Hart, Gary K., 1943-

Biography

Gary K. Hart was born in San Diego, California on August 13, 1943, while his father, a trained electrical engineer, was stationed in the South Pacific during WW II. His mother, Ruth Hart, was a homemaker. Hart spent his formative years living in the Los Angeles area, where he attended public schools in Santa Monica and Whittier. In 1959 his family moved to Santa Barbara, where he attended Santa Barbara High School. While at SBHS, Hart participated in student government-- he was elected student body president during his senior year, and was an All-CIF football player on the championship Santa Barbara High School Dons team. He received a football scholarship to attend Stanford University.

At Stanford, Hart majored in history. He attended Stanford-in-Italy for six months during his sophomore year, worked as a Congressional intern in the nation's Capitol his junior year, and during his senior year was Chairman of the Stanford-in-Washington program which placed more than fifty Stanford students in summer internships in Washington, D.C. administrative and legislative offices.

Upon graduation from Stanford in 1965, Hart left Santa Barbara to attend the Harvard School of Education, where he received a Master of Arts in Education the following year. He spent the summer of 1966 teaching in a black college in Tougaloo, Mississippi, under a Ford Foundation program, and participated in numerous freedom marches and other civil rights activities throughout Mississippi. Hart returned to Santa Barbara in the fall of 1966 to teach history at Santa Barbara High School. However, after one year of teaching, he moved to New York City where he worked with Allard Lowenstein in the national anti-Vietnam War effort, which eventually led to his involvement with the presidential campaign of Eugene McCarthy. After the November 1968 elections, Hart moved to Cuernavaca, Mexico to study Spanish and teach English. While in Mexico, Hart also worked with Ivan Illyich, a controversial former priest working for social change in Latin America.

In the summer of 1969, Hart married Cary Smith from Princeton, New Jersey and moved back to Santa Barbara, where he returned to teach history at Laguna Blanca School in Hope Ranch. In the spring of 1970, he entered the local congressional race as a Democratic candidate, against long-term Republican Congressman, Charles Teague. Hart ran as an anti-war, grassroots reform candidate and easily won the Democratic primary. In the November general election he was defeated by Teague, although running a much stronger race than any other recent Democratic candidate against Teague.

In 1972, Hart ran for the State Assembly and again easily won the Democratic primary. In the general election, however, he narrowly was defeated by then incumbent Republican W. Don MacGillivary. In 1973 he was appointed by then Speaker of the Assembly, Bob Moretti, to serve as one of the founding members of the California Coastal Commission (which had been created by voter initiative in the November 1972 election). Hart was a forceful advocate for coastal protection and environmental quality during his tenure on the Commission.

In 1974, Hart again ran for the State Assembly and this time was successful, beating Santa Barbara Republican insurance executive, Tim Terry, in a close election. Elected in three subsequent terms by comfortable margins, he served from 1975 until 1982 in the State Assembly. His most notable legislative accomplishments were in the areas of education and environmental protection. In education, he authored major legislation concerning student and teacher testing, as well as important legislation revising California statutes concerning student suspensions and expulsions. On the environmental front, he was the principal co-author of major state bond measures for open space and park acquisitions, and authored California's landmark solar tax credit legislation, which quickly established California as the leading state promoting solar energy.

In November of 1982, Hart defeated Ventura Assemblyman, Chuck Imbrecht, in a close election to become the State Senator representing portions of Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Los Angeles counties. Hart was immediately named Chairman of the Senate Education Committee, a position he held for twelve years-one of the longest appointments in the history of the Senate. He authored many important education bills, including the major education reform and school finance measure of 1983 (SB 813), as well as legislation creating charter schools in California. He likewise was a leader in higher education, authoring more than $1 billion worth of capital outlay measures approved by the California electorate.

Hart also authored an important endangered species bond measure, the first of its kind in state history, and consistently ranked at the top of state environmental organizations who rated the voting records of state legislators. Additionally, he was very active in legislation affecting women and authored a major child support reform law, as well as legislation expanding childcare in California for low and moderate-income families. A legislator known for honesty and diligence, he was repeatedly ranked by the non-partisan, The California Journal, as the Senator with the greatest integrity.

In 1988, Hart challenged incumbent Republican Congressman, Robert Lagomarsino, for the 19th U.S. Congressional District seat. The race was one of the most expensive in the country, was closely followed by the national press, and resulted in many campaign appearances by prominent politicians including, among others, President Reagan, Vice-President Bush, Governor Clinton and Senator Gore. In the end, Lagomarsino prevailed in a close race receiving 52% of the vote to Hart's 48%. However, since the election occurred in the middle of Hart's Senate term, he had a "free ride" and was able to maintain his seat in the California Senate. Hart was re-elected to the Senate in 1990 and served until 1994. His twelve years of representation is the longest period anyone has served the people of Santa Barbara County as a member of the State Senate.

In 1995, Hart was named by the California State University (CSU) Chancellor, Dr. Barry Munitz, to create and head Cal State's Institute for Education Reform, a policy center devoted to the examination of elementary and secondary education in California, focusing on charter schools, teacher education, and teacher recruitment issues. Following the 1998 election, incoming Governor Gray Davis appointed Hart to the state post of Secretary of Education.

From the guide to the Gary K. Hart Collection, 1970-1994, (University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Dept. of Special Collections)