Andrew Lewis believes that ‘education is the gateway to the American dream — if you get an excellent one, you will almost certainly succeed.’
Andrew Lewis believes that ‘education is the gateway to the American dream — if you get an excellent one, you will almost certainly succeed.’
E ducation-reform leader Andrew Lewis has been named the new president and CEO of the Commonwealth Foundation, the Pennsylvania policy juggernaut considered one of the most successful and impactful of America’s state-based, pro-liberty, free-market think tanks.
A former member of the state’s general assembly, Lewis will be leading the Keystone State’s formidable center-right policy nonprofit, whose output has broader implications as the swing state finds itself increasingly at the center of Electoral College politics.
The Commonwealth Foundation raises more than $10 million annually to promote a policy agenda prioritizing educational opportunity, public-sector labor reform (which the organization also refers to as “public union democracy”), fiscal responsibility, and improving Pennsylvania’s overall economic climate.
At the capital in Harrisburg, Commonwealth has doggedly spearheaded efforts in the past few years centered on expanding education choice, aggressively working to promote Education Opportunity Accounts, through which Lifeline Scholarships would be used by students to find alternatives to low-achieving schools.
Lewis, who served in the Pennsylvania house of representatives from 2019 to 2022, was the prime sponsor of universal-school-choice legislation.
The change at Commonwealth comes as its respected, long-serving CEO, Charles Mitchell, steps down to “focus my energy on advancing the education revolution in Pennsylvania.”
Mitchell described Lewis as “a trusted colleague who, as both a lawmaker and a philanthropic business leader, helped us win historic victories in the nation’s largest swing state: creating over $600 million in school choice scholarships, enacting bipartisan pension and criminal justice reforms, stopping over $30 billion in tax increases, and many more.”
Lewis tells National Review that his “passion for education reform comes from my firm belief that an excellent education is the gateway to the American dream, the success stories of kids from across our Commonwealth who were rescued from failing schools, and my own unconventional educational journey.”
Homeschooled K–12, Lewis “attended undergraduate school through online study while in the Army, then received my first graduate degree via in-residence night school” by “leveraging the GI Bill.” He says he “learned firsthand how each person’s educational needs are different, and therefore a ‘one size fits all’ approach never works.”
The pro-liberty leader cites John Locke on natural rights and Milton Friedman and Adam Smith on free markets as inspirations, adding Senator Rand Paul and former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker as “modern public policy” exemplars.
He also declares that “William F. Buckley is an icon,” praising National Review‘s late founder’s “many contributions to the conservative movement, especially on the topics of limited government and free markets.”
An Army staff sergeant and combat veteran who served in Iraq as a scout in 2007–08, Lewis shared “a little-known fact is that I have something in common with William F. Buckley — we both served on Presidential Support Duty while in the Army; he as a member of FDR’s honor guard, and I as a member of the White House Communications Agency.”
Lewis says the concentration on reform and choice comes from his belief that “education is the gateway to the American dream — if you get an excellent one, you will almost certainly succeed. If you are denied an excellent education, you will almost certainly fail.” He adds that “ensuring that every Pennsylvanian has access to a world-class education through school choice has become one of the burning imperatives of my life.”