Capital and Main offers some interesting speculation about what Gavin Newsom might do to change the state board of education.
Governor Jerry Brown was totally on board with unlimited charter expansion. His board rubber-stamped almost every appeal from a charter school that had been denied by school districts.
What will Governor Newsom do?
Bill Raden writes:
This week, the nonprofit education news site EdSource pointed out that, although it will take years to fully reshape the Jerry Brown-appointed, 11-member board, Newsom’s first opportunity will come on his January 7 inauguration day. That’s when current president Michael Kirst, who was instrumental in California’s adoption of dubious Common Core State Standards, retires. Departing a week later will be Trish Boyd Williams, whose pro-charter charter enthusiasm and career ties to corporate-reform cash have been the bane of local school boards. Also leaving in 2019 will be Bruce Holaday. The term of Karen Valdes, who was appointed to fill a vacancy in 2017, ends in January.
The EdSource article that Raden links here explains that Newsom will have a state board in which every member was appointed by Brown.
Currently seven of the 11 members of the board are slated to stay on. If they do, it could take several years before Newsom can put his stamp on the board — and assure continuity from the Brown era that spawned a plethora of landmark reforms over the past eight years.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Is there a Diane Ravitch of California? Someone who has studied education, uses facts and isn’t swayed by the dubious flawed studies of reform-funded faux “scholars” that would never pass muster in a scientific journal? California needs someone like that on the State Board of Ed.
LikeLike
Diane has what she calls her “brain trust’ of teachers in California…starting with her colleagues Anthony from Oakland, and our own Tina from Orange County. Jerry Brown is in favor of charters and has his own in Oakland from his mayoral days. He also still has indicted felon, Ref Rodriquez, from the the LAUSD BoE on his prestigious education committee. His sister, Kathleen, is partner at Manatt Phelps and that firm represents many of the charter promoter billionaires. I doubt that Newsom, for whom I voted holding my nose, will be,much different, but we can only wait and see.
LikeLiked by 1 person
perhaps the teachers now willing to unite openly will be able to TEACH him what he has previously showed little interest in learning
LikeLike
Son’t hold your breath on that Ciede
LikeLike
The Minnesota Governor just named an AFT VP and former local union prez as State Commissioner Mary Catherine Rucker – maybe a trend will begin
LikeLike
Good that the board president is leaving, I hope. Of the seven board members slated to remain, I wonder if there are two of them who might be persuaded to, sooner than later, hit the corporate revolving door and get their payouts. We need two more. Eventually, charters should have no more than one member on the board, representative of the number of students in privatization schools.
LikeLike
YES…right on.
LikeLike
Of course, all my speculation relies on Newsome staying true to his word.
LikeLike
The answer to public schools data hacking:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/answer-school-district-data-hacking-david-di-gregorio/
LikeLike
The great French statesman Clemenceau once stated “War is too important to be left to the generals”. I believe sincerely, that education is too important to be left to educators. And especially government educators. And more especially to socialist union hacks.
Our society has to function with the people who graduate from our educational institutions. We need to have people from outside the education cocoon, directing education policy. We need private citizens, and industrialists, and even military and defense industry people involved in the planning and execution of our nation’s educational policies. And we need scientists and engineers directly involved.
As long as education remains a top-down socialist enterprise, with no competition from the private sector, we cannot afford not to.
LikeLike
Charles, do you also think that medicine is too important to be left to doctors? Is flying a plane too important to be left to experienced pilots? How about if we replace the “government military” with mercenaries?
LikeLike
Your analogies are false. We have people who have never picked up a scalpel, running medical policy (See “Obamacare”). We have people who have never flown an aircraft, directing aviation policy. (See the Federal Aviation Administration). We have people who are not telecommunications engineers, directing communications policy (See the Federal Communications Commission).
I believe sincerely, that our overall education policy and goals for our nation’s youth can only be improved, if we obtain policy direction and input from individuals and institutions outside of the government-education bureaucracy.
Education effects every aspect of our economy and our nation. People who graduate our high schools and colleges, go into the military, and become the enlisted people and officers. Our military leadership, can and should be consulted on education policy.
Industry has to employ the people who graduate from our educational institutions. People from our major industries, should be having input and influence on education policy.
The federal government is specifically empowered to “provide for the common defense”. The military does not produce any of its hardware. No ships, tanks, aircraft, or computers are made by the Defense Department. All of these things are “privatized”, and then made by private contractors.
There is no mandatory military service in the USA, since the draft ended. Our forces are 100% volunteers, and they serve solely for the pay and benefits.
LikeLike
Charles,
If you are typical of the non-educators whom you think should run education, we will have a very stupid citizenry, enrolled in schools where the Bible is the science textbook.
LikeLike
Good response, Diane. Charles, you are blinded by your ideology. Japan, Germany and all the other top education nations have unionized teachers. Are they economic disasters?
LikeLike
All the teachers and principals in Finland belong to the same union.
LikeLike
@Ponderosa: I am in no way blinded. Japan has the MITI, that is a government commission that directs industrial policy ,and also has input on educational policy. Germany has excellent educational institutions (I lived in Germany for two years). The German apprenticeship program is a model, that the USA should emulate. The German educational policy for vo-tech, is closely intertwined with their top industrial firms.
I have absolutely nothing against voluntary union membership. Labor unions are terrific. My wife used to belong to the Machinist’s union. Teacher’s unions are fine, I have no opposition at all.
LikeLike
Q If you are typical of the non-educators whom you think should run education, we will have a very stupid citizenry, enrolled in schools where the Bible is the science textbook. END Q
I am a telecom engineer, not a policy analyst. I am in no way “typical” of the professionals whom I believe should be assisting in the direction of education policy in this nation. I am not interested in developing national educational policy. I am just an electronics man.
I believe sincerely, that we should have academicians, including college presidents, and industrialists, and a “mix” of professionals involved in the most important enterprise of directing education policy.
And what is this nonsense about the Bible? The Holy Bible is a religious text, and not a science book. Any institution that attempts to teach science from its pages, will be disappointed.
My religious beliefs are personal and private, but I am not a fundamentalist person. I am an engineer by profession, and I accept basic scientific truths.
As I have stated previously, I do support the teaching of comparative religion in public school. (See Abingdon v. Schempp, 1963). The Bible should be taught as literature. And this applies to the Holy Koran, which is a fine example of early Arabic prose. The Upanishads and the Dhammapada, are excellent Sanskrit poetry. An educated person should have a basic grounding in all of the world’s great religions.
LikeLike
Charles,
You support vouchers, which pay for students to attend fundamentalist schools where the Bible is the source of science.
LikeLike
I support the right of parents to select the appropriate education for their children. If these choices include schools that are operated by religious organizations, then so be it. If my parents could have afforded to send me to Notre Dame, I would have gone.
Parents teach all sorts of things to their children at home. Children attend churches that teach the Biblical creation story.
The original purpose of public schools was to teach religion to children. see
https://www.libertarianism.org/publications/essays/twelve-year-sentence-historical-origins-compulsory-schooling
When the massive waves of immigrants from Catholic countries arrived on USA shores, the public schools undertook to “Protestantize” the immigrant children. This is well-documented, even though public school advocates, tend to overlook this fact.
LikeLike
Charles,
Most of the voucher money is going to fundamentalist religious schools that use the Bible as a science textbook.
Also to Yeshivas that don’t teach English, science, or history, just Hebrew and the Bible.
That’s what you support.
LikeLike
Charles obviously thinks it would much better if teachers ran his telecom company and told him how to do his job.
Or maybe Charles thinks it is better that librarians told him how to do his job.
Charles is basically implying that all the people making decisions in his company who have backgrounds in engineering should be kept far away from any decision-making role and should just do what people who know nothing about engineering tell then to do.
I’m sure Charles hates being told what to do by another engineer because he knows that people who know nothing about engineering are the best people to tell him how to do his job.
isn’t that right, Charles?
LikeLike
@NYC Public school parent: Your logic and conclusions are all wrong. My firm is run by a board of directors, which are responsible to the stockholders. Not all of the directors are engineers. Not all of the stockholders are engineers. The firm is in business to make a profit. Fortunately, not all of the decision makers are engineers.
I do not believe that public school teachers should be running my firm.
I do not believe that librarians should be running my firm.
I am not implying the decision-makers in my firm should not be engineers.
You are way off base, here.
Public schools are a public enterprise. They are not operating to turn a profit for the stockholders. The analogy is false and pejorative.
Education policy, at the highest levels, is definitely the public’s business.
LikeLike
Education is too important to be run by uneducated ignoramuses and by those like DeVos who are religious zealots.
LikeLike
I am in agreement, in principle. Of course, education policy is an important part of our national economy, and national defense. Our military has to take the graduates of our educational institutions into their ranks. Industry has to have properly educated people, who can be productive.
In Germany, major firms like BMW and Mercedes-Benz, are thoroughly involved in education policy. The government consults thoroughly with the private sector on education. I believe that the USA can and should pick up on this idea, and seek input from the entities that are going to hiring the graduates of our educational institutions.
Our educational system must be directed by quality people. And I believe sincerely, that our universities, our private sector, and our defense establishment, should be involved at the highest levels.
The constitution of the United States specifies that there shall be no religious test for public office. Therefore, people with religious beliefs that we disagree with, cannot be excluded from government.
LikeLike
Did anyone suggest religious tests? Not here.
LikeLike
Charles,
I understand now that you were defending Betsy DeVos.
I disagree. Anyone who despises public schools is unqualified to be Secretary of Education. Part of the job is to help public schools. It is not any part of the job to vilify the public schools. She’s like a General who ridicules the troops she leads.
LikeLike
See your comment at 0831am. You state Q Education is too important to be run by uneducated ignoramuses and by those like DeVos who are religious zealots. END Q
SecEd DeVos’ religious beliefs are well-documented. I inferred from your remark, that education was too important to be run by religious zealots.
If I inferred that you are opposed to religious zealots running education, I apologize.
LikeLike
I repeat: education is too important to be run by someone who has spent decades and billions to undermine it.
LikeLike
If you infer that I am “defending” the current SecEd, you are wrong. I neither support nor defend the SecEd. Her feelings on the public education system in the USA, are well-documented, and I neither defend nor support her beliefs and feelings.
I think it is a little extreme to state that Ms DeVos “despises” public schools. She has not been afraid to criticize the public schools.
No public enterprise, nor any government operation is above criticism.
The running of public schools in the USA, is a state/municipal responsibility. I would like for the feds to extricate themselves from this, and turn it over to the states/municipalities.
LikeLike
Charles,
Do you think anyone should be appointed to run a cabinet position who has never had a paying job in their life?
Do you think the Secretary of Defense should be a pacifist? That might be a good idea, as compared to appointing a woman who bought her position by donating $200 million to the senators who voted on her fitness to serve.
Why do I waste my time responding to your silly comments?
LikeLike
The President runs the executive branch. The constitution gives the President a very high degree of latitude in how the executive branch is run. The word “cabinet” does not even appear in the constitution.
The president may select cabinet officers at his own discretion. (Of course, cabinet officers are subject to confirmation by the Senate). Previous employment for wages, is not a criteria. As an historian, you are aware, that Andrew Jackson had his “kitchen cabinet” of informal advisors. John Kennedy relied on advice from outside of government, frequently.
I do not believe that Ms DeVos “bought” her position as SecEd. The president selected her, based on his own criteria. The senate reviewed her credentials, and consented to the appointment.
I served on active duty in the Air Force, for five years. I worked for the Defense Department as a civilian, and as a contractor. I served for ten years in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I believe that the Secretary of Defense, should be a person who hates war, and will commit this nation to doing everything possible to preserve peace. Yes, I believe that the Secretary of Defense, should be a pacifist. I have seen the face of war, up close and personal. Two of my co-workers were killed in Afghanistan, and another lost a hand.
LikeLike
Betsy DeVos has no credentials.
She has never held a job.
She gave $200 million to the members of the Senate who confirmed her.
Buying votes was her credential.
LikeLike