2025 In Education 

Education is one of the largest elements of Governors’ budgets, and as an organization dedicated to supporting Governors’ work, it should come as no surprise that education was a strong focus of NGA this year as well. Beginning with Colorado Governor Jared Polis Let’s Get Ready! Educating All Americans for Success initiative in 2025, NGA carried forward a powerful, governor-led vision for rethinking education—one that moves toward a holistic definition of “readiness” for life, work, and civic participation.  

“We have a responsibility to drive innovation within our systems, bolster our capacity to measure what works and what doesn’t, and most importantly, to prepare our students for workforce readiness, civic engagement, and well-being. Our citizens, our communities, our states, our nation, and our global partners deserve nothing less.”

Governor Jared Polis

Colorado

A Broader Vision of Readiness 

At the heart of NGA’s work this year was a transformational shift in how states define success in education. Through a series of convenings, national and international, Governors wrestled with three big questions: What do learners need throughout their journey? How are we measuring those outcomes? And how can states reallocate resources to invest in proven and effective measures?  

Governor Polis and his fellow Governors developed a roadmap rooted in four essential domains of readiness: academic foundations, workforce and postsecondary preparedness, civic engagement, and lifelong well-being. In doing so, they acknowledged a “measurement mismatch:” although states commonly track things like test scores and graduation rates, they often lack the data to understand whether students are truly being prepared for postsecondary education or entering the workforce.  

“We all want to create a brighter future for our states, and the nation. I’m looking forward to collaborating with my fellow governors to build stronger on-ramps to opportunity so every person in our states has a shot at success – no matter how they define it.”

Governor Wes Moore

Maryland

From Vision to Action: The Roadmap for Governors 

In July 2025, Governor Polis formally released the Let’s Get Ready! Roadmap for Governors, distilling the ideas from his Chair’s initiative into concrete strategies. The roadmap outlines five action areas: 

1. Define a state vision for readiness and assess how current indicators match it.  
2. Break down government silos, encouraging cross-agency collaboration so education, workforce, and well-being efforts are better aligned.  
3. Build systems and infrastructure to measure outcomes meaningfully.  
4. Create public dashboards for transparency and accountability. 
5. Rethink the role of the federal government in supporting states’ education goals.  

To support overnors who want to bring this roadmap to life, NGA is launching a new technical effort: a Policy Academy that will support 6–8 states in building data dashboards aligned to these readiness dimensions.  

“Without a doubt, education has the power to change the trajectory of a child’s life forever.”

Governor Bill Lee

Tennessee

Innovation, Collaboration, and High-Profile Partnerships 

Throughout the year, NGA emphasized that achieving this new vision won’t be done in isolation. At its 2025 Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C., Governors engaged with thought leaders on how data, technology, and emerging tools—like AI—can help track readiness and scale what works.  

Then, at the 2025 Summer Meeting in Colorado Springs, Governor Polis held a fireside chat with Mark Cuban, who underscored the power of curiosity and access to technology: “you can give anybody with a smartphone … the ability to question anything, to learn outside the classroom in ways none of us have ever envisioned.”

Governor Polis also welcomed U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon at that meeting. Their discussion covered K–12 funding, apprenticeships, and expanding federal-state alignment around the Let’s Get Ready! vision.

A Renewed Focus on Distraction Free Learning in Schools 

In response to growing concerns among teachers, parents and students about the effects of cell phones on young learners, Governors across the United States have been implementing cell phone restriction policies in schools as a strategy to improve student achievement and well-being. This bipartisan movement reflects Governors’ concerns about declining student focus and anticipation that eliminating classroom distractions can potentially boost academic performance. At NGA’s annual Governors’ Education Policy Advisors Institute, Dr. Angela Duckworth joined nearly 40 Governors’ education policy advisors from 26 states and territories to dig into school cell phone policies and share insights from her Phones In Focus project.

“The research is clear, cellphone use can create a trifecta of consequences for our young people – mental health issues, safety in school, and distraction from learning.”

Governor Tina Kotek

Oregon

Building Education-Workforce Pipelines & Equity 

Governors also reaffirmed their commitment to aligning education with the real-world needs of their economies. In a commentary released alongside NGA’s new Governors Playbook: Future-Ready Pathways, NGA called on state leaders to invest in career-connected learning, strengthen non-degree pathways, and ensure that education systems are responsive to shifting workforce demands. This includes creating high-quality summer learning opportunities, and building sustainable education workforce pipelines.   

“We all want Montana students to receive a high-quality education that prepares them well for the future.”

Governor Greg Gianforte

Montana

Looking Ahead: Infrastructure, Metrics, and Accountability

Governors’ work this year was not just about vision — it was about laying a foundation for sustained, data-driven change. NGA’s upcoming Policy Academy to build dashboards will help states operationalize the roadmap’s goals, track progress transparently, and make adjustments based on real evidence.

And perhaps nothing highlights the importance of education to Governors than the fact that Empowering Every Learner is a pillar of Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt’s 2025–26 Chair’s initiative Reigniting the American Dream, which will continue the work of reimagining education to equip every learner, at every age, for success in a changing world.

“The beautiful thing about the American Dream is that there are as many dreams as there are people. In a time where all we hear is about how divided we are, let’s remind them that we agree on this: the American Dream doesn’t need to be reimagined, it needs to be reignited.”

Governor Kevin Stitt

Oklahoma