El Dorado Union High School District Superintendent Ron Carruth has made a tremendous impact on education policy through his involvement with multiple organizations, including ACSA. He is seen here with ACSA Executive Director Edgar Zazueta and Senior Director of Marketing and Communications Naj Alikhan at the 2023 Superintendents’ Symposium.
Carruth advocates for educators and students
October 30, 2023
Name: Ron Carruth, Ed.D.
Award: Ferd. Kiesel Memorial Distinguished Service Award
Title: Superintendent, El Dorado Union High School District
Education policy drives a lot of what school leaders must do. For more than 25 years, Ron Carruth has been at the forefront of shaping those policies, with a careful eye on what is best for students and the educators who serve them.
Carruth started his teaching and administrative career in southern California, where he served for 10 years as superintendent of Whittier City School District. In 2018, Carruth was fortunate to come back to his hometown of Placerville to serve as superintendent of El Dorado Union High School District.
“As a new administrator in El Dorado County, Ron quickly emerged as a leader among leaders,” said Ed Manansala, El Dorado County superintendent of schools, in a letter supporting Carruth’s nomination as ACSA’s Ferd. Kiesel Memorial Distinguished Service Award winner. “His central leadership and voice strengthens all of El Dorado County schools, improving outcomes and maintaining focus on what’s best for students. Within his district, Ron has built a common vision among administrators and staff, empowering teachers as leaders to focus on system-wide student improvement.”
A member since 1997, Carruth has had a significant impact in shaping educational policy over the years through his involvement in ACSA. Most recently, Carruth has served for five years on ACSA’s Superintendency Council and is its current president.
“I think through this role, you have the opportunity to see the challenges that are faced in our regional communities and the scope of responsibilities that superintendents have in these changing times,” he said. “This is now my 16th year as a superintendent, and without doubt I would say that the last five have been the most tumultuous from the external environment.”
Carruth knows firsthand about leadership through crisis. When COVID-19 shut down schools across the state, his leadership was pivotal in navigating the return to in-person instruction while implementing the multitude of public health mandates. His strengths further manifested in the face of the devastating Caldor Fire in the fall of 2021. The fire burned more than 220,000 acres and caused the evacuation of around a third of the district’s staff and students, and destroyed several of their homes. Guiding his community through these challenges and tragedies, Carruth remained steadfast in his commitment to students, educators and families impacted by such uncertainty and trauma.
Carruth uses his experiences as a district leader when communicating with legislators and policymakers about students’ needs. He works with ACSA staff, executive directors and the Governmental Relations team to identify and shape state policy and respond to multiple pieces of legislation. He was part of the impetus for approaching declining enrollment by utilizing the three-year averaging consistent with the LCFF formula.
“One thing that I think our Superintendency Council did very well was to convey to the Legislature the need to be able to make attendance adjustments due to COVID,” he said. “Our council with our GR team was able to convey to the Legislature that it wasn’t that we were not trying to get students to school, it was just simply the conditions had changed.”
Over the years, Carruth has worked with staff to include the California High School Exit Exam in the high school API formula, testified to the Assembly to reduce the impact of Public Records Act requests on districts, and, most recently, helped to amend a bill that would have required school administrators to track gun ownership in students’ homes.
He has served as VP of Legislative Action in Region 15 for two years and has brought countless administrators with him to understand how legislation in California is shaped.
“I think advocacy is essential from the ACSA perspective,” he said. “Other large state associations are focused on an employee group, and their interests are employees. I think what is unique and special about ACSA is I truly believe we are focused on students and the outcome for students. Our students need a voice, they deserve a voice, and I believe that we are one of those groups that can help navigate the challenges in the state.”
Carruth’s advocacy has made an impact locally and nationally through his involvement in numerous administrator associations. As president of California City Superintendents, he coordinated key legislative, legal and economic speakers to help guide the early stage of the implementation of the LCFF. He is a member of the Southern California and Northern California Superintendent groups.
Nationally, Carruth has been an active member of the American Association of School Administrators for 15 years and has lobbied Congress in conjunction with ACSA; California School Boards Association, AASA, the School Superintendents Association; and the National Association of Superintendents multiple times on education-related issues, particularly the implications of IDEA. Recently, Carruth has formed the California High School Coalition to help provide a voice for the needs of high school students, which are often overlooked in the state’s budget.
“It’s almost as though the political world forgot that high school students existed,” Carruth said. “In particular coming out of the COVID era, I think that nationally everybody noted that the greatest challenge was the emotional health of teenagers. And yet there was not $1 dedicated to be able to take on what was identified as the greatest national challenge we were facing. Our desire is to help educate our legislative officials on the needs for high school students across California.”
Carruth’s vision for education extends not just to California and the U.S., but to the entire Pacific Rim as an ACSA liaison to the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). His work on this commission has impacted Hawaii, Japan, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong SAR, Vietnam and Thailand where he has helped lead teams to improve the educational outcome of students.
“One thing I love about WASC is it continually asks, ‘What is a good school?’” he said. “I do really believe that the work of WASC results in one of the most profound ways that education is improved across the globe, not just in California.”
At El Dorado Union High School District, Carruth said he is most proud of the common vision shared by the board, his cabinet team, and the district’s principals and administrative staff.
“We have a very clear agreed-upon focus of what we’re trying to accomplish. And you can see and measure and feel that we are headed in the right direction,” he said. “I think that is a major accomplishment — to stay focused.”
Carruth’s advocacy has made an impact locally and nationally through his involvement in numerous administrator associations.
At El Dorado Union High School District, Carruth said he is most proud of the common vision shared by the board, his cabinet team, and the district’s principals and administrative staff.
A member since 1997, Carruth has had a significant impact in shaping educational policy over the years through his involvement in ACSA.