Gaston Caperton

During his first term as the state's 31st governor, Caperton supported the passages of ethics, road-building, and education bills.

He raised taxes in an effort to improve West Virginia's finances, thereby reducing debts exceeding $500 million and creating a $100 million surplus.

Because of the reforms, Financial World magazine called the state the most improved in the nation.

Critics accused Caperton of failing to keep a campaign promise not to raise taxes, but defenders claimed that the previous governor had misstated the condition of the state's finances and failed to disclose the need for tax increases.

Publicly, Governor Caperton emphasized that education was his first priority.

Caperton supported a school-building program that led to $800 million in investments for 58 new schools and 780 school renovations, directly benefiting two-thirds of West Virginia's public school students.

William Gaston Caperton III (born February 21, 1940) is an American politician who served as the 31st Governor of West Virginia from 1989 to 1997.

After a brief strike by the state's public educators, Caperton raised teachers' salaries from 49th to 31st in the nation and trained more than 19,000 educators through a statewide Center for Professional Development with the goal of putting technology to its best use in West Virginia's classrooms.

He encouraged the use of computers and technology in West Virginia public schools, resulting in the West Virginia Basic Skills Computer Program, which began with kindergarten and extended through sixth grade.

His common refrain for "computers in every classroom" since has been expanded to include grades 7–12.

Caperton was elected governor in his first attempt to seek public office in 1988.

In the 1988 gubernatorial election, Caperton, initially considered a long-shot for his party's nomination, won a crowded primary in a narrow plurality over the 1984 nominee and Speaker of the State House Clyde M. See Jr., then in the general election, again as an underdog, upset the Republican incumbent, Arch A. Moore Jr.

In the 1992 election, Caperton was challenged by State Senator Charlotte Pritt and then-state Attorney General Mario Palumbo in the Democratic primary.

Caperton narrowly won the primary over Pritt and then the general election, defeating West Virginia Secretary of Agriculture Cleve Benedict, the Republican nominee, and Pritt, running as a write-in candidate.

As part of his efforts to promote a clean environment, on August 13, 1992, Governor Gaston Caperton announced the creation of the West Virginia Streams Restoration Program, dedicated to treating acid drainage from coal mining.

Caperton was constitutionally prohibited from running for a third consecutive term in 1996.

He ended up supporting the Republican nominee, former Governor Cecil Underwood, against Pritt, which led to a party split and bad feelings among some in the state party.

In 1996, West Virginia's advances in education technology gained national recognition when Caperton received the Computerworld Smithsonian Award.

Award sponsors called Caperton a "visionary" who "fundamentally changed the education system in America" by using technological innovations.

Information about Caperton and his work is included in the Smithsonian's Permanent Research Collection.

Near the end of his second term, Caperton was the 1996 chair of the Democratic Governors' Association, served on the National Governors' Association executive committee, and was a member of the Intergovernmental Policy Advisory Committee on U.S. Trade.

He was chairman of the Appalachian Regional Commission, Southern Regional Education Board, and the Southern Growth Policy Board.

Caperton has received numerous state and national awards and special recognition, including ten honorary doctoral degrees.

Another product of Caperton's tenure is the Tamarack, the Best of West Virginia.

The facility is a museum, art gallery, and collection of studios for visiting artists that showcases products of West Virginia and organizes the state's "cottage industry."

Tamarack is the center of an integrated distribution and marketing network for products by more than 1,200 West Virginia artists.

In January 1997, the magazine Education Week, conducted a study of the nation's education system and highlighted West Virginia for the state's use of technology in education.

As governor, Caperton focused his efforts on economic development, modern roads and infrastructure, prisons and jails, a clean environment, health care, and government management.

West Virginia's economy improved during his eight-year tenure.

Unemployment dropped from 9.8% to 6.2%, the result of creating approximately 86,000 new jobs.

The Rosen Group, publisher of Niche magazine, named Caperton the 1997 Humanitarian of the Year for creating a progressive market for the state's cottage industry.

After completing his second term, the former governor taught at Harvard University in the spring of 1997 as a fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics.

He founded the Institute on Education and Government at Columbia University.

He was president of the College Board, which administers the nationally recognized SAT and AP tests, from 1999 to 2012.

He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Caperton was born in Charleston, West Virginia.

He attended Dexter School (Brookline, Massachusetts), Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon.

After graduation he returned to Charleston to manage a family-owned insurance firm.

He soon became its principal owner and, under his watch, it became the tenth largest privately owned insurance brokerage firm in the nation.

Caperton owned a bank and mortgage banking firm.