news-record.com

Twenty-five years after he lost a U.S. Senate race, could former Gov. Jim Hunt be going to Washington?

Hunt is among 21 people named on the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Web site as possible candidates for secretary of education in President-elect Barack Obama’s administration.

Hunt was traveling Monday and unavailable for comment. But his interest in educational issues as governor over four terms — 1977-1985 and 1993-2001 — is well-established.

As lieutenant governor from 1973 to 1977, he worked with then-Gov. Jim Holshouser to make kindergarten mandatory in the state public schools.

As governor, he pushed for the creation of the Smart Start preschool program to better prepare children for school.

He worked for higher standards for student performance as well as higher certification standards for teachers. The Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind program, which emphasizes school accountability for student achievement, is modeled after North Carolina’s ABCs of Public Instruction program.

Hunt also pushed the General Assembly to increase teacher pay. In working to recruit industry to the state, he emphasized the link between education and the needs of employers.

Currently, Hunt is chairman of the James B. Hunt Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy, which holds conferences for political and educational leaders.

If Hunt neglected any area of education, at least in relative terms, it was higher education.

William Friday, president emeritus of the UNC system, and others charged that the quality of the state’s public universities declined during Hunt’s tenure in the 1990s as his administration focused on preschool and K-12 education.

But that emphasis on K-12 education over higher education is consistent with the experience of all but one of the eight previous people to hold the position since the U.S. Department of Education was created, the Chronicle said.

According to Obama’s campaign Web site, Obama hopes to reform No Child Left Behind to decrease emphasis on test scores over other methods of assessment. He also will seek more money for the program.

He proposes a “Zero to Five” early-childhood education plan. He also hopes to quadruple spending on Early Head Start.

In higher education, Obama proposes a $4,000 tax credit for people to spend on college tuition, in exchange for 100 hours of community service.

He also wants to make math and science education a national priority. As governor, Hunt pushed hard for the state to create the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics in Durham.

This is not the first time Hunt has been mentioned as a possible education secretary. His name was floated before the 2000 election as a possible appointee of Democrat Al Gore, had Gore won.

Contact Lex Alexander at 373-7088 or lex.alexander@news-record.com