Los Gatos Man Appointed As Education Advisor To Governor

LOS GATOS, CA – A Los Gatos resident has been appointed as Education Policy Advisor to Gov. Gavin Newsom and has also been nominated to be the executive director of the state board of education, the governor has announced.

Brooks Allen, 45, was pegged for the post and the nomination by Newsom after the longtime education served as the assistant superintendent, liaison to the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence and legal counsel at the Marin County Office of Education since 2017. According to a news release issued Wednesday by Newsom’s office, Allen worked as principal at Shared Future Policy Strategies from 2016 to 2017 and was Vice President of Policy and Legal Affairs at Common Sense Kids Action from 2015 to 2017.

Allen, a Democrat, also served as Deputy Policy Director and Assistant Legal Counsel at the California State Board of Education from 2013 to 2015. Allen worked at the ACLU Foundation of Southern California as Director of Education Advocacy from 2010 to 2013 and as a Staff Attorney from 2004 to 2010.

He served as Deputy City Attorney for the cities of Santa Cruz and Capitola at Atchison, Barisone, Condotti & Kovacevich from 2003 to 2004. Allen was a Skadden Fellow and Staff Attorney at Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area from 2001 to 2003. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School.

This position does not require Senate confirmation includes a salary of $217,272.