The Network for Public Education supports candidates who are dedicated to public education. We respond to requests for our support by sending questionnaires to all candidates in the race. We review their responses and endorse those who pledge to improve our public schools, not close or privatize them, and to those who are critical of the status quo of high-stakes testing.
Here are the candidates we endorsed in 2014:
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Tom Torlakson, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, California
Robert Garcia, Etiwanda School District, California
Michael Charney, Ohio State Board of Education, District 7
Dr. Randall Friese, Arizona House of Representatives, District 9
Sherry Gary Dagnogo, Michigan State Representative District 8
Anne Duff, Fort Wayne Community Schools Board, IN
Victoria Steele, Arizona House of Representatives, District 9
David Spring, Washington State House of Representatives, District 5
These are the only candidates NPE has endorsed.
In an earlier email, In an effort to highlight the growing scenario of big money trying to buy local school board races, NPE’s communications team rushed through an email alert highlighting several races around the country and used language which implied we had endorsed all of the candidates listed.
We deeply regret any doubt which our email may have caused, and immediately issued a retraction, but we understand not everyone may have seen the second email.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Good to know.
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If you’re a Californian who wants to protect
and preserve public education and public
schools, get out the word to
*** Vote for for Tom Torlakson!!!!***
———-for———-
*** State Superintendent of ***
***** Public Instruction *****
This is urgent.
Contact everybody you know in your various circles of influence
— co-workers and/or former co-workers
— neighbors, and/or former neighbors
— friends,
— family,
— extended family…
— people with whom you went to grade school
— people with whom you went to high school
— people with whom you went to college
— people you were/are in a club with
— groomsman/bridesmaids in your wedding party… or a wedding party of which you were a part.
The list goes on and on…
CONTACT THEM—via phone, email, text, etc.—
AND TELL THEM THAT THEY MUST…
VOTE FOR TOM TORLAKSON
for
STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF
PUBLIC INSTRUCTION…
… ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4.
If you’re out state, and you know people in California whom you an influence, do likewise and call them, and urge them to
…vote for Tom Torlakson for State Superintendent for Public Instruction.
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Student starts petition, garners 1300 signatures to repute Broad Sup Mike Miles in Dallas, exchanges emails with him, and refutes his response with BRILLIANT, ELEGANT email defending teachers as mentors, leaders, and hard workers!!!!
https://www.change.org/p/increasedisdteacherssalaries/u/8616769?tk=J0VGNCHX3G-JnesYmBMiQDfGyD6-EgaviHj9nBBExeA&utm_source=petition_update&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=petition_update_email
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Diane, I am running for the Howard County Maryland Board of Education. I have received many endorsements, including from the local NEA, several parent groups and the Baltimore Sun, even though I am outspoken in my opposition to high stakes testing and common core. People have been much more receptive than I ever predicted.
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It is undoubtedly way too late to post this but in
INDIANA, Dr. Tony Lux has posted for this state recommendations for voting for politicians who have an affinity for public education.
Dr. Lux just retired as superintendent of the Merrillvill school corporation. Did a fantastic job there and has lead the fight for quality education in Indiana. Too much to post here.
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From her vantage point across the continent in Washington D.C., WASHINGTON POST columnist Valerie Strauss asks the right questions regarding Tuck and his backers:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/11/04/wouldnt-spending-30-million-on-kids-be-better-than-this/
——————-
VALERIE STRAUSS:
“But why are Silicon Valley, hedge fund and real estate billionaires supplying Tuck with millions of dollars to make up the other half of the donations? Why, especially, would the fabulously wealthy who don’t live in California — including former Enron trader John Arnold, who lives in California, and Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton, who lives in Arkansas, and former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg — donate to Tuck? What is their agenda?
“I asked both campaigns, and here’s what Tuck’s campaign manager, Cynara Lilly, said:
” ‘One out of eight kids in public schools in America attends California public schools. There’s no denying that with California’s schools ranking 45th in the nation, (therefore) what happens here can have a huge effect on how prepared the next generation is to compete in an increasingly global economy. What’s good for kids anywhere, is good for all of us, everywhere.’
“(Her comment doesn’t note that California’s school rankings has been dropping like a stone as K-12 funding in the state has been plummeting. In Education Week’s 2013 Quality Counts survey, the state was 49th in per-pupil spending. But never mind.)
“Torlakson spokesman Paul Hefner said:
” ‘As for those supporting Tom’s opponent, they’ve made their education agenda very clear – supporting school privatization, ending pensions for public employees and treating schools like a business.’
“Tuck has won the endorsements of many newspapers in the state, including the Los Angeles Times whose editorial actually accused the teachers unions of being a ‘big-money special interest’ when they donate to a particular candidate, but made a point of saying that billionaire businessmen and women are not when they pour money into a campaign. Actors Kristen Bell, Dax Shepherd and Nathan McHale made what they consider an amusing video supporting him.
“Torlakson, on the other hand, has been endorsed by more than 100 education leaders statewide, including almost every county superintendent.
“What makes all of this in some ways unfathomable is that the California state school superintendent’s job has very little power. California’s Education Department doesn’t actually run the state’s public schools and has little involvement in policymaking. The governor-appointed state Board of Education does.
“Wouldn’t spending $30 million on kids be better than this?”
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