New PA law requires cursive. Will Centre County schools meet next month’s deadline?
A state law signed last month will require cursive to be taught in all Pennsylvania elementary schools for the first time since 2010. But Centre County school districts, most of which dropped cursive after the state updated its curriculum standards, are not certain they can fully implement it by next month.
“We’re gonna do the best we can with it,” Penns Valley Area School District Superintendent Brian Griffith said in an interview. While the district had already planned to reintroduce cursive next academic year, Griffith didn’t commit to getting it in classrooms by the Sunday, April 12 deadline.
Implementing penmanship with two months notice could be tricky in the five school districts covering parts of Centre County where it isn’t already required, local education leaders said. They cited cramped schedules, a lack of in-service days before the deadline and young teachers who were never taught to write cursive themselves.
State Rep. Dane Watro, a Northeastern Pennsylvania Republican who wrote the cursive law, said “districts had a period of 60 days to get organized and get it together.”
“I believe they did that, so now it’s time to start delivering that for students,” he continued.
Representatives for the five school districts — Bald Eagle Area, Keystone Central, Penns Valley Area, Philipsburg-Osceola and State College Area — said whether cursive is taught is up to individual elementary English teachers.
Cursive is required in the Bellefonte Area and Tyrone Area school districts. Tyrone teaches it in second and third grade, according to curriculum director Kristen Pinter. Bellefonte teaches cursive in third grade through a program introduced last academic year called Handwriting Without Tears.
“If we were like, ‘Hey, we have to get rid of Handwriting Without Tears,’ there would be a mutiny, because we’re seeing so many benefits in how our students are able to write,” said Jackie Wynkoop, Bellefonte’s curriculum director.
Where did cursive go, and why is it back?
Cursive instruction has not been required in Pennsylvania since 2010, when the commonwealth and 40 other states adopted Common Core, a standardized learning initiative developed by education leaders and the National Governors Association. Cursive was not included in Common Core, which favored typing skills.
A 2013 survey by a school supplies company found 59% of kindergarten through third grade teachers taught cursive. More recent figures are not readily available.
“There are not many students who know cursive or are using cursive to take their notes,” said Dawn Hayes, the curriculum director for Central Intermediate Unit 10, a regional education agency that includes school districts in Centre, Clinton and Clearfield counties.
Cursive mandates have been approved by legislatures in more than half of states in the past decade. Local education leaders generally expressed support for reintroducing penmanship, citing research linking cursive to better memorization and fine motor skills.
“Our teachers here have been really receptive to the new law,” said Chera Mason, the Philipsburg-Osceola curriculum director and principal of Osceola Mills Elementary. “They’re working really well with me and the staff to figure out the most positive way to get this up and running.”
Watro, the state representative, also pointed to cognitive development, and said “the outcome is that when you walk down the halls and the students and teachers have their reports on their walls to display, you’re going to see children being able to write in cursive.” A press release from his office cited a desire to ensure future generations can read documents like the Constitution.
Gov. Josh Shapiro signed Watro’s bill into law Feb. 11, trading his usual scribble for a neat, cursive signature.
When will cursive lessons hit classrooms?
The new cursive law takes effect April 12, 60 days after it was signed. Local education leaders said that timeline may be overly optimistic for a fully fleshed out curriculum, and the Pennsylvania Department of Education has yet to release guidance.
“Legislators sometimes write things without fully understanding the implication,” said Christopher Santini, Bald Eagle Area’s superintendent. “We’re going to have a much better product once we’re able to plan for it.”
Leaders in most area school districts said they’d have some sort of cursive instruction ready by April 12, but did not have specific plans.
- Bald Eagle Area: Santini, the superintendent, wrote in an email that “we are expected to have a plan for full implementation for the 2026-27 school year,” likely for students between second and fourth grade.
- Bellefonte Area: Already requires cursive in third grade.
- Keystone Central: “We’ll be compliant in the sense of our teachers will provide the instruction this spring,” said Megan Hull, the district’s curriculum director. A “fully fledged” plan will require time, she added. Of the teachers in the district who teach cursive, they are usually third and fourth grade teachers, Hull said.
- Penns Valley Area: Griffith, the superintendent, questioned the quick turnaround mandated by the state, but said the district would “do it well” and have a fully implemented program by the 2026-27 academic year.
- Philipsburg-Osceola: “We’re going to do our best to start implementing it before the end of the year at our school district,” said Mason, the curriculum director. Of the teachers in the district who teach cursive, they are usually second through fifth grade teachers, she said.
- State College Area: “The State College Area School District is ready to meet the requirements” of the law, district spokesperson Nabil Mark wrote in an email. He added that because it’s not formally part of school curriculum, it is unclear what grades it is taught in.
- Tyrone Area: Already requires cursive in second and third grade.
Pennsylvania’s top elementary education official, Amy Lena, told Centre, Clinton and Clearfield county school district leadership during a Tuesday meeting that districts should “do their best in implementing cursive writing instruction starting in April, and have a plan to fully implement these requirements for the 2026-27 school year,” according to Santini, who was in attendance. Mason, also in attendance, corroborated.
Erin James, a Department of Education spokesperson, disputed that characterization of Lena, but did not provide a statement to the contrary.
James told the Pennsylvania Capital-Star after the law was signed in February the department was developing cursive guidance for school districts. She did not provide an update on the guidance when asked.
This story was originally published March 19, 2026 at 10:43 AM.
