Governor Josh Shapiro visited Farmersville Elementary School in Bethlehem Township, Northampton County, to highlight how his 2025-26 proposed budget makes strategic investments to solve Pennsylvania's education workforce challenges. With nearly 5,500 teacher vacancies statewide, the Governor's budget proposal doubles funding for the successful PA Student Teacher Support Program, from $20 million to $40 million annually, ensuring more aspiring educators can complete their training and enter the profession, further strengthening the Commonwealth's educator pipeline.

"My budget puts a special emphasis on workforce development - especially our education workforce - because we need more great teachers in our classrooms," said Governor Shapiro. "Right now, we have thousands of teacher vacancies across Pennsylvania, but we can solve that by increasing our support for student teacher stipends. Aspiring educators are required to student teach to complete their training, but they're often not paid for their work. There's real demand for these stipends - last year, they were all taken in the first few hours after the application opened - so let's double the amount of funding going to this initiative and solve this problem."

During his visit, Governor Shapiro was joined by Pennsylvania Department of Education Acting Secretary Dr. Carrie Rowe, Bethlehem Area School District Superintendent Dr. Jack Silva, Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) Senior Vice President Nathan Hench, Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) Vice President Jeff Ney, Senator Lisa Boscola, Senator Nick Miller, House Majority Education Committee Chairman Representative Peter Schweyer, Representative Steve Samuelson, and student teacher Giavanna DeMarco, along with students, teachers, and school administrators. They discussed Pennsylvania's teacher shortage and the Governor's proposal to strengthen the educator pipeline.



List of Speakers:
Dr. Jack Silva, Bethlehem Area School District Superintendent
Nathan Hench, Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) Senior Vice President
Senator Lisa Boscola
Senator Nick Miller
Peter Schweyer, House Majority Education Committee Chairman Representative
Representative Steve Samuelson
Jeff Ney, Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) Vice President
Giavanna DeMarco, student teacher
Governor Shapiro

• Press Release

• Download Video For Websites
• Download Video For Broadcast