Week of 4-24-2023

Inside this issue

• SUCCESS! PA House Education Committee approves two top PSEA legislative priorities
• Why “Grow Your Own” programs matter
• Why scholarships for aspiring educators matter
• Member Benefits spotlight: GE Appliances Store

The Pennsylvania House Education Committee took a major step forward in addressing the school staff shortage this week by approving two bills that are PSEA legislative priorities:

• House Bill 141 – “Grow Your Own”
  Approved Monday, this bill will create a program to help paraprofessionals and other school support staff go back to college to earn their teaching credentials.

• House Bill 688 – scholarship program for aspiring educators
  Approved Tuesday, 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.

PSEA’s legislative priorities are your priorities. And the House Education Committee approved them because you advocated for them. You sent more than 2,000 emails to lawmakers over the weekend urging them to support these bills. That strong response went a long way.  

Thank you, PSEA. Your hard work yields real results in Harrisburg. These are just two more examples of that.

“Grow Your Own” programs help paraprofessionals and other school support staff go back to college to earn their teaching credentials. Many of these staff members across the state want to become teachers, but just don’t have the means to do so.

Clearly, we need to find new ways to grow the education profession and meet the school staff shortage crisis we’re facing head-on. By helping talented people who are already working in our schools get their teaching degrees, we can create new pathways to the profession and open the door to great teachers who might otherwise never make their way to a classroom.

A decline in new college graduates entering education professions lies at the heart of the school staff crisis. Between the 2010-11 and 2021-22 school years, the number of Instructional I certificates issued in Pennsylvania declined by 73 percent, while the number of emergency permits rose by more than 200 percent.

Scholarship programs like the one House Bill 688 proposes will remove a significant barrier to more young people pursuing careers in education, and it lowers their student loan debt in the process.

It also helps promote more diversity in our education workforce. The cost barrier to becoming an educator has had a disproportionate impact on Black educators. According to a 2021 report from the National Education Association, more than half (56 percent) of all Black educators have taken out student loans compared to 44 percent of white educators. Black educators also took on significantly more debt than other racial/ethnic groups.

PSEA commends the House Education Committee for moving quickly to address this crisis by approving House Bills 688 and 141. We’re committed to working with legislators to find long-term solutions to this problem.

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