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Starting Salary - Interactive Map

Setting a statewide $60,000 minimum salary, paid for with state funds over five years, would increase 15,390 educators’ salaries to $60,000. This is one of PSEA’s top legislative priorities and it is a key way to address the school staff shortage crisis.

Check out this interactive map to find starting salaries in every Pennsylvania school district.

PSEA's Center For Professional Learning

  • PEARL Platform
  • Webinars
  • Book Discussions
  • Wellness Events
  • Micro-credentials and other online learning portals

Keep up-to-date on all of the ways PSEA is prepared to meet your professional learning needs.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement

PSEA has established a Task Force on Racial Justice and Equity in PSEA (Task Force) charged with:

1) Developing a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Statement for the Board’s consideration, and;

2) Overseeing an equity assessment of PSEA’s organizational operations, policies, and practices. The first step – the development and adoption of a DEI Statement - is foundational for ensuring PSEA’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion are realized in our culture, practices, and policies.

Stay Connected

Keeping Connected is an e-newsletter for PSEA members to stay informed. In each issue, you'll receive the latest legislative and policy updates from your association, helpful links, and inspiring stories of educators going above and beyond to make the best of an extraordinarily difficult time.

PSEA is a community of education professionals who make a difference in the lives of students every day. Hear their stories and more in each issue of The VOICE. 

Denise Kueny, the 2023 ESP of the Year!

There’s no better time than American Education Week to celebrate our hardworking ESP members. And none more deserving of recognition than Denise Kueny, the 2023 Dolores McCracken PSEA Education Support Professional of the Year.

“Over the past 21 years, I have been fortunate to go to work in a place I love, with people I love. I have met, helped, and been inspired by hundreds of incredible students who have forever impacted my life. I am grateful and humbled by this award. Thank you.”

Kueny works as a special education instructional aide at Tohickon Middle School in the Central Bucks School District. In this role, she assists students in learning skills and lessons, offering plenty of guidance and encouragement along the way.

School colleagues praised Kueny for her dedication, noting that she often spends hours of her own free time reading and preparing to help students during the next day’s lessons.

“Her commitment to our students’ success knows no bounds,” Central Bucks Education Support Professional President Deneen Dry wrote in nominating Kueny. “She goes the extra mile to ensure that each child feels valued and empowered, whether it’s providing assistance during difficult moments, offering words of encouragement, or finding innovative ways to engage and inspire.”

Dry noted that Kueny is a strong supporter of and an asset to her local union, the Central Bucks Education Support Professionals Association.

President Chapin testifies on basic education funding

On Thursday, PSEA President Aaron Chapin testified before Pennsylvania’s Basic Education Funding Commission and argued that the state must address the income and racial equity gaps in public school funding that were revealed as unconstitutional in the Commonwealth Court’s February 2023 ruling.

A PSEA analysis found the 100 districts with the lowest incomes spend 30 percent less per weighted student than the districts in the wealthiest 100 districts. And districts serving BIPOC communities at all income levels spend less per weighted student than their white district counterparts.

“Districts cannot hire more teachers, remodel buildings, purchase new school curricula, or offer better technology and classroom supplies without the money to pay for them,” Chapin said.

Some of the solutions President Chapin offered to lawmakers were:

  • Raise the state’s minimum salary for educators from $18,500 to $60,000 a year as well as set a $20 per hour minimum wage for education support professionals.
  • Create a new teacher pipeline scholarship program and an initiative to pay education students while they complete their student teaching requirements.
  • Reestablish state charter school reimbursement of at least $500 million to alleviate the burden on the state’s poorest districts.
  • Invest in school infrastructure to bring all facilities up to a minimum standard that promotes learning.

PSEA President Aaron Chapin and PSEA-Retired members rally at the Capitol over COLA

“We are talking about people in their 80s and 90s, many with health issues. Nobody should be in a position where they have to decide between buying groceries or medicine in any given week.”
 
-Retired math teacher, Scott Brown
 
---
 
“With every year that goes by w/o a cost-of-living adjustment for [pre-Act 9] retirees, their lives get harder, & their money doesn’t go as far,” said PSEA President, Aaron Chapin.
 
“It is long past time for policymakers in this building to step forward & restore the promise of a secure retirement…”

Meet the new PSEA officer team

PSEA delegates elected a new officer team at the May 2023 House of Delegates. President Aaron Chapin, Vice President Jeff Ney, and Treasurer Rachael West officially began their two-year terms on Sept. 1. The three officers have decades worth of classroom and association leadership experience at the local and state levels.

Your new PSEA leadership team is excited to represent you and make your priorities PSEA’s priorities.

Aaron is a middle school social studies and reading teacher in the Stroudsburg Area School District and a longtime local and region leader, serving as Northeastern Region’s president, as a member of the PSEA Board of Directors, and as a member   of the NEA Constitution, Bylaws, and Rules Committee.

Aaron was elected PSEA vice president in June 2019. He was elected PSEA president during the May 2023 House of Delegates.

“PSEA is its members, and I am excited and privileged to begin serving all of you as your president on Sept. 1. Whatever challenges you face in your schools and classrooms, and whatever issues you need your PSEA officer team to address for you, we will be there to do it, because we represent you.”Aaron Chapin

Jeff is an elementary school teacher in the Wilkes-Barre Area School District. He has served as president of the Wilkes-Barre Area Education Association, as vice president and president of the Northeastern Region, and as a member of the PSEA Board of Directors.

Jeff began his term as PSEA treasurer in September 2017. He was elected PSEA vice president during the May 2023 House of Delegates.

“I look forward to engaging our members at every level of PSEA. I have made member engagement a top priority in every leadership role I have held, and I will continue to do so as vice president.” Jeff Ney

Rachael is a secondary math teacher in the Red Lion School District. She has served as a building rep, grievance chair, and president of the Red Lion Education Association and is a member of the PSEA Ethnic Minority Caucus, the PSEA Legislative Committee, and the PSEA Board of Directors.

Rachael became treasurer of the Southern Region in 2019 and was elected PSEA treasurer in 2023.

 “I am truly honored to have been elected PSEA treasurer. It will be a privilege to represent my colleagues who teach and serve public school students every day. As a PSEA officer, I look forward to advocating for all of them to make our public schools the very best they can be.”Rachael West

Welcome to the new, improved PEARL

The PSEA Center for Professional Learning recently relaunched the PEARL online learning system with many updates and improvements. We are excited to invite you to dive into a refreshed learning experience on a new and improved PEARL!

Featured updates to PEARL are described on our brand new PEARL Updates Page where you can learn about the latest improvements including:

  • Login using your PSEA.org credentials: PSEA members have instant access to PEARL with just their PSEA.org username and password.
  • Personalized Dashboard: Access all your courses, certificates, badges, and other information in a single space.
  • Updated, Mobile-Friendly Interface: This modernized look and feel enhances your experience on any device.
  • Simplified Navigation: The navigation bar is available from every page and connects you to all you need.
  • Enhanced Support: Easily get help with improved FAQs, clarifying help videos, and a direct connection to tech support using the integrated form.

You’ll see several other enhancements when you dive into learning on PEARL.

We understand that change can be confusing. That’s why we also improved our member support with an updated FAQ Page and a showcase of videos showing you all the steps you need to make the most of PEARL.

Some of the videos to get you started are linked below:

SUCCESS! PA House votes on top PSEA legislative priorities

House Bill 141 – “Grow Your Own”
Approved May 1, this bill will create a program to help paraprofessionals and other school support staff go back to college to earn their teaching credentials. Read more in the Press Release.

House Bill 688 – scholarship program for aspiring educators
Approved May 2, this bill will establish the Pennsylvania Teach Scholarship Program, which will create an affordable pathway for talented, caring people to become teachers while lowering their student loan debt in the process. Read more in the Press Release.

House Bill 299 – extends Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements to public sector employees
Approved by the House on May 2, this bill will extend OSHA protections to school and other public sector employees, ensuring that state and local government entities receive the same occupational health and safety protections as their counterparts in the private sector so that Pennsylvania’s students and school staff members can teach and learn in healthy environments. Currently, public sector workers in Pennsylvania are not covered by federal guidelines for on-the-job safety. 

House Bill 1331 – stipends for student teachers and mentors
Approved by the House Education Committee on June 13, this bill will pay student teachers and increase pay for the teachers who mentor them. It creates a $10,000 stipend for all student teachers and a $15,000 stipend for student teachers in schools with high teacher vacancies. It also includes a $2,500 stipend for teachers who mentor student teachers. Right now, student teachers are unpaid for their twelve weeks of student teaching and often struggle to make ends meet.

PSEA’s legislative priorities are your priorities. Your hard work yields real results in Harrisburg. These are just four more examples of that.

Q&A with Author Patty Jackson: Fantasy and representation in the “Star Wars” universe

Patricia Jackson, a Central York School District high school English teacher, is living every “Star Wars” fan’s dream – getting her fanfic published in an officially sanctioned book about the “Star Wars” universe. Jackson was selected as one of 40 writers to be featured in a compendium to celebrate the 40th anniversary of “Return of the Jedi.”

We sat down with Jackson to discuss her latest work and how her uncompromising stance on a key element might keep her from ever writing for “Star Wars” again.

Altoona phys ed duo brings positivity to TikTok

"We laugh a lot and have a good time. When teachers and support professionals are positive, it translates to students. And that’s our goal with TikTok; having a good attitude and bringing positive vibes to kids."

Read more in the November 2022 issue of Voice.

Members in the news

Nearly 70K Pa. school, government retirees have had no COLA increase in 21 years

"Scott Brown is among the 69,000 retired state government and school employees who have not seen an increase in their pension income in 21 years."
"Some of them now in their 80s and 90s live on pensions of less than $20,000 a year. With prices of food, medicine and housing having risen in the double-digits since then, they are pleading with state lawmakers for a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA)."
 
“I taught several generations of students,” said 84-year-old Brown, who taught in Montgomery County’s Colonial School District for 39 years."
 
“Now I’m left holding the bag because those efforts are not recognized as deserving a COLA increase.”

Jermaine Bailey and 'Grow Your Own' program

'Grow Your Own' Program May Solve Teacher Shortage

Jermaine Bailey, the first graduate of the Grow Your Own program in York, has worked as a paraprofessional in the York City School District, earning his degree and teaching certificate. He said his experience was wonderful and even more special because his oldest daughter, ShaWanna, also joined him in the program to become a certified teacher.

Bailey acknowledged cost is a barrier for some people who want to teach, but he added with the help of York School District superintendent Andrea Berry, he and his daughter were able to keep their paraprofessional positions, receive their salaries, and continue to do student teaching within their school building while attending the program.

Read the full Public News Service story

A passion for teaching runs in the family for this father-daughter pair

York City schools has found a unique way to address the educator shortage — through the “Grow Your Own” teacher preparation program that offers support to help locals earn their degrees and teaching certificates.

Jermaine Bailey, the program’s first graduate, previously worked as a paraprofessional in the district. The 48-year-old and his 27-year-old daughter, ShaWanna, both attended the district’s schools before going to York College to earn their degrees.

Read the full York Dispatch story

Member and Central York SD English Teacher Patricia Jackson published in Star Wars Anthology

Central York School District English teacher Patricia Jackson is one of 40 writers featured in a book commemorating the 40th anniversary of “Return of the Jedi,” which debuted May 25, 1983.
 
Her task was simple: watch “Return of the Jedi,” choose a no-name character with no backstory, and tell that character’s story from their point of view.
 
The anthology is called “From A Certain Point of View” and hit shelves Aug. 29.
 
For her story, Jackson chose the Scout Trooper who knocked Luke Skywalker off his speeder bike during the Endor chase scene. The rest came easily to her.

From ‘crisis’ to ‘catastrophe,’ schools scramble once again to find teachers

Keystone Oaks teacher receives Horace Mann Award for Teaching Excellence, one of public education’s highest honors

Kevin and PSEA President Rich Askey recently joined host Terry Madonna on PA Newsmakers to talk about the Horace Mann Award, engaging families and communities in the work of public schools, and just how much teachers make a difference in their students' lives.

Check it out here.

Or catch the broadcast on your local channel 📺
WGAL Channel 8 (Harrisburg and Lancaster) Dec. 18 at 11:30 AM
WBPH (Lehigh Valley and Philadelphia) Dec. 19 at 8:30 PM
WLYH (Harrisburg, Lebanon, York) Dec. 19 at 8:30 PM
WKBS 47 (Altoona) Dec. 24 at 9:30 AM
WPCB 40 (Pittsburgh) Dec. 24 at 9:30 AM
MeTV (Susquehanna Valley) Dec. 18 at 9:30 AM
 

In our Locals

California Area School District adds therapy dogs to growing animal support program

Culinary students sharpen their ice sculpting skills

Find moments that spark joy

Garrettford Youth Court is now in session

ESP saves the life of a choking student

Altoona phys ed duo brings positivity to TikTok

Commitment to teaching Holocaust truth

Student art project makes a powerful impact

Seneca Valley’s No Cost to Shop store

Issues & Action