§ 6-696. Distress in school districts of the first class
Purdon's Pennsylvania Statutes and Consolidated StatutesTitle 24 P.S. EducationEffective: September 10, 2012
Effective: September 10, 2012
24 P.S. § 6-696
§ 6-696. Distress in school districts of the first class
(a) Within thirty (30) days of a declaration by the Secretary of Education that a school district of the first class is distressed under section 691(c),1 a School Reform Commission shall be established consisting of four members initially appointed by the Governor and one member initially appointed by the mayor of the city coterminous with the school district. The School Reform Commission shall be an instrumentality of a school district of the first class, exercising the powers of the board of school directors. The Governor shall appoint a chairman of the School Reform Commission. At least three of the commission members, including the member appointed by the mayor, must be residents of the school district.
(2) Except as authorized in this subsection, no commission member may be removed from office during a term. The Governor may, upon proof by clear and convincing evidence of malfeasance or misfeasance in office, remove a commission member prior to the expiration of the term. Before a commission member is removed, that member must be provided with a written statement of the reasons for removal and an opportunity for a hearing in accordance with 2 Pa.C.S. Ch. 5 Subch. A (relating to practice and procedure of Commonwealth agencies) and Ch. 7 Subch. A (relating to judicial review of Commonwealth agency action).2
(3) Upon the expiration of term or the occurrence of a vacancy in the office of a commission member appointed by the Governor, the Governor shall appoint, with the consent of a majority of the members elected to the Senate, the successor member. Upon the expiration of term or the occurrence of a vacancy in the office of a commission member appointed by the mayor, the mayor shall appoint the successor member. An appointment to fill a vacancy shall be for the balance of the unexpired term.
(b.2) Upon the issuance of a declaration by the Secretary of Education that a school district of the first class is distressed under section 691(c), the Governor shall appoint an interim chairman of the School Reform Commission, who shall have the full power and authority of the School Reform Commission. The interim chairman shall serve for a term not to exceed thirty (30) days. The interim chairman may be appointed to the School Reform Commission pursuant to this section.
(1) The School Reform Commission shall be responsible for the operation, management and educational program of the school district of the first class. The powers and duties of the board of school directors of a school district of the first class shall be suspended. All powers and duties granted heretofore to the board of school directors of a school district of the first class under this act or any other law, including its authority to levy taxes and incur debt, shall be vested in the School Reform Commission until the Secretary of Education issues a declaration under subsection (n).
(2) The School Reform Commission may enter into agreements necessary to provide for the operation, management and educational programs of the school district of the first class. The agreements shall include appropriate fiscal and academic accountability measures. Academic accountability measures shall include:
(1) All taxes authorized to be levied by a school district of the first class or for a school district of the first class by a city or county of the first class on the date of the declaration of distress shall continue to be authorized and levied in accordance with this act and shall be transmitted to the school district. For the first fiscal year or part thereof and every fiscal year thereafter in which the school district is declared to be distressed, the amount appropriated or paid by the city or county to the school district and the tax authorized by the city or county to be levied for the school district or dedicated to the school district shall be an amount or tax not less than the highest amount paid by the city or county to the school district or authorized by the city or county to be levied for the school district or dedicated to the school district during any of the three full preceding fiscal years. In addition, the city of the first class shall provide to the school district of the first class all other available local non-tax revenue, including grants, subsidies or payments made during the prior year.
(2) In addition to the moneys collected under paragraph (1), the city of the first class shall remit to the school district of the first class for each year that the school district is declared distressed that portion of all other local tax revenue levied for a full fiscal year by a city or county of the first class coterminous with a school district of the first class that was allocated to the school district prior to the school district being declared distressed in accordance with section 691(c).
(4) In the event the city or county of the first class does not meet the financial obligations prescribed in this subsection, the Commonwealth may apply to that obligation any amounts otherwise due from the Commonwealth to the city or county of the first class, including, but not limited to, grants, awards and moneys collected by the Commonwealth on behalf of the city or county of the first class. Funds withheld shall be maintained in a separate account by the State Treasurer to be disbursed as determined by the Secretary of Education in consultation with the State Treasurer.
(i) In addition to all powers granted to the superintendent by law and a special board of control under section 6933 and notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the School Reform Commission shall have the following powers:
(i) All applications to operate a charter school in a school year after a declaration of distress is issued and all charter schools established after a declaration of distress is issued shall not be subject to sections 1717-A(b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h) and (i), 1722-A(c) and 1724-A.4
(ii) The School Reform Commission may suspend or revoke a charter pursuant to section 1729-A.5
(3) To suspend the requirements of this act and regulations of the State Board of Education except that the school district shall remain subject to those provisions of this act set forth in sections 1073, 1073.1, 1076, 1077, 1078, 1080, 1732-A(a), (b) and (c), 1714-B and 21046 and regulations under those sections.
(7) To suspend professional employes without regard to the provisions of section 1125.1.7
(j) The board of school directors of the distressed school district of the first class shall continue in office for the remainder of their terms during the time the district is operated by the commission unless removed for neglect of duty under section 3188 by the court of common pleas or unless the director is elected to another position not compatible with the position of school director or is appointed to a position for which there is a requirement that the appointee shall hold no elective office. The board of school directors shall perform any duties delegated to it by the commission. The establishment of the School Reform Commission shall not interfere with the regular selection of school directors for the school district of the first class.
(k) Collective bargaining between employes and the school district of the first class shall be conducted in accordance with this subsection. For purposes of collective bargaining, as used in section 693 and this section: “professional employe” shall have the meaning given in section 1101(1), and “teacher” shall have the meaning given in section 1202-A.9
(6) If upon the termination of a collective bargaining agreement in effect on the date of the declaration of distress under this section a new collective bargaining agreement has not been ratified, the School Reform Commission shall establish a personnel salary schedule to be used until a new agreement is ratified.
(l) During the time the school district of the first class is under the direction of the School Reform Commission, all school employes shall be prohibited from engaging in any strike as defined in Article XI-A10 and section 301 of the act of July 23, 1970 (P.L. 563, No. 195),11 known as the “Public Employe Relations Act.” The Secretary of Education may suspend the certificate of an employe who violates this subsection.
(n) The Secretary of Education, only upon the recommendation of a majority of the School Reform Commission, may issue a declaration to dissolve the School Reform Commission. The dissolution declaration shall be issued at least one hundred eighty (180) days prior to the end of the current school year and shall be effective at the end of that school year. Except as otherwise provided in this section, after dissolution the board of school directors shall have the powers and duties of the School Reform Commission.
(n.1) When a declaration has been issued by the Secretary of Education under section 691(c) and a School Reform Commission has been appointed under this section, section 1705-B12 shall be suspended for school districts of the first class.
(n.2) Beginning in 2003, by August 31 of each year, the School Reform Commission shall provide a report for the preceding school year regarding progress made toward improvements in fiscal and academic performance in a school district of the first class. The report shall be filed with the Governor's Office and with the chairman and minority chairman of the Education Committee of the Senate and the chairman and minority chairman of the Education Committee of the House of Representatives.
Credits
1949, March 10, P.L. 30, No. 14, art. VI, § 696, added 1998, April 27, P.L. 270, No. 46, § 3, imd. effective. Amended 1998, Dec. 21, P.L. 1194, No. 154, § 3, imd. effective; 2001, June 22, P.L. 530, No. 35, § 7, imd. effective; 2001, Oct. 30, P.L. 828, No. 83, § 1, imd. effective; 2002, June 29, P.L. 524, No. 88, § 7, imd. effective; 2012, July 12, P.L. 1142, No. 141, § 9, effective in 60 days [Sept. 10, 2012].
Footnotes
24 P.S. § 6-691.
2 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 501 et seq., 701 et seq.
24 P.S. § 6-693.
24 P.S. §§ 17-1717-A, 17-1722-A, 17-1724-A.
24 P.S. § 17-1729-A.
24 P.S. §§ 10-1073, 10-1073.1, 10-1076, 10-1077, 10-1078, 10-1080, 17-1732-A, 17-1714-B, 21-2104.
24 P.S. § 11-1125.1.
24 P.S. § 3-318.
24 P.S. §§ 11-1101, 12-1202-A.
24 P.S. § 11-1101-A et seq.
43 P.S. § 1101.301.
24 P.S. § 17-1705-B.
24 P.S. § 6-696, PA ST 24 P.S. § 6-696
Current through the end of the 2023 Regular Session. Some statute sections may be more current, see credits for details.
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