BETHLEHEM TWP., Pa. — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro visited a Lehigh Valley school Monday to argue for expanding stipends for student teachers — one way he hopes to chip away at a shortage of educators statewide.
Shapiro was at Farmersville Elementary School in Bethlehem Township to talk about how, before a college student can earn a Pennsylvania teaching license, he or she must complete 12 weeks as student teacher to get hands-on classroom experience supervised by a seasoned educator.
Student teaching amounts to about as much time and work as a full-time job, but typically does not come with a paycheck.
Many student teachers work nights while spending days in the classroom, dip into savings, or take out a loan to cover living expenses.
“Unfortunately, that is not enough."Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro
To lessen the burden, Shapiro signed a bipartisan law in 2023 creating $10,000-$15,000 grants for eligible student teachers.
But since the PA Student Teacher Support Program's inception, applicants have far outnumbered available grants, the governor said.
Ahead of the 2024-25 academic year, nearly 4300 people applied for a student teaching grant; about 2,200 got a check.
Of Bethlehem Area School District’s 45 student teachers for the 2024-25 school year, only eight got the stipend, BASD Superintendent Jack Silva said.
“Unfortunately, that is not enough,” Shapiro said.
Shapiro’s proposal for the state’s next budget would allot $40 million for the program — double the current funding and enough for more than 3,000 grants to student teachers.
Grant 'has been a lifesaver'
The funding boost is part of the Shapiro administration’s broader effort to draw more teachers into Pennsylvania’s classrooms.
“Right now in Pennsylvania, we have 5,500 teacher vacancies all across our Commonwealth," Shapiro said. "That's in large measure due to the fact that fewer people are choosing to go into teaching.
“The way we bring more teachers into our classroom is by supporting the expansion of the student teacher stipend.”Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro
“The way we bring more teachers into our classroom is by supporting the expansion of the student teacher stipend.”
Even $40 million would not be enough to cover stipends for everyone who applies, Shapiro said, but he hopes to increase funding further in the years to come.
For the teachers-in-training who benefit from the program, the stipend makes taking on 12 weeks of student teaching more financially survivable, he said.
“Eventually you are the teacher. You're teaching full time, so this is really your job,” said Giavanna DeMarco, a student teacher at Farmersville Elementary who got a $10,000 grant.
Ahead of her placement at Farmersville Elementary, DeMarco said she asked one of her college advisors how to support herself financially during her stint as a student teacher.
“He said, ‘Well, some people work nights, so they have a shift from like 6 to 11, and then they get up and go to student teaching.’ So I was looking to that,” DeMarco said.
The grant "has been a lifesaver,” she said.
'Lehigh Valley has its act together'
Applications for the stipend open March 6 for the 2025-26 school year.
The grants, administered by the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, are available to education students with a 3.0 GPA.
Recipients must commit to working for three years as a teacher in Pennsylvania after graduation.
Bethlehem Schools "can be a model for the rest of the Commonwealth as to how to take this initiative — the student teacher stipend initiative — and scale it up and use it.”Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro
Most successful applicants get a $10,000 stipend; those working in a high-need area can get $15,000. Educators mentoring a student teacher also are eligible for $2,500 grants.
Shapiro’s visit to Farmersville Elementary came complete with serenades from members of the school’s band and chorus.
Ahead of his late-morning news conference, Shapiro stopped to read aloud to a second-grade class.
The governor was quick to praise state legislators present Monday, including state Sens. Lisa Boscola and Nick Miller, plus state Reps. Steve Samuelson and Peter Schweyer.
Shapiro agrued that their support in the General Assembly has been vital to enacting his education agenda.
Shapiro said he chose the Lehigh Valley to tout his plans for the student teacher grant program because of the region’s success with the initiative, and because it has benefitted from his administration’s other boosts to education funding.
“I think the Lehigh Valley has its act together in so many different ways,” Shapiro said.
BASD "can be a model for the rest of the Commonwealth as to how to take this initiative — the student teacher stipend initiative — and scale it up and use it.”
