Kids whining about their homework again?

Sit them down in a quiet corner, muster your most somber demeanor, and say to them:

"Title 22 Pennsylvania Code, Chapter 12, Annex A, Subsection 12.2(a)."

Time to buckle down, buster. Homework's headed for the law books.

Two important little words are among the changes expected to be incorporated into state school regulations by the end of the year.

Student responsibilities, the revised code reads, "include regular school attendance, conscientious effort in classroom work and homework, and conformance to school rules and regulations."

It's the first time those words have been included in the state code known as Title 22, which hasn't been substantially revised since 1984, according to Jim Buckheit, executive director of the state Board of Education.

The board has been working on code changes -- mostly minor -- over the past couple of years. The process is nearly complete, with routine approval by the state Legislature and the Independent Regulatory Review Commission expected sometime this year.

The "h-word" was added to the regulations when "some [board] members raised the idea that homework was an important responsibility, given the role that homework plays in student achievement," Buckheit said.

While no child will end up in the slammer for disobeying state regulatory laws, Buckheit said the laws are used as a template -- as well as enforcement -- for most local school district policies.

The Pennsylvania Code "is the stick that goes along with" the rules and regulations in local school handbooks, said Buckheit.

Precisely what the change would mean to individual school districts isn't yet clear. Pittsburgh schools currently have no districtwide homework policy, according to school spokeswoman Lynne Turnquist.

Yesterday, at a Pennsylvania Bar Institute meeting Downtown where school attorneys were studying changes to the code, seminar leader Michael L. Brungo speculated on the reasons for the "homework" addition to the code.

"It might be a response to No Child Left Behind," said Brungo, an attorney with Maiello, Brungo and Maiello, referring to the controversial federal education law.

Whatever its genesis, the homework addition is welcome news to Steven Schlossman, a Carnegie Mellon University history professor and a recognized national expert on homework.

"Overall, I like the idea of including homework as part of the state code," Schlossman said yesterday. "Homework has been an integral part of the education reform movement. I see it as a symbolic recognition ... an attempt to recognize a more active collaboration between home and school."

Schlossman said other states occasionally have codified homework -- or at least tried to -- beginning with a 1901 California law that eliminated homework for students younger than 15. Later, several municipalities around the country also tried to eliminate or reduce homework, especially for younger children.

However, said Schlossman, "Enforcement is almost an impossibility."

The school code revisions can be found on the state board of education Web site under "Regulations" at www.pde.state.pa.us/stateboard_ed/.