Eric Lerum

Founder, SmarterEd Policy Partners

Eric Lerum has been working in public education issues for over a decade. Most recently he led the policy efforts at StudentsFirst as the VP of National Policy. There Eric and his team provided policy and legislative analysis across a broad policy agenda, including teacher quality, choice, and governance models. Before StudentsFirst, Eric served as Chief of Staff to the Deputy Mayor for Education for the District of Columbia, playing a lead role in school reform efforts, including the mayoral takeover of the school system and D.C.'s successful Race to the Top application. He has also served as the Legislative Counsel to the D.C. Council's education committee and as a policy analyst for American University, where he developed his interests in public education and youth justice while teaching constitutional literacy to high school students.