Senate Approves Vogel’s Cost-saving Legislation for Schools

The Senate today (May 10) approved legislation introduced by Senator Elder Vogel that will allow school districts to save thousands of dollars in annual mailing costs.

Senate Bill 1077 eliminates the mandate that school districts annually inform parents by physical mailing when the district uses audio and video recording to identify and address discipline issues on school buses.

The mailer mandate was included as part of Act 9 of 2014, which gave school districts the ability to use audio recordings on school buses.

Instead of the physical mailing, which can easily cost thousands of dollars each year, schools must post notice of the policy in the student handbook as well as on the school’s website.

“Student handbooks outlining rules and procedures are already posted on each school’s publically accessible website. Parents have to acknowledge they have read and understand the rules and procedures by an electronic signature,” Senator Vogel said. “There is no need to require a separate, physical mailing each year for this one specific policy. This will save taxpayer dollars.”

Senate Bill 1077 now goes to the House of Representatives for consideration.

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 CONTACT:
Anthony Tammaro
atammaro@pasen.gov