Miller-McCune

Delaine Eastin, the only woman to serve as California state superintendent of public instruction, held that elected position, which manages more than 40 percent of the California budget and oversees the education of more than 6 million children, for eight years. Earlier, she served for eight years in the California state Assembly, where she chaired the Assembly Committee on Education. After leaving the California Department of Education, Eastin was the executive director of the National Institute for School Leadership; she's now a distinguished visiting professor of educational leadership at Mills College in Oakland, Calif.