PRIOR PRINTER'S NOS. 1446, 1990 PRINTER'S NO. 2082
No. 1254 Session of 1975
INTRODUCED BY MESSRS. GALLAGHER, IRVIS, FINEMAN, MRS. KELLY,
MRS. CRAWFORD, MESSRS. GREENFIELD, MORRIS, BERLIN, BERSON,
LINCOLN, DiCARLO, MILANOVICH, SHUPNIK, PANCOAST, SCHWEDER,
McLANE, PRATT, RICHARDSON, REED, COHEN AND PARKER, MAY 7,
1975
AS RE-REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES, AS AMENDED, JULY 22, 1975
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 exceptional
6 children and reimbursements for certain special education
7 services. and making appropriations. <--
8 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
9 hereby enacts as follows:
10 Section 1. Section 1376, act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30,
11 No.14), known as the "Public School Code of 1949," amended
12 November 15, 1972 (P.L.1229, No.273), is amended to read:
13 Section 1376. Cost of Tuition and Maintenance of Certain
14 Exceptional Children in Approved Institutions.--(a) When any
15 child between the ages of six (6) and twenty-one (21) years of
16 age resident in this Commonwealth, who is blind or deaf, or
17 afflicted with cerebral palsy and/or brain damage and/or
18 muscular dystrophy and/or mentally retarded AND/OR SOCIALLY AND <--
1 EMOTIONALLY DISTURBED, is enrolled, with the approval of the
2 Department of Education, as a pupil in any of the schools or
3 institutions for the blind or deaf, or cerebral palsied and/or
4 brain damaged and/or muscular dystrophied and/or mentally
5 retarded, AND/OR SOCIALLY AND EMOTIONALLY DISTURBED, under the <--
6 supervision of, subject to the review of or approved by the
7 Department of Education, in accordance with standards and
8 regulations promulgated by the Council of Basic Education, the
9 school district in which such child is resident shall pay
10 twenty-five per centum (25%) of the cost of tuition and
11 maintenance of such child in such school or institution, as
12 determined by the Department of Education; and the Commonwealth
13 shall pay, out of funds appropriated to the department for
14 special education, seventy-five per centum (75%) of the cost of
15 their tuition and maintenance, as determined by the Department.
16 If the residence of such child in a particular school district
17 cannot be determined, the Commonwealth shall pay, out of moneys
18 appropriated to the department for special education, the whole
19 cost of tuition and maintenance of such child. [In no event
20 shall the total cost of tuition and maintenance for residential
21 students exceed five thousand five hundred dollars ($5,500) per
22 year for tuition of deaf or blind day students, four thousand
23 one hundred twenty-five dollars ($4,125) per year and for
24 tuition of cerebral palsied and/or brain damaged and/or muscular
25 dystrophied day students three thousand five hundred dollars
26 ($3,500) per year.] In no event shall the total cost of tuition
27 and maintenance for blind, deaf, cerebral palsied and/or brain
28 damaged and/or muscular dystrophied AND/OR SOCIALLY AND <--
29 EMOTIONALLY DISTURBED and/or mentally retarded residential
30 students exceed eight thousand five hundred dollars ($8,500) per
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1 year, for tuition of blind, deaf, cerebral palsied and/or
2 muscular dystrophied day students exceed five thousand one
3 hundred dollars ($5,100) per year, and for tuition of brain
4 damaged and/or socially and emotionally disturbed and/or
5 mentally retarded day students exceed four thousand one hundred
6 dollars ($4,100) per year. The Department of Education shall be
7 provided with such financial data from private schools as may be
8 necessary to determine the reasonableness of charges for tuition
9 and room and board of the institution made on Pennsylvania
10 resident approved reimbursed students. The Department of
11 Education shall evaluate such data and shall disallow any charge
12 deemed unreasonable. Any charges deemed unreasonable by the
13 Department of Education for disallowance shall be considered an
14 adjudication within the meaning of the act of June 4, 1945
15 (P.L.1388, No.442), known as the "Administrative Agency Law,"
16 and regulations promulgated thereunder.
17 (b) When any person less than six (6) or more than twenty-
18 one (21) years of age resident in this Commonwealth, who is
19 blind or deaf, or afflicted with cerebral palsy and/or brain
20 damage and/or muscular dystrophy, is enrolled, with the approval
21 of the Department of Education, as a pupil in any of the schools
22 or institutions for the blind or deaf, or cerebral palsied
23 and/or brain damaged and/or muscular dystrophied, under the
24 supervision of or approved by the Department of Education, the
25 Commonwealth shall pay to such school or institution, out of
26 moneys appropriated to the department for special education, the
27 cost of tuition and maintenance of such person, as determined by
28 the Department of Education, subject to review and approval in
29 accordance with standards and regulations promulgated by the
30 Council of Basic Education, and in addition, in the case of any
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1 child less than six (6) years of age, who is blind, the cost, as
2 determined by the Department of Education of instructing the
3 parent of such blind child in caring for such child. In no event
4 shall the total cost of tuition and maintenance for residential
5 students exceed [five thousand five hundred dollars ($5,500)]
6 eight thousand five hundred dollars ($8,500) per year for
7 tuition of deaf or blind and/or cerebral palsied and/or muscular
8 dystrophied day students, [four thousand one hundred twenty-five
9 dollars ($4,125)] exceed five thousand one hundred dollars
10 ($5,100) per year and for tuition of [cerebral palsied and/or]
11 brain damaged [and/or muscular dystrophied] day students [three
12 thousand five hundred dollars ($3,500)] four thousand one
13 hundred dollars ($4,100) per year.
14 (c) When any child between the ages of six (6) and twenty-
15 one (21) years of age, resident in this Commonwealth, who is
16 socially and emotionally disturbed, is enrolled with the
17 approval of the Department of Education, as a pupil in any
18 approved day school under supervision of or approved by the
19 Department of Education, the school district in which such child
20 is resident shall pay twenty-five percent (25%) of the cost of
21 tuition of such child in such school as determined by the
22 Department of Education, and the Commonwealth shall pay out of
23 funds appropriated to the Department for Special Education
24 seventy-five percent (75%) of the cost of tuition of such child
25 as determined by the department: Provided, however, That in no
26 event shall the cost of tuition of such child exceed [three
27 thousand three hundred dollars ($3,300)] four thousand one
28 hundred dollars ($4,100) per school year.
29 (d) No private institution receiving payment in accordance
30 with this section shall impose any charge on the student and/or
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1 parents who are Pennsylvania approved reimbursable residents for
2 a program of instruction and maintenance appropriate to the
3 child's needs; except that charges for programs not part of the
4 normal school year may be made.
5 (e) Where the private institution provides a vocational
6 education program to the students enrolled therein as an
7 established and integral part of its on-going approved program
8 and where the department deems such program to be necessary
9 because of the unavailability of an appropriate program for such
10 students, the maximum rate payable shall be increased by the
11 audited cost of the program per approved Pennsylvania resident
12 enrolled in the program.
13 (f) Where the private institution provides special education
14 programs for multihandicapped students which is adjudged
15 necessary by the Department of Education, the maximum rate
16 payable shall be increased by seventy-five percent (75%) for the
17 second severe handicap, eighty-five percent (85%) for the third
18 severe handicap and one hundred percent (100%) for more than
19 three severe handicaps.
20 Section 2. Section 1377 of the act, amended December 6, 1965
21 (P.L.1029, No.383), subsection (b) amended November 15, 1972
22 (P.L.1229, No.273), is amended to read:
23 Section 1377. Payment of Cost of Tuition and Maintenance of
24 Certain Exceptional Children.--(a) To facilitate payments by the
25 several school districts to the schools or institutions in which
26 deaf or blind, or cerebral palsied and/or brain damaged and/or
27 muscular dystrophied, or socially [or] and emotionally disturbed
28 or mentally retarded children are enrolled, of amounts due by
29 such districts for their proportion of the cost of tuition and
30 maintenance of such children, the [Superintendent of Public
19750H1254B2082 - 5 -
1 Instruction] Secretary of Education shall withhold from any
2 moneys due to such districts out of any State appropriation for
3 the assistance as reimbursement of school districts, the amounts
4 due by such districts to such schools or institutions for the
5 blind or the deaf, or the cerebral palsied and/or brain damaged
6 and/or muscular dystrophied or the socially [or] and emotionally
7 disturbed and/or mentally retarded. Amounts so withheld shall be
8 paid to such schools or institutions by warrant of the Auditor
9 General upon the State Treasurer, after requisition of the
10 [Superintendent of Public Instruction] Secretary of Education,
11 for which purpose all amounts so withheld are hereby
12 specifically appropriated to the Department of [Public
13 Instruction] Education.
14 (b) Payments of the Commonwealth's proportion of the cost of
15 tuition and maintenance of blind or deaf, or cerebral palsied
16 and/or brain damaged and/or muscular dystrophied, or socially
17 and emotionally disturbed and/or mentally retarded pupils
18 enrolled in schools or institutions for the blind or for the
19 deaf, or for the cerebral palsied and/or brain damaged and/or
20 muscular dystrophied, or for the socially and emotionally
21 disturbed and of the cost of instruction of parents of blind
22 pupils less than six (6) years of age, as hereinbefore provided,
23 shall be made quarterly, out of moneys appropriated to the
24 Department of Education for special education, by warrant of the
25 Auditor General upon the State Treasurer, after requisition by
26 the Secretary of Education. In no event shall the total payment
27 for the cost of tuition and maintenance of any such child exceed
28 [five thousand five hundred dollars ($5,500)] the rates per year
29 allowed under section 1376. The maximum amount payable for the
30 cost of tuition and maintenance of such children shall be
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1 subject to review at least once every two years for the purpose
2 of recommending an adjustment thereof.
3 (c) For the purpose of enabling the Department of [Public
4 Instruction] Education to determine from time to time what
5 amounts are due to schools for the blind or for the deaf or for
6 the cerebral palsied and/or brain damaged and/or muscular
7 dystrophied or for the socially [or] and emotionally disturbed
8 and/or mentally retarded hereunder, such schools shall forward
9 to the department, at such times and in such form as the
10 department shall prescribe, sworn statements setting forth the
11 names, ages, and residences of all pupils enrolled hereunder,
12 specifying the school districts liable for a part of the cost of
13 tuition and maintenance of any such pupils, the per capita cost
14 of and maintenance of pupils, and such other information as the
15 department shall require.
16 For the purpose of providing adequate administration of the
17 program and to carry out the preaudit functions authorized in
18 section 1376(a), one-quarter of one percent (.25%) of the total
19 appropriations for approved private schools from all funds shall
20 be allocated to the Department of Education.
21 Section 3. This act shall take effect immediately, and shall
22 apply to the school year 1975-1976 and each year thereafter
23 EXCEPT THAT THE PROVISIONS RELATING TO SOCIALLY AND EMOTIONALLY <--
24 DISTURBED RESIDENTIAL STUDENTS SHALL TAKE EFFECT JULY 1, 1976
25 AND SHALL APPLY TO THE SCHOOL YEAR 1976-1977 AND EACH YEAR
26 THEREAFTER.
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