Legislation

AFT Pennsylvania opposes taxpayer-funded school vouchers, education scholarship tax credits (Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) programs), which are back-door vouchers that use tax breaks to subsidize private and parochial schools. Vouchers represent a false hope for a few children, while most vouchers/scholarships are used by students already attending private schools. Vouchers do not deliver better outcomes for students and leave fewer resources for public school programs that are proven to work.

AFT Pennsylvania's Executive Council has approved a resolution opposing legislative efforts to eliminate school property taxes across the commonwealth. The resolution was approved unanimously by the Executive Council March 10. The property tax elimination bill has not been introduced yet.

PA senators are considering a bill that removes mandatory paid sick, bereavement and sabbatical leaves from the school code, leaving them subject to collective bargaining in every school district.

The Pennsylvania Senate passed a so-called "paycheck protection" bill that redefines normal union activities such as legislative advocacy and non-partisan voter registration drives as "political" and then bar unions from using automatic payroll deductions to fund those activities. 

AFTPA is monitoring mandate relief legislation (House Bill 135), which would reinstate a Mandate Relief Program from 2000-2010 and does not include the harsh, anti-union features of similar bills proposed in the previous legislative session. 

Know the facts about school and state employee pensions. Click MORE to read and download AFTPA Pension Talking Points. Then contact your  state legislators and write letters to the editors of local newspapers to protect our pensions. 

In 2012, Gov. Corbett signed Act 82, requiring the Secretary of Education to establish a new, statewide rating system for evaluating teachers and principals. The teacher rating system goes into effect in September 2013, and we are waiting for PDE to release details of how the new system will work. Click below to learn what Act 82 says. 

Click here to find out 5 things you can do to protect public employee pensions.