Dr. Susan Salcido has served as Santa Barbara County Superintendent of Schools since 2017, supporting 20 school districts and 10 charter schools, and overseeing 200 programs serving 70,000 children and youth countywide.
During her tenure as Superintendent, Dr. Salcido has brought leadership, focus, and resources to key public education concerns, including school safety, youth mental wellness, and expansion of early care education and career and college pathways.
Dr. Salcido has championed many initiatives on behalf of Santa Barbara County’s most vulnerable children and youth, including improving the services provided to justice-involved youth and individuals with special education needs.
In 2022, she spearheaded the county’s first Student Advisory Council, an opportunity for high school students countywide to amplify their voices and share perspectives on a variety of topics affecting schools and communities. In 2023, she organized a campaign in response to the youth fentanyl crisis, hosting a countywide panel to heighten awareness and spotlight multilingual resources for families, educators, and school staff.
Selected as Woman of the Year and Administrator of the Year, she attended public schools growing up in Santa Maria, earned her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from UC Santa Barbara, and her doctorate from the University of Southern California, focusing on organizational change, leadership, and student equity.
She began her career in education as a high school English teacher and coach, and transitioned into several administrative roles including assistant principal, principal, and deputy County Superintendent. She is the parent of two public high school students and is married to a public high school educator.
AWARDS & ACTIVITIES
Dr. Salcido’s work has been widely acknowledged for its excellence. In 2018 she received a Santa Barbara County Women of the Year Award for the 19th Senate District and the 37th Assembly District.
In 2023, she was named the statewide winner of the Marcus Foster Memorial Award for Administrator Excellence by the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA). In 2017, ACSA named her the Administrator of the Year for Region 13, representing Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura counties. As a teacher, she was named the Parent Teacher Association Honorary Service Award recipient.
LOCAL AND STATE AFFILIATIONS
At the local level, Dr. Salcido is a board member of the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) Region 13, and Partners in Education. She serves as a board member of Santa Barbara County Special Education Local Plan Area Joint Powers Agency (SELPA/JPA) and an advisory board member for the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara. She has also served as a board member of the Community Youth Performing Arts Center at the Marjorie Luke Theatre, and the Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse (CADA).
Dr. Salcido is a Commissioner for First 5 Santa Barbara County and serves on the Santa Barbara County Workforce Development Board (WDB). She was a Katherine Harvey Fellow, class of 2010-2011, and a mentor in the Emerging Leaders Program, Santa Barbara County. She is a member of the Santa Barbara Housing Affordability Advisory Committee and serves on the board of WestEd, a non-profit education research organization.
Dr. Salcido is a member of the YouthWell Coalition Steering Committee, the Fighting Back Leadership Coalition, the Santa Maria Arts Council, the South Coast Youth Safety Partnership, the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Women & Girls committee, and the Santa Barbara Behavioral Health Collaborative.
Dr. Salcido provides support to statewide partners in areas related to education, and has been actively involved in organizations including the: California County Superintendents Educational Services Association (CCSESA); Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) Curriculum; Instruction and Accountability Committee; California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE); State Board of Education’s California Practitioner’s Advisory Group; West-Ed; and the Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team (FCMAT).
COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT: ROLE & RESPONSIBILITIES
Dr. Salcido is one of 58 County Superintendents across the state.
The position of County Superintendent of Schools, established in the California State Constitution in 1879, has evolved to meet the changing needs of the state and its students. County Superintendents operate as intermediate service agencies providing direct and regional support to school districts, and serve as the primary implementation arm of the California Department of Education (CDE). The responsibilities of these constitutional officers may vary from one county to the next, but fall generally into these categories:
- Educating specific student populations (i.e., special education and justice-involved youth)
- Monitoring and oversight for district fiscal stability
- Providing academic support and assistance to districts and their schools
- Providing direct services to small school districts
- Reviewing school district Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAPs) and ensuring alignment of projected spending, services, and goals
- Providing technical assistance to school districts
- Implementing regional support activities to assist district and school staff
