The event, titled "Public Education in Your State: Setting the Agenda and Staying the Course -- A Symposium by Governors for Governors," was hosted by the James B. Hunt Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy. The institute is a nonprofit organization that assists governors and other education leaders in developing effective education policies.
Twenty-two current, outgoing and incoming governors -- including N.C. Gov. Mike Easley -- are attending the two-day symposium, focusing on how they can accomplish their state's education goals.
"We want to help government really learn those critical things you have to do to make your schools excellent," Hunt said. "We have to get governors to action -- to assert their leadership. That means big changes, not small, little changes. We've got to have a quantum leap in the quality and skill of political leadership."
Hunt said Easley has shown courage in educational leadership by implementing policies to reduce class size, to establish the "More at Four" program and to raise teacher salaries.
UNC-system President Molly Broad said both Hunt and Easley have taken appropriate measures to secure education as a priority in legislation.
"North Carolina is blessed," she said. "I must commend Governor Easley for his stout-hearted commitment to protecting the classroom. He held firm, and he succeeded, and that gives us confidence that he will be able to do it again."
Easley said he hopes old and new governors alike will take the initiative to support education in their respective states.
"You, as governors, have to lead in education," he said. "It's not going to happen on the federal level; it's not going to happen on the local level. You have to make sure the funding is there.
"You don't have to come in and change everything. You have to work together -- one administration with the next."
