Information in many languages outside a California voting place. (Photo: Underawesternsky, via Shutterstock)As California counties continue to process mail-in and provisional ballots, Assemblyman Tony Thurmond, D-Richmond, has taken a substantial lead over Marshall Tuck in the race for California’s state superintendent of public instruction.
A chalkboard in a vintage charter school.(Photo: Greg and Jan Ritchie, via Shutterstock)OPINION: With Election Day less than a week away, voters have started casting ballots in the race for Superintendent of Public Instruction between Assemblymember Tony Thurmond and former Partnership for Los Angeles Schools CEO Marshall Tuck. Pundits are framing the race as a face-off between teachers’ unions and education reformers – no surprise, since one of the race’s key debates has been about whether or not charter schools are good for public education.
The race for state schools superintendent is in a dead heat, but more than four out of every 10 of voters remain undecided about who to support just days before Tuesday’s election, the latest Field Poll reported. Incumbent Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown leads Republican challenger Neel Kashkari by 21 points. Democrats lead in the other races for statewide offices.
Tom Torlakson, left, and Marshall Tuck, candidates for state schools superintendent, debate the issues. (Photo: Frame capture, calchannel.granicus)For an obscure elective office that is often ignored, unknown or regarded as superfluous in California’s convoluted education bureaucracy, the November election for state Superintendent of Public Instruction is shaping up as one of the most contentious — and costly — races among statewide candidates. It has become a lightning rod for widespread dissatisfaction with schools in California, which have consistently been ranked among the lowest-performing and poorly funded in the nation.
State Capitol, Sacramento. (Photo: David Monniaux)ELECTION 2014: Independent spending in California’s June 3 primary election has pushed above $23.2 million, with the political forces burning through about $250,000 a day. The largest single amounts from independent expenditure committees, or IEs, came from the California Teachers Association in the race for Superintendent of Public Instruction.