NCoGS

Pennsylvania's Governor's Schools of Excellence may go the way of the South Carolina Governor's School at the College of Charleston and the New Jersey Governor's School of the Arts if Pennsylvania Governor Rendell receives legislative support for his proposed 2009-2010 budget. Several news sources have reported that the governor's proposed budget eliminates all eight Governor's Schools of Excellence.

News of the struggles Pennsylvania's programs are experiencing follows the complete de-funding of the South Carolina Governor's School at the College of Charleston earlier this year. That program, which had run at the College of Charleston for decades, was cancelled for lack of funding. Additionally, we have learned that, two years following the elimination of state funding for the Governor's Schools of New Jersey, the New Jersey Governor's School for the Arts program has been cancelled for 2009.

Pennsylvania alumni have started a Facebook group called "Save the Govies," which as of this writing includes over 2000 members, to mount grass-root support for saving the Pennsylvania Governor's Schools of Excellence. The National Conference of Governor's Schools supports this and other efforts to publicize these decisions and preserve these programs, and the Executive Committee has written a formal letter and email message to Governor Rendell encouraging the state to preserve Pennsylvania's programs.

We encourage others to voice support for Pennsylvania's Governor's Schools for Excellence. You can contact Governor Rendell directly by email at http://sites.state.pa.us/PA_Exec/Governor/govmail.html. And we encourage others to voice support for programs that face serious funding problems in the coming months. Express how important governor's schools are to the students they serve, to the teaching profession, and to the future of our nation's leadership. Encourage Pennsylvania legislators and other decision makers throughout the country to follow the lead of states that, despite the difficult funding challenges they face, will hold their Governor's School programs as planned this summer.