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.”