Gerald L. Zahorchak is an American educator and the former Secretary of Education for the Pennsylvania Department of Education, a position he held from 2006 to 2010. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Zahorchak worked at various Pennsylvania public school districts in a number of positions, including teacher, football coach, principal, federal programs director, strategic planning coordinator and personnel director. Zahorchak worked as superintendent of the Greater Johnstown School District in Cambria County from 1997 to 2003, when he was chosen to be Deputy Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education for the state. Governor Ed Rendell appointed him Secretary of Education in 2005.
During his tenure as secretary, Zahorchak implemented state funding for pre-kindergarten and full-day kindergarten, developed a new school funding formula, helped increase education funding for school districts, and established the Keystone Exams and the state's Standards Aligned System. In 2010, Zahorchak announced he would leave the Secretary of Education position, coinciding with Rendell's pending departure from the governorship. On April 22, 2010, Zahorchak was selected to be superintendent of the Allentown School District in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where he vowed to establish regular updates to families about their students education, improve safety in schools and implement incentives to attract qualified minorities and top education students into teaching positions.
Early career
A native of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Zahorchak received a bachelor's degree master in 1980 from Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania, and a master of education degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1986. In 1994, Zahorchak received his doctorate in education from Pennsylvania State University, where he wrote his doctoral dissertation on state policy-making. Zahorchak began his educational career in 1980 at the Greater Johnstown School District in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, where he spent two years an elementary school teacher. In 1985, he became a middle school reading and language arts in the North Star School District in Somerset County, where he also coached varsity high school football. Zahorchak taught at North Star until 1989, when he started working at the Shanksville-Stonycreek School District, also in Somerset County. During his three years in the district, he worked as an elementary and secondary principal, as well as a federal programs director. In 1992, he returned to the North Star School District as a principal and strategic planning coordinator. Zahorchak also previously served as an elected member of the Greater Johnstown School Board, and was a Johnstown city councilman, the Johnston deputy major and president of the Johnstown Rotary in 2003.
Zahorchak returned to the Greater Johnstown School District in 1996 as a federal programs and personnel director. In 1997, he was promoted to superintendent, a position he held for six years. During his tenure as superintendent, Zahorchak implemented full-day kindergarten, pre-kindergarten and tutoring programs. He also pursued high school reform and hired reading and math coaches to boost student learning.
Early state career
In March 2003, Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Vicki Phillips hired Zahorchak as Deputy Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education, where he oversaw the education of more than 1.8 million children public school children in the state. Zahorchak helped implement the release of Pennsylvania's first Academic Achievement Reports, and led the development and implementation of support systems for public schools trying to meet No Child Left Behind targets. By 2005, Zahorchak was making a yearly salary of $124,458.