The end of her 30-year career as a high school Spanish teacher is bittersweet, state Republican-elect Nikki Rivera said, knowing she will abandon her students but defend them and others across the commonwealth the next time she heads to the Pennsylvania Capitol year.
Rivera, a Democrat, was elected to the 96th Legislative District seat in Lancaster County over state Rep. Mike Sturla (D-Lancaster) announced in August he will finish his re-election campaign and retire at the end of his term. Rivera won the election by a 20% margin over Republican Eric Beezer.
First elected to the Manheim Township school principal position in 2016, Rivera told the Capital-Star in August that she hopes to continue Sturla’s work. He was one of the state lawmakers who developed a plan to reform education funding after a state court found Pennsylvania’s system unconstitutional.
“I feel good knowing that I will continue to advocate for public education at the state level. I like the transition I’m making in the career I will pursue in the future,” Rivera said.
In addition to teaching and serving as president of the Manheim City School Board, Rivera also serves as vice president of the Intermediate Unit, which provides educational services and support to schools in Lancaster County and Lebanon.
Rivera was preparing for parent-teacher meetings at Warwick High School in Lititz when she spoke to the Capital-Star in November about her district, the issues it faces and its legislative priorities.
Capital-Star: What’s unique about the 96th district?
Rivera: House District 96 is very diverse in that I have an urban district and a suburban district, and I go from the middle of Lancaster City to Lititz in the suburbs, and then further east to the East Petersburg district. So it’s a very diverse population.
Not every aspect of House District 96 has the same needs. So I will have to pay attention to the needs of each commune.
As a member of the Central Pennsylvania delegation to the House Democratic Caucus, I will work closely with Representative Smith Wade-El and Reading area representatives. So I’ll be working directly with people who are close to me and, as you know, as we move north into reading, have similar demographics.
People buy homes in Manheim Parish and the Lancaster area because of the high quality of schools. Living here is a great attraction for people, property values, it is a very desirable area and the population of Manheim in particular continues to grow, unlike many of its neighbors
CS What are the biggest issues facing your district?
Rivera: All three schools covering House District 96 are underfunded. So mitigating property tax increases by having equitably funded schools and fully funded schools will be a priority for me, especially after 30 years in teaching.
I believe that equitable funding for education is paramount because having a well-educated population leads to a great economy, health and well-being, and so on.
The city of Lancaster is significantly more underfunded than Manheim Township, which is underfunded to a much greater extent than the Hempfield School District.
They have great programs, but a fair approach to educating our children would be to bring everything in line with other schools across the state. It shouldn’t matter what zip code they come from. It should be fairly financed.
This is not implemented as quickly as it should be. That’s why I think there’s still a lot of work to be done and there needs to be pressure, not only to augment funding to a level that will bring us into compliance with the constitution, but also on the things that were not included in the budget, which is the reform of the cybersecurity charter.
Although more funds flowed in, there was no control over how they were spent.
CS: Do you plan to introduce any legislation after taking the oath of office?
Rivera: I’m part of a gigantic team, a statewide team, so I want to collaborate as much as I can. But of course my priorities are education and a living wage. If we have a full-time job in Turkey Hill that pays a certain wage, then there should be housing in the area that matches that wage. And we certainly suffer from a housing shortage. So there are a lot of things I’m considering collaborating on, but I don’t have an exact list yet.
