HARRISBURG – The PA House Education Committee unanimously passed a bipartisan bill sponsored by York County Republican Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill and Berks County Democrat Sen. Judy Schwank to eliminate a section from the state’s Education Code that prohibits teachers from wearing any dress, mark, emblem or insignia indicative of their faith or denomination. Every other state in the nation preserves and protects First Amendment rights in the classroom, and Senate Bill 84 would make PA the 50th state to eradicate an archaic law. Currently, a teacher who violates the ban must be suspended from teaching for one year or permanently disqualified from teaching after multiple offenses. A public school director can even be held criminally liable for failing to enforce the prohibition. The bill now goes to the full state House.
SEN. JUDY SCHWANK
SEN. KRISTIN PHILLIPS-HILL