The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) was created by the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1963 to provide affordable access to higher education for PA students and families. Through the years, PHEAA has evolved into one of the nation’s leading providers of student financial aid services, including the Commonwealth’s state-based student loan program—PA Forward.

To that end, PHEAA is now accepting applications from local education agencies (LEA) interested in participating in the PA Mental Health Education Learning Program in Schools (PA HELPS), a state-funded program to support Pennsylvania students with completing internships required for certification and employment as a school nurse, school counselor, school social worker, or school psychologist.

The funds are awarded and disbursed to the LEA where the student completes their internship.

To be considered for PA HELPS an LEA must:
-Be located in Pennsylvania;
-Be a school district, intermediate unit, area career and technical school, charter school, regional charter school, or cyber charter school;
-Complete and execute a PA HELPS LEA Application and Agreement;
-Provide PHEAA with a copy of the agreement establishing the internship between the LEA and the school the intern is attending for their Educational Specialist Preparation Program;
-Employ a site supervisor for the intern that holds a certification in the same field that the intern is pursuing; and
​-Use 100% of the awarded funds to compensate the intern for their internship.

All LEAs are encouraged to apply.

For more information about the application process and student eligibility, please visit www.pheaa.org/PAHELPS.

Carole L. Clancy, Ed.D. PDE Director of the Bureau of Special Education Dr. Carole L. Clancy has informed LEAs that Act 16 of 2000 (24 PS §13-1372(8)) requires the Reporting of Expenditures Relating to Exceptional Students. School districts and charter schools must report the number of students with disabilities for which expenditures fall in one of five categories. The categories will be 1A, 1B, 2, 3A, and 3B for the 2022-23 school year. The dollar amounts for these categories will be posted on PDE’s website at Act 16 – Reporting of Expenditures Relating to Exceptional Students. The 2023-24 PIMS Manual will also be updated to reflect the dollar amounts to be reported.

According to Director Clancy, this report will now be collected at the student level through PIMS using the Student Fact Template for Special Education Act 16 Funds. The template will be collected during Collection #1 (opening October 2 and closing with a deadline of October 13, 2023). Data is to be based on expenditures incurred during the entire 2022-2023 school year.

Guidelines regarding the Act 16 reporting can be found at Act 16 Information.

The Student Fact Template for Special Education Act 16 Funds can be found in the 2022-23 PIMS Manual.

Please note that failure to complete the Student Fact Template for Special Education Act 16 Funds report may have an adverse effect on your local education agency’s special education funding.

Questions regarding this reporting requirement may be emailed to [email protected]. A copy of this information is being provided to each intermediate unit so they may assist school districts and charter schools with report preparation, as needed.

On September 25, 2023, PDE BSE Director Carole L. Clancy, Director sent a mesage to all LEAs titled 2023-24 Inclusive Programming Opportunities through Mikayla’s Voice. The message states that the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), Bureau of Special Education (BSE) announces inclusive programming for the 2023-24 school year with no cost to districts, since it is grant funded. Mikayla’s Voice offers original programming to help build a positive and equitable school culture and ensure the well-being of your staff and students, and includes all of the following:

Two Inclusion Assemblies
Two school-wide inclusion assemblies are held in which the book Our Friend Mikayla is shared. One of the presenters is a student or young adult with a disability who also shares their personal story. Questions are encouraged to direct further discussion about having a friend with a disability. Each presentation concludes with an invitation for all students to serve as Mikayla’s “Voice.” High school students will be encouraged to serve as mentors to read books to the younger students.

One Inclusive Art Project
Participating schools choose one of the two projects in which 24 students of all abilities will work together to create a large-scale artwork to celebrate diversity and promote equity and inclusion in your school. Most important is the time your students spend together, what they learn from and about each other, and their pride when their art is permanently displayed as a beautiful reminder that it is always possible to include everyone!

Wheels of Friendship®
Inspired by Mikayla and her art class, Wheels of Friendship® is an original art program that incorporates wheelchair painting and tissue paper decoupage, both mediums that offer success for children of all abilities. Together the group of students choose the theme for their art and decide how best to represent diversity and inclusion. When joined by students with other disabilities, they find creative ways to include their friend’s unique abilities into the artwork. As they incorporate sign language, interesting textures, or braille, the artists are learning, and will ultimately teach others who view their art, about different challenges and supports.

Kaya’s Kaleidoscope
Kaya’s Kaleidoscope is created when students complete their own individual canvases that work together in an interactive, almost puzzle-like design. Symbolic of school communities, every canvas is as essential to the mural as each student to their school. And, in keeping with Mikayla’s Voice message, mission, and style, each canvas features wheelchair tracks, tissue paper decoupage, and a yellow spot. The canvases can be arranged and rotated any way, creating an endless number of options…each as unique and beautiful as the next. The interactive exhibits allow thousands of students to engage with the art and consider its many lessons: we are all individuals, each important to our school and community, connected in many ways, and definitely better together.

Artwork Unveiling and Installation
Once complete, all artists help unveil their collaborative artwork and share its message with the entire school community before it is permanently installed in their school as a reminder to celebrate diversity and promote equity and inclusion. This culminating, year-end school-wide celebration also provides an opportunity to highlight individual and class projects based on the books or lessons and revisit Mikayla’s Voice message and mission with all students.

Inclusion Books:
Mikayla’s Voice has published four children’s books written and illustrated by kids for other kids about having a friend with a disability. Mikayla was born with a brain injury, Jeffrey has Down syndrome, Brady is challenged by autism, and Dot has a yellow spot, but these books are not about the main characters or their disabilities. They are about friendship. And kindness. Two of each book are provided for your elementary school library and/or for your middle/high school students to share with younger students in your district.
-Our Friend Mikayla
-High Fives and A Big Heart
-Super Brady ~ Always on the Move!
-The Spot

Mikayla’s Bookshelf Enrichment Website
“Mikayla’s Bookshelf” includes electronic versions of all four books making it easier to share them with all classes, students, and families. The books are just the foundation upon which enrichment lessons for teachers and/or older students build to introduce and/or reinforce Mikayla’s Voice message and missions.
Mikayla’s Voice has partnered with Drs. Dever and Lindstrom as part of an ongoing program assessment for improvement and replication. Participating schools are required to help with pre and post data collection to measure the global quality of the programs and the ability to improve school culture and community.
Schools interested in participating can contact Rita Cheskiewicz, Executive Director, at 570-690-7113 or [email protected] or Sharon Jones, Program Director, at 484-854-1355 or [email protected].

Schools are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.