Ross teacher recognized during Gov. Shapiro's budget address

A teacher from Ross Elementary School enjoyed an opportunity to be recognized during Gov. Josh Shapiro’s first budget address on Tuesday.

Third grade teacher Jess Porter, 27, a Ross native who now lives in Mt. Washington, traveled to Harrisburg and was not only named in Shapiro’s speech but he asked her to stand up and be recognized.

The governor was acknowledging individuals delivering results that “the good people of Pennsylvania deserve.”

“People like Jess Porter, a third grade teacher — stand up Jess — a third grade teacher from Pittsburgh. Jess works hard every day to give her students the skills and the knowledge that they need to succeed, to give them a shot and open up the doors of opportunity regardless of their ZIP code,” Shapiro said.

“Jess just wants the Commonwealth to give a damn about her students and ensure that they have access to quality education and a safe, healthy learning environment. Jess is with us today as a reminder of the work we need to do to create opportunity for all of God’s children.”

Porter said the opportunity for her to attend the governor’s budget address came about after she had done some work last fall for the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) and was sharing campaign content on social media.

“PSEA reached out to me because of my following and they wanted me to share campaign content about Josh Shapiro and how he’s an advocate for education, mostly to get young educators to get involved and to vote,” Porter said. “I guess Josh Shapiro was looking for a young educator to attend, and they chose me from there.”

Porter said she was very excited and surprised to be asked to attend.

“It was sort of last minute. My mom actually came with me too. She’s my biggest fan,” she said. Porter also had an opportunity to speak with the governor in his office prior to his budget address and attend a luncheon at his residence afterward.

“He really listened to us,” Porter said. “and I got to share with him about my classroom and some of my thoughts about education.”

She said she supports Shapiro’s education initiatives.

“Overall, it made me really hopeful for education because there is a teacher shortage. Teachers are burning out and leaving the field at a rapid rate and less people are going into education,” Porter said. “We also are very short on support staff — school counselors, all across the board — and he has a lot of initiatives in place that really inspired hope.

“I was also honest with him that we also need to think of ways to retain our current teachers.”

Porter told Shapiro that teachers should make at least $60,000 per year in Pennsylvania.

“He was very empathetic,” she said. “It seems like he truly cares, and he’s going to be a champion for teachers and students.”

Shapiro told Porter he wanted to stay in touch and would love to visit her classroom one day in Ross.