School reformer to discuss mayoral involvement in schools
Michelle Rhee kicks off statewide listening tour in San Diego
Mayors and schools
When: Wednesday, 5:30 p.m.-7 p.m.
Where: Shiley Theater, USD
Who: Michelle Rhee, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson
RSVP: Go to StudentsFirst website
Michelle Rhee — AP
SAN DIEGO — Just as education is creeping into the San Diego mayor’s race for the first time in recent memory, former Washington D.C. schools chief Michelle Rhee will be in San Diego on Wednesday to kick off a series of education forums with California mayors.
Mayor Jerry Sanders and Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson — Rhee’s husband — will get the conversation started at the University of San Diego event sponsored by Rhee’s nonprofit StudentsFirst. It’s uncertain where this will go since California’s Constitution assigns power over local education to elected school boards.
San Diego mayoral candidates and other City Hall officials have been tiptoeing toward schools, although none has said how much of a role they want in the operation of California’s second-largest district.
City Council President Tony Young and Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, a candidate for mayor, announced a plan last month to step up City Hall’