The California Race to Watch in 2014
Next year, the office of California Superintendent of Public Instruction is up for election, and incumbent Tom Torlakson will face off with Marshall Tuck, former President of Green Dot Public Schools and, more recently, CEO of the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. The Superintendent of Public Instruction is a non-partisan, elected position that could be determined as soon as next June if one candidate wins the majority of votes. The Superintendent serves as the executive officer and secretary for the State Board of Education and may serve up to two four-year terms. The Superintendent also sits, by virtue of the office, on the board of the State Teachers Retirement System.
At its last meeting on November 18th, the CCFT Council voted to contribute $1000 to Tom Torlakson’s campaign, and here’s why:
- Tom Torlakson has been a strong leader and partner of teachers on behalf of students since taking office as Superintendent in 2010, after a hard-fought race against an opponent who was well-funded by corporate interests.
- As a former high school science teacher, he brings an in-depth understanding of what is needed in the classroom to support high quality educational programs.
- Torklakson has stood against using student test scores to evaluate teachers, which helped cost California a federal waiver from No Child Left Behind regulations.
- Torlakson urged the ACCJC to rescind City College of San Francisco's show cause sanction.
Marshall Tuck’s candidacy is cause for concern on many levels:
- Tuck has supported evaluating teachers based on students' test scores.
- Tuck’s record in the educational realm has been "mediocre and unimpressive," according to highly regarded education policy analyst, historian, and professor Diane Ravich.
- Tuck recently took a leading role in coordinating eight different California K-12 districts in applying for federal waivers to some aspects of No Child Left Behind. Currently, most teachers' unions oppose these waivers, which would bypass some state regulations and change union-negotiated criteria for teacher evaluations.
This recent fight over NCLB waivers came after Governor Jerry Brown and Superintendent Torlakson declined the same waivers on behalf of all California schools for a number of reasons, including the expanded role it gives the federal government in state education policy. The waivers were approved by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on August 6th of this year, just in time for the beginning of the school year. It is the first time that individual waivers have been granted to school districts directly, bypassing state leadership.
The race for Superintendent of Public Instruction matters for all Californians, so please stay tuned to this evolving story, get out the word to everyone you influence, get out the vote, and even give time or money to the campaign if you can. You can learn more from candidate Marshall Tuck at his campaign website.
by Diane Putnam