(Radio Iowa) Governor Kim Reynolds has named an eastern Iowa native who’s been a leader in the national school choice movement to be the next director of the Iowa Department of Education.

Chad Aldis is a 1990 graduate of Clinton High School. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he worked for Florida legislators, then as an administrator in the Florida Department of Education. Aldis then moved to Ohio and was executive director of School Choice Ohio for nearly four years. For the past nine-and-a-half years, he’s been with a national think tank that advocates for charter schools and the kind of state funded savings accounts for private school expenses that Iowa’s governor recently signed into law.

Governor Reynolds says this is a pivotal time for Iowa’s education system and Aldis will help lead reform efforts. Aldis says he shares the governor’s vision and will focus on ensuring all students leave high school with the knowledge and skills to prepare them for college or a career.

Aldis earned a degree in economics from the University of Mississippi and a law degree from Florida State University. Aldis is replacing Ann Lebo who announced recently she was resigning as Iowa Department of Education director after nearly three years in the position. His first day on the job is March 15th.