Harrisburg, PA – In the two weeks since his first budget address, Governor Josh Shapiro has traveled across the Commonwealth to discuss his budget’s commonsense proposals to rebuild Pennsylvania’s workforce.

Governor Shapiro visited the Pennsylvania Police Academy in Hershey, George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science in Philadelphia, the Lackawanna College Police Academy in Scranton, Gwynedd Mercy University in Gwynedd Valley, Colfax K-8 Elementary School in Pittsburgh, and Mercyhurst Municipal Police Academy in Erie to hear firsthand about the challenges teachers, police officers, and nurses are facing and reaffirm his Administration’s commitment to creating good schools, safe communities, and healthy families.

Workforce shortages are among the most significant challenges facing the Commonwealth today – and Governor Shapiro’s commonsense proposal includes solutions to put more nurses, teachers, and police officers in our communities by putting up to $2,500 back per year, for three years in Pennsylvanians’ pockets if they join these professions.

Read what frontline leaders across the state are saying about Governor Shapiro’s budget investments in teachers, nurses, and police officers:

Pittsburgh Colfax K-8 Principal Dr. Tamara Sanders-Woods: “We are ecstatic to learn about specific attention and proposals that include supports to rebuild our workforce and that offers opportunities to those who aspire to a career in education. It is our hope that these efforts will help recruit and retain quality educators into our schools. Our students deserve it, educators deserve it, and our world needs it.”

Student Teacher Megan Ost: “It is important to note that Pennsylvania is in deep need for great, passionate, and hardworking educators. To help incentivize this in his budget, the Governor is proposing a refundable tax credit of up to $2,500 each year, every year for three years for anyone who earns a new license or certification in teaching. I believe this can really impact new educators and help those passionate about teaching.”

Scranton Police Chief Thomas Carroll: “I am very passionate about public service, and more importantly, about public safety. The difficulty of maintaining public safety increases when staffing shortfalls exist. Our dedicated officers will always face the challenges and cover those shortfalls, but it’s not sustainable. I, like my fellow public safety counterparts, am concerned about the impact of the shortfalls to our operations over time. For the first time in our history, we have developed a comprehensive recruiting initiative to motivate good people to accept the challenges of policing and join our forces. Governor, we appreciate you understanding the seriousness of our staffing needs, promoting law enforcement’s legitimacy, and proposing recruitment incentives for public safety positions.”

Mercyhurst Police Academy Cadet Jose Montes: “Our class of cadets come from many walks of life of varying ages and different stages of their careers, but we all have one common goal – and that is to serve the communities that we love and treasure. We are very fortunate to have like-minded people also serving in the government like Governor Shapiro and his staff. We’re thankful that Governor Shapiro is innovative and taking actionable steps to put us in a better position to serve and protect, like introducing a tax credit for new officers in Pennsylvania.”

Gwynedd Mercy University President Deanne D’Emilio: “This bold initiative recognizes the very real need to attract and retain more highly qualified nursing professionals in PA. We are grateful for the Governor’s commitment to strengthening the workforce in the Commonwealth and we are delighted to be part of the solution to this pressing need.”

Gwynedd Mercy University Student Brooke: “I’m here today to have a conversation with Governor Shapiro about his recent tax proposal. So I actually work as a tech in a hospital currently and I definitely see how short staffing can negatively affect the patient outcome at the end of the day. Short staffing directly relates to patient safety. When you don’t have enough nurses to take care of all of their patients adequately, it’s not going to have as beneficial of an outcome for the patients at the end of the day. What he’s doing with targeting the younger generation and the people who are going to lead our future – I think it’s very important to have that conversation and to kind of start there and be able to just get perspective. Perspective is so, so, so vital and important in these situations. I mean, we see firsthand in the field, what’s going on, we have that firsthand experience and knowledge, so to be able to get that is vital.”