Co-Sponsorship Memo Details

In the very near future, both Representative Dan Truitt and I will be introducing a measure that proposes to amend the Act of March 10, 1949, (P.L., No. 14), known as the Public School Code, to further define and provide for school residency requirements in Pennsylvania.
 
Spurred by events that occurred in Montgomery County in 2012 involving parents being charged with a “felony” (theft of services) offense for sending their child to a school outside of the school district of their residence, both Representative Truitt and I were compelled to address the deficiency of Pennsylvania statute concerning this subject.

As many of you may be aware, Article XIII, Section 1302 of the Public School Code actually attempts to address the aforementioned subject. However, upon further inspection it was discovered that this statute technically only addresses non-guardians and non-parents purporting to support children gratis in their homes and that have signed a sworn statement with a school district attesting to that fact. As such, the provisions of this section neglects to address parents and guardians of children who live wholly outside of the boundaries of a given school district and send their children to schools within them (It is the ambiguity of this statute that enabled the district attorney of that county, for whatever reason, to pursue a felony conviction).

To be clear, while the act of a parent misrepresenting the place of their residence in an effort to send their child to an outlying school district is patently wrong (irrespective of the parent’s good-natured intentions), the fact of the matter remains that such an act certainly does not warrant the imposition of a felony charge. Currently, with respect to non-guardians and non-parents who provide false information in sworn statements, Article XIII, Section 1302 of the Public School Code provides that such an act constitutes the commission of a summary offense and provides for the following penalties:

• Repayment of restitution and related court costs to the affected school district;
• A fine (Up to $300); and/or
• Community Service (Up to 240 hours)

 
In the spirit of parity and fairness, the first part of this measure proposes to expressly include both parents and guardians who live wholly outside the boundaries of a school district and send their children to schools within them. Secondly, in an effort to provide a reasonable deterrent for would be “boundary hoppers,” this measure would provide for the following additional penalties:
 

• The commission of a misdemeanor for a second or subsequent offense;
• Repayment of restitution and related court costs to the affected school district;
• A fine (Up to $1,000); and/or
• Community Service (Up to 500 hours)

 
Lastly, this measure proposes to further provide for due process concerning allegations of “boundary hopping.” In order to accomplish this task, we simply utilized protocols presently in place by certain school districts as well as existing provisions found within the Public School Code. Specifically, prior to a child being removed from a school and a parent being subsequently charged as a result of an act of “boundary hopping,” the following must occur:

• The parent, if suspected by the school district of boundary hopping, may be contacted by the school district administrator and asked to voluntarily withdraw their child from the affected school with or without incident;
• If a parent refuses to voluntarily withdraw their child from the school at the request of the school district administrator, the school district’s board of directors, authorized board committee or designated hearing examiner must formally determine that an act of boundary hopping has occurred;

• The affected school district’s board of directors must determine that it does not wish to grant an exception to permit the child to attend the school pursuant to section 1316 of the Public School Code (relating to permitting the attendance of non-resident pupils); and
• An expulsion hearing must be adjudicated pursuant to section 1318 of the Public School Code (relating to suspension and expulsion of pupils).

To hark back to the above-mentioned parents who were charged with the felony offense, it should be noted that after more than a year in court the theft of services charge was subsequently reduced to a summary offense, the penalty of which is already prescribed for in Section 1302 of the Public School Code. Nevertheless, those parents were subjected to mug shots, booking, fingerprinting and all of the other unpleasantries exclusively set aside for your common criminal. Therefore, the objective of this measure is quite simple and two-fold:

• Reserve our commonwealth’s prisons and the nomenclature of “felon” for Pennsylvania’s more serious and wanton offenders; and
• Protect the scarce and valuable resources of Pennsylvania’s 501 school districts in a manner that is both evenhanded and predicated upon the concept of restorative justice.

Both Representative Truitt and I would like to strongly encourage members from both sides of the aisle to please join us in advancing this practical and commonsense initiative.

For more information concerning this legislation, you are asked to please contact Brandon J. Flood at (717)772-6955 or bflood@pahouse.net.

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