Education - School Accountability - Parent Empowerment and Choice
Impact
If passed, HB 938 would significantly alter the manner in which public schools are managed, especially in cases where they are deemed to be underperforming. The measure encourages a more direct role for parents in voicing concerns about educational quality and allows for the exploration of various intervention strategies to improve academic performance. This shift could lead to changes in how school boards respond to community needs, instigating more immediate and possibly drastic actions when schools continuously fail to meet necessary standards.
Summary
House Bill 938 establishes a framework for parental empowerment in the context of school accountability. Specifically, it allows parents and legal guardians of students attending public schools that do not meet state accountability goals to petition their county boards of education to implement intervention strategies. The bill defines a variety of strategies, including both restart models, which might involve converting a school to manage by a charter organization, and school closure models, which entail closing underperforming schools and redistributing students to higher achieving schools within close proximity. This initiative aims to enhance educational outcomes by increasing parental involvement in school governance.
Contention
Despite its potential benefits, the bill raises several points of contention. Critics argue that empowering parents to petition for drastic interventions may lead to instability within school systems, with frequent changes that could negatively impact students and staff. There are concerns about the capacity of parents to understand complex educational systems and the potential for local divisions to arise among parents with differing opinions on educational strategies. Additionally, some advocates for educational equity fear that such measures could inadvertently prioritize the voices of more affluent or organized groups of parents over those from underserved communities, potentially denying equitable access to improvement measures in public education.
Relating to an alternative system of public education governance that enhances school accountability, local control, and family empowerment in the educational system.
Providing for individual empowerment scholarship accounts; and establishing the Pennsylvania Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Program, the Department of Education Empowerment Scholarship Fund and the State Treasurer Empowerment Scholarship Fund.
Appropriating money for the support of state government for the period beginning September 1, 2011, and ending August 31, 2013; and authorizing and prescribing conditions, limitations, rules, and procedures for allocating and expending the appropriated funds.