NGA Transition Won’t End Push for ‘Innovation’

Acme, Mich.

Even though her stint as chair of the National Governors Association ended last week, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is forging ahead with her national “Innovation America” initiative by forming a new foundation and convening a task force to recommend ways of reshaping public schools to help students better compete globally.

“This is my innovative way of keeping the agenda going,” Ms. Napolitano, a Democrat, said in an interview. “Now we’re looking at really tying innovation into the economic future of the states. The vast majority of governors are now engaged in this subject.”

The subject of innovation is, indeed, a broad one. The initiative’s education and technology agenda focused on states’ building strong, competitive K-12 systems with a heavy emphasis on math and science. Ms. Napolitano worked on getting colleges and universities to better connect with their state and regional economies. And she tried to get business leaders...