Agency of Education outlines reorganization to align with five strategic pillars
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
The Secretary of Education briefed the House Education Committee on a broad reorganization designed to advance five strategic pillars—academic excellence, college and career readiness, safe and healthy schools, operational effectiveness and special education—saying the changes will improve field support and operational agility.
The Secretary of Education told the House Education Committee on Jan. 6 that the Agency of Education has reorganized to better align staff and services with statewide education priorities, emphasizing five strategic pillars and a more field-facing approach.
The overview presented a rationale built on an 18-month strategic planning process that combined quantitative performance data, a statewide "listen and learn" tour and findings from a 2024 U.S. Department of Education monitoring visit. "We recognized that there are increasing demands on the agency of education for transformative leadership and also direction setting to elevate academic achievement and improve operational efficiency," the Secretary said.
Why it matters: committee members and the agency framed the changes as a response to both legislative priorities and practical gaps in implementation and oversight. The Secretary said the reorganization is intended to break down silos, strengthen leadership and make the agency more responsive to districts and schools.
What changed: the agency published a memo and organizational chart last September. The reorganization created or elevated divisions focused on communications and policy, academics, grants management, safe and healthy schools, education program approvals and strategy and accountability. The Secretary noted the legal area led by legal counsel Emily Simmons remains largely intact while a new education investigations team will review teacher licensure and public-records issues.
Quotes and context: "If we're able to organize and deliver on improvements in these areas, we can achieve our vision of being the best education system in the country," the Secretary said. The Secretary also introduced Torin Ballard as the agency's new director of communications and policy; Ballard said he joined the agency late last session and is "very much looking forward to working with everybody here."
Implementation and next steps: the agency plans division-level planning, ongoing steering committees organized around the five pillars, annual planning retreats and a 30/60/90-day change-management approach. The Secretary said some roles are already staged for hiring and that a funding-source audit is part of the 30/60/90 plan to ensure position responsibilities are correctly tied to funding streams.
What the committee asked: members requested the full organizational chart and vacancy details with funding source annotations; the Secretary said a September memo and chart will be supplied and that updates have occurred since publication. She also said the agency audited long-standing contracts and is aligning vendor use to build internal capacity for literacy and other statutory initiatives.
Next step: the Secretary offered to share the memo and the prior presentation provided to the State Board of Education and told the committee that steering committees will be convened that will set multiyear targets and key performance indicators.