Student Teacher Stipends Can Be Fully Funded With $50-55 Million 

READ THE FULL LETTER

Harrisburg, PA - On behalf of over 60 organizations, #PANeedsTeachers sent a letter to legislators and the Shapiro Administration calling on them to include full funding for the student teacher stipend program at $50-55 million in this year’s final appropriations bill. The signatories included education advocates, institutes of higher education, workforce development organizations, and business leaders. 

“The student teacher stipend program, approved by the General Assembly in 2023 with overwhelming bipartisan support, is a critical first step toward improving the financial value proposition for prospective teachers. This program offers student teachers who commit to teaching in Pennsylvania for three years after graduation a $10,000 stipend during student teaching (with an additional $5,000 for those student teaching in hard-to-staff schools) to help cover the costs of tuition, rent, food, commuting to their school site, and other necessities that allow them to persist in their teaching. The overwhelming demand for this program in its first year shows that this program offers much-needed support that can help retain teacher candidates and attract others to the profession. Unfortunately, not all eligible student teachers received the stipend this year, leading to unintended inequities. We urge you to invest the full $50-55 million that is estimated to be required to provide support to all those student teaching in the 2025-26 school year so that this program can have its intended impact.”

#PANeedsTeachers, a statewide coalition led by Teach Plus and the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE), has been leading efforts to alleviate the teacher shortage crisis. 

About Teach Plus and NCEE

Teach Plus: The mission of Teach Plus is to empower excellent, experienced, and diverse teachers to take leadership over key policy and practice issues that affect their students' success. Since 2009, Teach Plus has developed thousands of teacher leaders across the country to exercise their leadership in shaping education policy and improving teaching and learning, to create an education system driven by access and excellence for all. For more information, www.teachplus.org

NCEE: Since 1988, The National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE) has been researching the world's best-performing education systems to give states and districts the tools they need to become world class. NCEE has been a leader in U.S. education from policy to practice, producing reports that have led to landmark national legislation, supporting states in redesigning their education systems, and providing rigorous, proven support to more education leaders than any other organization. NCEE's dedicated, diverse, and experienced staff are working with teachers, school leaders, district leadership teams, and state policymakers to create the highest-performing, most equitable systems of education in the world. For more information, visit www.ncee.org.