Senator George Runner’s proposal to make February 6 Ronald Reagan Day in the state of California took another step closer to reality when it passed the Assembly Education Committee Wednesday.

The designation would not result in a pupil-free day, but would offer local districts the opportunity to spend some time talking about the contributions Reagan made to our country, both as the 33rd Governor of California and as the nation’s 40th President.

Reagan’s gubernatorial tenure included his support of increased education spending, an attempt to restore the death penalty and some of the largest tax increases in California history. During his years in the White House, Reagan presided over large tax cuts, reductions in funding for social services and cuts to education in an effort to promote rapid economic growth and reduce the federal deficit.

Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 1994, a fact he shared with the nation in an attempt to promote awareness of the disease and research into its cause and prevention. He died in 2004 at the age of 93.

Ronald Reagan Day would join other days of significance for California students, including the Day of the Teacher, John Muir Day, Harvey Milk Day, California Poppy Day and Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day.

The bill is expected to be approved by the full Assembly soon and be signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. This law imposes no fiscal impact on the state.

Runner’s legislation was introduced in April and quickly passed the Senate. It is one of three “days of significance” bills; the others include proposals to make April 19 Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution and January 23 Ed Roberts Day.

Korematsu was a resident of Oakland and the plaintiff in the case testing the legality of Japanese-American internment camps during World War II. The initial case and a subsequent appeal were lost and Korematsu was sent to a camp in Utah. After the war, he remained a crusader for the oppressed and in 1998, President Bill Clinton gave Korematsu the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He spoke out against any interment possibilities for perceived enemies after September 11 and was a civil rights advocate until his death in 2005.

Ed Roberts was a champion for the rights of disabled individuals, and was the first disabled student to attend U.C. Berkeley. He contracted polio two years before the Salk vaccine became available and was paralyzed from the neck down, having movement in only two fingers and toes. He was almost denied graduation from high school because he had not completed physical and driver education courses. He is considered the father of the disability rights movement, advocating for the handicapped and lobbying to get things like curb cuts and special housing arrangements for students. One of Governor Jerry Brown’s first appointments was to make Roberts the Director of the California Department of Vocational Rehabilitation – the same agency that once determined he was too handicapped to hold down a job. He died in 1995.