Lozano Leaves State Board of Education

Monica Lozano, president of the Spanish-language newspaper La Opinion, quit the State Board of Education this week, citing personal reasons.

Gov. Gray Davis, who appointed Lozano in 1999 to a three-year term, could fill the vacancy at any time, said Greg Geeting, the board’s interim deputy executive director.

Lozano, the only Latino on the board, was sent off this week by other board members “with warm remarks and a round of applause,” Geeting said. She is leaving nine months before her term was to end.

Lozano, 43, is the president and chief operating officer of the nation’s leading Spanish-language newspaper and the mother of two children. She also sits on the boards of Walt Disney Co. and Union Bank of America and is a USC trustee.

On the Board of Education, Lozano was the panel’s delegate to California’s Post-secondary Education Commission, and she served as president of the board in 2000.

Lozano, who lives in Los Angeles, was traveling Friday and could not be reached for comment.