Berkeley's State Reps Among Highest Educated

California's legislature may have earned an F in budget-setting in recent years, but it's first in the class when it comes to having college degrees.

Our state leads the nation in the percentage of state legislators who are college graduates, according to a Chronicle of Higher Education study published last year. The survey found that 89.9 percent of California solons have at least one degree, compared to last-place New Hampshire with 53.4 percent. (It may possibly be relevant that California's 120 legislators are full-time, while New Hampshire's 424 are part-time.)

Representing Berkeley in the state Assembly is Nancy Skinner, who is among the 48 percent of California legislators with college education beyond a bachelor's degree. She holds a BS degree in natural resources and a master's in education, both from UC Berkeley.

State Senator Lori Hancock, who represents Berkeley and is married to Mayor Tom Bates, has a BA from Ithaca College in New York and an master's from the Wright Institute in Berkeley. 

The largest source of college degrees for California legislators is UCLA (13 members of the legislature), followed by UC Berkeley (9), UC Davis and Harvard tied for third and fourth (7), and UC Santa Barbara (6).

New York ranked fourth in the country, with 86.8 percent of its 212 full-time legislators holding at least a bachelor's degree. New York outpaced California in the percent with college education beyond a bachelor's, 56 percent compared to 48.

Below are the Chronicle of Higher Education's lists of the top five and bottom five states in the nation, followed by the top 10 sources of degrees for California legislators.

Top 5 States:

Bottom 5 States:

Where California's 120 state legislators went to college:

Do you think a college degree should be mandatory for state government? Why? Why not? Let us know in the comments.