1 COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 2 3 EDUCATION COMMITTEE 4 PUBLIC HEARING ON COMPULSORY SCHOOL AGE 5 6 STATE CAPITOL 7 60 EAST WING HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA 8 9 JUNE 4, 2019 10:02 A.M. 10 11 12 13 14 BEFORE: 15 HONORABLE CURT SONNEY, MAJORITY CHAIRMAN HONORABLE JAMES ROEBUCK, MINORITY CHAIRMAN 16 HONORABLE ROSEMARY BROWN HONORABLE VALERIE GAYDOS 17 HONORABLE MARK M. GILLEN HONORABLE BARBARA GLEIM 18 HONORABLE DAVID HICKERNELL HONORABLE MIKE JONES 19 HONORABLE JOSHUA KAIL HONORABLE MICHAEL PUSKARIC 20 HONORABLE MEGHAN SCHROEDER HONORABLE CRAIG STAATS 21 HONORABLE JESSE TOPPER HONORABLE CAROL HILL-EVANS 22 HONORABLE MARY ISAACSON HONORABLE PATTY KIM 23 HONORABLE STEPHEN MCCARTER HONORABLE DAN MILLER 24 HONORABLE JARED SOLOMON 25 2 1 COMMITTEE STAFF PRESENT: 2 REPUBLICAN CAUCUS STAFF: 3 ALAINA KOLTASH, EDUCATION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & SENIOR LEGAL COUNSEL 4 DANIEL GLATFELTER, RESEARCH ANALYST I CHRISTINE SEITZ, RESEARCH ANALYST 5 MICHAEL BIACCHI, LIQUOR COMMITTEE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR CHRISTINE CRONE, 6 LEGISLATIVE ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT II 7 DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS STAFF: 8 CHRIS WAKELEY, EDUCATION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ERIN DIXON, SENIOR RESEARCH ANALYST 9 ALYCIA LAURETI, SENIOR RESEARCH ANALYST APRIL MCCLENTON, SENIOR LEGISLATIVE ASSISTANT 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 I N D E X 2 T E S T I F I E R S 3 * * * 4 NAME PAGE 5 PEDRO A. RIVERA, SECRETARY PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 6 ............................................. 8 7 RICH ASKEY, PRESIDENT, PA STATE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION ............................................. 26 8 DR. RICHARD FRY, PRESIDENT, 9 PA ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS ............................................. 32 10 BETH JONES, SECRETARY, 11 PA COALITION OF PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS ............................................. 36 12 ANGELA DAVIS, CHRISTIAN HOMESCHOOL ASSOCIATION OF PA 13 ............................................. 54 14 ELLEN KRAMER, CATHOLIC HOMESCHOOLERS OF PA ............................................. 59 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 4 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 * * * 3 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN SONNEY: Good morning, 4 and welcome to the House Education Committee's 5 Public Hearing on compulsory school age in 6 Pennsylvania. 7 I'd like to remind everyone that this is 8 being recorded and to please silence your cell 9 phones. I think we'll start with asking the 10 members to introduce themselves. We'll start 11 over on the right. 12 (Committee member introductions.) 13 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN SONNEY: Thank you. 14 The current compulsory school age laws provide 15 that students must attend school beginning at 16 age 8 and a 17-yeara-old student can drop out 17 without the permission of their parent or 18 guardian. 19 There's a proposal to lower the 20 compulsory school age from 8 years to 6 years 21 old and limit the ability of a 17-year-old to 22 drop out of school without the permission of 23 their parent or guardian. We're here this 24 morning to hear testimony on this proposal. 25 Chairman Roebuck, do you have any 5 1 opening remarks? 2 MINORITY CHAIRMAN ROEBUCK: Good 3 morning, Mr. Chairman. I'm James Roebuck, 4 Democratic Chair representing the 108th 5 Legislative District in Philadelphia. I want to 6 thank Chairman Sonney for holding this very 7 important hearing regarding the compulsory 8 school age required for all students across the 9 Commonwealth. 10 After looking over the agenda, I believe 11 that much of the testimony reflected this 12 morning will reflect the goals and values that 13 are shared by many members of this Committee to 14 bring Pennsylvania's compulsory school 15 attendance age in line with other states, 16 increase school-going rates for all students 17 ages 6 and above across the Commonwealth. 18 I'd like to point out that over the 19 years, there have been calls for legislative 20 action to lower Pennsylvania's compulsory school 21 age from the current requirement of 8 years down 22 to 6. 23 In fact, beginning in 2001 with House 24 Bill 2030, each session thereafter until 2008, I 25 sponsored legislation to lower the compulsory 6 1 school age from 8 to 6. 2 In 2008, after many years of pushing the 3 issue, I was able to get into law, Act 61 of 4 2008, which allowed the school age in the 5 Philadelphia School District to be lowered from 6 8 to 6. 7 December 2008, the School Reform 8 Commission amended the School District's age 9 attendance policy to lower the age to 6, which 10 has resulted in the enrollment of approximately 11 an additional 700 students in the district at 12 that time. 13 I would like to note that Elinor Z. 14 Taylor was Chair of the Committee, introduced a 15 companion bill to mine in 2003, House Bill 1221 16 to raise the compulsory school age from 17 to 18 17 to help reduce the number of students who drop 18 out of school at 17 before graduating. 19 So it took over a decade. I'm pleased 20 to see this issue is being considered by this 21 Committee. I would also note that legislative 22 issues are important, education components of 23 the Governor's Statewide Workforce Education and 24 Accountability Program. 25 Also, last month, the State Board of 7 1 Education introduced and passed two resolutions 2 supporting legislative efforts to lower the 3 state's compulsory school attendance and raising 4 the dropout age. 5 I'd like to thank Representative Dan 6 Milne for introducing House Bill 593 and 7 recognizing the importance of addressing this 8 issue. 9 I certainly look forward to the 10 discussions we'll have today, and I hope that 11 we'll move forward in enacting legislation that 12 will both lower the school age and also increase 13 the age at which a student can drop out of 14 school. 15 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 16 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN SONNEY: Thank you. 17 And we've been joined by Representative Brown. 18 REPRESENTATIVE BROWN: Good morning. 19 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN SONNEY: Good morning. 20 So we're ready to begin. 21 Secretary Rivera, thanks for being here 22 this morning. 23 SECRETARY RIVERA: Thank you. 24 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN SONNEY: We know this 25 is one of the Governor's proposals, and so we're 8 1 anxious to hear your testimony. Thank you. 2 SECRETARY RIVERA: Thank you, Chairman 3 Sonney, Chairman Roebuck. Thank you for the 4 invitation; but most importantly, in convening 5 this opportunity and the Committee to discuss, a 6 great opportunity we have before us at this time 7 of the year. 8 I also want to take a moment and commend 9 you in assembling a room, as I walked in and was 10 able to connect with some former colleagues and 11 new friends. You have an extremely 12 knowledgeable and robust set of professionals 13 and advocates in the room, so I'm sure you're 14 going to absolutely be more than informed as you 15 work through the day. So I look forward to 16 continuing to engage on this issue. 17 You have my written testimony in front 18 of you, so I'm not going to read through my full 19 written testimony. What I will do is take a few 20 minutes and just hit some key talking points 21 that we've engaged in over the course of the 22 past year. But even longer, having been in the 23 field of education for, you know, practically 24 half of my life now. 25 And you, first, I wanted to discuss the 9 1 lowering of the compulsory age from 8 to 6 and 2 also understanding that we are going to continue 3 to look and to engage in the efficacy of even 4 starting earlier and the need for kindergarten 5 preparedness for us here in Pennsylvania. 6 And I think first and foremost, it's 7 important to just highlight the fact that the 8 Commonwealth's current compulsory age of school 9 entry was established in the 19th Century, 1895 10 to be exact, and does not reflect the needs of 11 children or families in the 21st Century. 12 Pennsylvania's just one of two states in 13 the nation that allows children to wait until 14 age 8 to enroll in school. Washington State is 15 the only other. And over the course of the past 16 few years, we know how much we like to highlight 17 our successes, so we don't want to be one of the 18 only two states that allows students to start as 19 old as 8 years old. 20 So we also know that we're lagging 21 behind our peers in this geographic area. New 22 York, New Jersey, Ohio, West Virginia, all 23 require that children begin school by the age of 24 6 years old, while Delaware, Maryland, 25 Connecticut, Washington, DC, and Virginia have 10 1 set their compulsory school age at age 5. So 2 it's estimated that this change will increase 3 enrollment by approximately 3,300 children 4 between the ages of 6 and 7 statewide. 5 This means that 3300 more students will 6 have regular access to school libraries, 7 computers, and stable and nourishing meals. It 8 means greater support for more Pennsylvania 9 families. 10 And we know that the change helps more 11 children get off to a good start in school and 12 will prevent students from falling behind their 13 peers who enter school at an earlier age.