Amber Bloom: Paying student teachers stipends is a win-win

As the daughter of a sixth grade teacher, I’ve grown up surrounded by educators. Ever since I was little, I’ve wanted to follow in my mom’s footsteps and become a teacher myself. I’m very clear on my purpose in life: it’s to serve my students.

But as a college student working on my education degree and certification, I’m also facing financial pressures my mom didn’t experience when she prepared to be a teacher. The cost of college has increased exponentially in Pennsylvania, much more dramatically than the compensation for teachers I can look forward to after graduation. As a full-time student, I also work part time at a day care center just to be able to afford college.

But this fall semester, I’ll be student-teaching full time in a fourth grade classroom at Franklin Regional Intermediate School in Murrysville. I won’t have time to earn extra money outside of this required 12-week internship. Because student teaching is typically unpaid — and I’m still responsible for paying tuition, rent, food and commuting expenses during this time — I know it’s going to be an extremely challenging semester for me.

I’m not alone: Unpaid student teaching has been identified as a major financial barrier that prevents prospective teachers like me from making it into the classroom. Student teachers often have to give up part-time jobs in order to give their student teaching the attention it deserves. I have friends who have struggled just to afford the commute to their student teaching placements, which can be an hour or more each way. Unfortunately, some students even choose to change majors because they can’t afford the financial strain of an unpaid internship. There are talented young people who would like nothing more than to become teachers but simply cannot afford to make ends meet while completing a 12-week unpaid student teaching placement.

No wonder Pennsylvania is experiencing a teacher shortage, with certifications down 70% over the past decade.

That’s why, as the vice president of the student branch of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, I pushed with my fellow aspiring educators for the creation of a new student teacher stipend program in Pennsylvania. Last year, with bipartisan support, the General Assembly created a new program to provide student teachers with $10,000 stipends to help remove the financial barrier of unpaid student teaching. In exchange, we commit to teach in Pennsylvania for three years after graduation.

Unfortunately, the program doesn’t have enough funding for every student teacher to benefit. The $10 million appropriated last year is only enough to fund around 600 of the approximately 4,000 student teachers expected to student teach next school year.

On the morning the application for stipends opened, I was at my computer nervously refreshing my browser like I was looking for concert tickets. I knew that if I didn’t get my application submitted in the first few minutes, I wouldn’t be one of the lucky few to qualify. I’m told that the money ran out within the first 10 minutes, and now my peers and I are waiting anxiously to learn if we made the cut. If I don’t qualify, I’m looking at taking out a loan just to survive next semester. This stipend is the difference between me struggling through a semester of stress and financial hardship versus being able to fully focus on growing as a teacher without a cloud hanging over my head.

It’s critical that the General Assembly fully funds the student teacher stipend in the upcoming state budget, at an estimated cost of $50 million. All of my fellow student teachers need this money. We need it for gas, we need it for food, we need it for tuition.

There are a lot of challenges to student teaching, but that unique classroom experience is so important and so necessary for aspiring educators. Paying student teachers a modest stipend is a win-win. It is a win for the young people who want to pursue careers in the classroom. And it is a win for Pennsylvania because it removes a significant financial barrier to becoming a teacher at a time when so many school districts are struggling with teacher shortages.

We student teachers are ready to go. We just need a leg up so we can make the full commitment to serve Pennsylvania students for the rest of our careers. We’re counting on the General Assembly to deliver on the full promise of the student teacher stipend program by fully funding it in the 2024-25 state budget.

Amber Bloom is a senior early childhood education major at the University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg and vice president of Student Pennsylvania State Education Association.