Assembly member Joe Simitian was elected to the California State Assembly in November 2000, and was re-elected in November 2002 to represent the 21st Assembly District in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. Over the years, he has also served in various public service roles, including mayor of Palo Alto, representative of the President of the United States in El Salvador, and elections supervisor in Bosnia. Simitian is a public schools attorney, businessman, and city planner. He holds a master's in international policy studies from Stanford University, and a master's of city planning from the University of California, Berkeley.

Michael Kirst has been a professor of education and business administration at Stanford University since 1969. He is a faculty affiliate with the department of political science, and has a courtesy appointment with the Graduate School of Business. Before that, he held several positions with the federal government, including staff director of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Manpower, Employment, and Poverty, and director of program planning and evaluation for the Bureau of Elementary and Secondary Education in the U.S. Office of Education. Kirst was a member of the California State Board of Education (1975-1982), and its president from 1977 to 1981. A prolific writer, he is the author of 10 books, including The Political Dynamics of American Education (2005). He holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Dartmouth College, an MPA in government and economics from Harvard University, and a PhD in political economy and government from Harvard.

Resources:

• A California State of Mind, a book by Mark Baldassare
• School Finance: Lessons from Other States by Michael Kirst
• Michael Kirst's webpage at Stanford School of Education
• 15 Minutes with Alan Bersin, a Stanford Social Innovation Review article (requires subscription)
• The Path of Change, a Stanford Social Innovation Review article