Ex-Education Superintendent Pulls Name From Board
SACRAMENTO (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown's office says his controversial pick for the state Board of Education, former state superintendent Bill Honig, has withdrawn his name for the job.
Honig was convicted of conflict-of-interest charges in 1993 for using state Department of Education funds to finance his wife's private education project while he was superintendent of public instruction.
Honig had been a Brown appointee to the board from 1975 to 1983.
The felony charges were later reduced to misdemeanors, but Honig's wife committed suicide, partly because of stress from the case, he said then.
Brown's office gave no reason for the withdrawal. On Monday, he appointed Beverly Hills Unified School District assistant superintendent Ilene W. Straus to the board.
She requires confirmation by the state Senate.
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