Former state senator Gary K. Hart who represented Ventura County for 12 years dies

Former state Sen. Gary K. Hart, a teacher whose passion for public education led him from his social studies classroom in Santa Barbara to the California Legislature where he represented Ventura County for 12 years, died Thursday at his home in Sacramento. He was 78.

A Democrat, Hart also served as California Secretary of Education in the administration of Gov. Gray Davis.

Among his accomplishments in the Legislature, Hart authored legislation to assess the need for a public university in Ventura County and was a champion for the joint UC-CSU learning center in Ventura that would evolve into a satellite campus for CSU Northridge and ultimately to the establishment of CSU Channel Islands.

His devotion to education was a hallmark of his life. As a legislator, he chaired the Senate Education Committee and successfully authored bills to enhance professional development for teachers, reduce class sizes, establish higher academic standards for students and a landmark law in 1992 that allowed for the creation of California’s first public charter schools.

In retirement, he co-founded the California State University Institute for Education Reform, founded an honors humanities program at Kennedy High School in Sacramento and served on several boards, including the Public Policy Institute of California, the Cotsen Foundation for the Art of Teaching and the Campaign for College Opportunity.

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He died following a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer. Reflecting on his life, Hart wrote that he believed “our democracy could only thrive with a strong public education system where students from varied backgrounds could learn to work together and every student, with quality instruction and hard work, had opportunities to pursue their dreams and succeed.”

Hart was elected to the Senate in 1982, following a spirited campaign that pitted the incumbent Assembly members from Ventura and Santa Barbara counties against one another. He represented the district that encompassed the two counties until his retirement from the Senate in 1994.

Hart was born Aug. 13, 1943, in San Diego at a time when his father was serving in the Pacific Theater during World War II. His family moved to Santa Barbara when he was a teen, and he graduated from Santa Barbara High, where he excelled in multiple sports, including football, in which he received all-CIF honors.

He attended Stanford University on a football scholarship and graduated with a degree in history. From there, he went on to the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, receiving a Master of Arts degree in teaching.

Hart and wife, Cary, were married 52 years. They met on the East Coast, where both were working on the 1968 presidential campaign of Sen. Eugene McCarthy. They have three daughters, Elissa Hart Mahan, Katherine Hart and Laura Murray, and six grandchildren.

Memorial contributions may be made to the SCOE Resiliency Scholarship Program, Sacramento County Office of Education, P.O. Box 269003, Sacramento, CA 95826.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Former state senator Gary K. Hart dies