Week of 3-28-2022

Inside this issue

• PSEA Member Benefits spotlight: URL life insurance
• PSEA joins education and advocacy organizations to oppose latest tuition voucher bill
• PSEA tells lawmakers that school funding must be a top priority
• PEARL and Center for Professional Learning

URL Insurance Group is the life insurance provider for PSEA members and their families. URL understands life insurance shouldn’t take a lifetime to apply for coverage. That’s why they offer the ability to get instant decision life insurance.

PSEA members and family members (ages 18-60) can now get a term life insurance quote in seconds and be insured in minutes, all from a smartphone. Coverage starts at $50,000 and goes up to $1.5 million. No doctors, no hassles, no waiting. If you’re over the age of 60 or have kids and/or grandchildren under the age of 18, URL has you covered as well.

Click the link below to access the instant quote and instant decision life insurance:

Click for a quote

Or, click the link below if you prefer to have a consultation regarding life insurance options:

Click for a consultation with a PSEA Life Insurance Specialist

This week, PSEA joined 24 other members of the Pennsylvanians Opposed to Vouchers coalition to oppose the state House’s latest tuition voucher plan.

The House Education Committee approved House Bill 2169 on March 29. But PSEA is working very hard to stop it. The bill would siphon at least $170 million a year from public schools, spend it on vouchers for private and religious schools, and include virtually no financial or academic accountability.

In a letter to state representatives, we said that:

“This is just the latest iteration of school vouchers that will siphon precious taxpayer resources away from public schools, and send those resources to private schools, higher education institutions, and entities that are not accountable to the public for their decisions or results.”

(Read the letter and PSEA’s press release)

This is going to be a fight. We’ll keep you posted about how you can help defeat this bill.

Pennsylvania’s state budget needs to make public education a priority to support our students and address the growing educator shortage.

On Feb. 8, Gov. Tom Wolf unveiled his proposed state budget, which includes an ambitious $1.77 billion increase in basic education programs.

An op-ed I wrote about this has been published in newspapers across the state. It emphasizes that public education funding needs to be a top priority so that we can tackle student learning delays, provide more mental and emotional health services, and increase starting teacher salaries to at least $50,000.

“Every student deserves to have the power of a great public education, and every public school needs the resources to make sure their students get it.

“We need our educators, too. They’ve stepped up during the pandemic and made a tremendous difference in the lives of their students. We don’t want to lose great teachers to other industries.”

(Read the op-ed)

Stay tuned as the state budget process develops. Lawmakers are supposed to pass a final budget by June 30.

PEARL

Looking for an easy way to earn Act 48 credits, Chapter 14 verification, or postgraduate credits? Check out PEARL, PSEA's member exclusive online learning system with 95 courses and counting.

Here are just a few courses you have access to:

• Best Practices for Effective Distance Learning and Instruction with Introduction to Nearpod
• Math Assessment and Interventions for School Psychologists
• Mission Kids 101: The Dynamics of Child Abuse

Webinars

• Helping New Teachers Navigate the EdTech World
  • April 6, 5-6:30 p.m.
• Supporting Newly Arrived Immigrants
  • April 13, 5-6:30 p.m.
• Navigating IEPs for General & Special Education Teachers
  • April 20, 6-7:30 p.m.

Book Discussions

• Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys
  
  • April 4, 5-6 p.m.
• Wet Cement: A Mix of Concrete Poems
  • April 12, 5-6 p.m.