Keep Thurmond as schools leader
Some $50 million was spent during the last campaign for California superintendent of public instruction in 2018, resulting in then-Richmond Assembly Member Tony Thurmond edging out school reformer Marshall Tuck, who was backed by charter school interests. Tuck — who we endorsed both in 2018 and in an unsuccessful 2014 run — is not in the 2022 race. This time around, the race lacks drama, as Thurmond faces six little-known challengers for re-election on the June 7 ballot.
As California’s public-school students emerge from two years of COVID-related disruptions, charter schools are no longer the most contentious issue in the race. Across the state, school closures truncated learning opportunities for students and mentally traumatized many of them — along with their overwhelmed parents and caretakers — who had to help make up for the lack of in-person instruction.
The superintendent of public instruction oversees the state Department of Education, which provides guidelines and supports schools, but has no oversight of local districts. The job does come with a bully pulpit to lobby state lawmakers and the governor.
Now more than ever, California schools need stable leadership to guide
them as the pandemic evolves.
Thurmond is a fierce advocate for equity in educational opportunity. He touts creating a task force to secure laptop computers and broadband access for all students taking remote classes, convening meetings between county health officers and local school officials, and the hiring of an epidemiologist to advise the Department of Education on COVID safety. He’s also proposing $25,000 scholarships to train 10,000 mental health workers who commit to working in California schools to help students who’ve been impacted by the pandemic.
Thurmond also takes credit for his work with Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature on crafting a $6.6 billion plan to reopen schools in 2021. Though it is concerning that Thurmond wasn’t involved in the final details on the deal and he was not present when the reopening was announced by Newsom.
Thurmond said in an interview that he can’t explain why he wasn’t invited to the announcement but that he exchanges texts with the governor, that they have a “great relationship” and “share ideas all the time.”
Reports that Thurmond’s management style fostered a “toxic” office environment that led to an exodus of top officials at the Department of Education are also concerning.
Thurmond said he respects the work of department employees but came into office to improve upon initiatives to help students. “I’ve added programs and work, and when you shake things up, sometimes people are unhappy and sometimes you get things that are going to be said.”
In the end, schools reopened and it appears the churn of officials at the Department of Education has stabilized.
The other candidates for the nonpartisan office are earnest in their commitment to education, but most lack Thurmond’s government or education experience. Among them, Lance Christensen, vice president of education policy and government relations at the California Policy Center, which advocates for school choice, is the most qualified. He’s also worked as an analyst for the state Department of Finance and in the Legislature. But his school voucher support is a nonstarter.
Other candidates include Marco Amaral, a special education teacher and board president for the South Bay Union School District in San Diego County, Joseph Campbell, a Montessori education expert, and George Yang, a software systems engineer who has run for U.S. senator and lieutenant governor.
Thurmond’s first term was a rocky one, but his commitment to equity is needed more than ever to help dig California’s neediest students out from under two years of pandemic-related learning loss. He deserves another four years.