Gov.-Elect Davis Picks Gary Hart to Serve as Education Secretary

Seeking to underscore his commitment to school reform, Gov.-elect Gray Davis on Monday made the first high-level appointment in his administration, naming former state Sen. Gary Hart as education secretary.

Davis’ choice of Hart, a fellow Democrat, drew praise from Republicans and Democrats alike.

Hart, a longtime chairman of the Senate Education Committee, is known for sponsoring major school legislation in the 1980s and ‘90s. Some of his laws stiffened high school graduation requirements, reduced class size, launched a new skills test for teacher candidates and allowed local schools to become so-called charter schools, free from most state regulation.

Introducing Hart at a news conference at the central branch of the Los Angeles Public Library, Davis said: “My education plan tries to bring out the best in every child, and I wanted to find the best for my education secretary. I think I did.”

Hart, who met Davis in the early 1960s at Stanford University, said he hopes to build a consensus for school reform when Davis takes office next January as the first Democratic governor in 16 years.

“When it comes to education, I think we should put partisan politics aside,” Hart said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Davis and Hart offered few new details on the new governor’s legislative agenda. Instead, they reiterated Davis’ threefold goals for a special session of the Legislature: helping students learn to read by third grade, making schools accountable for better results, and bolstering teacher training.

Davis described the appointment as Cabinet-level, but the state Legislature has never formally granted such status to the position, which departing Gov. Pete Wilson created in 1991 by executive order to gain more control over school policy.

Brushing aside a question about the position’s status, Davis said: “I’m interested in results. I don’t care whether Gary sits in the governor’s office or in some dark, dingy room. He will be my point person on education. Whether or not the Legislature gives us the right to formally put him in the Cabinet is of little consequence to me.”

In an essay published in The Times in May, Hart wrote that “the overall performance of California schools is a sorry spectacle.” As some first steps, he recommended a deeper commitment to teacher training by public higher education institutions; pay raises for teachers in urban schools and specialists in special education and mathematics; and adherence to academic standards.

How the education secretary fits into the byzantine leadership structure that runs California’s 8,000 public schools is uncertain.

State voters elect a state superintendent of public instruction, an independent constitutional officer, who administers the 1,200-employee state Department of Education. Local voters elect school boards in local districts, which in turn appoint superintendents. What’s more, the governor appoints a state Board of Education, whose members are subject to confirmation by the state Senate. The governor, of course, is the most powerful player in education politics by dint of his budget-writing and veto powers.

The current education secretary, Marian Bergeson, has a staff of about 20 and draws a salary of nearly $108,000 a year. She is usually described in news reports as Wilson’s chief “education advisor” and attends his Cabinet meetings.

Bergeson, a Republican, called Hart “an excellent choice” to be her successor. “Can’t think of anyone better qualified than Gary,” Bergeson said. “Gary has been a very strong educational proponent, often in a bipartisan way.”

Hart, Bergeson added, would be likely to build on measures launched during Wilson’s tenure such as class-size reduction in grade schools and the development of tough new academic standards in math, science, reading and history.

Delaine Eastin, a Democrat who this fall was reelected as state superintendent, was equally enthusiastic--even though Hart may diminish her visibility on school issues. “He’s a great guy, very knowledgeable, substantive,” Eastin said. “It’s an inspired choice.”

Hart and Davis share some resemblances. Both are 55 years old. Both were in the Zeta Psi fraternity at Stanford. Both are former state legislators known as centrist Democrats.

Hart specialized in education issues during his 20 years representing Santa Barbara and Ventura counties in the Legislature, 12 of those at the helm of the Senate Education Committee. He also taught high school English and history. In recent years, he has been co-director of the Institute for Education Reform of California State University. In 1993, a year before he retired from the Legislature, Hart considered a run for state superintendent but eventually dropped out, citing a need to spend time with his family.

The appointment was the second for Hart since the Nov. 3 election. Last month, Davis named Hart to a 13-member transition task force of business and education leaders to help draw up a blueprint for education reform.