States

State Schools Chief Primaries Prompt Runoffs in Calif., S.C.

June 09, 2010 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The race for state schools chief in California will extend to the state’s general election in November, after none of the three leading candidates captured a simple majority to claim the nonpartisan office in Tuesday’s primary.

As of early this morning, with 99 percent of the state’s precincts reporting, retired superintendent Larry Aceves led the pack of three with 18.8 percent of the votes, followed by state assemblyman Tom Torlakson with 18.1 percent, and state Sen. Gloria Romero with 17.2 percent. Those are some very tight results.

If those numbers hold, then Mr. Aceves and Mr. Torlakson will face off on the November ballot—not the result that most close watchers of this race were expecting.

That Mr. Aceves, who has never before run for public office, emerged as the leading vote-getter was somewhat of a surprise, though he had substantial financial backing through an independent expenditure committee set up by the the Association of California School Administrators. For months, the campaign to replace outgoing state chief Jack O’Connell had been widely cast (including by this blogger) as a fight between the California Teachers Association, which backed Mr. Torlakson, and EdVoice, a non-profit education reform group which supported Ms. Romero. All along, Mr. Aceves pitched himself as outside the union-vs.-reformer battle and touted his decades-long experience as a district superintendent.

The CTA, along with the California Federation of Teachers, sank money into radio spots for Mr. Torlakson, while EdVoice, with money from wealthy supporters, bought television ads for Ms. Romero.

Of course, the race for the Republican gubernatorial U.S. Senate nominations overshadowed all others in California as two female, former corporate executives, sailed to easy victory over their rivals. Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay, won decisively over Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner (a founder, by the way, of EdVoice). She will take on the Democratic state Attorney General Jerry Brown in November. Former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina won the GOP Senate primary and will take on Democratic stalwart Barbara Boxer, who is seeking her fourth term.

In South Carolina, where the state chief’s race is a partisan one, Democrat Frank Holleman, who was a top aide to former U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley, won his primary with 56 percent of the vote. Who he will face in November won’t be decided until June 22 when the top two Republican vote-getters—a college president and a home-schooling mother—duke it out in a runoff.

Current South Carolina schools chief, Jim Rex, lost his bid to become the Democratic nominee for governor.

UPDATE: Larry Aceves, who captured the most votes of any of California’s state superintendent candidates, just called to chat about his surprise first-place finish. He is expecting to face off against Mr. Torlakson, who finished a hair behind Mr. Aceves.

Without a doubt, Mr. Aceves said, his newcomer status to elective politics and his years of experience actually running schools put him over the top, even against better-known, better-financed opponents.

“I think that people had the feeling that yes, it is time to put someone in this job that knows about what goes on inside classrooms,” Mr. Aceves said. I wonder too, how much it helped Mr. Aceves to have “retired superintendent” under his name on the ballot, especially in a race that few voters would have paid any attention to. Polls done more than a year ago strongly suggested that such a title was a boon to his candidacy.

Without naming names, Mr. Aceves said a campaign that stressed the dysfunction of California’s schools and the need for radical change may have misfired with voters. Ms. Romero ran on a message of being a pro-charter, aggressive reformer.

“The idea that we are going to blow things up and fire people, that didn’t sit well with people,” he said. “A lot of people love their schools and the teachers that their kids have.”

But Mr. Aceves stressed that the status quo isn’t acceptable either. He said all players in the state’s education realm, especially the teachers’ unions, are going to have to be willing to make changes that may be hard to swallow. Of course, how much change anyone in K-12 will be asked to make is going to depend much more on who ends up in the governor’s office.

A version of this news article first appeared in the State EdWatch blog.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Recruitment & Retention Webinar
Substitute Teacher Staffing Simplified: 5 Strategies for Success
Struggling to find quality substitute teachers? Join our webinar to learn key strategies to keep your classrooms covered and students learning.
Content provided by Kelly Education
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
AI in Education: Empowering Educators to Tap into the Promise and Steer Clear of Peril
Explore the transformative potential of AI in education and learn how to harness its power to improve student outcomes.
Content provided by Panorama Education
English Learners Webinar Family and Community Engagement: Best Practices for English Learners
Strengthening the bond between schools and families is key to the success of English learners. Learn how to enhance family engagement and support student achievement.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

States Democrat Defeats a State Schools Chief Candidate Who Called for Public Executions
A candidate's past calls for Democrats' executions thrust one of this year's four state superintendent races into the national spotlight.
3 min read
N.C. State Superintendent democratic candidate Mo Green speaks during a debate with fellow candidate Michele Morrow at the Heart Institute at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., on Sept. 24, 2024.
Mo Green, the Democratic candidate for schools chief in North Carolina, speaks during a debate with GOP candidate Michele Morrow at the Heart Institute at East Carolina University in Greenville on Sept. 24. Green defeated Morrow.
Scott Davis/The Daily Reflector via AP
States The Number of States That Require Schools to Teach Cursive Is Growing
Here are the states that require schools to teach cursive handwriting.
1 min read
Photo of child practicing cursive writing.
iStock / Getty Images Plus
States 5 Ways You Didn't Know the Election Will Affect K-12 Schools
Voters will weigh ballot items that affect funding for electric school buses, tax revenue for state education budgets, and more.
8 min read
Pencil drawing a checkmark in a box. U.S.A. ballot measures voting in elections.
DigitalVision Vectors
States Oklahoma GOP Lawmakers Demand Investigation of Education Chief
They have concerns about Ryan Walters' stewardship of federal and state funds and his transparency on meetings and open-records requests.
4 min read
Ryan Walters speaks at a rally, Nov. 1, 2022, in Oklahoma City. Republican State Superintendent Walters ordered public schools Thursday, June 27, 2024, to incorporate the Bible into lessons for grades 5 through 12, the latest effort by conservatives to incorporate religion into classrooms.
Oklahoma state Superintendent Ryan Walters speaks at a rally on Nov. 1, 2022, in Oklahoma City. Walters is now facing scrutiny from GOP lawmakers, who seek an investigation into his stewardship of education funding and his agency's transparency.
Sue Ogrocki/AP