Act 1

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Act 1 was signed into law on January 26th, 2022, and was amended through Act 55 of 2022. Act 55 states that school entities must identify students who were eligible in 2021-2022 but did not receive the benefits of Act 1 and must fulfill Act 1 obligations.

• Flexible with documentation and format for identifying and providing evidence that students qualify for Act 1--ex: email from a shelter employee would be acceptable. Information does not need to be on formal letterhead or anything

• School uniforms, school IDs, any materials, field trips, “pay to play” fee, parking fees, technology insurance fees --examples of fees waived

• The graduation plan can be as simple as a checklist--what are the courses required, and where are you in relation to this?

• Before a chief school administrator gets to the Keystone diploma, there are other options. Exhaust those options, first. (Alternative Pathways slide) A Keystone diploma is a final option.

• A Keystone Diploma negatively affects a school’s cohort graduation rate

• The school will need to identify the POC for Act 1 and PDE will ask for this identification. Putting this on your guidance page would be helpful. PDE has plans to also ask for this in the FRCPP. “If I were a superintendent, I would have one point of contact in every building”.

• Is there a sample Act 1 policy available to view? We’ve had this request. PSBA is a good place to look for sample Act 1 policies.

• Schools do not have any way to recoup the fees that are waived for those eligible for Act 1

• There is only a need for this to be retroactive for the past school year. From now on it will just be in full effect. (so, this is not just for the 2022-2023 school year).

• The Keystone Diploma sits outside meeting the requirements for Act 158. That’s why the Keystone Diploma negatively affects the graduation cohort rate. The negative effect would go to the sending school, not the current school where the student is graduating with the Keystone Diploma.

• Question regarding if the protections of Act 1 protect a student the whole way through their career. Ex: a second grade student moves and would qualify under Act 1. Does this student have eligibility for the Keystone diploma so many years down the line? (answer--the legislation doesn’t consider this. “I would say no to this example” What about a 9th grade student? (“I would probably say yes to this example. We need to get legal to consider this.”) Brian Campbell says related to diploma review specifically, it would go back to 9th grade.

Good morning, Lauren.

Thank you for your inquiry regarding Act 1. If the inquiry is regarding Act 1 of 2022 which pertains to Education Instability, we have draft policies in place that are being actively reviewed by our legal team at this time. We anticipate merging policies 251. Homeless Students and 255. Educational Stability of Students in Foster Care because Act 1 contains additional requirements to ensure the educational stability of such students. We also have a number of other policies that are affected as a result of Act 1 including issues involving enrollment, attendance, graduation, dress and grooming, etc. All policies will be issued in the Policy News Network (PNN) as soon as they are finalized.

Please let me know if there is anything else that I can do to assist you.

Best,

Davelyn S. Smeltzer

Senior Director of Policy Services

Pennsylvania School Boards Association