Gov. Perdue elected chair of Southern Regional Education Board
N.C. Gov. Bev Perdue was elected chair of the Southern Regional Education Board at its annual meeting Monday in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.
She will succeed West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin III.
The SREB has 16 member states from Texas to Delaware. The organization works to improve pre-K-12 and higher education across the region.
Perdue became a member of the Southern Regional Education Board in 2009 when she was elected N.C. governor. In January 2010, she launched the state’s Career and College - Ready, Set, Go! education agenda to prepare every student to be college- or career-ready after graduating from high school.
Perdue is a former teacher and earned a doctorate in education from the University of Florida.
As chair of SREB’s 80-member board, Perdue plans to urge states to prepare more students for college and career training and to raise college degree-completion rates, the organization says in a news release. Only a little more than half of first-time, full-time freshmen in four-year public colleges and universities graduate with a bachelor’s degree within six years nationally and in the SREB region.
Perdue and other state leaders discussed actions states and colleges can take to increase the number of the South’s residents who earn two- and four-year degrees and career certificates.
The SREB is based in Atlanta. It was created in 1948 by Southern governors and legislatures to help leaders in education and government work cooperatively to advance education and improve the social and economic life of the region. More information is available at www.sreb.org.
