A chance for education cohesion
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2010 AT MIDNIGHT
The diffusion of power and responsibility at the top of California’s public education bureaucracy has not served the state’s 6 million-plus public school students well in recent years. Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell often had a different agenda than Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s five education secretaries and the state Board of Education, which is dominated by Schwarzenegger appointees.
But as a recent California Watch analysis pointed out, there is now potential for a much more cohesive approach. Gov.-elect Jerry Brown doesn’t intend to fill the education secretary post in his Cabinet and instead appears to want to work closely with Superintendent-elect Tom Torlakson, a friend and fellow Bay Area Democrat. Meanwhile, because of squabbles between Schwarzenegger and Senate Democrats that have held up confirmation of some of his education board nominees, Brown will likely be able to appoint seven of the board’s 10 members in his