We Need More Teachers in Pennsylvania

I have Thanksgiving dinner every year with only teachers. My mother, father, sister, brother-in-law, aunt, cousin, and my grandmother, along with all my great-aunts, have served as educators. While I’m the odd one out professionally, I value their work and service and the path they took to get there.

Luckily, a teacher in Sunbury had a practice of permitting student teachers use of her attic space as a bedroom suite as they worked (without pay) to complete their academic careers in the classroom. 

That teacher just happened to be my father’s aunt, and I am eternally grateful for that series of events. Not everyone was as lucky as my family, though, and it’s even more difficult to find that safety net or extended hand today. 

Teachers shouldn’t have to take on extra jobs or worry about a place to live in the most important semester of their undergraduate education. Student teaching is an intensive, full-time internship that is a capstone of the undergraduate experience. We wouldn’t expect engineering students or business majors to take on full-time jobs or unpaid internships as a requirement for graduation. Why should teachers?

This is especially critical in high demand occupational STEM subjects. It’s not sustainable. 

On behalf of our nearly 900 members, representing 130,000 employees in the Capital region of Cumberland, Dauphin, and Perry Counties, we recognize that the need for high-quality teachers is critical to our region’s future workforce needs. There is no better in-school indicator to a student's chance of success than an engaged teacher.

Thankfully, in a bipartisan effort, the Pennsylvania legislature and the Shapiro administration have increased their focus on helping aspiring teachers and ending Pennsylvania's teacher shortage, which threatens almost every county.

They’ve created the student-teacher stipend and registered apprenticeship programs for teachers. And they funded them. But we cannot allow these to become one-and-done offerings that disappear in just a few years. We need them to keep going and fully fund these critically important programs so every aspiring teacher has access to them. 

We need more teachers in Pennsylvania. 

Data shows that we need over 60 physics teachers every year to meet the vacancies created by retirees and those who leave the profession. Pennsylvania graduates, on average, 16 physics teachers annually. That’s a 73% gap in just one subject.

If we don’t have quality teachers in our classrooms, everyone pays the price. When businesses are looking to locate or expand, the quality of the schools is at the top of their list of considerations. Employees want good districts in which to raise their families, and strong schools build a strong workforce. Without that, we lose out on the jobs and investment our region needs. Supporting educators isn’t just about education – it’s an economic imperative.

We need to acknowledge that it’s difficult these days for young professionals and we need to do our part to lift them up. 

We not only need to fully fund the student-teacher stipend and the registered teacher apprenticeship program, but we also need to create environments and communities that elevate the important work they do each day.

We urge bipartisan action on policies that truly view our workforce needs from cradle to Career. We need to ensure our students are successful, and there is no other in-school factor that more significantly determines a studen’'s success than a motivated, appreciated, and excellent teacher. 

We should be doing everything in our power to make that happen.

Ryan Unger is president and CEO of the Harrisburg Regional Chamber & CREDC