Education has always been the top priority of Jim Hodges, the 114th Governor of South Carolina.

Growing up in the small town of Lancaster, South Carolina, Jim Hodges attended his local public schools. Starting at the age of 16, he worked summers in the cotton mill to pay his way through college. He earned a business degree from the University of South Carolina in 1979, and a law degree from the USC School of Law in 1982. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

When he ran for governor, Jim Hodges pledged to "focus like a laser beam on education." From his first days in office, he kept his promise. His budgets called for investing in public schools, without raising taxes. He pushed to pay educators more, and used incentives to encourage national certification for teachers. He complemented full-day kindergarten with the First Steps preschool initiative, to help children begin school healthy and ready to learn. He oversaw the creation of an education lottery, to make technical and four-year colleges more accessible. And he stood firm on school accountability.

The results of this focus on education have begun to show. South Carolina now leads the nation in SAT improvement. In fact, SAT scores have increased more during the Hodges Administration than in the past ten years combined. A record high percentage of kindergarten students are testing ready for first grade. The number of our high school students passing all three state exit exams on their first try has experienced its greatest gains in a decade. South Carolina high school students scored above the national average in reading, language, and math in 2000 and 2001 on nationally standardized tests of basic skills.

According to Education Week magazine, South Carolina now ranks fourth in the nation in improving teacher quality and sixth in promoting accountability. South Carolina now ranks fifth nationally in the number of nationally certified teachers - from 17 in 1998 to 1,291 today. South Carolina also had the third largest group of candidates for certification in 2001-2002. The Princeton Review recently rated South Carolina's academic accountability system as among the top ten in the nation. And when Time magazine went looking for one of the best schools in the country, they turned their eyes to Columbia's own Hand Middle School.

These are just some of the indicators of South Carolina's improving schools. But Governor Hodges is not ready to stop. He knows that our schools still have a ways to go. That's why he has launched an ambitious initiative to raise teacher pay to the national average within six years. He has also announced plans to focus on enhancing access to quality pre-school, increasing teacher quality and accountability, improving the learning environment for our students, engaging South Carolina's parents and communities in this statewide improvement effort, and expanding access to higher education in our state.

Governor Hodges has advanced a number of other common-sense, conservative initiatives. Among these are the state's first sales tax holiday and the South Carolina SilverCard, offering prescription drug coverage for our state's senior citizens. He has overseen record economic development. He has also balanced the budget during the tough economic times brought on by September 11 and the national recession -- without raising taxes.

Before being elected governor, Jim Hodges served for eleven years in the South Carolina House of Representatives, including two years as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee (1992-94) and two years as House Democratic Leader (1995-97). As a legislator, he was known for promoting full-day kindergarten. He received a number of awards, including the National Federation of Independent Businesses' "Guardian of Small Business" in 1996.

Born November 19, 1956, in Lancaster, he is the son of George N. and Betty H. Hodges. He is married to the former Rachel A. Gardner of Hartsville. They have two sons, Luke and Sam.