Washington, D.C. - Governor-elect Robert McDonnell has appointed Gerard Robinson, President of the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO) the new Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Virginia.Robinson was elected President of BAEO in 2007. Prior to joining BAEO, he was a fellow with the Institute for the Transformation of Learning at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI. He has worked as a researcher for the School Choice Demonstration Project at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and held staff positions in the Virginia and California legislatures.

“Our organization is in a good place today because of Gerard’s commitment, performance and leadership as BAEO President,” said Howard Fuller, BAEO Founder and former Chair of the Board. “The BAEO family wishes him the best in his new position.”

“I thank Gerard for his dedication to BAEO and our mission to ensure that low-income Black children have an opportunity to attend high performing schools regardless of their families’ economic status,” said Kevin P. Chavous, the new Chair-elect of the BAEO Board. “I applaud Governor-elect McDonnell for making education a real priority for Virginia. Virginia’s children will benefit from the McDonnell-Robinson education agenda.”

During the search for a new president, Chavous will lead the management team along with BAEO Vice Chair Deborah McGriff and Board member Kenneth Campbell.

BAEO is a national, non-profit, membership organization with members nationwide. BAEO was founded in 2000, by Howard Fuller, Deborah McGriff, Virginia Walden-Ford, Philadelphia State Rep. Dwight Evans, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, and several other prominent African-American educators, elected officials and civil rights activists with start-up funding from the Walton family foundation. BAEO will celebrate its 10th anniversary at Symposium 2010, the Annual Meeting of the organization in March in Milwaukee.

BAEO’s mission is to increase access to high-quality educational options for Black children by actively supporting parental choice policies and programs that empower low-income and working-class Black families.

For more information on BAEO visit www.baeo.org