Category: Government Actions

DHS Announces Annual Update to SNAP Benefit Amounts, Changes to Income Limits, and Continued Reimbursement of Electronically Stolen Funds (October 29, 2024)

Last week, Department of Human Services (DHS) Secretary Dr. Val Arkoosh announced  increases  to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) income and benefit limits in Pennsylvania, following a yearly adjustment from the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). Secretary Arkoosh also announced that the replacement of stolen SNAP benefits – which DHS began offering in 2023 – has been extended to benefits stolen through December 20, 2024.

In September 2024, SNAP served 2,021,263 individuals  by providing $367,985,636 in federally-funded food assistance.

Because of federal SNAP rules, the benefit levels and income limits for SNAP are updated every year. These changes will benefit all SNAP recipients with an average increase of just over $5 per month. No one will experience a decrease in benefits.

Below are the SNAP income limits beginning October 1, 2024:

Household SizeMaximum Gross Monthly Income
1$2,510
2$3,408
3$4,304
4$5,200
5$6,098
6$6,994
7$7,890
8$8,788
9$9,686
10$10,584
Each additional member+$898

Factors that could contribute to a household’s higher SNAP allowances and income limits in Pennsylvania include household size, monthly income, and if a member of a household is 60 years of age or older or has a disability.

Additionally, below are the changes to the Maximum Thrifty Food Plan effective October 1, 2024. The Maximum Thrifty Food Plan is the maximum amount of SNAP benefits a household can receive.

Household SizeMaximum Thrifty Food Plan
1$292
2$536
3$768
4$975
5$1,158
6$1,390
7$1,536
8$1,756
9$1,976
10$2,196
Each Additional Member$220

There is no change to the minimum monthly benefit this year; the minimum benefit remains $23.

The best way to determine if your household will qualify for SNAP and the amount of your monthly benefit is to apply. Current recipients should continue to report income and address changes to DHS and submit any semi-annual reviews or renewals they receive during this period so that they do not risk an interruption of their benefits.

Under federal guidelines, SNAP benefits do not expire as long as the recipient’s EBT card remains active, which means that the household’s EBT card must be used at least once every nine months. SNAP recipients can check their current EBT balance, make transaction inquiries, and request card replacements from DHS’ EBT contractor, Conduent, at 888-328-7366. Recipients may also check their EBT balance, transaction history, and change their PIN at any time using the free myCOMPASS PA mobile app on both Apple and Android devices. The myCOMPASS PA app is the official safe and secure app for Pennsylvanians to access and manage their benefits.

In addition to the benefit changes, DHS has been made aware of multiple reports of EBT card skimming in recent months. Skimming is the act of applying a device to a point-of-sale (POS) machine or an ATM to read a card’s magnetic strip, gather its data, and create a cloned card. SNAP recipients are encouraged to protect their EBT cards and personal information, such as a PIN.

SNAP recipients who have their benefits electronically stolen through December 20, 2024, can make a request to have their benefits reimbursed. To request a reimbursement, SNAP recipients should fill out a Benefit Theft Claim via a PDF form or web form within 60 calendar days of the incident. DHS will then validate within 30 calendar days of the request being submitted for evaluation, and if a replacement is to be issued, it can be done within 10 calendar days of the evaluation.

Pennsylvanians are encouraged to report any potential EBT skimming activity by calling the DHS fraud tip line at 1-844-DHS-TIPS (1-844-347-8477) or making a report through the Office of State Inspector General (OSIG) website. Pennsylvanians can learn more about current scams and phishing attempts on DHS’ Scam page. Additionally, Pennsylvanians who have questions about whether a call, text, letter, or other communication is legitimate should contact DHS’ Office of Income Maintenance. 

For more information on SNAP, including how to apply, visit dhs.pa.gov.

PDE Provides Special Education Plan Information for Phase 1 School Districts (October 29, 2024)

The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) is responsible for ensuring that all special education programs in public schools are appropriate and effective. To do this, school districts must submit a Special Education Plan every three years to PDE as required under 22 Pa. Code § 14.104. The school district’s Special Education Plan outlines planning generated from district special education data, compliance monitoring, professional development activities, and training necessary to provide appropriate programs to students with disabilities.

The special education plan will continue to be developed in the Future Ready Comprehensive Planning Portal (FRCPP). The first step to gaining access to the FRCPP is to ensure that you are a registered user on the PDE Portal. If you are not a registered user, please register using the Register a Username and Log In instructions.

Your school district’s Local Security Administrator can add/remove users in My PDE Suite. If you need help adding users to the new portal, please use the step-by-step guide for Accessing the Future Ready Comprehensive Planning Portal. If you do not know who your Administrators are, you can find this information by clicking on Find my Security Administrator on the main webpage in My PDE Suite.

School districts in Phase 1 must submit their plans by May 1, 2025 in the FRCPP.

A mandatory pre-recorded webinar is available on the PaTTAN Special Education Plan Training webpage. The purpose of the webinar is to train school districts on the special education plan requirements and the FRCPP system.

Should you have any questions, please contact Sandy Zeleznik in PDE’s Bureau of Special Education at [email protected].

GAO Report Looked at Effectiveness of ESSER (October 28, 2024)

According to a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released October, 23, 2024, school districts prioritized spending of COVID-19 emergency (ESSER) funds based on community input, financial need, state policies and other influences. It also found that the effectiveness of the ESSER money for COVID-19 recovery efforts is difficult to determine because school districts were involved in many activities during the pandemic. Additionally, long-term improvements are unknown because not enough time has passed since initial positive effects were noted.

Republican members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee had asked GAO to examine school district ESSER spending. Some conservative lawmakers at the federal level have questioned the proper use of the money. A statement posted on the Senate HELP Committee GOP page on X said that the report “found it difficult to determine what uses were effective. More research is needed from the field.”

In addition, AASA, The School Superintendents Association released a September report on spending practices from ESSER’s allocations from the American Rescue Plan and found most districts directed money toward expanded learning time, including summer programming and after-school activities. But because districts had various fiscal priorities and approaches for investing the money in different phases, it was difficult to generalize the best practice approaches for the emergency funds.

GAO’s report said education officials from varying states sometimes differed on what they considered was an allowable expense for district-level use of federal COVID-19 emergency funds for schools. Directives from state legislatures also influenced spending practices. Pennsylvania officials told GAO researchers that proposals to renovate or upgrade athletic fields, stadiums or tracks were denied because school districts could not justify that those improvements were necessary to respond to the pandemic.

For more from K-12 Dive, click here.

USDE Releases AI toolkit for K-12 Schools (October 28, 2024)

On October 24, 2024, prompted by a Biden administration October 2023 executive order and as a result of U.S. Department of Education (USDE) public listening sessions held with 90 educators as well as 12 roundtable discussions with education leaders between December 2023 and March 2024, USDE’s Office of Educational Technology released a highly anticipated guidance to help K-12 leaders integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into their school districts. The 74-page toolkit includes strategies for mitigating risks and developing AI use policies and comes as more K-12 school districts look to use the technology in their classrooms or for business operations.

Titled Empowering Education Leaders: A Toolkit for Safe, Ethical, and Equitable AI Integration, the toolkit contains three sections. They are:
–Mitigating risks while safeguarding students’ privacy, security and civil rights.
–Building a strategy for integrating the use of AI tools that best fits students’ needs.
–Guiding the effective use of AI to boost teaching and learning.

Click here to access the toolkit.

Source K-12 Dive

Ed. Sec. Mumin Records Audiobook at the Library of Accessible Media for Pennsylvanians (October 13, 2024)

On October 11, 2024, PA Secretary of Education Dr. Khalid N. Mumin visited the Library of Accessible Media for Pennsylvanians (LAMP) to tour the library and record a narration of It Fell From the Sky by The Fan Brothers. Secretary Mumin’s recording will be entered into the Library of Congress’ National Library Service Catalog.

LAMP is funded through the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Office of Commonwealth Libraries and administered throughout the state of Pennsylvania by Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and the Free Library of Philadelphia.

The library provides people with disabilities access to free materials shipped to them in accessible formats like braille, audio, described movies, and large print, as well as digital access to downloadable audio or braille to hundreds of thousands of titles. The library also hosts a state-of-the-art recording studio that has added more than 700 audio books to the National Library Service Catalog. Since the early 1970’s, the library’s three accessible sound booths and full digital array of equipment and support systems offer a unique and accessible service that adds locally themed books to the collection.

LAMP’s services are available to eligible Pennsylvania residents who have difficulty using standard print materials because of a visual, physical, or reading disability. To access services, users must submit an application form certified by a health professional or public or welfare agency authority (e.g., social worker, counselor, rehabilitation teacher, certified reading specialist, or superintendent). Professional librarians or anyone approved by the Library of Congress may also certify eligibility for patrons.

In addition, Governor Josh Shapiro’s 2024-25 budget secured more than $2.5 million in funding for LAMP, $3 million for Library Access, $70 million for the Public Library Subsidy, and more than $2.6 million for the Office of Commonwealth Libraries.

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