Democrats likely to control key education posts

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For the first time in years, all three dominant players in the California education system – governor, state Board of Education and state superintendent of public instruction – are likely to be from the same political party, offering the opportunity to end some of the conflicts that have hampered education administration and reform in recent years.

Gov.-elect Jerry Brown could be in the unusual position of being able to appoint seven out of nine ten members of the state Board of Education (excluding the 10th 11th student member) soon after he takes office. The board is a powerful policy-making body that has considerable power over issues such as curriculum, school textbooks and charter school oversight. As noted in a previous news post, Brown also plans to eliminate the secretary of education position in his own cabinet which should remove some of the confusion as to who is in charge of California's schools. 

He also has a chance to have a far smoother relationship with the incoming state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, a fellow Democrat just elected to statewide office.  Richard Zeiger, Torlakson's chief of staff, told me last week that especially in the absence of the governor having a secretary education "we are planning to provide the governor with all the staff work and the planning he needs."

For much of the past two decades, Republican governors George Deukmejian, Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger have often been at odds with the last three state superintendents Bill Honig, Delaine Eastin and Jack O'Connell, all of whom have been Democrats.  

The state Board of Education members, appointed to four-year terms by the governor, have also frequently tangled with the superintendent of public instruction. 

But divided governance over the past few years may pay off in Jerry Brown's favor when it comes to appointments to the state board. Two of Schwarzenegger's appointees' terms will expire in January (Ruth Bloom and Johnathan Williams), giving Brown the ability to make two immediate appointments.

Because Schwarzenegger and the state Legislature have clashed on education policy, and funding, the state Senate has balked at confirming several of his appointees to the board, as California Watch reporter Corey Johnson has reported. In a quirk of California governance, they can sit on the board as soon as the governor appoints them, with full voting powers, but they must be confirmed by the state Senate within a year of their appointment. If the Senate decides not to, they must leave the board. 

Five of the nine board members appointed or reappointed by Schwarzenegger within the past year still need to be confirmed. That includes board president Ted Mitchell. (Other members still to be confirmed are Alan Arkatov, Ben Austin, David Lopez, and James Fang.)

Sacramento insiders say that it is unlikely that the state Senate will confirm Schwarzenegger's appointees. However, they also say that if Brown wants to reappoint any of them, the state Senate  would accede to his wishes. The most likely reappointment is board president Ted Mitchell, a Schwarzenegger appointee who has gotten high marks for providing leadership during an exceptionally tough and contentious time for the state's public school system.  

At the same time, the prospects for conflict among any of the key players are considerable. With the state facing a $25.4 billion budget shortfall, it is highly likely that public schools will face more cuts. The state superintendent has typically been the advocate-in-chief on behalf of the schools, creating an inherently conflictual relationship with governors who propose cutting school budgets, even when they are from the same party. 

That was the case the last time California had a Democrat as governor (Gray Davis) and superintendent of public instruction (Eastin) between 1998 and 2002. "It wasn't a cakewalk," Eastin told me last week, referring to her relationship with both the the state board and Davis. 

But given the huge stakes, both for California's 6.2 million public school children and for the state in general, there is now new hope that education leaders will be more closely aligned and focus on how to advance education reform as school budgets shrink. 

"I hope they figure out a good mix of people who can show leadership (on the state board), and put kids above everything else," Bill Lucia, president of EdVoice, an education advocacy organization based in Sacramento, told me. "With our finance system entirely broken, and with decades of broken promises, it is time to put water under the bridge and look forward."

Eastin said: "I really hope the governor puts good people on the board, and I hope he puts his ego aside and works with Tom (Torlakson), with the leaders of both parties and the leaders of business. If California fails, the rest of the nation fails." 

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