Superintendent of Public Instruction

Parents have been leaving California schools for years, but the pandemic revealed how rapidly public education has declined. The only way to fix it is to restore trust in the system. Parents need to feel like each of their kids is uniquely valued and provided the right kind of resources and programs to have academic success. Students cannot continue to be treated as economic units placed on a conveyor belt.

Our statewide masking rules early in the pandemic were guided by state health officials and were critical in ensuring the safety of our teachers and students. Our COVID situation has since changed and I believe school districts should adopt masking rules based on the latest health guidance from their local health officers.

I do not support mask mandates in schools. The decision should be left up to parents. Should parents feel like their child needs to wear a mask, or if the student feels so inclined, then that is their choice and they should be afforded the opportunity to do so.

As superintendent, I have worked closely with traditional and charter public schools to ensure that all of our students receive a top-quality education and the resources they need to succeed. I’m committed to continuing that work to support our students and their families.

I believe in the right of a parent to choose any forum to educate their kids, public, public charter, private or homeschool. As a father of five kids, all of whom have spent every year of their academic career in public schools — district and charter — we value choice in education. Private schools and private home schools are legitimate options for parents who desire different things for their children.

California ranks near the bottom of nearly every academic metric when compared with the other 49 states despite spending more than $20,000 per kid. There are no serious studies that demonstrate measures to direct more money to economically disadvantaged neighborhoods are actually improving academic outcomes. California’s education funding system is failing a whole generation of students. The complexity of Proposition 98 and the Local Control Funding Formula is too complicated and hasn’t accomplished the goals of empowering local district budgeting. The state needs to consider broader reforms to allow more resources and money to follow the students.

Transparency in local school district spending is critical. I am proud to be working to establish a portal that districts will use to provide complete transparency on how LCFF funds are being expended.

To increase transparency on education spending, I would put every district’s budget and annual audited financial report on the Department of Education’s website. Attached to their pages would be standard metrics such as administrative costs, district salaries and benefits; bond revenue/payments; capital improvements; pension and retiree healthcare payments; unfunded liabilities; discretionary spending, etc. We need to track how much federal funding is coming into our systems and what it is paid for. I would also publish the expenses of the Department of Education in a searchable format as a model for other state agencies and departments.

Give parents choices and resources to send their kids to schools that actually care about them. Once parents start moving their kids to other schools, the local district will either improve its educational processes quickly or be replaced by the voters at the ballot box.

There is much work to be done to improve the math framework and we must recognize the concerns that have been raised around the draft proposal. As superintendent, I am committed to helping the State Board of Education create a math framework that promotes rigor, while eliminating racial biases in math education that have contributed to learning gaps for students.

No. It’s a sham and that’s why 1,200 academics, math professors, and Nobel laureates pushed so hard against the framework causing the superintendent to pull it back for “review” until after the November general election.

To fix the teacher shortage, the Legislature needs to immediately restore discipline in the classroom by reforming the law that strips teachers and principals of their ability to control their classrooms. It’s time to prohibit collective bargaining. Other states limit the power that teachers' unions have and still provide necessary protections for good teachers. Principals should be able to dismiss poor teachers with reasonable protections for the teachers who may be mistreated by their administration. Additionally, we should allow districts to pay teachers more money based on metrics they develop. We need to simplify the credentialing process for professionals so they can teach in the classroom after weeks, not years.

We are facing critical teacher shortages across the state, and if we want to close that gap, we need to utilize every tool we have to recruit and retain new teachers. And that includes increasing teacher pay, building teacher housing so teachers can live where they work and providing scholarships and pathways to becoming an educator. Funding, including pandemic aid, should be used where it’s appropriate and where it directly helps us address the teacher shortage.

Yes! Pay good teachers what they are worth. If we’re spending approximately $23,000 per kid with an average of 25 students per classroom, that’s around $575,000 in that classroom. We can eliminate other unnecessary mandates and costs that don’t improve our classrooms and pay good teachers a six-figure salary. We can also accommodate teachers who deal with difficult situations or challenging cohorts of students. Conversely, those teachers who are poor educators should be let go. If teachers feel like they are being fairly compensated, their classrooms will reflect excellence and encourage more students to participate in our public schools.