Gloria Romero was elected to the 24th Senate District in 2001 and served as Senate Majority Leader—the first woman to ever hold that leadership position in the history of the California State Senate. Romero holds a PhD in Social/Personality Psychology and is Professor Emeritus at California State University, Los Angeles. She is the author of California’s groundbreaking Romero Open Enrollment Act, also known as the “Parent Trigger” law, which provides opportunities for school choice for parents of children trapped in chronically academic under-performing, failing schools. She is the co-founder of the innovative independent charter school, Explore Academy, in Orange County, California.