In addition to nominating Houston Schools Superintendent Roderick Paige as Secretary of Education in his new administration, President George W. Bush named a 31-member education advisory panel to function during the transition period. The advisory board includes educators, researchers, government officials, community leaders, and business leaders. Several are outspoken advocates of school choice; others have expressed concerns about the quality of U.S. math and science education; and some are fierce critics of how the present governance system for the public schools ill-serves poor and minority families.
Key among them is Florida’s Lt. Governor Frank Brogan, who helped craft the Bush-Brogan A-Plus education plan with Florida Governor Jeb Bush. The A-Plus program provides vouchers to children who attend chronically low-performing schools.
Also notable is Bush’s selection of several panel members whose work focuses on the early acquisition of reading skills, including Sharon Darling, Reid Lyon, Phyllis Hunter, and Susan Neuman. Creating voucher options and improving early reading achievement are high priorities for the new President.
Bush named to his education panel:
Williamson M. Evers, Hoover Institution
Lamar Alexander, Former Governor of Tennessee, Former Secretary of Education
Norman R. Augustine, Lockheed-Martin
Keith Bailey, Williams Companies
Frank Brogan, Lieutenant Governor of Florida
John Chambers, Cisco Systems, Inc.
Sharon Darling, National Center for Family Literacy
Chester Finn, Thomas B. Fordham Foundation
Floyd Flake, Edison Charter Schools
Howard Fuller, Institute for the Transformation of Learning
Lisa Graham Keegan, Arizona Department of Education
Eugene Hickok, Pennsylvania Department of Education
Phyllis Hunter, Texas Reading Initiative
Robert King, State University of New York
Reid Lyon, Child Development Branch – National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Mitch Maidique, Florida International University
Bruno Manno, Annie E. Casey Foundation
John McKernan, Former Governor of Maine
Charles Miller, Meridian Advisors, Ltd.
Darla Moore, Rainwater, Inc.
Lynne Munson, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy
Diana S. Natalicio, University of Texas – El Paso
Susan Neuman, Center for Improvement of Early Reading Achievement, University of Michigan
Hugh B. Price, National Urban League
Diane Ravitch, New York University
Ed Rust, State Farm Insurance
Ted Sanders, Education Commission of the States
Andrew Sorenson, University of Alabama
Paul Vallas, Chicago Public Schools
Maris Vinovskis, University of Michigan
Mark Yudof, University of Minnesota
