ESEA Timeline

Jason Miller currently serves as Executive Director of Elementary, Early Learning, and Federal Programs at the Washington state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. He has worked in education for more than 25 years, including his time as a teacher at the elementary, secondary, and postsecondary levels. Since 2016, Jason has worked for WA state and currently oversees ESEA programs, the monitoring process, and the consolidated grant application process. He has served in various capacities on the NAESPA Board since 2018. Early in his career, Jason worked in Washington, D.C., at National Geographic Society’s film archive. He earned a master’s degree in education from George Mason University in Virginia and enjoys spending time with his wife and four boys exploring the outdoors.

Shelly Babler is the director for the Title I and School Support Team at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (WDPI) and has been at the WDPI since 2008. In her role, she works to ensure educational equity and success for all students by providing leadership and oversight for the administration and implementation of grants authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA); specifically, Title I, Parts A, C, and D, and Education for Homeless Children and Youth in addition to the stimulus funding for COVID relief.

Shelly is also responsible for managing the ESEA consolidated application and monitoring processes and is involved with the management and software design of WISEgrants, Wisconsin’s in-house grants management system. Shelly has extensive experience with developing internal procedures, providing technical assistance that is student centered and complies federal rules and regulations, analyzing and reporting data, and monitoring progress of federal grant recipients.

Jewell Stanley serves as Director of the Office of Federal and State Accountability at the South Carolina Department of Education, where she leads the administration of all ESSA federal grants and ensures both fiscal and programmatic compliance. With more than 30 years in education, she previously held roles as Assistant Director and State Coordinator for Titles I, II, and IV, building on 16 years of experience as a Title I teacher and principal.

A dedicated member of the National Association of ESEA State Program Administrators (NAESPA), Jewell has contributed her expertise through the Conference Planning and Government Relations Committees. She also served two consecutive terms as NAESPA Treasurer, demonstrating a strong commitment to fiscal integrity, transparency, and supporting federal program coordinators across the nation.

Emily Meade is a program consultant for Title I, Part A at the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE). Emily holds a Master’s of Arts degree in History from Eastern Kentucky University and has over 14 years of experience in education. Emily had the privilege of working in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, where she worked with Disability Support Services prior to working at KDE. Emily is originally from Huntington, West Virginia but now resides in Lexington, Kentucky since 2010. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with my husband and kids, reading nonfiction novels, and taking naps with her two cats, Domino and Oliver.

Wes Sherrell works with the Georgia Department of Education overseeing the Internal Audit functions of the Department. The Internal Audit Department works with all Federal Programs and over 200 School Districts and Charter Schools to ensure compliance with State and Federal Statutes.  The Internal Audit Department assists the Federal Programs Division in performing cross-functional monitoring for compliance to State and Federal Regulations. Internal Audits also provides guidance and technical assistance to the Department’s Finance and Business Operations.

He has over 43 years of professional work experience, 15 in the private sector and 28 in local and state government sector.  The majority of his experience is in executive level management in information technology, finance and audit.  He is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) through the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) with years of experience in fraud investigations with specific training in digital forensics, interviews and interrogations and other various anti-fraud techniques and procedures.  He also has a Certification in Risk Management Assurance (CRMA) through the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) with years of experience in audit risk management.

He has served multiple terms as a member of the Forensic Accounting Advisory Board of the School of Accountancy at Georgia Southern University and has previously served as a Board member of Georgia Public Web, Inc. He most recently served NAESPA as the Regional 2 Alternate Representative.

He received his Bachelor of Science in Information Systems at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia and his Masters of Business Administration at Troy State University in Troy Alabama.

Beth Wooster is the ESEA Federal Programs Administrator for the State of Nebraska with over 32 years of experience in Education. She has served at the NDE the past 15 years and oversees all the ESEA Title Programs as well as the many Emergency Relief Grants for the state. Beth has been an active member with the Association for the past 13 year serving on the Board for the past 8 years in multiple roles; Conference Committee Chair, Membership Committee Chair, Secretary, Region 4 Alternate Rep, and Early Childhood Committee Co-Chair. She is also an active member in several other committees for NAESPA.