Basic Education Circular
Basic Education Circulars (BECs) are the official means used by the Pennsylvania Department of Education to communicate with school districts. Unless adopted and published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, BECs are only informational and advisory and are not binding on local school districts.
Each Basic Education Circular has a name (subject), a BEC Number, a date of issue and a date of expiration, and, sometimes, a note as to which former BEC is replaced by a newly issued BEC. A Basic Education Circular with a subject drawn from the Pennsylvania School Code is given a BEC Number referring to the appropriate section of the Code: BEC 24 P.S § 11-1123 concerning an alternative rating form refers to 24 PS § 11-1123 of the School Code. A BEC with a subject drawn form the Pennsylvania Code is given a BEC Number, which refers to the appropriate section of 22 PA Code: BEC 22 PaCode § 12.31, which concerns parental access to student records.
Basic Education Circulars can be accessed on-line at http://www.pde.psu.edu/bec.html