The Executive Council confirmed Caitlin Davis to be the next commissioner of the Department of Education Wednesday, cementing the choice of a department insider whose nomination by Gov. Kelly Ayotte had been widely praised.
In a unanimous vote, councilors confirmed Davis to a four-year term ending in 2029.
Davis, who most recently served as the director of education analytics and resources, had worked in the department for 15 years. She built a reputation as a neutral, data-driven financial expert, often sitting before lawmakers on the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee or Finance Committee to brief them on complicated budget spreadsheets. And she vowed to lead the department as a nonpartisan executive, carrying out both lawmakers’ and the governor’s policies without injecting her own politics.
That position won her rare endorsements from Democrats, teachers’ unions, conservatives, and “school choice” supporters, some of whom criticized what they saw as a more openly political approach taken by outgoing Commissioner Frank Edelblut and called for more neutral leadership.
“Caitlin’s collaborative, data-driven approach will help us continue delivering a best-in-class education for all of New Hampshire’s students,” Ayotte said in a statement in June, when she first announced the nomination.
Ahead of Wednesday’s vote, Councilor Karen Liot Hill, the sole Democrat on the council, noted the unanimous support for Davis at a multi-hour confirmation hearing Tuesday, and said she hoped Davis would represent a fresh start for the agency.
And Councilor John Stephen, a Republican, said he appreciated Davis’ commitment to parents’ rights and to supporting nonpublic schools in addition to public schools.
Edelblut, who was asked not to seek another term by Ayotte, also endorsed Davis in June, calling her “a respected peer within the state’s education field and a pivotal member of our leadership team.”
On Wednesday, Republican Councilor David Wheeler took a moment to applaud Edelblut’s time in office.
“Thank you for his good work at the Department of Education — all the innovations that he’s brought there with his business and educational experience, helping us with EFAs, making that a reality,” said Wheeler, referring the state’s education freedom accounts.
Ayotte also thanked Edelblut for his service.
“I think it’s a testament to Commissioner Edelblut’s leadership that the new commissioner of education actually comes from within the Department of Education,” Ayotte said. She said Edelblut had been “mentoring a good team as well.”
In seeking the job, Davis styled herself as an experienced administrator. Near the start of a multi-hour confirmation hearing Tuesday, Executive Councilor Joseph Kenney, a Wakefield Republican, asked Davis whether she considered herself a “passionate educator” or a “passionate bureaucrat.”
“I suppose I’m a passionate bureaucrat, but I don’t like the term bureaucrat,” Davis replied. “… When you use the term bureaucrat, I think you take away all of the effort that state employees and the legislators and the citizens are putting into the system.”