation herein stated, from time to time, as may be
26 provided under the provisions and proper operation of the
27 established salary schedule, if any, for the school district,
28 subject to the provisions of law, without invalidating any other
29 provision of this contract, unless terminated by the
30 professional employe by written resignation presented sixty (60)
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1 days before resignation becomes effective, or by the board of
2 school directors (or board of public education) by official
3 written notice presented to the professional employe: Provided,
4 That the said notice shall designate the cause for the
5 termination and shall state that an opportunity to be heard
6 shall be granted if the said professional employe, within ten
7 (10) days after receipt of the termination notice, presents a
8 written request for such hearing."
9 Section 3. Section 1122 of the act, amended July 26, 1961
10 (P.L.891, No.383), is amended to read:
11 Section 1122. Causes for Termination of Contract.--[The only
12 valid] (a) Valid causes for termination of a contract
13 heretofore or hereafter entered into with a professional employe
14 shall be immorality[,]; incompetency[,]; unsatisfactory teaching
15 performance based on two (2) consecutive ratings of the
16 employe's teaching performance that are to include classroom
17 observations, not less than four (4) months apart, in which the
18 employe's teaching performance is rated as less than
19 satisfactory; instructional ineffectiveness whereby the
20 employe's teaching methods consistently fail to promote student
21 achievement after taking into account the resources available
22 relative to other employes within the school and the needs and
23 abilities of the students; intemperance[,]; cruelty[,];
24 persistent negligence[, mental derangement,] in the performance
25 of duties; wilful neglect of duties; physical or mental
26 incapacity, as documented by competent medical evidence,
27 preventing sufficient performance of the employe's contract;
28 advocation of or participating in un-American or subversive
29 doctrines[,]; conviction of a felony or acceptance of a guilty
30 plea or nolo contendere therefor; insubordination evidenced by a
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1 persistent and wilful failure to comply with official directives
2 and established policy of the board of directors; persistent and
3 wilful violation of the school laws of this Commonwealth on the
4 part of the professional employe: Provided, That boards of
5 school directors may terminate the service of any professional
6 employe who has attained to the age of sixty-two except a
7 professional employe who is a member of the old age and
8 survivors insurance system pursuant to the provisions of the
9 act, approved the first day of June, one thousand nine hundred
10 fifty-six (Pamphlet Laws 1973). In such case the board may
11 terminate the service of any such professional employe at the
12 age of sixty-five or at the age at which the employe becomes
13 eligible to receive full benefits under the Federal Social
14 Security Act.
15 (b) Nothing within the foregoing enumeration of causes in
16 subsection (a), shall be interpreted to conflict with the
17 retirement of professional employes upon proper evidence of
18 disability, or the election by professional employes to retire
19 during the period of voluntary retirement, or the authority of
20 the board of school directors to require professional employes
21 to retire during said period of voluntary retirement, or the
22 compulsion on the part of professional employes to retire at the
23 attainment of age seventy.
24 Section 4. Section 1123 of the act, amended January 14, 1970
25 (1969 P.L.468, No.192), is amended to read:
26 Section 1123. Rating System.--In determining whether a
27 professional employe shall be dismissed for incompetency,
28 instructional ineffectiveness or unsatisfactory teaching
29 performance as provided for in section 1122 of this act, and in
30 rating the services of a temporary professional employe, the
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1 professional employe or temporary professional employe shall be
2 rated by an approved rating system which shall give due
3 consideration to personality, preparation, technique, and pupil
4 reaction, in accordance with standards and regulations for such
5 scoring as defined by rating cards to be prepared by the
6 Department of [Public Instruction] Education, and to be revised,
7 from time to time, by the Department of [Public Instruction]
8 Education with the cooperation and advice of a committee
9 appointed by the [Superintendent of Public Instruction]
10 Secretary of Education, including representation from district
11 superintendents of schools, classroom teachers, school
12 directors, school supervisors, parents of school-age children,
13 and such other groups or interests as the [Superintendent of
14 Public Instruction] Secretary of Education may deem appropriate.
15 Rating shall be done by or under the supervision of the
16 superintendent of schools or, if so directed by him, the same
17 may be done by an assistant superintendent, a supervisor, or a
18 principal, who has supervision over the work of the professional
19 employe or temporary professional employe who is being rated:
20 Provided, That no unsatisfactory rating shall be valid unless
21 approved by the district superintendent.
22 Section 5. This act shall apply as follows:
23 Nothing contained in the amendments pursuant to this act to
24 sections 1108, 1121, 1122 and 1123, shall supersede or preempt
25 any provisions of a collective bargaining agreement, negotiated
26 by a school entity and the employee organization, that is in
27 effect on the effective date of this section. For the purpose of
28 this section, a "school entity" shall mean a school district,
29 joint school district, intermediate unit or area vocational-
30 technical school.
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1 Section 6. This act shall take effect as follows:
2 (1) The amendment of sections 1122 and 1123 of the act
3 shall take effect July 1, 1996.
4 (2) The remainder of this act shall take effect
5 immediately.
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