Department of Human Services (DHS) Secretary Dr. Val Arkoosh joined advocates from The Arc of Indiana County for a roundtable discussion on the successes to-date of the Shapiro Administration’s multi-year growth strategy for intellectual disability and autism (ID/A) services and the importance of continued funding in Governor Shapiro’s 2025-26 budget proposal for this community and the workforce that supports them.

The 2024-25 bipartisan budget made historic new investments in Pennsylvanians with ID/A and the direct support professionals (DSPs) who care for them by securing $354.8 million in federal and state funding to provide more resources for home and community-based service providers. The funding included:

-$280 million to help raise wages for DSPs, ensuring better retention and quality of care
-This investment in provider rates supported recruitment, retention, and wages for DSPs who make inclusive, enriching lives possible for people with intellectual disabilities and autism.
-$74.8 million to begin the process of eliminating the years-long emergency waiting list for services.

In less than one year, DHS has reduced the adult emergency waiting list for services by just under 20 percent. This is a remarkable shift given that the emergency waiting list had been growing for years. During the Shapiro Administration, more than 3,000 additional individuals have been enrolled in services, and that number will continue to rise. For the first time ever, more than 40,000 individuals are receiving ID/A services through the Department of Human Services. Funding in Governor Shapiro’s 2025-26 proposed budget will continue this rate of progress, which includes 1,300 people newly receiving services since July 2024.

The Shapiro Administration believes every Pennsylvanian with intellectual disabilities and autism deserves the supports they need to achieve an everyday life with dignity and the opportunity to live and work among their families and peers. While home- and community-based services have been offered in Pennsylvania for decades, the way the program was structured limited capacity and did not allow flexibility that could help individuals access the services they needed when they needed them. Historically, individuals may have waited for years to be enrolled in services even if they have immediate needs. 

Through the multi-year growth strategy, DHS has shifted away from setting capacity in programs by numbers or “slots” and instead sets capacity by an overall budget-based system. This will allow counties flexibility to make decisions based on local needs and will help establish Pennsylvania as a national leader in eliminating its emergency waiting list for home- and community-based services.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) recently reported that the educator workforce shortage in PA is trending in the right direction, with 97 more Instructional I certificates issued in the 2023-24 school year than the previous year. Also, since the 2021-22 school year PDE has seen a steady increase in the number of Instructional I certificates issued every year. Overall, PDE issued a total of 6,612 in-state and out-of-state Instructional 1 certificates in 2023-24.

The Act 82 Report compiled and published each year by PDE also showed an increase of 793 newly certified PK-4 educators, 85 more health and physical PK-12 educators, and 762 PK-12 special educators over the past two years.

These improvements are the result of efforts to recruit and retain teachers by 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. Some of those efforts include reducing teacher certification processing times by more than 10 weeks, making intern certificates free to aspiring educators, creating a new Career and Technical Education (CTE) program in Education for high school students, developing accelerated certification programming to prospective special educators, and creating and expanding the Student Teacher Support Grant Program to provide a stipend to student teachers.

Earlier this year, the Accelerated Special Education Teacher Certification Program recently produced the first cohort of 142 students completing the program, and announced that the second round of awards for the Accelerated Special Education Teacher Certification Program will provide more than $1 million in funding to 14 postsecondary institutions throughout the Commonwealth.

Additionally, the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) opened the second round of applications for the Student Teacher Support Grant Program last week, and more than 3,000 would-be teachers applied in the first 24 hours for stipends to assist with completion of their student teaching placements in the 2025-26 school year.

As of the 2023-2024 school year, Pennsylvania’s teacher workforce stands at 123,190, with the largest shortages in Grades 4-8, Special Education PK-12, Mathematics 7-12, Life & Physical Sciences 7-12, and Career and Technical Education 7-12. The United States Department of Education has designated these areas as critical shortages.

On March 12-13, 2025, the PA State Board of Education held its 384th meeting. Highlights of the meeting included a report by the Academic Standards Review Committee that said there was an overwhelming number of responses to a request for participants on committees for the review and revision of standards for the Arts & Humanities and Health & Physical Education., which will occur from March 2025 through March 2026. The committees will be comprised of members from all parts of the state. It was also recommended that social-emotional learning be included in the formulation of the revisions. Nominees to serve on the committees were approved.

New PA Secretary of Education Dr. Carrie Rowe reported that the PA Educator Workforce Committee will, in its strategic plan review, will be making many changes to the current model of teacher certification. She also reported on the tremendous impact that a loss of Title I federal funding would have on PA schools if cut by the U.S. Department of Education.

In addition to its public sessions, the Board held a March 12th executive session with counsel to discuss legal implications of Act 69 of 2024, which established a state board of higher education. Subsequent discussion by the Board in open session centered on the need to delineate the roles and responsibilities of both the State Board and the Board of Higher Ed., since there appears to be some overlap.

On both days, PA Senator Lindsey Williams expressed her opposition with the manner in which public participation now occurs during Board meetings. She particularly said that to entertain in-person only public comment during meetings is not an acceptable method and she requested a return to the previous way of providing public participation, which allowed for both in-person and virtual participation. Her request will be taken into consideration.

A motion by PA State Council of Higher Ed. Chair Pedro Rivera was unanimously approved to form a subcommittee comprised of members from both the State Board of Ed. and the Board of Higher Ed. to meet and discuss the delineation of roles and responsibilities, to ask the General Assembly to extend the established reporting deadline of May 1, 2025 as set forth in Act 69, and to ask the Board of Higher Ed. to join in the request for an extension of the deadline and the establishment of a subcommittee.

In other action items, the Board unanimously denied the application of the Association of Christian Schools International for recognition as an Approved Private School Accrediting Organization; the board unanimously approved the 2024 Annual Report to the Governor and General Assembly; and the Board unanimously approved resolutions to recognize the services of both former Secretary of Ed. Dr. Khalid Mumin and former Executive Director of the Professional Standards and Practices Commission (PSPC) Mr. Shane Crosby.  

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as amended, requires the Pennsylvania Department of Education to identify in writing to local educational agencies regulations, rules, and policies that are state-imposed requirements and not required by IDEA and its regulations (20 USC §1407 (a) (2)). This notice fulfills the requirement to distribute an updated list of state-imposed requirements that exceed IDEA and its regulations.

Chapter 14 (22 Pa. Code Chapter 14)

§14.101 §14.104 §14.105 §14.106 §14.108  §14.121 §14.122 §14.123 §14.124  §14.125 §14.131  §14.132 §14.133  §14.143  §14.144 §14.145   §14.146   §14.152       §14.153   §14.154     §14.155     §14.156 §14.157 §14.158  §14.162      §14.163

(Relating to Definitions) (Relating to Special Education Plans) (Relating to Personnel) (Relating to Access to Instructional Materials) (Relating to Access to Classrooms) (Relating to Child Find) (Relating to Screening) (Relating to Evaluation) (Relating to Reevaluation) (Relating to Criteria for Specific Learning Disability) (Relating to Individualized Education Program) (Relating to Extended School Year) (Relating to Positive Behavior Support) (Relating to Disciplinary Placements) (Relating to Facilities) (Relating to Least Restrictive Environment Requirements) (Relating to Age Range Restrictions) (Relating to Child Find, Public Awareness and Screening) (Relating to Evaluation) (Relating to Individualized Education Program) (Relating to Range of Services) (Relating to System of Quality Assurance) (Relating to Exit Criteria) (Relating to Data Collection) (Relating to Impartial Due Process Hearing and Expedited Due Process Hearing) (Relating to Resolution Session)

Chapter 711 (22 Pa. Code Chapter 711)

§711.1        §711.5            §711.6            §711.7              §711.8            §711.9            §711.21          §711.22          §711.23           §711.24           §711.25             §711.41     §711.42           §711.43           §711.44           §711.45           §711.46           §711.61           §711.62

(Relating to Definitions) (Relating to Personnel) (Relating to Annual Report) (Relating to Enrollment) (Relating to Education Records) (Relating to Payments) (Relating to Child Find) (Relating to Reevaluation) (Relating to Screening) (Relating to Evaluation) (Relating to Criteria for the Determination of Specific Learning Disability) (Relating to IEP) (Relating to Transportation) (Relating to Educational Placement) (Relating to Extended School Year) (Relating to Access to Instructional Materials) (Relating to Positive Behavior Support) (Relating to Suspension and Expulsion) (Relating to Procedural Safeguards

If you have any questions regarding this information, please contact Tim Krushinski at [email protected] or (717) 329-4029 or Samantha Pudloski at [email protected] or (223) 279-5572.