California Department of Education
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| Agency overview | |
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| Annual budget | US$ 53.2 billion (2011) |
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| Website | www |
The California Department of Education is an agency within the Government of California that oversees public education. Its headquarters are located in the state's capital city of Sacramento.
The department oversees funding and testing, and holds local educational agencies accountable for student achievement. Its stated mission is to provide leadership, assistance, oversight, and resources (via teaching and teaching material) so that every Californian has access to a good education.
The State Board of Education is the governing and policy-making body, and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction is the nonpartisan (originally partisan) elected executive officer. Superintendents serve four-year terms. The current Superintendent of Public Instruction is Tom Torlakson. The Superintendent serves as the state's chief spokesperson for public schools, and provides education policy and direction to local school districts. He also serves as an ex officio member of governing boards of the state's higher education system.
In 1920, the California State Legislature's Special Legislative Committee on Education conducted a comprehensive investigation of California's educational system. The Committee's final report, drafted by Ellwood Patterson Cubberley, explained that the system's chaotic ad hoc development had resulted in the division of jurisdiction over education at the state level between 23 separate boards and commissions, with a total of about 160 members. The report recommended the consolidation and centralization of all these entities under the jurisdiction of a single California Department of Education, and also to clarify the exact relationship between the existing State Board of Education and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Therefore, on May 31, 1921, the legislature enacted a bill creating such a department, to be headed by a Director of Education, and which also concurrently made the State Superintendent of Public Instruction the ex officio director of the new department.
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