"Pennsylvania Starts Disbursing Millions To Student Teachers" Story

It was an ordinary day.  The proverbial check is in the mail for more than 2,000 future educators seeking support from Pennsylvania's high-demand stipend program to support student teachers.  The commonwealth allocated $30 million this year to fund the second go-round of the Student Teacher Support Program introduced by the Shapiro administration.  After an initial $10 million allocation in 2023, lawmakers in the General Assembly agreed to raise the program's funding by an additional $20 million in this year's budget;  The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency is tasked with administering the program.  According to PHEAA, 2,052 applicants were selected to receive $10,000 stipends.  A total of 4,125 applications were received as of Wednesday.  "Disbursements will be done on a rolling basis. We anticipate that we will be scheduling them weekly as we start out and then eventually they will run as needed," said Bethany Coleman, PHEAA's vice president of public relations, communications and marketing.  The Shapiro administration has prioritized reinvigorating varied labor pools of what they view as critical workers including nurses, police officers and classroom teachers.  One way is through supporting student teachers who are required by law to work a 12-week, unpaid placement in schools toward obtaining certification;  Most applicants to the stipend program will receive $10,000.  Some are eligible for $15,000 for working in schools with high needs or a high rate of classroom vacancies.  Classroom mentors are eligible for up to $2,500 for supporting the student teachers.  To receive a stipend, recipients must commit to teaching in Pennsylvania for three years after they've been certified.   About 700 applicants shared the initial $10 million allocated to the program last year.  It wasn't nearly enough.  The Pennsylvania State Education Association said 3,500 student teachers applied within the first three hours, indicating heavy interest and need.  Some advocates estimated  the program would need as much as $75 million to fully fund all requests.  PHEAA has put that figure at $445 million.  "There is a real need to invest in our student teachers.  We saw how many people applied last year when we made these stipends avaiable for the first time ever," Gov. Josh Shapiro said.  "So in the bipartisan budget I signed into law this Summer, we doubled the amount of funding available for student-teacher stipends in Pennsylvania.  "This is a commonsense  investment to make sure student teachers are fairly compensated for their work - and it will help lower the barriers that keep Pennsylvanians from pursuing a teaching degree, so we can get more dedicated, qualified teachers into our classrooms," he said.  As for me, I student taught in a high school in York County, Pennsylvania in 1966 in the wood shop.  I had over a half-hour drive to reach the school.  I had to supply my own lunch and the clothes that I needed for my student teaching.  I received "ZERO" for any of my expenses.  But, I wasn't expecting to be paid, since I wasn't a full-fledged teacher....yet!  Why student teachers who are in the classroom now need to receive a stipend...well, I'm not sure why they get the money.  They knew when they chose to be a teacher that they would need to do student teaching, so I believe they didn't need to be paid.  But, that's my thought on the subject.  Anyway...It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.