File - Cumberland Valley High School
Sean Simmers / PennLive
Cumberland Valley switches gears, joins student teacher stipend program
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Ben Wasserstein/WITF
Sean Simmers / PennLive
File - Cumberland Valley High School
Cumberland Valley School District is reversing course and will now participate in a state-funded effort to pay student teachers more money.
That change of heart was welcomed by Sens. Vincent Hughes, D-Philadelphia, and Ryan Aument, R-Lancaster, who helped champion the stipend program that launched in April.
The district initially said it would not participate because it seemed unfair that some student teachers would receive the money and others would not.
The trouble arose because the state launched the program with only partial funding. Stipends of $10,000 to $15,000 would be granted until the money ran out, which turned out to be on the first day applications were accepted.
This week, though, Bethany Coleman of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency said the school district changed course and would direct the payments to its student teachers who were granted the stipends.
Cumberland Valley School District did not return requests for comment after the change.
“This is a new program and schools are still working to understand how it works and how it can benefit them,” Aument said in a statement.
But Cumberland Valley is not the only district to hold off joining the stipend program.
READ: Student teachers flood state with stipend applications
Across the state, 304 local education agencies – such as districts or charters, and private schools – have eligible student teachers.
Coleman said 91 of those agencies had not returned their participation agreements.
Pennsylvania has more than 2,100 teacher vacancies, according to the state Department of Education.
Hughes said the importance of the program struck him as he looked out over the graduating students as he gave the commencement speech at Temple University in May.
Without teachers, he said, none of those students would be there.
“So it just goes to show you that the profession is hugely important, needs to be invested in,” he said. “And we need to use any and every vehicle to expand the number of teachers.”
Hughes and Aument said they want to see the program expanded.
“I am certainly in favor of expanding it to better accommodate the demand, and hope that it can be part of a broader education policy discussion moving forward,” Aument said.
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