Pennsylvania Code › Title 22 - EDUCATION › Part I - State Board of Education › Subpart A - Miscellaneous Provisions › Chapter 2 - SCHOOL DISTRICT ORGANIZATION › REORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS › Section 2.37 - Standards for approval

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
(a) An
					 administrative unit shall be defined as a geographic area under the control of
					 a single board of school directors.
(b) An administrative unit shall be planned
					 as a contiguous geographic area. Exceptions to contiguity may be made only in
					 situations where the administrative unit in whole or in part includes a
					 noncontiguous geographic area which had been previously approved by the Board
					 as an administrative unit or had operated as an administrative unit, a school
					 district or joint school system during the 1967-1968 school year.
(c) An administrative unit shall be planned
					 to offer a full program of instruction, kindergarten or grade one through 12,
					 and provide administrative leadership, supervision and instructions at a
					 reasonable cost consistent with the local taxable wealth and state financial
					 support available per pupil.
(d) An
					 administrative unit shall make available an educational program and educational
					 opportunities to meet the varying needs, aptitudes, abilities and interests of
					 individuals residing in the administrative unit.
(e) An administrative unit shall embrace one
					 or more secondary attendance centers and supporting elementary attendance
					 centers.
(f) An administrative unit
					 shall be planned to include the largest feasible pupil population which assures
					 the maximum efficiency of operation, and which justifies curricular offerings
					 and other essential services not economically possible in smaller
					 administrative units.
(g) An
					 administrative unit meeting or exceeding the mandated 4,000 pupil average daily
					 membership as determined for the 1966-1967 school year and any administrative
					 unit proposing a reduction of the mandated minimum pupil population shall be
					 planned with consideration of, but not limited to, the following factors:
(i)
Topography
. An
					 administrative unit shall be planned so that all parts of the unit are
					 reasonably accessible for efficient operation and supervision.
(ii)
Pupil Population
. Pupil
					 population changes may be considered in the planning of administrative units
					 when the changes are supported by reliable studies of area development showing
					 past pupil population trends and future projections based on recognized
					 statistical methods. Examples of reliable studies of area development are those
					 made by planning commissions, public utility companies and established survey
					 agencies.
(iii)
Community
					 Characteristics
. Consideration should be given to whether a geographic
					 area has developed characteristics of a community. Community, as used here,
					 includes one or more municipalities and the surrounding territory from which
					 people come for business, social, recreational, fraternal or similar reasons.
					 Neither race nor religion shall be a factor in determining administrative unit
					 boundaries and differences in the social and economic level of the population
					 shall not be a basis to determine these boundaries.
(iv)
Transportation of
					 Pupils
. Distances traveled, travel conditions, time consumed, and the
					 safety and general welfare of the pupils should be basic considerations in
					 developing administrative units. Planning of transportation systems should
					 avoid duplication and, insofar as practical, the transportation of pupils
					 through the area of an adjacent administrative unit.
(v)
Use of Existing School
					 Buildings
. An administrative unit shall utilize existing buildings to
					 the maximum extent practical avoiding unnecessary new construction where
					 possible.
(vi)
Existing
					 Administrative Units.
No part of an existing school district may be
					 separated and added to another administrative unit, except as provided in Act
					 383, approved December 19, 1967 or as provided in the annexation laws.
					 Administrative units already established as school districts under Act 299
					 (24
					 P.S. §§
													2-290-2-298) may be included in
					 administrative units planned under this act only if the existing school
					 district so established grants consent.
(vii)
Potential Population
					 Changes.
Population changes may be considered in the planning of
					 administrative units when the changes are supported by reliable studies of area
					 development showing expansion of the area and by growth projections based on
					 recognized statistical methods. Examples of reliable studies of population
					 growth beyond a normal projection are those made by planning commissions,
					 public utility companies and established survey agencies.
(viii)
Capability of Providing a
					 Comprehensive Program of Education
. For purposes of reorganization
					 planning, "capability of providing a comprehensive program of education" shall
					 mean: The ability to educate and train each child within his capacity to the
					 extent demanded by the immediate requirements of his growth and his
					 relationship to the strengthening of this Commonwealth and nation, and shall
					 include, but not be limited to, wealth per pupil, qualifications of
					 professional staff, enrollment and diversification of curricula.