November runoff set for state schools chief
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Tom Torlakson
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Three candidates emerged from a crowded field of 12 for state superintendent of public instruction, with two career politicians and a dark horse contender still in the race late Tuesday.
The top two vote getters will head into a November runoff for the nonpartisan post.
Assemblyman Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, and former district Superintendent Larry Aceves carried the most votes in early returns. State Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, a favorite in the race, was in third place late in the evening, with a significant number of Los Angeles County votes still uncounted.
The runoff will give voters a clear-cut choice. Torlakson has the big-money support of the state's largest teachers union. Romero has cast herself as an education reformer, with heavy support from business leaders pushing for competition in public schools.
Aceves, a dark horse in the race, appealed to voters wanting a middle ground between Torlakson's traditional education establishment and Romero's reforms. He received newspaper endorsements from his opponents' home turf, including the Los Angeles Times and the Contra Costa Times.
Whoever comes in third could tip the scales in the November election with an endorsement and the added backing of unions, business or a bevy of school superintendents from across the state.
The California Teachers Association has strongly opposed Romero in the election, and it appears likely that the organization would toss its political and financial weight behind Aceves in the runoff if Torlakson is out.
Romero rolled the dice, trying to win the state's top schools job without the support of the teachers union - something that hasn't been done in decades and rarely before that.
Given Romero's support for charter schools and her stand against current teacher seniority rights, she had the support of business, including Eli Broad of the Broad Foundation, and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.
It's unclear whether such business interests would stand as strongly behind either Aceves or Torlakson.
Aceves, the former superintendent of San Jose's Franklin-McKinley and Alum Rock Union elementary school districts, thinks he would be a breath of fresh air on the Sacramento stage, someone who gets what's going on in schools and knows what works. A Romero or Aceves win in November would give the state its first Latino superintendent of public instruction.
The top two vote getters will head into a November runoff for the nonpartisan post.
Assemblyman Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, and former district Superintendent Larry Aceves carried the most votes in early returns. State Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, a favorite in the race, was in third place late in the evening, with a significant number of Los Angeles County votes still uncounted.
The runoff will give voters a clear-cut choice. Torlakson has the big-money support of the state's largest teachers union. Romero has cast herself as an education reformer, with heavy support from business leaders pushing for competition in public schools.
Aceves, a dark horse in the race, appealed to voters wanting a middle ground between Torlakson's traditional education establishment and Romero's reforms. He received newspaper endorsements from his opponents' home turf, including the Los Angeles Times and the Contra Costa Times.
Whoever comes in third could tip the scales in the November election with an endorsement and the added backing of unions, business or a bevy of school superintendents from across the state.
The California Teachers Association has strongly opposed Romero in the election, and it appears likely that the organization would toss its political and financial weight behind Aceves in the runoff if Torlakson is out.
Romero rolled the dice, trying to win the state's top schools job without the support of the teachers union - something that hasn't been done in decades and rarely before that.
Given Romero's support for charter schools and her stand against current teacher seniority rights, she had the support of business, including Eli Broad of the Broad Foundation, and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings.
It's unclear whether such business interests would stand as strongly behind either Aceves or Torlakson.
Aceves, the former superintendent of San Jose's Franklin-McKinley and Alum Rock Union elementary school districts, thinks he would be a breath of fresh air on the Sacramento stage, someone who gets what's going on in schools and knows what works. A Romero or Aceves win in November would give the state its first Latino superintendent of public instruction.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/09/MNL71DOO8C.DTL#ixzz0qNGN1H6a
