Teachers union may not sway schools chief race

Teachers union may not sway schools chief race

Jill Tucker, Chronicle Staff Writer

Monday, May 31, 2010

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Rich Pedroncelli / AP

Gloria Romero

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For nearly three decades, California's largest teachers union has all but handpicked the candidate who went on to win the race for state superintendent of public instruction.
It was pretty much a given for the candidate: Get the California Teachers Association's campaign cash, gain the support of most other education groups in the state and win the race.
This year is different.
In a packed field of 12 candidates, three have emerged as the top contenders for the nonpartisan job. All three are Democrats, two of whom are splitting the support of the education establishment, and a third who has attracted support of non-establishment education reformers.
The three include former South Bay schools superintendent Larry Aceves; state Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles; and Assemblyman Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch.
Torlakson won the previously coveted backing from the 325,000-member teachers union, but the union has fallen out of favor with some voters for opposing education reforms that would require evaluation of teachers using test scores, more charter schools and changes to teacher seniority rights.

Torlakson on the defensive

As a result, Torlakson, a legislator since 1996, has found himself in the unusual position of having to defend more than flaunt the endorsement, which has so far included a $12,500 contribution.
Aceves, a Sacramento outsider, has the backing of the Association of California School Administrators and a few hundred individual school district officials, as well as newspaper endorsements from his opponents' home turfs - the Los Angeles Times and the Contra Costa Times, making him a real contender in a race that seemingly had been a battle between two career politicians.
Romero, in the Legislature since 1998, has cast herself as a maverick bucking the status quo. Education reformers like Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and the Broad Foundation's Eli Broad, advocates of increased competition in schools and parent empowerment in education, have lined up behind her.
She is rolling the dice that she can win without the support of the teachers or other