New Hampshire
Gov. Jeanne Shaheen
- January 9, 1997 - January 9, 2003
- Democratic
- January 28, 1947
- Missouri
- Shippensburg University; University of Mississippi
- Married William Shaheen; three children
About
JEANNE SHAHEEN was born in St. Charles, Missouri. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania in 1969 and a master’s degree in political science from the University of Mississippi in 1973. She taught high school in New Hampshire and Mississippi, was the owner/manager of a small business, and managed several statewide campaigns. In 1990 she was elected to the state senate and served three terms. She was elected governor in 1996 and reelected in 1998 and 2000. The legislature passed her proposals to expand public kindergarten and to increase the state’s investment in public schools, the university system, and the community colleges. Under her leadership, New Hampshire began testing first-year teachers, toughened teacher recertification standards, implemented school report cards, and began a new leadership institute to help communities achieve excellence in their schools. She developed New Hampshire’s high-tech, international economy by promoting the state’s business-friendly climate, highly educated workforce, and high quality of life. She won landmark battles for health care reform, including approval of her HMO Accountability Act, which provides important new protections for people who get their health care through HMOs; and the launch of the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program, an innovative public-private partnership with one of the nation’s highest enrollment rates. She launched a program that gives seniors discounts on their prescription medications and, with the governors of Vermont and Maine, created the nation’s first multistate prescription drug purchasing pool. She negotiated a historic deregulation agreement with the state’s largest utility to foster competition and produce significant rate cuts.
