Career and technical education teachers in Philadelphia’s public schools will no longer have to pay out-of-pocket for their state-required certification courses, officials said Monday.
The costs are a “real impediment” for CTE educators, said City Council Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson, who successfully pushed for $500,000 to be incorporated into the recently passed municipal budget for teacher credentialing.
“We were one of the only districts in the commonwealth who did not offer full tuition reimbursement for the CTE teachers or full payment for that certification,” she said. “We wanted to change that.”
CTE teachers in Pennsylvania must have four years of relevant industry experience or two years and a college degree. They usually receive emergency permits for their first academic year; then, they apply for a three-year intern certification while pursuing Level 1 credentials through classes.
Only designated universities, including Temple and Penn State, offer CTE teacher certification classes, and the cost starts at about $2,250 per course, according to Gilmore Richardson’s office.
“I think it’s an incredible incentive to not just lighten the burden for current teachers, but to entice more industry professionals to come from industry and make that transition into education,” said Jessica Lawyer, a culinary arts teacher at Thomas A. Edison High School, who has worked in the public school system for nearly seven years.
“The cost of everything is rising,” added Lawyer, who is currently taking classes at Temple. “To have this funding is just going to be another booster, another motivator for me as a teacher.”
Gilmore Richardson said the half a million dollars “should cover the majority of the need,” though School District of Philadelphia Superintendent Tony Watlington Sr. said his team is still finalizing the numbers.
About 160 CTE teachers currently work in the city’s public schools, offering classes spanning more than 43 occupational areas to 5,000 students, according to the district. Young people can begin taking CTE classes in 10th grade.
Gilmore Richardson and Watlington made Monday’s announcement at Swenson Arts & Technology High School in the Far Northeast, where middle schoolers were participating in a weeklong CTE summer camp exploring the culinary and automotive fields, among other trades.
The event also served as the district’s summer programming kickoff. Summer Achievers, a mix of camp and school for students in first through eighth grade, was set to begin Tuesday. The free, full-day program is a partnership between the district and city.
Officials anticipate 25,000 children will take part in the district’s various summer activities, which also include orchestra, drumline and young entrepreneur programs for certain age groups.
“When you think about this whole notion about the ‘summer slide’ and kids lose some of what they learned during the school year, it’s so important that we have free and highly engaging learning opportunities available for our young people during the summer months,” Watlington said. “It’s fun, it’s exciting. It’s not just a typical school year.”
