PENNSYLVANIA. (WHTM) – The Pennsylvania School Boards Association released its 2024 State of Education report, the 48-page report highlights many challenges school districts are facing.

The top three biggest challenges are student mental health needs, staffing shortages and funding.

“The growth in mental health needs really stuck out to us. A couple of years ago when we first started this, it was barely cracking the top ten,” said Pennsylvania School Boards Association Chief Advocacy Officer Kevin Busher.

Now, it’s the leading challenge school districts face, according to the State of Education report.

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A more troublesome trend, “is the fact that over the last couple of years, the education funding has waned when it comes to mental health,” said Busher.

Busher says that educational leaders are more than equipped to handle what’s in front of them. The second biggest obstacle is staffing, especially when it comes to hiring substitute teachers and bus drivers.

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“We saw last year that we the state passed, and the governor signed a teacher stipend, a student teacher stipend bill. We’re hoping that that will help with the pipeline,” said Busher.

Third on the list is funding. During his budget address, Governor Josh Shapiro announced $1.1 billion dollars in new money for schools.

“A student cannot learn in a school, in a school system that’s understaffed. You know, a student can’t learn if they’re having mental health challenges either at home or in a school. So, funding these needs will help us in, in ensuring that we’re meeting our students exactly where they are,” said Busher. The report also shows the pandemic continues to impact students learning. It compared PSSA, Pennsylvania System School Assessment, testing scores which revealed English Language Arts has not bounced back to pre-pandemic levels. In several cases math scores equaled or surpassed pre-pandemic levels. Science is the strongest subject.

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