LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — Millersville University and #PANeedsTeachers hosted a student-teacher stipend roundtable to discuss the importance of the program and how more funding is needed.
Teachers, advocates, state representatives and administrators brainstormed solutions and provided feedback on the current education system.
Laura Boyce, the executive director at TeachPlus, said that the current state of the education system is in a crisis. According to Boyce, in the past decade, the number of certified teachers produced by Pennsylvania’s education programs has fallen by 75% and teacher turnover is at an all-time high.
“The state now issues more emergency certificates-- granted to underprepared teachers when schools cannot find qualified teachers-- than regular teaching certificates to fully qualified teachers,” said Boyce.
The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency opened the student-teacher stipend program application last week. State officials say they’ve received over 4,500 online applications but only about 750 students will receive funding.
“If I receive that funding, then I wouldn’t have to work as much as to live,” said Paige Batdorf, a Millersville student-teacher.
Batdorf works several jobs, goes to school and completes teaching placements to fulfill her degree requirement. Batdorf said that she works 40 hours a week to pay for rent, gas, and groceries-- while also attending school and teaching for her student placement.
She said the student-teacher stipend would help if she is approved.
“I feel like if one of us gets it and the other one doesn’t, it makes it difficult to work with others in the field because you don’t want to feel that animosity,” said Batdorf.
She added, "It would make me feel like ‘I worked just as hard but I didn’t receive it but you did-- what makes me different.’”
State Representative Ismail Smith-Wade El from Lancaster County also sits on the board of PHEAA. Lawmakers will be spending the next several months working on the state budget and Rep. Smith Wade-El said that he will be advocating for $75 million to fund student-teacher stipends.
“That would cost us less than 1% of our rainy day fund,” said Rep. Smith-Wade EL. “We have 6 billion dollars in the rainy day, $8 billion in the surplus and we’re asking for $75 million to make sure that the next generations of teachers become teachers.”
Advocates hope to see additional funding for the program in the 2024-25 budget.
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