THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

SENATE BILL

INTRODUCED BY WILLIAMS, RAFFERTY AND FOLMER, JUNE 14, 2011

REFERRED TO EDUCATION, JUNE 14, 2011  

AN ACT

Amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), entitled "An

act relating to the public school system, including certain

provisions applicable as well to private and parochial

schools; amending, revising, consolidating and changing the

laws relating thereto," providing for a parent trigger.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  The act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), known

as the Public School Code of 1949, is amended by adding an

article to read:

ARTICLE XVII-C

PARENT TRIGGER

Section 1701-C.  Definitions.

The following words and phrases when used in this article

shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the

context clearly indicates otherwise:

"Appendix C."  Appendix C of the Notice of Final Priorities,

Requirements, Definitions, Selection Criteria for the Race to

the Top Program published under volume 74 of Number 22 of the

Federal Register on November 18, 2009.

"Charter management organization."  A nonprofit organization

that operates or manages charter schools by centralizing or

sharing certain functions and resources among schools.

"Department."  The Department of Education of the

Commonwealth.

"Education management organization."  A for-profit

organization or nonprofit organization that provides services

for the operation of a school.

"Persistently lowest-achieving school."  A public elementary

or secondary school placed on the list of persistently lowest-

achieving schools under section 1706-C.

"Race to the Top program."  The program established under

sections 14005 and 14006 of Title XIV of the American Recovery

and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5, 123 Stat. 115).

"Restart model."  A school district model in which:

(1)  A school district converts a school or closes and

reopens a school under a charter school operator, a charter

management organization or an education management

organization that has been selected through a rigorous review

process.

(2)  The school district must enroll, within the grades

it serves, any former student who wishes to attend the

school.

"School."  A public elementary or secondary school in this

Commonwealth. The term shall not include charter schools, cyber

charter schools, area vocational-technical schools, schools that

do not draw their student body from a particular attendance

boundary and schools with specialized academic programs with

specific admissions criteria.

"School closure."  The closure of a school by a school

district in which the students who attended the school are

enrolled in other schools located in the school district, in

another school district, a charter school or a cyber charter

school and the students have achieved higher academic

performance. The term includes situations in which students of

the closed school are enrolled in a private school that accepts

tuition from the school district.

"Title I."  Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education

Act of 1965 (Public Law 89-10, 20 U.S.C. Ch. 63, et seq.).

"Transformational model."  A school district model in which a

school district implements all of the following strategies:

(1)  Developing and increasing teacher and school leader

effectiveness.

(i)  A school district must do all of the following:

(A)  Replace the principal who led the school

prior to commencement of the transformational model.

(B)  Use rigorous, transparent and equitable

evaluation systems for teachers and principals that

do all of the following:

(I)  Take into account data on student growth

as a significant factor as well as other factors,

such as multiple observation-based assessments of

performance and ongoing collections of

professional practice reflective of student

achievement and increased high school graduation

rates.

(II)  Are designed and developed with teacher

and principal involvement.

(C)  Identify and reward school leaders, teachers

and other staff who, in implementing this model, have

increased student achievement and high school

graduation rates and identify and remove those who,

after ample opportunities have been provided to

improve their professional practice, have not done

so.

(D)  Provide staff with ongoing, high-quality,

job-embedded professional development that is aligned

with the school's comprehensive instructional program

and designed with school staff to ensure that the

staff are equipped to facilitate effective teaching

and learning and have the capacity to successfully

implement school reform strategies.

(E)  Implement such strategies as financial

incentives, increased opportunities for promotion and

career growth and more flexible work conditions that

are designed to recruit, place and retain staff with

the skills necessary to meet the needs of the

students in a transformation model school.

(ii)  In addition to the strategies contained under

subparagraph (i), a school district may implement other

strategies to develop the effectiveness of teachers and

school leaders, including the following:

(A)  Providing additional compensation to attract

and retain staff with the skills necessary to meet

the needs of the students in a transformational model

school.

(B)  Instituting a system for measuring changes

in instructional practices resulting from

professional development.

(C)  Ensuring that the school is not required to

accept a teacher without the mutual consent of the

teacher and principal, regardless of the seniority of

the teacher.

(2)  Comprehensive instructional reform strategies.

(i)  A school district must do all of the following:

(A)  Use data to identify and implement an

instructional program that is research-based and

vertically aligned from one grade to the next grade

and aligned with State academic standards.

(B)  Promote the continuous use of student data

from assessments to inform and differentiate

instruction in order to meet the academic needs of

individual students.

(ii)  In addition to the strategies implemented under

subparagraph (i), a school district may implement

comprehensive instructional reform strategies, such as

the following:

(A)  Conducting periodic reviews to ensure that

the curriculum is being implemented with fidelity, is

having the intended impact on student achievement and

is modified to achieve these goals if determined to

be ineffective.

(B)  Implementing a schoolwide response to

intervention model.

(C)  Providing additional supports and

professional development to teachers and principals

in order to implement effective strategies to support

students with disabilities in the least restrictive

environment and to ensure that limited English

proficient students acquire language skills to master

academic content.

(D)  Using and integrating technology-based

supports and interventions as part of the

instructional program.

(E)  In secondary schools:

(I)  Increasing rigor by offering

opportunities for students to enroll in advanced

coursework, early-college high schools, dual

enrollment programs or thematic learning

academies that prepare students for college and

careers, including by providing appropriate

supports designed to ensure that low-achieving

students can take advantage of these programs and

coursework.

(II)  Improving student transition from

middle school to high school through summer

transition programs or freshman academies.

(III)  Increasing graduation rates through

strategies, such as credit-recovery programs,

reengagement strategies, smaller learning

communities, competency-based instruction and

performance-based assessments and acceleration of

basic reading and mathematics skills.

(IV)  Establishing early-warning systems to

identify students who may be at risk of failing

to achieve to high standards or graduate.

(3)  Increasing learning time and creating community-

oriented schools.

(i)  A school district must do all of the following:

(A)  Establish schedules and implement strategies

that provide increased learning time.

(B)  Provide ongoing mechanisms for family and

community engagement.

(ii)  In addition to the strategies implemented under

subparagraph (i), a school district may implement

strategies that extend learning time and create

community-oriented schools, such as the following:

(A)  Partnering with parents and parent

organizations, faith-based organizations and

community-based organizations, health clinics, other

State or local agencies and others to create safe

school environments that meet the social, emotional

and health needs of the students.

(B)  Extending or restructuring the school day so

as to add time for the strategies as advisory periods

that build relationships between students, faculty

and other school staff.

(C)  Implementing approaches to improve school

climate and discipline, such as implementing a system

of positive behavioral supports or taking steps to

eliminate bullying and student harassment.

(D)  Expanding the school program to offer full-

day kindergarten or prekindergarten.

(4)  Providing operational flexibility and sustained

support. The following shall apply:

(i)  A school district must do all of the following:

(A)  Give the school sufficient operational

flexibility, such as staffing, calendars, time and

budgeting, to fully implement a comprehensive

approach to substantially improve student achievement

outcomes and increase high school graduation rates.

(B)  Ensure that the school receives ongoing,

intensive technical assistance and related support

from the school district or a designated external

lead partner organization, such as a school

turnaround organization or an education management

organization.

(ii)  In addition to the strategies implemented under

subparagraph (i), a school district may implement other

operational flexibility and intensive support strategies,

such as the following:

(A)  allowing the school to be operated under a

new governance arrangement; or

(B)  implementing a per-pupil, school-based

budget formula that is weighted based on student

needs.

"Turnaround model."  As follows:

(1)  A school district model in which a school district

implements all of the following strategies:

(i)  Replacing the principal and granting the

principal sufficient operational flexibility, including

in staffing, calendars, time and budgeting, to implement

fully a comprehensive approach in order to substantially

improve student achievement outcomes and increase high

school graduation rates.

(ii)  Using locally adopted competencies to measure

the effectiveness of staff who can work within the

turnaround environment to meet the needs of the students

by:

(A)  Screening all existing staff and rehiring no

more than 50% of the existing staff.

(B)  Selecting new staff.

(iii)  Implementing such strategies as financial

incentives, increased opportunities for promotion and

career growth and more flexible work conditions that are

designed to recruit, place and retain staff with the

skills necessary to meet the needs of the students in the

turnaround school.

(iv)  Providing staff with ongoing, high-quality,

job-embedded professional development that is aligned

with the school's comprehensive instructional program and

designed with school staff to ensure that staff are

equipped to facilitate effective teaching and learning

and have the capacity to successfully implement school

reform strategies.

(v)  Adopting a new governance structure, which may

include requiring the school to report to a new

turnaround office in the school district, hiring a

turnaround leader who reports directly to the

superintendent or chief academic officer or entering into

a multiyear contract with the school district to obtain

added flexibility in exchange for greater accountability.

(vi)  Using data to identify and implement an

instructional program that is research-based and

vertically aligned from one grade to the next as well as

aligned with State academic standards.

(vii)  Promoting the continuous use of student data

from assessments to inform and differentiate instruction

in order to meet the academic needs of individual

students.

(viii)  Establishing schedules and implementing

strategies that provide increased learning time.

(ix)  Providing appropriate social-emotional and

community-oriented services and supports for students.

(2)  A turnaround model may include the implementation of

other strategies, including any of the required and

permissible strategies under the transformational model, or a

new school model based on a single theme.

Section 1702-C.  Implementation of intervention.

(a)  Implementation.--Except as provided under subsection

(b), the board of school directors of one or more persistently

lowest-achieving schools shall implement for each persistently

lowest-achieving school one of the following interventions for

turning around a persistently lowest-achieving school:

(1)  The turnaround model.

(2)  The restart model.

(3)  School closure.

(4)  The transformation model.

(b)  Approval of prior-implemented intervention.--The board

of school directors of a district that has one or more

persistently lowest-achieving schools shall apply to the

department for review and approval of any intervention that was

implemented within the two prior school years that conforms to

the requirements for interventions under subsection (a) if the

school shows growth under the value-added assessment system as

defined in section 221 for the prior school year.

(c)  Public hearings.--The board of school directors shall,

prior to meeting to select one of the four interventions under

subsection (a), hold at least two public hearings to notify

staff, parents and the community of the designation and to seek

input regarding the option most suitable for the applicable

school in its jurisdiction. At least one of the public hearings

shall be held at a regularly scheduled meeting of the board of

school directors and at least one of the public hearings shall

be held on the site of a persistently lowest-achieving school.

All public hearings required under this subsection shall be

advertised and conducted under 65 Pa.C.S. Ch. 7 (relating to

open meetings).

Section 1703-C.  Implementation by parental petition.

(a)  Duty to implement.--Except as provided under subsection

(e), the board of school directors shall implement for the next

school year in the following school year the option requested by

the parents in a petition submitted under subsection (b) for any

school not identified and placed on the list of persistently

lowest-achieving schools and which meets all of the following:

(1)  After one full school year following the date of the

receipt of the petition by the board of school directors, a

school subject to corrective action under section 1116(b)(7)

of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (Public

Law 89-10, 20 U.S.C. § 6316(b)(7)).

(2)  After one full school year of corrective action, a

school subject to corrective action under section 1116(b)(7)

of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 which

continues to fail to make adequate yearly progress for three

consecutive years.

(b)  Petition for intervention.--A petition requesting the

board of school directors to implement one or more of the four

interventions identified under section 1702-C(a) or the

alternative governance arrangements under section 1116(b)(8)(B)

of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 must be

signed by one of the following:

(1)  At least 51% of the parents or legal guardians of

pupils attending the school.

(2)  A combination of at least 51% of the parents or

legal guardians of pupils attending the school and the

elementary or middle schools that normally matriculate into a

middle or high school.

(c)   Notification of receipt.--The board of school directors

shall notify the department upon receipt of a petition under

this section and upon its final disposition of that petition.

(d)  Limitations.--

(1)  No more than 75 schools in this Commonwealth shall

be subject to a petition authorized under this article.

(2)  A petition shall be counted toward the limit under

paragraph (1) upon the department's receiving notice from the

board of school directors of its final disposition of the

petition.

(e)  Implementation not required.--A board of school

directors shall not be required to implement the option

requested by the parent petition if the request is for reasons

other than improving academic achievement or pupil safety.

Section 1704-C.  School-to-school partnership program.

(a)  Establishment.--

(1)  The department shall establish a school-to-school

partnership program and shall provide technical assistance to

the participating persistently lowest-achieving schools and

mentor schools. The department shall perform the following:

(i)  Identify and notify schools that qualify as a

mentor school.

(ii)  Create and maintain a Statewide list of schools

that have elected to be in the program as a mentor

school.

(iii)  Place the Statewide list established under

subparagraph (i) on the department's publicly accessible

Internet website.

(2)  For purposes of this subsection, a mentor school is

a school that meets either of the following:

(i)  The school has exited school improvement under

the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Public Law 107-110,

115 Stat. 1425) or its successor statute.

(ii)  The school has increased, in the Statewide

rankings based on the Pennsylvania System of School

Assessment scores, by two or more deciles over the last

five years, using the most recent data available.

(b)  Participation.--

(1)  A persistently lowest-achieving school implementing

the turnaround or transformation model may participate in the

school-to-school partnership program by working with a mentor

school that has successfully transitioned from a persistently

lowest-achieving school to a higher-achieving school. The

following shall apply:

(2)  The principal and, at the discretion of the

principal, the staff of a mentor school shall provide:

(i)  Guidance to a persistently lowest-achieving

school to develop a reform plan for the school using the

required elements of the turnaround or transformation

model.

(ii)  Guidance and advice on how the mentor school

was able to transform the culture of the persistently

lowest-achieving school from lowest-achieving school to

higher-achieving school and how that transformation could

be replicated at the school implementing a turnaround or

transformation model.

(c)  Funding.--

(1)  To the extent that Federal funds are made available

for this purpose, the department shall provide funding to a

school district for each public school located in the school

district that serves as a mentor school that is proportionate

to the degree of school staff participation in the school-to-

school partnership program. A school district that receives

funding under this paragraph shall expend the funding for the

support of each mentor school.

(2)  As a condition for receipt of funds, the principal,

and at the principal's discretion, the staff of a mentor

school shall meet regularly with the assigned persistently

lowest-achieving school for a period of up to at least three

years depending upon the availability of Federal funds.

Section 1705-C.  Department duties.

The department shall have the following duties:

(1)  To establish a list of persistently lowest-achieving

schools under section 1706-C.

(2)  To notify the board of school directors of the

school district regarding placement of the school district's

school on the list of persistently lowest-achieving schools

under section 1707-C.

(3)  To provide for a review process for approval of an

intervention that was implemented by a school district with

one or more persistently lowest-achieving schools prior to

the effective date of this section under section 1702-C(b).

(4)  To provide technical assistance to school districts

with one or more persistently lowest-achieving schools under

section 1708-C.

(5)  To establish the school-to-school partnership

program and provide technical assistance under section

1704-C.

(6)  To establish and implement a program to provide

financial assistance to a mentor school in accordance with

section 1704-C(c).

(7)  To monitor and limit the number of schools subject

to an intervention by parental petition under section

1703-‎C(d).

Section 1706-C.  List.

(a)  Establishment.--The department shall establish a list of

persistently lowest-achieving schools in accordance with the

following:

(1)  Under subsection (c), identify the 5% of the lowest-

performing public elementary and secondary schools and place

those schools on the list.

(2)  Identify and place on the list any secondary school

that experienced a student graduation rate, as defined in 34

C.F.R. § 200.19(b) (relating to other academic indicators),

that is less than 60% in each of the previous three years.

(b)  Exclusion.--

(1)  The department shall exclude from the list of

persistently lowest-achieving schools, the schools identified

under subsection (a) and all schools that have met adequate

yearly progress under No Child Left Behind Act of 2001

(Public Law 107-110, 115 Stat. 1425) or its successor

statute.

(2)  To the extent allowable under Federal law, exclude

from the schools identified under subsection (a) a school

that meets any of the following:

(i)  The school consists of an alternative education

program established under Article XIX-C.

(ii)  The school provides educational services

exclusively to individuals with exceptional needs.

(c)  Methodology.--For the purposes of identifying the

lowest-performing 5% of the schools under subsection (a)(1) and

(2), the department shall use a methodology consistent with the

methodology used to calculate the adequate yearly progress in

order to create composite results across content areas and grade

levels in reading and mathematics.

Section 1707-C.  Notification.

The department shall notify the board of school directors

that one or more of the schools in its jurisdiction have been

identified as a persistently lowest-achieving school.

Section 1708-C.  Department.

(a)  Technical assistance.--The department shall provide

technical assistance to school districts with one or more

persistently lowest-achieving schools to assist with the

implementation of the duties specified for any of the four

interventions for persistently lowest-achieving schools and to

mentor schools to assist with their duties.

(b)  Areas.--The areas of technical assistance under this

section shall comply with the definition of the following school

models:

(1)  The turnaround model.

(2)  The restart model.

(3)  The transformation model.

(4)  School closure.

Section 1709-C.  School district duties.

A school district with one or more persistently lowest-

achieving schools shall have the following duties:

(1)  To select, provide public notice and implement an

intervention for improving the persistently lowest-achieving

school or schools under section 1703-C.

(2)  To notify the department of a petition that has been

received under section 1703-C(c).

(3)  To implement the intervention requested by petition

under section 1703-C(a).

Section 1710-C.  Guidelines.

The department may establish guidelines as necessary for the

administration of this article.

Section 2.  This act shall take effect in 60 days.