Rudy Giuliani Announces Education Advisory Board

For Immediate Release
Contact: Maria Comella
Thursday, December 13, 2007


Rudy Giuliani Announces Education Advisory Board
Terry Moe, Rod Paige Join Other Distinguished Education Leaders Advising the Mayor


“I'm here because of the educational choices my parents made, or I wouldn't be here or have achieved anything that I've achieved. And that's the place where the decision should be made. Instead of having these education standards done in Washington by the Education Department or some bureaucrats in a state capital or on a board, the choice should be made by parents. … [I]f we give the choice to parents, where they can choose a private school or parochial school or public school, a charter school, home schooling, let them be the decider, I think we'll see a big revolution in education.”
Mayor Rudy Giuliani, The Des Moines Register/IPTV Debate, Johnston, Iowa, 12/12/07

New York City - The Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee today announced the Mayor’s Education Advisory Board. Leading the board as Chairman is Terry Moe. Moe, the William Bennett Munro Professor of Political Science at Stanford University and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, is joined by former U.S. Secretary of Education Dr. Rod Paige.

“Mayor Giuliani understands the need for real education reform in America,” said Moe. “With his leadership, we’ve assembled a top-notch team of school reform experts. We look forward to making the Mayor’s education policies, like bringing real school choice to parents across America, a reality.”

“It is clear that Mayor Giuliani understands the significance of improving public education in our country, and that real, lasting reform can only come from a bedrock commitment to accountability and choice,” said Secretary Paige. “I know that Mayor Giuliani has the vision and leadership skills to achieve his goals.”

Moe and Paige are joined by other distinguished leaders in the education field. Serving as members of the Education Advisory Board are Benno Schmidt, former president of Yale University, now Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the City University of New York and Vice Chairman of Edison Schools, and Clint Bolick, former president of the Alliance for School Choice. Additional Education Advisory Board members include former Congressman Herman Badillo, Tony Coles, Dr. Carol D’Amico, Allan Dobrin, Jim Horne, Brian Jones, Abe Lackman, Michael Podgursky, Gerald Reynolds, Sol Stern, Don Soifer, and Dr. Martin West.

“The Mayor has long advocated education reform,” said Bill Simon, Giuliani’s Director of Policy. “We’re fortunate to have a strong group of education advisors who are leaders in their field to help articulate Mayor Giuliani’s vision for America.”

About Mayor Giuliani’s Education Advisory Board:

Terry Moe, Chairman

Moe is the William Bennett Munro Professor of Political Science at Stanford University and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. Moe’s book, Politics, Markets, and America’s Schools, has been a major force in the movement for school choice in the United States and abroad. He is also the author of Schools, Vouchers, and the American Public, the editor of A Primer on America’s Schools, and has published a long list of articles relating to education reform.

Dr. Rod Paige, Advisory Board Member

Paige currently serves as the Chairman of Chartwell Education. He is the former U.S. Secretary of Education, serving under President George W. Bush.

He was previously the Dean of the College of Education at Texas Southern University, where he established the University’s Center for Excellence in Urban Education, and served as Superintendent of the Houston Independent School District, the nation’s seventh largest district. Paige has also served as a Public Policy Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Benno Schmidt, Advisory Board Member

Schmidt joined Edison Schools in 1992 to lead the initial three-year research and development phase that preceded the opening of the company’s first schools in 1995. He has previously served as Chief Executive Officer, President, Chief Education Officer, and Chairman. Benno currently serves as Edison’s Vice Chairman.

Benno chairs the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York. Previously, he was also Chairman of Mayor Giuliani’s Task Force on The City University of New York. Benno was the President of Yale University from 1986 to 1992 and served as the Dean of Columbia University Law School.

Clint Bolick, Advisory Board Member

Bolick is the Director of the Goldwater Institute Center for Constitutional Litigation. He has argued and won significant cases in both state and federal courts. He was also a co-founder and former vice president of the Institute for Justice and former president and general counsel of the Alliance for School Choice.

Herman Badillo, Advisory Board Member

Badillo is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute writing on immigration issues. Formerly, he was a U.S. Congressman, Deputy Mayor of New York City and Bronx Borough President.

Badillo was the first Congressman of Puerto Rican origin in the history of the nation. He was special counsel for the Fiscal Oversight of Education during Mayor Giuliani’s administration. Herman was also Chairman of the Board of the City University of New York.

Tony Coles, Advisory Board Member

Coles, a Senior Advisor to Mayor Giuliani, is a partner in DLA Piper. Coles served in the Giuliani administration, including as New York City’s Deputy Mayor for Planning, Education and Cultural Affairs. During his time in the Giuliani administration, Coles was responsible for the implementation of major policy initiatives for the Mayor, including the city’s welfare reform program. Coles previously served as an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Dr. Carol D’Amico, Advisory Board Member

D’Amico is a co-author of Workforce 2020. Previously, she served as the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Vocational and Adult Education under President Bush. D’Amico also served as the Executive Vice President of Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana, the state’s second largest college.

D’Amico also spent 10 years at the Hudson Institute. Currently, she serves as Chair of the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity and is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Board for Education Sciences.

Allan Dobrin, Advisory Board Member

Dobrin serves as Senior Vice Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer at The City University of New York. Dobrin previously served as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications and Chief Information Officer for the City of New York. He was also the Executive Director of the Mayor’s Task Force on Special Education and the Executive Deputy Director of the Mayor’s Office of Operations.

Jim Horne, Advisory Board Member

Horne was appointed to serve as the Secretary of Education for the State of Florida by former Governor Jeb Bush. After a reorganization of Florida’s education system, Horne was appointed by Bush to serve as Florida’s Commissioner of Education. Prior to serving under Bush, Horne was elected to the Florida Senate in 1994 and re-elected in November 1998. He currently serves as the President of the Horne Group, a governmental consulting and business development firm. Horne is a native of Jacksonville, Florida.

Brian Jones, Advisory Board Member

Jones is Executive Vice President and General Counsel of College Loan Corporation. He most recently served for four years as the General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Education. Previously, Jones was an attorney in private practice in San Francisco, served as California Governor Pete Wilson’s Deputy Legal Affairs Secretary, and as the President of the Center for New Black Leadership. Jones currently serves as a member of the Washington, DC Public Charter School Board.

Abe Lackman, Advisory Board Member

Lackman is the President of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, coordinating the state and federal public policy advocacy of more than 100 college presidents of New York State’s private, non-profit, independent higher education institutions. Lackman was previously the Secretary of the New York State Senate Finance Committee and a special advisor to New York Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno. He previously served as the Budget Director of the City of New York under Mayor Giuliani.

Michael Podgursky, Advisory Board Member

Podgursky is Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri – Columbia, where he previously served as department chair. Podgursky serves on the board of editors of Education Finance and Policy, and technical advisory boards for numerous education organizations, including the National Center for Education Statistics, the National Research Council, the Institute for Education Sciences, the National Center for Teacher Quality, and the American Board of Certification of Teacher Excellence.

Gerald Reynolds, Advisory Board Member

President George W. Bush designated Reynolds to serve as Chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in 2004. In addition, Reynolds serves as Assistant General Counsel at Kansas City Power and Light Company. Reynolds previously served as a Deputy Associate Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice. In 2002, President Bush appointed Reynolds to serve as Assistant Secretary of Education for the Office for Civil Rights. He also previously served as President for the Center for New Black Leadership and worked as a legal analyst for the Center for Equal Opportunity.

Sol Stern, Advisory Board Member

Stern is a contributing editor to City Journal and a Manhattan Institute senior fellow. He is the author of Breaking Free: Public School Lessons and the Imperative of School Choice. Stern previously served as Director of Issues, Press Secretary, and Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of the City Council President of New York. In 1994, he was appointed Executive Director of the New York State Commission on Juvenile Justice Reform.

Don Soifer, Advisory Board Member

Soifer is Executive Vice President of the Lexington Institute, a nonpartisan public-policy think tank based near Washington, DC. Soifer has published dozens of papers and articles on various aspects of education policy, including accountability and assessments, higher education finance, closing achievement gaps for English learners, charter schools and special education. He has testified several times before Congress as well as to several state legislatures and boards of education.

Dr. Martin West, Board Coordinator

West is an Assistant Professor of Education, Political Science, and Public Policy at Brown University, an executive editor of Education Next, and a research associate of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University. He is co-editor of School Money Trials: The Legal Pursuit of Educational Adequacy. He has published extensively on school choice, among other education topics.

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