Sen. Hart Will Head New Cal State Institute for Educational Reform

Continuing his interest in public education, retiring state Sen. Gary K. Hart said Tuesday that he will head a new California State University program aimed at improving classroom performance from the elementary grades through high school.

As director of the Sacramento-based Cal State Institute for Educational Reform, Hart, 51, will assist elementary and secondary schools that are struggling to improve in tough budgetary times.

“There’s a growing network of schools fundamentally trying to change. But it’s hard out there,” Hart said Tuesday. “Schools have trouble keeping their heads above water.”

Hart, a Santa Barbara Democrat whose term expires next week, has represented Ventura County in the state Legislature since he was elected to the Assembly in 1974. In 1982, he moved to the Senate, where he has served three terms.

A former teacher, Hart made a name for himself in the Legislature by pushing education reform efforts ranging from the establishment of charter schools, which allow more local control, to the strengthening of graduation standards.

Hart said he has a rare chance to follow through on his work in the Capitol.

“It’s really a fortunate opportunity for me,” he said. “It gives me a way to do things I talked about in the Legislature. It gives me a different way to influence public education.”

Cal State Chancellor Barry Munitz said he delayed discussing any deal with Hart until after the Legislature adjourned for the year last August and Hart’s duties as chairman of the Senate Education Committee were over.

“We couldn’t talk about it at the time,” Munitz said, explaining that he wanted to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest. “But I said, ‘Promise me that you talk to us before you talk to anyone else.’ It was clear that he was the best possible fit for us.”

Hart stunned supporters with his announcement last year that he would retire from politics, citing family reasons for skipping an anticipated campaign for state superintendent of public instruction.

Snagging Hart to run the new policy institute “is really a great accomplishment for us,” Munitz said, “and a marvelous opportunity for him. It’s a perfect partnership because it marries his policy interest with ours in restructuring kindergarten through 12th-grade schools.”

Munitz said the new institute will serve the entire 22-campus California State University system, which produces one of every nine teachers in the United States and half the teachers in California classrooms.

The institute, to be housed on the Cal State Sacramento campus, will help improve schools through a variety of steps involving training, public policy discussions and networking.

One of the program’s goals, Hart said, will be to identify outstanding teachers and pass along their methods to officials from other schools.

The institute will also organize conferences, papers and academic surveys, Hart said. In addition, the veteran legislator, who will earn $95,000 a year, hopes to aid incoming state legislators who tackle education reform.