Senate education committee hears high-level briefing on major education laws ahead of new session

Beth King James, legislative counsel in the Office of Legislative Counsel, reviewed a set of education laws enacted in recent biennia during the Senate Education Committee meeting on Jan. 29, noting areas members commonly reference and items the committee may address this year.

King James told the committee the handout provided contains hyperlinks to each act and that her summary is a high-level overview, not an exhaustive legal or policy analysis. "The notes that I have for you on this handout are not meant to be exhaustive of every detail in each bill," she said.

The overview highlighted several recurring themes members raised as likely priorities. King James described Act 173 (2018) as a major change in special-education policy and funding: it broadened the statutory definition of students who “require additional support,” prohibited using tiered academic or behavioral interventions to delay a special-education evaluation, required the Agency of Education (AOE) to provide professional development and added three AOE positions to support special education, and shifted special-education funding from a reimbursement model to a census-based categorical aid model with full implementation staged through fiscal 2027.

She summarized other frequently cited laws: Act 1 (2019) created the Ethnic and Social Equity Standards advisory working group and led to adoption of updated state standards in June 2024; Act 2021 (Act 28, literacy) funded literacy professional development and created an advisory council on literacy; Act 72 (2021) required a statewide school facilities inventory and condition assessment and created a facilities condition index used in school-construction planning; and Act 127 (2022) adjusted the school funding formula, including changes to pupil weights and new categorical aid for English learner students.

King James also reviewed 2023–24 legislation that the committee frequently encounters: Act 66 (2023) suspended further implementation of a shared data-management system; Act 64 (2023) created a universal school meals supplement requiring free breakfast and lunch for all students in public schools and for publicly tuitioned students at eligible independent schools that operate a federal meals program; Act 29 (school safety) required school safety policies including option-based response drills and threat-assessment guidance; Act 76 (child care/pre-K) created a pre-K education implementation committee and directed AOE to produce model contracts and regulatory analysis for pre-K expansion; and the yield bill (Act 183, 2024) made multiple fiscal changes including new Ed Fund revenue sources and reinstated excess-spending penalties with adjustments.

On independent schools and special-education placements, King James explained Act 173 requires an approved independent school that accepts public tuition to enroll any student with an IEP placed there by the local education agency, except that the requirement does not apply to therapeutic schools that limit enrollment to specific populations. "Approved independent schools have to agree to accept a student who's placed there by their local education agency," she said, adding that supervisory unions (the state’s designated local education agencies) retain responsibility for ensuring students receive required services.

Committee members asked procedural and implementation questions. A committee member asked how the therapeutic-school carve-out relates to other placements; another asked whether rulemaking to implement Act 173 had been completed. King James said rulemaking updates were required for independent-school rules and encouraged members to consult the handout’s links for statutory language and to follow up with field stakeholders for operational detail.

King James identified implementation details and follow-ups members might pursue: the statutory formula for calculating the census-based special-education aid (built into statute but complex), the phased implementation schedule through fiscal 2027, the facilities condition index from Act 72 (noting the committee may consider school construction policy), and multiple reporting requirements due from AOE and other agencies (for pre-K, literacy screeners and progress reporting, BOCES formation, and the commission on the future of public education).

She noted several funding or program details mentioned in statute or the acts: a $10,000 startup grant per BOCES; a $1 million appropriation from the Ed Fund for community schools; use of ARPA funds in earlier literacy work; and the yield bill’s authorization of new Ed Fund revenue sources including a 3% short-term rental surcharge and changes to sales tax treatment of remote software. King James also said some statutory changes required additional rulemaking or implementation steps (for example, radon testing requirements that appear in Act 72) and that the committee should consult the agencies and field for operational impact.

The committee did not take formal action during the briefing; members asked for follow-up materials and reports. King James said she had a hard stop at 4:15 and the briefing was meant to orient members rather than set policy. "The notes... are not meant to represent any opinion of mine of what you should pay attention to or what you should not," she said. Several members asked staff to compile outstanding reports mentioned in statute and to identify the right agency and field contacts for deeper implementation questions.

The briefing supplied the committee with a statutory inventory and a set of follow-up topics members flagged for future work this year, including special-education funding mechanics, literacy implementation and screening, school facilities and construction planning, pre-K regulation and contracting, and the status of the Ed Fund advisory and commission on the future of public education.

Looking ahead, committee members said they expected to request reports from AOE, JFO, the Department of Libraries, and other agencies and to invite field representatives to testify on implementation issues. The session ended with members asking for a list of outstanding reports and implementation items the committee might consider this year.