On Friday, Emily Simmons (General Counsel, Agency of Education) gave the Senate Education Committee an overview of the statutory obligations surrounding public tuitioning for independent schools.

Simmons carefully detailed the requirements of Act 173 in 2018 for Approved Independent Schools and the criteria for tuition to be paid to independent schools under the new rules going into effect July 1^st. As of that date, all schools accepting publicly tuitioned students will need to be willing to take all categories of special education and have non-discriminatory acceptance criteria.

requires that the Agency of Education (AOE) take steps, either through probation or suspension, when responding to complaints that an Independent School is in violation of the rules.

Chairman Campion mentioned Secretary French’s testimony from March, asking either him or the interim Secretary to return while they are considering the House bill (H.483).