The director of the Iowa Department of Education, Judy Jeffrey, will serve on a task force that’s developing education-related recommendations for the next administration. Education Department spokesperson, Elaine Watkins-Miller, says there are eight members of the task force from across the country.
She says they’ll look at federal education legislation and provide recommendations to the presidential education transition team, as well as Congress and the U.S. Education Secretary. The group will focus on how the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) impacts public schools throughout the United States.
The group is called the Council of Chief State School Officers’ (CCSSO’s) presidential transition task force. Watkins-Miller says in addition to being named to the task force, Jeffrey has also been named to the board of directors of the group. Watkins-Miller says the council is a nonpartisan, nationwide organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education across the country.
Watkins-Miller says Jeffrey has served on several committees for the group in the past, and that’s one of the reasons she was chosen for this job. She says Iowa’s leadership in education and Jefferey’s expertise in several education topics are also reasons she was chosen for the job. Watkins-Miller says the group will work quickly and have its recommendations finalized by the end of the year.