In Partnership with 74

Before leaving, Zazueta to give LAUSD board a lobbying tutorial

Craig Clough | October 26, 2015



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EdgarZazuetaIn what may be his final presentation to the LA Unified school board, Chief of External Affairs Edgar Zazueta said he will be giving a “legislative 101” tutorial at tomorrow’s Committee of the Whole meeting.

The district announced in September that Zazueta, the district’s chief lobbyist in Sacramento and Washington, is resigning to join the Association of California School Administrators as director of policy and government relations.

Zazueta said his presentation tomorrow will include a brief update on various bills the district is involved with directly or indirectly.

“I’m going to give them a preview of the process — how we take positions on bills, how we solicit input, and their role in developing the legislative packages, and kind of the timeline we are at right now in the process, the whole notion of sponsored bills that the district tells our office to go and solicit on behalf of the district,” he told LA School Report. “It’s almost like a legislative 101 for the district.”

He also said an overview of specific bills in play should now be a regular item at each Committee of the Whole meeting “even though I won’t be there, is a standing item at every Committee of the Whole, where its going to be a legislative update,” Zazueta said.

The update will include information on both LAUSD sponsored bills and so-called “target bills,” where the district was the target of legislation.

Among the target bills Zazueta said he will be reviewing is Senate Bill 14, which was recently signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown. The law prohibits minor consent as a defense in sexual battery civil actions, which is a stance LAUSD controversially took in a recent civil case.

Zazueta, who has been with the district for nine years, said he expected to remain with the district through the board’s Nov. 10 meeting.

No replacement has been named.

“It’s definitely bittersweet in terms of leaving. Like I told our folks earlier this month, I feel like I grew up here,” Zazueta said. “There’s so much work that came out of our office, but it’s really a reflection of all the changes throughout the district, different superintendents, different iterations of the board, so for all the craziness and turmoil, that is just a byproduct of the process that we undergo here at LA Unified. There’s never a day that I forgot the legislation is result of the work our teachers and principals are doing on the ground.”

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