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Harrisburg – Over one hundred teachers, students and education advocates from across the Commonwealth gathered at the Pennsylvania State Capitol today to highlight the urgent need to attract more educators – particularly those of color – to the teaching profession. Organized by education advocacy organizations, the Pennsylvania Educator Diversity Consortium (PEDC), the Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators (PAC-TE) and the Pennsylvania Council of Administrators of Special Education (PaCASE), the group urged lawmakers to fully fund the Student Teacher Stipend program to support emerging educators and help address Pennsylvania’s significant educator workforce shortage, particularly in the most vulnerable school districts in Pennsylvania.
Ten years ago, Pennsylvania prepared 19,000 new teachers ready to enter the workforce each year. Today, that number has declined to fewer than 7,000 with schools facing major staffing crises. To make matters worse, less than 7 percent of the educators we do have are people of color despite the fact that nearly 40 percent of students are people of color. And more than half of our teacher vacancies are in districts where at least 80 percent of students are people of color. This is especially important because research shows that students of color are more likely to graduate from high school, be prepared to do well in college, and get ready for the workforce when they have the opportunity to learn from someone who looks like them and has shared life experiences.
To begin to reverse this troubling trend, PEDC, PAC-TE and PaCASE are calling for lawmakers to allocate $55 million to fully fund Pennsylvania’s Student Teacher Stipend Program and to invest in Talent Recruitment Accounts that support district and educator prep initiatives to recruit and retain teachers. The General Assembly and Governor Shapiro established the Student Teacher Stipend program in 2023 to support Pennsylvanians training to become certified and committed educators in the Commonwealth. The program was initially piloted with $10 million, but demand has proven to be extremely high with many student teachers left without the necessary funding needed to support their education. Full funding of Student Teacher Stipends is estimated to cost $50-55 million.
In addition to individual meetings with members of the General Assembly and their staff, the group also held a press conference in the Main Capitol Rotunda. Speakers included House Education Committee Chair Rep. Peter Schweyer (D, Allentown), PA Department of Education Bureau Director Carissa Pokorny-Golden, PEDC Co-Executive Director Dr. Donna-Marie Cole-Malott, PaCASE President Dr. Ann Marie Lucas, PAC-TE President Dr. Tom Conway, Teach Plus PA Program Director Dr. Aaron Johnson, Susquehanna Township School District Educator Eric Brooks, Temple University Secondary Education Major Luis Sanchez Velasco, East Stroudsburg University Special Education Major Nina Buschi and East Stroudsburg University Early Childhood Education Major Brady Kiehl.
“Make no mistake about it – PA is facing a severe educator workforce crisis,” said PEDC Co-Executive Director Dr. Donna-Marie Cole-Malott. “This is a crisis that has been brewing for years and is now at the point where we must act. With a 66 percent drop in education majors in Pennsylvania and only 6,600 new teachers being certified annually – despite having thousands of teaching positions that remain vacant or understaffed – we are in a workforce crisis. And of the new teachers we do attract to the profession – many don’t stay. Over the last 6 years, one out of every 10 new teachers leave after just their first year of teaching. Our call to action is simple: fully fund teacher stipends and invest in programs to keep Pennsylvania teachers in Pennsylvania schools.”
“PAC-TE and our teacher preparation programs are grateful for this past year of student teacher stipend funding – however, we can report first-hand that the program was significantly underfunded,” said Tom Conway, President of PAC-TE. “At my university, only 40 percent of the students received the stipend of those who were eligible. Because of the first come first served nature of the program, other students were left out. By fulling funding the program, the legislature and Governor can ensure that every deserving, hardworking student teacher benefits from this funding.”
“In October of 2023, over 800 special education positions in Pennsylvania schools were vacant or filled by a substitute teacher. A year later, that number climbed to nearly 1,400,” said Ann Marie Lucas, President of PaCASE. “We are committed to delivering evidence based, high leverage educational practices to ensure the students we serve across the Commonwealth meet with success in our classrooms. We cannot do this without significant, long-term state investments from our legislators and Governor into public education with an emphasis on strategies that ensure we attract, prepare and retain educators across the Commonwealth.”
East Stroudsburg University Early Childhood Education Major Brady Kiehl added: “As student teacher, I’m working to meet the challenges of my own education while striving to give my students the best possible learning experience. Student teachers work 8 hours a day, Monday through Friday, just as practicing educators do, but also have the responsibility of being students ourselves, trying to learn, grow, and prepare for our future careers. That’s why it’s so important to fully fund student teacher stipends to support future educators like me.”
Background:
In Pennsylvania, 94 percent of teachers are white, despite evidence that learners of every racial identity benefit from teachers of color. While data show that students of color have positive personal and academic outcomes when they are taught by teachers of color, only 7 percent of K-12 teachers in the Commonwealth are people of color, compared to nearly 40 percent of students. This represents one of the most significant educational disparities in the country. Furthermore, Pennsylvania is losing thousands of potential teachers each year along the educator pipeline.
About PEDC:
The Pennsylvania Educator Diversity Consortium (PEDC) is a grassroots organization of early childhood, PK-12, higher education, non-profit, community, and government leaders striving to increase the number of teachers of color, specifically those who identify as Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color, in Pennsylvania. There are over 650 individuals, many of whom represent nearly 330 organizations across the Commonwealth, who are committed to PEDC's vision of a future in which each learner in Pennsylvania experiences racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse and culturally relevant and sustaining educators leading their classrooms and educational institutions. For more information on PEDC, please visit www.paeddiversity.org or follow on social media at:
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