Coto began his career as a
Social Studies teacher in the
Oakland Unified School District. He worked in a variety of administrative positions and left the school district to serve as a City Councilmember for the City of Oakland. After his four-year term on the city council, he ran for Mayor of Oakland and almost beat a longtime incumbent. He returned to the school district and ultimately became Superintendent of the Oakland Public Schools in 1984. In 1988, he was recruited to serve as
Superintendent of the
East Side Union High School District in San Jose, and served in that position for the next 14 years. In recognition of his contributions as superintendent of
East Side Union High School District, the Association of California School Administrators named him the 2003
Superintendent of the Year. As
Superintendent in San Jose, Coto supported Senate
Bill 1051, an $80 million increase in funding promoting diversity in San Jose's school system. The legislation has since brought close to a billion dollars to school districts in East San Jose over the years. Coto was also able to bring nearly half a billion dollars in grant monies and improvement bonds to the East Side Union High School District.
Politics Coto was elected to the
California State Assembly to represent
California's 23rd Assembly district in 2004. New laws sponsored by Coto cover a variety of fields including educational bills providing support to underachieving schools, standards for math instruction for blind students, and over $30 million to support English learners and flexibility in spending to support the educational program. He authored a bill to protect students from vendors trying to entice them with gifts to get them to apply for credit cards. Coto was also responsible for establishing an eminence credential for
Native American languages to be taught in California's schools (cosponsored by Assembly member
Tom Ammiano). In the area of health, one of his bills provides cultural and linguistic training for physicians so that they can serve their patients more effectively and another extends the
Healthy Families' program so that children throughout the state can be eligible for health insurance. Working in collaboration with the
California Chamber of Commerce, as well as other employer groups, such as the
California Federation of Labor, he authored legislation to fix part of the workers compensation system in a way that benefits both business and labor. Coto recently completed a two-year term serving as Chair of the 26 member Latino Legislative Caucus. Prior to becoming Chair, he served for two years as the Vice Chair. Due to
term limits, Coto retired from the Assembly in 2010.
Campaign for California State Senate In December 2011, Coto announced that he would run for California State Senate to represent District 15, which includes the cities of
Campbell,
Cupertino,
Los Gatos,
Monte Sereno,
Saratoga, and
San Jose. Coto's campaign focused on improving education to create a competitive workforce, balancing the budget, and solving the issue of income inequality. He was defeated by
Jim Beall by a 13% margin in the November 2012 election. The
California Fair Political Practices Commission issued a $6,000 fine for exceeding contribution limits and failing to disclose more than $117,000 in expenditures during his State Senate run. == Personal life ==