|
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
|
State
Rep. James Roebuck |
|
Roebuck's 2009-10 school code bill approved by committee
HARRISBURG, Aug. 6 – State Rep. James Roebuck, D-Phila., said the House Education Committee approved an omnibus education code bill this week as part of the 2009-10 state budget process.
Roebuck's bill (H.B. 11) includes a long list of provisions related to school district funding, teacher training, higher education and many other education policy matters. Roebuck said the bill, which includes language from various other pieces of pre-existing legislation -- all of which has a total of 131 House co-sponsors and 44 Senate co-sponsors -- is an integral part of the annual budget process.
"Each year we must pass school code legislation along with the state budget," Roebuck said. "This year we are jumpstarting that process with an omnibus bill of rather unique scale – House Bill 11 -- which ought to help get us moving negotiations along toward a final school code bill."
House Bill 11 would implement the second year of the state's six-year plan to move schools toward adequate funding levels with a $300 million increase in basic education funding. The bill would also implement a new special education funding formula and accountability measures to increase funding adequacy and student achievement.
Roebuck said H.B. 11 would establish statutory authority for the state's teacher quality improvement initiative, which helps teachers earn certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
To help college students and their families save more money, H.B. 11 would expand the Pennsylvania's Statewide Credit Transfer System, which requires the state’s 14 community colleges and 14 State System of Higher Education colleges to accept a minimum of 30 transferrable credit hours from any of the participating institutions. Roebuck said H.B. 11 would give students who earn an associate degree at a community college full standing as a junior at a State System of Higher Education university, and require state-related universities -- Penn State, Pittsburgh, Temple and Lincoln universities – to begin accepting 30 credit hours from the current Statewide Credit Transfer System by March 2010.
House Bill 11 now awaits consideration by the full House.
###