SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 Schools across Northeastern Pennsylvania will receive more than $412,000 in state funding to provide free menstrual products to students as Pennsylvania expands a program aimed at reducing barriers to school attendance.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Debra Bogen visited West Scranton High School Thursday to highlight the initiative, which received another $3 million in the 2026-27 state budget.<\/p>\n
The latest allocation brings Pennsylvania’s total investment in the program to $9 million over three consecutive state budgets, according to the Shapiro administration.<\/p>\n
In Northeastern Pennsylvania, schools across 10 counties are set to receive a combined $412,604.52. The Scranton School District alone has been allocated nearly $17,000.<\/p>\n
The regional allocations include $85,549.74 for Luzerne County, $50,613.59 for Lackawanna County and $42,679.05 for Monroe County.<\/p>\n
Other allocations include $101,753.22 for Lehigh County, $81,420.66 for Northampton County, $14,471.60 for Carbon County, $12,593.29 for Pike County, $11,071.10 for Susquehanna County, $7,301.79 for Wayne County and $5,150.48 for Wyoming County.<\/p>\n
State officials said more than 750 school districts, intermediate units, career and technical centers and brick-and-mortar charter schools participate in the initiative.<\/p>\n
Funding for qualifying schools will be based on enrollment as of October 2025, with schools receiving $1.81 per student, an increase from previous years.<\/p>\n
The administration said the program is expected to make free period products available to more than 650,000 girls across Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
State officials cited national research indicating one in four girls struggles to afford menstrual products and 23% have missed class because they lacked access to them.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot having access to period products should never lead to a missed day of school,\u201d Bogen said. \u201cWhen a student is forced to stay home because she lacks basic health essentials, it doesn’t just derail one lesson\u2014it creates a ripple effect that impacts her grades, graduation, and future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scranton School District Superintendent Dr. Erin Keating said providing the products can help students remain focused on their education instead of worrying about whether they have access to basic necessities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile it seems small, this initiative is a massive investment in both education and the destigmatization of menstruation in our society,\u201d Keating said.<\/p>\n
Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti also praised the program, saying eliminating barriers to attendance can contribute to students’ long-term educational and career success.<\/p>\n
Schools receiving the money are encouraged by the state to consider privacy, accessibility, responsiveness and education when determining how menstrual products are made available to students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 Schools across Northeastern Pennsylvania will receive more than $412,000 in state funding to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":["post-264721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}