Education is paramount to Tom—it is the very foundation of our Republic. In eleven years of service on the Board of Regents, Tom has been a staunch advocate for fiscal responsibility, standards and accountability, and expanding the teaching of American history, values, and texts. Motivated to run by his own personal experience as a student at CU, Tom has been elected twice as Regent from the 4th C.D., the second time with 72% of the vote.
While the most widely publicized decision of the board during Tom's service was to fire Ward Churchill, Tom had already been highlighting the lack of accountability and standards for some time. Although Churchill was ultimately found guilty of academic misconduct and plagiarism by several faculty committees and fired after a multi-year process, the real issue was of course the system that hired and promoted him in the first place. He had tenure and he was the Chair of an entire Department. 
Regents do their duty, Churchill firing only responsible course, given the evidence, Rocky Mountain News, July 25, 2007
On the Board, Tom has served as the chair of the Academic Planning Study Session; served on the Advisory Committee on Tenure-Related Processes (the first in the nation); and was instrumental in founding the Center for Western Civilization on the Boulder campus in order to foster a critical understanding of the events that have shaped Western civilization, and to ensure the teaching of American history, texts and foundations. The Center for Western Civilization began offering courses this past fall after a six-year struggle for approval.
The university in March 2005 launched a comprehensive, systematic review of all its tenure-related processes, from point of hire through post-tenure review and dismissal for cause. It proved to be perhaps the most thorough tenure review effort ever undertaken at a major American university system, and the 40 recommendations adopted from the year-long process are leading to a clearer, more robust and more rigorous tenure system.
--Tenure Reform, The Time Has Come, Hank Brown, President, University of Colorado system, March 26, 2007
During his K-12 years Tom attended both public and private Catholic schools, and witnessed firsthand the contrast between a school with discipline, structure, and rigorous academic standards compared to one without and with little accountability. It was that early experience combined with his later time as a student at CU that prompted him to run for the Board of Regents.
Tom has developed a national reputation within higher education and has spoken around the country at events such as the National Academic Freedom Conference, Intercollegiate Studies Institute Conferences, American Council of Trustees and Alumni Conference, National Association of Scholars, and to Colorado’s 4th Congressional District Convention.
Often citing the work of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Tom is a staunch advocate for demanding results from our schools. We must ensure future leaders have an appreciation for and knowledge of America's founding principles. 
In 2006 and 2007, ISI published the first ever scientific surveys of civic learning among college students. Each year, approximately 14,000 freshmen and seniors at 50 schools nationwide were given a 60-question, multiple-choice exam on basic knowledge of America’s heritage. Both years, the students failed. The average freshman scored 51.7% the first year and 51.4% the next. The average senior scored 53.2%, then 54.2%. After all the time, effort, and money spent on college, students emerge no better off in understanding the fundamental features of American self-government.
--The Coming Crisis in Citizenship: Higher Education's Failure to Teach America's History and Institutions, 2006; Failing Our Students, Failing America: Holding Colleges Accountable for Teaching America’s History and Institutions, 2007
Speakout: Upgrading civic literacy must be goal, Tom Lucero, Rocky Mountain News, October 13, 2006
Tom at a personal freedom rally in March 2009 highlighting the importance of this issue: