News Update

Sue Burr and Ilene Straus reappointed to State Board of Education

Gov. Gavin Newsom this week reappointed two longtime members of the State Board of Education, Sue Burr and Ilene Straus, indicating his support for a continuity of leadership on the policy-making board.

Straus’ reappointment coincided with her election Wednesday as vice president of the board, a position she has held since 2013. First appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2011, Straus will serve her fourth 4-year term. Straus, a lecturer for the Educational Leadership Program at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, served as principal and in administrative positions for Santa Monica-Malibu Unified before becoming assistant superintendent of educational services at Beverly Hills Unified from 2006 to 2011.

Burr, appointed by Brown in 2013, will begin her third term. The executive director of the state board and an education adviser to Brown in 2011-12, she helped shape the adoption of the Local Control Funding Formula. She previously served as executive director and governmental relations director of the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association, undersecretary of education for Gov. Gray Davis and assistant superintendent for business services at Elk Grove Unified.