Politics & Government

Sonoma's State Legislators Get A+ in College Education

California leads the nation in the percent of state legislators who are college graduates, according to a Chronicle of Higher Education study. Jared Huffman is among those with a college degree.

California's legislature may have earned an F in budget-setting in recent years, but it's first in the class when it comes to having college degrees.

A Chronicle of Higher Education study reports that California leads the nation in the percentage of state legislators who are college graduates. The survey found that 89.9 percent of California solons have at least one degree, compared to last-place New Hampshire with 53.4 percent. (Possibly relevant is that California's 120 legislators are full-time, while New Hampshire's 424 are part-time.)

Representing the North Bay in the state Assembly is Jared Huffman, who is among the 48 percent of California legislators with college education beyond a bachelor's degree. Huffman graduated magna cum laude from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and cum laude from Boston College Law School.

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The largest source of college degrees for California legislators is UCLA (13 members of the legislature), followed by UC Berkeley (9), UC Davis and Harvard tied for third and fourth (7), and UC Santa Barbara (6).

New York ranked fourth in the country, with 86.8 percent of its 212 full-time legislators holding at least a bachelor's degree. New York outpaced California in the percent with college education beyond a bachelor's, 56 percent compared to 48.

Find out what's happening in Sonoma Valleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Below are the Chronicle of Higher Education's lists of the top five and bottom five states in the nation, followed by the top 10 sources of degrees for California legislators.

Top 5 States:

1. California            89.9% 2. Virginia 88.6% 3. Nebraska 87.3% 4. New York 86.8% 5. Texas 86.2%

Bottom 5 States:

46. Arkansas 60.4% 47. New Mexico 59.7% 48. Delaware 59.7% 49. Maine 58% 50. New Hampshire 53.4%

Where California's 120 state legislators went to college:

1. UCLA 13 2. UC Berkeley 9 3. UC Davis 7 4. Harvard 7 5. UC Santa Barbara  6 6. San Diego State 5 7. Cal State Fresno 5 8. Univ. of Southern California  5 9. UC Riverside 4 10. San Jose State 4

 


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