Education Finance Fellows Class of 2019

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* Indicates Fellows new as of 2019.

California Massachusetts Senator Connie Leyva* Senator Jason Lewis* House nomination pending House nomination pending Staff nomination pending Doug Howgate* Colorado Mississippi Senator Jeff Bridges Representative Richard Bennett House Nomination Pending David Pray Brita Darling Montana Delaware Senate nomination pending Senator David Sokola Representative Sue Vinton* Representative Debra Heffernan Pad McCracken Alexa Scoglietti Ohio Taylor Hawk Marcus Benjamin Georgia Oklahoma Senate nomination pending Senate nomination pending Representative Robert Dickey* Representative Mark McBride* Sara Arroyo* Staff nomination pending Idaho Oregon Senator Chuck Windor Nominations pending Representative Wendy Horman Washington Illinois Senator Lisa Wellman* Senator Kimberly Lightford House nomination pending Representative Will Davis Jeffrey Naas* Kansas Wisconsin Representative Brenda Dietrich Representative Jeremy Thiesfeldt* Edward Penner Senate nomination pending John Hess Alicia Schweitzer*

California While earning my master's degree I met my wife, Senator Connie Leyva* AnnMarie. She noticed my cowboy boots from across Email: [email protected] the room, came over and said, “Nice boots.” Feeling out of place so far from home and thinking she had just insulted me, I shot back, “Look, I’m from Colorado, so House nomination pending I can wear cowboy boots.” Without missing a beat, AnnMarie replied, “Yeah, I’m from Colorado, too, and I like your boots.” Staff nomination pending

Email: [email protected]

Colorado House Nomination Pending Senator Jeff Bridges I grew up [in Colorado] and went to Littleton Public Brita Darling Schools K-12, graduating from Arapahoe High School. Brita Darling is a Senior Attorney with the Office of Today, my parents still live here, and so do my aunt, Legislative Legal Services for the Colorado General As- uncle, cousins, grandma, in-laws, and many friends old sembly. The Office of Legislative Legal Services and new. This is the place that made me the person I (OLLS) is a nonpartisan legislative staff agency charged am today and taught me my Colorado values of oppor- with drafting all bills and resolutions introduced in the tunity, independence, and responsibility. General Assembly. In addition to bill drafting, the OLLS acts as general counsel for the General Assem- I understand the concerns of our community because I bly, reviews all executive branch rulemaking, and annu- grew up here. I know the High Line Canal because I ally publishes the Colorado Revised Statutes. In her 11 played there as a kid. And I know our public schools sessions with the General Assembly, Brita has drafted because I was student there. But I’ve also worked with bills in her drafting team's subject-matter areas, includ- people from across the entire state, from the San Luis ing criminal justice, family law, human services, educa- Valley, the Western Slope, the Eastern Plains, and all tion, and public benefits. Her primary drafting areas are along the Front Range. That’s why I’ll be able to build Medicaid and education, K-12 and higher education, diverse coalitions with folks from all around the state in and Brita has drafted Colorado's K-12 school finance order to pass legislation that benefits our community. bill for the past 3 years.

I also have a Master's of Divinity degree from Harvard. Email: [email protected] It's one of the most religiously diverse schools in the country with people of all faiths and none, which means

I know how to bring diverse groups of people together around shared values—whatever the source of those Delaware values. I believe absolutely in the separation of church and state, and also in the impossibility of separating val- Senator David Sokola ues and public policy. Values are what motivate us. Val- Senator David P. Sokola was elected to the Delaware ues are why people care about political issues. We have State Senate in 1990. He has served as the Chair of the so much in common as Coloradans, that when we take Senate Education Committee for over 20 years. Since specific policy proposals and figure out what funda- 2015, Senator Sokola has also served as the Chair of the mental values are at stake, we can often find common Senate Bond Committee. Throughout his legislative ground to come together and move our state forward. tenure, he has been a strong advocate for improving

2017 – 2019 2 standards in school while closing the achievement gap, as well as the Joint Finance and Appropriations Com- for protecting the environment through passing tough mittees. As State Representative, Debra has champi- legislation that holds polluters accountable, and for oned efforts to improve quality of life for people with keeping a balanced state budget. Of his many Senate special needs by sponsoring and passing the People accomplishments, he is proud to have sponsored the First Act and the Employment First Act. Debra also led graduated driver's license bill, marriage equality, Dela- the efforts in Delaware to ensure continuation of the ware's Benefit Corporation law, and various education- Brownfields Remediation Act to clean up contaminated related bills. and underutilized properties. Debra has also continued to focus her efforts on improving education in Dela- Senator Sokola has served on a variety of Delaware ware by sponsoring and passing legislation to hire Boards, committees, commissions and task forces in- teachers earlier and expand early childhood education. cluding: the School District Consolidation Task Force, the Advance Educator Compensation and Careers Before being elected to the Delaware House of Repre- Committee, the Enrollment Preference Task Force, sentatives, Debra served for over five years on the Delaware Foundation for Science, Math & Technology Brandywine School Board, including two years as board Education, Truancy Task Force, HJR 4 Task Force to president. During her time on the board, the district re- examine best practice models of state assessments, and duced administrative costs while boosting the high the DEXSTA Federal Credit Union Board of Directors. school graduation rate and including greater numbers Senator Sokola also served on NCSL's Study Group on of students with special needs into regular education International Comparisons in Education, where he had classrooms. the opportunity to study with international and national education experts. He is currently a member of the Debra was a founding member of the Brandywine Spe- Southern Regional Education Board’s (SREB) Legisla- cial Needs PTA, the first group of its kind in Delaware, tive Advisory Council, a nonprofit and nonpartisan or- and has been PTA co-president at the Bush Early Edu- ganization based in Atlanta, Georgia, which advises cation Center. In 2010, she was honored by Parenting state education leaders on ways to improve education. magazine as Delaware’s Outstanding Mom Advocate for Education and represented the state at the inaugural As a graduate of the University of Delaware, Senator Mom Congress in Washington, D.C. Sokola began his career as a teacher in Delaware Public Debra is an environmental toxicologist with more than Schools. He is now retired after a 34-year career as an 25 years of experience, having worked in private indus- Assistant Scientist at the DuPont Experimental Station. try and as a consultant for the Delaware Department of He is married to Kathy Sokola and they have one Natural Resources and Environmental Control. She daughter, Megan. Senator Sokola has a passion for serves on the state’s Hazardous Substance Advisory physical fitness and has been a certified spinning in- Committee, formerly the Brownfields Advisory Com- structor for 19 years. mittee. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Delaware and a master of sci- Email: [email protected] ence degree in environmental toxicology from Duke University.

Representative Debra Heffernan Debra lives in Edgewood Hills with her husband, Pat, Debra was elected State Representative for the 6th Dis- and their three children. trict in 2010. Debra serves as chair of the House Natu- ral Resources Committee and vice-chair of the House Email: [email protected] Health and Human Development Committee. Debra also serves on the Energy and Education Committees Alexa Scoglietti

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Alexa currently serves as a legislative aide for the House Georgia Majority Caucus in Delaware. After graduating college in 2013 with a B.A. in Public Policy from the University Senate nomination pending of Delaware, Alexa pursued a Master of Public Admin- istration degree from the same institution. During her senior year of college and throughout the completion Representative Robert Dickey* of her graduate degree, Alexa served as a Legislative Email: [email protected] Fellow for the Delaware House Majority Caucus. Her duties included staffing House leadership committees and providing legislative research for members of the Sara Arroyo* House Majority Caucus. She accepted her current posi- Email: [email protected] tion as legislative aide for the caucus after graduating from her master’s program in 2015. Alexa lives in New- Idaho ark, Delaware and enjoys caring for her horse when she’s not working. Senator Chuck Windor

Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

Representative Wendy Horman Taylor Hawk Wendy served as a member of the Bonneville School Taylor Hawk serves as the Legislative Assistant to Sen- Board of Trustees from 2002 to 2013, including seven ator David Sokola in the Delaware State Senate. She years as Treasurer. Public schools account for almost provides legislative and constituent relations services to 50% of the Idaho state budget and Wendy invested sig- Senator Sokola and provides staff support to the Senate nificant effort into understanding the complex school Education Committee. Taylor earned her Master of funding system in order to be a responsible steward of Public Administration from the University of Delaware. taxpayer dollars. That knowledge is assisting her today She also received her B.A. from the University of Del- in her duties as Co-Chair of a Legislative Interim Com- aware as a triple major in Public Policy, Political Sci- mittee charged with overhauling the state's funding for- ence, and English with a Spanish minor. mula for public schools. Previous to her board service, she spent many years as a school volunteer and tutor. Prior to working in the Delaware State Senate, Taylor worked as a Policy Analyst for State Engagement at Wendy served as President of the Idaho School Boards EdBuild, a nonprofit organization that works to mod- Association (ISBA). In 2004, as chair of the ISBA ernize school funding systems. She also served as a two- Board Leadership Development Committee, she time legislative fellow to the Delaware General Assem- worked to establish a research-based training program bly, working with both the Senate Democratic Caucus for Idaho school board members to help them be more and House Republican Caucus. During her graduate effective in their work for children. In 2006, Idaho was school career, Taylor interned at the National Gover- recognized for its training program by the National nors Association Center for Best Practices in the Edu- School Boards Association and Wendy was invited to cation Division and the Delaware Department for Chil- present at their national leadership conference. dren, Youth, and their Families. She serves as a Commissioner for Idaho on the Western Email: [email protected] Interstate Commission for Higher Education and Edu- cation Commission of the States. She also serves on the

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Board of Directors of Education Northwest in Port- Lightford enhanced her role as an advocate for educa- land, Oregon and on the University of Idaho McClure tion reform. Her expertise positioned her as the top ne- Center for Public Policy Research. gotiator on the legislation developed as a part of Presi- dent Obama’s Race to the Top program, leading to the Wendy is Chair of the Council of State Governments establishment of stronger methods of evaluating teach- West Education and Workforce Development Com- ers and tracking student progress. Leader Lightford’s mittee. She has served on the Governor’s Task Force leadership resulted in laws that put the best teachers in for Improving Education and is a member of the Na- classrooms, provide universal preschool to 3 and 4-year tional Conference of State Legislatures Education olds and made sure children start school by the age of Committee and International Education Study Group. 6. Leader Lightford also greatly increased the safety of school children by providing specialized bullying pre- Wendy is a strong advocate of a parent’s right to choose vention curricula and no bullying school zones. Con- the education options that work best for their children, cerned with the alarming dropout rate, Lightford helped from charter and online options to private and home to re-enroll high school dropouts by establishing the Il- school settings. linois Hope and Opportunity Pathways through Edu- cation Program. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Dun- Wendy has served on the Idaho Falls Symphony Advi- can hailed as a national model the senator’s landmark sory Board and on the American Guild of Organists education reform law aimed at boosting student perfor- Eastern Idaho Chapter Board. She has organized and mance through accountability for schools, administra- presented programs about the pipe organ at Trinity tors and teachers. Lightford negotiated SB7 with hope Methodist Church to students. As a parent volunteer, to ensure every child in Illinois public schools has a working with public and private schools, Wendy was re- quality teacher. Leader Lightford has actively served on sponsible for starting FAME (Fine Arts Mini Experi- the Senate Education Committee for sixteen years as ei- ence) in the Bonneville School District. ther a sitting member, Vice Chair or Chairman.

Wendy and her husband, Briggs, have been married 31 Senator Lightford has also made it a top priority to help years and are the parents of five children and grandpar- working families, especially during tough economic ents of one. They own a small business in Ammon, times. She is responsible for 2003 and 2006 laws that Idaho, where Briggs is a physical therapist. They are ac- gradually increased the minimum wage from $5.15 to tive members of their church and involved in service to $8.25 per hour, helping over a million low-income citi- school and community organizations. zens throughout Illinois provide for their families. Lightford continues to fight for a higher minimum Email: [email protected] wage by passing legislation out of the Senate chamber during Veto Session in 2014 that would gradually in- crease the wage from $8.25 to $11.00 per hour. Leader Lightford is hopeful that this measure would become Illinois law because she believes that the minimum wage should be a living wage and is the right thing to do. Senator Kimberly Lightford Since the beginning of her political career, Senate As- In 2005, and again in 2010, Leader Lightford passed sistant Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford has been laws to protect working families from predatory lending a vocal champion for her strongest passions: promoting practices when she passed sweeping reforms to Illinois’ quality education, advocating for quality healthcare and Payday Loan industry. She has also sponsored a meas- providing support for working families. ure to establish a Council on Responsible Fatherhood and laws allowing for expungement of criminal records, After becoming Senate assistant majority leader in 2009, making it easier for men and women who have paid

2017 – 2019 5 their debts to society to turn their lives around. Communications from Western Illinois University and a Master of Public Administration degree from the Uni- As the youngest African-American woman ever elected versity of Illinois at Springfield. Since 1998, she has rep- to the Illinois Senate in 1998, Leader Lightford has resented the 4th Senate District which includes more emerged as a leading voice in Illinois on women’s issues. than a dozen suburban communities in western Cook In 2003, she Sponsored the Equal Pay Act, which bans County and the Austin community area on Chicago’s employers from discriminating between employees on West Side. In addition to serving as the vice chair of the the basis of gender when it comes to salaries. In 2010, Senate Education Committee during the 100th General Senator Lightford sponsored legislation strengthening Assembly, Lightford serves as an active member of the the Equal Pay Act by allowing women who have been Assignments; Executive; Education (Vice-Chairper- discriminated against more time to file an action against son); Committee of the Whole; Executive Appoint- an employer. Lightford has also sponsored numerous ments; Energy and Public Utilities; Labor; Subcommit- bills focusing on women’s health care. tee on Civil Rights; Subcommittee on Special Issues (EX); Subcommittee on Charter Schools (Sub-Chair- In addition to her progressive legislative agenda, Leader person); Committee, and Oversight Medicaid Managed Lightford has single handedly fought for fifteen years Care. The Senator also serves as the Chairman of the to rebuild an inner city not-for-profit hospital in one of Illinois Legislative Black Caucus. She resides with her the lowest income communities in Chicago. She under- family in Maywood. stands the importance of providing quality healthcare to the residents of Austin and keeping over 500 jobs in Email: [email protected] the community recognizing that the hospital is the larg- est employer. As a result of her tenacity, over $20 million dollars has been brought forth and utilized to re- Representative Will Davis place outdated boilers, to build a state of the art emer- Davis was born on July 2, 1968, in Harvey, IL. He grad- gency department, added pharmacy and completely re- uated from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale modeled all bed space. in 1989, earning a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science and received his Master of Public Administra- Leader Lightford has been a positive force for change tion Degree at Governors State University in 2009. He in her district. Recognizing the need to address holistic is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and a found- development of our youth, she initiated the innovative ing member of the Better Funding for Better Schools “Uplift Our Future” free programs that sponsor a Sat- Coalition. Davis has been recognized as the "Legislator urday University that provides supplemental educa- of the Year" by the Illinois Association of Code En- tional services for middle school students, an annual forcement, the Illinois Primary Healthcare Association college fair and annual back to school event, and a men- and the Illinois Association of Park Districts. toring component for 8th grade students. She also hosts a yearly Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Rainbow Email: [email protected] Tea and organizes annual awareness events for breast cancer and prostate cancer. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Proviso-Leyden Council for Commu- nity Action, Inc., Loretto Hospital, National Center for Kansas Learning and Civic Engagement Education Commis- Representative Brenda Dietrich sion of the States, and the Boys & Girls Club of West Representative Brenda Dietrich is the former Superin- Cook County. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta tendent of the Auburn-Washburn School District in Sorority, Inc. Topeka. She was Superintendent from 2001-2015 and

Leader Lightford holds a bachelor’s degree in Public

2017 – 2019 6 during her tenure was named the 2007 Kansas Superin- nomic development. Prior to working for the legisla- tendent of the Year and was one of 4 finalists for Na- ture, he was engaged in the private practice of law at a tional Superintendent of the Year. small, general practice law office in Fort Scott, Kansas. Eddie holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Pitts- Representative Dietrich graduated from McPherson burg State University (KS) and a law degree from the High School and received her B.S. in Elementary Edu- University of Kansas School of Law. cation from Kansas State University. She has a Master’s Degree and a Ph.D. in Education Administration. She Email: [email protected] devoted 40 years to public education and loved every minute of it. She oversaw a $70 million dollar budget and had approximately 1,000 employees in Auburn- John Hess Washburn. John Hess is a Fiscal Analyst for the nonpartisan Kan- sas Legislative Research Department. He is the budget Representative Dietrich has always been actively en- analyst for the Kansas State Department of Education, gaged in professional activities throughout the state and serves as lead staff for the House K-12 Budget Com- our community. She is currently on the Boards of the mittee, and works on Kansas school finance policy. Jayhawk Area Council of Boy Scouts, HCCI, Topeka- Prior to working for the Kansas Legislature, he was a Shawnee Co. Library Foundation Board, STARBASE, graduate student at the University of Kansas, where he and is a Paul Harris Fellow and member of Topeka earned a PhD in history. When not working on school South Rotary. Representative Dietrich was honored as finance, John is a would-be basketball player and avid the Topeka ABWA 2015 Woman of Distinction and reader. with the YWCA Women in Leadership Award. Email: [email protected] Representative Dietrich is in her first term in the Kan- sas House of Representatives and has filed to run again in 2018. She currently serves on 4 House Committees: Massachusetts Education, General Government Budge, Financial In- stitutions and Pensions, and Children and Seniors Senator Jason Lewis* Email: mailto:[email protected] When not in session, she supervises doctoral students for Baker University, conducts Superintendent Searches for Ray and Associates, and is campaigning for House nomination pending the next election!

Doug Howgate* Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

Edward Penner Mississippi Eddie Penner is a Principal Research Analyst with the Kansas Legislative Research Department (KLRD). Representative Richard Bennett KLRD is a nonpartisan agency providing objective re- Email: [email protected] search and fiscal analysis to both chambers of the Kan- sas Legislature. In his 5 sessions with KLRD, Eddie has provided research and fiscal analysis in areas of educa- David Pray tion & school finance, taxation, and commerce & eco- David Pray is a Principal Analyst with the Mississippi

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Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evalua- Caucus with a focus on education, transportation, en- tion and Expenditure Review, also known as the PEER ergy, & state and local government policy. Committee, a government oversight committee. He has been with the PEER Committee for almost 23 years Email: [email protected] and is also a Certified Public Accountant. Prior to the PEER Committee he worked in the banking industry for 14 years as an internal auditor. He also has been an Oklahoma adjunct accounting instructor at Belhaven University in Senate nomination pending Jackson, Mississippi since 1994.

Email: [email protected] Representative Mark McBride* Email: [email protected]

Montana Staff nomination pending Senate nomination pending Oregon Representative Sue Vinton* Nominations pending Email: [email protected]

Pad McCracken Washington Pad McCracken is a research analyst with Montana Leg- Senator Lisa Wellman* islative Services. He has staffed the Senate Education and Cultural Resources Committee the past three ses- Lisa Wellman represents 41st Legislative District (Mer- sions and staffed Montana’s decennial School Funding cer Island, Bellevue, Newcastle and parts of Issaquah, Interim Commission during the 2015-2016 Interim. In Sammamish, and Renton) in the Washington State Sen- former lives Pad taught high school English in western ate. She was elected in 2016 after a 25-year career in Colorado and central Washington and served as the technology and marketing including executive level po- Teen Services Librarian at the public library in Helena, sitions in Fortune 100 companies. Montana. A passionate advocate for education, Lisa began her career as a public school teacher but changed course in Email: [email protected] the 1980s becoming a systems analyst and programmer.

She was recruited by Apple Computer to head up com-

mercial publishing for the company’s U.S. markets. Her Ohio success with Apple in the 90’s led to her promotion as VP of Worldwide Publishing, Entertainment and New Marcus Benjamin Media Markets. Marcus Benjamin is a Senior Policy Advisor for the Ohio Senate’s Majority Caucus. After graduating with a In the Senate, Lisa serves as the chair of the Early B.A. in History and Political Science in 2011, he began Learning & K-12 Education Committee. She was also work the Ohio Senate as a Legislative Aide until early chosen by her colleagues to serve on the Economic De- 2015 when he began working for the Senate Majority velopment & Trade Committee, Energy, Environment & Technology Committee and the Transportation

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Committee. Following his graduation from Martin Luther College in 1989 with a BS in Elementary Education, Jeremy be- She serves on the board of Thrive (focused on early gan 21½ years of teaching and involvement in admin- childhood education), the Washington State Public istration in two Lutheran elementary schools and a Lu- Works Board, Partners for Rural Washington and is a theran high school. He has extensive experience in mentor for MBA candidates at the Foster Business coaching varying athletics and was honored to coordi- School at the University of Washington. nate Veterans Day events at Winnebago Lutheran Academy in Fond du Lac. She earned a B.A., Summa Cum Laude, from Barat Col- lege of DePaul University and in her spare time enjoys In 2005 he was elected to the Fond du Lac City Council, photography, travel, reading and bridge. She has two and was subsequently reelected in 2007 and 2009. He daughters and a grandson and resides on Mercer Island. served three years as the Vice President of the City Council. Having been elected to the Wisconsin State Email: [email protected] Assembly in November 2010, Jeremy resigned his duties on the city council as well as his teaching position to devote his energies to his current service. House nomination pending Email.: [email protected] Jeffrey Naas* Jeffrey Naas is a Senior Fiscal Analyst for the nonparti- Senate nomination pending san Senate Committee Services. He has served as the K-12 budget analyst for the Senate Ways & Means Committee since 2017. His previous experiences with Alicia Schweitzer* Washington state government include preparing the Email: [email protected] state Medicaid forecast and conducting economic analyses for the Insurance Commissioner. Before joining state service, he spent 17 years as a consultant in Colo- rado working on a variety of economic, financial, and market analyses primarily for the Department of De- fense and Environmental Protection Agency. His years are nearly evenly divided among Oregon, Washington, and Colorado and he is glad to once again call Wash- ington home with his wife and twin children.

Email: [email protected]

Wisconsin Representative Jeremy Thiesfeldt* Representative Thiesfeldt was born in Fond du Lac County in 1966 to a family of eleven children. He has been happily married to his wife Cindy for 27 years and they have been blessed with four children.

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