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PRINTER'S NO. 453
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No.
499
Session of
2015
INTRODUCED BY COSTA, FONTANA, YUDICHAK, BREWSTER AND SCHWANK,
FEBRUARY 19, 2015
REFERRED TO EDUCATION, FEBRUARY 19, 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 reimbursements by Commonwealth and
between school districts, providing for funding for schools
operated by children's residential facilities.
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 2599.6. Funding for Schools Operated by Children's
Residential Facilities.--(a) Funding for a children's
residential facility shall be provided in the following manner:
(1) There shall be no tuition charge for a resident or non-
resident student attending a children's residential facility.
(2) For non-special education students, the children's
residential facility shall receive for each student enrolled no
less than the budgeted total expenditure per average daily
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membership as defined in section 2501(20), of the prior school
year minus the budgeted expenditures of the district of
residence for nonpublic school programs; adult education
programs; community/junior college programs; student
transportation services; special education programs; facilities
acquisition, construction and improvement services; and other
financing uses, including debt service and fund transfers as
provided in the Manual of Accounting and Related Financial
Procedures for Pennsylvania School Systems established by the
Department of Education. This amount shall be paid by the
district of residence of each student.
(3) For special education students, the children's
residential facility shall receive for each student enrolled the
same funding as for each non-special education student as
provided in paragraph (2), plus an additional amount determined
by dividing the district of residence's total special education
expenditure by the product of multiplying the combined
percentage of section 2509.5(k) times the district of
residence's total average daily membership for the prior school
year. This amount shall be paid by the district of residence of
each student.
(4) A children's residential facility may request the
intermediate unit in which the children's residential facility
is located to provide services to assist the facility in
addressing the specific needs of exceptional students. The
intermediate unit shall assist the children's residential
facility and bill the children's residential facility for the
services. The intermediate unit may not charge the children's
residential facility more for any service than it charges the
constituent districts of the intermediate unit.
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(5) Payments shall be made to the children's residential
facility in twelve (12) equal monthly payments, by the fifth day
of each month, within the operating school year. A student
enrolled in a children's residential facility shall be included
in the average daily membership of the student's district of
residence for the purpose of providing basic education funding
payments and special education funding pursuant to this article.
If a school district fails to make a payment to a children's
residential facility as prescribed in this paragraph, the
Secretary of Education shall deduct the estimated amount, as
documented by the children's residential facility, from all
State payments made to the district after receipt of
documentation from the children's residential facility.
(6) Within thirty (30) days after the Secretary of Education
makes a deduction under paragraph (5), a school district may
notify the secretary that the deduction made from State payments
to the district under this subsection is inaccurate. The
secretary shall provide the school district with an opportunity
to be heard concerning whether the children's residential
facility documented that its students were enrolled in the
children's residential facility, the period of time during which
each student was enrolled, the school district of residence of
each student and whether the amounts deducted from the school
district were accurate.
(b) It shall be lawful for any children's residential
facility to receive, hold, manage and use, absolutely or in
trust, any devise, bequest, grant, endowment, gift or donation
of any property, real or personal and/or mixed, which shall be
made to the children's residential facility for any of the
purposes of this article.
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(c) It shall be unlawful for any board of trustees of a
children's residential facility, any trustee or any other person
affiliated in any way with a children's residential facility to
demand or request, directly or indirectly, any gift, donation or
contribution of any kind from any parent, teacher, employe or
any other person affiliated with the children's residential
facility as a condition for employment or enrollment and/or
continued attendance of any pupil. Any donation, gift or
contribution received by a children's residential facility shall
be given freely and voluntarily.
(d) For purposes of this section, the address of a child at
the time of placement resulting from a court's adjudication of
delinquency shall be deemed the address of residency for the
determination of the financial responsibility of the school
district of residence.
(e) A school district may enter into a contract with a
children's residential facility to provide educational services
to children adjudicated delinquent. The Department of Education
shall develop, in conjunction with the Department of Human
Services and the Juvenile Court Judges' Commission, written
guidelines for school districts contracting with children's
residential facilities to ensure compliance with applicable law
and regulation. The guidelines shall address:
(1) Minimum monitoring standards for children's residential
facilities' educational programs and services, including:
(i) the role of intermediate units in monitoring educational
services;
(ii) the role of school districts in which are located
children's residential facilities in monitoring educational
services;
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(iii) the identification of the specific educational needs
of children adjudicated delinquent;
(iv) coordination of children's residential facility
licensure regulations of the Department of Human Services with
the facility's educational program; and
(v) measures to be taken in cases where the child
adjudicated delinquent is to be reintegrated into the school
district of residence.
(2) Procedures that children's residential facilities and
school districts should use in claiming special education costs.
(3) Procedures for determining districts of residence.
(4) Allowable education costs.
(5) Audit requirements.
(6) Eligibility of children's residential facilities for
indirect cost reimbursement.
(f) The Department of Education and the Department of Human
Services shall collaborate with the Juvenile Judges' Commission
to develop a database that effectively and uniformly tracks
placement of children adjudicated delinquent.
(g) The following words and phrases when used in this
section shall have the meanings given to them in this subsection
unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
" Child adjudicated delinquent. " An individual in this
Commonwealth who is under twenty-one (21) years of age, who
committed an act of delinquency before reaching eighteen (18)
years of age and who remains under the jurisdiction of the
juvenile court.
"Children's residential facility." A licensed private
academic secondary school or approved private alternative
education program operated by a facility that provides
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residential services in this Commonwealth at the secondary level
to at least two hundred (200) adjudicated delinquents annually
and that operates under a certificate of compliance issued by
the Department of Human Services. The term does not include a
private residential rehabilitative institution as defined under
section 914.1-A.
Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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