School & District Management

Schools Advocate Gets Security Job

By Michele McNeil — December 08, 2008 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat who is an ardent advocate for education—and its link to the broader economy and jobs—is headed to a Cabinet post as secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The move takes Gov. Napolitano, an early supporter of President-elect Barack Obama and a top contender for several Cabinet jobs, out of the running for secretary of education. That was still a post waiting for its nominee as of last week.

Ms. Napolitano’s selection, announced Dec. 1, will leave Arizona firmly in the GOP’s hands, because the state’s Republican secretary of state, Jan Brewer, is next in line for the governor’s office. Republicans control the legislature.

During her six years in office, Gov. Napolitano, 51, has been best known on the education front for successfully implementing free, full-day kindergarten for all children.

“That was huge, and it was very, very politically difficult,” said Janice Palmer, the director of governmental relations for the Arizona School Boards Association.

First elected in 2002, the governor also wielded her veto pen several times to protect education funding, actions that also didn’t go unnoticed by education advocates.

She championed literacy, and from her first year in office raised public money to give free books to the state’s 1st and 4th graders.

One of Gov. Napolitano’s last tasks will be delivering a balanced-budget proposal for fiscal 2010. Arizona’s deficit for fiscal year 2010 is already more than $2 billion, out of a $9.9 billion budget.

The governor acknowledged leaving office in “difficult times,” according to the statement her office put out on her new job.

Ms. Napolitano made innovation in education a cornerstone of her tenure as the chairwoman of the National Governors Association in 2006-07. She was helping to marshal the governors behind an effort to benchmark academic standards to international ones, and was announced as a co-chair of an advisory group on the issue in September. An NGA spokesman said last week that she’ll stay on board with that project until her move to Washington becomes official.

A version of this article appeared in the December 10, 2008 edition of Education Week

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School & District Management The Eclipse Is Great for Learning. But It's Tough on School Logistics
A total solar eclipse will cross a large swath of the country on April 8, sparking tough management choices for leaders of the districts in its path.
5 min read
A woman and stands outside with her arm on the back of a boy as they look up at the sky while wearing special paper glasses made for viewing a solar eclipse.
Jackie Johnson and her son Bradley Johnson, 9, watch a partial solar eclipse at the Frost Science Museum on Oct. 14, 2023, in downtown Miami. In 2024, some districts are planning to delay or cancel school on the day of a total eclipse, out of safety concerns.
Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald via AP
School & District Management Opinion A Good Principal Knows When It's Time to Leave
I didn’t leave my job because of burnout; I stepped away from being a school leader because it was in everybody’s best interest.
Matthew Ebert
4 min read
Conceptual illustration of someone handing off a baton to someone else over a completed puzzle.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week via Canva
School & District Management Principals Tell Politicians on Capitol Hill: We’re Burning Out
Students' mental health top principals' growing list of concerns.
6 min read
People walk outside the U.S Capitol building in Washington, June 9, 2022.
Visitors walk outside the U.S Capitol building in Washington on June 9, 2022.
Patrick Semansky/AP
School & District Management Women Superintendents Experience Bias on the Climb to Leadership
Interpersonal slights and inequities make it hard for women to land the job and stay in it.
3 min read
Woman stands in front of a staircase in different colors. She is about to walk up the stairs. Concept of standing in front of a challenge and finding the right solution and courage to move on.
mikkelwilliam/E+