The Pennsylvania Educator Diversity Consortium (PEDC) applauds Governor Shapiro’s recognition of the need to address Pennsylvania’s significant teacher shortage by doubling funding for student-teacher stipends in his 2025-26 budget proposal. By calling on the General Assembly to increase the amount of funding available for stipends by $20 million this year – for a total of $40 million – to support aspiring educators, the Governor has demonstrated his commitment to strengthening and diversifying the educator workforce pipeline and setting our children up for success.

‍

Research shows that access to a well-qualified, experienced, and diverse educator workforce is instrumental in improving both academic and non-academic outcomes for all children of all identities. This is especially true for children of color and those in economically challenging situations. Historically, many of these students have resided in Pennsylvania’s most underfunded districts. These districts often have difficulty hiring enough teachers to meet the needs of their students.

‍

As we have seen from the extremely high demand following the recent rollout of the Student Teacher Stipend program in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, dedicating resources to this initiative is crucial and would support the lengthy waitlist of student teachers who are training to be Pennsylvania’s newest cohort of educators. We call on the Pennsylvania legislature to take immediate action on the Governor’s proposal to increase funding for this important program.

‍
See the Governor’s Budget Address for the 2025-2026 Fiscal Year: Governor Shapiro to Deliver Budget Address for the 2025-26 Fiscal Year

‍

For More: https://www.pa.gov/governor/governor-shapiro-s-budget.html