Education
Harvard College; Harvard Law School.
Harvard College; Harvard Law School.
He is widely credited, along with Mark Roosevelt, with passage of a sweeping education bill, the Education Reform Acting of 1993. He is a graduate of Austin Preparatory School, Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard College, and Harvard Law School, and he received a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University after his 1972 graduation from Harvard College. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for Massachusetts governor in 2002, despite impressive fundraising.
An avid cyclist, Birmingham biked across the state of Massachusetts in 2001.
In 1999, his proposal to keep the home stadium of The New England Patriots in Massachusetts was accepted by Patriots owner Robert Kraft and passed by the state legislature. Birmingham served as Senior Counsel at the law firm of Edwards Wildman Palmer, taught state and local government at Tufts University and education policy at Northeastern University in Boston.
In March 2014, he joined Citizen Schools Massachusetts as Executive Director. In early 2015, he left Citizen Schools Massachusetts to become a distinguished senior fellow in education at Pioneer Institute.
His is listed as a notable holder of the Birmingham coat of arms.
They have two daughters, Erica and Megan.