PRINTER'S NO. 2023
No. 1638 Session of 2005
INTRODUCED BY MUSTIO, JUNE 6, 2005
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, JUNE 6, 2005
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 length of
6 compulsory school year.
7 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
8 hereby enacts as follows:
9 Section 1. Section 1327 of the act of March 10, 1949
10 (P.L.30, No.14), known as the Public School Code of 1949,
11 amended or added December 15, 1986 (P.L.1602, No.178) and
12 December 21, 1988 (P.L.1321, No.169), is amended to read:
13 Section 1327. Compulsory School Attendance.--(a) Except as
14 hereinafter provided, every child of compulsory school age
15 having a legal residence in this Commonwealth, as provided in
16 this article, and every migratory child of compulsory school
17 age, is required to attend a day school in which the subjects
18 and activities prescribed by the standards of the State Board of
19 Education are taught in the English language. In lieu of such
1 school attendance, any child fifteen years of age with the
2 approval of the district superintendent and the approval of the
3 Secretary of Education, and any child sixteen years of age with
4 the approval of the district superintendent of schools, may
5 enroll as a day student in a private trade school or in a
6 private business school licensed by the Department of Education,
7 or in a trade or business school, or department operated by a
8 local school district or districts. Such modified program
9 offered in a public school must meet the standards prescribed by
10 the State Board of Education or the State Board for Vocational
11 Education. Except as hereinafter provided, every parent,
12 guardian, or other person having control or charge of any child
13 or children of compulsory school age is required to send such
14 child or children to a day school in which the subjects and
15 activities prescribed by the standards of the State Board of
16 Education are taught in the English language. Such parent,
17 guardian, or other person having control or charge of any child
18 or children, fifteen or sixteen years of age, in accordance with
19 the provisions of this act, may send such child or children to a
20 private trade school or private business school licensed by the
21 Department of Education, or to a trade or business school, or
22 department operated by a local school district or districts.
23 Such modified program offered in a public school must meet the
24 standards prescribed by the State Board of Education or the
25 State Board for Vocational Education. Such child or children
26 shall attend such school continuously through the entire term,
27 during which the public schools in their respective districts
28 shall be in session, or in cases of children of migrant laborers
29 during the time the schools are in session in the districts in
30 which such children are temporarily domiciled. The financial
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1 responsibility for the education of such children of migrant
2 laborers shall remain with the school district in which such
3 children of migrant laborers are temporarily domiciled; except
4 in the case of special schools or classes conducted by an
5 intermediate unit and approved by the Department of Education or
6 conducted by the Department of Education. The certificate of any
7 principal or teacher of a private school, or of any institution
8 for the education of children, in which the subjects and
9 activities prescribed by the standards of the State Board of
10 Education are taught in the English language, setting forth that
11 the work of said school is in compliance with the provisions of
12 this act, shall be sufficient and satisfactory evidence thereof.
13 Regular daily instruction in the English language, for the time
14 herein required, by a properly qualified private tutor, shall be
15 considered as complying with the provisions of this section. For
16 the purposes of this section, "properly qualified private tutor"
17 shall mean a person who is certified by the Commonwealth of
18 Pennsylvania to teach in the public schools of Pennsylvania; who
19 is teaching one or more children who are members of a single
20 family; who provides the majority of the instruction to such
21 child or children; and who is receiving a fee or other
22 consideration for such instructional services. No person who
23 would be disqualified from school employment by the provisions
24 of subsection (e) of section 111 may be a private tutor, as
25 provided for in this section. The private tutor must file a copy
26 of his Pennsylvania certification and the required criminal
27 history record with the student's district of residence
28 superintendent.
29 (b) A child enrolled in a day school which is operated by a
30 bona fide church or other religious body, and the parent,
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1 guardian or other person having control or charge of any such
2 child or children of compulsory school age shall be deemed to
3 have met the requirements of this section if that school
4 provides a minimum of one hundred eighty (180) days of
5 instruction, four days per week, or nine hundred (900) hours of
6 instruction per year at the elementary level or nine hundred
7 ninety (990) hours per year of instruction at the secondary
8 level and:
9 (1) At the elementary school level, the following courses
10 are taught: English, to include spelling, reading and writing;
11 arithmetic; science; geography; history of the United States and
12 Pennsylvania; civics; safety education, including regular and
13 continuous instruction in the dangers and prevention of fires;
14 health and physiology; physical education; music; and art.
15 (2) At the secondary school level, the following courses are
16 offered: English, to include language, literature, speech and
17 composition; science, to include biology and chemistry;
18 geography; social studies, to include civics, economics, world
19 history, history of the United States and Pennsylvania; a
20 foreign language; mathematics, to include general mathematics
21 and statistics, algebra and geometry; art; music; physical
22 education; health and physiology; and safety education,
23 including regular and continuous instruction in the dangers and
24 prevention of fires.
25 The requirements contained in sections 1511 and 1605 of this act
26 shall not apply to such schools. The notarized affidavit of the
27 principal of any such school, filed with the Department of
28 Education and setting forth that such subjects are offered in
29 the English language in such school, whether it is a nonprofit
30 organization, and that such school is otherwise in compliance
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1 with the provisions of this act, shall be satisfactory and
2 sufficient evidence thereof. It is the policy of the
3 Commonwealth to preserve the primary right and the obligation of
4 the parent or parents, or person or persons in loco parentis to
5 a child, to choose the education and training for such child.
6 Nothing contained in this act shall empower the Commonwealth,
7 any of its officers, agencies or subdivisions to approve the
8 course content, faculty, staff or disciplinary requirements of
9 any religious school referred to in this section without the
10 consent of said school.
11 (c) A child enrolled in a day or boarding school accredited
12 by an accrediting association which is approved by the State
13 Board of Education, and the parent, guardian or other person
14 having designated control or charge of any child or children of
15 compulsory school age shall be deemed to have met the
16 requirements of subsection (a).
17 (d) Instruction to children of compulsory school age
18 provided in a home education program, as provided for in section
19 1327.1 of this act, shall be considered as complying with the
20 provisions of this section, except that any student who has been
21 identified pursuant to the provisions of the Education of the
22 Handicapped Act (Public Law 91-230, 20 U.S.C. § 1401 et seq.) as
23 needing special education services, excluding those students
24 identified as gifted and/or talented, shall be in compliance
25 with the requirements of compulsory attendance by participating
26 in a home education program, as defined in section 1327.1, when
27 the program addresses the specific needs of the exceptional
28 student and is approved by a teacher with a valid certificate
29 from the Commonwealth to teach special education or a licensed
30 clinical or certified school psychologist, and written
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1 notification of such approval is submitted with the notarized
2 affidavit required under section 1327.1(b). The supervisor of a
3 home education program may request that the school district or
4 intermediate unit of residence provide services that address the
5 specific needs of the exceptional student in the home education
6 program. When the provision of services is agreed to by both the
7 supervisor and the school district or intermediate unit, all
8 services shall be provided in the public schools or in a private
9 school licensed to provide such programs and services.
10 Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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