Section 18-1850.1 - Organization and operation of schools and institutes(a) Schools and institutes shall be the responsibility of the participating boards of school directors of an approved attendance area. Such boards of school directors shall have authority to enter into a written agreement by and among themselves establishing such school or institute setting forth, inter alia, the rights and obligations of the participating districts. No change shall be made in such agreement without the consent of each participating school district first obtained, by the affirmative vote of a majority of the school directors thereof. The several participating boards of school directors shall collectively be known as the area career and technical board.(b) The area career and technical board shall have authority and its duty shall be:(1) To provide, as the participating districts may agree, for the assumption by the area career and technical board of obligations including, but not limited to, operating expenses, architect's fees, engineering costs, professional salaries, expenses of acquiring and maintaining sites for schools and institutes, incurred by any county board of school directors or county boards of school directors on behalf of such participating districts pursuant to prior agreements;(2) To formulate and adopt policies relating to the organization, establishment and operation of the school or institute;(3) To provide for the administration and operation of the school or institute;(4) To adopt the budgets for operation of the school or institute as prepared in the same manner provided for in section 687 of this act;(5) To designate a superintendent of the school or institute, provided, that when the several boards or a committee thereof operate the school or institute as hereinafter provided, a chief school administrator of a participating school district shall be designated as superintendent of the school or institute;(6) To exercise all the powers, perform the duties, and be subject to all liabilities with reference to the operation of schools and/or institutes as are now or hereafter shall be conferred or imposed by law;(7) To make from time to time surveys to determine the current career and technical needs of the participating school districts;(8) To make and establish, and from time to time alter and amend, rules and regulations for the transaction of its business and for the administration of the work under its charge;(9) To employ temporary professional and professional employes, supervisors and teachers, and to employ all other persons necessary to carry on career and technical education and technical institutes, and to determine the salaries to be paid. All temporary professional and professional employes so employed shall have the same rights of tenure, minimum salaries and increments, leaves of absence because of illness or physical disability, leaves of absence because of death in the immediate family or death of a near relative, sabbatical leaves, military leaves, exchange teacher leaves, and membership in the Public School Employes' Retirement System as temporary professional and professional employes of school districts. No professional employe who has attained tenure status as an employe of any area career and technical board shall, thereafter, be required to serve as a temporary professional employe before being tendered such a contract when employed by any other part of the public school system of the Commonwealth;(10) To purchase, lease, rent, improve and sell land, and to build, repair, improve, lease, rent, buy and sell buildings;(11) To acquire real property by purchase, gift or condemnation, for the purposes of area career and technical schools and technical institutes. Such condemnation proceedings shall be instituted and conducted by the board in the name of the participating school districts in the same manner and with like authority as provided by law in the case of school districts. The title to any real estate, acquired for the purpose of establishing any such area career and technical school or institute shall be held in the name of one or more of the school districts establishing the same, as they may agree;(12) To purchase, lease, rent or otherwise acquire all necessary furniture, implements, books, materials, equipment and supplies;(13) When authorized by the participating school districts in the attendance area, to provide for free mandated transportation of district pupils to and from the area career and technical school in which they have been accepted, and to apply and receive on behalf of the school districts in the attendance area reimbursements on account of such transportation provided;(14) To make contracts with counties, cities, boroughs, towns, townships, school districts, other political subdivisions, community colleges, public and private agencies, quasi-public agencies, nonprofit corporations, the Federal government and its agencies and instrumentalities, municipalities and other public authorities, or other persons for carrying out the purposes of this subdivision of this article;(15) To make an annual report, in writing, to the Department of Education, and such other reports as the department may require;(16) To adopt criteria for admitting students to area career and technical schools and technical institutes;(17) To receive Federal, State, school district and other public and private funds and to expend such funds to establish, operate, improve and expand area career and technical schools and technical institutes;(18) When authorized by the participating school districts, and on behalf of such districts, to enter into agreement with the State public school building authority, municipal authorities, political subdivisions, municipal corporations, public and private agencies, quasi-public agencies, authorities, nonprofit corporations and the Federal government and its agents and instrumentalities to buy land, build, alter, lease, equip and operate facilities for public career and technical education and technical institutes;(19) To prepare and submit to the Department of Education on or before July 1 of each year, for approval, a budget of proposed expenditures for area career and technical schools and technical institutes for the ensuing year;(20) To accept pupils in area career and technical schools and technical institutes from districts not participating in their establishment and maintenance and to establish tuition charges therefor;(21) To assign pupils residing within school districts participating in an area career and technical school and/or technical institutes to career and technical schools or departments maintained by other area career and technical boards and school districts with the approval of the area career and technical boards and the district boards maintaining such schools or departments, and to pay tuition for pupils permitted to attend such area career and technical schools, technical institutes and career and technical schools or departments;(22) To locate area career and technical schools and technical institutes;(23) To collect tuition and fees;(24) To do all things necessary to carry into effect the purposes of this act;(25) Whenever such schools and technical institutes are authorized, to prepare an estimate of the total cost of and expenditures to be made on account of each area career and technical school and technical institute for the following year, such estimate shall be filed with the Department of Education no later than July 1 of each year for the approval of the department;(26) When authorized by the participating school districts, to establish capital reserve funds under the provisions of section 1850.4 for the purposes of purchasing equipment and maintaining facilities;(c) All actions of an area career and technical board shall be by a majority vote of the members of the board either in convention or by mail ballot, whichever procedure the board shall select: Provided, that the approval of each operating budget shall require an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the participating school districts and a majority vote of all the school directors of all participating districts; and provided further, for purposes of this requirement only, the vote of any participating school district shall be determined by a majority vote of all school directors comprising such participating boards. All votes shall be duly recorded and shall show how each member voted;(d) An area career and technical board shall have power to delegate the operation, administration and management of the school or institute to a joint committee elected from among the several participating boards of school directors.Amended by P.L. TBD 2019 No. 76, § 46, eff. 12/30/2019.1949, March 10, P.L. 30, art. XVIII, § 1850.1, added 1966, Feb. 1, P.L. (1965) 1632, § 6. Amended 1968, May 14, P.L. 119, No. 62, § 4; 2000, May 10, P.L. 44, No. 16, § 9, effective 7/1/2000.