Marshall Tuck, who lost a close race to incumbent Tom Torlakson for state Superintendent of Public Instruction, had this to say after the votes were counted:

“Sixteen months ago we set out on this journey to do one thing: put children first and ensure that every child has equal access to a quality education. And despite yesterday’s loss, I couldn’t be prouder of the unique coalition of parents, community leaders, teachers, Democrats, Republicans, and Independents we built along the way. 

Together we proved that in California there is a growing call for change and that parents, kids and families can have a voice in education.

I am very thankful for the countless hours of hard work and dedication from the thousands of supporters who came together and supported our campaign. I am proud to stand with such an amazing group of people who – despite our differences – have stood together with one goal:  Bring a kids first agenda to Sacramento and major change for California’s schools.

And major change is definitely needed.

Today, one day after this election, there are still 2.5 million children in California public schools who can’t read and write at grade level.  Those children are counting on all of us to take every action necessary to give them a better education and a chance at a better future.

I look forward to continuing to do my part in the collective effort to ensure that each child gets the education they need to achieve their dreams.”

By clicking here, you can access the breakdown of the race for Superintendent of Public Instruction, in which Tom Torlakson won a second term. The statewide result is at the top, and below it are the county-by-county results. Click on any county to see the vote.

In Los Angeles County, Torlakson won by a slim margin over Marshall Tuck, with 50.8 percent of the vote to 49.2 percent for Tuck.

Overall, Torlakson won 30 counties, Tuck 28.

Mayor Garcetti

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti today endorsed state Superintendent Tom Torlakson in his bid for reelection against Marshall Tuck, a former charter school executive.

Citing his leadership in improving school safety and creating the largest network of after-school programs in the nation, Garcetti said in a statement, “Tom Torlakson is dedicated to the safety of our children and our schools. I support Torlakson because of the work he is doing to combat bullying, expand after-school programs, and keep gangs, drugs and guns out of our schools.”

For now, polls are showing the non-partisan race a volatile tossup because so many voters are not yet expressing a preference. In a Field poll issued yesterday, the two were in a statistical tie, with 41 percent saying they were undecided.

Former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa endorsed Tuck several months ago.

Previous Posts:

Torlakson, Tuck in statistical tie, according to new Field poll; Marshall Tuck: ‘We need fundamental and urgent change’

State Superintendent Tom Torlakson

The California Department of Education is setting aside $250 million for school districts to link high school curricula to careers beyond the classroom, an initiative designed to keep students engaged in classes often consider dull and dry, while preparing them for a high-skilled job market.

The 40 one-time grants bundled in the Career Pathways Trust – and offered in three tiers, ranging up to $15 million, are open to school districts, county education offices, charter schools and community college districts. They will be awarded through a competitive application process that includes clearly defined goals and a five-year budget plan. State officials said they expect the local programs to be self-sustaining in the near future, with funding commitments from school districts and their private-sector partners.

In a conference call with reporters, state schools chief Tom Torlakson said that when students see clear pathways from the classroom to specific, high-wage careers, they are less likely to drop-out of school.

“Students always ask: how will I ever use this outside the classroom in my own life?” Torlakson said. “Well, infusing careers into education is the answer.”

California Workforce Investment Board Executive Director, Tim Rainey, said the state is experiencing job growth in certain sectors, depending on the region: healthcare in LA County, biotech in San Diego and the Bay Area, and Agricultural Engineering in the Central Valley, for instance. He said the localized nature of the grants is designed to create partnerships among schools, businesses and community colleges that are tailored to local economies across the state.

“As many baby boomers begin to retire, there becomes a huge skills gap that we have to learn to fill quickly,” Rainey said.

Jerry Nickelsburg, an economics  professor at UCLA and author of the Anderson Forecast, agrees: “If you draw the line of the baby boomers at 1945, a bow-wave of retirement is certainly just around the corner,” he told LA School Report. Nickelsburg noted that his research shows the current employment expansion is being driven mostly by tech intensive jobs, regardless of the particular economic sector.

LA Unified’s Chief of Staff for External Affairs, Edgar Zazueta, said he wasn’t sure if the District had plans to play for the grants, but added that the District “always tries to be aggressive when it comes to new funding streams.” Zazueta said he believes the district’s career oriented programs already in place would be competitive in the application process.

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The Kindergarten Readiness Act of 2014, introduced by Darrel Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and co-sponsored by Torlakson and Early Edge California, will expand access to transitional kindergarten programs to all four year old children, no matter when their birthday. Currently, children with birthdays early in the year are excluded.

“It’s impossible to overstate how important these early years are to a child’s future success in school,” Torlakson said in a press release. “Transitional kindergarten—particularly a full-year, full-day program—can make all the difference, especially for families who may be struggling to give their young children these valuable learning opportunities.”

According to the proposal, 46,000 four-year-olds would be added each year for the first five years of the program, which will cost a total of $990 million by 2019-20.

The move to expand early education comes as Governor Jerry Brown announced new spending increases on public education, the result of the state’s first real surplus in years. Details of Brown’s budget for the next fiscal year emerged yesterday.

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While some education researchers may question the validity of the nation’s “STEM crisis,” it remains clear that California students continue to struggle in mathematics when compared with their peers across the nation.

According to the recently released Report Card from the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), California fourth and eighth graders ranked 47th and 45th, respectively, in mathematics proficiency.

“California students did make some modest improvements, but overall, scores are essentially flat when compared nationally over the past two years,” Suzanne Goldstein, Director of Policy and Development for the California STEM Learning Network, said in an email to LA School Report.

Taking notice of the test results, the California Department of Education is pushing the effort to link STEM programs with jobs in a new video. The STEM subjects are science, technology, engineering and math.

“I Am A Scientist” follows a group of students from Manual Arts Senior High – an LA’s Promise school – as they participate in a “Biohackathon” at the LA offices of the California Endowment.

In the video, students test themselves for the hereditary “bitter taste” gene and project their genotypes onto a wall for interpretation. Recent graduates shared with the young students the wide-ranging career options and applications of scientific inquiry.

“Maybe some people know what they want to do already, but some people don’t and are still trying to find themselves,” one student from Manual Arts Senior High says in the video.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson agrees.

“Thousands of jobs students have no idea they exist,” Torlakson says in the video, pointing to fields of medical sciences, computer sciences, engineering, architecture, construction.

The video was developed by the California State Board of Education, the California Endowment, California Biotechnology Foundation and the design firm Lybba.

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The California Department of Education today announced the launching of the Charter Schools Best Practices Project, a trove of information aimed at assisting people interested in starting charter schools, evaluating charter school petitions and increasing student achievement in charter school classrooms.

The project includes more than 700 online resources provided by the National Charter School Resource Center, linking users to various practices and profiles of successful charter schools throughout the country.

“Charter schools are an important part of the education landscape in California, and strengthening them is a step toward strengthening the system as a whole,” State Superintendent Tom Torlakson said in a press release. “That’s why the department launched this effort to pool resources, share ideas, and serve all our students.”

The CDE is also offering eight free training sessions for educators to learn strategies and connect with charter school partners across the state, including one tomorrow in Downey; pre-register, here.

Previous Posts: KIPP Schools API Scores Rank Among LA Unified’s Best; Service Workers Close to Winning Vote in Charter Process; LA Unified Schools Top Lists of California’s Best Charters.