Former Governors

The Hunt Institute is excited to expand its work and build on its extensive relationships with former governors to provide a platform for their continued engagement on issues of education. As a nonprofit created by former North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt, we understand the value of leveraging former governors’ experience and knowledge. Our Hunt-Kean Leadership Fellows Advisory Board is comprised exclusively of former governors and we have recently developed a new webinar series, Governing Principals, featuring conversations with former governors on the most pressing education topics.

Thought Leadership that’s Driving the Conversation

While in office, governors have the opportunity to have a profound effect on their state’s education policy, and can continue to influence policy long after they leave office. This past year, several former governors have lent their voices to important conversations on issues exacerbated by COVID-19, including:

• Children Are Going Hungry Without School Meals, Governors Jim Hunt (NC) & Susana Martinez (NM)
• Closing the Digital Divide Now is an Investment in our Future, Governor Bob Wise (WV)
• Colleges Must Support the Most Vulnerable, Governor Jack Markell (DE)
• The Urgent Need to Rethink How We Fund Our Schools, Governor Jim Douglas (VT)
• COVID-19 Should Help Us End Education Excuses, Governor Martin O’Malley (MD)
• Education Investment will Drive COVID Recovery, Governor Terry McAuliffe (VA)
• COVID-19 is Putting Preschool Access for Many Nonwhite Children at Risk, Governor Phil Bryant (MS)
• Bridge the Digital Divide for Students with Disabilities, Governor Tom Ridge (PA)
• Needed Now: Federal Help for Students’ Disrupted Lives, Governors Bob Taft (OH) and Bob Wise (WV)
• America must Challenge Education Inequities or we Will Fall Further Behind, Governor Parris Glendening (MD)
• If We Want to Repair the US Job Market Following the Pandemic, We Need to Reshape America’s Education System, Governor Mary Fallin (OK)
• COVID and College – We can’t let a Pandemic Upend the Future for our Most Vulnerable Kids, Governor Janet Napolitano (AZ)
• Keeping Higher Education Going Amid COVID Yields Critical Lessons, Governor Dannel Malloy (CT)
• A Post-COVID Reinvention of Higher Education, Governor Bobby Jindal (LA)
• Kids are Missing More Than Classroom Learning Due to COVID-19, Governor Peter Shumlin (VT)
• Teachers Deserve our Appreciation Every Day, Governor Tom Kean (NJ)
• Reopening Schools Must Help Special Needs Students, Governor Susana Martinez (NM)
• The Skilled Workforce the Clean Energy Economy Will Need, Governor Bill Ritter (CO)
• The Funding and Will to Transform Education are Here – We Must Seize the Moment, Governor Bob Wise (WV) and Hunt Institute President & CEO Dr. Javaid Siddiqi
• Three Education Priorities that Should Shape Reauthorization of the Every Student Succeeds Act, Governor Ed Rendell (PA)
• As schools recover, we must sustain innovations that have proven successful during COVID-19, Governor Jane Swift (MA)
• Former Utah governor has tips for building a stronger post-pandemic teacher force, Governor Gary Herbert (UT)
• Dual Enrollment Can Help Fix the High School-to-College Pathway for Students Hit Hardest by COVID-19, Former Governor Bev Perdue (NC)
• A COVID Constituency of Parents, Teachers, and Voters Wants Learning Loss Addressed. Personalized Education is 1 of the Answers, Former Governor Wise

Governors’ Advisors Retreat

The first annual Governors’ Advisors Retreat was held in February 2020 and brought together 90 participants from 22 states to engage in discussions on workforce development. The private meeting gave gubernatorial staff and other key state advisors an opportunity to discuss critical issues facing their states, with an eye toward problem identification, coalition building, and implementation. In addition to gubernatorial staff attendees, former governors engaged in discussion about the essential role of the governor in promoting education and the workforce.

The Hunt Institute will continue to bring together Governors’ advisors and other state leaders to discuss the work that is most pressing at the time. We aim to equip leaders not only with the policy knowledge necessary to create change, but the relationships necessary to create that change across sectors and departments.

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Governors Education Symposium

The Hunt Institute launched its inaugural event with the first symposium designed for governors by governors – a first of its kind meeting by any organization – in December 2002 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. More than 20 governors from around the nation participated in the convening known as the Governors Education Symposium (GES).

Ever since, the GES has brought governors together in a private, non-partisan setting to receive in-depth information from experts and engage in candid dialogue about the best approaches to critical challenges facing education. Each meeting examines a variety of core education issues, incorporating information from nationally recognized experts and providing governors an opportunity to interact with these experts and share practices in their states. The intimate setting allows governors to engage with their peers about the successes and challenges they have encountered within their own states.