Schmotzer Bill Would Strengthen Requirement for Teachers

, a Democrat whose 22nd House District of Pennsylvania includes all of  and part of , is trying to pass legislation that would require teachers to work longer to receive tenure.

Schmotzer will introduce a bill soon that would require five years of satisfactory service to receive tenure in the state instead of a current three-year practice. 

"I believe this legislation is necessary to ensure that school districts are providing tenure opportunities only to the most experienced classroom instructors," said Schmotzer, a longtime Baldwin-Whitehall School Board member, in a news release. "Due to constitutional limitations, as with most pieces of legislation, this would apply only to new hires, effective on enactment of the bill but not retroactively.

"As lawmakers, it is our duty to guarantee our children are receiving their education from skilled teachers with years of classroom experience."

Schmotzer said that the teacher tenure section of the state's public school code was last amended in 1996 to raise the requirement from two years to three.

Since he took office as a state representative in May, Schmotzer has been behind a number of new legislative efforts. Read more about some of those efforts here.

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