States are working to ensure that every citizen is prepared for the knowledge economy. Achieving this goal requires unprecedented alignment of policies and practices across the early childhood; elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education; and workforce sectors (P-20W). Consequently, many policy questions require data from multiple agencies to answer. As states implement systems to enable this data sharing, four themes emerge among the challenges they face: turf, trust, technical issues, and time. While most states have established data governance processes that span the P-20W spectrum, the majority of states' data governance structures lack the executive-level policymaker oversight necessary to systematically overcome these obstacles. Yet policymaker leadership is critical to garner the political will and resources to address the barriers of turf, trust, technical issues, and time. Policymakers can take the following actions to effectively develop and lead P-20W data governance and ensure that data systems meet stakeholder needs: (1) Establish the right structure; (2) Select the right people; (3) Empower the structure with the authority to make necessary decisions and implement charges; and (4) Ensure that the structure is sustainable, protecting the continuity of the state's vision. (Contains 7 endnotes and 13 resources.) [This paper was written with support from Paige Kowalski and Laura Sonn.]