Mary Gardner Briggs
REPD Senior Director
Mary Gardner Briggs serves as Senior Director of Research and Education Policy Development at the California School Boards Association (CSBA), where she leads a team who advances school governance to address critical education policy issues in California’s TK–12 public schools. Since joining CSBA in 2016, she has guided the development of research briefs, reports, and resources on topics ranging from school finance and accountability to special education and student achievement. As Senior Director, she represents CSBA members in statewide policy forums, builds partnerships with educational organizations and has led initiatives strengthening governance and policy. She also supports the work of the California School Boards Foundation in grant-funded projects that support the mission and vision of CSBA.
Mary oversees multiple projects, ensuring CSBA’s research and policy products are timely and impactful, such as Drowning in Documentation: Toward More Effective and Manageable Reporting for California Districts (2024), Beyond the Spreadsheets: Insights from California Leaders on Utilizing COVID-19 Relief Funding (2022) and The Role of the School Board in Creating the Conditions for Student Achievement (2017). Her recent work has focused on supporting board members in adopting high-quality instructional materials, navigating fiscal challenges, addressing opportunity gaps and strengthening local policy development.
Gardner Briggs began her career as an elementary teacher in the greater Sacramento region, teaching grades 2–8 for more than a decade. Her classroom experience and work mentoring teacher candidates at CSU Sacramento inspired her to pursue doctoral studies at UC Davis, where she researched California school finance reform and districtwide transformation efforts with scholars from UC Berkeley, USC, RAND and Michael Fullan Enterprises.
Mary continues to bring the perspective of both educator and researcher to her leadership role, ensuring CSBA’s initiatives remain grounded in evidence, equity and the real-world conditions facing California’s local educational agencies and governing boards.