Florida
Gov. Jeb Bush
- January 5, 1999 - January 2, 2007
- Republican
- February 11, 1953
- Texas
- University of Texas
- Married Columba Garnica Gallo; three children
About
JEB BUSH was born in Midland, Texas. After arriving in Florida, he helped start a real estate development company that today is one of the largest, full-service commercial real estate companies in South Florida. In 1987-1988, he served as Florida’s secretary of commerce and promoted Florida’s business climate worldwide. Following an unsuccessful bid in 1994 for the governor’s office, Bush founded the Foundation for Florida’s Future, a not-for-profit organization to influence public policy at the grassroots level. As chairman of the foundation, he cofounded the state’s first charter school – Liberty City Charter School – with the Urban League of Greater Miami.
He was elected Florida’s forty-third governor in 1998 and reelected in 2002, becoming the first Republican to be reelected governor in the state’s history. While in office, his top priority was to create a world-class educational system through high standards and increased accountability. To achieve this goal, he provided a record four-year increase of $2.9 billion (26 percent) in K-12 funding. Bush also boosted the state’s reserve funds while reducing the state’s tax burden to its lowest level in a decade. He focused the state’s resources toward protecting the state’s natural environment with an historic $2-billion commitment to saving Florida’s Everglades. He has increased health insurance coverage for needy children and provided unprecedented levels of funding and services to the elderly and the developmentally disabled.
Source
Florida State Archives holds the official Governor papers of Jeb Bush.
