Margaret Garcia-Dugan has been appointed to the highest non-elected position in the state Department of Education. She was named deputy superintendent of public instruction July 27.

She previously was the associate superintendent of academic achievement for the department and was primarily responsible for implementation of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Ms. Garcia-Dugan served as co-chair for English for the Children in 1999 and worked on the campaign for Proposition 203, the initiative that replaced bilingual education in the schools with Structured English Immersion. Because of her own upbringing — she came from a Spanish-speaking home but was immersed in English at school — she believes that learning English is the most critical skill to master in order to be successful in life. She says she wants all children to be afforded the same opportunities she experienced while in public schools.

Ms. Garcia-Dugan has served in education for 30 years: 13 years as a teacher; 16 years as a local school administrator. Of those, 10 years were as principal of Glendale High School. She also was district administrator for curriculum and instruction for one year for the Glendale Union High School District.

She has been married to her husband Mike Dugan for 32 years and has a son Joseph, who is a teacher. —