PennsylvaniaHB 15052025-2026 Regular SessionHouseWALLET

An Act amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), known as the Public School Code of 1949, in preliminary provisions, providing for standardized testing study; in grounds and buildings, repealing provisions relating to lead testing and providing for lead testing; providing for school facilities; in certification of teachers, further providing for special education certificate grade spans and age levels and duties of department, for program of continuing professional and paraprofessional education, for continuing professional education for school or system leaders and for Pennsylvania school leadership standards, repealing provisions relating to permit for classroom monitors and * * *

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

37 provisions identified: 25 benefits, 5 costs, 7 mixed.

Schools must act on high lead

Starting in 2026–27, schools may test drinking water for lead each school year. If lead exceeds 0.005 milligrams per liter, schools must immediately prevent exposure and provide alternative drinking water. Schools must report high results to the Department of Education and post them online. Schools that do not test must discuss lead issues at a public meeting.

Weekly wellness checks for virtual students

Districts must check students who learn only through their virtual program for the full school year. Checks require live visual contact during weeks with at least three full or partial instructional days. Excused absences and documented home internet or power outages allow exemptions or rescheduling. After a missed check, districts must keep trying, contact parents through two methods, and send notice in their preferred language. If three school days pass after notice without a check, districts must schedule a conference within one school day. Missing that conference triggers an in-person check within 24 hours. Districts must post next year's policy by March 1; violations can bring corrective requirements or loss of competitive state grants.

Schools get safety and mental-health grants

For 2026–27, districts that apply receive $100,000 plus a share based on 2024–25 adjusted average daily membership. Intermediate units, area career and technical schools, and charter, regional charter, and cyber charter schools receive $70,000 each. Spending supports school security, behavioral health, and school climate, with uses tied to meeting the law's Level 1 baseline criteria. Districts cannot count this grant money when calculating charter-school tuition payments.

Stricter cyber school attendance and transfers

Cyber charter students taking self-paced lessons must receive an absence when they miss the required weekly attendance benchmark. Schools cannot substitute another consequence. Before midyear enrollment, cyber charters must request attendance and truancy records; prior schools have five business days to respond. Students habitually truant that school year cannot enroll or generate tuition payments unless a judge finds the transfer serves their educational best interest.

Grow aid eligibility and work commitments

Grow Pennsylvania tuition waivers and scholarship grants exclude applicants who already hold a bachelor's degree, its equivalent, or a master's degree. Students in accelerated master's programs may complete that degree before fulfilling their post-study work agreement. Recipients must live in Pennsylvania and start an in-demand job in the state within one year after completing approved studies. They must work 12 months for each academic year of aid. The agency may account for extenuating circumstances.

More state funding for school districts

For 2026–2027, districts receive $526.44 million in adequacy supplements and $32.202 million in tax equity supplements. Each district's share follows the state's funding formulas. An extra payment brings combined supplements up to $50,000 when they fall below that amount. Recipients cannot seek certain property-tax referendum exceptions for three school years. These payments fund districts, not household checks or automatic tax cuts.

Colleges must improve Grow aid information

The State System and its universities must advertise Grow Pennsylvania tuition waivers and scholarships and prominently post information online. Participating scholarship colleges must certify applicant eligibility within 30 calendar days after the agency requests it. Colleges must report eligible courses within 60 days after the provision takes effect, then by January 15 annually. They must also post agency-certified courses and program information on public websites.

Cyber students get weekly wellness checks

Cyber charters must visually check each student live, online or in person, during weeks with at least three full or partial instructional days. Excused absences and documented home internet or power outages have special rescheduling or exemption rules. Missed checks trigger family contact, notices, a wellness conference, and an in-person check within 24 hours when required; attendance edits may only fix errors. Families must receive school information, including wellness conference information, before the first day and annually. Schools must submit next-year policies for approval by March 1 annually and post approved policies; noncompliance can block state grants.

Educators can use out-of-state training

Educators certified and employed outside Pennsylvania can count that state's approved training credits or hours toward Pennsylvania continuing education. Pennsylvania's Education Department may reject training that is not comparable to its approved options. When educators report an out-of-state move through the Department's process, it must explain how they may keep their certificate active.

Higher scholarship income and award limits

The Ready-to-Succeed Scholarship household income limit rises from $200,000 to $208,000. The agency can raise it in future award years using regional consumer inflation. Students must still meet the program's other eligibility requirements. Beginning July 1, 2026, the program's maximum award must be at least $3,000. This does not guarantee every recipient a $3,000 scholarship.

More college courses can qualify

A course can qualify under the applicable aid program if it matches a Grow Pennsylvania in-demand occupation and receives agency approval. A program at another college can also count as a trade. It must share a Classification of Instructional Programs code with a program at Pennsylvania College of Technology or Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology.

Parents gain school measurement privacy choices

Parents can opt children out of school height and weight measurements through a written request. Schools must explain how to request this exemption. A school nurse or other health care practitioner, not a teacher, must take measurements and protect student privacy. For required health reporting, a nurse or trained practitioner calculates body mass index, or BMI. Schools can share BMI with students or parents only after a parent's written request, and state health reports must protect confidentiality.

Penn College can add applied degrees

Pennsylvania College of Technology may offer applied-science bachelor's degrees tied to technical education, workforce needs, and high-priority Pennsylvania occupations. Programs must build on or connect with associate programs, emphasize career-focused learning, include general education, and receive regional accreditor approval. The board must coordinate with other public colleges where practical to avoid duplication and support transfers and workforce needs. It must report annually on programs, enrollment, completion, employment, and workforce demand.

Students can appeal career-program approval decisions

Students can seek agency review of whether their course of study leads to an in-demand job. Their college must consent to the appeal. General or pre-major students must certify with their college that they are not undeclared and intend to enter a qualifying program. Students already enrolled in a qualifying program can also use this route. Qualifying paths include associate's or bachelor's occupations and occupations tied to approved accelerated master's programs. An accelerated master's program lasts no more than five academic years, with graduate courses taken while completing a bachelor's degree. An appeal does not guarantee approval.

Students gain privacy in health lessons

Schools cannot calculate a student's body mass index during lessons on personal health, nutrition, or physical fitness. Lessons that collect students' height and weight must protect their privacy. The ban does not cover separate calculations used for the law's reporting purposes.

Charter schools get special education help

Starting in 2026–2027, $5 million each year supports qualifying charter schools established in a first-class school district. The money covers extraordinary special education costs for students with disabilities. The Education Secretary must approve the costs, which follow the law's calculation method. These payments are excluded from specified existing school-funding calculations.

Classroom monitors face clear teaching limits

Through June 30, 2029, permitted classroom monitors may deliver assignments already planned by the classroom's professional or temporary professional employee. Monitors cannot plan lessons or create or grade student work. One assignment cannot exceed 20 cumulative school days. Schools must request permits, and monitors must meet education or experience, background, age, and training requirements.

Extended help for financially troubled schools

The Education Department may use up to $7 million in qualifying unused education funds during fiscal years 2025–2026 and 2026–2027. Assistance is limited to districts in financial recovery, financial watch, or transition-period oversight. The law extends the assistance period through 2026–2027.

Extra funding for four school districts

Four qualifying districts receive additional basic education payments for 2025–2026: $2.5 million, $1 million, $3.5 million, and $1 million. Eligibility depends on county class, 2021–2022 adjusted average daily membership, and current spending criteria. These payments also count toward each recipient's allocation in the next school year and later years.

Families get eating disorder awareness resources

Schools must annually post eating-disorder resources for families and key staff serving grades 6–12. The Education and Health Departments must provide multilingual materials on prevention, warning signs, risks, and support, updated at least every five years. Schools need not incur costs or print, mail, or create the materials. An unpaid advisory committee must first meet within 60 days after the provision takes effect. It must meet at least twice in year one and once every three years afterward.

More preschool providers and instruction standards

Intermediate units can become state pre-kindergarten grant providers if they meet all Education Department quality standards. Grant-funded providers must offer at least 180 instructional days, or 900 hours for full-day programs or 450 for half-day programs. Full-day programs must provide at least five instructional hours daily. Half-day programs must provide at least 2.5 hours daily.

More ways to teach money skills

Rigorous coursework focused on personal finance can satisfy the applicable school requirement within business, economics, math, social studies, technical, or related courses. Qualifying options include college-level courses and concentrated career and technical programs. The Education Department must also share economic education and financial literacy resources and model curricula with more nonpublic schools. Schools no longer need nonprofit status, but must meet compulsory-attendance and federal Title VI civil rights requirements.

Residential schools can receive tuition help

For fiscal year 2026–2027, the Education Department may use qualifying unused funds from the orphans and placed-children tuition appropriation. Funds can help licensed residential private academic schools cover tuition for students placed by courts or agencies in 2025–2026. The student's home school district must be undetermined. Schools must document attempts to identify that district through a Department application process.

School emergency maps face security rules

New school mapping contracts funded partly or fully by Pennsylvania must meet accuracy, technical, and security standards. Maps must include site-verified floor plans and hazards, work with public-safety systems, and keep contract data within U.S. borders. Authorized police and emergency responders receive free access when the school authorizes it. Schools covered by the law's jurisdiction or agency-agreement requirements must get written law-enforcement approval before contracting. Maps and data posing a substantial, demonstrable physical-harm or personal-security risk are exempt from public-records access.

School safety leaders get prevention training

Training standards for school safety coordinators must include suicide awareness and prevention, plus bullying and cyberbullying prevention. The committee must set these standards by December 31, 2026, or 180 days after this provision takes effect, whichever is later. The yearly training limit remains seven hours.

Students get social media safety standards

State education standards must address how social media and mobile devices affect students and learning. They must cover safe use, suspicious online behavior, and personal security on mobile devices. The Education Department must provide materials to public and nonpublic schools and offer related educator training. The state digital child-protection task force must issue recommendations by December 31, 2026; education officials must consider them.

Technical programs gain earlier completion flexibility

The Education Secretary must waive the rule that career and technical programs end in twelfth grade. Programs can end earlier, but cannot continue beyond twelfth grade. Waiver authority ends three years after the provision takes effect or when final regulations are issued, whichever comes first. Students enrolled before that deadline are not affected by its expiration.

Community colleges keep funding and pilot

For fiscal year 2026–2027, each community college receives operating support equal to its 2025–2026 operating-cost reimbursement. Its economic development stipend also matches its 2025–2026 amount. The community college pilot lasts five full school years instead of three, beginning with 2023–2024. These provisions support colleges and extend the pilot, rather than provide direct student payments.

More school leaders face training rules

People holding qualifying Education Department commission qualification letters are covered by professional educator continuing education rules. School leader education and leadership standards also cover those serving under qualifying letters. Those leader rules now include assistant directors of area career and technical schools.

Penn College graduate degrees need approval

Pennsylvania College of Technology cannot offer graduate degrees unless the General Assembly authorizes them in a separate law. The restriction does not apply to graduate programs at other colleges.

School maintenance grants await dedicated funding

The school maintenance project grant program no longer has a fixed July 1, 2026 start date. It begins in the first fiscal year with money specifically appropriated for the school facilities article. Schools cannot rely on the former date to access grants.

Universities lose unused waiver reimbursements

The state no longer makes a later payment to the State System when fewer than 300 tuition waivers are awarded. The repealed payment was based on the gap between 300 waivers and the number awarded. This removes institutional funding, not individual students' waiver eligibility.

Yearly residency proof for cyber-school families

Cyber charter schools must notify a student's home district within 10 days of enrollment. Each year, schools must notify families between July 1 and September 15 to submit residency proof by September 30. Schools must send that information to districts by October 15. Students identified as homeless are exempt from the listed home-address and yearly proof requirements. For returning students missing proof by November 15, schools can use an alternate form with evidence of five contact attempts. One attempt must be by certified mail, and districts can dispute residency through the legal process. Enrollment notices for students enrolling July 1 through September 15 also satisfy that school year's annual notice requirements.

Libraries receive aid using prior-year shares

For fiscal year 2026–27, each library's state aid follows its share of the 2025–26 subsidy. The State Librarian can distribute remaining funds. Standards can be waived if funding falls below the inflation-adjusted 2002–03 level. Library-system boards can set local distributions, but changes affecting a library in a second-class city require mutual agreement. Specified district-center and service-area changes can also affect aid.

Cyber school payments require residency proof

Districts may hold cyber charter tuition payments when required enrollment notices and residency proof are missing. The Education Department cannot deduct that student's tuition from district funds until proof is provided. Once documents arrive, districts must pay outstanding current-year tuition within 30 days. Cyber charters must return affected funds within 30 days after a final decision finds the student was not a district resident.

Districts can fund later school starts

Districts may use specified existing appropriations and available unreserved or undesignated balances to plan, implement, or operate later start times. Before adoption, districts must post the proposal online and seek comments at two advertised public board meetings. Afterward, they must report the new start time and account for spending to the Education Department. The law sets no new funding amount.

School aid carries tax-exception limits

Districts accepting the specified adequacy or tax equity supplements cannot seek a Taxpayer Relief Act referendum exception. The ban covers the 2025–26, 2026–27, and 2027–28 school years. Districts do not have to apply for or accept this funding. The law does not specify a household tax savings amount.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

Liz Hanbidge
Democratic • House

Cosponsors

Benjamin V. Sanchez
Democratic • House
Carol Hill-Evans
Democratic • House
Chris Pielli
Democratic • House
Dane Watro
Republican • House
Danielle Friel Otten
Democratic • House
Dave Madsen
Democratic • House
Gina H. Curry
Democratic • House
Greg Scott
Democratic • House
Jacklyn Rusnock
Democratic • House
Jeanne McNeill
Democratic • House
Jennifer O'Mara
Democratic • House
Joe Ciresi
Democratic • House
Joe Webster
Democratic • House
Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz
Democratic • House
Justin C. Fleming
Democratic • House
Keith S. Harris
Democratic • House
Kristine C. Howard
Democratic • House
La'Tasha D. Mayes
Democratic • House
Maureen E. Madden
Democratic • House
Melissa Cerrato
Democratic • House
Nancy Guenst
Democratic • House
Nikki Rivera
Democratic • House
Robert Freeman
Democratic • House
Robert E. Merski
Democratic • House
Scott Conklin
Democratic • House
Steven R. Malagari
Democratic • House
Tarah Probst
Democratic • House
Tarik Khan
Democratic • House
Tim Briggs
Democratic • House
Tina M. Davis
Democratic • House

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 394 • No: 9

Senate vote • 7/12/2026

House Bill 1505 PN3764, Final Passage

Yes: 45 • No: 5

committee vote • 7/11/2026

21 1

Yes: 21 • No: 1