Regular readers of this blog are familiar with the meticulous research of Tom Ultican. Tom was a teacher of advanced math and science in the schools of San Diego. He is now a chronicler of the Destroy Public Education movement. This is a sad chapter in that story. It is the story of Stockton, California, which was burdened with heavy administrative expenses during the superintendency of John Deasy.
He begins:
The infamous John Deasy resigned his post as Superintendent of Stockton Unified School District (SUSD) on June 15th, 2020. That made his tenure two weeks more than two years which further exacerbated the longtime administrative instability at SUSD. He apparently steered the district budgets toward deficit spending and left a decimated finance department in his wake while other administrative positions multiplied. Concurrent with his two years in Stockton, money and leaders from organizations bent on privatizing public education were bolstered and became more active.
Stockton is an interesting place with vibrant political activity. The 209Times a Facebook based news outlet claims over 200,000 readers. It is not a slick publication but it does seem effective. 209 is the Stockton telephone prefix. Another internet based news outlet Recordnet.com is often an adversary of the 209Times...
Stockton is a city of 315,000 people and one of America’s most diverse communities. The demographic makeup is 42.1% Hispanic, 21.6% Asian, 20.8% White and 11.8 % Black. It has a 20% poverty rate and a stunning 82% of its K-12 students come from families in poverty. SUSD enrolls around 34,000 students into its 54 schools. Charter schools enroll close to 6,000 students.
With high poverty rates, Stockton has naturally underperformed on standardized testing which is significantly more correlated with family wealth than anything else. Linda Darling-Hammond pegs that correlation at 0.9 which is an almost certainty. The education writer Alfie Kohn suggested we could replace standardized testing by asking students just one question, “How much money does your mom make?” (Kohn page 77)…
Between the times John Deasy was hired until he resigned the full time staff at SUSD increased by more than 500 people. In terms of money, that represented a $9 million increase in yearly spending on salaries. During this same period, attendance declined by more than 1,300 students. That represented about a $9 million dollar loss in revenue from the state. SUSD had an $18 million dollar negative structural budget change.
SUSD board of trustees contracted with the Fiscal Crisis Management Assist Team (FCMAT) to review their financial situation and processes. The executive summary of the January 2022 report noted,
“At the time of FCMAT’s fieldwork, there had been significant employee turnover and the elimination of some management positions in the Business Services Department. Key budget management personnel had been in their positions for only a brief time; therefore, there was a lack of historical institutional knowledge about the district’s 2021-22 budget development and 2020-21 financial closing processes.”
In other words, despite all of the hiring Deasy left the financial department in chaos. The FCMAT study claimed that SUSD was headed for serious financial difficulties when the one time spending from the federal government is gone in fiscal year 2024-25. Currently they say the district is spending one time funding on $26.3 million in salaries, benefits and services that appear essential.
In come the privatizers, ready to take advantage of a messy situation.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Before hiring a superintendent, districts must do their homework. Public schools are public assets. If a board of education wants quality education for the community, they should not hire anyone with TFA or Broad training in their background. These people do not come to your community to improve the schools. Their mission is to undermine and destroy the public schools. They will build a top heavy administration that will put the community into debt, leave it in shambles and vulnerable to privatization, which is their ultimate goal anyway. Districts should look for candidates with traditional certifications and a positive track record in public education.
What concerns me is the power of superintendents to drive a school district into ruin, even with an elected school board. Deasy came close to accomplishing the same outcome at LAUSD when KPCC uncovered his connection to Apple/Pearson prior to awarding contracts to both these companies. Possibly in an attempt to redeem himself, he rolled out the Misis student data system that controlled attendance and student assignments before it was ready, against the dire warnings of staff. The chaos it cost tipped the scale including massive spending on extra staff to clean up the mess he created.
There is increasing concern over LAUSD’s new superintendent, Alberto Carvalho, and exactly what direction he intends to take the school district. However, this time around, there are many more watchdog organizations following his every move who are ready, willing and able to uncover and expose any actions that are not 100% supportive of public education.
KEY (and most scary) first sentence: “What concerns me is the power of superintendents to drive a school district into ruin, even with an elected school board.”
After Oakland school board voted to close schools earlier this year, we took it upon ourselves to validate some of the admin expenses that OUSD had piled on. After comparing OUSD to other high-needs districts, the one that clearly stood out was Stockton. Deasy, in typical Broadie fashion, hired about 4 dozen $250K+ admin, and blew a $30M hole in the budget. It’s as if both he and Antwan Wilson attended the same (Broadie) party and swapped stories. Go figure.
Let’s never forget who owns John Deasy. Deasy did his master’s bidding and it appears that Deadly Deasy succeeded and was rewarded accordingly.
https://dianeravitch.net/2015/01/12/john-deasy-hired-by-broad-academy/
About 125 years ago, a mob of angry people from the working class would have lynched John Deasy once it was revealed how deadly he was for the middle class/working class. But then, Deasy would probably nave never been a Broady because Broad would have been lynched or gunned down, too, back during the libertarian wild west.
Deasy has left serious problems behind wherever he was.
John Deasy is a fast talking used car salesmen in town to dismantle your public transportation so he can sell some lemons before being chased off to the next town. Don’t let him trick you into putting him in charge of your buses and trains. He will throw all your money out the window and under the bus.
My older brother’s father-in-law, many decades ago, owned a used car lot in front of a junk yard. Guess where he got all his cars. When someone bought one of the junks on his used car lot, the guarantee he offered lasted as long as it took the car to leave the lot. Sometimes he helped push the car off the lot. Once that car was on the street, no more guarantee.
That was someone like John Deasy.
And you under the bus.