Bills To Strengthen School Boards Proposed By Montco PA Lawmaker

HARRISBURG — A trio of bills being put forth by a state lawmaker from Montgomery County would make some significant changes to elected school boards in the commonwealth.

State Rep. Joe Webster, D-150, announced Thursday that he is unveiling legislation that his office said would "ensure school board members continue to expand their capacity to meet the needs of students across Pennsylvania."

The legislative package would increase the number of mandatory training hours for new school board members from 5 to 14; allow board members to enroll tuition-free at any institution within the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education in courses that would be connected to their roles and responsibilities as school board members; and allow school board members to be compensated for their work on the panel.

"The better informed our school board members are in their decision making, the more they can ensure our schools are providing the best education possible — while being fiscally sound," Webster said in a statement.

Webster said the bill that would provide free tuition for board members seeking out courses that could help them in their duties is important because board members need to be able to "learn and refine the required skills of their role."

And as for paying school board members some sort of a stipend or salary, Webster said it might help to attract more people to the role.

"School board members oversee a vital public institution with dozens of hours of their personal time each week devoted to this duty," Webster stated. "We should compensate them for the often thankless work they do for our schools and our kids."

According to an article on The Classroom from 2017, Pennsylvania was singled out as one of only three states throughout the country prohibiting school board members from receiving compensation by state statute.

The states of Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Illinois, New Jersey, Louisiana and Missouri were singled out as paying elected board members a small monthly stipend, and Florida, California, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, and Alabama were noted as states where school board members received paid salaries for their work, the article states.

The article was somewhat older, however, and it was not immediately clear if any of those states have since revised their laws regarding school board compensation.

The website Ballotpedia offers a breakdown in salaries for those school boards who do compensate their members, also in a post from 2017, which means the figures since may have changed slightly.

In Pennsylvania, a school director post is an elected position, with rare exceptions. In the City of Philadelphia, for example, board members are appointed as opposed to being elected by the citizens.

In most other areas, however, Pennsylvania school board members are chosen at the ballot box by voters.

Pennsylvania school boards also have the legislative authority to levy taxes to pay for schools. The school tax portion of a homeowner's property tax bill is typically much larger than the municipal or county portion of a real estate tax bill.

The Pennsylvania School Boards Association offers more information here about becoming an elected school board member in the Keystone State.