Wolf Administration unveils strategic plan to recruit and retain educators in Pa.

Governor Tom Wolf announced that Pennsylvania has been awarded nearly $268 million in American Rescue Plan funding, through the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), to spur small business success and job creation opportunities across the commonwealth.

“Supporting our small businesses and boosting Pennsylvania's worldclass business environment continues to be one of my top priorities and I thank President Biden for sharing that commitment,” said Gov. Wolf. “This funding from the Biden Administration is a significant investment in Pennsylvania's future that will be used to empower our small businesses and generate new jobs.”

The American Rescue Plan reauthorized and expanded the SSBCI, which was originally established by Congress in 2010 to provide loans and investments to underserved small businesses. As part of this reauthorization, $10 billion in funding is being allocated by SSBCI to states, including $267.8 million to Pennsylvania.

“This is an historic investment in entrepreneurship, small business growth, and innovation through the American Rescue Plan that will help reduce barriers to capital access for traditionally underserved communities,” said Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen. “I'm excited to see how SSBCI funds will promote equitable economic growth across the country.”

The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) will distribute the new funds to eligible economic development partners who will then administer the funding to qualifying businesses in the form of equity investments and loans.

Pennsylvania operate three will different programs. The first two programs – equity capital investments and venture capital investments – have been allocated a combined total of $142 million. Direct equity investments will be made in seed and early-stage technology companies in Pennsylvania through longstanding partners Ben Franklin Technology Partners and Life Sciences Greenhouses, as well as venture capital investments in new funds under the management of underserved venture capital firms.

The third program is a loan participation program that has been allocated more than $125 million. It will extend loans of no more than 50 percent of total financing to small business borrowers through certified economic development organizations (CEDOS) and community development financial institutions (CDFIS).

“I'm very pleased to see these ARPA funds allocated to Pennsylvania,” said DCED Acting Secretary Neil Weaver. “Our partners will use this funding to help small businesses, socially and economically disadvantaged businesses, and businesses in the innovation and technology sector.”

Detailed guidelines will be available soon and eligible partners should visit the Pennsylvania SSBCI websitefor additional information as it becomes available. DCED expects to begin distributing the SSBCI funds to economic development partners this Fall.

Since the beginning of his administration, Gov. Wolf has supported small businesses in the commonwealth. In 2018, the Wolf Administration launched the PA Business One Stop Shop which serves as the goto resource for planning, registering, operating, and growing a small business in Pennsylvania.

Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) today released The Foundation of Our Economy: Pennsylvania Educator Workforce Strategy, 2022-2025, PDE'S strategic plan to recruit and retain more educators across the commonwealth.

Acting Secretary of Education Eric Hagarty joined Laura Boyce, Pennsylvania executive director of Teach Plus; John Ward, president of the Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators (PAC-TE); and the Pennsylvania Educator Diversity Consortium (PEDC) to announce the plan.

“Educators are the cornerstone of our communities and serve as the gateway to our collective future; without them, our workforce and economy cannot survive,” said Hagarty. “Like other states across the nation, we have been grappling with an educator workforce shortage that would have severe and long-lasting implications for generations to come. However, Pennsylvania is acting now to reverse course, and this plan will help guide us as we recruit and retain teachers, school leaders, early childhood professionals, school librarians, and other vital personnel at all levels, from pre-k to high school, in all corners of the commonwealth.”

The strategy was developed after conducting extensive feedback sessions with vested partners across Pennsylvania and contains 50 steps that the Pennsylvania Department of Education and its partners will use to address the commonwealth's educator shortage.

HARRISBURG – The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) today urged Pennsylvania consumers to be alert for potential energy marketing scams, especially unsolicited telemarketing calls requesting immediate action and promising far-reaching savings on energy bills.

Questionable Robocalls and Other Possible Scams

"Pennsylvania's educator shortage is the biggest threat facing not only our educational system but our future prosperity as a commonwealth,” said Pennsylvania executive director of Teach Plus Laura Boyce. “If schools are engines of educational and economic opportunity, then educators are the conductors who keep the train moving forward. Teach Plus teachers have been sounding the alarm about this crisis and are eager to partner with the Department to enact ambitious and transformational changes to better recruit and retain educators in Pennsylvania."

The last few years have been among the most challenging for those working in schools, and the number of new educators entering the profession has declined as a result: a decade ago, roughly 20,000 new teachers entered the workforce each year, while last year only 6,000 did so. To make matters worse, the rate of educators leaving the profession continues to accelerate. This means that schools are having a harder time than ever before in filling critical staff positions.

Additionally, by 2025, the commonwealth's K-12 population will have higher proportions of students of color, yet less than 7% of teachers in Pennsylvania are people of color. Research has proven that students learn best when they have the opportunity to do so from teachers whose life experience reflects their own. Meeting the needs of the diverse student population will require a significant increase in the diversity

One type of misleading solicitation involves robocalls from unidentified sources making vague and potentially misleading statements about customer discounts, refunds, rebates and bonuses if the customer acts now.

The calls often appear as a local telephone number on recipients' caller ID, which is often fake or “spoofed,” or the calls fail to display any number at all. These questionable calls appear to follow the same basic script:

“This is an apology call from your electric of Pennsylvania's educator workforce.

“The Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators (PAC-TE) welcomes the Pennsylvania Educator Workforce Strategy and the recent changes in the Public School Code as important steps toward growing the number of well-prepared teachers who will choose teaching as a life-long profession. We look forward to working together to enact this vision,” said PAC-TE President John Ward.

The Foundation of Our Economy sets forth ambitious goals related to the following five educator workforce focus areas:

• Meeting the educator staffing needs of rural, suburban, and urban areas;

• Building a diverse workforce representative of the students we serve;

• Operating a rigorous, streamlined, and customer service-oriented certification process;

• Ensuring highquality preparation experiences for aspiring educators; and

• Ensuring educator access to high-quality and relevant professional growth and leadership development opportunities.

“The Pennsylvania Educator Diversity Consortium welcomes this new report from the Pennsylvania Department of Education and, through it, the Wolf Administration's recognition that Pennsylvania educators and the learners they serve represent the future viability and prosperity of the commonwealth,” said PEDC Co-director, Pennsylvania Educator Diversity Consortium Juliet Curci. “We believe that the future of Pennsylvania depends on our strategic (or natural gas) utility. You got overcharged by your third-party supplier. You will be receiving a rebate check along with a 30% discount on your electric and gas bill. Please press 1 to get your rebate check.”

Identifying Legitimate Energy Sales Calls

When discussing energy supply service with telemarketers, the PUC stresses that telemarketing agents must do the following:

• Identification – Callers must tell you who they are at the beginning of the call;

• Information – Sales agents must collaborative efforts to recruit and retain educators who will support each learner to thrive. To this end, we must increase the number of ethnically, racially, and linguistically diverse educators as well as culturally relevant and sustaining educators. The strategies included within this report provide much needed and timely guidance for how we can collectively grow and strengthen our educator workforce for the benefit of our educators, our students, and our communities.”

The plan builds on the Wolf Administration's efforts over the past eight years to ensure a high-quality education to learners of all ages across the commonwealth. The administration has increased education funding by more than $3.7 billion since 2015, with an historic increase of $1.8 billion in this year's final budget.

Additionally, recently approved amendments to the Public School Code will complement the efforts and actions contained in the educator workforce strategy. The bill — negotiated by the Wolf Administration — improves pathways to Pennsylvania certification for teachers prepared out of state, including career and technical education teachers, establishes a Committee on Education Talent Recruitment within PDE to develop programs of study for high school students interested in pursuing careers in education, establishes a Talent Recruitment Grant Program for colleges to increase participation in the education workforce, and waives the Basic Skills assessment for education candidates for three years. clearly explain why they are calling; and,

• Affiliation – Telemarketers and sales agent may NOT claim to represent the PUC, another utility or other organization.

In a recent notice to energy suppliers, marketers and other related entities, the PUC emphasized that energy telemarketers must clearly identify themselves and the reason for their calls and underscored the Commission's zero tolerance policy for the unauthorized switching of customers.