Pa.’s public school code puts a priority on student safety, mental health

New programs will create cyberbullying policies and provide social media literacy education for students.

• By Emily Scolnick, Pennsylvania Capital-Star

This story was originally published by the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. 

Emily Scolnick is a 2026 Dow Jones News Fund intern at the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. 

When Gov. Josh Shapiro signed Pennsylvania’s 2026-27 budget into law Sunday evening, he also enacted a slew of new initiatives contained in the state’s latest school code that aim to improve student safety and well-being.

The budget allocated more than $900 million to public schools, including $565 million in new adequacy funding for school districts, which has remained a priority for state Democratic lawmakers as they work to make the state’s school funding system more equitable. It also directs $100 million to mental health and school safety resources for schools.

But other programs will create new cyberbullying policies, limit the distribution of student health statistics, and help educate students on social media literacy and the prevalence of eating disorders.

“The overwhelming theme of this ed code was protecting students, both their physical safety and their mental health and well-being,” said Rep. Peter Schweyer (D-Lehigh), who chairs the House Education Committee.

The code calls on schools to provide education on the mental, physical, and psychological effects of social media, as well as provide social media literacy programming for students and educators as part of a broader effort to protect children in the digital age.

It also requires every school to establish or amend policies outlining disciplinary action for cyberbullying, including notifying parents and guardians as soon as an incident is reported and identified. School administrators are also mandated to report instances of bullying or cyberbullying — including the number of incidents that involve artificial intelligence — annually.

“We did a lot of work in the space of student safety and student security, and we’re really proud of that work,” Schweyer said.

Other new policies in this year’s school code focus more on students’ physical health. The commonwealth now requires schools to coordinate with the state Department of Health to offer annual eating disorder awareness education to students in sixth through twelfth grades, making the materials available to families.

The initiative stems from a bill sponsored by Rep. Jason Ortitay (R-Allegheny), who first introduced legislation calling for the creation of an eating disorders task force in January 2025. A year and a half later, this year’s budget ensures the committee becomes a reality and calls for it to hold its first meeting within two months. The health and education departments will be required to update eating disorder awareness

Another 2025 measure introduced by Rep. Danielle Friel Otten (D-Chester) called for the elimination of body mass index screenings for students, citing privacy concerns and the overstigmatization of BMI. While this year’s budget doesn’t eliminate the screenings entirely, it allows parents and guardians to request exemptions for their students and instructs school nurses to keep students’ health statistics private unless explicitly requested.

This year’s budget also continues funding for free breakfast for students across Pennsylvania, allots $3 million to ensure students can access menstrual hygiene products, and calls for mandatory recess for students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The latter has been a priority for Shapiro since his budget address in February.

“Common sense suggests kids need more time to play and socialize and interact with one another,” he said at the budget signing ceremony this weekend.

Schweyer also highlighted the school code’s provisions on school facility surveys and school mapping, emphasizing the importance of keeping students physically safe.

By the end of 2027, the state Department of Education will collect data from each district on the number of facilities it occupies and the purpose and capacity of each facility. Schweyer said the information will be used to “check the age and suitability of our schools.”

School mapping will allow first responders to know the purpose and location of each room within a school facility in the event of an emergency, Schweyer said.

“If there’s a specific instance that requires first responders, they have a place to go, they have a way to go,” he added.