Learn more about key issues that impact public education.
Under current law (Act 82 of 2012), student performance components, based in part on standardized test results, account for 50 percent of an educator’s evaluation, while classroom observation and practice account for the other 50 percent.
Legislation introduced by Sen. Ryan Aument (R-Lancaster) and Rep. Jesse Topper (R-Bedford) will overhaul the current educator evaluation system, significantly reducing the impact of student performance, including standardized tests, in favor of classroom observation and practice. SB 751 and HB 1607 would realign weights, basing 70 percent of an educator’s evaluation on classroom observation and practice and 30 percent on student performance components.
By reducing the impact of standardized tests and student performance components, increasing the focus on classroom observation and practice, and taking the first step to recognize poverty's mpact on achievement, PA can improve the evaluation system.
Pennsylvania’s minimum teacher salary is $18,500 — and it hasn’t increased since 1988. The challenges educators face in the classroom, the time we’re required to spend keeping our skills up to date, and the diversity of our students have all increased dramatically in the past 30 years.
It’s time our minimum teacher salaries finally caught up. That’s why increasing minimum salaries for teachers and college faculty members is a top priority for PSEA.
Pennsylvania’s minimum wage, which is currently $7.25, hasn’t been raised since 2009 and is lower than all our neighboring states. No matter where you live, that's just not enough money to make ends meet.
On Jan. 30, Gov. Tom Wolf proposed to increase the minimum wage to $12 in 2019 and to $15 by 2025, with an annual cost-of-living adjustment every year after that.
