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Lisa Graham Keegan

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Lisa Graham Keegan
Born (1959-07-20) July 20, 1959 (age 65)
Palo Alto, California,
United States
NationalityAmerican
EducationBA, Stanford University, 1981 MA, Arizona State University, 1983
OccupationEducation reform advocate
SpouseJohn Keegan

Lisa Graham Keegan is an education reform advocate. A former Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction, she served as a senior policy advisor to Sen. John McCain's presidential campaigns on education.[1][2]

At the 2008 National Republican Convention, she was a vice chairman of the Republican Party political platform committee, for which she wrote policy statements on education issues.[3]

Keegan has advocated for conservative approaches to education reform, including emphasis on standardized testing, school choice methods such as school vouchers, tuition tax credits, charter schools and open-enrollment. The Arizona Republic noted Keegan pushed “Arizona into the vanguard of school reforms in the 1990s and led national education changes favored by conservatives in recent years."[4] Politicians for whom she has worked include Governors Jeb Bush of Florida, Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, Jan Brewer of Arizona, and Chris Christie of New Jersey, and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.[5]

Education consultant and reform advocate

Lisa Graham Keegan founded Education Breakthrough Network[6], a coalition of organizations and individuals for school choice. [7] Additionally she is actively involved in the Education Equality Project with Joel I. Klein, Chancellor, NYC Public Schools, Dr. Michael Lomax of the United Negro College Fund, Raul Yzaguirre of Arizona State University and Rev. Al Sharpton.[8]

Keegan has authored articles on education for Education Next and blog Liberating Learning[9][10] , both published by conservative groups including the Hoover Institute, the Manhattan Institute, and the Pioneer Institute, as well as the Arizona Republic. She has appeared frequently as a speaker to think tanks, such as the Hoover Institute Board of Governors, Institute of Economic Affairs at the University of London, Empower America, Cato Institute, Heritage Foundation, and the American Enterprise Institute. Columnists such as George Will of Newsweek, David Brooks of the Weekly Standard, and Clint Bolick of National Review have featured Keegan's reform agenda.[11]

Keegan is on the board of the Century Council in Washington, D.C. Previously she served on Secretary's Commission on Opportunity in Athletics (Title IX), Empower America, Foundation for Teaching Economics, GreatSchools.net,[4] Alliance for School Choice, and Children First America. As the president of the school board of New Way Learning Academy, a school for special needs students.

Additionally, Keegan is a proponent for education reform in forums such as Newt Gingrich's American Solutions for Winning the Future, the National Journal's weekly Education Expert Blog, Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network, and Bob Compton's Two Million Minutes series.[12] Lisa Keegan co-authored the education chapter of Ginrich's 2010 book To Save America: Stopping Obama's Secular-Socialist Machine.

McCain campaign

During John McCain's Presidential Campaign, Keegan served as senior policy advisor on education issues to Republican nominee John McCain as well as vice-presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin.[13] She helped to write the campaign's education policies and often served as McCain's surrogate in debates, on panels, and on radio and television where these issues were discussed.[13]

As a vice chairman of the 2008 Republican Party political platform committee, Keegan wrote national policy statements on behalf of the party.[3] She was a prime time speaker at the convention and was the principle spokesperson for on education issues throughout McCain's campaign. She regularly debated a variety of political advisors to Senator Barack Obama’s campaign on national media outlets such as Fox News and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS.[14]

Professional background

Lisa Keegan was Arizona state superintendent of public instruction from 1995 to 2001. Prior to becoming state superintendent, she served two terms in the Arizona House of Representatives in 1991 to 1995 where she was chair of the Education Committee. She was first elected as the Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1994 and reelected in 1998. This election marked first time in the history of the United States that all five of the top elected executive offices of a state were held by women: Jane Dee Hull, governor, Betsey Bayless, secretary of state, Janet Napolitano, attorney general, Carol Springer, treasurer, and Keegan, superintendent of public instruction.[15]

As superintendent, she was the director of the Arizona Department of Education, the state education agency, and oversaw a vigorous charter school program.[16]

As a legislator and Arizona's chief educational official, she advocated for rigorous academic standards, annual testing, stronger accountability, and school choice.[17] She led the movement to enact the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards, or AIMS, test. This test, designed largely by classroom educators, set academic standards for high school graduation in reading, writing, and mathematics.[4] In response to criticism, Keegan took all phases of the test and posted her passing scores. She continued to resist, often unsuccessfully, political pressure to compromise the AIMS standards. Additionally, she helped the School Tuition Organization Tax Credit Bill become law. The bill created a tax-exempt funding source for funding of scholarships at private schools and enrichment programs at public schools.[18] This law was the first time such a measure had been passed in the United States.

Keegan served on Governor Jeb Bush's Restructuring Team for Florida Department of Education and on California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Education Policy Transition Team. On numerous occasions she provided testimony to the US Congress on current education issues, and briefed newly elected congressional members at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She was an education advisor to candidate George W. Bush and a member of the administration transition team. In December 2000 she was one of only two candidates interviewed by then President-elect George W. Bush to be U.S. Secretary of Education.[19][20]

In 2001, Keegan accepted the position of Chief Executive Officer of the Education Leaders Council (ELC), a non-profit, conservative education reform organization Keegan and a number of other state school chiefs had founded in 1995.[4] Under Keegan’s leadership, ELC quickly secured federal funding for its project, Following the Leaders, to implement the reform policies of the new federal education law. In late 2003 and early 2004 a series of articles in the Washington media led to the resignations of several of ELC’s directors. The allegations were of such a nature that ELC took legal action to stop further reporting.[21] A subsequent investigation by the U.S. Department of Education initially suggested that ELC did not fully comply with federal regulations for the funds it was expending,[22] and federal procurement standards.[23] A final audit, however, showed that ELC’s financial and administrative management had actually undercharged the Department of Education and outstanding grant funding was ultimately paid to the ELC and its spin-off organization, Following the Leaders by the Department of Education.[4][24][25] Keegan’s original three-year contract was extended to September 2004, after which she became an independent education and public policy consultant.

From 2001 to 2004, Keegan consulted with President George W. Bush, his senior domestic policy staff and Secretary of Education Rod Paige on matters of education policy, as well as with the education leadership of 38 states. She worked closely with the administration and leadership of both parties in the United States Congress on federal education legislation and policy. Significant policies and programs she helped implement during this time include the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Following the Leaders School Implementation Program, American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence,[4] Washington DC School Choice Program. In 2003 she was a member of Education Secretary Rod Page's Title IX Commission.[26]

In 2006, Keegan became a consultant to Maricopa County, Arizona and eventually became assistant county manager for community solutions and innovation.[27] She left her job in May 2008 to join the McCain presidential campaign as education policy advisor.[4]

Personal background

Keegan has a bachelor's degree in linguistics from Stanford University (1981) and a master's degree in communication disorders from Arizona State University (1983).[27] In 1998, she received the Milton Friedman Foundation Award for free enterprise innovation in education. She received the Athena Award from Athena International,[28] and was named Education Leader of the Year by the national Republican Party in 1999. The Adam Smith Award for Economics Education was presented to her in 2000.

Keegan is a former senior warden in the Episcopal Church. In 1977, she won the title of National Champion by the International Arabian Horse Association. Keegan briefly served as the acting governor of Arizona in 1996 when Governor Jane Hull and other officers were absent from the state.[29]

In 2009, Lisa Keegan was selected for the World Leadership Award by the Arizona council of the Girl Scouts of America. The award was to recognize her “contribution to the community and (her) testament to the Girl Scouts’ code of honor.”[30] video interview

Keegan is a mother of five children. She is married to John Keegan, a judge of the justice courts in Arizona.[31]

References

  1. ^ "Congressional Quarterly: McCain's Policy Team, September 1, 2008". Retrieved 2008-09-06.
  2. ^ "A McCain team could include some Arizonans, Possibilities: Kyl, Keegan, Peters, Woods". Retrieved 2008-02-19.
  3. ^ a b "2008 Republican Platform" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-09-06.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "Education crusader becomes McCain's new aide". Retrieved 2008-05-20.
  5. ^ "Governor Jan Brewer Appoints Chair of "Governor's P-20 Coordinating Council of Arizona"" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-09-02.
  6. ^ "Education Equality Project".
  7. ^ "Education Breakthrough Network".
  8. ^ "FYI: The AIP Bulletin of Science Policy News". Retrieved 2010-08-05.
  9. ^ http://liberatinglearning.blogspot.com/p/terry-moe.html
  10. ^ "Publishing for the Digital Future". Retrieved 2008-08-17.
  11. ^ "George Will: Straight Talk from Arizona". Retrieved 2008-09-06.
  12. ^ http://www.americansolutions.com/Default.aspx
  13. ^ a b "McCain Calls for Limited U.S. Role in Schools". Retrieved 2010-08-04.
  14. ^ "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer: McCain, Obama Advisers Spar on Education Reform, September 10, 2008". Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  15. ^ Laughlin, Laura; Barovick, Harriet. "Party of Five". TIME. Retrieved 2010-08-05. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  16. ^ http School Choice in the Real World: Lessons from Arizona Charter Schools By Robert Maranto, Scott Milliman, Frederick Hess. Retrieved 2007-12-10. {{cite book}}: Check |url= value (help)
  17. ^ http://www.nctq.org/nctq/about/keegan.html "About NCTQ Advisory Board". Retrieved 2007-11-24. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  18. ^ "Arizona Helps Poor Children Gain More Choices, Center for Education Reform, April 4, 1997". Retrieved 2008-04-24.
  19. ^ "Bush to announce 3 Cabinet appointments Wednesday". CNN. Retrieved 2008-03-21.
  20. ^ "A McCain team could include some Arizonans, Possibilities: Kyl, Keegan, Peters, Woods". Retrieved 2008-02-19.
  21. ^ Webster, Chamberlain & Bean correspondence with Washington Times managing editor and national editor dated April 8, 2004
  22. ^ "The Education Leaders Council's Drawdown and Expenditure of Federal Funds, U.S. Department of Education, Office of the Inspector General, January 2006" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-02-26.
  23. ^ "Education Leaders Council's Subcontracting Activities, U.S. Department of Education, Office of the Inspector General, July 28, 2006". Retrieved 2008-02-26.
  24. ^ U.S. Department of Education, grant funding ledger entries for Fiscal Year 2006 and 2007.
  25. ^ "Following the Leaders IRS Form 990, Fiscal year 2006". Retrieved 2008-05-13.
  26. ^ Fletcher, Michael A.; Sandoval, Greg (2003-01-31). "Title IX Panel Acts Moderately". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-03-21.
  27. ^ a b "Keegan, Harris join Maricopa County staff". Retrieved 2007-11-24.
  28. ^ "Athena Awards". Retrieved 2008-06-03.
  29. ^ "Understanding the Arizona Constitution, p. 114". Retrieved 2008-06-30.
  30. ^ "Phoenix Business Journal: Girl Scouts name World Award winners". Retrieved 2009-12-17.
  31. ^ Rothstein, Richard (2000-02-16). "LESSONS; A Conservative Picks a Path Less Taken". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-11-24.
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