On August 3, 2023 Governor Josh Shapiro signed into law a budget for fiscal year 2023-24. The budget reportedly makes historic investments in education, delivering the largest increase in basic education funding in the Commonwealth’s history. In the process of signing the budget, the Governor line-item vetoed the full $100 million appropriation for the PASS scholarship program, as he promised he would. Click here to read the Governor’s veto message.

Largest Increase in Basic Education Funding
The new budget will spend over $10 billion on K-12 public education funding. making a historic investment in K-12 public schools, including the largest increase in basic education funding (BEF) in Pennsylvania history and universal free breakfast for public school students. The budget includes:
-$100 million for school-based mental health counselors and resources for students.
-$567 million increase in basic education funding for Pennsylvania school districts to be distributed through the BEF Formula, enabling all school districts to have the basic resources they need to provide a high-quality education for Pennsylvania students. This is the largest BEF increase in history.
-$100 million for Level Up to ensure more resources go to Pennsylvania’s most underfunded schools.
-$50 million increase in special education funding, reinforcing Pennsylvania’s commitment to equitable education for all students.
-A $46.5 million increase in funding to provide universal free breakfast to Pennsylvania’s 1.7 million public school students regardless of income and free lunch to all 22,000 Pennsylvania students who are eligible for reduced-price lunches through the National School Lunch Program.
-$10 million to provide Pennsylvania’s student teachers with stipends so the Commonwealth can get more well-trained teachers into our classrooms.
-$7 million to support dual enrollment opportunities for high school students allowing them to take advanced courses for college credit and chart their own course.

Increasing Access to Apprenticeships & Vocational and Technical Education
Building off the Governor’s Executive Order announcing that 92 percent of state government jobs are open to Pennsylvanians without college degrees, this budget would ensure more Pennsylvanians have the freedom to chart their own course by expanding our workforce, investing in vo-tech, and supporting apprenticeship programs, including:
-A $23.5 million investment in workforce training and vo-tech programs.
-A $6 million investment in apprenticeship and pre-apprentice programming that will lead to family-sustaining wages.
-$3.5 million in funding for the Schools-to-Work Program through the Department of Labor & Industry to develop and expand career pathways for high school students via partnerships between schools, employers, organizations, and the Commonwealth.

Investing in Health, Wellness, and Child Care
This budget makes critical investments in public health and wellness, including significant investments in mental health, including:
-A $66.7 million increase for Child Care Services allowing up to 75,000 low-income families to continue to be enrolled in subsidized childcare through the Child Care Works Program.
-$20 million to increase base funding for counties to provide critical mental health services and address deepening workforce shortages.
-Funding to help an additional 850 individuals with an intellectual disability and/or autism get off waitlists for home and community-based services.

For more information, access the governor’s press release  by clicking here.

On July 31, 2023 PA Bureau of Special Education Director Carole L. Clancy sent a PennLink to local educational agencies (LEAs) titled 2023-24 Special Education Compliance Monitoring Schedule. The memo states that the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has the responsibility to ensure that all LEAs providing services, whether directly or by contractual arrangements, administer special education services and programs that are compliant with applicable state and federal laws and regulations. To fulfill this responsibility, PDE has established administrative procedures for monitoring program implementation, including evaluating the appropriateness, effectiveness, and accountability of special education services and programs.

PDE has developed the schedule for compliance monitoring for the 2023-24 school year in which 123 school districts and charter schools of varying size across the commonwealth will be monitored. The list of selected LEAs is included at the end of this Penn Link. Additional monitoring reviews, if deemed appropriate, may be designated as the school year progresses.

For the 2023-24 school year, the Cyclical Monitoring for Continuous Improvement (CMCI) process continues to be a combination of virtual and onsite components. Verification activities include digital and onsite review of student documents; studies of service delivery; and analysis of policies, procedures, and outcomes. This hybrid CMCI process will include:

• Virtual Components
  -Facilitated Self-Assessment submitted by the LEA, and verification of the information reported in the Facilitated Self-Assessment.
  -Administrative and Exit Interviews
  -Parent and Teacher Interviews

• On-Site Components
  -Student Sample File Review
  -Classroom Observations

Training for this monitoring process is designed as a series of web-based training modules. These modules will be available on thePaTTAN website and Leader Services website in late July. Relevant LEA personnel must complete the trainings and report date of completion to the chairperson by September 11, 2023.

These training modules review the current monitoring process; Facilitated Self-Assessment submission; documents to be submitted; managing web-based documentation; and provide additional resources to assist LEA personnel to prepare for the monitoring process. District superintendents, charter school chief executive officers, special education directors, and additional appropriate personnel at LEAs who will be monitored, will benefit from completing these training modules to familiarize themselves with the monitoring process. Thank you in advance for your cooperation in complying with this federally mandated requirement. PDE recognizes the time and effort required by each LEA to successfully participate in these monitorings. The Chairperson assigned to each monitoring will contact the LEA for follow up. Should you have any questions regarding the 2023-24 monitoring schedule included below, please contact Kelli Franklin at kfranklin@pa.gov.

On July 28, Bureau of Special Education Director Carole L. Clancy sent a PennLink to all LEAs titled State Performance Plan Data Requirements – Postsecondary School Survey (Cohort 4 Exit). The message states that accountability requirement under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA) mandates that each state determine the extent to which students are achieving transition outcomes (State Performance Plan – Indicator 14). To meet the federal reporting requirement, each local education agency (LEA) is mandated to administer Exit and Post-School Surveys to students who have graduated, aged out or dropped out with individualized education programs at a frequency of one time, over a five-year period, based on the LEA’s assignment to a targeted sampling year (Cohort 4).

The following information specifically addresses the Exit Process administration for 2023-24. LEAs assigned to Cohort 4, as listed below, are required to address the following:
Participate in the Pennsylvania Post-School Outcome Survey Overview for Cohort 4 webinar, which is scheduled for September 21, 2023, from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. The webinar will provide information concerning the administration of the Exit Process. Registration is required and may be accessed at: https://www.pattan.net/Events/Webinar/Course-1838/Events/Session-38479
Participate in the February 21, 2024, Exit Survey training webinar from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Registration for this event is required and can be completed when registering for the September webinar. Information regarding accessing and entering information into the online system will be presented during this webinar.

Visit the PDE website to see a list of those LEAs that are assigned to the 2023-24 Cohort 4.

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

On July 28, 2023 the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) announced that processing timelines for In-State Level I certificates have been reduced by approximately 10 weeks since last year. The Department also launched a new feature on its website to improve transparency and responsiveness in the educator certification process. The certification “clock” on PDE’s Certification page will show, in real time, the length of time needed to process a certificate once all required information is submitted to the Department.

The online clock shows that, as of July 28th, an educator can expect their certification to be processed in the following timeframes:

-In-State Level I Certificates: 2-4 weeks
-Level II Certificates: 4-6 weeks
-Add-On Certificates: 1-3 weeks
-Emergency Certificates: 2-4 weeks

The new processing timelines reflect an approximate 10-week improvement in response time since last year for In-State Level I Certifications.

To reduce processing times, PDE increased staffing – hiring four new full-time employees, three temporary employees, and one summer annuitant, and evaluated the process to prioritize Instructional I certificates. The team is working around the clock to process certifications and respond to more than 1,500 emails per week.

Earlier this year, Governor Shapiro unveiled a plan to improve the Commonwealth’s licensing, permitting, and certification processes, beginning a comprehensive review of how long it takes agencies to process applications and how workers and businesses apply online.

Additionally, last year PDE revamped its website to allow current and prospective educators to more easily access information related to certifications. The site restructure used analytics to determine which pages were most highly visited and prioritized them in this effort. The Certification page is consistently one of the most visited pages on the PDE website.

Changes to the Certification page include more easy-to-follow breakdowns on common topics that educators are searching for; condensed and updated frequently asked questions; a step-by-step guide and instructional YouTube video for first-time users; and more. For more information on the Pennsylvania Department of Education, please visit PDE’s website.