Candidate for
Board Member; Santa Barbara Unified School District

H. Edward Heron, Retired Business Executive , Community Volunteer and Dedicated Trustee of the Santa Barbara Unified School District from 2008-2012 Moving to Santa Barbara with his family in 1948 from Flint, Michigan I graduated from Peabody Elementary, La Cumbre Junior High and Santa Barbara High School and received a Bachelor's Degree in Business Economics from Claremont Men's College (now Claremont McKenna College). I hold a lifetime teaching credential in Real Estate subjects and taught real estate classes at City College and Adult Education in the early 1970's. Mary and I have been married for 45 years and have 3 children (Kelly married to Arick Fuller, John married to Lindsey and Molly married to Brian Fittipaldi) and 8 grandchildren (Adam, Sam, Peter, Will, Fletcher, Charlie and Anna).

I enjoyed a 42 year professional real estate career in Santa Barbara starting in 1965 with Heron Realty (formed by my parents Harry and Jeanette Heron in 1948) in 1965 and ending with Coldwell Banker. During the last few years I was known by 10,000 Coldwell Banker real estate agents as the California Website Champion and the VP for eStrategies as the creator of the award winning real estate website, CaliforniaMoves.com containing over 300,000 properties for sale in California. The California Real Estate Association honored me with their highest honor, the California's Distinguished Realtor, in 1992 and I was named the Facilitator of the Year in Real Estate by the Lou Tice Pacific Institute in Seattle, Washington in 1994.

I was a Director for City Commerce Bank and Mid-State Bank and Trust (a $2 billion dollar bank with 41 offices in the tri-counties) serving on their Audit Committees. The founding President of the Mid-State Bank and Trust Foundation and the founding Chair of the Coldwell Banker Community Foundation. Both Foundations had a heavy emphasis on education and youth. I am a Past President of Partners in Education and have been a leader (Currently the Chair) in its Computer For Families program for the past 15 years providing over 9,200 computers free to South Coast families along with computer training to teachers and families. My company provided for several years 250 classroom URLs through the Teacher Web program. Aided in the successful effort to raise almost $4,000,000 to ensure that the Computers For Families program continues indefinitely without any worries about fund raising. Served as the 2006-2008 Chair, UCSB Economic Forecast, Santa Barbara. The Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce in 2007 honored me with the Businessman of the Year Award and the South Coast Business and Technology group honored Partners in Education with their Community Service Award for 2007-2008 at their annual banquet. From 2008-2012 I was the Chair of the Measure V Bond Citizen's Oversight Committee for Santa Barbara City College.

Public schools, that serve every student well, are the backbone of our democracy. The State of California Constitution guarantees that every student will be given a quality education. I will work to improve the education of every student, and to provide the tools necessary for principals and teachers to be successful. My focus will be on fiscal responsibility, supporting talented teaching professionals, implementing technology and making certain, by citizen oversight, that the parcel tax funds, if the ballot measures are passed, are used to supplement music, art and theatre programs, foreign language, math, science, career and technology education. My passion is creating partnerships, never needed more than right now, between parents, educators, non-profits and the business community knowing that children do well when supported by family and the community.

The Pacific Coast Business Times, in an editorial on August 15, 2008 included this observation: "Heron will stand for sound business fiscal practices and high levels of professional conduct." I believe the past 4 years on the School Board have shown that this was an accurate perception.

I am dedicated to Santa Barbara, Goleta, and Montecito having the finest public schools possible emphasizing achievement for all students. It is mandatory that we close the achievement gap and the digital divide.