Category: Government Actions

Wolf Administration Receives Approval for Plan to Provide Food Assistance to Families of Nearly One Million PA Children (March 23, 2021)

The Wolf Administration has received approval from the Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to issue more than $1 billion in federally-funded benefits to the families of nearly 1 million Pennsylvania children who have attended school remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and who otherwise would have had access to free-and-reduced-price meals during the 2020-21 school year. This program, known as Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT), will help families cover the cost of breakfasts and lunches their children would have been eligible to receive for free or at reduced price through the National School Lunch Program.

Originally created through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act to help families feed their children during the spring of 2020 when schools initially closed, the P-EBT program was re-authorized to cover the entire 2020-21 school year. The Pennsylvania departments of Human Services and Education collaborated on the development of the commonwealth’s P-EBT plan and received approval to move forward from the federal government this week.

“The pandemic caused hardships for Pennsylvania families that nobody could have anticipated or planned for,” DHS Secretary Teresa Miller said. “The P-EBT program provides needed relief to many families with school-age children whose expenses unexpectedly increased at the same time that so many family incomes unexpectedly decreased.”

Pennsylvania will distribute the equivalent of about $84 million per month to the families of about 928,000 children – for a total distribution of about $1 billion. For more information, click here.

PDE to Study the Pandemic’s Impact on Learning and Teaching (March 23, 2021)

The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) will use a nearly $1 million federal grant to study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on K-12 students across Pennsylvania and recommend educational strategies to help students and schools move forward.

“Our school communities and families have remained resilient during the pandemic, and we are thankful for their ability to pivot throughout the challenges we have faced,” said Acting Secretary of Education Noe Ortega. “The ability for us to examine inequities in education will help us create responsive teaching and learning opportunities in future years.”

Pennsylvania is one of seven states awarded the two-year grant. PDE is partnering with Mathematica to conduct the research and results will be released late next year. To learn more, click here.

Over 100,000 Educators Have Been Vaccinated in PA (March 23, 2021)

Governor Tom Wolf announced today, March 23, 2021, that the special initiative to vaccinate teachers and school staff has reached another milestone with 100,000 educator vaccinations through last weekend. As of this morning, 102,161 educators have been vaccinated through 28 Intermediate Units (IUs).

Less than three weeks ago, the governor and the COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force announced the voluntary single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine would be offered through 28 IUs to Pre-K to 12 educators and school staff. The vaccinations of staff working with elementary school and vulnerable students was completed two weeks ahead of schedule. Several IUs have completed vaccinations of middle and high school staff as well.

The Pennsylvania National Guard and AMI Expeditionary Healthcare are administering the vaccine at the IU-organized clinics. The vaccination of educators is separate from the ongoing Phase 1A vaccine rollout. The Wolf Administration is also working through the retail pharmacy partnership to ensure all early childhood education workers, including those not associated with an IU, have access to the vaccine, including childcare workers providing an essential service to working families across the commonwealth.

A Safe Schools Discussion with Attorney General Josh Shapiro (March 20, 2021)

On March 17, 2021, the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, in collaboration with Indiana Area School District, is hosted a freeE virtual safe schools conversation.  Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro was be the evening’s special guest and provided opening remarks. He spoke of post-pandemic challenges to education. In addition to fiscal challenges, he also pointed to the need for more MH help availability in schools; the need to examine a more holistic educational program with less emphasis on standardized testing; better wages for teachers; and opening doors to outside resources, including possible employers of students.

ARPA Provides $3 Billion in Additional IDEA Funding; Early Intervention Gets a Boost (March 12, 2021)

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) includes specific funding to support students who experience disabilities. In fact, the ARPA provides $3 billion in additional IDEA funding, which includes $250 million for Part C and $200 million for Part B Section 619. As part of the tens of billions of dollars for K-12 education, the package includes more than $2.5 billion in state grants to support K-12 students with disabilities, including the aforementioned $200 million to support preschoolers with disabilities, and $250 million for infants and toddlers under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The ARPA is the first COVID-19 package to include this type of dedicated funding.