Candidate for
County Superintendent of Schools; County of Riverside

Kenneth M. Young became the Riverside County Superintendent of Schools in July of 2007. The County Superintendent is the Chief Executive Officer of the Riverside County Office of Education, serving over 40,000 students annually in Career Technical Education, Special Education, Alternative Education and Preschool classrooms at 162 different locations across Riverside County's 7,200 square miles.

The County Superintendent provides overarching leadership for Riverside County's P-12 public education system of 425,000 students, 486 schools and 23 local school districts.

The county superintendent also oversees the financial operations of all school districts in the county, totaling approximately $3 billion annually.

Between 2008 and 2010, Superintendent Young also served as the State Board of Education appointed Trustee for the Coachella Valley Unified School District (over 20,000 students), working with the district to significantly improve their student academic achievement on state and national tests.

Between 2004 and 2007, Kenneth Young served as the Riverside County Deputy Superintendent of Schools, the number two position at the Riverside County Office of Education. As Riverside County Deputy Superintendent of Schools, his responsibilities included oversight of all internal and external business functions, information technology, Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA), facilities, maintenance, operations and legislative advocacy.

Before coming to the Riverside County Office of Education, between 1995 and 2004, Kenneth Young served as the Deputy Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent and Director for the Lake Elsinore Unified School District. Under his leadership the district received an unqualified audit, the highest rating possible, for six consecutive years. Between 1998 and 2001, Deputy Superintendent Young played an instrumental role in securing over $300 million in state funding for the district's unprecedented school facility construction program.

Preceding his employment in California's public school system, Kenneth Young worked in private industry for over 21 years, 19 of those were spent in the field of civil engineering construction. For 14 years he was President of a private engineering construction firm.

Superintendent Young has taught both adult education and high school students in public schools, and high school students in an international religious institution.

He currently represents the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association as a member of the Implementation Committee of the State Allocation Board where policy regulations are developed for the distribution of billions of dollars in school construction funds annually from all statewide school bond measures. From 2003 to 2007, he served on the Board of Directors of the Coalition for Adequate School Housing. Superintendent Young has also served as a regional chairman for the California Association of School Business Officials committee of Chief Business Officials. On the local school district level, he has chaired several school district boundary and budget committees. In 2009, he served as the Inland Empire Chairman of the March of Dimes. Superintendent Young holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Management, a Master's degree in Education, a California Teaching credential, an Administrative Services credential and a certificate in School Business Administration.

Superintendent Young been involved as a Woodbadge trained leader in the Boy Scouts of America movement for over 34 years. All three of his sons and two of his son-in-laws are Eagle Scouts. He and his wife Beverly have lived in Lake Elsinore for the past 30 years. He has six children and four grandchildren.