Farming, Saturday, May 16,1992
Board of
(Continued from Pago A 1)
issued by those reviewing
agencies.
Also, there are 171 school dis
tricts across the state that have
already entered into strategic plan
ning for next year’s courses. They
need the regulations with which
they intend to comply.
The need for including agricul
ture and agricultural sciences in
curriculum has become apparent
for many people, because the num
ber of students and adults without
any basic agricultural experience
or knowledge has grown so great
in recent years.
The board approved amending
Chapters 3, 5 and 6 of its regula
tions, but changes to Chapter 5
directly affect agricultural educa
tion. Chapter 5 deals with
curriculum.
The gist of the amendments to
Chapter 5 is to make sure each stu
dent receives at least a minimal
agricultural education.
On Wednesday, the Commis
sion on Basic Education, an agen
cy of the State Board ofEducation,
met and adopted the amendments
which were then fowarded to the
full board for consideration
Thursday.
The amendments were sup
ported in recent weeks by verbal
and written recommendations
from the Senate and House agri
cultural and education commit
tees. and the Independent Regulat
ory Review Commission (IRRC).
In order for the regulatory
amendments to be put into effect,
the House and Senate education
committees have 20 days for
review and approval and the IRRC
has 30 days.
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Education Backs Ag Ed
In light of the support already
given to the revisions, it is likely
that they will be approved for
publication in the Pennsylvania
Bulletin, which would then make
them legal.
Specifically, the proposed
Chapter 5 amendments would add
language to the entry of science as
a required topic of study for the
intermediate stutdents. Intermedi
ate students arc those in grades 4,
S, and 6.
The portion of Chapter S dealing
with intermediate students
requires that eight different sub
jects which school district must
incorporate into their scheduled
courses. .
Section f under elementary edu
cation, states, "Planned courses
that provide instruction in the fol
lowing areas shall be taught to
every student every year in the
intermediate level program. These
planned courses may be taught as
separate courses or may be inte
grated into other appropriate
Rep.
VERNON ACHENBACH JR.
Lancaster Fanning Staff
HARRISBURG (Dauphin
Co.) Agriculturalists may
eventually get the appreciative and
educated consumers and neighbors
they appear to have lost, if legisla
tion proposed this week goes into
effect
Rep. Jess Stairs, R-Acmc, Wed
nesday introduced legislation into
the state House of Representatives
that would create the Agricultural
Education Act.
The proposal would require the
Pennsylvania Department of Edu-
free Delivery Within
20 Mile* On $BO,OO Or
More Order*
planned courses.”
The change proposed here is to
add behind the topic “Science” the
words, “including where appropri
ate instruction about agriculture
and agricultural science.”
At the middle school level, the
proposed wording would be, “Sci
ence. which involves active learn
ing experiences and which may
include laboratory experiments
and where appropriate information
about agriculture and agricultural
science.”
Under high school education,
the segment concerning science
has been expanded to read, “Sci
ence, including participation in
hands-on experiments and at least
one laboratory science chose from
life sciences, earth and space sci
ences. chemical sciences, physical
sciences and agricultural
sciences.”
Other proposed changes to the
regulations deal with the establis
ment of occupational advisory
committees, the protection of stu
Stairs Proposes Mandatory Ag
cation (PDE) to develop and
implement agricultural education
programs for the general student
population, encourage ag educa
tion efforts by other groups, and
create an agricultural education
advisory council to the PDE.
According to Rep. Stairs, the
proposal is bipartisan and he
already has the support of at least
15 other representatives, of both
parties.
Efforts by the Pennsylvania
Vocational Agriculture Teachers
Association (PVATA) and others
to convince the state Board of Edu
29 Ridge Road
Lltltz, Pa.
17543
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dent anonymity during state and
school district assessments of its
teaching programs, ensuring
parents’ rights to have children
excused from programs which
conflict with their religious beliefs
and excused from participating in
state assessments, upon receipt by
the school district of a written
request from the parents.
Robert Lauffer, president of the
Pennsylvania Agricultural Teach
ers Association (PVATA), one of
the main lobbying groups for the
agricultural changes, said that the
proposed changes are welcome
and protect the local school district
to make choices on courses.
“That locks it back to the local
district and that’s where it should
be. It should be a local discretion
ary decision where agriculture can
be considered and the school board
can decide”how to fulfill the regu
latory outlines, he said.
Lauffer, in previous testimony
before the Board of Education, had
said that the reason agriculture
should be included in the regula
tions, was so that school districts
had a choice to use agricultural sci
ences and incorporate agriculture.
cation to include agricultural stu
dies into the mainstream curricula
resulted in some board action this
week which would seem to fit well
with the Agriculture Education
Act
The State Board of Education,
under the PDE, creates regulations
for school districts across the stale,
outlining minimum requirements
for academic achievements.
This year, amidst a radically
overhauled set of regulations, most
reference to agriculture had been
dropped, until Thursday.
Stairs said his proposal results
from having talked to people who
had been active in attempting to
gain the understanding of the
Board of Education.
“I had talked to a couple of peo
ple in the Pa. Farmers Association
717-627-0065
He compared it to going intoa
restaurant and attempting to order
something not specifically offered
on the menu.
“Now we are on the menu.” he
said
Further, Lauffer said his expert
cnees in attempting to get reason
able change accomplished has
been rewarding and educational
"I am convinced that the system
does work,” he said “the process
does work as kmg as what you’re
advocating does make sense and
you are persistent We were able to
have a big impact
“I told the board today that agri
culture and agricultural sciences
have now been property positioned
in the curriculum in the overall
heading of science.
“Now it becomes the opportuni
ty and challenge for local districts
to determine the whole process for
addressing agriculture and incor
porating it into existing
programs.”
The apparent next hurdle for the
education board will be to address
regulations of proposed “learning
outcomes,” which obstensibly will
replace the old system of teach
test-and grade.
Education
and the vocational agriculture
teachers and I guess the feeling
was there is a need to educate non
farmers about (agriculture).
“We have, over the years, taken
it for granted that people are well
versed in'production agriculture
and with the large nonfarming
population, a lot of people are
unfortunately unaware of agricul
ture,” Stairs said.
He said that the fact that many
people only know that food comes
from a grocery store is disappoint
ing, and perhaps a failure of the
educational system, which for
years took for granted that students
understood agriculture.
According to supporters of the
legislation, that old assumption
may have been an appropriate atti-
(Turn to Pag* A 34)
717-627-0065
FAX:
717-627-8676