PRINTER'S NO. 1984
No. 1583 Session of 2005
INTRODUCED BY BISHOP, CALTAGIRONE, GOODMAN, FREEMAN, DALEY,
REICHLEY, JAMES, YOUNGBLOOD, JOSEPHS AND E. Z. TAYLOR,
MAY 12, 2005
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, MAY 12, 2005
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), entitled "An
2 act relating to the public school system, including certain
3 provisions applicable as well to private and parochial
4 schools; amending, revising, consolidating and changing the
5 laws relating thereto," further providing for dates and times
6 of school terms and sessions; and making editorial changes.
7 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
8 hereby enacts as follows:
9 Section 1. Section 1504 of the act of March 10, 1949
10 (P.L.30, No.14), known as the Public School Code of 1949,
11 amended July 27, 1953 (P.L.629, No.184) and July 1, 1978
12 (P.L.575, No.105), is amended to read:
13 Section 1504. Dates and Times of School Terms and Sessions;
14 Commencement.--(a) The board of school directors of each school
15 district shall fix the date of the beginning of the school term.
16 [Unless otherwise determined by the] The board[, the daily
17 session of school shall open at nine ante-meridian and close at
18 four post-meridian, with an intermission of one hour at noon,
19 and] shall set hours for class so that between the hours of
1 eleven a.m. and two p.m., every pupil takes part in a meal
2 period of thirty minutes and that there is an intermission of
3 fifteen minutes in the morning and in the afternoon. Upon
4 request of a board of school directors for an exception to the
5 aforesaid daily schedule, the Secretary of Education may, when
6 in his opinion a meritorious educational program warrants,
7 approve a school week containing a minimum of twenty seven and
8 one-half hours of instruction as the equivalent of five (5)
9 school days, or a school year containing a minimum of nine
10 hundred ninety hours of instruction at the secondary level or
11 nine hundred (900) hours of instruction at the elementary level
12 as the equivalent of one hundred eighty (180) school days.
13 Professional and temporary professional employes shall be
14 allowed a lunch period free of supervisory or other duties of at
15 least thirty minutes. The provisions of this subsection shall
16 not be construed to repeal any rule or regulation of any board
17 of school directors now in effect which provides for a lunch
18 period longer than the minimum prescribed herein or to repeal
19 any action of any board of school directors taken in compliance
20 with section 7 of the act of July 25, 1913 (P.L.1024, No.466),
21 entitled "An act to protect the public health and welfare, by
22 regulating the employment of females in certain establishments,
23 with respect to their hours of labor and the conditions of their
24 employment; by establishing certain sanitary regulations in the
25 establishments in which they work; by requiring certain
26 abstracts and notices to be posted; by providing for the
27 enforcement of this act by the Commissioner of Labor and
28 Industry and others; by prescribing penalties for violations
29 thereof; by defining the procedure in prosecutions; and by
30 repealing all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the
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1 provisions thereof," as amended.
2 (b) If a school in any district due to crowded conditions is
3 unable to provide for the full time attendance of all pupils
4 during the school day, the board of school directors, with the
5 approval of the Department of [Public Instruction] Education
6 first obtained, may provide for two half-day sessions. The
7 approval of the Department of [Public Instruction] Education
8 shall not exceed a period of one year. Annual extensions may be
9 granted by the Department upon review of the circumstances of
10 each case. Each half-day session shall be four (4) hours in
11 duration: Provided, That the [Superintendent of Public
12 Instruction] Secretary of Education may reduce the half-day
13 session in the first and second grades, at the request of a
14 school district, for cogent reasons relating to the health,
15 safety or welfare of the children, if, in his opinion, the
16 school program submitted by the district shows that the local
17 program is adequate for these grades. Half-day sessions shall be
18 regarded as two regular sessions. Teachers employed for one
19 half-day session shall not be employed for the other on the same
20 day for the entire half-session, but may be required by the
21 school district to serve every school day for the same number of
22 hours prescribed by the board of school directors for regular
23 full-time teachers who teach full day sessions in the same
24 grades in the school district. Upon any violation or failure to
25 comply with the provisions of this subsection, the
26 [Superintendent of Public Instruction] Secretary of Education,
27 on hearing, after two (2) weeks' written notice to the board of
28 school directors, shall withhold and declare forfeited the State
29 appropriation for reimbursement on account of the instruction of
30 the pupils in average daily membership in the sessions in which
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1 the requirements are not met.
2 (c) The board of school directors may fix the date of the
3 school commencement and shall pay such expenses in connection
4 therewith as it may determine.
5 Section 2. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
6 Section 1505. Hours in Parochial and Private Schools.--In
7 parochial and private schools, each pupil shall take part in a
8 meal period of thirty minutes between the hours of eleven a.m.
9 and two p.m.; and there shall be an intermission of fifteen
10 minutes in the morning and in the afternoon.
11 Section 3. The amendment or addition of sections 1504 and
12 1505 of the act shall apply to school years beginning after June
13 30, 2006.
14 Section 4. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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