Big showing by little-known Larry Aceves
The Association of California School Administrators had to convince Larry Aceves, a retired superintendent from a small district in San Jose, to run for state superintendent as a long-shot candidate.
The bet on Aceves – ACSA’s first big foray into the campaign for superintendent of public instruction – is looking pretty smart today. Even with only 18.8 percent of the vote total in a 12-candidate race, Aceves was the top vote-getter Tuesday and, with Democratic Assemblyman Tom Torlakson, will be in the runoff election in November.
Aceves’ unexpected showing means there won’t be a knock-down, head-to-head, polarizing battle between surrogates for California Teachers Association, which spent amply on behalf of Torlakson, and the pro-charter school advocacy group EdVoice, which threw its wealthy funders’ money behind Sen. Gloria Romero. While only 1.6 percentage points separated her and Aceves, she’s out of the running in third, with 17.2 percent, 0.8 percent behind Torlakson, though hundreds of thousands of ballots statewide have yet to be counted (see here for statewide and county totals).
Aceves won, despite coming in third in his own backyard, Santa Clara County. And Romero lost despite winning in Los Angeles, the biggest county and her hometown.
But quirky things can happen in an anti-incumbent year, with a low voter turnout of 25 percent – and even lower in vote-heavy Los Angeles (19.6 percent turnout, second lowest among counties). Unlike Torlakson and Romero, Aceves wasn’t tarred as a Sacramento politician. Only he could identify himself as a retired superintendent and the voice of a career educator. Only he could say he actually has run something larger than a legislative office. While the superintendent of public instruction is the voice of K-12 education, with a big bully pulpit, that person is also the executive of large state department.
By one poll, 60 percent of voters were undecided heading into the final weeks. Aceves saved up money for smart radio ads in the last week, and he had the editorial endorsements of Torlakson’s hometown paper, the Contra Costa Tmes, and the Los Angeles Times on Romero’s turf. (Does familiarity breed contempt? None of the three got their local paper’s editorial support.)
Given the clout of the CTA and its ability in the past to pick and choose the superintendent, Aceves goes into the runoff as the underdog. ACSA spent $450,00 to push his candidacy so far, but its pockets are only so deep. He remains an unknown.
But having spent $1.2 million pushing Torlakson’s candidacy already – with not very impressive results – CTA must decide how to shepherd its money. Aceves had decent relations with teachers as superintendent of the Franklin-McKinley School District, and he is presenting himself as someone who can bridge differences. The union must be more worried about Republican Meg Whitman as governor and the amount of money she’ll throw against Democrat Jerry Brown.
The big loser in the primary was EdVoice, which has had a lot of influence behind the scenes in the Schwarzenegger administration and whose funders include Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and Los Angeles philanthropist Eli Broad. EdVoice took a risk in independently spending nearly $1.5 million for Romero.
Romero has become a staunch charter advocate and proponent of President Obama’s Race to the Top competition. She favors performance-based pay for teachers and pushed through a controversial parent trigger mechanism, giving parents of low-performing schools the right to request a charter conversion or other options, such as the replacement of the principal and half of the staff. (The parent trigger hasn’t been tried yet.) Torlakson opposed these and other reforms she sponsored. Aceves’ opposition has been more measured.
On Wednesday, Romero was hardly in the mood for wishing Aceves and Torlakson well. ”The victors in the race for superintendent of public instruction were two different wings of the same status-quo education establishment,” she said in a statement on her webiste. “The interests of the reform community, on behalf of parents and kids, lost.”
One question moving forward is whether EdVoice will be more conciliatory – and open its wallet to the candidate who at least agrees not to attack EdVoice’s reform agenda, if not openly embrace pieces of it.
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The interests of the “reform community” are actually on behalf of privatizers and billionaires. … Aceves’ surprise showing is a signal that the public actually respects K-12 educators, despite the constant teacher-bashing that’s the current fad among pundits (see discussion on previous thread of the Overton window).
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John Which SPIs did the CTA “pick and chose?” Not Wilson Riles.. Not Bill Honig Which ones do you mean? Don’t be historically vague name names and prove it. John
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John: I was a toddler when Wilson Riles was superintendent, as you know. In the past four elections, for the last two superintendents, the endorsement of the CTA was very important.
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John: One would imagine that “Little Known” Larry Aceves will not remain “Little Known” for long. Now that the field of SPI Candidates has been winnowed down from 12 candidates to 2 run-off candidates, and the dust begins to clear there will be few revelations for pundits to ponder between now and November. Here are but a few dynamics for you and your readers to ponder over the coming weeks are both SPI Candidate’s camps ramp up for the Fall Classic in November: 1.) As mentioned, will CTA refocus their attention and financial resources to Gub.Candidate Jerry Brown to help push back the on-slaught of the Meg Whitman Money Juggernaught? 2.) Under scrutiny, Will Tom Torlakson’s voting record in the Senate contradict his campaign assertions that he supports more local control for school districts?
3.) Will Torlakson’s heavy ties to labor unions undermine his assertions that he can be an independent voice in protecting taxpayers, parents, and student’s interests as the leader of the CA Department of Education? 4.) Will Torlakson openly admit his lack of adminstrative & management experience in public education? 5.) Tom Torlakson is one of the most likable people you’ll meet in Sacramento, but Tom has not seen the inside of a classroom for years. He has been a career politician for decades. Is this what the Electorate in California will be looking for in November? Synopsis: If it is what the Electorate is looking for in November, Tom is a “shoe-in” to WIN in November. If not, It could a long hot Summer and a long cold Winter to follow for Mr. T.
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Correction: It is late (3:30 A.M.) ref.; Tom Torlakson’s voting record in the state Assembly.
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I want to see Torlakson and Aceves wage a vigorous competition for who can be the most supportive of public schools and teachers; who can stand up courageously and effectively to the onslaught by the billionaires and privatizers. I’m not really thrilled about seeing them tear each other down, if that’s the purpose here.
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Dear John and John:
I tend to agree with Mr. Mockler here. While CTA backing was no doubt helpful to Delaine in her first election, their support was tepid at best in the second. And any idea of some kind of “cozy relationship” was never the case in Delaine’s tenure. If you remember, she aligned herself with Al Checchi in the second campaign in order to access television time, although she never endorsed him. That means CTA money was not forthcoming in large amounts. In Jack’s two races, he never really faced serious opposition, and Jack is also a strong fundraiser, so I do not believe that CTA support was critical in either of his two races. This is the second time I have seen the CTA theory of picking state superintendents in print in the past two weeks — the first being in the LA Weekly — and I cannot subscribe to it from what I have seen. It’s good when I agree with John M!
Richard Whitmore
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Thanks, Richard. Willing to stand corrected.
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Labor needs to be careful NOT to overplay their hand in backing Torlakson over Aceves. Both candidates have a record of working well with CTA and Aceves has a record of fair negotiations with the bargaining units he has dealt with directly as a district superintendent. Therefore, CTA is best advised to tread ligthly when characterizing Tom T’s opponent in the SPI Run-off in November.
What are the arguments in favor of CTA’s candidate. “Support career politician over career educational leader?” I do not believe that one sells well to informed voters. What does that leave Labor’s political “spin doctors?” “Vote for Tom T. because decades ago he was one of us…” Arguably so was Aceves, Larry Aceves came out of the ‘teaching ranks’ to become a site administartor, then a district adminstrator, and ultimately a school district superintent dealing with the myriad of financial, labor, and educational issues that district superintendents deal with every day across this state.
Some quick thinking reporter or newscaster may ask Torlakson, “Tom, have you ever balanced a school district budget?” Or they may risk asking, “Have you ever seen a school district budget?” In the same breath, same reporter could turn to Aceves and ask the same question… Debate comes to an abrupt halt – Game over. Who is best qualified to superintend the multimillion dollar budget of the CA Department of Education? I empathize with both candidates, the dialogue & debate will be lively, insightful, and most instructive.
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When is someone going to write an article about how completely inept EdVoice’s political acumen is. For the last several years, the EdVoice has sunk millions (of a few billionares’ money – Hastings, Broad, Fisher) into primary races up and down the state with absolutely nothing to show for it. E.G. Yamada v. Calbaldon; Lara v. Avalos; Alejo v. Barnes; Wieckowski v. Yee. Recent articles talk about EdVoice v. CTA in terms of campaigns. As the record shows, there is not a contest…EdVoice has last 90% of the time in primary races. You can’t really claim a “battle” when one party clearly is not in the same league.
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I’d like to learn more about what Martha R. is telling us. Any chance you might look into it, John?
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Senator Romero’s concession statement gets at why we’re not having strong, civil discussions about education in California. Borderline bitter, it uses the trope of “for the children”, wherein reformers support children and everyone else supports failure.
Regardless of what one thinks of the candidates and their positions, assuming worst intentions – that Aceves and Torlakson are “against the kids” – makes it impossible to combat the enormous structural problems on which we should all be able to agree. I disagree with Senator Romero’s positions on education, and strongly question the motives of some of her supporters. However, I do believe that she wants all of California’s children to receive a good education that will enable them to engage in civil society and choose a productive and meaningful future for themselves. I wish she would show me the same courtesy.
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