California Education Dialogue

A public policy dialogue produced by Information Renaissance
with support from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation,
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Thomas E. Henry

Chief Executive Officer Thomas E. Henry joined the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) in July 1995 and previously served as associate superintendent for the Kern County Superintendent of Schools. His past experience includes superintendent positions at three unified school districts and assistant superintendent of business and administrative services at a county office of education. Tom is a graduate of California State University, Humbolt, and California State University, Bakersfield. In addition to his FCMAT responsibilities, Tom is a frequent speaker and presenter for regional and statewide professional organizations.

He holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration and Special Education, and also holds a Secondary, Special Education, and Administrative Credential. Tom has 27 years experience in public administration.
  • Chief Executive Officer for FCMAT. The agency provides fiscal crisis intervention and management assistance to public school agencies. FCMAT has conducted comprehensive audits at Oakland Unified, San Francisco Unified, Compton Unified and West Contra Costa school districts. FCMAT has provided studies for over 300 school agencies, and provides fiscal monitoring for California’s 1000 public schools.
  • Recently served as Vice-Chair to the Governance Committee to the Master Plan for California Public Education
  • Selected through state legislation to sit on a three-member state audit appeals panel. The other panel members are the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Director of Finance. This panel renders decisions relative to outstanding audits.
  • Served as chairman of the board for Schools Legal Services. This agency provides legal services to school entities in over 20 California counties.
  • Served as the Chief Financial Officer and Associate County Superintendent for the Kern County Superintendent of Schools Office.
  • Administered the state's first teleconferencing project. FCMAT developed teleconferencing capability in 58 county offices of education. Steerable satellite dishes with analog and digital capability were installed in each county office. FCMAT broadcasts 4-6 teleconferences each year on budget and legislative issues important to county offices of education.
  • Appointed through the ACLU to monitor the progress of the Compton Unified School District relative to the stipulations of a consent decree. Compton was under a state administrator for several years and was required to meet certain standards before the district was returned to local control.
  • Responsible for developing the state's first electronic student information system connecting K-12 and higher education. This system will allow for the electronic transfer of student records, higher education admission, and state reporting. An initial $10 million was budgeted in 2000-01 for this project, which continues to remain a high legislative priority.
  • Administers the Ed-Data website (www.ed-data.k12.ca.us). This site provides educational data for parents, educators, media and policymakers. FCMAT also maintains a web-site at (www.fcmat.org) which provides an on-line help desk, legal alerts, financial information, and a chronology of FCMAT's work.