State board OKs preschool rules
Associated Press
HARRISBURG – The state Board of Education unanimously approved instructional guidelines for state-funded preschool programs yesterday.
The regulations would set standards for the first time for public school programs enrolling children between 3 and 5 years old, such as a minimum 21/2-hour school day and a maximum class size of 20 students.
“We’re moving in a very important, correct direction,” said Ed Donley, a board member and chairman of the committee that developed the regulations.
The rules must receive final approval from the state House and Senate education committees as well as an independent regulatory review panel before they take effect.
The rules allow school districts to decide whether to provide preschool programs and make enrollment optional for children. Seventy-one of Pennsylvania’s 501 school districts offered pre-kindergarten classes in the 2005-06 school year, according to the state Education Department.
Beginning in the 2009-10 school year, teachers’ aides would have to meet one of three criteria to demonstrate their qualifications: completing at least two years of college, earning an associate’s degree, or passing a state or local test assessing their ability to help teach reading, writing and math.
School districts would be exempt from certain regulations if they can demonstrate to the education department that they are offering high-quality programs.
The regulations have been endorsed by the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, and by the nonprofit advocacy group Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children.
Comment: You would think that this would have been in place years ago.