POLICYMAKER EXCELLENCE AWARD - STATE AND LOCAL

THE HONORABLE JANET NAPOLITANO
Governor
State of Arizona

Governor Janet Napolitano has made the education and protection of Arizona's children the driving force of her administration. She is an effective chief executive who has focused on moving Arizona forward. When Governor Napolitano took office in January 2003, the state faced a billion dollar deficit. In that first year in office, she erased that deficit without raising taxes or cutting funding for public schools or other vital services. Also during that first year in office, Governor Napolitano tackled a problem that had been ignored for too long in Arizona: the under-funding of the agency that cares for abused and neglected children. She began a series of reforms of the state's Child Protective Services that continue to this day.

Under her leadership, the state has begun the phase-in of voluntary full-day kindergarten. When complete, every parent in every family in Arizona will have the choice of sending their children to full-day kindergarten.

Governor Napolitano believes that just as important as it is to prepare students for life in the real world, real jobs must be available when they graduate. That demands a rethinking of the way we teach our children from elementary school, through high school, college and workforce training. The governor has never wavered in her support of higher education, and she created a P-20 Council specifically to align elementary, secondary and higher education to current and future workforce needs.

These efforts in the area of education and her work to build trade - particularly in high-tech industries - are part of her strategy to secure the stability and growth of Arizona's economy for the long term.

Prior to her election as Governor of Arizona, she served one term as Arizona Attorney General and four years as U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona. Born in New York City and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, she is a distinguished alumna of Santa Clara University and the University of Virginia Law school. She has lived in Arizona since 1983, when she moved to Phoenix to practice law.

"To educators, I say: we will continue to invest in K-12 education, but you must reinvent what you are doing and ensure that we are not simply repeating things the 'way we've always done.' We must change our learning environment to match 21st century needs, and we must do so quickly." Janet Napolitano