PRIOR PRINTER'S NO. 3028 PRINTER'S NO. 3117
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, SCHRODER,
RUBLEY AND MERRY, JANUARY 31, 1996
AS REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES, AS AMENDED, FEBRUARY 12, 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) (1) A temporary professional employe employed by a <--
9 school district prior to June 1 30, 1996, whose work has been <--
10 certified by the district superintendent to the secretary of the
11 school district, during the last four (4) months of the second
12 year of such service, as being satisfactory shall thereafter be
13 a "professional employe" within the meaning of this article. A <--
14 "PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYE" WITHIN THE MEANING OF THIS ARTICLE. <--
15 (2) A temporary professional employe employed by a school
16 district, on or after June 1 30, 1996, whose work has been <--
17 certified by the district superintendent to the secretary of the
18 school district, during the last four (4) months of the third
19 year of such service, as being satisfactory shall thereafter be
20 a "professional employe" within the meaning of this article. The <--
21 "PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYE" WITHIN THE MEANING OF THIS ARTICLE. <--
22 (3) THE attainment of [this status] THE STATUS UNDER CLAUSE <--
23 (1) OR (2) shall be recorded in the records of the board and
24 written notification thereof shall be sent also to the employe.
25 The employe shall then be tendered forthwith a regular contract
26 of employment as provided for professional employes. No
27 professional employe who has attained tenure status in any
28 school district of this Commonwealth shall thereafter be
29 required to serve as a temporary professional employe before
30 being tendered such a contract when employed by any other part
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1 of the public school system of the Commonwealth.
2 (c) (1) Any temporary professional employe employed by a <--
3 school district prior to June 1 30, 1996, who is not tendered a <--
4 regular contract of employment at the end of two years of
5 service, rendered as herein provided, shall be given a written
6 statement signed by the president and secretary of the board of
7 school directors and setting forth explicitly the reason for
8 such refusal.
9 (d) (2) Any temporary professional employe employed by a <--
10 school district on or after June 1 30, 1996, who is not tendered <--
11 a regular contract of employment at the end of three (3) years
12 of service, rendered as herein provided, shall be given a
13 written statement signed by the president and secretary of the
14 board of school directors and setting forth explicitly the
15 reason for such refusal.
16 [(d)] (e) Temporary professional employes shall for all <--
17 purposes, except tenure status, be viewed in law as full-time
18 employes, and shall enjoy all the rights and privileges of
19 regular full-time employes.
20 Section 2. Section 1121 of the act, amended September 28,
21 1951 (P.L.1551, No.395), is amended to read:
22 Section 1121. Contracts; Execution; Form.--(A) In all <--
23 school districts, all contracts with professional employes shall
24 be in writing, in duplicate, and shall be executed on behalf of
25 the board of school directors by the president and secretary and
26 signed by the professional employe.
27 (B) (1) Each board of school directors in all school <--
28 districts shall hereafter enter into contracts, in writing, with
29 each professional employe employed by a school district prior to
30 June 1 30, 1996, who has satisfactorily completed two (2) years <--
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1 of service in any school district of this Commonwealth. Each <--
2 board SERVICE IN ANY SCHOOL DISTRICT OF THIS COMMONWEALTH. <--
3 (2) EACH BOARD of school directors in all school districts
4 shall hereafter enter into contracts, in writing, with each
5 professional employe employed by a school district, on or after
6 June 1 30, 1996, who has satisfactorily completed three (3) <--
7 years of service in any school district of this Commonwealth.
8 [Said contracts shall contain only the following:] <--
9 (C) CONTRACTS UNDER SUBSECTION (B) SHALL CONTAIN ONLY THE <--
10 FOLLOWING:
11 "IT IS AGREED by and between .....................
12 Professional Employe, and the Board of Directors (or Board of
13 Public Education) of the school district of
14 ....................., Pennsylvania, that said professional
15 employe shall, under the authority of the said board and its
16 successors, and subject to the supervision and authority of the
17 properly authorized superintendent of schools or supervising
18 principal, serve as a professional employe in the said school
19 district for a term of ........months, for an annual
20 compensation of $............., payable monthly or semi-monthly
21 during the school term or year, less the contribution required
22 by law to be paid to the Public School Employes' Retirement
23 Fund, and less other proper deductions for loss of time.
24 "This contract is subject to the provisions of the 'Public
25 School Code of 1949' and the amendments thereto.
26 "AND IT IS FURTHER AGREED by the parties hereto that none of
27 the provisions of this act may be waived either orally or in
28 writing, and that this contract shall continue in force year
29 after year, with the right of the board of school directors (or
30 board of public education) to increase the compensation over the
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1 compensation herein stated, from time to time, as may be
2 provided under the provisions and proper operation of the
3 established salary schedule, if any, for the school district,
4 subject to the provisions of law, without invalidating any other
5 provision of this contract, unless terminated by the
6 professional employe by written resignation presented sixty (60)
7 days before resignation becomes effective, or by the board of
8 school directors (or board of public education) by official
9 written notice presented to the professional employe: Provided,
10 That the said notice shall designate the cause for the
11 termination and shall state that an opportunity to be heard
12 shall be granted if the said professional employe, within ten
13 (10) days after receipt of the termination notice, presents a
14 written request for such hearing."
15 Section 3. Section 1122 of the act, amended July 26, 1961
16 (P.L.891, No.383), is amended to read:
17 Section 1122. Causes for Termination of Contract.--[The only
18 valid] (a) Valid THE ONLY VALID causes for termination of a <--
19 contract heretofore or hereafter entered into with a
20 professional employe shall be immorality[,]; incompetency[,];
21 unsatisfactory teaching performance, INCLUDING INSTRUCTIONAL <--
22 INEFFECTIVENESS, based on two (2) consecutive ratings of the
23 employe's teaching performance that are to include classroom
24 observations, not less than four (4) months apart, in which the
25 employe's teaching performance is rated as less than
26 satisfactory; instructional ineffectiveness whereby the <--
27 employe's teaching methods consistently fail to promote student
28 achievement after taking into account the resources available
29 relative to other employes within the school and the needs and
30 abilities of the students; intemperance[,]; cruelty[,];
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1 persistent negligence[, mental derangement,] in the performance
2 of duties; wilful neglect of duties; physical or mental
3 incapacity DISABILITY, as documented by competent medical <--
4 evidence, preventing sufficient performance of the employe's <--
5 contract; WHICH AFTER REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION OF SUCH <--
6 DISABILITY AS REQUIRED BY LAW SUBSTANTIALLY INTERFERES WITH THE
7 EMPLOYE'S ABILITY TO PERFORM THE ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS OF HIS
8 EMPLOYMENT; advocation of or participating in un-American or
9 subversive doctrines[,]; conviction of a felony or acceptance of
10 a guilty plea or nolo contendere therefor; insubordination <--
11 evidenced by a persistent and wilful failure to comply with
12 official directives and established policy of the board of
13 directors; persistent and wilful violation of the school laws of
14 this Commonwealth on the [PERSISTENT AND WILFUL VIOLATION OF THE <--
15 SCHOOL LAWS OF THIS COMMONWEALTH] PERSISTENT AND WILFUL
16 VIOLATION OR FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH SCHOOL LAWS OF THIS
17 COMMONWEALTH, INCLUDING DIRECTIVES AND ESTABLISHED POLICY OF THE
18 BOARD OF DIRECTORS, ON THE part of the professional employe:
19 Provided, That boards of school directors may terminate the
20 service of any professional employe who has attained to the age
21 of sixty-two except a professional employe who is a member of
22 the old age and survivors insurance system pursuant to the
23 provisions of the act, approved the first day of June, one
24 thousand nine hundred fifty-six (Pamphlet Laws 1973). In such
25 case the board may terminate the service of any such
26 professional employe at the age of sixty-five or at the age at
27 which the employe becomes eligible to receive full benefits
28 under the Federal Social Security Act.
29 (b) Nothing within the foregoing enumeration of causes in
30 subsection (a), shall be interpreted to conflict with the
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1 retirement of professional employes upon proper evidence of
2 disability, or the election by professional employes to retire
3 during the period of voluntary retirement, or the authority of
4 the board of school directors to require professional employes
5 to retire during said period of voluntary retirement, or the
6 compulsion on the part of professional employes to retire at the
7 attainment of age seventy.
8 Section 4. Section 1123 of the act, amended January 14, 1970
9 (1969 P.L.468, No.192), is amended to read:
10 Section 1123. Rating System.--In determining whether a
11 professional employe shall be dismissed for incompetency[,] <--
12 instructional ineffectiveness or unsatisfactory teaching <--
13 performance, INCLUDING INSTRUCTIONAL INEFFECTIVENESS WHEREBY THE <--
14 EMPLOYE'S TEACHING METHODS CONSISTENTLY FAIL TO PROMOTE STUDENT
15 ACHIEVEMENT AFTER TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE RESOURCES AVAILABLE
16 RELATIVE TO OTHER EMPLOYES WITHIN THE SCHOOL AND THE NEEDS AND
17 ABILITIES OF THE STUDENTS, as provided for in section 1122 of
18 this act, and in rating the services of a temporary professional
19 employe, the professional employe or temporary professional
20 employe shall be rated by an approved rating system which shall
21 give due consideration to personality, preparation, technique,
22 and pupil reaction, in accordance with standards and regulations
23 for such scoring as defined by rating cards to be prepared by
24 the Department of [Public Instruction] Education, and to be
25 revised, from time to time, by the Department of [Public
26 Instruction] Education with the cooperation and advice of a
27 committee appointed by the [Superintendent of Public
28 Instruction] Secretary of Education, including representation
29 from district superintendents of schools, classroom teachers,
30 school directors, school supervisors, parents of school-age
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1 children, and such other groups or interests as the
2 [Superintendent of Public Instruction] Secretary of Education
3 may deem appropriate. Rating shall be done by or under the
4 supervision of the superintendent of schools or, if so directed
5 by him, the same may be done by an assistant superintendent, a
6 supervisor, or a principal, who has supervision over the work of
7 the professional employe or temporary professional employe who
8 is being rated: Provided, That no unsatisfactory rating shall be
9 valid unless approved by the district superintendent.
10 Section 5. This act shall apply as follows:
11 Nothing contained in the amendments pursuant to this act to
12 sections 1108, 1121, 1122 and 1123, shall supersede or preempt
13 any provisions of a collective bargaining agreement, negotiated
14 by a school entity and the employee organization, that is in
15 effect on the effective date of this section. For the purpose of
16 this section, a "school entity" shall mean a school district,
17 joint school district, intermediate unit or area vocational-
18 technical school.
19 Section 6. This act shall take effect as follows: <--
20 (1) The amendment of sections 1122 and 1123 of the act
21 shall take effect July 1, 1996.
22 (2) The remainder of this act shall take effect
23 immediately.
24 SECTION 6. THIS ACT SHALL TAKE EFFECT JUNE 30, 1996. <--
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