John Mockler (politician)

John Barry Mockler (October 2, 1941 – March 3, 2015) was Secretary of Education in California[1] and former Executive Director of the California State Board of Education.[2] Mockler was the chief architect of California Proposition 98 (1988).[3][4][5]

John B. Mockler
California Secretary of Education
In office
2000–2002
GovernorGray Davis
Executive Director, California State Board of Education
In office
1999–2000
GovernorGray Davis
Director, Office of Government Regulations, California Department of Education
In office
1974–1977
Personal details
Born
John Barry Mockler

October 2, 1941
Chicago, Illinois, United States.
DiedMarch 3, 2015 (aged 73)
Sacramento, California, U.S.

Life and political career

Mockler was born in Chicago, Illinois. After his father returned from active duty in World War II, his family moved to Harbison Canyon, California, a small town outside San Diego.[6] He graduated from El Cajon high school in 1958 and in 1963 graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a bachelor's degree in economics. He also attended the University of San Francisco and San Francisco State University. He became active in union politics, and worked on the mayoral campaign of San Francisco mayor Jack Shelley.[6] He was also a graduate of the Coro Foundation Fellows Program in Public Affairs.[6]

Mockler was the executive director of the Youth Against 14 campaign in 1964. Proposition 14 would have made it legal to discriminate against home buyers on the basis of race. Mockler set up a fund-raiser for the campaign, the largest folk concert produced in America (at the time) at the Hollywood Bowl in September 23, 1964.[6][7]

In 1965, Mockler began the Sacramento, California phase of his political career. He joined the staff of Senator Fred Farr as a legislative assistant and went on to become a Consultant to the California State Legislature, including the Assembly Education and Ways and Means committees.[2][6] From 1983-85, he served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Speaker of the California State Assembly Willie Brown.[8] Mockler founded and served three years as Director of the Independent Analysis Unit of the Los Angeles City Board of Education. From 1974-77 served as Senior Executive Staff to the Superintendent of Public Instruction Wilson Riles.[2]

Mockler was a recognized expert in education issues in California.[9][10][11][12] He was the founder of Mockler and Associates, an educational consulting firm based in Sacramento.

On April 27, 2015, section 41200 of the California education code, the part of California Proposition 98 that became law, was renamed The John B. Mockler School Finance Act.[13][14]

Death

Mockler died on March 3, 2015 in Sacramento from pancreatic cancer, aged 73.[15][16][17]

References
  1. "Interim Education Secretary Named". Articles.latimes.com. 2000-07-22. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  2. "Declaration of John B. Mockler in Support of the State's Opposition to Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Adjudication" (PDF). decentschools.org. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  3. Siders, David. "Capitol Alert: John Mockler consulted for Molly Munger, now on Jerry Brown's side". Blogs.sacbee.com. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  4. "Education Guru John Mockler: Our Schools are Succeeding". Cta.org. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  5. Mathews, Joe, and Mark Paul, (2010). California Crackup: How Reform Broke the Golden State and how We Can Fix it, pp. 65-67. University of California Press, Berkeley; ISBN 9780520268524.
  6. John Berry [sic] Mockler, Oral History Interview, Conducted 2003 by Paul Ferrell, Oral History Program, Center for California Studies, California State University, for the California State Archives State Government Oral History Program
  7. "No On Prop. 14 Rally". Past Daily. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  8. Richardson, James (1996). Willie Brown: A Biography, p. 351. University of California Press, Berkeley; ISBN 0520204565.
  9. Yamamura, Kevin. "Capitol Alert: Prop. 38 camp vastly outspent Gov. Jerry Brown, still trails". Blogs.sacbee.com. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  10. "Education: A lesson in mediocrity". The Economist. 2011-04-20. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  11. "First to Worst". Learningmatters.tv. 2004-04-30. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  12. "Simplifying the System 143". Lhc.ca.gov. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  13. "California Assembly Bill No. 158". Archived from the original on July 7, 2015.
  14. "Governor Brown Signs Legislation". Archived from the original on July 7, 2015.
  15. Lucas, Greg (March 3, 2015). "Obit: John Mockler, premier education consultant, dead at 73". Capitol Weekly. Open California. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
  16. Walters, Dan (March 3, 2015). "John Mockler, Capitol's top education finance guru, dies at 73". Sacramento Bee. McClatchy Company. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
  17. Woo, Elaine (2015-03-04). "John Mockler dies at 73; architect of California school funding law". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Publishing Company. Archived from the original on March 5, 2015.
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