It is with a heavy heart that we report that PSEA Vice President Korri Brown passed away on May 18 just before the PSEA House of Delegates was scheduled to meet.
Korri spent her life in service to others. She worked as a special education and emotional support teacher for nearly 20 years and served as a leader at the local, region, and statewide levels in PSEA.
In the proposed state budget Gov. Tom Wolf unveiled on Feb. 5, he continued to make public education a priority, encouraging lawmakers to pass a budget with more than $350 million in school funding increases and to set the state’s minimum teacher salary at $45,000.
PSEA President Rich Askey voiced his strong support for the governor’s investments in public education and his proposal to increase the state’s minimum teacher salary to $45,000 a year. The minimum teacher salary is set by state law at $18,500 and hasn’t changed since 1989.
“As an organization that represents educators, we are deeply committed to the success of each and every student,” Askey said. “But to have great schools, we need to attract great teachers, and it is time to increase teacher salaries. Over the past 30 years, the teaching profession has gotten much more challenging, the student debt burden has exploded, and we’re facing a significant teacher shortage.
“We shouldn’t have experienced teachers who earn less than other professionals with bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and we shouldn’t have highly educated, dedicated people who teach our kids strapped with student loan debt and struggle to make ends meet.
Gov. Tom Wolf unveiled a plan today to raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour on July 1 and $15 by 2025. The plan calls for annual cost-of-living increases after that.
PSEA President Rich Askey voiced support for the proposal, which would lift wages for thousands of PSEA members.
“More than 1 million Pennsylvania workers are not paid what they should be,” Askey said. “Their paychecks need to better reflect the many responsibilities they take on for their employers. We applaud Gov. Wolf for making those hardworking Pennsylvanians a priority.”
A decade without a raise
Pennsylvania’s minimum wage — at $7.25 per hour, the same as the federal rate — has not been increased since 2009. More than half of the states, including every one of Pennsylvania’s neighbors, have set higher minimum wages.
If enacted, the governor’s plan would lift the wages of thousands of school support professionals who work as classroom aides, custodians, maintenance staff, and office secretaries.
“The governor’s minimum wage plan will lift wages for the professionals who work with our students to improve their reading skills, cook and serve their lunches, greet them when they arrive at school each morning, and maintain safe, healthy, and clean buildings,” Askey said.
An economy that works for everyone
PSEA believes that Pennsylvanians who are responsible, work hard, and play by the rules should have every opportunity to succeed. This plan will help accomplish that while also boosting the economy by putting more money in the pockets of working families who will spend it at local businesses on the basics they need.
“By paying people fair wages for an honest day’s work, we can create an economy that works for everyone,” Askey said.
A report issued on Dec. 20 by the commission reviewing pension fund investments does not recommend changes in the structure of the Public School Employees’ Retirement System’s Board of Trustees on which five active or retired PSEA members serve.
Joan Lazar ("Joanie" to Piccone) reached out to talk to her former first-greade teacher from Sabold Elementary in the Springfield School District, Delaware County, to tell her about the mpact she had on her life and to share what she is doing to honor her.
Schools are getting $60 million in school safety grants thanks to a new state law that includes suggestions from PSEA members.
Based on PSEA member feedback and other roundtable commentary from across the Commonwealth, the PA School Safety Task Force has released their full report identifying, “multiple themes, barriers and opportunities."
