In February 2023, the Commonwealth Court ruled after a lengthy trial that Pennsylvania’s public school funding system is unconstitutional. In January 2024, a report adopted by a majority of the Basic Education Funding Commission made it clear that elected officials must provide billions in new state dollars over the next seven years to ensure our school funding system passes constitutional muster.

PA’s students have waited decades for policymakers to take bold action to address school funding equity. Fixing PA’s broken public school funding system must be a top priority in Harrisburg.

Just months after PSEA issued our comprehensive school safety report, lawmakers acted on many of the report’s recommendations. Those successes included:

• $60 million in school safety grants.
• The Safe2Say Something program, which is a safe and anonymous way for parents, school staff, students, and community members to report dangerous or criminal acts, threats, or instances of bullying.
• Threat assessment teams in every public school which assess problem situations and take steps to prevent violence.
• Training and professional development for trauma-informed learning programs to improve the students’ social-emotional growth and educators’ well-being.

PSEA knows that the potential threat of violence at school is always on the minds of educators and support professionals – and their students. We want to do everything we can to make our schools safe environments to learn and work.

• That’s why we are pushing lawmakers to include more funding for schools to hire more school counselors, nurses, psychologists, social workers, and other professionals who can help students work through trauma, anxiety, and depression.
• We are also advocating for funding for school safety grants and for school safety audits.
• Just as important, we are making it clear that we oppose arming educators or other staff in school buildings. Teachers, counselors, and support professionals are trained to provide a high-quality education to our students, not to carry or use firearms in a dangerous situation. The last thing we need is the presence of more firearms in our classrooms and hallways.

PSEA also provides members as much support as possible through professional development programs that help explain student anxiety and trauma. PSEA’s PEARL platform and NEA’s Micro-credentials site include a number of offerings aimed at social emotional and trauma-informed learning that are accessible to you at any time.

PEARL

• Trauma Informed Instruction
• Understanding Students and Anger
• Assessment and Treatment of Anxiety
• Understanding Students and Trauma
• Building and Maintaining a Humanized Classroom

NEA Micro-credentials

The Trauma Informed Pedagogy collection, including micro-credentials on:

• Creating a Healing Centered Learning Environment
• Trauma Informed Support for Students
• Race Based Trauma
• Poverty Based Trauma
• Developing a Healing-Centered Self-Care Practice
• Using a Healing-Centered Approach to Support Refugee Students

The Bully Free Schools collection, including micro-credentials on:

• Creating Bully-Free Environments within Structured Settings
• Cyberbullying/Cyber Safety
• Intervention Strategies for Educators
• Empowering Students to Find Their Voice
• School Connectedness
• Education Support Professionals: First Responders
• Federal, State, and Local Policy Related to Bullying