Pennsylvania’s top education official announced that he is leaving the job
Written by Victoria Scialfa on August 5, 2020
Pennsylvania’s top education official announced that he is leaving the job
By Sarah Schneider, WESA
August 5, 2020
As school districts prepare to return to learning this fall, Pennsylvania’s top education official announced Tuesday that he is leaving the job. WESA’s Sarah Schneider reports Education Secretary Pedro Rivera was hired to be the president of a Technology College in Lancaster.
Rivera will remain education secretary through September. His top lieutenant Noe Ortega was nominated by Governor Tom Wolf to fill Rivera’s position. Rivera has been part of Wolf’s cabinet since his first term nearly five years ago. Before that he was a teacher and principal in the Philadelphia School District.
In a statement, Wolf praised Rivera’s efforts to adopt the current education funding formula that was intended to equitably distribute money to districts.
Ortega previously worked in the National Center for Institutional Diversity. He has led state efforts to diversify teaching ranks in Pennsylvania. Recent data show that less than 5 percent of the state’s public education teachers are people of color. I’m Sarah Schneider in Pittsburgh.
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