In the span of nine days this past December, American education lost two titans whose collective impact spans generations and transcends geography.
Secretary Rod Paige passed away on Dec. 9 at 92. North Carolina lost Gov. Jim Hunt on Dec. 18 at 88.
For those of us fortunate enough to have worked alongside both men, their loss is not merely historical, it is deeply personal.
Sitting in Houston for Secretary Paige’s funeral last month and then at the Hunt Institute’s 25th anniversary dinner in early January, I was struck that former Secretary Arne Duncan rose to honor both men.
A Democrat paying tribute to leaders across party lines because that’s what Paige and Hunt both demanded of this work. I had the privilege of serving as Deputy Director of Advance for Secretary Paige and later was named a Hunt-Kean Fellow, and from both experiences I learned the same lesson.
Children’s futures transcend politics.
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The boots and the arena
You always noticed Secretary Paige’s cowboy boots first. Polished and proud, they carried him from the halls of the White House to remote Alaskan schools, from Luby’s in Texas to wooden-floored Cracker Barrels across America.
Those boots were more than footwear. They were a statement of a man rooted in his Mississippi beginnings, grounded in his values, and unshakeable in his belief that every child deserved excellence. At his funeral in Houston, Duncan called Paige “a larger-than-life figure” and added: “He may be a better secretary of education. He may be a better man. He personified what public service was about. It was never about him. It was about taking care of others.”
Gov. Hunt operated with equal force but different tools. As MC Belk Pilon reflected at the Hunt Institute dinner, “If you ever met him, you never left empty handed: a clipping, a picture, a story, a handwritten note, advice.”
“He saw patterns no one else did and connected dots others didn’t realize existed,” she said. “His superpower was connection of people, systems, and ideas.”
He was the “education governor” before that was a thing, creating Smart Start, championing teacher pay, co-founding the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, and establishing the Hunt Institute to extend his vision nationally.
At that same dinner, Duncan counted Gov. Hunt among his “three wise men” — a mentor whose calls he “feared the most” because Hunt called to make him better. Every conversation would begin with encouragement, Duncan recalled, then pivot. “I gotta talk to you about one thing,” Duncan remembered Hunt saying.
Hunt would not only identify what was wrong, Duncan said, he’d offer five better ways to do it. “And he was always right,” said Duncan.
Belk Pilon closed her reflection with Theodore Roosevelt’s words about “the man in the arena” — the one who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short, but who actually enters the fight.
Gov. Hunt, she said, “didn’t just leave us a legacy. He left us a responsibility to join him in that arena.”
Secretary Paige spent his life in that same arena. President George W. Bush said Paige challenged “the soft bigotry of low expectations” — a conviction forged in segregated Mississippi and refined through decades of service, from coaching football at Jackson State, where his team integrated Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium, to transforming Houston ISD, to implementing No Child Left Behind.
Both men emerged not as critics on the sidelines, but as warriors for children.
The work continues
Gov. Hunt said, “Education is the great equalizer. It’s the ticket to opportunity for every child, regardless of their circumstances.”
Javaid Siddiqi, the president and CEO of the Hunt Institute, spoke at The Hunt Institute’s celebration of the drive he learned from the governor — “some may say addiction,” he said — to impact young people.
Hunt instilled in many leaders an insatiable hunger to reach more children. “Once you work for Gov. Hunt,” Siddiqi said, “you always work for Gov. Hunt.”
Secretary Paige, into his 90s, still publicly expressed concern and optimism about America’s schools. Gov. Hunt, until his final days on his Wilson County farm, kept sending those famous notes and clippings, gently grabbing elbows and imparting wisdom.
A responsibility, not just a legacy
The loss of leaders comes at a difficult moment in American education.
“Talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not,” said Duncan. Leaders continue to see education as the bridge.
But Duncan said even more is at stake.
“The only way to have a thriving democracy is to have a civically engaged citizenry and the only way that’s going to happen is if folks get a chance to get a high-quality education,” said Duncan. “I don’t say this easily or lightly. I’m absolutely convinced that our collective work has never been more important than it is right now.”
While their boots have stopped walking and their calls have stopped coming, the footprints of Paige and Hunt remain, guiding educators, policymakers, and advocates.
Former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes has said, “We will feel the effect of Jim Hunt’s leadership for generations to come.” The same is true of Secretary Paige.
Tomorrow, as Siddiqi promised, “we will do more.”
What stands before us is the challenge and privilege of impacting children and learners for another 25 years and beyond.
That is what Paige and Hunt would expect. That is what every child deserves.
Rest well, Mr. Secretary. Rest well, Governor.
Your journey is complete, but your legacy walks on.
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