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.”
O’Connell will finish his second term next year and cannot seek re-election in 2010. Aceves’ chief rivals for the nonpartisan position are considered to be state Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, and Assemblyman Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch.
Aceves is a past president of the Association of California School Administrators and the California Latino Superintendents Association. He said he retired three years ago after more than 30 years as a teacher, principal and superintendent in San Jose, San Diego and the Central Coast.
When he saw what was happening to public education in California as budget cuts sent many districts into financial chaos, he felt compelled to run for office, he said. “It will take someone who is committed to education to turn things around,” he said.
Aceves said that to become competitive in world markets, California needs teachers and others to change their mindsets. He said it’s important for students to learn other languages and how to work cooperatively in the workplace. He said the state’s university and community college systems need to be completely retooled to allow for seamless communications between them. He also said that with manufacturing jobs vanishing in the United States, it is imperative to offer other skills and training to high school students not going to college.
During a question-and-answer period following Aceves’ talk, he was asked about how he would handle teachers unions. “The public is not going to stand for not having accountability,” he said, adding that teachers no longer working productively should be removed from the payrolls and classrooms.
Aceves said the Legislature needs to find ways to ease the financial burdens it has placed on school districts statewide. “The way we’re going, we’re going to lose all districts in three years,” Aceves said, indicating some borderline districts are already close to bankruptcy. “We don’t have any time to waste.”
Letter to the Editor
October 8, 2009
The Star’s article, “State schools chief candidate comes to S. Paula,” (October 6) did a good job of outlining some of the major issues confronting California’s educational system, including a need to better align our school curriculum with the skills students need in higher education and in the workforce. Unfortunately, the Star didn’t accurately present my view on one of the most important issues in education: how to use the state’s “accountability” testing system to give teachers the support they need to ensure all our students can be successful.
California teachers and administrators have unbelievably tough jobs: together, they are charged with preparing 6 million California students for work and for life and doing so with scant resources and support from the State. California’s pupils come to our schools speaking more than 300 languages and encompass a wide range of abilities as well as economic and cultural backgrounds. Any reforms to improve our schools are accordingly complex; the solutions we need are not “one-size-fits-all” and they can’t be boiled down into mere sound bites -- that’s why I believe we need an educator, not a politician as our schools chief.
As a lifelong educator who has been a classroom teacher, school principal, and district superintendent, I know California can’t have successful students without having excellent teachers in our classrooms and freeing up those teachers from needless paperwork that takes time away from doing their jobs. California now requires every student to perform on a battery of standardized tests each year – a system that must be streamlined and updated to help us identify educators who need additional support and training. Teachers know firsthand what resources they need in the classroom in order to improve student outcomes; that’s why I believe teachers’ unions must be at the table whenever our leadership in Sacramento discusses “accountability” for student performance.
Larry Aceves
Candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction