Former State Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin
Credit: John Joanino/Advancement Project California
Delaine Eastin, the only woman elected as California’s superintendent of public instruction, died Tuesday from complications of a stroke. She was 76.
She assumed the nonpartisan office in 1995, when the superintendent’s main power was persuasion. In a court decision preceding her election, the State Board of Education had wrested sole power to set state education policy from the state superintendent. But admirers said she used the public pulpit and verbal skills to effectively champion issues she cared about. These include raising academic standards, lowering class sizes and instilling the importance of nature in schools.
“Delaine was regarded as one of the great orators of the Legislature,” said Jack O’Connell, a fellow Democrat who served with her in the Legislature and succeeded her…
