PennsylvaniaSB 3152025-2026 Regular SessionSenateWALLET

An act amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), entitled "An act relating to the public school system, including certain provisions applicable as well to private and parochial schools; amending, revising, consolidating and changing the laws relating thereto," in preliminary provisions, further providing for Special Education Funding Commission and for minimum number of days or hours; in duties and powers of boards of school directors, providing for admission fees for school-sponsored activities; in intermediate units, further providing for staff; in certification of teachers, further providing for certificates qualifying persons to teach and for instructional certificate grade * * *

Sponsored By: Lynda Schlegel Culver (Republican)

Signed by Governor

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Bill Overview

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62 provisions identified: 30 benefits, 9 costs, 23 mixed.

More households meet scholarship income limit

The law raises the scholarship program’s annual household income limit from $175,000 to $200,000. The program ties aid to Pennsylvania residency and work in an in-demand occupation. For each new award year, the agency may raise the limit using regional consumer inflation for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. Households above the applicable limit remain ineligible; meeting the income test alone does not guarantee an award.

Nursing loan help requires hospital service

Eligible nurses employed by partner hospitals can receive up to $10,000 yearly and $30,000 total per nursing degree for loan repayment. They must commit to at least three years at a Pennsylvania hospital; breaking that commitment triggers prorated repayment. Partner hospitals must match state grants at least dollar for dollar and use available matching funds first. The assistance is excluded from Pennsylvania taxable income. Qualified nursing servicers administer the grants, may use up to 10% for administration, and must return uncommitted funds after three years.

Scholarships require Pennsylvania residence and work

Covered scholarships have a $200,000 household income cap, adjusted annually for regional inflation, and give renewal applicants first priority. Recipients must sign an agreement, complete an approved associate's or bachelor's degree, and start approved in-demand Pennsylvania work within one year. They must live and work in Pennsylvania for 12 months per academic year of aid, unless the agency allows extenuating circumstances. Failure to comply requires scholarship repayment plus interest, reduced proportionally for completed work. Interest cannot exceed the three-month U.S. Treasury bill rate.

Tuition waivers carry Pennsylvania work commitments

Starting with 2025–26 freshmen, Grow Pennsylvania offers nonresident students tuition waivers for up to four academic years or bachelor's degree completion. Recipients must agree to move to Pennsylvania and start an approved in-demand job within one year after degree completion. They must work 12 months for each academic year covered. Breaking the agreement requires repayment of all waiver amounts plus interest, reduced proportionally for completed work. Interest cannot exceed the three-month U.S. Treasury bill rate.

College students gain broader aid protection

Pennsylvania public colleges must extend existing limits on aid cuts to Grow Pennsylvania tuition waivers and the law's designated grants. This protects students against colleges reducing their own aid because students receive those awards. The existing law still permits some aid reductions; the protection is not an absolute ban. The scholarship definition excludes affiliated-private-organization awards when that organization asks the college to help choose the recipient.

More paths into public school teaching

Pennsylvania recognizes instructional, experience-based, and career and technical certificates as paths into public school teaching. Valid instructional and career and technical intern certificates issued before this section takes effect count as matching experience-based certificates. Basic-skills tests cannot be required for admission to educator preparation programs or for state teaching certification.

New routes into Pennsylvania teaching jobs

Pennsylvania no longer requires basic-skills tests for educator preparation admission or educator certificates, including career, specialist, and administrative certificates. A separate experience-based route lets qualifying bachelor's degree holders teach while enrolled in an approved certification program. Candidates must pass required subject tests and satisfy the applicable certification standards. The certificate is issued once per instructional area, lasts five years of public-school teaching, and cannot be renewed. Completing the program can lead to an Instructional I certificate when the remaining requirements are satisfied.

Recovery high school gets more seats

Starting in 2025–26, the recovery high school's enrollment cap rises from 20 to 35 students in grades 9–12. Parents or guardians must apply on the student's behalf. Students outside a first-class school district can enroll only while fewer than 35 first-class-district residents are enrolled.

Young readers get screening and support

By 2027–28, schools must screen every kindergarten-through-third-grade student at the beginning, middle, and end of each year using approved tools. English learners, disabled students, and gifted students are included unless screening conflicts with a legally provided education plan or service. Schools must notify parents of kindergarten reading deficiencies at year-end and grades one through three deficiencies after identification, with three yearly progress updates. Identified students must receive educator-developed intervention plans with support beyond regular instruction, aiming for grade-level reading by third grade's end. A student remains identified until meeting the performance threshold based on at least three data points.

Schools get safety and mental-health grants

For 2025–2026, the law provides $100 million for school safety and mental-health grants, plus $20.7 million for targeted safety grants. Districts get $100,000 plus a student-membership-based share; other eligible school entities get $70,000. Applicants must identify their purpose, certify spending, and meet applicable basic physical-security or behavioral-health and school-climate standards. Eligibility for additional activities depends on meeting the relevant basic standards. The committee may also approve available fund balances yearly for specified Commission administrative costs, including required training; no amount is set.

Schools receive safety and mental-health funding

For 2025–26, the law provides $100 million for school safety and mental-health grants. Districts can receive $100,000 plus a share based on 2023–24 adjusted student membership. Intermediate units, area career and technical schools, and charter, regional charter, and cyber charter schools receive $70,000 each. Applicants must use grants for eligible activities addressing applicable Level 1 security or behavioral-health and school-climate standards. Another $20.7 million funds targeted school safety grants in fiscal year 2025–26.

Business scholarship tax credit pool grows

The annual cap on tax credits for business contributions rises from $540 million to $590 million. Within that pool, the minimum for credits supporting increased scholarships at economically disadvantaged schools rises from $60 million to $110 million. That allocation includes qualifying pre-kindergarten scholarship increases and remains subject to award and tuition limits. These are program-wide amounts, not guaranteed credits or scholarships for any business or student.

Early childhood teachers face coursework requirements

Candidates for the covered instructional certificate must complete at least 30 credit hours of early childhood coursework. Early childhood covers pre-kindergarten through grade three, or ages three through eight. Approved programs must provide age- and grade-focused observation, research, and student-teaching pathways. Qualifying early childhood workplaces can serve as placement sites, but must meet placement standards and provide a certified cooperating teacher.

Educators gain career program leadership paths

Eligible school entities with at least three approved career programs can fill director vacancies with educators holding superintendent eligibility letters. Educators must have three years of relevant experience, finish an approved postbaccalaureate program, or complete approved leadership training within three employment years. After three full consecutive academic years as director, they can qualify for certification through an applicable pathway. Emergency-permit service counts toward relevant experience, and the Department cannot require a minimum share of time supervising career programs. These directors cannot also serve as superintendents.

Teachers gain paths to higher grades

The Education Department must create two ways for eligible elementary or middle certificate holders to qualify for grades seven through 12. Teachers can complete specified continuing education credits or earn qualifying assessment scores. Programs may let candidates enrolled before July 1, 2028, finish under prior grade limits if they remain continuously enrolled. Those programs cannot accept new candidates seeking the affected prior certificate after July 1, 2028.

Truant students get help and limits

Schools must notify parents within 10 school days after a child's third unexcused absence. Notices must list attendance help and academic recovery options. Habitually truant children cannot transfer to a cyber charter during the school year without a judge's best-interest determination. Their current school must provide an attendance improvement plan and keep pursuing remedies, even when truancy began at another school. That duty continues until truancy ends or the child is no longer of compulsory school age.

Tuition waivers require Pennsylvania work commitments

Nonresident Grow Pennsylvania tuition-waiver recipients must agree to live in Pennsylvania and start an agency-designated, in-demand job there. Employment must begin within one year after completing an approved associate's or bachelor's degree. Recipients owe 12 months of qualifying work for each academic year covered by a waiver. They must maintain Pennsylvania residency and employment throughout that service unless the agency finds extenuating circumstances. Breaking the agreement triggers repayment of the total waiver plus interest capped at the three-month U.S. Treasury bill rate.

Workers gain technical teaching certificate paths

Workers can establish occupational skill through credential review and enough work experience beyond the state's learning period. This route supports both career and technical experience-based certificates and Career and Technical Instructional I certificates, even without an available occupational exam. The experience-based certificate covers occupational-skills teaching in state-approved public school career programs. Its holders must complete 18 credits in an approved educator preparation program. That certificate lasts only as long as needed, with a maximum of five years.

Cyber schools face new payment formulas

Starting in 2025–26, cyber school payments use adjusted district budgets and student counts, deducting specified cyber tuition, tax collection, activities, and plant costs. The calculation applies 60% caps to specified activities and plant services and removes cyber students from district average daily membership. First-class A districts use the lesser of 1 or the statutory district factor; other districts use 1. Special-education payments equal the lower of the adjusted base plus prior-year special-education spending per special-education pupil, or 1.89 times that base. The prior special-education formula ends with 2024–25. Payments arrive in 12 equal installments by each month's fifth day; the state redirects district aid for documented unpaid amounts. Cyber schools must submit final payment records by October 1, and districts have 30 days after a deduction to challenge errors.

District supplements come with tax limits

For 2025–26, districts receive $526.44 million in adequacy supplements and $32.202 million in tax-equity supplements through Ready-to-Learn formulas. Districts whose combined supplements fall below $50,000 receive enough extra money to reach that amount. The adequacy adjustment used in calculating district funding gaps is zero for 2025–26 and later fiscal years. Districts receiving either supplement cannot seek Taxpayer Relief Act referendum exceptions for 2025–26 or 2026–27. The law also guarantees school entities at least their 2022–23 Ready-to-Learn funding level.

University funding rewards results and affordability

A new state-related university fund pays appropriated awards in equal monthly installments, with unawarded balances retained for later appropriation. Its core formula uses 95% of available money through equal-share and weighted in-state student components, tied to graduation and high-demand-degree goals. Student categories include full-time undergraduates, Pell recipients, community college transfers, students from low-college-enrollment high schools, and students reaching 60 credits before year three. The remaining 5% rewards improvement and cost-of-attendance increases below the Higher Education Price Index. By June 1, 2026, and annually thereafter, the council sets weights and goals; no total appropriation is specified.

University funding shifts toward performance goals

The law replaces an older commission mandate with a reconstituted council for state-related university performance funding. The council's recommendations and draft legislation are due May 5, 2025. Starting June 1, 2026, it assigns annual weights to student categories, alongside performance goals. The framework uses 95% of the fund for core allocations and reserves 5% for improvement and affordability. Universities gain opportunities for performance awards, but funding depends on the formula rather than an unconditional allocation.

Families can pay school admission cash

Covered school entities, nonpublic schools, and the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association must accept cash for paid school-sponsored activities. They cannot add a cash fee or surcharge. If electronic ticketing is the only admission method, they must offer alternative in-person payment, designated entry points, and a support person. Cash payments at Association-sanctioned events must be exact.

Barber and cosmetology training becomes permanent

Career and technical center barber and cosmetology training programs become permanent rather than remaining pilots. Existing activities, rules, contracts, obligations, and collective bargaining agreements continue without interruption. The law does not set an individual tuition discount or new funding amount for these programs.

Colleges must offer departing borrowers counseling

Pennsylvania colleges that know a student has loans requiring repayment must offer financial aid counseling after the student's final term. Students may opt out. Colleges must try to reach students who transfer or leave without their knowledge. That outreach is not required when the college knows the student's loans do not require repayment.

Cyber school workers gain reporting protection

Cyber schools cannot fire, threaten, discriminate against, or retaliate against employees for good-faith student residency reports. The report must concern whether a student lives in the district notified of the student's enrollment.

Cyber students get weekly wellness checks

Cyber schools must see and speak with each student in real time during weeks with at least three instruction days. Full or partial instruction days count, and contact can happen in person or electronically. Schools must submit a wellness-check policy. For noncompliance, the Department can require reports, annual child-abuse training, or in-person student meetings the following school year. It can also block state grants until the school complies.

Educators gain free inactive certification

Eligible educators not employed as professional or temporary professional school employees can apply for inactive certification at no cost. The Department can restore active status after 30 continuing-education hours completed within the past 18 months. It can also restore status after a school job offer that guarantees 30 training hours during the first two employment years. That route preserves the educator's remaining hours and compliance time. First-time inactivity caused by an expired compliance period instead starts a new five-year compliance period.

Limited pilot extends state scholarship renewals

A three-year pilot allows state scholarships to continue beyond their normal renewal limit. No more than 50 students can participate each year. Students must attend an institution domiciled and headquartered in Pennsylvania, as determined by the state aid agency. The agency's board must authorize the extended renewal.

Recovery high school can enroll more

Beginning in 2025–2026, Pennsylvania’s recovery high school can enroll up to 35 students in grades 9–12, up from 20. Students outside a first-class school district may enroll only while enrolled first-class-district residents number below the cap. A parent or guardian must apply on the student’s behalf. The higher cap does not guarantee admission.

Teacher certificate review fees capped

The Pennsylvania Department of Education can charge no more than $50 to review eligibility for covered teaching certificates. The cap applies to the eligibility review, not every certification-related cost. The law does not state the prior fee or each applicant’s savings.

Teachers can cover more grade levels

Primary certificates cover prekindergarten–grade 6 or ages 3–11; secondary certificates cover grades 7–12 or ages 11–21. Specialized certificates cover prekindergarten–grade 12 or ages 3–21, and specified existing certificates remain valid for their terms. Holders of the specified early childhood certificates can teach grades 5–6; secondary teachers can teach grade 6 in their certified subject. A separate assessment route lets early childhood certificate holders and applicants add grades 5–6 until July 1, 2028. The Department must announce that assessment within 60 days after the subsection takes effect.

Independent colleges can share campus police

Pennsylvania independent colleges may share campus police or public safety services and transfer related duties through joint agreements. Each college’s governing body must approve the agreement by resolution. Agreements cannot override labor agreements and do not operate during a labor dispute or strike affecting covered officers. An agreement becomes void if a participating college cuts its officer workforce by more than 25%.

School association meetings become viewable online

Beginning January 1, 2026, the school association covered by this law must live-stream all open meetings. It must post each recording on its public website within 10 days. The recordings must be free to watch.

Career schools get longer savings window

Area career and technical education boards can build capital reserves for up to 10 years, up from five years. The clock starts with the first payment into the fund. The money must fund equipment purchases or facility maintenance.

Career training programs gain lasting support

Career-center barber and cosmetology training programs become ongoing programs instead of three-year pilots. Participating centers and secondary schools must report to their respective licensing boards by June 1 each year. Career education equipment grants must use the latest available data, fixed as of June 1 before the allocation school year. The Department must correct grant calculations when that data is wrong.

Schools must coordinate safety and referrals

School safety coordinators must organize meetings with school and building leaders at least quarterly. Beginning June 30, 2026, their annual board reports must include personnel attendance information and yearly totals. Coordinators must also meet employees yearly for input on required safety training. Threat assessment teams must establish timely consultation protocols with appropriate law enforcement, juvenile justice, county, health, and behavioral-service partners. These protocols support referrals for students who may pose threats, with information sharing subject to state and federal law.

Schools must strengthen reading instruction

Schools must adopt evidence-based reading curricula by the beginning of 2027–28. Each school must identify an educator to support implementation and select approved professional development from the Education Department's list. Educators must finish that training by the beginning of 2028–29. Schools must report current curricula by March 31, 2026. Annual curriculum and educator-training reports begin July 31, 2027.

Community colleges retain prior payment levels

For 2025–26, each Pennsylvania community college receives payments based on its specified 2024–25 reimbursements. Its payment also includes an amount equal to its 2024–25 economic development stipend. The provision does not set tuition or individual student aid.

Community colleges retain prior-year state funding

For fiscal year 2025–26, each community college receives funding equal to its specified 2024–25 state reimbursements. It also receives an amount equal to its 2024–25 economic development stipend. The payments go to colleges, not directly to students, and do not guarantee a tuition reduction.

Distressed school districts can get aid

For 2025–26, the Department can use up to $7 million in specified unused funds to help financially distressed districts. Districts qualify through financial recovery status, financial watch status, or oversight during a transition period. The money supports district operations and school services, not direct household payments.

One qualifying district receives extra funding

The law provides one qualifying district $5 million for 2024–25 and includes it in later basic education funding allocations. The district must be in a county of the second class A. Its 2021–22 adjusted average daily membership must exceed 5,590 but remain below 5,595. Its current expenditures for that year must be below $110 million. These are district funds, not direct payments to families.

Public libraries receive continued state aid

Eligible public libraries receive state aid for 2025–26 from money appropriated for that purpose. Each library's allocation follows its share of total state aid in 2024–25. The State Librarian can distribute remaining funds. The law also addresses local funding shares, library-system changes, and district library center population changes.

Cyber students face stricter attendance rules

Charter schools must define excused absences, unexcused absences, and when students count as present. Cyber charter students must be visible on camera during each live instructional period and meet weekly benchmarks for other coursework. Missing a benchmark brings an absence or another consequence under the school's attendance policy. Schools must submit course benchmarks by June 30 for the next school year; they are deemed approved after 45 days without state action. Administrators can change teachers' attendance records only to correct errors.

Regional school directors need qualifying letters

Intermediate unit executive directors and assistant directors must hold a qualifying Department of Education letter when appointed. They can use an eligibility letter or a commission qualification letter based on the law's education and experience standards. The Secretary of Education commissions each director and assistant director.

Truant students face cyber transfer limits

Habitually truant children cannot transfer to a cyber charter school during the school year without a judge's approval. The judge must find that the move serves the child's best interest. The court must decide this when the child is convicted of a compulsory-attendance violation.

School staff face false-reporting penalties

School administrators, employees, and representatives commit a third-degree misdemeanor if they knowingly falsify covered attendance reports sent to the state. The same penalty applies to knowingly false information submitted under cyber charter enrollment and notification rules. That information may be submitted to a district, cyber charter school, or the state Education Department. These penalties target school personnel, not students or parents.

Scholarship funds can cover administrative costs

The scholarship agency can use up to 5% of program appropriations for administration, implementation, and servicing. Money used for those costs is not available for student grants. The provision does not specify a reduction in any student's award.

School project rules start one year later

The article's rules for projects seeking approval and reimbursement begin July 1, 2026, instead of July 1, 2025. The same delayed date applies to the maintenance project grant program. The provision does not specify a change in grant amounts.

Schools face special education accounting limits

Schools must follow state guidance when reporting special education spending and calculating student costs. Counted costs must appear in the student's individualized education plan where required. They include designated instruction, specialized transportation, therapies, nursing, braille materials, assistive technology, and specialized equipment. Administrative costs and nonspecialized transportation do not count in the specified calculation.

Schools lose an ongoing grant floor

The Ready-to-Learn grant floor guarantees schools at least their 2022–23 amount for the 2023–24 school year only. This provision does not extend that minimum guarantee to later school years. It does not state how much any school's later grant changes.

Cyber families must verify home addresses

Cyber charter families must send continued residence proof to the school and resident district by November 1 and March 1. A new student's enrollment form covers the first deadline after enrollment. Students identified as homeless are exempt from the specified home-address information requirement. Schools and districts must respond within 10 days, and district payments continue during residency disputes. Cyber charters must return funds for periods of nonresidence within 30 days after a final determination.

High schoolers must file or decline aid

Beginning in 2026–27, Pennsylvania public and nonpublic high school students must file the federal student aid application or opt out, unless exempt. Parents or guardians can submit the opt-out; students can do so at age 18 or when legally emancipated. Before granting an exemption for missing forms, schools must reasonably try to contact parents and explain the application's benefits. Schools must distribute opt-out forms, and nonfiling cannot prevent graduation. Personal financial information schools accidentally obtain while administering this requirement is protected from public-records disclosure.

School staff contracts retain limited protection

School-year requirements do not override collective bargaining agreements entered into before this section takes effect. Even with that protection, school employees' work years must meet both statutory minimum requirements for days and hours.

Student aid filing gets family safeguards

Starting in 2026–27, high school students must file the federal student aid form, FAFSA, unless they or their parent sign an opt-out. Schools must distribute the opt-out form. However, public and nonpublic schools cannot deny graduation or punish students for completing neither form. Schools cannot require families to disclose personal financial information or explain nonfiling. Personal financial information collected through this process is exempt from public-records disclosure.

School safety checks and coordination tighten

The state school safety committee must review a sample of registered safety providers yearly, and every provider at least once every three years. Providers may have to fix problems. The committee may remove providers for inactive or unresponsive assessors, or assessment materials that fail approved criteria. School agreements with police must include procedures for timely coordination with school threat assessment teams when needed.

Reading grants carry school accountability rules

The Education Department may offer grants to help schools implement reading requirements, but only when funding is available. Schools must apply using the Department's form and follow its guidelines. Beginning in 2027–28, the Department must plan annual monitoring of reading instruction. It may provide literacy coaches or other corrective help for noncompliance or poor student progress. Schools that decline Department assistance forfeit grants under the reading program.

School threat reports face firm deadlines

The Safe2Say office must offer free staff training on receiving, responding to, and closing reports, plus support as needed. It must follow up on each report's outcome and actions taken. Schools must establish response procedures and submit final dispositions within 30 days, or 48 hours for life safety events. Noncompliant schools are publicly listed and reported to the School Safety and Security Committee. They cannot receive Committee grants until they submit outstanding dispositions.

Schools gain cybersecurity aid, training duties

School safety grants can pay for cybersecurity testing, risk plans, breach response, outside reviews, protocols, and law-enforcement partnerships. School safety coordinators must finish seven training hours within one year of appointment, plus any continuing education the committee adopts. Covered security staff must complete approved training before starting work; school police qualify when granted specified powers or firearm authority. The Commission sets and periodically reviews training standards with education and State Police input and approves providers. School threat teams must include a local or county threat-team member when applicable.

Library aid follows prior-year shares

For 2025–2026, eligible public libraries receive state aid based on their shares of the 2024–2025 subsidy. The State Librarian may distribute remaining money and waive specified standards if funding falls below the 2002–2003 appropriation. Qualifying district-center changes use the new or reconfigured center’s population. Distribution changes within a system containing a second-class-city library require agreement between the library and system. Local-share shifts after direct-service-area changes require affected libraries’ agreement; no total aid amount is stated.

Cyber schools get monthly payment enforcement

Districts must pay cyber charter schools in 12 equal monthly installments, due by the fifth day of each month. When a district fails to pay, the Education Secretary must deduct documented unpaid amounts from its state payments. The state then pays the cyber charter school. Districts have 30 days after a deduction to dispute its accuracy.

School funding comes with tax limits

Districts receiving adequacy or tax-equity supplements cannot seek a Taxpayer Relief Act referendum exception for 2025–2026 or 2026–2027. Districts may decline to apply for or receive those supplements. The restriction limits one district tax option; it does not guarantee lower household taxes.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

Lynda Schlegel Culver
Republican • Senate

Cosponsors

Christine M. Tartaglione
Democratic • Senate
Cris Dush
Republican • Senate
Frank A. Farry
Republican • Senate
James Andrew Malone
Democratic • Senate
Jarrett Coleman
Republican • Senate
Jay Costa
Democratic • Senate
Judith L. Schwank
Democratic • Senate
Lindsey Marie Williams
Democratic • Senate
Patrick J. Stefano
Republican • Senate
Rosemary M. Brown
Republican • Senate
Tracy Pennycuick
Republican • Senate
Wayne D. Fontana
Democratic • Senate

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 335 • No: 133

Senate vote • 11/12/2025

Senate Bill 315 PN1310, Concurrence in House Amendments as Amended

Yes: 44 • No: 5

committee vote • 11/11/2025

17 0

Yes: 17 • No: 0