The 2019-20 school year is now officially permitted to be shorter than the state mandated 180 instructional days, a move necessitated by Pennsylvania’s Gov. Tom Wolf’s March 13 order to close K-12 schools due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Wolf on Friday announced he signed legislation that waives the 180-day state mandate as well as requires schools to immediately develop plans to ensure continuity of education to students through distance learning.

“I expect our public education system will meet the challenges we are all facing in this crisis and answer the call of their communities in the same way every other unit of government is doing at this time,” said House Majority Leader Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster County. “School districts have an obligation to do all they can to teach students even during these difficult circumstances.”

The emergency school law, which was passed unanimously on Wednesday by the House and Senate, also ensures school employees, employed as of March 13, will be paid and receive pension credit during the duration of the school closure. It increases the number of flexible instruction days that districts may use that allow students to do school work at home.

It waives other requirements for educator preparation programs and assessment exams for career and technical students. Among several other provisions in the bill, school districts also were guaranteed to receive their state subsidies and charter schools were assured of receiving payment for the number of students they enrolled on March 13.

“School administrators and staff have had a lot of questions about how Pennsylvania’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic will impact their students and their operations,” said Rich Askey, president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association in a statement. “This legislation will answer many of those questions. I commend legislators and Gov. Wolf for working with education stakeholders on this important bill.”

Districts plans for continuity of education must be submitted to the state Department of Education and posted on district’s websites. That is prove challenging for many districts particularly those with large numbers of students lacking computers or internet access.

“The truth is that the education establishment, with some school districts as exceptions, has not not planned for long-term continuity of education in the face of a crisis such as this," said Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-Chester County, in a statement,

He urged the state to redirect spending on the now cancelled state assessments to assist schools in making the switch to alternative teaching methods. He also called on the Legislature, along with with teachers, parents, and retired educators to form a learning corps to help students.

"One way we could help might be a one-to-one phone call between a current or past educator and a student to assist their learning,” he said in his statement. “There is much knowledge in this regard available through the robust home school movement in our community. Not only parents but also older children can help younger children learn their lessons.”

Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. Follow her on Twitter at @JanMurphy.

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