Focus | The next step in Saxman’s political career?

Pol to head up education transition

Story by Chris Graham
[email protected]

Chris Saxman’s career in the House of Delegates is winding down. Could a new avenue be opening up with a possible job in the McDonnell administration?

“Obviously that’s natural speculation,” said Saxman, who this week confirmed that he is co-chairing the Bob McDonnell transition team on K-12 education with former state superintendent of public instruction Bill Bosher, a job that will have Saxman knee-deep in state education policy over the course of the next few weeks.

“I hold the governor-elect in the highest regard. We’ve had personal communications to that effect,” Saxman said of the possibility of him serving in an administrative role in McDonnell administration, “but that’s all I’ll say about it. I’ve always said, Bob, however I can help you, I’m more than happy to help, and I’ve left it at that,” Saxman said.

Saxman’s term in the House representing the 20th District, which includes Staunton, the western half of Augusta County, Highland County and a chunk of Rockingham County, ends in January. Political observers have had the 44-year-old pegged as a rising star in the Virginia Republican Party almost since his first election to the General Assembly in 2001. He made a brief exploratory run at the 2008 GOP U.S. Senate nomination and created a bit of a buzz about a possible candidacy before stepping aside.

He then stepped away from a run for a fifth term in the House this summer, citing interest in spending more time with his family and working on initiatives involving education-system reform.

Through Jan. 4, the deadline for Saxman and Bosher to file their report with the McDonnell transition team on K-12 education in Virginia, Saxman will be busy with the minutiae of admininstrative function.

“Figuring out where the Department is, where their personnel gaps are going to be, who wants to leave, who wants to stay. Figuring out where programs are. Looking at funding. Working with local school-board officials and superintendents and gathering information from them on things they’d like to see. It’s a lot of information-gathering, and then we’ll be working on the governor-elect’s policy proposals that he forwarded in the campaign and how they interact going into the legislative session,” Saxman said.

The McDonnell transition team feels fortunate to have Saxman on board.

“Chris brings with him a commitment to innovation and accountability in public education. He is a logical choice for this position given his background, vision and desire to help enact positive change to improve our public schools statewide. We appreciate his willingness to volunteer his time and energy to this important effort to ensure that every Virginia student gets the world-class education he or she needs to compete in our 21st century economy,” McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin said.

Saxman and Bosher are already hard at work on the effort.

“It is an intensive project. It will be a busy few weeks. Thankfully we have an outstanding group of professionals at the Department of Education who are first and foremost concerned about the education of children,” Saxman said.