Pennsylvania’s teacher shortage has reached critical levels, leaving schools across the Commonwealth struggling to recruit and retain qualified educators. Last session, the House Education Committee took important steps to address this challenge by removing barriers to employment and expanding the pool of individuals eligible to become professional educators. While this progress was significant, more must be done to ensure our classrooms are staffed with the talented teachers our students deserve.
To continue this progress, we must ensure that existing resources are directed toward supporting recruitment and retention efforts. My legislation would redirect the recently reduced standard certification fees to the Talent Recruitment Account.

The Talent Recruitment Account was established in 2022; it has never been funded.  Currently, certification fee revenue is deposited into the Treasury and included in the Commonwealth’s General Fund. Providing funding to the Talent Recruitment Account would allow the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) to offer direct support to educators for the sole purpose of strengthening teacher recruitment and retention efforts. Establishing a dedicated funding stream for this account would be a meaningful step toward addressing the ongoing educator shortage.

Please join me in co-sponsoring this legislation ensure that every dollar paid by teacher applicants in certification fees directly supports the education profession.