Delaine Eastin

Early life

Eastin was born in San Diego, California, where her father served in the U.S. Navy. After her father completed his career in the Navy, the family moved to San Francisco where her mother had been born and raised. Delaine enrolled in elementary school in San Francisco, where she was one of 44 children in the second grade classroom. While the teacher was effective, it was impossible for her to attend to the needs of every child in the class. The family moved to San Carlos shortly thereafter, where Delaine enrolled in a school where she was one of 20 children. This was a life-changing experience, and Delaine was able to get the attention she needed to thrive academically. As she says, "I came by my interest in class size reduction from personal experience". A native Californian, Eastin received her bachelor's degree from the University of California, Davis, and her master's degree in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Teaching and business career

After graduation, Eastin taught women's studies and political science at several California community colleges including Ventura College, DeAnza College and Cañada College. Following seven years of teaching, she joined Pacific Telephone in 1979 as an accounting manager and then, as a corporate strategic planner, where she worked for the company that became Pacific Telesis Group and sought to recreate itself in response to the breakup of AT&T. As a corporate planner, she served on the team that advocated expansion into a then new technology area, cellular phone service, resulting in PacTel Mobile, finally acquired by Vodaphone.

Early political career

Eastin began her political career in 1980 as a Member of the Union City Council. As a council member she represented the city on a variety of boards including as a Member of the Alameda County Library Commission, which she chaired for 5 of the 6 years she served on it. She also represented the city on the Solid Waste Management Authority, where she successfully advocated for a Recycling Subcommittee. She chaired the SWMA and she represented Union City on the Association of Bay Area Governments. In 1986, communities stretching from San Jose to Union City elected her to the Legislature, after her service on the Union City Council. When she joined the Assembly, she authored innovative bills to improve schools, increase use of recycled materials, improve transportation systems, and crack down on unlicensed contractors.

Eastin's leadership garnered the "Rookie of the Year" acknowledgement from the California Journal, a non-partisan analytical journal that reported on the State Legislature.

Eastin served four terms in the State Assembly, representing parts of Alameda and Santa Clara counties. She chaired the Assembly Education Committee, where she authored and shaped legislation to reform California's public schools in order to make the state economically competitive. Her legislation included bills creating charter schools, promoting parental involvement, and enhancing school safety. Her other legislation reduced the bureaucratic hurdles for approval of new school construction and placed the largest school bond in history on the ballot, which voters approved in 1992. She also fought successfully to increase financial accountability of school districts—to prevent bankruptcies like the one in Richmond.

Eastin also received "Legislator of the Year" awards from the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges, the California School Boards Association (several times), and the California Media Library Educators Association. The California Congress of the PTA, and the American Electronics Association, also have recognized Eastin for her efforts on behalf of children. She received the prestigious Crystal Apple Award from the American Library Association. She was given the Inspirational Leader Award from Kidango. She received alumni awards from both UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction

On November 8, 1994, Eastin was elected to her first four-year term as State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Eastin was the highest-ranking official in California's elementary and secondary public school system and the first (and as of this writing, only) woman to be elected State Superintendent. As State Superintendent, Eastin served as the Executive Officer and Secretary of the State Board of Education and as the Director of the California Department of Education. In addition, the State Superintendent is a member of various boards and commissions that make education policy in the state. The most notable of these are the Regents of the University of California and the Trustees of the California State University system.

Upon taking office, Eastin made class size reduction her top priority. Her advocacy persuaded the governor and the legislature to invest $2.3 billion in cutting class sizes. K-3 class sizes have been cut from 30 students to 20 students in 98% of all school districts (over 86,000 classrooms).

In response to declining student performance, State Superintendent Eastin led in the adoption of high statewide academic standards in math, science, English language arts, and social studies; subsequently standards in the arts were adopted. Eastin also implemented a new statewide test and established a new system to increase the accountability of every school and district in the state.

In the fall of 1995, Superintendent Eastin launched the "Challenge Initiative," a groundbreaking reform effort to raise standards and accountability. Fifty-six school districts, covering nearly 500,000 students, embraced the Challenge and agreed to set high standards for every subject area in all grade levels.

During her first term, Eastin cut administrative waste by streamlining and modernizing contracting procedures in the Department of Education and by standardizing accounting procedures. On her watch the California Department of Education, did its first ever Strategic Plan. She also established the California Education Technology Task Force to craft a statewide plan to increase student access to technology in the classroom. Eastin was the architect of the first NetDay, held on March 9, 1996, where 20,000 volunteers joined Eastin, President Clinton, Vice President Gore, and much of the Clinton Cabinet in an electronic "barn raising". The event was such a success it was copied in 40 states and 40 countries. Later, Vice President Gore said his experience that day was what motivated him to suggest an e-rate tax to help schools across the nation to enter the digital era with proper wiring and technology.

Eastin called for a Garden In Every School in 1995. With the help of people like restaurateur Alice Waters, she was able to establish gardens in over 3,000 schools. She also enlisted California as the first state to join the Clinton Team Nutrition effort for improved nutrition in schools. She oversaw a series of curriculum guides on how to teach the academic content standards in the context of nutrition, gardening, and cooking.

Eastin visited schools in all 58 counties, keeping her commitment to visit a school a week on average. She visited more than 600 schools across California.

Eastin championed Universal Preschool and had a Preschool Task Force made up of educators, business leaders, civil rights advocates, and children's advocates. They called for Universal Preschool In California within 10 years. Subsequently, she was the Honorary Chair of the successful Proposition 10, written to support the health, welfare, and education of children from 0-5 through a tax on tobacco products.

Eastin was unable to run for a third term in 2002 due to term limits and was succeeded by former State Senator Jack O'Connell.

In 2002, a school was named after her in Union City, California, Delaine Eastin Elementary.

Later career

After leaving office as State Superintendent, Eastin became the first Executive Director of the National Institute of Educational Leadership in Washington, DC, from 2002-2005. Eastin returned to California to teach at Mills College from 2004-2008 as Distinguished Visiting Professor of Education, where Eastin taught courses in Public Policy, Education Administrative Theory, Education Leadership, and Politics.

Since 2008 Eastin has been a speaker and board member on issues of education policy, nutrition, and electing women to public office. Eastin was board president of Close the Gap CA, a campaign to increase the number of progressive women in the California Legislature by recruiting talented, progressive women to run for targeted winnable seats.

In addition Eastin continues her board work on the UC Center Sacramento Advisory Board, the Chancellor's Women in STEM board at UC Davis, the Edible Schoolyard Advisory Board, Educate Our State (Chair), the Center for Nutrition Education Advisory Board at UC Davis (Chair), and the Yolo County Board for Court Appointed Student Advocates (CASA).

Honors and awards

During Eastin's career, she has been awarded numerous awards and honors, including: