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Kevin P. Chavous is a noted attorney, author and national school reform leader. As a former member of the Council of the District of Columbia and Chair of the Council's Committee on Education, Libraries and Recreation, Mr. Chavous was at the forefront of promoting change within the District public school system. His efforts led to over 500 million new dollars being made available to educate children in DC.
A leading national advocate for school choice, Mr. Chavous helped to shepherd the charter school movement into the nation's capital. Under his education committee chairmanship, charter schools grew from zero to over forty schools and 17,000 students in six short years. That number represented twenty percent of the overall public school population in the District of Columbia, the highest percentage of charter schools in the country. His efforts on behalf of charter schools earned him the prestigious MAC award.
In addition, Mr. Chavous assisted in shaping the District's three-sector education partnership with the federal government. That partnership led to fifty million new federal dollars for D.C. public schools, DC charter schools and it funded the city's first scholarship program to allow over 2,000 low income children to attend private school.
Mr. Chavous' public service career also included his authorship of a groundbreaking report on early childhood education in the District. He also received numerous accolades and awards for his steadfast advocacy championing the University of the District of Columbia as a world class institution of higher learning. Mr. Chavous' creative approach to economic development and neighborhood revitalization was lauded by the Washington Post as "one of the more thoughtful approaches on economic development by a DC Official since the beginning of home rule".
Since leaving the DC Council, Mr. Chavous has emerged as one of the nations most respected and influential education reform leaders. He is a Distinguished Fellow with the Washington, DC based Center for Education Reform, serves on the national board of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools and is a board member for the Black Alliance for Educational Options.
Mr. Chavous continues to serve the public through his participation with several organizations. He is a board member of the Friendship Charter School in Washington, D.C. and the Legacy Charter School in Chicago, IL. He also serves on the board of Building Hope and FOCUS in Washington. Mr. Chavous is also on the Advisory Board of the Harlem Village Academy Charter School in New York.
More recently, Mr. Chavous formed Serving Our Children, Inc. (SOC). This non-profit company's mission is to provide limited monetary assistance to supplement teacher's classroom needs.
Mr. Chavous is a Co-Founder and board Chair of the Democrats for Education Reform, a group dedicated to supporting Democrats seeking public office who are open to innovative learning approaches and offering more options for parents.
Mr. Chavous is an accomplished author, having published Serving Our Children: Charter Schools and the Reform of American Public Education. His book represents a detailed discussion of the charter school movement both in the District of Columbia and around the country. Mr. Chavous' book has received praise from policymakers, educators and book critics.
Mr. Chavous is a Partner with Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, where he developed the firm's education law practice. He also periodically teaches education law as an adjunct professor at American University's Washington College of Law.
Mr. Chavous was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana and graduated from Wabash College, where he was an NCAA All-American in basketball. He also graduated from the Howard University School of Law, where he was President of his graduating class.
Mr. Chavous lives in Washington, DC.
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