Governors seeking greater ed. oversight

It is clear that one of the biggest trends so far in 2011 is for governors to seek a more substantial role in overseeing education:

• Governor Kasich in Ohio has appointed a secretary of education.
• Governor Gregoire in Washington is seeking to consolidate early learning, K-12 and higher education under the authority of a gubernatorally-appointed secretary of education.
• Governor Kitzhaber in Oregon has issued an executive order creating an Oregon Education Investment Team to redesign education funding and governance from birth through higher education. Legislation has also been introduced that would make the governor the state superintendent, responsible for appointing a deputy
  

Not to mention that in their 2011 state-of-the-state addresses, several governors mentioned a redesign of education governance among their goals for the coming year. More about those proposals in a future post.