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New PED secretary‑designate pledges focus on attendance, IEP standardization and faster fund flow
Summary
Secretary‑designate Mariana Padilla told LESC/LFC she will focus on halving chronic absenteeism in five years, improving graduation rates, standardizing IEPs, and speeding PED operations so funds and data reach districts faster.
Mariana Padilla, the Public Education Department secretary‑designate, used her committee appearance to lay out a strategic set of operational and program priorities intended to improve student outcomes and shrink longstanding implementation gaps.
Padilla told the joint LESC/LFC committee that PED’s public school support budget planning for FY26 will prioritize reducing chronic absenteeism, boosting graduation rates, improving academic outcomes, supporting educators and school leaders, and increasing school safety. She set a target of halving chronic absenteeism from the 2022‑23 baseline (about 39.22%) in five years.
To support those goals, Padilla said PED is already using its below‑the‑line and formula funds for pilot attendance interventions and technical assistance. ‘We funded seven districts the first year and 14 districts this year for interventionists, early warning systems, and a statewide engagement program,’ she said, summarizing how the $5 million appropriation for attendance has been used.
On agency operations, Padilla said she has prioritized internal reforms since stepping into the role: tracking award letters and award flows weekly, setting processing time KPIs (a 22‑day processing goal for approvals), automating systems, and improving data governance so the department can deliver reliable, timely reports to the Legislature and districts.
Padilla also highlighted special education as a priority. PED has created a unified IEP template to replace more than 100 different district templates, she said, and is expanding monitoring and a parent‑university approach through the Office of Special Education. The department will pursue a statewide IEP infrastructure so students transferring between districts do not lose services.
Deputy Secretary Amanda DeBell and other PED staff described targeted work to raise graduation rates (a goal to add 1,400 graduates in two years), expand high‑dosage tutoring and CTE pathways, and professionalize school leadership with cohorted programs and executive coaching for new superintendents.
On school safety, Padilla flagged investments such as panic buttons and statewide tools districts can opt into, and she said PED will continue convening school safety summits with law enforcement and community partners.
Padilla repeatedly asked lawmakers for time to allow evaluative information to emerge from pilots—particularly the Family Income Index and the Summer Literacy Institute—before the Legislature takes final funding decisions. She also committed to better, earlier budget communication to avoid last‑minute surprises in the session calendar.
