Week of 1-15-2024

Inside this issue

• PSEA members attend hearing to urge action on school mental health services
• Good news from PSERS about your pension
• Soapbox: What’s the best part of your job?
• Listen to PSEA’s new podcast — “Duty Free Lunch”
• Member Benefits spotlight: PSEA Visa Signature card
• Upcoming Center for Professional Learning events and PEARL

(left to right) Dr. David Lillenstein, Rebecca Kilfoy, Dr. Adam Oldham, and Angelina Romano

In a session before the Pennsylvania House Education Committee on Wednesday, four school mental health specialists addressed the need for increased staffing of school nurses, counselors, psychologists, and social workers to tackle the profound mental health challenges affecting Pennsylvania's 1.7 million students.

Read their testimonies here

Dr. Adam Oldham, a high school counselor and president of PSEA's School Counselor Section, pointed to alarming rates of suicidal ideation and attempts among students. Rebecca Kilfoy, a certified school nurse and vice president of PSEA's School Nurse Section, highlighted outdated nurse-to-student ratios, calling for reform. Dr. David Lillenstein, president of PSEA's School Psychologists Section, emphasized the struggle to fill open school psychologist positions, urging lawmakers to fund student scholarships and internship stipends to expand the professional pipeline. And Angelina Romano, a school social worker, stressed the importance of long-term investments and incentives like scholarships for attracting and retaining professionals.

The call to action was for lawmakers to adopt House Bill 1665, known as the Pennsylvania School Counseling Services Act. It would increase transparency and set better guidelines for counseling services in schools.

We’ll keep you updated on legislative developments on this important issue.

The PSERS Board of Trustees met on Dec. 14 and 15 to review the actuarial findings related to the Act 120 and Act 5 employees’ Shared Risk contributions, certify the employer contribution rate for the 2024-25 fiscal year, and review the fund’s performance, among other things. Thankfully, the news was good on several fronts for PSEA members. Here are some highlights:

• Due to PSERS’ strong performance over the last several years, the Board certified that everyone hired since July 1, 2011, will see a decrease in their payroll contributions beginning on July 1, 2024.
• This means that our Act 120 members will pay 0.5 percent less for the next three years, while the Act 5 members will pay 0.75 percent less. Their contributions will now be at the base rate that was established when those classes were created.
• The Board also decreased the Employer Contribution Rate from the current 34 percent to 33.9 percent for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
• This new rate is good news for all PSERS employers in the commonwealth, as it is 0.83 percent lower than the rate was projected to be (34.73 percent) just last year.
• This new rate is also 4.34 percent lower than was projected in 2016 when the Legislature was debating the passage of Act 5.

Additionally, PSERS announced that the Legislature has been fully funding PSERS to the actuarially recommended rate since 2016, which, along with good investment returns, has brought the funded ratio up from 56.5 percent to 63.6 percent in the last five years. The target funded ratio of 80 percent is now considered achievable by PSERS in fiscal year 2031-32.

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Last week, we announced the launch of “Duty Free Lunch,” the official podcast of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, where every PSEA member has a seat at the table.

From cutting-edge classroom strategies to thought-provoking policy discussions, if it impacts Pennsylvania's educators, it’s on the menu.

If you haven’t yet, check out the first episode here, and listen as we get updates on what’s happening in the Legislature from PSEA Assistant Executive Director for Government Relations Dan Wiedemer. 

PSEA has partnered with Commerce Bank to bring members the PSEA Visa Signature credit card offer. With this card, members can earn cash back rewards with every purchase, with no point cap or opt-in required.

• Earn 3 percent cash back on coffee shops, fast food, and ride-sharing services
• Earn 2 percent cash back on gas and restaurants
• Earn 1 percent cash back on all other purchases

Enroll in the toggle feature and add more flexibility to your PSEA Visa Signature credit card. With the toggle feature, you can:

• Choose to Pay Now by a specific category or purchase amount,
• Choose to Pay Later by a specific category or purchase amount, or unwind a transaction.

Check it out and get the card that rewards you and supports Pennsylvania educators with every purchase.

PEARL

Visit PEARL today and choose from more than 95 asynchronous courses available for Act 48 credit and Chapter 14 verification.

Here are just a few of the dozens of courses you can explore right now on PEARL:

• Schoology in Practice: Essentials for Beginners
• Time Management and Organization for Online Learning
• Social and Emotional Learning is for Us, Too!

Webinars

• Certification, Tenure, Induction, and Act 48 (ECE Series)
  • Jan. 23, 7-8 p.m.
• Special Education Q&A (2023-24 Academic Year)
  • Jan. 30, 7-8:30 p.m.
• The Future is Happening as We Speak: Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Classroom Today
  • Feb. 7, 7-8:30 p.m. 

Book Discussions

• Science Cross-Cutting Concepts Picture Book Study
  • March 5, 7-8 p.m.
• Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day (Revised Edition)
  • April 3, 7-8 p.m.
• Good Different (Poetry)
  • April 11, 7-8 p.m.

Postgraduate Credits

Earn postgraduate credits from PennWest University for $70 each!

More than 150 postgraduate credits are available across a wide range of teaching and learning topics.

These postgraduate credits (microcredentials) can count toward the 24 credits required for a Level II certificate and also may count toward salary advancement.*

For support professionals, these courses may meet Chapter 14 requirements.**

*Check your contract to determine if you can apply standalone postgraduate credits for column movement.
**Seek approval from your employer prior to completing hours to apply toward Chapter 14 requirements.