Acting Pa. Education Secretary Pedro Rivera visits campus

Pennsylvania’s Acting Secretary of Education Pedro A. Rivera sat down with area school district superintendents and Lehigh College of Education faculty Tuesday, as they discussed public education and early childhood initiatives, state funding and workforce needs.

Rivera, who has been tapped by Gov. Tom Wolf to be the next education chief, spent the morning at the College of Education, where he met in separate sessions with the superintendents and COE faculty, then addressed members of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Lehigh Valley Workforce Development Council.

“We’re really excited about the future of education here in Pennsylvania,” said Dean Gary Sasso in welcoming Rivera to campus.

In his lunchtime chamber address, Rivera touted Wolf’s proposed state budget, which he said calls for an initial investment of more than $1 billion in public education. With education the governor’s top priority, he said, the education department “is working to take education back. We’re going to create an education agenda that’s focused on children, not on the issues of adults. We’re going to create an educational system that creates policies that impact teaching and learning.”

Rivera said the proposed budget includes more money for early childhood programs to better prepare students for K-12 and more school counselors to better prepare students for college and the workforce. He also talked about expanding career and technical education opportunities.

“We have to show that the educational system and what we put into the educational system is an investment and not a cost,” Rivera told those attending the luncheon, “because if we don’t invest in our pre-K thru 12 and higher education systems..., we’re talking about major costs – the costs of supporting a community that’s not educated, the cost of supporting a community that’s incarcerated, the cost of supporting a community that doesn’t have the professionals in place to sustain the great work that you’re doing today.”

Rivera, a first-generation college graduate, was already known to several of the education faculty and area superintendents. As the former superintendent of the School District of Lancaster, he was an advocate for distressed school districts and joined a lawsuit against the state over the issue of inadequate school funding.

Earlier, in his meeting with area superintendents, Rivera found a receptive audience.

“We don’t expect that you’ll get it all fixed,” one superintendent told him. “But we love that you’re trying.”

George White, professor of Educational Leadership and director of the Center for Developing Urban Education Leaders at Lehigh, helped organize Rivera’s visit to Lehigh. White had served on Wolf’s education transition review team as Wolf prepared to take office earlier this year. 

Photo by Christa Neu