Jul 26 An Overview of the School and Fiscal Codes

Jul 26h in Bold Voices by

(July 26, 2024)

When the budget is passed typically there are other bills that accompany it. These code bills are typically omnibuses that contain instructions on how the appropriated funds should be distributed and numerous smaller pieces of legislation. The legislation is usually bills that have seen some movement in the legislature, but never made it across the finish line. They are either noncontroversial pieces of legislation or legislation that was negotiated to get the final budget agreed to by both chambers in the General Assembly.

The 2024-25 budget was accompanied by a fiscal code, school code, and tax reform code. For the purposes of this blog post, we will be focusing mostly on the school code bill, as well as a few things included in the fiscal code.

In the fiscal code bill (pg 65) the Building Opportunity for Out of School Time (BOOST) program was established and funded at $11.5 million. The final budget included funding for “violence intervention and prevention”, within that budget line item the fiscal code specifies that $11.5 million will be allocated for the BOOST program to provide “grants for out-of-school programming for at-risk school-age youth.” The bill also says that the programming should be evidence based and be provided to school age youth before or after school or during the summer. Eligible applicants include school districts, libraries, career and technical centers, and statewide and community out-of-school time providers. The program will be distributed by the School Safety and Security Committee within the PA Commission on Crime and Delinquency.

The fiscal code bill also designated $100 million for the School Environmental Repairs Programs – including $75 million to fund applicants from 2023-2024.

Key pieces in the school code bill include:

Basic Education Funding

The largest source of classroom funding saw some formula changes in the school code bill. These changes capture some of the common elements between the minority and the majority versions of the Basic Education Funding Commission’s report. The code bill resets the formula base to the 2022-2023 school year and utilizes the three most recent five year estimates from the American Community Survey (ACS) to calculate poverty in the district.

Ready to Learn Block Grants

As mentioned in our budget recap, the school code includes instructions on how to distribute the Ready-to-Learn (RTL) Block Grant. To unpack that, here are some additional details:

  • Each district will receive no less than what it received last year for RTL and the code bill outlines allowable uses for the funding. This list includes programs that:
    • Focus on high quality academics – such as all day kindergarten, expanding programs under ESSA, and align CTE programs to needs in the industry
    • Foster supportive learning environments – such as coordination between physical and mental health services, better serve students with disabilities and English language learners
    • Design a system of multi tiered supports – including developing tutoring, summer, after-school, and remediation programs.
  • A formula will be used to distribute funds very closely to what was outlined in the Basic Education Funding Commission’s report. A basic explanation of the formula is:
    • Calculating a district’s adequacy gap by multiplying $14,120 to the districts’ weighted average daily membership (ADM), then subtracting the district’s expenditures
    • Then calculate an adequacy/tax equity supplement. We are trying to learn more about this portion of the formula. The BEF Commission says, “for all school districts with a local tax effort rate greater than the 66th percentile, provide a tax equity supplement equal to the difference between the school district’s revenue generated at its current local tax effort rate and the revenue it would generate at the 66th percentile local tax effort rate, and multiply that difference by a fractional local capacity index.”
  • Together, these two numbers equal the amount that will be distributed through the Ready-to-Learn adequacy targets. You can view specific district allocations here.
Charter School Changes

Another large item in the school code bill related to charter schools. While it is not a large reform like many advocates were hoping for, there are some important changes.

As mentioned in the budget recap, $100 million has been allocated for cyber charter school tuition reimbursement to help offset tuition payments for students with disabilities who attend a cyber charter school. Districts report that costs for these students to attend cyber charter schools does not reflect the actual costs to educate and is one of leading burdens on a district’s budget.

Tuition costs for students with disabilities in a charter school vary widely in Allegheny County, with the highest being in Woodland Hills School District at almost $54,000/child, compared to about $27,000/child in South Fayette. These numbers refer to the average costs to educate all students with disabilities in the sending district and do not reflect the actual cost to educate the child with a disability who is attending the charter school. Sending districts pay these same tuition amounts to both cyber and brick and mortar charter schools for any student who has an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), meaning the same tuition payment applies to a student who needs a personal aide and specialized transportation and a student who needs extra test time or speech class once a week.

Also relating specifically to cyber charter schools, the school code legislation includes a new initiative to help keep children safe. Under the new law, a cyber charter school teacher must do a wellness check once a week with each student and report any possible abuse, neglect or harm.

The school code bill also specifies that charter school trustees and administrators are public officials for the purposes of ethics and financial disclosures and prohibits family members from serving on a board together or voting on family members’ employment with the charter school. All character school boards will now be required to have a quorum to conduct business and will have to post their operating budget, including sources of funding and salaries, to its website.

Career and Technical Education

After much advocacy by CTE teachers and administrators, the school code is altering teaching certification requirements for CTE instructors. To be a state-approved CTE teacher you can have at least 4 years of industry experience, 2 years industry experience and a bachelor’s degree, or 4 years of teaching in higher education in the area you will be teaching in a CTC.

Also going into effect for CTE is a new law that will require that the data needed to secure CTE funding be determined by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) by June 1 – the same timeline as used for Special Ed and BEF. This will provide more clarity to CTE directors when determining their budgets for the upcoming school year.

Mental Health

The school code outlines how the $100 million in mental health grants will be distributed. It specifies that each district in Pennsylvania will receive $100,000 and other entities such as CTCs, charter schools (including cyber), and intermediate units will receive $70,000. Additional funds available will be distributed based on the school entity’s average daily membership. The funds will be distributed through the School Safety and Mental Health grants.

The school code also includes $20 million for targeted school safety grants to enhance school security and safety. It is important to note that this is included within the school mental health budget section.

Other School Code Items

Any public school entity that does a paid advertisement must report all advertising to PDE. If in the ad refers to tuition or another expense the entity must say that it is paid for using taxpayer dollars. This will most likely impact charter schools, who utilize advertisements more frequently than traditional public schools.

Prior to the school code bill passing, only U.S. citizens were allowed to teach in Pennsylvania. Now, an individual who is authorized to work in the U.S. is eligible to get a PA teaching certificate.

The school code bill permits school districts, intermediate units, and/or CTCs to share services related to instructional programming and student services. Additionally, it allows districts to explore merging into a single district through a feasibility study.

Thankfully, the school code does not include any language related to vouchers. It does, however, expand the Educational Improvement Tax Credit by increasing the cap to $540 million (an increase of $70 million).

Jamie Baxter, Allies for Children Executive Director