Catching up on news from last week, Governor Terry Branstad appointed Ryan Wise to lead the Iowa Department of Education, effective July 1. I’ve enclosed below the full statement from the governor’s office, which includes more background on Wise. He should have no trouble during the Iowa Senate confirmation process, having served as deputy director at the education department since September 2013.

Wise replaces Brad Buck, who started work on July 1 as superintendent of the Cedar Rapids Community School District. It’s no surprise that he sought new opportunities after less than two years in the top state education job. Branstad instructed Buck to prioritize the tourism industry’s demands over the consensus of school district leaders on academic calendars, even though the large body of research supporting shorter summer vacations for students contrasts sharply with the lack of evidence that “early [school] start dates interfere in any meaningful sense with the Iowa State Fair or with any other tourism activity in Iowa.” During Buck’s tenure as education director, Branstad also asked lawmakers to approve miserly increases in state aid to K-12 schools. The governor’s latest draft budget included “allowable growth” for K-12 education of 1.25 percent for fiscal year 2016 and 2.45 percent for fiscal year 2017. Those levels are low by historical standards and not nearly enough to allow school districts to cover growing costs, leading to either staff and program cuts or property tax increases in many localities.

Any relevant comments are welcome in this thread. UPDATE: Added below excerpts from fifth-grade teacher Amy Moore’s editorial for the Des Moines Register, sounding the alarm about Wise’s experience with the Teach for America program.

P.S.- Almost every time I read a press release from the governor’s office, I am struck by the relentless branding of Branstad and Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds as a single unit. The communications staff have been doing this for years, supporting Branstad’s desire to make Reynolds his successor. Still, it’s jarring to read unnatural-sounding quotes mentioning the “governor and lieutenant governor” or “Governor Branstad and Lieutenant Governor Reynolds’ leadership.” Does anyone really talk the way Wise “speaks” in the enclosed press release (“I admire the Governor’s and Lieutenant Governor’s commitment to providing every child in Iowa with the world-class education they deserve”)?

Governor Terry Branstad press release, June 30:

Gov. Branstad names Ryan Wise Education Director

Wise’s appointment is effective July 1 as current director Brad Buck departs to become Cedar Rapids School District Superintendent

(DES MOINES) – Iowa Gov. Terry E. Branstad today announced that he has named Iowa Department of Education deputy director Ryan Wise as the new director of the department. Wise, 39, will take the position on July 1, 2015, as current director Brad Buck transitions to a new position as the superintendent of Cedar Rapids schools. A photo of Wise can be found here.

“World-class education begins in the classrooms across Iowa, but having a leader as the state department’s director is critically important as we work to again make Iowa the leader in education,” said Branstad. “Ryan Wise has displayed exceptional leadership in the implementation of Iowa’s innovative, new Teacher Leadership and Compensation System and I am confident that he will continue leading the Iowa Department of Education in the right direction as we work to provide a globally competitive education for every child in Iowa.”

Wise has served as deputy director at the Iowa Department of Education since September 2013. He has led the implementation of Iowa’s Teacher Leadership and Compensation  system (TLC), including designing and executing the application and selection process, facilitating multiple statewide coordination teams, creating a principal support system and leading Iowa’s Commission on Educator Leadership and Compensation. In addition, Wise has served as the liaison between the Department and the Iowa State Board of Education, and has been the representative on the Iowa High School Athletic Association board of control and on the Governor’s Council for National Service.  He is also the administrator for the Department’s division of policy and communications.

“Though times have changed significantly since the one-room schoolhouses dotted Iowa’s landscape, our state’s commitment to providing every child a high-quality education has remained constant,” said Iowa Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds. “Dr. Wise understands that modern education means looking at innovative teaching methods and preparing children for the careers of tomorrow. He has shown his commitment to rewarding exceptional Iowa teachers through the Teacher Leadership and Compensation System and will be a great asset as the next director of the Iowa Department of Education.”

Wise earned his undergraduate degree from Creighton University. He earned a Master of Public Administration from University Nebraska Omaha in 2008. He earned a doctorate of education leadership from Harvard University in 2013.

“I admire the Governor’s and Lieutenant Governor’s commitment to providing every child in Iowa with the world-class education they deserve,” said Wise. “It has been a privilege to lead the implementation of the Teacher Leadership and Compensation System that rewards great teachers.  I am now eager to accept a new challenge of leading the Iowa Department of Education at this critical juncture when we continue putting in place the transformational education reforms signed by Governor Branstad in 2013.”

Wise has made improving education his mission for his entire career. He was managing director for growth strategy and development for Teach for All from 2008-2010. He was the executive director of Teach for America in South Dakota from 2003-2008, where, among other achievements, he worked with both public and Bureau of Indian Affairs grant schools on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations to improve educational opportunities. He spent the first five years of his career as a history teacher at Omaha Central High School in Omaha, Neb., and Rosa Fort High School in Tunica, Miss.

Ryan and his spouse, Sacha, reside in Des Moines, Iowa. They have two children, Weston and Graham. The appointment is subject to Iowa Senate confirmation.

UPDATE: From fifth-grade teacher Amy Moore’s July 9 commentary for the Des Moines Register, “Iowa needs education leaders dedicated to quality.”

[F]ar more disturbing is Wise’s history with the Teach for America and Teach for All organizations. Teach for America promotes itself as something of a Peace Corps for teachers. The problem is that the recruits who sign up with TFA aren’t teachers. TFA recruits are drafted, often from elite colleges, to be trained and spend two years teaching in a low-income, inner city or otherwise hard to staff school. For those who complete the two years, there is now a nice bullet to pad their resumes as they desert their schools to move on to other positions that may or may not be in education.

When I state that these TFA students are trained, I use that word very loosely. After signing up for TFA, each will have five weeks of teacher training. To put that in perspective, I spent five years in training to become a teacher. […]

We can be grateful that we have not employed TFA novices in Iowa. There are stories from around the country of these people taking jobs at cheaper wages from more qualified professional teachers. There are accounts of TFA employees requiring hand holding from the real teachers on staffs because they did not have training enough to attempt to teach well. […]

Now we have a state leader who has spent the majority of his career working for Teach for America, and its international counterpart Teach for All, which completely disregards the importance of having or recognizing quality educators. This man has promoted the idea that a person should be in a classroom in front of your child – in front of our neediest children – after only five weeks of training. It is a slap in the face to the professionals that he is tasked to lead. Not only that, but his most important job will be to implement Iowa’s Teacher Leadership and Compensation program. This plan is designed to recognize the best teachers by allowing them to perform extra duties for extra pay. How can a man who has spent a large part of his career reducing the teaching profession to a temp job be trusted to recognize excellence in teaching?