PRINTER'S NO. 8
No. 8 Session of 1979
INTRODUCED BY STREET, WILLIAMS, RICHARDSON AND WHITE,
JANUARY 23, 1979
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON URBAN AFFAIRS, JANUARY 23, 1979
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," providing for the election of members
6 of the board of education in districts of the first class and
7 terms of office of such members, changing administrative
8 provisions to conform thereto; and providing taxing power for
9 such elected Board of Education.
10 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
11 hereby enacts as follows:
12 Section 1. The section heading and subsection (a) of section
13 302, act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), known as the "Public
14 School Code of 1949," amended June 2, 1965 (P.L.86, No.59), are
15 amended to read:
16 Section 302. Number and Appointment in [Districts First
17 Class and] First Class A Districts; Reorganized District of
18 First Class A Containing Former Districts of Second, Third or
19 Fourth Class; Terms of Office.--(a) In each school district of
20 the [first class or of the] first class A, the board shall be
21 known as the "Board of Public Education," and shall consist of
1 fifteen (15) school directors, whose term of office shall be six
2 (6) years. The terms of five of the members shall expire on the
3 second Monday of November of each odd numbered year, as now
4 provided by law. The judges of the courts of common pleas of the
5 county in which such school district is situated shall, in
6 October of every odd numbered year, appoint five (5) members for
7 terms of six (6) years. Their term of office shall begin on the
8 second Monday of November next following their appointment.
9 * * *
10 Section 2. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
11 Section 302.2. Board of Education in Home Rule School
12 District of Philadelphia.--(a) In the separate and independent
13 Home Rule School District of Philadelphia, the board shall be
14 known as the "Board of Education" and shall consist of nine (9)
15 members to be elected on a nonpartisan basis.
16 (b) Members of the Board of Education shall be registered
17 electors of the City of Philadelphia. No person shall be
18 eligible to be elected to more than two (2) full three (3) year
19 terms.
20 (c) The initial election to select the elected board shall
21 be on Tuesday, April 10, 1979. The next election shall be on the
22 first Tuesday of June, 1982, and on the succeeding first Tuesday
23 of June every three (3) years thereafter.
24 (d) Candidates for such office shall file petitions with the
25 signatures of five hundred (500) electors, thirty (30) days
26 before the election with the county board of elections.
27 (e) Of the nine (9) members of the Board of Education, there
28 shall be one (1) elected from each of the existing eight (8)
29 sub-districts in the school district of Philadelphia and one (1)
30 from the city at large.
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1 (f) The ballots shall not contain any party designation for
2 any candidate.
3 (g) Whenever a vacancy occurs, the procedure for filling it
4 for the balance of the unexpired term shall be the same for the
5 election to fill the vacancy as hereinbefore provided for
6 election of members of the board whether the vacancy is filled
7 at a special election proclaimed by the mayor or at a municipal
8 election.
9 Section 3. Section 309 of the act is amended to read:
10 Section 309. Change of Class of Districts.--If any school
11 district hereafter becomes a district of the first class, a new
12 board of school directors shall be [appointed] elected in the
13 manner provided in this act for the [appointment] election of
14 school directors in districts of the first class. If any school
15 district hereafter becomes a district of any of the other
16 classes and the number of directors therein is increased, the
17 additional directors shall be appointed or elected as vacancies
18 in the board of directors are now filled and for terms
19 corresponding to those of directors in other school districts of
20 the same class. When the change reduces the number of directors
21 in such district, the school directors then in office shall hold
22 office during the respective terms for which they are elected,
23 and as vacancies are about to happen by the expiration of the
24 terms of any directors, a number of directors shall be elected
25 at the municipal election preceding such vacancies equal to the
26 number of directors required by law to be elected at the
27 corresponding election in other school districts of the same
28 class.
29 Section 4. Sections 316 and 317 of the act, amended November
30 28, 1973 (P.L.361, No.127), are amended to read:
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1 Section 316. Vacancies in Majority of Members.--In case
2 vacancies occur whereby the offices of a majority of the members
3 of any board of school directors, other than the board of school
4 directors of a school district of the [first class or of the]
5 first class A becomes vacant, such vacancies shall be filled by
6 the court of common pleas of the county in which such school
7 district is situated from the qualified electors of the
8 district. The persons selected to fill such vacancies shall hold
9 their offices, if the terms thereof continue so long, until the
10 first Monday in December after the first municipal election
11 occurring more than sixty (60) days after their appointment, at
12 which election eligible persons shall be elected for the
13 remainder of the respective unexpired term.
14 Section 317. Vacancies in All Members.--If at any time
15 vacancies exist or occur in the membership of all the members of
16 any board of school directors in any school district, other than
17 a school district of the [first class or of the] first class A,
18 the court of common pleas of the county in which such district,
19 or the largest part in area thereof, is located, shall, after
20 ten (10) days from the time such vacancies exist or occur,
21 appoint a board of properly qualified persons from the qualified
22 electors of the district who shall serve, if the terms thereof
23 continue so long, until the first Monday in December after the
24 first municipal election occurring more than sixty (60) days
25 after their appointment; at which election a board of school
26 directors for such district shall be elected for the remainder
27 of the respective unexpired term. Whenever a vacancy of the
28 entire membership of a board of school directors in any school
29 district of the fourth class occurs, the executive director of
30 the intermediate unit may enter and take full charge of and, at
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1 the expense of the district, maintain the schools thereof in
2 accordance with the provisions of the school laws of the
3 Commonwealth, under the direction of the Secretary of Education,
4 and may continue in charge thereof until a board of school
5 directors has been appointed from the qualified electors of the
6 district and has qualified.
7 Section 5. Subsection (a) of section 401 of the act, amended
8 December 14, 1967 (P.L.837, No.363), is amended to read:
9 Section 401. Beginning of School Year; Organization
10 Meetings.--
11 (a) In all school districts of the first class the school
12 year shall begin on the first day of January of each year and
13 the school directors shall meet and organize annually during the
14 second week of [November] December.
15 * * *
16 Section 6. The first paragraph of section 652 of the act,
17 amended August 5, 1977 (P.L.178, No.46), is amended to read:
18 Section 652. Tax Levy; Purposes; Limitations.--[In all
19 school districts of the first class the school taxes for the
20 following fiscal year shall be levied annually, by the board of
21 public education thereof, on or after the second Monday of
22 November and before the first Monday of December following.] In
23 all school districts of the first class A the school taxes for
24 the following fiscal year shall be levied annually by the board
25 of public education on or after the first Monday of December and
26 before the end of the current fiscal year and in all school
27 districts of the first class, the school taxes for the following
28 fiscal year shall be levied annually by the Board of Education
29 thereof on or after the second Monday of December and before the
30 first Monday of January following. The board of public education
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1 or Board of Education as the case may be thereof shall annually
2 levy a tax on each dollar of the total assessments of all
3 property assessed and certified for taxation in said district,
4 which tax shall be ascertained, determined, and fixed by adding
5 together the following:
6 * * *
7 Section 7. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
8 Section 652.2. Taxing Power of Elected Board of Education
9 Home Rule School District of Philadelphia.--(a) Any elected
10 Board of Education in the Home Rule School District of
11 Philadelphia shall have authority to impose taxes for the
12 purpose of such school district as follows:
13 (1) Without ordinance and under the following statutes their
14 reenactments and amendments now authorizing a tax in a school
15 district of the first class, at the rates fixed therein, namely:
16 (i) Act of June 20, 1947 (P.L.745, No.320), (mercantile
17 license tax),
18 (ii) Act of May 23, 1949 (P.L.1676, No.509), (personal
19 property tax),
20 (iii) Act of May 23, 1949 (P.L.1669, No.508), (business
21 tax),
22 (iv) Act of August 9, 1963 (P.L.640, No.338), (income tax),
23 (v) Act of May 29, 1969 (P.L.47, No.16), (corporate net
24 income tax),
25 (vi) Real Property Tax Acts:
26 Act of August 8, 1963 (P.L.592, No.310), (additional 3/4
27 mill)
28 Act of March 12, 1969 (P.L.4, No.3), (additional 4 1/4
29 mills)
30 Act of May 23, 1949 (P.L.1661, No.505), (additional 1 1/2
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1 mills)
2 Act of July 8, 1957 (P.L.548, No.303), (additional 3/4
3 mill)
4 and section 652 of this act, (11 3/4 mills)
5 (2) In addition thereto, by ordinance on any persons,
6 transactions, occupations, privileges, subjects and real or
7 personal property as they shall determine not prohibited by the
8 act of December 31, 1965 (P.L.1257, No.511), known as "The Local
9 Tax Enabling Act"; but no ordinance shall authorize the
10 imposition of a tax on the wages, salary or net income of any
11 person not a resident of such school district.
12 (b) Any ordinance authorizing a tax, other than under a
13 statute and at the rate fixed thereby, shall fix the rate
14 thereof and provide for the levy, assessment and collection of
15 the same.
16 (c) In any case where an ordinance of the elected Board of
17 Education imposes a tax on the same subject and person on which
18 any coterminous political subdivision imposes a similar tax, the
19 rate shall be halved as proved in section 8 of "The Local Tax
20 Enabling Act."
21 Section 8. Immediately upon final enactment of this
22 amendatory act, all payments of Commonwealth funds to the Home
23 Rule School District of Philadelphia shall be suspended until
24 such time as the elected Board of Education takes office as
25 herein provided. As soon as such board members shall have taken
26 office payments shall resume and suspended payments shall also
27 be paid.
28 Section 9. This act shall take effect as follows:
29 (1) The provisions of this act which provide the authority
30 and procedure for the election of school board members shall
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1 take effect immediately.
2 (2) The remaining provisions of this act relating to the
3 filling of vacancies, the beginning of the school year and
4 organizational meetings and the powers of the board relating to
5 tax levies shall take effect on the same day the elected members
6 of the board take office.
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