SCRANTON — Jennifer Telesco sees the impact of increased state funding on the faces of students as they achieve their goals and embrace new opportunities.
The former first grade teacher at John Adams Elementary School — who now serves as president of the Scranton Federation of Teachers — stressed the billons of dollars invested into public schools over the past several years have made a significant difference in the classroom as Gov. Josh Shapiro visited Neil Armstrong Elementary on Wednesday.
“Our students are at the utmost importance of using these funds,” Telesco said. “Just being able to see our students, and seeing their delight where they’re able to achieve a variety of different classes, that’s what we want to see. It’s incredibly overwhelming, but incredible to think of how much the governor and our state legislators are investing in public schools in Pennsylvania, especially in Scranton. Our schools have struggled for an incredibly long time because we’ve been historically underfunded. To see us making some gains, both to financially support our schools and reflecting in our academics, is incredibly encouraging.”
Governor Josh Shapiro speaks during an event in the library of Neil Armstrong Elementary School in Scranton Wednesday, September 2, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Superintendent of the Scranton School District Erin Keating speaks during an event in the library of Neil Armstrong Elementary School in Scranton Wednesday, September 2, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
State Rep. Bridget Kosierowski speaks during an event in the library of Neil Armstrong Elementary School in Scranton Wednesday, September 2, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Governor Josh Shapiro speaks during an event in the library of Neil Armstrong Elementary School in Scranton Wednesday, September 2, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Governor Josh Shapiro speaks during an event in the library of Neil Armstrong Elementary School in Scranton Wednesday, September 2, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Education Carrie Rowe speaks during an event in the library of Neil Armstrong Elementary School in Scranton Wednesday, September 2, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Governor Josh Shapiro speaks during an event in the library of Neil Armstrong Elementary School in Scranton Wednesday, September 2, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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Governor Josh Shapiro speaks during an event in the library of Neil Armstrong Elementary School in Scranton Wednesday, September 2, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Shapiro and state Department of Education Secretary Carrie Rowe, Ed.D., visited the city school to tout an $11.85 billion increase in funding to Pennsylvania schools over the past three years.
The Scranton School District will receive $123.4 million in state funding this year, a 63.5% increase compared to the amount the district received when Shapiro took office.
The Shapiro administration awarded the district $1.3 million through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency’s School Safety & Mental Health Grant Program to hire social workers and strengthen school security; $1 million through the Public School Facility Improvement Grant Program to implement safety upgrades at the West Scranton High School and South Scranton Intermediate School; and $140,000 through PAsmart to expand students’ access to high-quality career pathways in advanced manufacturing, construction, digital technology, and energy, state officials said.
“Investing in education isn’t just about dollars and cents, it’s also about common sense,” Shapiro said. “It’s about making sure students have mental health counselors in their schools, making sure they can learn on full bellies, and making sure school infrastructure is upgraded.”
The governor noted about 30% of the new funding has been distributed to school districts that have been chronically underfunded in the past.
“We’re driving those dollars out in a new formula so the districts that need the most help are actually, for the first time, getting the most help,” Shapiro said.
Erin Keating, Ed.D., superintendent of the Scranton School District, expressed gratitude for the influx of new investments coming into the city schools.
“For far too long, we were historically underfunded,” she said. “We had to do more with less, which means programs disappear, opportunities for children go away, and educators are expected to stretch and stretch and stretch. When we see this increased funding in Pennsylvania, it matters. We’ve been extremely intentional in how we use these dollars. The ZIP code should never determine the educational offerings for a student, and the investments made in public education have allowed that to start to become a reality. We intend to make every single dollar count and capitalize on every opportunity for our teachers and students.”
Specifically, Keating said the district hired eight elementary STEM teachers and school counselors for grades five through eight — an age range where there are significant mental and behavioral health needs, she said.
The middle-school-related art schedule — dramatically cut when the district was going through financial recovery — has also been restored, providing students with access to world language, technology education, family and consumer science, music, art, health and physical education, and STEM, Keating added.
Being able to offset costs associated with kindergarten, English language development and technology education, as a result of the additional state funding, enabled the district to make significant investments in special education, Keating said.
The district now has 58 full-time autistic support classrooms and 21 full-time emotional support classrooms, she said
“We’ve seen dramatic need in those areas and built intensive programming to meet those needs,” Keating said. “These funds are being used to develop the continuum of services needed to meet the needs of those exceptional learners. When we talk about educational funding, we’re talking about children and we’re talking about essential things every child deserves in a school.”
State Rep. Kyle Donahue, D-113, Scranton, a former Scranton School Board director, lauded the current members for their continued efforts and the Shapiro administration for upping funding to the district.
“I’ve sat in your shoes before and that was when we were cutting programs because we weren’t being funded by the state,” he said of the directors. “Now, you have the ability to add programs. That was one of the reasons I ran for this office, because every child in Pennsylvania deserves access to a great education. For far too long, Pennsylvania failed to meet its constitutional responsibility to adequately fund public education, but we’re finally beginning to correct that, and students and families in Scranton are seeing the difference.”