COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES HOUSE EDUCATION COMMITTEE joint with the SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE PUBLIC HEARING STATE CAPITOL HARRISBURG, PA NORTH OFFICE BUILDING HEARING ROOM 1 MONDAY, OCTOBER 2 6, 2 015 10:06 A.M. PRESENTATION ON SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS HOUSE COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: HONORABLE STANLEY E. SAYLOR, MAJORITY CHAIRMAN HONORABLE HAL ENGLISH HONORABLE MARK M. GILLEN HONORABLE HARRY LEWIS HONORABLE BERNIE O ’NEILL HONORABLE KRISTIN LEE PHILIPS-HILL HONORABLE CRAIG STAATS HONORABLE WILL TALLMAN HONORABLE DAN TRUITT HONORABLE JAMES ROEBUCK, DEMOCRATIC CHAIRMAN HONORABLE MIKE CARROLL HONORABLE PATRICK HARKINS HONORABLE PATTY KIM HONORABLE MARK LONGIETTI HONORABLE STEVE MCCARTER SENATE COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: HONORABLE LLOYD SMUCKER, MAJORITY CHAIRMAN HONORABLE ANDREW DINNIMAN, DEMOCRATIC CHAIRMAN Pennsylvania House of Representatives Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 2 I N D E X TESTIFIERS ~k k k NAME PAGE HON. PEDRO RIVERA SECRETARY, PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION............ 6 ACCOMPANIED BY TERRY BARNABY, DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF SCHOOL LEADERSHIP AND TEACHER QUALITY, PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION ERIC ESHBACH, Ed.D. SUPERINTENDENT, NORTHERN YORK SCHOOL DISTRICT, PA ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS........ 41 MICHAEL LEICHLITER, Ed.D. SUPERINTENDENT, PENN MANOR SCHOOL DISTRICT, LANCASTER, PA.................................... 49 ROBERT S. BERNHARD DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES, SCHOOL DISTRICT OF THE CITY OF YORK............. 56 WAYDE KILLMEYER, Ed.D. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MIDWESTERN INTERMEDIATE UNIT #4.................. 86 FLIP STEINOUR DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCE SERVICES, LANCASTER-LEBANON INTERMEDIATE UNIT #13......... 88 REBECCA ROBERTS-MALAMIS, ESQ. IN-HOUSE LEGAL COUNSEL, AND ASSISTANT TO THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BUCKS COUNTY INTERMEDIATE UNIT #22.............. 93 SUBMITTED WRITTEN TESTIMONY ~k ~k ~k (See submitted written testimony and handouts online.) 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 ~k ~k ~k 3 SENATE MAJORITY CHAIRMAN SMUCKER: I would like 4 to call this joint hearing of the Senate and House 5 Education Committees to order today. We're examining the 6 shortage of substitute teachers. And I'd like to thank 7 everyone who's joining us here this morning, and very happy 8 to do this with Chairman Saylor and the House Education 9 Committee. 10 When a teacher misses school for a variety of 11 reasons, whether it's illness, family leave, vacation, 12 study, or other unforeseen reasons, we know that absence 13 has a ripple effect across the classroom, the school, and 14 the district. 15 And shortly after I became Chair of this 16 Committee earlier this session, I heard from 17 Superintendents in my district of the need for substitute 18 teachers and the additional difficulties in finding 19 teachers to fill available positions. And then since then 20 we've heard this same issue emerge time and again in the 21 news and in other areas of the State. 22 So that really is the impetus for today's 23 hearing. We're simply looking at the issue, learning more 24 about how widespread the problem is, and then we want to 25 hear about some of the causes. We've heard in some cases, 4 1 the Affordable Care Act, regulations around that, new State 2 child protection laws and the lack of new teachers in 3 general are all among the factors that are impacting this 4 shortage. 5 But we also hope to get to some potential 6 solutions, some cost-effective solutions that have come 7 from individuals that I ’ve spoken to, as well as from many 8 others across the State. And w e ’ll be hearing from a 9 number of testifiers who are well qualified to speak on 10 this. 11 So with that, I ’ll open the floor to other 12 Chairmen, Chairman Saylor for opening comments as well. 13 HOUSE MAJORITY CHAIRMAN SAYLOR: I ’m not really 14 going to make any opening comments. I ’m thankful that the 15 House and Senate are both addressing this issue and look 16 forward to hearing from testifiers today. 17 I would ask the Members to keep their questions 18 short at least in the first round so we make sure everybody 19 gets an opportunity to ask questions, as well as we keep on 20 a timely schedule since at least the House is scheduled to 21 go into session at 1:00. 22 So with that, Chairman. 23 SENATE MAJORITY CHAIRMAN SMUCKER: Chairman 24 Dinniman, any comments? 25 SENATE DEMOCRATIC CHAIRMAN DINNIMAN: Not much 5 1 other than to say that -- to echo what the other Chairs 2 have said, that it's necessary to find out the causes and 3 the solutions. It seems to be a problem that varies in its 4 intensity whether one is in an urban area, whether one is 5 in a suburban area, or whether one is in the suburbs. Some 6 places it's worse than others, and we need to get at the 7 causes and the solutions. 8 I mean, for example, Senator Smucker, in your 9 area it's both rural and suburban and city. I have not 10 heard as much about the problem in Chester County, but I've 11 read a great deal about the problem in the City of 12 Philadelphia so I know it's real. 13 SENATE MAJORITY CHAIRMAN SMUCKER: Thank you. 14 Chairman Roebuck. 15 HOUSE DEMOCRATIC CHAIRMAN ROEBUCK: Thank you. 16 I certainly am very pleased to be a part of this 17 discussion today. I recognize that in my school district 18 the issue of substitute teachers has become a major issue 19 and one that seems to be spinning out of control. So I 20 look forward to the discussion to possible solutions, and 21 hopefully, we can design some quick remedies to address 22 what is a critical problem. Thank you. 23 SENATE MAJORITY CHAIRMAN SMUCKER: Thank you. 24 And with that, we'll go to our first testifier. 25 Secretary Rivera, thank you very much for being 6 1 here today. We look forward to having you being part of 2 this discussion today. So you can proceed with your 3 testimony. 4 SECRETARY RIVERA: Thank you very much. Good 5 morning, Chairmen from both chambers. Good morning. I ’d 6 like to thank the General Assembly for the invitation. I 7 promise not to take too much time in my introduction to 8 allow enough time for questions and answers and to allow us 9 to engage. 10 So two general housekeeping updates I ’d like to 11 share with everyone, first, in front of you we've changed 12 the packets, a page or two in the packets that you have, 13 not very substantial changes. We realize with the 14 information that we shared with you over the weekend some 15 of the numbers were so small, the end was so small, if you 16 wanted to dig deeper, you could identify the actual 17 individuals, so we wanted to maintain integrity of the 18 process and ensure that through open records we protected 19 those school districts whose numbers were small enough to 20 become where their individual employees would become 21 identifiable. So we just changed out some of the aggregate 22 information to meet with reporting standards of practice 23 and to remain and to maintain integrity of the data. 24 Secondly, I have to be honest and share with you, 25 first, I want to acknowledge a team of folks who worked 7 1 very hard to pull information together, data together to 2 really create a story, to create a narrative around this 3 challenge of substitutes. As we've noticed, when you try 4 to paint a picture, there isn't much information out there 5 in terms of just raw data to collect and pull together. Of 6 course there's trend analysis data, of course there's 7 college and higher education information, but as we tried 8 to paint a picture, we realized much of the information 9 shared is anecdotal; much of the information shared is 10 qualitative. So we tried to pull as comprehensive a report 11 for you as possible given the material and the information 12 that we had. 13 And of course, as the day goes on we're looking 14 forward to taking as many notes as you do and then working 15 together to implement any changes that would best support 16 students and communities of our schools across the 17 Commonwealth. 18 You are going to hear some of the challenges 19 around substitutes and the identification and the placement 20 of substitutes across the Commonwealth. And you're also 21 going to hear the implications of many of those challenges, 22 first, of course, classrooms that may go unserved or 23 unmanned with a qualified quality individual. 24 We also have to share with you that as we're 25 looking at substitute teacher service and the need not only 8 1 about having the teacher in front of you, but there are the 2 lost classroom hours as well. What happens when a school 3 or a school district can’t find or can’t solicit enough 4 substitutes to meet the growing needs of absences? 5 Many school districts will move forward and split 6 classes and send students to other classrooms, which will 7 then increase class size to a number greater than they have 8 now. Some will move and reduce or will cancel humanities 9 courses for the day. Where you may hear specials, art 10 class, music class, a gym class, other elective courses, 11 teachers may be asked to cover classes throughout the day 12 and students may lose those much-needed classes and those 13 great opportunities, as well as the many challenges in 14 terms of lost preparation time, issues that impact climate 15 and culture, and just trying to find the best and the 16 brightest individuals to serve in our schools.