State Rep. Hugh Blackwell Appointed to Southern Regional Education Board Legislative Committee
Morganton, NC — State Rep. Hugh Blackwell of Valdese,
N.C., has been appointed to the Southern Regional Education
Board’s Legislative Advisory Council by North Carolina Governor
Pat McCrory.
SREB is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that works with 16
member states to improve public education at every level, from
pre-K through Ph.D. SREB’s Legislative Advisory Council convenes
legislative leaders in education from each state to guide SREB’s
programs. Members stay abreast of educational progress and
legislative action in other states across the SREB region and
share effective statewide policy to improve education.
Blackwell is vice chair of North Carolina’s House Appropriations
Committee and chairs the Appropriations Subcommittee on
Education. He also serves on the Joint Legislative Education
Oversight Committee, the Information Technology Appropriations
Subcommittee and the Commerce and Job Development Committee. He
is a former vice chair of the Burke County Board of Education,
where he served as a board member for eight years. He also served
on the board of trustees of Western Piedmont Community College
for eight years. Formerly a practicing attorney in Valdese,
Blackwell earned a degree in economics from the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a law degree from Harvard Law
School.
“Our greatest hope of growing the economy and jobs in Burke
County and in North Carolina — in addition to maintaining an
attractive tax and regulatory climate for business — is quality
education for our students at all levels,” said Blackwell. “SREB
works alongside state policy-makers with that very goal in mind.
SREB is a great source to learn of solutions that are actually
working elsewhere to increase college completion rates and to
increase the number of high school graduates with good job skills
and work credentials.”