(The Center Square) – Taxpayers in Allegheny County spent $262,000 last year to stock schools with period supplies as part of a broader $3 million grant program used statewide.
Serving more than 750 schools across the commonwealth, the funding is among the most generous in the country, where more than half of states and Washington, D.C., have already created programs to offer period supplies, like menstrual pads and tampons, to students. While the way states pay for it varies, roughly half fully fund their programs with taxpayer dollars.
Gov. Josh Shapiro wants to double the grant funding in his budget proposal – an idea that Pittsburgh Sterrett Classical Academy Principal Dr. Michele Holly said Monday supports “the whole child, socially, academically and emotionally.”
“For many of our students, access to these products are not guaranteed outside of school,” she said during a news conference with Health Secretary Debra Bogen. “By making them available here, we are sending a clear message you are supported, you belong and your wellbeing matters.”
Bogen pointed to studies that show one in four students struggle to afford period hygiene products, and often miss school entirely.
“We cannot build a competitive Pennsylvania if we are leaving a quarter of our students on the sideline every month,” she said. “We are removing a barrier that should have never existed in the first place. Period products are school supplies. Period”
Critics of the program worry, however, that its recurring funding could lapse in future budgets, leaving strained school districts to foot the bill. Others say its not the role of government to cover the cost, with state Rep. Stephanie Borowicz, R-Clinton, once comparing it to communism.
