California State Superintendent visits Santa Barbara County schools

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond visited Santa Barbara County on Friday morning.

Thurmond met with school, district and county office administrators as part of a gathering co-hosted by the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) Region 13 and the Santa Barbara County Education Office (SBCEO).

Thurmond spoke to a group of administrators about his priorities and goals for the year.

Thurmond said his four priority initiatives for 2019 are statewide literacy, reducing chronic absenteeism, closing the achievement gap and providing access to STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) and computer science programs.

The staff members shared local issues and provided input on several key initiatives presented by Thurmond.

Assemblymember Monique Limn introduced Thurmond and State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson participated in the event.