"The SEA of the Future" is an education publication series examining how state education agencies can shift from a compliance to a performance-oriented organization through strategic planning and performance management tools to meet growing demands to support education reform while improving productivity. This inaugural edition of "The SEA of the Future" examines how SEAs can better manage their relationships with districts and schools, identifies strategies for aligning resources with goals, and considers how outsiders--governors, legislators, philanthropies, and reform advocates--can support the transition. The following essays provide the basis of this examination: (1) Building a Better System of Support (Sam Redding); (2) Doing More with Less: Three Strategies for Improved Resource Alignment (Patrick Murphy and Ashley Jochim); and (3) Where to Start? What Governors, Legislators, and Others Can Do (Paul Hill). Individual essays contain references. [For "The SEA of the Future: Prioritizing Productivity. Volume 2," see ED562514. For "The SEA of the Future: Building the Productivity Infrastructure. Volume 3," see ED562515. For "The SEA of the Future: Uncovering the Productivity Promise of Rural Education. Volume 4," see ED562510. For "The SEA of the Future: Building Agency Capacity for Evidence-Based Policymaking. Volume 5," see ED562509.]