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Board Member Profiles - Jane Goff

Colorado State Board of Education

Jane Goff (D)

7th Congressional District, Arvada

Terms of Office: March 2008 – January 2021

7th Congressional District, Arvada.


Jane Goff, representing the 7th Congressional District, was elected to her first six-year term on the State Board in 2008, and re-elected to a second term in 2014. Jane is a Colorado native and both a graduate and retired employee of Jefferson County Public Schools. She enjoyed a 34-year career as a Jeffco French and Spanish teacher, Coordinator of World Languages and International Student Exchange, president of the Jefferson County Education Association (JCEA) and vice-president of the Colorado Education Association (CEA).

During her years in Jeffco, Jane coordinated the district’s first Administrator and Teacher Performance Pay Pilots, served on the Jeffco PTA Board of Directors and helped to design the Links for Learning program, a teacher-employer partnership between the Jeffco Schools and the West Chamber of Commerce. She was the first teacher graduate of Leadership Jefferson County and served four years as Vice President for Education on the Jefferson Symphony Board of Directors. 

Jane remains regularly involved in the Jeffco community, experience that proved extremely valuable following the Columbine High School tragedy in 1999. She was often consulted on matters related to school safety and crisis response, presenting the teacher perspective to a variety of local, state, and national audiences. Following her retirement from Jeffco in 2006, Jane worked as a legislative aide for the Colorado House of Representatives.

From 2010-2016, Jane was a member of the original Governors’ P-20 and Education Leadership Councils. In 2010, she received the Colorado Congress of Foreign Language Teachers Friend of Foreign Languages Award and was selected for the 3rd annual U.S. Educators Tour of Japan, sponsored by the Japan Foundation of the United States.

In 2014, Jane was elected President of the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE). Prior to the presidency, she had served three years as a member of the NASBE Board of Directors, representing eleven western states and territories. In 2018, she received NASBE's Distinguished Service Award, which honors current and former state board members who have made exceptional contributions to education.

Currently, Jane is the state board’s liaison to the Gifted Education State Advisory Committee, and to Colorado’s Teacher of the Year and Milken Family Teaching Award selection committees. She is also the board's appointed Democratic contact to the state legislature, and Colorado’s representative to NASBE's Government Affairs Committee. 
 

Jane earned her degree in Modern Language Education at Colorado State University and graduate hours in school administration and counseling at the University of Colorado. 

Jane and her husband Harry, also a Colorado native and a graduate of Denver Public Schools, live in Arvada.

For additional information, e-mail: state.board@cde.state.co.us.


For additional information e-mail state.board@cde.state.co.us.

Members of the media who wish to speak with a state board member should email cde_communications@cde.state.co.us.