Section 13-1372 - Exceptional children; education and training(1) Standards for Proper Education and Training of Exceptional Children. The State Board of Education shall adopt and prescribe standards and regulations for the proper education and training of all exceptional children by school districts or counties singly or jointly. The Department of Public Instruction shall have power, and it shall be its duty, to determine the counties which shall be joined for the purpose of providing proper education and training of exceptional children. Standards and regulations shall recognize such factors as number of exceptional children, types of handicaps, facility of transportation, adequacy of existing provisions for exceptional children, and availability of school plant facilities.(1.1) Revision of Standards for Education and Training of Exceptional Children. During the school year 1989-1990 the following provisions shall apply to the State Board of Education:(i) Not later than March 1, 1990, the State Board of Education shall adopt revised Chapter 13 Special Education regulations and approve revised 22 Pa. Code Ch. 341 department standards for the education and training of exceptional children, and such revised regulations and standards shall be effective beginning with the school year and fiscal year 1990-1991. Such revised regulations and standards shall, at a minimum, provide measures as may be necessary to assure fiscal accountability, prudent management, appropriate education support services and special classes to meet the needs of pupils, and assurance of continued service to children receiving special education instruction and services on the effective date of such revised regulations and standards, including a requirement that no changes in such instruction or service be made unless through changes in the child's Individualized Education Program.(ii) Due to the urgent need for an expedited but public regulatory process, the State Board of Education, in adopting such revised regulations and approving such revised department standards, shall follow the procedures set forth in this subsection. (A) The State Board of Education shall conduct such public hearings and receive such testimony as it deems appropriate, provided, however, that the State Board of Education conduct at least three public hearings prior to the final adoption of such revised regulations and approval of such revised department standards. Not later than November 10, 1989, at the time the State Board of Education announces its intention to adopt such revised regulations and to approve such revised department standards, it shall announce its intention pursuant to the provisions of the act of July 31, 1968 (P.L. 769, No. 240), referred to as the Commonwealth Documents Law, and shall transmit copies of such proposed regulations and standards to the chairmen of the standing Committees on Education of the Senate and House of Representatives to permit those committees thirty (30) days to review and comment upon such proposed regulations and standards. At the time the State Board finally adopts such final form regulations and approves such revised department standards, it shall transmit copies of such regulations and standards to the chairmen of the standing Committees on Education of the Senate and House of Representatives and the Independent Regulatory Review Commission. The final form regulations and revised department standards shall be subject to review in accordance with the procedures set forth in the act of June 25, 1982 (P.L. 633, No. 181), known as the "Regulatory Review Act," for proposed final regulations. Other than as herein provided, regulations adopted pursuant to this paragraph shall not be subject to review under the "Regulatory Review Act."(B) The State Board of Education may transmit to the Governor and the Secretary of Education recommendations, if any, for changes in statutes.(iii) The Department of Education shall require the submission of appropriate program and fiscal data from the school districts and intermediate units in order to assist in the development of regulations and proposed program standards. Each school district and intermediate unit shall provide such data at such time and in such form as the department may require.(2) Plans for Education and Training Exceptional Children. Each intermediate unit, cooperatively with other intermediate units and with school districts shall prepare and submit to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, on or before the first day of August, one thousand nine hundred seventy for his approval or disapproval, plans for the proper education and training of all exceptional children in accordance with the standards and regulations adopted by the State Board of Education. Plans as provided for in this section shall be subject to revision from time to time as conditions warrant, subject to the approval of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.(3) Special Classes or Schools Established and Maintained by School Districts. Except as herein otherwise provided, it shall be the duty of the board of school directors of every school district to provide and maintain, or to jointly provide and maintain with neighboring districts, special classes or schools in accordance with the approved plan. The Secretary of Education shall superintend the organization of such special classes and such other arrangements for special education and shall enforce the provisions of this act relating thereto. If the approved plan indicates that it is not feasible to form a special class in any district or to provide such education for any such child in the public schools of the district, the board of school directors of the district shall secure such proper education and training outside the public schools of the district or in special institutions, or by providing for teaching the child in his home, in accordance with rules and regulations prescribed by the Department of Education, on terms and conditions not inconsistent with the terms of this act or of any other act then in force applicable to such children. However, the institution of special classes and programs at the secondary level for exceptional children who are gifted and talented students may be deferred until September 1978 at the discretion of the board of the school directors of any school district. In addition to the above and in accordance with rules and regulations prescribed by the Department of Education, homebound instruction shall be provided for children confined in detention homes as provided in section 7, act of June 2, 1933 (P.L. 1433, No. 311), as amended, for the period of their confinement, if their confinement exceeds or is expected to exceed ten days, even though such children are not exceptional.
(4) Classes for Exceptional Children. The Intermediate unit shall have power, and it shall be its duty, to provide, maintain, administer, supervise and operate such additional classes or schools as are necessary or to otherwise provide for the proper education and training for all exceptional children who are not enrolled in classes or schools maintained and operated by school districts or who are not otherwise provided for.(5) Day-Care Training Centers, Classes and Schools for the Proper Education and Training of Exceptional Children. Where in the judgment of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the provisions of this act relating to the proper education and training of exceptional children have not been complied with or the needs of exceptional children are not being adequately served, the Department of Public Instruction is hereby authorized to provide, including the payment of rental when necessary, maintain, administer, supervise and operate classes and schools for the proper education and training of exceptional children. Pupil eligibility for enrollment in classes for exceptional children shall be determined according to standards and regulations promulgated by the State Board of Education. For each child enrolled in any special class or school for exceptional children operated by the Department of Public Instruction, the school district in which the child is resident shall pay to the Commonwealth, a sum equal to the "tuition charge per elementary pupil" or the "tuition charge per high school pupil" as determined for the schools operated by the district or by a joint board of which the district is a member, based upon the costs of the preceding school term as provided for in section two thousand five hundred sixty-one of the act to which this is an amendment plus a sum equal to ten (10) per centum of such tuition charges. In the event that any school district has not established such "tuition charge per elementary pupil" or "tuition charge per high school pupil," the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall fix a reasonable charge for such district for the year in question. In order to facilitate such payments by the several school districts, the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall withhold from any moneys due to such district out of any State appropriation, except from reimbursement due on account of rentals as provided in section two thousand five hundred eleven point one of the act to which this is an amendment, the amounts due by such school districts to the Commonwealth. All amounts so withheld are hereby specifically appropriated to the Department of Public Instruction for the maintenance and administration of centers and classes for exceptional children.(6) Pupils Credited to District of Residence. The average daily membership of pupils enrolled in classes and schools for exceptional children, operated by an intermediate unit or by the Department of Public Instruction, shall be credited to the school district of residence for the purpose of determining the district's "teaching units" to be used in calculating the district's reimbursement fractions or weighted average daily membership to be used in calculating a district's aid ratio and in determining payments to the district on account of instruction as provided in section two thousand five hundred two of the act to which this is an amendment. (7) Deleted by Act 2000, May 10, P.L. 44, No. 16, § 6.(8)Reporting of expenditures relating to exceptional students.(i) By December 31, 2000, and each year thereafter, each school district shall compile information listing the number of students with disabilities for which expenditures are between twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) and fifty thousand dollars ($50,000), which shall be known as Category 2; between fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) and seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000), which shall be known as Category 3A; and over seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000), which shall be known as Category 3B, for the prior school year. The information shall be submitted to the department in a form prescribed by the department. By February 1, 2001, and each year thereafter, the department shall submit to the chairman and minority chairman of the Education and Appropriations Committees of the Senate and the chairman and minority chairman of the Education and Appropriations Committees of the House of Representatives a report listing this information by school district. Beginning with the report due February 1, 2023, the department shall include the information reported in subparagraph (iv) along with the report made in this subparagraph and shall post the report on the department's publicly accessible Internet website in a sortable electronic format.(ii) By December 31, 2016, and each year thereafter, each school district shall compile information listing the number of students with disabilities for which expenditures are under twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000), which shall be known as category 1. The information shall be submitted to the department in a form prescribed by the department.(iii) Beginning with the 2016-2017 school year through the 2021-2022 school year, the department shall annually adjust the dollar ranges for which the information is collected under this section by the percent change in the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers for the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland area reported by the Bureau of Labor statistics for the twelve (12) month period ending in December of the school year for which the data is being collected.(iv) By December 31, 2022, and each year thereafter, each school district shall, in addition to the information under subparagraph (i), compile information listing the number of students with disabilities for which expenditures are under five thousand dollars ($5,000), which shall be known as Category 1A; and between five thousand dollars ($5,000) and less than the amount in Category 2, which shall be known as Category 1B, for the prior school year. The information shall be submitted to the department along with the information in, and as prescribed by, subparagraph (i).(v) Beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, the department shall annually adjust the dollar ranges for which the information is collected under this section by the percentage change in the total special education expenditures submitted by school districts in the annual financial reports divided by the total weighted student headcount determined under section 2509.5 for the most recent year where data is available as determined by the department.Amended by P.L. TBD 2022 No. 55, § 15, eff. 7/8/2022.Amended by P.L. 716 2016 No. 86, § 5.1, eff. 7/13/2016.1949, March 10, P.L. 30, art XIII, § 1372. Amended 1953, Aug. 21, P.L. 1376, § 1; 1956, March 29, P.L. 1356, § 4; 1959, Dec. 30, P.L. 2076, § 1; 1961, Sept. 12, P.L. 1245, § 3; 1965, Oct. 21, P.L. 601, § 36; 1966, Feb. 1, P.L. (1965) 1642, § 1; 1970, Jan. 14, P.L. (1969) 468, § 53, effective 7/1/1970; 1970, May 4, P.L. 326, No. 103, § 1; 1977 , Aug. 28, P.L. 199, No. 59, § 8, imd. effective; 1989 , July 8, P.L. 253, No. 43, § 5, retroactive effective 7/1/1989; 1999, June 26, P.L. 394, No. 36, § 4, effective 7/1/1999; 2000, May 10, P.L. 44, No. 16, § 6, effective 7/1/2000.