- On April 24, the House Education Committee reported the following legislation from Committee to the House for further consideration:
House Bill 1031 (Rep. Jim Marshall, R-14) would establish a Pennsylvania Community College Affordability Task Force within the Department of Education to examine the viability and sustainability of the current community college funding model, accessibility of community college services and long-term affordability of a community college education. The Task Force would be composed of 19 members, four of whom shall be community college students and faculty appointed by the Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges. The Task Force must issue a report of its findings and recommendations within 180 days after the first meeting. HB 1031 was unanimously reported as committed.
HB 1031 is identical to the most recent version of Senate Bill 360 (Sen. Bob Mensch, R-24) which was reported out of the Senate Education Committee on February 12 and re-referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee on April 8.
House Bill 1164 (Rep. Thomas Murt, R-152) would require public institutions of higher education to give course registration priority to veteran students, to be known as the Higher Education Course Scheduling Preference for Veteran Students Act. The Committee adopted an amendment (Rep. Ryan Aument, R-41) extending the amount of time within which a public institution of higher education must provide veteran students with course registration priority to 180 days, pursuant to guidelines that shall be developed within 90 days of the effective date by the Department of Education. Schools with existing policies complying with the Act would not be required to adopt new policies. HB 1164 was unanimously reported as amended.
House Bill 1123 (Rep. Gordon Denlinger, R-99) would amend the Private Academic Schools Act definition of private academic school to provide for online schools which shall not include cyber charter schools. The bill would require the State Board of Private Academic Schools to promulgate within 18 months any rules, regulations, policies, principles and standards necessary to provide for the inclusion of online schools. The Board must not issue a license to an online school until those rules, regulations, policies, principles and standards are in effect. HB 1123 was unanimously reported as committed.
During the meeting: Representative Gordon's staff explained public charter schools and home school co-ops that utilize online curriculum would not be affected by the legislation.
- On April 25 the House Education Committee held a public hearing on bullying and suicide prevention. The Committee received written or verbal testimony from twenty-one individuals representing school boards, intermediate units, mental health organizations, and a variety of school and teacher organizations, as well as the Department of Education. For the full list of panelists, and to read testimony if provided, see below.
Lynn Cromley, Director of the Center for Schools and Communities, Center for Safe Schools, emphasized the need echoed by others for a clear definition of bullying. She noted that bullying can be inappropriate behavior or bullying can be aggressive, criminal behavior that violates civil rights; it is important to recognize it occurs on a continuum and to provide clarity and additional guidance to school administrators on how to implement the requirements in a meaningful way.
Shawn McGlichey, Director of Risk Management for Krapf Bus Companies, spoke on behalf of the Pennsylvania School Bus Association. He explained the prevalence of bullying on school buses. He urged the Committee to exempt buses from the Pennsylvania Wiretap Law which currently restricts surveillance equipment and audio taping for discipline and security purposes.
Dr. Matthew Masiello, Director for the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention stated the way to address bullying is through evidence-based programs. Yvonne Cook, President of Highmark Foundation, highlighted before the Committee Highmark's success with its bullying prevention initiatives by engaging diverse stakeholders and providing schools and communities with resources and support. Kay Lipsitz, Director of the Parent Education Network (PEN) discussed PEN's Bullying Prevention Initiative, which hopes to reduce and prevent bullying by engaging and educating all stakeholders and advocating for a reporting system within the schools. Representative Rapp mentioned the problem of "selective enforcement" which Lipsitz acknowledged is a "very big problem" throughout the Commonwealth.
Among those speaking to the issue of suicide prevention was Dr. Erich Batra, Co-Chair of the Pennsylvania Youth Suicide Prevention Initiative (PAYSPI), and Joe Volupas, Executive Director of the student empowerment organization Aevidum and English teacher at Cocalico High School. Dr. Batra emphasized that suicide prevention is one piece to help improve the overall well-being of our children and promote a safe culture in school. He shared that PAYSPI is available to enhance prevention efforts already in place. He also noted that the Student Assistance Program (SAP) has been in existence for 28 years and is one component of the comprehensive youth suicide prevention efforts being implemented in school districts across the Commonwealth. Vulopas expressed the importance of training teachers to identify mental health issues because educators are in the "optimal position to be the first responders", with children spending the majority of their day in the classroom.
Charlene Brennan and James McDonald from the Colonial Intermediate Unit 20 shared bullying statistics and how the IU is tackling the issues of bullying and suicide. McDonald noted the evidence that school-wide behavioral support services help prevent bullying by teaching social behavior and promoting a culture where bullying is not accepted or promoted. However, he said the school-wide systems are currently underutilized in Pennsylvania, noting only 211 schools have implemented school-wide systems since 2007.
House Bill 156 (Rep. Dan Truitt, R-156), or the Pennsylvania Safe Schools "PASS" Act, would require teachers to undergo bullying prevention training every five years and establish an online portal through which acts of bullying would be reported to the state. In reference to the schools being required to collect bullying data, Dr. Masiello recommended a public health approach to identifying the information to be collected, suggesting the Committee gather legislators, educators, and public health experts to develop the questions. Dr. Masiello also noted that "from a public health perspective, we have a significant amount of data. What we do not have is a significant amount of evidence-based, large population programs in our communities to respond to that data."
Representative Truitt asked what is different today about bullying that the legislation must address. Lipsitz reiterated Chairman Paul Clymer's opening statements about the impact of technology, saying that the culture now is such that "in the past if someone was bullied it stopped when someone left school" but now technology enables harassment and bullying to extend beyond school.
Sean Fields, Senior Associate Counsel for the Pennsylvania School Board Association (PSBA) provided the Committee with PSBA's opinions regarding House Bill 1211 (Rep. Ryan Aument, R-41) which includes mandated reporting and training. Fields recommended the punishment policy include a range of penalties and do not include specifics so that districts have flexibility, to which Representative Truitt expressed concern that flexibility would provide for selective enforcement. Fields also raised the issue regarding electronic communications outside of school as it relates to a student's First Amendment rights, and notification issues that may undermine the rights of the victim.
Brennan recommended that HB 1211 or similar legislation should include proactive approaches such as teacher identification training, and bullying avoidance training including teaching empathy and impulse control. She further suggested safe-school grants be aimed at bullying and suicide prevention with sufficient timelines for implementation to apply for grant money.
Michael Crossey, President of the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA), stated the organization's support for modernizing the current bullying law. Although PSEA has not taken a position on the legislation, Crossey added that HB 1211 "makes common sense changes" including updating the cyber-bullying and reporting requirements and that PSEA will work with Representatives Truitt and Aument on both HB 156 and HB 1211.
The following is a list of all testifiers. View online the written testimony from each organization, if provided:
o Shawn McGlichey, Director of Risk Management for Krapf Bus Companies and speaking on behalf of the Pennsylvania School Bus Association
o Dr. Erich Batra, Co-Chair of the Pennsylvania Youth Suicide Prevention Initiative
o Joe Vulopas, Executive Director, Aevidum
o Susan Lozada, Executive Director of Community and Student Services, Allentown School District
o Catherine Siciliano, Teacher, Quakertown Community School District and Board Chair of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Greater Philadelphia Chapter
o Kay Lipsitz, Director, Parent Education Network
o Yvonne Cook, President, Highmark Foundation
o Dr. Matthew Masiello, Director, Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
o Lynn Cromley, Director Center for School and Communities, Center for Safe Schools
o Rosemary Browne, Program Officer, Highmark Foundation, Central Pennsylvania
o Sean Fields, Senior Associate Counsel, Pennsylvania School Board Association (PSBA)
o Charlene Brennan, Executive Director, Colonial Intermediate Unit 20
o Janice Cunningham, Director of Resolve Behavioral Health Services
o James McDonald, Supervisor of Clinical Support Staff
o Dr. Ronald Prator, Supervisor of Quality Assurance
o Sandra Binczak, Supervisor of Therapeutic Emotional Support Services
o Michael Crossey, President, Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA)
o Allegheny Intermediate Unit
o Department of Education
o ACLU
o Anti-Defamation League
