2025-27 Chair’s Initiative: Community Hubs for Addressing Needs for Greater Education (CHANGE)

Every two years, Education Commission of the States welcomes a new governor to provide leadership and direction for the organization, which includes an initiative to advance impactful education policymaking across the nation. For 2025-27, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon’s Chair’s Initiative focuses on empowering communities to shape and drive education change that reflects their unique strengths, aspirations and needs.

Grounded in the belief that communities hold deep knowledge and trusted relationships, CHANGE aims to strengthen the connection between local vision and state policy. It invites states to rethink how they partner with communities — not by prescribing reforms but by aligning systems to support local innovation.

Building off lessons learned from Wyoming’s Reimaging and Innovating the Delivery of Education Initiative (RIDE), Gov. Gordon’s CHANGE Initiative will:

1. Provide a framework for engaging key community members in establishing a local vision for education and think through opportunities and challenges specific to their context.
2. Identify state policy levers to support local solutions, capacity building and implementation for state policymakers.

Gov. Gordon shared, “I stepped [into this role] because I believe this is our moment to rebuild trust, reinvest in community wisdom, and reignite what’s possible for our schools.”

Through CHANGE, Gov. Gordon and Education Commission of the States aim to elevate community voice, support effective state leadership and help education systems become more aligned with local needs, better coordinated across sectors and equipped to serve learners now and in the future.

Learn about our 2023-25 Chair's Initiative from Governor Laura Kelly: Education Access for Justice-Impacted Individuals.