Wilson Picks Bergeson for Board of Education

Gov. Pete Wilson reached inside his administration for a key appointment Tuesday, naming his top schools advisor, Marian Bergeson, to the State Board of Education just months before his term will expire.

Bergeson, 72, of Newport Beach will immediately join the 11-member board, which usually meets monthly and is responsible for setting policy for the nation’s largest public school system.

“It’s great to have a friend in Sacramento,” said John F. Dean, superintendent of Orange County schools. “She is very knowledgeable and will act as a spokeswoman. It will be a very important voice to have.”

Board terms are four years, except for a student member who serves one year. Nominations must be confirmed by a two-thirds vote of the state Senate. However, nominees are entitled to sit on the board with full voting powers for up to a year pending Senate action.

Prospects for Bergeson’s confirmation are uncertain. The Senate does not reconvene until December, a month after state voters will elect a new governor.

A spokesman for Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco) said Burton is not inclined to approve the Republican governor’s appointments “at this late date.” Indeed, a few other Wilson appointees to the board this year are still in limbo.

Bergeson, also a Republican, acknowledged that she may face a fight for Senate approval. But she said Tuesday: “If they look strictly at credentials and background, I think you would have a hard time turning me down based on qualifications.”

A former elementary school teacher, Bergeson was a trustee of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District and a leader in the California School Boards Assn. She represented Newport Beach in the state Legislature from 1978 to 1994 before serving on the Orange County Board of Supervisors. She has been Wilson’s secretary of child development and education since 1996.

Bergeson said she intends to continue in that post, which has a salary of nearly $108,000 a year. State board members earn no salary.

The state board in recent years has taken an increasingly activist role in shaping statewide curriculum and achievement standards. Politically, it is often at odds with state Supt. of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin, a Democrat, who is an elected official in charge of the state Department of Education.