PA House Bill 1901: A Game Changer?

PA House Bill 1901 was passed in 2012 and has many provisions which could be a game changer for the school board. I hope they are following it closely. Here is the entire bill. HB 1901

In it, school board directors must give superintendents a minimum 150 day notice prior to the end of their contract during a regular board meeting, or the super's contract will be automatically renewed for the similar length of time. See page 32 of HB 1901. See page 37-38 for terminating assistant superintendents.

On page 36 of HB 1901, the school board must post the superintendent's and assistant superintendents' date of evaluation and whether they met their goals on the district website.

Starting in 2013-14, teacher evaluations will change. NEW EDUCATOR EVALUATION SYSTEM in 2014-15, principals (Nonteaching Professional Employees) evaluations will no longer be based primarily on PSSA scores.

Evaluation Criteria for “Nonteaching Professional Employees.” Nonteaching professional employees will be evaluated in the 2014-15 school year with a new system that considers the following areas of performance:

1) planning and preparation; 2) educational environment; 3) delivery of service; and 4) professional development. PDE is currently working on specific rubrics for pupil services personnel that reflect
these four categories. School-wide student performance measures must comprise 20 percent of a nonteaching professional employee’s overall rating. Specific elements of this measure will be established by PDE prior to 2014-15.

PSSAs will account for 15% of principals' evaluations. See page 42 of HB 1901.

The bill also allows, in terms of school finances, a provision for reopening budgets.

There is so much more in the 95 page bill that I hope readers will enlighten us of more changes.