An Act amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), known as the Public School Code of 1949, establishing the Newly Employed Teacher Grant Program.

PRINTER'S NO. 3354
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 2482
Session of
2026
INTRODUCED BY PROKOPIAK, DOUGHERTY, PROBST, GOUGHNOUR, FREEMAN,
SANCHEZ, INGLIS, MALAGARI, NEILSON, DONAHUE, CEPEDA-FREYTIZ,
MULLINS, FLEMING AND STEELE, MAY 4, 2026
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, MAY 6, 2026
AN ACT
Amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), entitled "An
act relating to the public school system, including certain
provisions applicable as well to private and parochial
schools; amending, revising, consolidating and changing the
laws relating thereto," establishing the Newly Employed
Teacher Grant Program.
The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:
(1) The General Assembly finds that this Commonwealth is
currently experiencing a significant teacher shortage.
(2) Resources should be directed to newly employed
teachers in this Commonwealth in an effort to attract and
retain them in the education workforce.
(3) To alleviate financial burden placed on newly
employed teachers establishing an engaging and effective
experience for their students, the General Assembly is
committed to providing funding for newly employed teacher-
requested classroom supplies.
(4) The purpose of this act is to provide funds to the
Department of Education for newly employed teacher-requested
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classroom supplies.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. The act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), known
as the Public School Code of 1949, is amended by adding an
article to read:
ARTICLE XII-D
NEWLY EMPLOYED TEACHER GRANT PROGRAM
Section 1201-D. Scope of article.
This article relates to providing a grant to newly employed
teachers.
Section 1202-D. Definitions.
The following words and phrases when used in this article
shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Administrative costs." Operational expenses to facilitate
the implementation of section 1203-D, not to exceed Federal de
minimus rate, as issued by the Office of Management and Budget.
"Classroom supplies." Materials, equipment and tools used to
facilitate teaching and learning.
"Department." The Department of Education of the
Commonwealth.
"Newly employed teacher." A person who holds a valid
Pennsylvania teaching certificate and has been employed by a
school entity for approximately 24 months.
"Online e-commerce platform." A consumer interface for a
vendor that can meet the requirements under section 1205-D and
facilitate a commercial transaction, which shall include the
transmission of funds for data or both, conducted electronically
via the Internet.
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"Program." The Newly Employed Teacher Grant Program
established under section 1203-D.
"School entity." A school district, intermediate unit, area
career and technical school, charter school, regional charter
school or cyber charter school operating within this
Commonwealth.
Section 1203-D. Establishment.
The Newly Employed Teacher Grant Program is established
within the department to award grants to newly employed teachers
who request classroom supplies to the extent that money is
appropriated for this purpose.
Section 1204-D. Duties of department.
The department shall:
(1) In accordance with 62 Pa.C.S. (relating to
procurement), select and enter into an agreement with one or
more online e-commerce platforms to administer the program.
An online e-commerce platform must demonstrate prior
experience operating a Statewide or multidistrict program
that provides direct, itemized classroom supplies with real-
time public transparency prior to being selected by the
department.
(2) Establish a process to ensure that purchases by
newly employed teachers who have been awarded a grant are
restricted to online purchases of classroom supplies from
department-selected online e-commerce platforms.
(3) Establish a grant application in accordance with
section 1206-D and issue guidelines that advise grant
applicants which classroom supplies are eligible for grant
funding.
(4) Require annual reporting from an online e-commerce
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platform that includes the following:
(i) Program utilization.
(ii) Geographic distribution of funds.
(iii) Timeliness of disbursements.
(iv) The amount of payments received from the
department for administrative costs.
(v) Insights, trends and anecdotal experiences from
newly employed teachers who were awarded funds about how
grant funding was used in the classrooms. This data shall
include the following demographics:
(A) School entity information, including grade
level breakdown.
(B) Average poverty level in school entities
where newly employed teachers received funding under
the program.
(C) A comparison of urban and rural school
trends.
(D) Amount of funds awarded to each type of
school entity.
Section 1205-D. Duties of online e-commerce platforms.
An online e-commerce platform selected by the department
shall:
(1) Operate an established fiscal management and payment
system that ensures that State funds are not commingled or
retained for discretionary use beyond administrative costs
that are permitted in accordance with the contract entered
into with the department.
(2) Review grant applications submitted by newly
employed teachers.
(3) Process and award the allocation of funds to the
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user accounts of newly employed teachers for online purchases
of classroom supplies from an online e-commerce platform for
grants not to exceed $500 per school year.
(4) Accept donations from corporations and nonprofit
organizations to provide additional funding for the program.
(5) Publicly post, in a searchable and user-accessible
format, project-level information, including the school
entity information of the requesting teacher, purposes of
funds, amount awarded and status of fulfillment, protecting
personally identifiable student information.
(6) Maintain a publicly accessible record of all funded
program expenditures for a minimum of five years.
(7) Submit an annual report to the department no later
than June 15, 2027, and each June 15 thereafter.
Section 1206-D. Creation and submission of application.
(a) Department.--No later than May 31, 2026, the department
shall:
(1) Establish and publish on the department's publicly
accessible Internet website the application and guidelines
for the program.
(2) Transmit notice of the availability of the
application and guidelines to the Legislative Reference
Bureau for publication in the next available issue of the
Pennsylvania Bulletin.
(b) Submission.--The online e-commerce platform shall accept
applications for funding from newly employed teachers no later
than July 15, 2026, and each July 15 thereafter.
Section 1207-D. Classroom supplies awarded with grant funds.
All classroom supplies purchased by newly employed teachers
through funds awarded through the program shall become property
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of the school entity employing the newly employed teacher.
Section 1208-D. Reports to General Assembly.
No later than September 1, 2027, and each September 1
thereafter, the department shall provide a report to the
chairperson and minority chairperson of the Education Committee
of the Senate and the chairperson and minority chairperson of
the Education Committee of the House of Representatives. The
report shall include the following:
(1) The amount of funds requested by newly employed
teachers during the previous school year.
(2) The amount of funds distributed to newly employed
teachers during the previous school year.
(3) A list of approved items purchased with grant funds
during the previous school year.
(4) Information reported to the department by online e-
commerce platforms.
Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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