Senate Education Committee advances Phillips-Hill bill that eliminates needless mandates

 

HARRISBURG – The Senate Education Committee approved a measure that would strip excessive mandates from the state’s Education Code, according to the bill’s sponsor Senator Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-York).

Senate Bill 462 removes 34 mandates in the state’s law pertaining to education oversight.

“One of the biggest frustrations I hear from local educators is the burdensome and completely outdated regulations on the books affecting our teachers and their ability to do what they do best: educate our next generation,” Phillips-Hill said. “We need a comprehensive look throughout all of state government’s laws and regulations, which I am also proposing, but in the interim, I hope these nearly three dozen mandates show that we are long overdue for a deep cleaning of our state’s archaic and onerous laws.”

Mandates that will be removed from the state’s education code include:

₋         A 1993 report on racial and ethnic groupings.

₋         A 2001 study of internet instruction for public schools.

₋         A law that permits schools to adopt a corporate seal.

₋         A law pertaining to oversight and salaries of school watchmen.

₋         A law requiring every school district receive a bound copy of all new school laws.

₋         A 1964 law requiring county board of school directors to prepare a plan of organization for administrative units for the county.

₋         A law pertaining to state plan for educational broadcasting.

₋         A law allowing for certain schools to purchase and/or build homes for principals, teachers and/or custodians.

₋         A law requiring heat stoves to be shielded by galvanized iron.

₋         A law requiring every classroom to have a thermometer.

₋         A 1925 law requiring all doors to open outward.

₋         A law relating to coordination with the Works Progress Administration, which was created as part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal in 1935.

₋         A law pertaining to summer school oversight.

₋         A law prohibiting the use of telephone pagers and beepers on school grounds.

₋         A law requiring reports to the governor on expending school food programs.

₋         A law requiring the Department of Education to recommend anti-truancy programs.

₋         A law pertaining to county medical directors who deal with children who are deaf under the age of six.

₋         A report due in 1996.

₋         A law allowing school districts to provide care and treatment of vision, dental and hearing for students.

₋         A law requiring each local education agency to establish a wellness policy by the first day of the 2006-2007 school year.

₋         A program that uses federal funds to establish state grant for a summer foreign language academy.

₋         Laws pertaining to excess monthly reporting by teachers of attendance and other statistics.

₋         Laws pertaining to annual reports by the Department of Education on certain programs to the General Assembly.

₋         A 1961 law dealing with expenses and reimbursements for vocational education.

₋         A law relating to teacher certifications for evening schools.

₋         A law pertaining to a state medical educational loan assistance program.

₋         A law requiring a 1989 study on out-of-state tax credits.

The legislation moves to the full Senate for its consideration.

You can listen to Senator Phillips-Hill’s remarks here.