Dave Walrath primarily focuses on school finance, state budget, teacher retirement and school facility issues.  He provides general consulting as well as direct legislative, administrative and budgetary lobbying on these issue areas.

In 1983, Dave joined Murdoch, Mockler & Associates, which became Murdoch, Walrath & Holmes in 1992.  He is the firm’s President and legislative policy, strategy and tactics advisor for all of the firm’s K-12 clients, including the Coalition for Adequate School Housing (C.A.S.H.).

In January 1975, Dave was hired in the California State Department of Finance.  He worked on K-12 and community college school finance, teacher’s retirement, school facilities and special education issues.  He was the Department of Finance school finance person for implementing Proposition 13.  In 1979, Dave went to the Legislative Analyst’s Office and became the K-12 Education Staff Director.

Since 1975, Dave has been involved with every major school finance, teacher retirement, and school facility bill.  He helped draft Proposition 98 and has been involved in numerous state ballot campaigns on school finance and school facility proposals.

Dave graduated from the University of California - Davis in 1970 with a major in economics.  He spent two years in the United States Army.  In 1974 Dave completed a master’s degree in Public Affairs from the University of Texas at Austin, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs.