Category: Government Actions

Families Urged to Sign Up for Federal Student Aid During FAFSA Week Of Action (April 22, 2024)

As advocates across the country are calling, with increasing urgency, for a concerted effort from all stakeholders to assist students and families with their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, the White House and US Department of Education (USDE) have announced this week the FAFSA Week of Action to raise awareness and encourage FAFSA completion.

“The biggest barrier to entry for many of Pennsylvania’s current or prospective postsecondary students is cost, and despite resources such as the FAFSA and other sources of financial aid, too many students are forced to defer college or not attend at all, said PDE Secretary Dr. Khalid N. Mumin. “The Commonwealth ranks 49th for state investments in higher education, causing Pennsylvania postsecondary students to incur an average of $40,000 in student debt. By investing in our system – and thus our students – we can reverse the decades of disinvestment and build a stronger higher education sector that will ensure success in our students and communities for decades to come.”

FAFSA is the sole gateway to all federal, state, and most institutional financial aid in Pennsylvania, including student loans available for all income levels. Completion is at crisis-low levels due to delays in the application release and subsequent processing and data errors, which is why it is now more important than ever for Pennsylvania to lend support to postsecondary students.

Despite decades of disinvestment in higher education in Pennsylvania, coupled with having one of the most decentralized higher education sectors in the country, the Commonwealth is faced with the unique opportunity to do right by current and future postsecondary students – whether they’re preparing for college after high school graduation, currently enrolled in two- or four-year programs, or returning to school after taking some time off.

The Shapiro Administration’s blueprint for higher education addresses more than just affordability, it would also build a new public system for higher education that unites PASSHE Universities and Community Colleges, and reinvests in our publicly-funded colleges and universities via a predictable, transparent funding formula. 

As college continues to grow more expensive, enrollment is dropping, and college attainment rates are below the national average in 56 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. Many counties have little access to affordable higher education options resulting in low college-attendance rates. National experts predict the impact to postsecondary enrollment in the fall could be as bad or worse than during the COVID pandemic.

This is an emergency for PA’s higher education sector, students, and the state economy because:
-High school senior completions are down close to 23% from this time last year;
-FAFSA submission does not equal completion. Many students must also make corrections in order to get their financial aid;
-Further drops in enrollment could be devastating and force closures for more PA colleges and universities; and
–PA’s workforce sector currently faces a workforce shortage in addition to the disinvestment and decentralized higher education sector. We need 61,000 more people with the right college degrees or credentials to fill open jobs. If nothing is done, estimates show that the talent gap will increase to at least 218,000 unfilled jobs within just a decade.
Governor Shapiro’s blueprint for higher education aims to set the course for a new era of higher education in Pennsylvania. It is grounded in research, lessons learned from leading states, and input from vested partners. In the months ahead, the administration will continue to engage in a collaborative process to build out the details of this plan, delivering tangible results for our students, workforce, and the future of the Commonwealth.

Shapiro Administration Announces $1.5 Million In Grants To Grow Special Education Teacher Workforce (April 21, 2024)

On April 19, 2024. the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) announced that $1.5 million in grant funding is available to help schools create learning opportunities that will bolster the Commonwealth’s next generation of special educators.

“The Shapiro Administration is laser focused on growing and expanding the Commonwealth’s educator workforce, and we know that one of the areas of greatest need is in the field of special education,” said Secretary of Education Dr. Khalid N. Mumin. “This grant funding will complement the efforts we have already undertaken to create a pipeline of high-quality educators who can serve students from all walks of life and those with disabilities or different needs.”

The 2024-2026 Developing Future Special Educators grants are available to local education agencies (LEA), including school districts, approved private schools, career technical education centers, charter schools, cyber charter schools, intermediate units, and institutions of higher education (IHE). Grantees are required to design and implement up to three experiential learning opportunities for secondary/postsecondary students and educate them on career pathways and future job opportunities that exist in the field of special education.

Through the experiential learning opportunities, students will learn about supporting students with disabilities through participation in structured activities, programs, and events with guidance and oversight from current educators. Ultimately, the goal is to recruit future special education professionals by engaging them in authentic, experiential learning opportunities in support of students with disabilities.

The maximum grant award is $20,000 and the funds are available through June 30, 2026. LEAs and IHEs should apply through the Attract-Prepare-Retain (APR) Repository by June 10, 2024. A webinar will be held on Monday, April 29, 2024, from 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM, and the session will be recorded and made available on the APR Repository.

Pennsylvania is facing a major shortage of educators across the Commonwealth. A decade ago, roughly 20,000 teacher certifications were issued each year, while in 2021 only about 6,000 were issued. The Shapiro Administration is taking action to address the education workforce shortage and make it a little bit easier for Pennsylvanians to become a teacher, because creating real opportunity for our children starts with having enough well-qualified, well-paid teachers in our classrooms.

This program builds on the Department’s efforts to recruit and retain teachers in Pennsylvania, as PDE is working collaboratively with leaders in the education field to ensure there is a robust pipeline of educators in place to provide a high-quality education to learners of all ages across the Commonwealth.

Last week, Governor Josh Shapiro announced the application opening of the new student teacher stipend application, the PA Student Teacher Support Program. The program provides up to $15,000 to eligible student teachers in Pennsylvania. Administered through the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA), this program will help address the teacher shortage in Pennsylvania and fill staffing gaps for critical education positions to ensure every student has the freedom to chart their own course and the opportunity to succeed. 

Breaking News: Final Title IX Rule Issued This Morning (April 19, 2024)

From K-12 Dive

Today, April 19, 2024, the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) issued its long-awaited Title IX rule, which for the first time enshrines protections for LGBTQI+ students and employees, as well as pregnant students and employees,under the civil rights law that prevents sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs. 

“No one should have to give up their dreams of attending or finishing school because they’re pregnant,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in a press briefing late Thursday. “No one should face bullying or discrimination just because of who they are or who they love. Sadly, this happens all too often.”

Among other changes, the new rule defines sex-based harassment as including harassment based on sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy and related conditions, and gender identity and sexual orientation.  It cements federal protections for LGTBQI+ students and employees that have swung between administrations for over a decade.

The new regulations also:

  • Require that schools assume an accused student is innocent at the outset of an investigation.
  • Give schools the ability to offer an informal resolution process, except in cases of student allegations against employees. 
  • Require schools to provide breastfeeding rooms for students and employees.
  • Protect students and employees with medical conditions related to, or who are recovering from, termination of pregnancy. 
  • Revive the single-investigator model, which allows an individual to serve as both the case decision-maker and Title IX investigator.
  • Provide more discretion to schools and colleges to tailor Title IX policies based on their size, age of students, and administrative structures. 
  • Make questioning at live hearings optional for colleges and universities.
  • Have institutions largely rely on the “preponderance of the evidence” standard often used in civil lawsuits, making optional the “clear and convincing” standard.

The rule’s anticipated changes were expected to largely overhaul higher education requirements under the 2020 regulations put in place by former U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and make lesser tweaks to K-12 portions of the rule. 

For more details from K-12 Dive, click here.

Billing Concerns Delay Proposed School-based Medicaid Rule (April 13, 2024)

Concerns over negative impacts to students’ out-of-school public insurance benefits appear to be delaying the release of a U.S. Department of Education (USDE) final rule that is supposed to ease the process of obtaining parental consent for Medicaid school-based health services. While some worry that children’s school-based services can adversely affect outside services, there appears to be no concrete examples of such. In fact, parental consent forms allowing for school-based Medicaid billing explicitly state that such permissions will not affect lifetime coverage or any other insured benefits.

However, last August 26th organizations said in a letter to the USDE that, “Parents are routinely informed, sometimes even after services in other settings have already been rendered, that the Medicaid agency has deemed them duplicative with school-based services and their coverage is denied.”

The final rule was expected to be released in January and there is still no release date in sight.

For more from K-12 Dive, click here.

Shapiro Administration Launches Anti-Stigma Campaign To Support College Students’ Basic Needs (April 7, 2024)

On April 5, 2024, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) launched a new anti-stigma campaign to support postsecondary students struggling to meet basic needs such as housing, transportation, financial needs, and physical and mental health.

Through the PA MASLOW “You Good?” campaign, PDE developed posters that colleges and universities can personalize, print, and post on their campuses directing students to critical resources. Additionally, PDE has been convening student panel discussions around the state as proactive way to inform the anti-stigma campaign as well as the programs and policies that postsecondary institutions are implementing. Through quarterly virtual meetings, the department has been engaging with the field on ways to expand upon and improve anti-stigma efforts.

This effort to promote wellness, safety, and belonging at postsecondary institutions complements Governor Josh Shapiro’s recently announced blueprint for higher education—a plan that dramatically increases funding for state colleges and universities, unites them under a new governance structure, and caps tuition costs for income eligible students to ensure a higher education is affordable for all. Gov. Shapiro’s 2024-25 budget proposal invests $975 million in the community colleges and PASSHE universities that will comprise this new system, a 15 percent increase in the amount of funding those institutions received last year. In addition, next year, the Governor will call for an investment to make higher education more affordable by ensuring students from families making up to the median income will pay no more than $1,000 in tuition and fees per semester at state-owned universities and community colleges. Furthermore, to help students attending state-related universities and independent colleges, Governor Shapiro’s plan will increase PHEAA grants for students from families making up to the median income by $1,000.

According to the National College Attainment Network (NCAN), Pennsylvania is one of the least affordable states to attend college, with only 18% of two-year institutions and 0% of four-year institutions attainable for low- and moderate-income families. Nationally, 63% of two-year institutions and 31% of four-year institutions are affordable for that same population of students. Pennsylvania has the third largest average amount borrowed for the class of 2020 at $39,375 with 64% of learners accruing student debt.

The high cost of higher education hurts students with the fewest financial resources and keeps many Pennsylvanians from pursuing a higher education at all. On average, PASSHE enrollment has decreased by 30% over the past decade, and Pennsylvania community college enrollment has decreased by 37 percent over the same period.  

In addition to increasing resources available to community colleges and PASSHE universities, the new blueprint will help reverse declining enrollment trends caused in part by the high cost of higher education, simplify credit transfer for students, and increase collaboration and cooperation between public universities so that community colleges and PASSHE institutions can focus on their unique missions and successes rather than competing with one another.

The Governor’s blueprint will help ensure higher education is both affordable and accessible for all, giving Pennsylvanians the freedom to chart their own course and the opportunity to succeed. It will also provide more resources to colleges and universities that can be directed into student support services that help meet students’ basic needs so they can successfully complete degrees and credentials that lead to good-paying jobs. Additionally, Governor Shapiro’s 2024-25 budget expands access to community-based mental health resources with a $20 million increase in funding for county mental health services.

PA MASLOW is a cross-agency partnership that expands upon the mission of PDE – ensuring every student not only has access to education, but that the education pursued provides them with support and resources to create optimal learning environments. This initiative will engage postsecondary institutions in several pillars of work, including digital equity, housing and transportation, mental health, personal needs, adult student needs, finances, and safety and belonging. 

The program is a comprehensive guide to supporting postsecondary students, translated from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Basic Needs, which includes physiological, safety and security, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization needs. By addressing these basic needs in a more individualized approach, we can ensure that learners have everything they need to be successful and complete their credential.

For more information on the Pennsylvania Department of Education, please visit the Department of Education website.