PRINTER'S NO. 210
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No.
321
Session of
2015
INTRODUCED BY BREWSTER, FONTANA AND SCHWANK, JANUARY 23, 2015
REFERRED TO EDUCATION, JANUARY 23, 2015
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," in charter schools, providing for
moratorium; and further providing for applicability of other
provisions of act and regulations.
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 a
section to read:
Section 1733-A. Moratorium.--(a) Notwithstanding any other
provision of law to the contrary, a moratorium is established on
the effective date of this section for the review of the
following applications submitted after the effective date of
this section:
(1) Review of an application for a new charter school by the
State Charter School Appeal Board.
(2) Review of an application for a new cyber charter school
by the department.
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(3) Review of an application for a new cyber charter school
by the State Charter School Appeal Board.
(b) The moratorium established in subsection (a) shall not
apply to any application for the renewal of a charter for a
charter school or a cyber charter school.
(c) (1) The moratorium established in subsection (a) shall
expire upon the earlier of the following:
(i) June 30, 2016; or
(ii) June 30 of the school year where the following have
been implemented to more fairly and accurately measure the
academic performance of students, schools, school districts and
educators:
(A) Replacement of the Commonwealth's State Assessment
System, including the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment,
the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment-Modified and the
Pennsylvania Alternate System of Assessment.
(B) Replacement or revision of the Pennsylvania
Accountability System and the Pennsylvania Value-Added
Assessment System.
(2) Replacement and revision under paragraph (1)(ii)(A) and
(B) shall incorporate the following:
(i) Utilization of multiple measures of student performance
that can be used to guide and inform educational practice and
for accountability purposes to include, but not be limited to,
the following:
(A) Student achievement.
(B) Gains in student achievement.
(C) Reductions in the student achievement gap.
(D) School attendance rates.
(E) Graduation rates.
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(ii) Utilization of at least five (5) classifications of
academic performance to recognize a range of academic
performance from a high level through a continuous range to a
low-level to provide improved targeting of rewards for high-
performing schools and school districts and assistance for low-
performing schools and school districts.
(iii) Incentives for schools to assist students to improve
their performance.
(iv) Utilization of differentiated systems of support to the
lowest-performing schools and school districts, including
professional development that is targeted to the deficits of
each school and school district.
(v) Utilization of reasonable and realistic implementation
goals that ensure that the Commonwealth, the school districts
and schools have the capacity to fully implement the
accountability system and act on the results.
(vi) Application of the replacement assessment systems to
each public school, charter school, regional charter school,
cyber charter school, area vocational-technical school and
nonpublic school in this Commonwealth to provide for the
assessment of every student in the tested grades.
(3) Replacement and revision under paragraph (1)(ii)(A) and
(B) must receive approval from the United States Department of
Education.
Section 2. Section 1749-A(a)(1) of the act, added June 29,
2002 (P.L.524, No.88), is amended to read:
Section 1749-A. Applicability of other provisions of this act
and of other acts and regulations.
(a) General requirements.--Cyber charter schools shall be
subject to the following:
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(1) Sections 108, 110, 111, 321, 325, 326, 327, 431,
436, 443, 510, 518, 527, 708, 752, 753, [755,] 771, 776, 777,
808, 809, 810, 1109, 1111, 1112(a), 1205.1, 1205.2, 1301,
1302, 1310, 1317.2, 1318, 1330, 1332, 1303-A, 1518, 1521,
1523, 1531, 1547, 1702-A, 1703-A, 1714-A, 1715-A, 1716-A,
1719-A, 1721-A, 1722-A, 1723-A(a) and (b), 1724-A, 1725-A,
1727-A, 1729-A, 1730-A, 1731-A(a)(1) and (b), 1733-A and
2014-A and Articles XII-A, XIII-A and XIV.
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Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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