Candidate for State Superintendent Comes to Santa Paula
Ventura County Star
By Anne Kallas
Larry Aceves, a candidate for state schools superintendent, said today in Santa Paula that he would change the emphasis of education in California from standardized testing to critical thinking.
“Those in business understand kids need to think differently than they did 10 or 15 years ago,” he said in a speech to the Santa Paula Rotary Club. “We’re not teaching kids to do critical thinking. They don’t know how to think for themselves.”
Aceves decried “bubble tests,” or standardized testing, saying he wants California to once again become the national leader in education. “I’m a native California and I had the pleasure of going to California public schools, which were the best in the nation. People moved here because of the schools,” he said.
Although Ventura County schools Superintendent Stan Mantooth, who helped introduce Aceves, said the candidate must be “a bit of a masochist” to seek the state position, “I feel he is the best candidate. We need someone like Jack O’Connell, who is an educator and understands education.”
Schools Chief Candidate Larry Aceves Comments on Release of Latest APR Results
BURLINGAME, CA – California Superintendent of Schools Candidate Larry Aceves made the following comments today following the release of the 2008-2009 Accountability Progress Report:
“The scores on the latest Accountability Progress Report are a testament to California’s students and educators. Despite devastating budget cuts and decades of inadequate school funding, this year’s scores on the state accountability system, the Academic Performance Index, remained steady with the previous year.
“The achievement gap between Asian and white students and their black and Latino classmates has narrowed slightly in recent years, but it is still a persistent problem that needs to be addressed. California should be investing more in our schools if students are to succeed, yet the deep budget cuts made in recent years by the Governor and the Legislature have done the opposite.
“The latest federal Adequate Year Progress report, however, highlights the urgent need to improve. Under the federal Adequate Yearly Progress measure for the 2009-2010 school year, 675 schools were newly identified as failing to meet AYP criteria for the second year in a row – a two and a half times increase from the previous school year.
“The conflicting results of the state and federal measurements reaffirm the claim that our state’s schools and educators are overburdened with mandates. While ensuring accountability is important, we need to free up our educators so that less time is spent on paperwork and focusing on overlapping mandates and more of their time can be spent focusing on providing quality education to students.”
Early education dollars going to Aceves in race for schools chief
By Allen Young, School Innovations & Advocacy
Although still early in the race for state school chief, former district administrator and political newcomer Larry Aceves has emerged the clear favorite among education’s political contributors, an analysis of campaign statements shows.
Aceves, a past superintendent of Franklin-McKinleySchool District in San Jose and a one-time president of the Association of California School Administrators, reported donations of $202,854 so far this year – of which, $145,400 or 71 percent came from individuals within the education community including district superintendents, teachers, administrators, statewide school groups and education consultants.
His two rivals for the office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction – both far better known and with much more political experience – have raised far less from the same education sources:
State Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, has raised a total of $132,794 since January, and about 24 percent – or $30,872 – from education sources. Assemblyman Tom Torlakson, D-Martinez, has raised $184,021 so far, but only 4 percent, or $7,475, has come from the education community.
With still 10 months to go before the critical June primary, there’s no certainty that Aceves will maintain what appears to be strong support from school insiders. Political observers are also divided over how that support will translate come Election Day – especially since the state’s powerful teachers union has yet to weigh in.
“It could be helpful to him,” said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, senior scholar at the school of policy planning and development at the University of Southern California. “If indeed Aceves has a statewide network of people who can go out and walk precincts, man phone banks, and contribute, that could be very powerful.
“But those are big ifs,” she added.
The public school superintendent, the only statewide office that is elected on a nonpartisan basis, has in the recent past been a race largely determined by the preferences of party loyalists and big employee groups like the California Teachers Association.
Unlike a campaign for governor or some of the other constitutional offices, the race for state school chief tends not to be one where huge amounts of money are needed to win. But that could change this year as three candidates, each with clear fundraising prowess, collide in June.
If one candidates gets more than 50 percent of the vote, they would be declared the winner and avoid the November runoff.
Overall, Assemblyman Torlakson has the most cash to work about with $543,000 – thanks mostly to a transfer of $356,641 from his Assembly committee.
A former classroom teacher and two-term state senator representing Contra Costa County, Torlakson is hoping to end up the favorite of the CTA and school labor groups.
But Shannan Velayas, spokeswoman for Torlakson, said that he’s “demonstrated the ability to reach a wider donor base,” she said. “We saw this on the last reporting period.”
Romero, the other political heavyweight in the race, chairs the Senate Education Committee and holds the distinction of being the first women to serve as senate majority leader. She, too, would like the endorsement of labor but has recently also been working with EdVoice, a key reform organization with close ties to Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
EdVoice, which includes on its board some major money players in California politics, could potentially match the CTA in campaign spending and has already given generously to Romero.
Romero declined comment for this article.
Meanwhile, Aceves appears to have secured his base among the people who actually run schools and called himself a “down in the dirt educator” that will run a nontraditional, grassroots campaign.
“I intend to go to one community at a time, one rotary club at a time,” he said. “My fundraising will be (smaller contributions) from the people who believe in me.”
The candidate added that he also hopes to seek contributions from bigger donors, arguing that a successful SPI campaign will take at least two to four million dollars.
Long-time Democratic strategist Steve Maviglio said that in the end, big ticket contributors will be essential to determining the winner.
“Aceves hasn’t cornered the market,” he said. “The name of game in this race is going to be independent expenditures by EdVoice, CTA, and other players that typically run their own campaigns.”
Editor’s Note: This report was based on analysis of campaign statements filed with the Secretary of State’s office covering Jan. 1 through August 21, 2009. As a reference, contributions from the education community were defined as broadly as possible and consistently applied to all three candidates.
