Kevin Gordon
President and Partner
President and a founding partner. Former Executive Director of CASBO and Chief Lobbyist for CSBA, with more than 30 years of work on state budgets and education funding.
Our work
How the committee works
The committee turns small district experience into statewide advocacy — reviewing legislation monthly, shaping strategy with SSDA’s advocates, and recommending positions that align with Board-approved priorities.
Monthly partnership
Capitol Advisors Group
SSDA’s legislative advocates brief the committee on bills, budget developments, and opportunities to act. The committee brings small district realities into that conversation and recommends SSDA’s positions.
Capitol Advisors Group colleagues are external advocacy partners, not voting committee members.
Full biographies at Capitol Advisors Group
Barrett Snider
Partner
Founding partner who manages the firm’s daily government relations operations, with twenty-five years in California politics, budget, and school finance advocacy.
Nick Romley
Legislative Advocate
Maintains the legislative tracking system, analyzes bills, and monitors committee hearings and State Board of Education and CDE meetings.
Additional Capitol Advisors colleagues
Lee Angela Reid
Partner
Senior Legislative Advocate since 2012, after 23 years in the State Capitol on K-12 education issues, including the Senate Office of Research.
Abe Hajela
Partner
Founding partner and education attorney; former General Counsel for the California School Boards Association.
Caitlin Jung
Partner
Attorney providing legal research and analysis on legislation, policy proposals, and litigation affecting clients.
Cathy McBride
Partner
Former Deputy Legislative Secretary for Governor Jerry Brown on K-12 and higher education, including the Local Control Funding Formula.
David Neben
Partner
Leads higher education advocacy and supports education finance analysis; joined in 2024 from Strategic Education Services.
Jack O’Connell
Partner
Former two-term State Superintendent of Public Instruction and twenty-year state legislator.
Gerry Shelton
Partner Emeritus
Founding partner; former Chief Consultant to the Assembly Education Committee and CDE Chief Financial Officer.
Stephanie Medrano Farland
Director of Education Policy
Christina Marcellus
Legislative Advocate
Political communications background, including work at the County Superintendents Association.
Sabrina Means
Legislative Advocate
Client outreach, Lobby Day planning, bill tracking and analysis, and State Board monitoring.
Rachel Scicluna
Legislative and Special Projects Manager
Michele Milliken
Projects Manager
Kristie Leitch
Office Manager
Paola Tapia
Administrative Assistant
Governance
How the committee is composed and how it acts
- No more than 16 members serve on the committee.
- Membership includes one representative from each geographical region, a charter organization representative, and a county office of education representative.
- Appointments are made through the corresponding regional, charter, and county Board representatives.
- A charter authorizer appointed by the Board President, and the SSDA Board charter representative, are standing members.
- Members need not be current superintendents; other school or county office employees with substantive expertise are eligible.
- A majority of committee members constitutes a quorum.
- Committee positions on legislation must be consistent with SSDA’s Board-approved Legislative Priorities.
- The Board President and committee Chair may establish subcommittees for challenging or high-impact bills — developing strategy, drafting amendments or letters, and coordinating with the legislative advocate.
Read the governing text in full
The SSDA shall have a standing Legislation & Advocacy Committee comprised of no more than 16 members. The membership shall consist of one representative from each geographical region, a representative from a charter organization and a representative from a county office of education. The members of this committee shall be appointed by each of the regional representatives, charter representative and county representative board members. In addition, a charter authorizer appointed by the Board President and the SSDA Board charter representative shall be a standing member of the Committee.
The members of the Legislation & Advocacy Committee shall not be required to be current superintendents and may consist of other school or county office of education employees that would provide substantive expertise to support the work of the Committee. The Vice President of the Governing Board of Directors shall serve as the Chair of the Committee. The Legislation & Advocacy Committee shall direct the positions of SSDA on legislation so long as those positions are consistent with the SSDA Board approved Legislative Priorities. The Board President and Chair of the Legislation & Advocacy Committee may establish subcommittees, as needed, to focus on challenging or high-impact bills. Subcommittees may be convened to develop strategy, draft amendments or letters, and coordinate closely with its legislative advocate to ensure timely and effective advocacy. A majority of the committee members shall constitute a quorum.
Governing text drawn from the SSDA Bylaws.