Marshall Tuck for California State Superintendent of Schools
Marshall Tuck (D) v. Tony Thurmond (D)
I strongly support Marshall Tuck for State Superintendent of Schools and hope you will consider him on the November ballot. Marshall has been on the ground turning around poor performing schools for low-income children throughout Los Angeles. Arnie Duncan, President Obama’s Education Secretary, George Miller, a long time education champion in Congress and LA Mayors Villaraigosa and Riordan, have endorsed him.
California’s public school performance now ranks 42nd in the nation. Just check out the differences between the top states like Massachusetts and those in the bottom ten like California. And look at our achievement gaps between Latinos and African American children. https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/profiles/stateprofile/overview/CA?cti=PgTab_OT&chort=1&sub=WRI&sj=CA&fs=Grade&st=MN&year=2002R3&sg=Gender%3A+Male+vs.+Female&sgv=Difference&ts=Single+Year&tss=2002R3-2002R3&sfj=NP and https://www.edweek.org/media/ew/qc/2015/shr/16shr.ca.h34.pdf Before Prop 13, we ranked 7th. We have a lot of room to improve.
California’s economy is strong; our health care is strong; our higher education is strong, but our K-12 public education is very weak. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/california We have been improving teacher salaries and public school funding, but from a very, very low funding base. http://laschoolreport.com/teachers-in-california-received-largest-average-pay-increase-in-the-nation-last-year-report-shows/ Our challenge is improving both student outcomes and public school funding. Our gaps in educational opportunities are severe for students of color, especially in inner city and rural schools.
We are not lacking models for success; there are excellent public schools in our state and excellent school systems in other states. Marshall has detailed his plans to systematically improve education opportunities and achievement for all students. https://marshalltuck.com/issues/introduction/
Marshall Tuck is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Business School. For the past 16 years, he had led Green Dot Public Schools and the Partnership Public Schools as they transformed public education for poor children in Los Angeles. He achieved a remarkable record in turning around poor performing public schools. Learn more about Marshall Tuck at https://marshalltuck.com/about-marshall/
California’s Green Dot Schools, which he led through 2007, are now some of the best performing public schools in the country. http://greendot.org/about/ The Partnership schools, the worst performing schools in Los Angeles when it began, showed an amazing turnaround under his leadership beginning in 2007. https://partnershipla.org/what-we-do/ “The Partnership has had dramatic success across our network. Over our first five years, we were the fastest improving school system in California, with Academic Performance Index (API) gains outpacing all other mid- to large- school systems. We continue to see gains in academic proficiency across all subject areas.” “Graduation rates at Partnership schools have more than doubled since 2007 from 36% to 81%”
California is going to require major changes in education policy, improved school accountability and better public school funding to help its students compete and prosper in 21st Century jobs; our educational status quo is embarrassing and intolerable. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/2018/02/08/geographic-disparity-states-best-and-worst-schools/1079181001/ Marshall is the strongest and best-qualified candidate to improve the low performance of California’s public schools in educating all our state’s students. His opponent has nowhere near his experience or track record. For the sake of your kids and grandkids, your nieces and your nephews, our state and the nation’s future, please consider Marshall Tuck for State Superintendent of Schools.
Lucien Wulsin
Dated: October 27, 2018