RALEIGH, N.C. – Former Gov. Jim Hunt said Wednesday he’s not interested in becoming Barack Obama’s education secretary but wants to keep advising his administration on education issues.

Hunt, who served a record four terms as governor through 2001, had been on several lists of potential Cabinet members following Obama’s presidential victory last week.

Returning from a three-day trip to Seattle for a Gates Foundation event attended by Obama education advisers, Hunt told

The News & Observer of Raleigh he still expects to work closely with the U.S. Education Department, but he’ll do it from North Carolina.

“I just spent several days with the top Obama people,” Hunt said. “Many encouraged me to do it. I told them I would not go to Washington.”

Hunt, 71, campaigned hard for Obama in North Carolina, where the Democratic nominee became the first in 32 years to win the state’s electoral votes.

The Wilson County native championed the Smart Start early childhood initiative in the 1990s and supported a program that links student test scores to teacher bonuses. He now works in a Raleigh law firm and leads think tanks on public schools and higher education.

Hunt said he talked with Obama during a campaign stop in Raleigh the week before the election. He urged Obama to follow through on an education platform that gives every child a world-class education from birth through college graduation.

Hunt said Obama also should take a personal leadership role in improving education.

“This is a man who spent a lot of time on the streets of Chicago and knows about good schools and poor schools,” and knows the importance of improving lousy schools, Hunt said. Obama also needs to have a close relationship with governors, the ex-governor said.