Retired School Superintendent Larry Aceves Leads Pack in Superintendent Race, Endorsed by Teamsters
Despite being outspent, retired school superintendent Larry Aceves finished top in the race to replace Jack O’Connell as Superintendent of Public Instruction with 19.2% of the vote in a 12-way primary. Larry won 36 of the 58 counties and finished second in another 9 counties including Los Angeles.
Larry is the only Latino Democratic candidate running statewide and would be the first Latino Superintendent of Public Instruction in the history of the office.
The general election will give Larry a further chance to tell voters that he is the most qualified candidate in the race with more than 30 years in public education – being a classroom teacher, a principal and a school superintendent for 15 years. As the Los Angeles Times said when they endorsed him, “Aceves would be a breath of fresh air” as State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
The Teamsters Joint Council 42 also recently announced their endorsement of Aceves. The Teamsters Joint Council 42 is the largest Council in the entire International Brotherhood of Teamsters and is the parent body to 23 Teamster Local Unions. The Teamsters join the Los Angeles Times, the Contra Costa Times and more than 500 frontline educators in endorsing Aceves for Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Contra Costa Times editorial: We recommend Larry Aceves for superintendent of public instruction May 18, 2010
THERE ARE 12 candidates seeking to be California's next superintendent of public instruction, a nonpartisan position that oversees the state's most costly responsibility.
The superintendent serves as the state's chief spokesperson for public education, and provides policy and direction to local school districts as well as serving on the governing boards of the state's higher education systems.
Among the dozen candidates, there are three serious contenders: Larry Aceves, Gloria Romero and Tom Torlakson.
Aceves, a retired school superintendent from districts in San Jose, Los Angeles and the Central Coast, and Romero, a state senator from Los Angeles, understand that California needs to make major changes in its education system.
They both understand that funding is likely to remain short for some time, but that education progress can be made by breaking with the status quo, which often means opposing the intransigence of the teachers' unions.
For example, Aceves wants better evaluation of teacher performance and greater flexibility for districts to fire ineffective teachers. He also would urge the Legislature to grant the superintendent the authority to suspend provisions in labor contracts that interfere with learning.
LA Times Editorial: Larry Aceves would be a breath of fresh air as state superintendent of public instruction
Los Angeles Times – April 27, 2010
It's not entirely clear why the framers of California's Constitution decided that the state superintendent of public instruction should be elected rather than appointed. It is especially mystifying considering that the state Board of Education, which sets policy and enacts regulations, is appointed, while the elected superintendent is tasked with carrying out those policies — the opposite of how things are done in all local school districts. In addition, the state has an appointed secretary of education, whose main job is to advise the governor.
In other words, if the governance structure for California schools made more sense, we wouldn't be endorsing a candidate for state superintendent. But there it is: The nonpartisan position is important — it calls for overseeing the state's single most expensive responsibility — and there are 12 candidates vying for it. The superintendent has broad powers to intervene in failing schools, set and enforce curriculum standards and interpret education law — such as how hard standardized tests should be, what material they should cover and how much leeway to give to home-schoolers.
Most of the candidates are underqualified, lacking education credentials or policy experience or both. Of the three strongest — including state Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) and Assemblyman Tom Torlakson (D-Antioch) — retired school superintendent Larry Aceves strikes us as best suited to manage the state's large education bureaucracy and to bring reason and optimism to schools that have been torn apart by shrinking budgets and battles over whether and how much they should be punished for falling short of achievement goals.
