Section 352 - Public schools (Adm. Code Section 1302)The Department of Public Instruction shall have the power, and its duty shall be:
(a) To administer all of the laws of this Commonwealth with regard to the establishment, maintenance, and conduct of the public schools, and particularly the act, approved the eighteenth day of May, one thousand nine hundred and eleven (Pamphlet Laws, three hundred nine), entitled "An act to establish a public school system in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, together with the provisions by which it shall be administered, and prescribing penalties for the violation thereof; providing revenue to establish and maintain the same, and the method of collecting such revenue; and repealing all laws, general, special, or local, or any parts thereof, that are or may be inconsistent herewith," its amendments and supplements;(b) To prepare blank forms for the annual district reports, with suitable instructions and forms for conducting the various proceedings and details of the system in a uniform and efficient manner and forward the same to the county and district superintendents for distribution to and among the proper district officers of their respective counties or school districts;(c) To prepare and furnish to the proper persons suitable blanks and all other papers required by law;(d) Whenever required, to give advice, explanations, construction, or information, to the district officers and to citizens relative to the school laws, the duties of school officers, the management of the schools, and all other questions and matters calculated to promote the cause of education;(e) To classify the high schools of the State, upon the basis of the reports of the directors and the State inspectors of high schools, in compliance with the provisions of the school laws;(f) To issue all commissions to superintendents and assistant superintendents of schools in this Commonwealth;(g) To prescribe minimum courses of study for the public schools;(h) To prepare and furnish to boards of school directors sample blank forms for keeping and reporting school accounts, and sample bonds for their treasurers, secretaries, tax collectors, and depositories, and samples of other bonds or forms required by law;(i) Subject to such rules, not inconsistent with law, as it may prescribe, to endorse and make valid for teaching in Pennsylvania any permanent or life teacher's certificate from any other State;(j) To condemn, as unfit for use, on account of unsanitary or other improper conditions, any school building, school site, or outbuilding, in this Commonwealth, and, upon failure on the part of the board of school directors to remedy such condition, to withhold and declare forfeited all or any part of the annual appropriation apportioned to any such school district.(k) To hold examinations in secondary school subjects, at suitable times and places, to be designated by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, for the determination of the fitness of applicants unable to present satisfactory certificates showing completion of secondary school courses, and to issue such certificates to those found proficient: Provided, That admission to such examinations shall be denied any applicant eighteen years of age or under regularly enrolled in an accredited secondary school, and no applicant eighteen years of age or under not enrolled in an accredited secondary school, shall be allowed to obtain more units of secondary school credits through such examinations, during any year, than could be carried during any year through enrollment in an accredited secondary school; and to authorize accredited secondary schools to hold similar examinations and grant similar certificates under rules, regulations and standards issued by the Department of Public Instruction. To establish and publish standards whereby the secondary education of any resident of Pennsylvania, who has not fully completed his or her studies in an accredited secondary school, but has otherwise completed educational studies of an equivalent standard, may be determined and evaluated. The department may, under rules and regulations issued by it, grant credits, certificates or diplomas for secondary school education for educational courses offered by--
(1) The military, naval or merchant marine services.(2) The Armed Forces Institute.(3) Evening or extension courses established by schools and colleges, accredited or approved by the Department of Public Instruction.(4) Institutions maintained by the Commonwealth. The Department of Public Instruction may, under rules and regulations issued by it, authorize accredited secondary schools to determine and evaluate secondary school subjects, grant credits, certificates and diplomas in like manner.
(l) To inspect and require reports of the educational work in the elementary and secondary schools and institutions, wholly or partly supported by the State, which are not supervised by the public school authorities: Provided, that a copy of the report of the inspection of any such institution which may be made shall be sent to the head of such institution.1929, April 9, P.L. 177, art. XIII, § 1302, added 1945, May 15, P.L. 540, § 1. Amended 1963, June 17, P.L. 143, § 4.