PSBA's Legislative Platform, Sec. A-E
When new legislation passes, PSBA is seen as the leader in analyzing it and helping members make sense of it.
As adopted by the PSBA Legislative Policy
Council
on Oct. 4, 2007
F. Career and Technical Education
It is resolved that PSBA support career and technical education programs that provide training to students wishing to enter careers as well as prepare students to attend postsecondary schools.
The association:
1. Supports legislation that would allow school districts and career and technical centers to employ vocational directors for a specific term.
2. Supports legislation to award state tax credits to businesses that make fiscal, goods or service donations to career and technical centers.
3. Supports efforts to ensure access for secondary students to career and technical education programs.
4. Supports legislation to allow adult students enrolled in programs at career and technical centers that are accredited as public postsecondary vocational schools by the U.S. Department of Education to be eligible for PHEAA grants and loans.
5. Supports a level of state funding of at least 50% or greater for the acquisition or updating of equipment for schools offering approved career and technical education programs.
6. Supports efforts to assess adequate yearly progress of students enrolled in programs at career and technical centers utilizing a growth model.
7. Supports legislation that revises the current method of funding career and technical education programs.
G. School Governance
It is resolved that PSBA support efforts to increase the involvement of school directors in the establishment of state policy and the governance of public schools. To that end, PSBA supports efforts to enhance continuity in school governance and supports and actively encourages in-service education for school directors.
The association:
1. Supports legislation to repeal the provisions in Act 50 of 1998 that reduced allowable nonelectoral debt for school districts and to re-establish the previously existing borrowing limits under the Local Government Unit Debt Act.
2. Opposes legislation restricting the authority of school boards to adopt and enforce a school calendar.
3. Opposes legislation that would restrict the authority of school boards in establishing and enforcing student disciplinary policies.
4. Supports legislation calling for the nonpartisan election of school directors.
5. Supports legislation that would relieve school districts from the impact of the back-end referendum requirements of Act 1 of Special Session 2006, including efforts to expand the number and scope of exceptions.
6. Supports legislation regarding the composition of intermediate unit boards of directors to permit alternate members and to allow one director from each member school district to serve.
7. Opposes amendments to the Sunshine Act that would weaken school board authority to set reasonable rules and regulations governing the conduct of meetings.
8. Supports legislation that would amend the Sunshine Act to allow school boards to hold an executive session to discuss matters related to school safety and security, including, but not limited to, the specific location of security equipment and personnel, details of emergency school safety plans and procedures and details of response procedures included in memoranda of understanding developed with state and local law enforcement agencies.
9. Opposes legislation that requires school districts to merge.
10. Opposes any legislation that would mandate state government oversight, regulation or control of the governance and operation of interscholastic athletics in the commonwealth.
11. Encourages voluntary in-service education for school directors and opposes efforts to mandate training.
12. Supports legislation increasing the tuition a school district may charge for nonresident students.
13. Supports efforts to improve financial reporting by school entities that promote accountability, enhance public understanding of school expenditures and facilitate more efficient use of educational resources and to repeal standards that are redundant.
14. Supports legislation amending the School Code to periodically increase the dollar amount under which supplies and services may be purchased without soliciting bids.
15. Supports legislation that would raise the age to 18 (presently age 14) at which a child may have the full right to refuse examination and/or treatment authorized by a parent, guardian or person standing in loco parentis to that child.
16. Supports legislation that would grant school boards the authority to discipline students for distribution, possession or use of drugs and/or alcohol on school property at any time, including nonschool hours.
H. Education-Related Mandates
It is resolved that PSBA support a requirement for the commonwealth to provide full and timely funding of all state-imposed mandates for school districts, especially when they exceed federal requirements. Furthermore, PSBA supports an expansion of the ability to seek waivers from certain mandated programs and requirements. In addition, the association believes that the state periodically should review existing mandates and repeal those that may no longer be necessary for the provision of a thorough and efficient education.
The association:
1. Supports legislation that expands waivers from burdensome regulatory and statutory mandates in order to create a more flexible, more efficient and more responsive public school system that ensures responsible spending of local tax dollars and maximizes student achievement.
2. Supports legislation requiring a periodic review of state-mandated programs, providing for full and continual funding of such programs and authorizing school entities to discontinue programs when funding is inadequate or terminated.
3. Supports legislation restricting the scope of existing nonpublic transportation services (including a reduction in the 10-mile rule for transporting students to nonpublic schools located beyond a district's border) and providing relief from nonpublic transportation requirements unless all of the actual costs involved are fully funded.
4. Supports a requirement for the General Assembly to prepare a detailed fiscal impact statement, including the source of revenue, of proposed legislation or regulation requiring or directing the expenditure of school district funds prior to consideration.
I. School Finance
It is resolved that PSBA support efforts for the development of a system of public school financing that emphasizes a sharing of costs between the commonwealth and local school districts, but recognizes that the commonwealth must provide the majority of funding for public education, and which provides state funding for school districts that is adequate and equitable. Furthermore, the association resolves to support efforts that provide school districts with the greatest flexibility in providing their local financial contribution to this effort, including a variety of local taxes and the development of available funding bases that are suitable to each school district's economic capabilities and conditions that exist locally.
The association:
1. Supports legislation creating an equal partnership between local school districts and state government in the funding of public education.
2. Supports legislation that establishes a K-12 education funding system that is built upon the principles of equity, adequacy, efficiency, accountability and predictability; uses a statewide funding formula for school district subsidy that recognizes the number of students taught, the relative wealth of a district, the local tax effort and the actual costs of educating every student to achieve Pennsylvania's academic standards; and requires the state to fund 100% of all budgeted subsidy payments on a timely basis.
3. Supports legislation enabling the utilization of a proper mix of local taxes for public education, as determined appropriate by each school district.
4. Supports legislation that designates and provides a major source of state funding for cyber-charter schools.
5. Supports legislation to expand eligibility for special state funding for school districts adversely affected by a substantial reduction in assessed valuation, market value or loss of revenue through bankruptcy or reassessment.
6. Supports legislation to prevent an adverse impact on a school district's state subsidy for participating in a tax-increment financing plan.
7. Supports full reimbursement of all actual costs of instruction to school districts for nonresident children who are placed in homes or institutions by the courts or by private nonprofit or for-profit agencies.
8. Supports legislation that would reimburse school districts for the costs of providing traffic-control personnel at dangerous intersections.
9. Supports the intent of the preferential assessment of certain farm and forest lands defined under Act 319 of 1974 and urges the General Assembly to provide state funds to school districts that have realized a loss in property tax revenue as a result of the preferential assessment of properties in the district.
10. Supports adequate state funding for intermediate unit operating costs.
11. Supports legislation that would increase state financial incentives for alternative education programs as well as for programs for at-risk students.
12. Opposes legislation that would reduce the ability of a school district to collect revenue from any tax it currently levies without providing a replacement source of revenue.
13. Supports legislation to repeal Act 55 of 1997 and to require adequate compensation to school districts for tax-exempt property and periodic recertification of all tax-exempt property.
14. Supports legislation that automatically increases payments in lieu of taxes to school districts to reflect local revenue lost due to state ownership of forest and game lands, and other publicly owned properties, and any tax-exempt properties currently operating with “in lieu of taxes” agreements with school districts.
15. Supports legislation that permits state payments in lieu of taxes for natural resources taken from state forests.
16. Supports legislation establishing and requiring counties to maintain a uniform statewide ratio of assessed value to market value, requiring uniform assessment practices and requiring the regular reassessment of real estate, to be done not less than every 10 years. The provision in current law that real estate tax collections can increase by no more than 10% as the result of a property reassessment should be retained.
17. Supports legislation that abolishes the requirement for school districts to use elected tax collectors, permits centralized collection for all district taxes levied and allows regional tax collection with districts having a voice in the appointing and management of the tax collector.
18. Supports legislation authorizing school districts to levy impact fees or taxes on the development of residential property to offset incremental costs.
19. Supports legislation that restores the authorization for any school district to levy and collect mercantile or business privilege taxes.
20. Supports legislation requiring that property assessments for school tax purposes in districts that cross county lines be determined uniformly district-wide.
21. Supports legislation requiring payments to local jurisdictions for all state-owned lands that are leased to private interests or are no longer actively utilized for governmental purposes.
22. Opposes legislation that would require school districts to offer tax exemptions, deductions, abatements or credits to residents or businesses located within a designated area.
23. Supports legislation that would require all employers to withhold local income taxes from employees at the rate authorized by the district in which the employee resides.
24. Supports periodic increases in reimbursement for transportation costs and vehicle depreciation.
25. Supports legislation that reduces the distance from a pupil's residence to the school for reimbursement purposes from the current one and one-half miles or more for elementary students and two miles or more for secondary students.
26. Supports legislation that will provide for total reimbursement of costs incurred in the modification of school vehicles to comply with state and federal requirements.
27. Supports legislation that would require emergency state funding to be available for districts that experience a loss of local real estate tax revenue equal to or in excess of 3%.
28. Supports increased state funding to enhance and sustain the use of technology in public education.
J. Federal Issues
It is resolved that PSBA support and work in conjunction with the efforts of the National School Boards Association to advocate for the role of school boards to provide leadership for academic success in public schools. To that end, PSBA supports the following items related to federal legislation, including the No Child Left Behind Act and other issues. These items will be incorporated into PSBA's advocacy efforts through NSBA, including Pennsylvania's delegation to the Federal Relations Network, and the association's own processes for communicating the school board viewpoint on federal education issues.
The association:
1. Supports legislation ensuring consideration for a transience factor in determining adequate yearly progress in schools so that schools with highly transient student populations will not be unduly penalized for the performance of students who have been enrolled a short period of time.
2. Supports legislation amending the No Child Left Behind Act so that eligible students who do not participate in testing for reasons authorized by the states would not be counted in their districts' participation rates.
3. Supports legislation permitting alternative methodology for measuring individual and aggregate student progress under the NCLB Act for determining AYP targets, specifically for ESL students and students with disabilities without compromising accountability determinations.
4. Supports legislation modifying the assessment system for measuring AYP to ensure accurate accounting of all student progress, including modified testing for students with learning disabilities.
5. Supports legislation that would provide for the full funding of the federal share of the IDEA through a change in the funding mechanism from discretionary appropriations to mandatory funding and require annual appropriation increases in order to achieve the federal commitment of 40% funding of IDEA. Additionally, the association supports efforts that would allow federal IDEA funds to be distributed directly to districts that operate their own special education programs.
6. Supports efforts that allow local decision-making and flexibility to better serve students in implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act and the IDEA.
7. Supports efforts in modifying the federal Unfunded Mandate Reform Act of 1995 so that it applies to the No Child Left Behind Act and other relevant federal statutes.
8. Supports legislation easing the legal restrictions imposed on local school boards for disciplining students enrolled in special education programs.