Posted: | February 18, 2021 09:02 AM |
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From: | Representative Melissa L. Shusterman and Rep. Jessica Benham, Rep. P. Michael Sturla |
To: | All House members |
Subject: | Allowing Students Receiving Special Education Services to Repeat a Grade Level due to COVID-19 |
Each school district in Pennsylvania is tasked with making their own decisions when it comes to implementing full-time, part-time, or virtual instruction. Those decisions are liable to change as the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic progresses and new research is introduced. While the pandemic continues to impact our day-to-day lives, for some students who have a disability or an Individualized Education Program (IEP), these ever-changing decisions that upend necessary routines can be especially detrimental to the quality of their education. Students with IEPs deserve to get back what they might have lost due to COVID-19, which is why our legislation would allow these students to repeat a grade level if their parents feel that they have missed out on educational opportunities because of the pandemic. Further, it would allow students with an IEP who have turned 21 (aged out) since the disaster emergency proclamation on March 6, 2020, to enroll free of charge for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years. Please join us in co-sponsoring this legislation to ensure we are making every effort to maintain a quality education for our most vulnerable students as we continue to battle this pandemic. |
Introduced as HB909