Heather experienced first-hand the educational inequity hurting many of today's kids while teaching middle school social studies in the Bronx. A former journalist-and mostly still one at heart-she wanted to expose the problems in education and work to impact more than the students in her classroom, which lead her to an education reform think tank in Washington, D.C. While in D.C., Heather learned about national education issues, but knew real change in education would occur at the state level, bringing her back home to Washington State. Not a stranger to advocacy, Heather was a founding board member, and later co-chair, of a youth advocacy non-profit in her hometown. Heather holds a BA in communications and political science from the University of Washington and a MS for Teachers from Pace University. When she's not trying to save the world one K-12 system at a time, Heather enjoys immersing herself in foreign cultures (domestic and international), watching historical dramas and quoting Monty Python sketches. Still a practicing teacher, she routinely administers lessons on correct hyphen use to coworkers.  Contact Heather at heather@educationvoters.org