Pennsylvania State Education Association

Week of 4-1-2024

Inside this issue

• Educators Rising: Refueling the educator pipeline
• Student teacher stipend program will soon be open to applications
• Central Dauphin ESP member advocates for living wage
• Upcoming Center for Professional Learning events and PEARL
• Member Benefits spotlight: GE Appliances Store

We just sent the May issue of Voice magazine to the printer, which features a cover story on the Educators Rising program. As the state coordinator for Educators Rising, PSEA is spearheading a statewide effort to inspire the next generation of educators. The program is already a success, with 12 school districts, 143 high school students, and 29 teacher leaders collaborating to refuel the educator pipeline.

Keep your eyes peeled for the May Voice to hit your mailbox. In the meantime, learn more about the exciting and rapidly growing Educators Rising program at the link below, including how you can start a chapter in your school district.

Thanks to the advocacy of PSEA members, student teachers in Pennsylvania will finally be paid for the work that they do during their 12 weeks of student teaching.

Here is what you should know:

• On Dec. 13, House Bill 301 was signed into law authorizing a student teacher stipend program with an initial $10 million in funding.
• On Feb. 6, Gov. Josh Shapiro unveiled his FY 2024-25 proposed budget that includes a $5 million increase to the program. This would bring the total investment in student teacher stipends to $15 million at the beginning of the fall 2024 semester.
• The Pennsylvania Student Teacher Support Program grants include:
  • $10,000 for student teachers who meet the program's requirements,
  • An additional $5,000 for student teachers working in schools with higher teacher vacancies or in areas that struggle to attract student teachers, and
  • $2,500 to teachers who mentor student teachers.

The Pennsylvania Student Teacher Support Program will be available to student teachers beginning in the 2024-25 academic year. Applications for the 2024-25 academic year will open no later than April 11, 2024.

For more information, visit the link below.

Better pay equals more school staff. That’s why PSEA has been so vocal about increasing pay for our teachers and support staff across the board. Thankfully, many of our ESP members have stepped up to add their voices to this effort and remind lawmakers and members of the public why paying our support professionals more is an urgent matter.

One of those PSEA members is Yul Holloway, a secretary in the Central Dauphin School District, who has written an op-ed and appeared in a video that will be shared across the state.

“Working in public schools is getting harder, not easier,” Yul said. “That’s why we need to pay support staff a living wage of at least $20 an hour.”

You can read an op-ed from Yul, which was published in Penn Live in March, on our website here.

See our cover story in the February issue of Voice to learn more about our campaign to raise support professionals’ pay.

PEARL

Visit the new, improved PEARL today and choose from more than 95 asynchronous courses available for Act 48 credit and Chapter 14 verification.

You can find multiple courses that interest you in any of these tracks: 

• Book Studies
• Educational Equity
• Pedagogy
• Policy
• Pupil Services
• Special Populations
• Technology in Education
• SEL & Wellness

Webinars

• Online Polling for Student Engagement & Assessment
  • April 16, 7-8 p.m.
• Intro to the 3D Science Standards: Coming in Fall 2024!
  • April 25, 7-8:30 p.m.

Book Discussions

• Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day (Revised Edition)
  • April 3, 7-8 p.m.
• Good Different (Poetry)
  • April 11, 7-8 p.m.
• The Grimm Legacy
  • April 24, 7-8 p.m.

Postgraduate Credits

Earn postgraduate credits from PennWest University for $70 each!

More than 150 postgraduate credits are available across a wide range of teaching and learning topics.

These postgraduate credits (microcredentials) can count toward the 24 credits required for a Level II certificate and also may count toward salary advancement.*

For support professionals, these courses may meet Chapter 14 requirements.**

*Check your contract to determine if you can apply standalone postgraduate credits for column movement.
**Seek approval from your employer prior to completing hours to apply toward Chapter 14 requirements.

Big savings every day!

PSEA members enjoy exclusive access!

The GE Appliances Store is an exclusive shopping website where members can save up to 25% off MSRP on select GE appliances.

• Special savings on Profile, Cafe, GE, Monogram, Haier, and Hotpoint major appliances
• Additional promotional and rebate offers
• Shop their new suite of small appliances
• Convenient in-home delivery, installation, and haul-away services available

Register to access the GE Appliances Store now!

Phone: 1-866-907-6490