The Senate unanimously approve a bill to eliminate a section from the state’s Education Code that prohibits teachers from wearing anything that is a sign of their faith or denomination.
According to the current public school code in state law, an educator wearing religious garb must be suspended for one year and will be fired after multiple offenses. Administrators who don’t enforce the law could be fined and could lose their job. Pennsylvania is the last state to still have that wording in their education code.
The bill to eliminate this from the education code was sponsored by Senators Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-York) and Judy Schwank (D-Berks). They both argued that the existing law violates the First Amendment.
The measure is awaiting consideration by the House.
