The Sacramento City Unified School District's new superintendent – like a growing number of top school administrators across the county – is an education outsider who spent most of his career in the private sector.

Trustees said they were looking for change when they tapped Jonathan Raymond, a lawyer who dabbled in Massachusetts politics and ran a multimillion-dollar nonprofit in Boston that provided education and work force development programs before becoming chief accountability officer for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina three years ago.

Raymond, who begins Aug. 21 in Sacramento, signed a four-year contract and will make $245,000 annually.

"People who come from outside education are more used to working in performance culture versus entitlement culture," said Tim Quinn, managing director of The Broad Center, an organization that trains prominent leaders from the military, business, nonprofits and government to run urban public school districts.

Raymond graduated from The Broad Center's 10-month executive management training program in 2006.

Quinn, who oversaw Raymond's training, said he has noticed more school boards and search firms calling The Broad Center looking for nontraditional – or what he calls hybrid – candidates. Quinn considers Raymond a hybrid because of his experience with Charlotte-Mecklenburg and his previous accomplishments outside of education.

The ranks of superintendents who are not career educators have grown since the mid-1990s when former U.S. Army Maj. Gen. John Stanford was hired as superintendent of Seattle Public Schools, Quinn said.

"These people can bring a fresh perspective," Quinn said. "So many people who are brought up in education are numb to their challenges and are convinced there are problems that can't be fixed."

Sacramento City Unified board President Roy Grimes said Thursday after the board cast its unanimous vote to hire Raymond: "I think he stood out mainly because we are looking for change in the district. We are looking to move to the next level of achievement."

Charlotte-Mecklenburg trustee Trent Merchant admitted his hesitation in hiring a nontraditional candidate for an assistant superintendent position.

"But, it all worked out well," Merchant said. "The idea of bringing in a guy from Massachusetts who ran a nonprofit, we were like, 'What are you thinking?' "

As an assistant superintendent and chief accountability officer, Raymond examined student performance, teacher performance and how schools fared in terms of achievement.

Raymond developed that district's "Data Dashboard" – a Web site that informs parents and the community about how schools are doing and allows people to compare schools. Merchant said Raymond helped use data to "track individual student performance and tie that directly to teachers."

Reached at his home Friday, Raymond asked to postpone interviews until Monday. The father of three said he was leaving for a family vacation.

Raymond earned a bachelor's degree in history from Tufts University, a master's in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and a law degree from George Mason University School of Law.

He worked in private law practice with a focus on business and labor law, according to a biography posted by The Broad Center. He was legislative and public affairs director at the U.S. Trade and Development Agency and ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 4th Congressional District in Massachusetts in 1996. He won the Republican nomination but lost to Democratic incumbent Rep. Barney Frank.

His final job before going to work for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools was as president and CEO of the Commonwealth Corporation, the $31 million nonprofit organization in Boston.

Call The Bee's Melody Gutierrez, (916) 326-5521. Bee researcher Sheila A. Kern contributed to this report.