>> abc-7 news presents, vote 2010, the superintendent of public instruction debate. >> welcome to the washington superintendent of public instruction debate. my name is lisa buckingham. i am the vice-president of the san jose mercury news. i would like to begin by thanking our candidates, larry a cease and tom torlakson for participating. and i want to thank our partners, abc-7nd i kgo, and i d like to thank our hosts today. our mott -- moderator today is carl. >> thank you, lisa. good afternoon, everyone. the silicon valley leadership group is pleased to hold this forum with our hosts at sgi here

in fremont, led by their crowe croasm -- crowe croavment --c.e. c.e.o. it's my pleasure to introduce -- we are joined by sharon, and george sampson, the news and program director for kliv, 15:90 a.m. and charles kinmore, c.e.o. of unanimous -- nanda work. i would like to welcome larry aceves and tom torlakson. i would like to outline a few rules which both candidates have agreed to, and to the audience, please reframe -- refrain from applause until the end of the program, and although this is silicon valley, we ask you to turn off your cell phones at

this time. the format i as follows. we begin with two minutes of opening remarks and two minutes closing comments, determined in advance by a coin toss, followed by a series of questions from altere will alter nate, with two minutes to respond. we will focus on challengeses facing california and silicon valley. part one will be opening remarks of two minutes each. this is your chance now to join me in applauding our candidates, tom torlakson and larry aceves. [applause] >> i hope that will last you for 60 minutes of applause. by coin toss, the opening remarks will be first by tom torlakson. >> thank you, carl, and thank you all for joining us, and to the cosponsors for brings this

together. this is a critical time in the state's history, and it's supremely important what we do wi becausetion, not because it's the morally right thing to do, to have a high-quality, totally modern education, but because it's vital for the economy and the creativity that created employment here in silicon valley. i'm coming at this as a teacher, someone who is fighting for the students, our k-12 students and university students to have a high quality education. i taught in the classroom science, ecology, health, nutrition, nor feign for ten years. i currently teach at a community college, and when you have high expectations a providopes and provide the resources to our youth, they will rise up to the occasion, all the youth of california. i'm coming at this as a teacher and also as a coach. i coached 25 years of

cross-country joining t. i'm joining the race on thanksgiving for the 10k. i had 12 championship teams over that time, and i build it on the team theme, and i want to come back to this. t-e-a-m, everybody accomplishes more. it's time to stop the blaming. as a coach, we look at each student's success, goals, how to reach their greens and -- dreams and goals, and i believe i have a plan. i'm a reformer and a problem, solver. i have been a problem-solver in the civic service of city councilman, county supervisor and state legislator, and the'm the center architect from clearing the junk foods out of the schools, and i look forward to the dialogue.

>> thank you, tom torlakson. larry aceves. >> thank you, carl. thank you, sponsors. i'm larry aceves, a candidate for state superintendent of public instruction. i want to start off by telling you, i'm an educator, i'm not a politician. it's been my privilege to serve california public schools for over 30 years, as a teacher, as a principal, and 15 years here in san jose as a superintendent. i have been in thousands of classrooms during my career. everything from prekindergarten to high school calculus classes to gauge the quality of instruction going on in classrooms. i believe it is important tooine classrooms if you're going reform the system. i've been president of the association of california school administrators, the largest educational administrative organization in the country, and have had an opportunity to work with the education coalition in sacramento for several years. that includes teachers, school board members, the parents, and

the classified staff. i believe that we work together to form policy, to work with the governor, the legislature, and the state board. in silicon valley, i was very active with the silicon valley partnershipsships in my distric. we brought in services for our kids through private and public funding, and had the privilege of being named superintendent of the year when i was in san jose, as well as the catholic charities citizen of the year. i believe that the perspective i bring to public education from the field is critical as these hard times we're having with economics, and i believe that it is important now to have a superintendent for superintendent of public instruction. thank you. >> part two of our debate is questions from our distinguished panelists and the silicon valley

ceo. panelists, you have 30 seconds to frame and phrase your question, followed by up to a two-minute response. the first question is from laura with abc kgo channel 7 to be responded to first by larry aceves and then tom torlakson. >> congress will be considering "no child left behind". what do you consider its strengths and weaknesses and how would you change it. >> the "no child left behind" law had some good ideas. i think there are certainly areas, for example, the splitting apart of the subgroups when we assessments, so we know whether the latinos and special education and other minority groups were being addressed in the education. that is one of the strong points of "no child left behind". certainly there was a no-excused attitude, which i believe we have to continue. now, there are some things i think were a little bit over the top, and i hope gets revised.

the idea that by the year 2014, every child in the state of california would be proficient, was reaching, and that's fine, put i think we're nowut i -- bui thick near -- think too many schools are beingabeled, and in reality they're doing outstanding work. so there are some things -- i will talk about the federal responsibility in education. i think there are some good things that can come out of the federal government, but i think by and large, the "no child left behind" theme has really passed now, and it is time to start looking at improving quality in the classrooms and expanding from just simply reading and math to all the elements of learning for our kids, which was not concentrated on by "no child left behind", but certainly the obama administration is looking at that in their own reauthorization of federal law.

>> i think "no child left behind" should be left behind. it left the money behind, and under this president we're seeing billions set aside and targeted towards investment in our school systems. so i want to see a reauthorization of the education act that i much much more well-rounded, that looks at the total student, the kind of traditional education and the mad concern education we need. this become talks about the drill, drill, drill, bubble test. life is not a bubble test. "no child left behind" set absolute standards that kept labeling schools and parents and teachers as failures. we need to set targets that are more rounded, and inside of the reauthorization, we should have career education, and 21st 21st century skills, creative thinking skills, the ability to analyze data, the ability to be analytical and creative, which

is at the heart of the invention and greatness of silicon valley and the economy of california. we should also have -- i'd like to rename it as the preschool, elementary and sed dear education act because i hope the federal government sets a robust target for us to match as state and local school districts to make sure our three and four-year-olds have the high-quality preschool experience, coupled with high-quality child care we know leads to success. we know leads to greater graduation rates. college-going rates, less crimes. so that investment in preschool theer -- and the i believe superintendent of california should lead the nation in these two reforms of the old method and go back with a more robust, rounded target for the nation to move at. the school districts -- there should be less top-down dictating how local states and districts accomplish that goal.

>> sharon of the san jose mercury news has our next question. starting with tom torlakson, followed by larry aceves. >> good morning. the "los angeles times" publication of value-added scores for los angeles unified teachers has created an outcry and shakeup in thinking how to evaluate teacheres. do you think school districts choo use api scores in evaluating teachers? should parents know scores scores are? if so, how would you persuade districts and unions to accept them. >> first of all, i think the "los angeles times" did a disservice to teachers by sort of using this methodology to rate teacher performance. the data, the star test data, the api data, was not designed to evaluate teachers. we want accountability. the faculty, the teachers i meet across california, want to be

held accountable. the also want the school district held accountable, and the state to provide effective resources. so we need effect at -- effectie teachers and programs and -- principals and resources. i have spoken to union leaders, classroom teachers, school board leaders. they want to sit down and work with the new september to hammer out an account accountability sm that works. the system used by "los angeles times" overrelies on numbers and are unpredictable. it's wrong 25% of the time. i know of no study that validated that system. i when i was a teacher, the principal came in and sat in on my class and wrote up a full-page or two-page summary, and we talk about what i was who to improve my instruction.

so we need a robust evaluation system that is personal and not just based on statistics. you have a situation also where some teachers -- i was one -- where the principal and department heads would sed the troubled kids to my class because i had a way of getting them involved in clubs, the ecology club, hiking club, track and cross-country teams, but my test scores wouldn't go up because the student is kept in class who have otherwise maybe dropped out, got into drugs or gangs, they were low-skilled and their test scores were low, about we kept them engaged. >> i believe the aural in -- article in the "los angeles times" was wakeup call for public education. the idea that regardless how flawed the exact measurement was, it sent a message there is things going on in education that are not moving forward. i do believe we need to use hard

data as part of the evaluation of our teachers. and our principals, because without that, it's almost as the we're kind of walking around the obvious. now, that hard data ought not to be the only way we evaluate teachers. i would say, even in looking at that, there ought to be maybe 30% of the evaluation. there are other areas that are critical to us, and when you look at evaluation, you have to look at the testing in a way that measures growth. if you just use evaluation, my kid on the east side of san jose would never have measured up to the same level of some of the kids, at least in the beginning -- some of the kids on the west side of the valley. so, comparing that way makes it very, very difficult for teachers, makes it difficult to hire teachers in struggling areas as well, because why would you want to go where kids need a lot more support? i do not believe we should walk away from this with the idea

that somehow that is not part of the evaluation. we need to literally keep our feet to the fire, and that includes our principals. we need to train our teachers very, very well for what they do. we need to train our principalsl leaders, and we need to create strong instructional teams at the school that believe that every child can learn. i am not a believer that you have an -- excuse, well, this kid didn't learn because he is a second-language learner, his parents don't call, on and on. we have to be clear about what we want from our kids. >> our next question will be posed by george sampson to be responded to first by hears aceves larry aceves and then tom torlakson. >> according to the department of education, 20% of high school students in any ninth grade class will drop out over a

four-year peered. a frightening statistic. among different populations that number is higher. ican-american students drop out at an estimated rate of 25-35% respectively. as california and the nation struggles with the number of dropouts, what specific actions do you believe need to happen to significantly lower the dropout rate and you get bonus points for specific. >> we have been talking about the achievement rates and dropout rates for years and it's worse now. so we look at what is it we're teaching and how are we teaching? how arrest to -- how relevant to the children in the classes. we're doing teach, test, teach, test, which is deadly. we're concept traiting on--- -- concentrating on not what excites a child and motivates

them, but a standard and make sure they pass the tessments that's not howlashing occurs. -- not how learning occurs. so we have to look at materials teachers are working with. then we need look at how teachers are teaching in the classroom. if they're only worried about getting the scores up, we're losing the ability for children to problem-solve, to be critical thinkers. we eliminated the state writing test last year. can you imagine that? we do not have a writing test. that's inexcusable. don't if we don't have them communicate to us, both written and orally? so, those kinds of areas we need to push back into the click -- curriculum strongly. i have had the opportunity of visiting classrooms in schools throughout the state, walking into schools that by nature people would say, going to be a lot of dropouts here.

it's not the case. clee clearly how the teachers are teaching and what they're teaching engages kids. if you're engaged, you want to be in school. career technical education has a lot of the multiple pathways w v need to have kids engaged. they still need to get the high school ged requirements but we have to get the them engaged in school so they don't leave. many kids know by the end of sixth grade, i'm not going to make it. >> the dropout rate is wasteful, disgraceful, to not be able to help this young fers find hope and relevancy to their education. we need preschool, and that will help young people, preschool and full-day kindergarten, so coming to the starting line, kids who get off track by the second and third grade and not coping up with language or math skills, will have a chance to start even

and move forward successfully. all the statistics show the dollars invested in that early education has a ten to one ratio of dividends returned and streamlines huns of millions of dollars out of the criminal justice system. healthcare for kid, i have been a leader getting junk food out of schools. i have a whole campaign for healthy kids. get the parents involved on the weekend. we need to sign kids up for healthcare and do eye checks, hearing checks, dental checks, make sure they're able to learn while they're there. career technical education, i have been the leader in this area in sacramento and pus statewide, pushing for more relevancy to the education. the 21st century learning skills, i'm working with the former c.e.o. of aol, chuck mcmin, we have a vibrant click rum -- curriculum that is

working, and we need more time. we start with 40 schools in 1998. we're now at 4,000 schools. i want to double that. they get art, music, drama, things that attach kids to school, excite them about school and get their academic homework done. we need saturdays to meet with parents and we need summer school for these kids who are getting off track to help them stay on. >> charles kinmore will pose our next question. >> before i ask my first question, i would like to thank both of you as a member of the technology community and silicon valley for serving in education. my question is, since we all want the highest quality, cost effective k through 12 ou deal would you deal with the reality that california has the highest spend per

student in the country, but measured in terms of performance on standard tests, we rank near the bottom of the 50 states. >> well, i'm not familiar with what numbers you may be using. the numbers i have seen in the get down to facts study, if you benchmark education in california to 1970s, we should be spending another 15 to 20 bill more, and our parents and grandparents and voters at the time invested at a much higher level. we were ranked top five in the nation. now we're ranked disgracefully at about 47th or 48th in the nation per pupil spending, and that's adjusted for the high cost of living here in california. part of the answer is modernization, reform, refocus of the curriculum, a way of relating education to the real world world, and part of it is having the money to do it. i have fought these cuts fiercely. the state has eliminated

one-third of the funding of the school him in in the last three budgets. again, this is catastrophic for the kind of education that we should have in this great state. we need to not be -- when i go around the state and people see us ranked 47th in per-pupil investment, or 43rd in math skills, 44th in science? they're amazed. that's not the california we in, grew up in, not the public school system that offered just about all youngsters youngstersn california a good hand up in the world. so i'm for getting the kind of reform i talked about. innovative teaching, the kind of critical thinking -- i think we teach too much to the test, and what barry and barbara and chuck, they're putting millions of dollars behind tinitiative initiative, and i've seen it in schools, the engagement of the they wor kid. they work in teams.

they have two-hour blocks where they work together. the english and history teachers work together, and they're fully engaged, problem-solving and critical thinking. >> i have also not seen the study you're speaking of, and really understand more that we are near the bottom on per-pupil expenditure. as part of individual commitment we have gone from 4.3% to 3.6% of personal income committed to public schools. so we're moving in the wrong direction as far as funding our public education. there's a lot of work to be done, and certainly i think that many of the things that -- many of the programs we have are critical if we're going turn our education system around, beginning even with how we train our teachers to become teachers. we have to do a much better job as a spupt. -- superintendent. when -- we would pull out mentors to work with them.

they come half-cooked when they come from the universities. we need to go back to universities and work with them about having teachers that understand the cultural background they're stepping into. our children are not the children that were here 25 years ago, and in many cases, what's happened is that we're not training our teachers for the difference how to deal with with the various cultures and the various issues. that is very, very important. additionally, we need to do a much better job of training our principals. too often we get the most senior person and have them become a principal in the school, and that is not the way you train good principals. we have to do a lot of strong staff development for folks who really are going to make the difference we need to make. we need to look very carefully how we're dealing with long-term english language learners, who start off in kindergarten and get out of high school, still not fluent in english.

that's disgraceful. there's a lot of work to be done but it will take some new revenues to get behind this. >> abc kgo channel 7 laura anthony with the next question. >> i'm not just a reporter. i'm a paramount with a pa- a parent with a boy in become school. too often seems like the cuts come from inside the classroom. it seems in california we have county superintendents of instruction, and also have district superintendents. what about redundancies and larrys of administration that could be cut as opposed to books in the classroom. >> i think a lot of issues with funding -- i spent my last six years as a superintendent, making cuts to programs. every year, we're cutting a million and a half out of the classroom. i was very clear as we began

that the cuts would be as far from the columbia as possible. - from the classroom as possible. they had toet t you get to a point -- you're seeing it now. teachers with furlough days, reduced days for kids of instruction. many of our state budgets have been cut. our textbook budgets, for example, there's a whole different conversation about textbooks. we need to get away from textbooks and get into the ipad type of equipment that i think in the lock -- long term will be less expensive and more up to date. the redundancy looks like it's easy to solve, but we're a state where local control is important. we believe -- when you try to close small districts down and create larger districts, people say, wait ut loe're about local control. this is where our kids go.

it will take quite an evident at the state -- quite an effort at the state level to move away from that. we're all looking how to economize. we're trying to make the decisions as the economy keeps getting worse and worse and worse. we have cut more out of public education in the last four years than was cut during the great depression. during the great depression they did not cut as much from public education as the legislature and governor have done over the last four years. it's criminal. weed in to have enough to make sure that our schools are efficient and serve our kids. >> the question, i think, is right on, about how do we get more money into the classroom, into the instruction, into the improvement of the learning of the student there. i believe as a classroom teacher, my mindset is how do we get more resources in the

classroom. i'm in the best position to challenge the redundancy you spoke of. i propose legislation that provides incentive. why do we have over 1,000 school districts? the answer is 100 years old. we're no way 21st century. i talked to superintendent around the state who are money managers. account the back-office expenses. one district had eight schools starting at the same time. they changed the bell schedule and cut half their costs. saved $400,000 a year to put software on a excite that shots it down after a certain amount of non-use. the green schools i talk about will save hundreds of millions of dollars by investing in energy savings and investing in solar that will avoid energy

costs and enable more money to go in the classroom. we need set up structure in sacramento that will lead to the consolidation, functional and otherwise, joint purchasing and otherwise of these districts in reedily, they had a choice of cutting in the classrooms or transportation. they need transportation for those students. 13 districts got together and did one joint busaintenance maie center. we need those ideas brought the into the schools and push the money into the classrooms. i will have a sim postum on best practices and sayre them with california. >> education reporter sharon of the san jose mercury news has our next question to be responded to first by tom torlakson and then larry aceves. >> what would a rational funding scheme for k-12 -- let's say, k-14 schools in california look like, and how would you propose to create that?

>> the question presumes something which is right on. we have an irrational system and it's unfair. i think it's the biggest civic rights issue of our day, the inequities in funding across the state and various districts, in many respects, leaving the lower income students with the great greatest challenge, the greatest need, coming from family not able to read well and compute well, we have an unequal system. the adequacily law says we have high standards in california. should we lower the standards or step up and meet in the standards and put the money there to meet the standards for every child. there's a concept of a weighted form a la. you have to increase the pie because to take away from one district to start a war between

districts over their current funding stream. we should target certain kind of investments. the quality education improvement act. the governor ripped off and put the money back in the school. those schools are thriving. after-school program legislation targeted the lower three -- we need to do some targeted correction of these inequities and looking at where the students need to help the most so we can succeed. we want to do that at the high expend low end in terms of achievement. so those students struggling with the english language, come from a family without a literacy tradition, need the support early you' on. you're not going to start with universal child care and preschool. you have to start and target it. so some programs we look at would target in that way. >> i believe the robless vs.

wong lawsuit is an indictment of the legislature and the governor's inability to fund schools at a level they should and he talks about adequacy. there's no dollar figure. what does it take to education a child? that's a very profound question. the idea that a lot of what has been coming out of sacramento has been hit and miss, it has been decisions made kind of in a vacuum about what helps kids at the love level and -- at the local local, and the idea we need to equalize among the districts. there's an inequity among the di mckinley school district was getting $7,000 per pupil. palo alto was getting $14,000 per pupil. i'm not saying i don't think the palo alto kids are worth$14,000. $14,000. i'm saying the mckinley kids are worth $14,000. so the issue of equity, the

issue of, what does it take a educate a child? happens with co are special education, who have special needs through language, who have other issues, who need transportation? how do we plug that in? it can't simply be a one size fits all, and i believe that's what the robles vs. wong lawsuit was about. the idea that the state has not done a very good job of having a world-class budget to follow the world-class standardded we have adopted in california, and we need to mike sure that happens. so, the issue, what does it cost to educate a child? that needs to be settled. and as superintendent of public instruction, would want to work with the new governor, let's get this settled quickly and make sure it works for all children. 6.2 million of them. so they get the best education possible in california. >> george sampson has the next question to be responded to first by larry aceves and then tom torlakson.

>> the new documentary film, "waiting for superman" was released and is getting a lot of attention. in this film, several successful charter schools were highlighted, most notely kip, the harlem children's zone, and the preparatory school here in silicon valley. like traditional schools, there are many charter schools doing quite well, achieving very good results, but not all of them are. so the question is, what do you think about charter schools in general? how do you see them evolving, and what should their furnishing model look like? >> i was a big supporter of charter schools when they were first proposed. in fact, a local senator was co-author of the bill that began the whole charter school movement some years back. many of news the field wanted to see charter schools really as kind of a laboratory. what can we learn from charter schools that will help news our regular schools? what things -- because they get

to set aside certain sections of the education code that get in the way of learning. would not be a great idea for all of us. so, the thing for me -- i have spent a lot of time in the last almost two years as i traveled up and down the state, visiting very gooools and schools and very good public charter schools as well -- to see, what is the impact? what are they doing differently that makes them so successful with kids? is awhat you see is g belief in the schools that every child can learn, and a no-excuses kind of attitude how that happens. i believe that good charter schools, like good public school te need te kind of replicate what they're doi t what are the best practices. and then going into the struggling schools and not wait until they're so bad that, like the high school in los angeles, they become literally dropout factories. we can do that. we know ahead of time. although our student longitudal

data system is limping along and will need to be fixed if we're ever to determine how students are doing, all of that comes back to best practices, and charter schools that are succeeding, we should try to emulate those. charter schools that are not functioning, we need to close them down. public schools that are not functioning, we need to close them down. there should be one-size-fits all about no excuses for its schools that are not making it. >> your question actually to me broadens to a larger set of, what can we define as successful schools and how to get there? i have not seep the movie. i will see the movie. i wonder where is wonder woman? there's superman. where is wonder woman? it's investing, having effective budgets that truly invest in our neighborhood schools first and foremost. i ask the viewing audience, how many of how have a public

education? you went to your neighborhood schools? parents want their neighborhood schools they can walk their kid to, their kids can safely walk home from, they want that school to be the shining example of a quality school. so let's have superman and wonder woman and sense in the legislature and confidence in the public in investing in education in california, and invest in neighborhood schools. we have great examples. high-tech high in san diego is one i visited. incredible charter school. it was said only 15-17% or outperforming public schools, and 35% are failing the students in inferior education. i want to look at magnet schools, career academies, and have a working group that will examine what is working, why are

those schools successful, why are they not dropping out? why are their parents involved. then look at the code. what barriers are there that we can move out of the way. are there work rules? i believe the teachers of california, the schoolboard members of calminista, administrators are ready to sit down and look at this, and let's take the best practices of all of these schools that have shown models of success, models of engagement and scale them up to the rest of california. >> the next question is from mr. charles kinmore. >> while we're waiting for superman, what would you adopt in terms of today's best practices as youm states such as massachusetts, or if you feel better, choose another state that has traditionally given some of the highest performance in terms of education per student. >> we're going to start with tom torlakson, and then larry

l, one of th >> well, one of the things, again -- your question gets to what will we do to match massachusetts? >> or what best practices would -- >> best practices. >> massachusetts or other states that you would model. >> one of the best practices in massachusetts, they invest hat a high level. i think their per-pupil investment is something like 12-13, 14,000. i look at the top five states in terms of academic performance ratings, and they're just about the same top five that invest at a high level they're investing double what california invests. so when you have the money -- we need to restore public confidence in the schools. it's critical to get business involved with the schools. i've sees partnerships, enterships, and a connection to the real world world, getting kids excited about their future. those kind of tuptz are -- opportunities are rich.

i keep coming back to the global achievement gap. far too many of our seals are not meeting the kind of approaches that are engaging, creative, preparing young people with the communication skills, the team skills, research skills, use of computers and technology for performance in the global economy, and the schools that are successful adopt this kind of a curriculum. so a combination of partnerships, career academies where young people see a future, whether they want to be an engineer or architect or plumber and go in the apresence tis ship point, have an engaging education that links curriculums together and makes it exciting for you can people. i have a few seconds left. i'll give you an example. in napa high, in american canyon high, they have taken down walls, they have students working in teams, and if you aren't doing your share as a team member, you get fired. that's worse than getting thrown

off the island. you get fired. so peer accountability. they're doing mock trials. they're combining who killed julius cesar. and i will stop because time is up. >> we're in a tough time financially, but kind of the excuse that we have no money, we can't teach our kids, needs to be set aside. as professionals, we understand that there's hard work to be done. we want the economy to turn around as quickly as possible. but the idea of waiting for the money isn't what most of us are talking about. it is about good teams working together. i thick have seen, is a traveled around the state, i have seen various high-performing teams with little or no resources. they can't last that long. i mean, in perpetuity without some extra money coming in. but it is a shared responsibility. i think it's critical to involve our on. iarly on. i was a kindergarten teacher when i first began, and i know

that in those first five years, children learn so much. the brain research we know now about children learning, literally from conception, so, for parents nee we need to let m know what a strong partner we need, and businesses need to step up. and it's not just your money. it's your resources and your staffing. i had middle school hat teen teen-latinos were going to drop out of math class because it wasn't cool. i met with the society of engineers engineers and brought young latinas to work with my kids. so the idea of being entrepreneurial, lwe can wt we can with what we have. let's look dish mean, obviously we're going to have to raise enough money to keep ourselves on the front edge, but what we teach again is critical, how be teach and it the attitude we bring into the classroom, those are the models that will turn our schools around. >> the third segment of the debate for the superintendent of

public instruction of california will awill you questions from the audience. we were able to screen some of those prior the start today, and so we have two people from the audience, and they are going to be first john keeting, who will pose a question, no more than 30 seconds in helping, and then -- in length, and then the response will be from larry aceves and then tom torlakson. >> silicone valley is a leader in technology and our ability to stay there demands we have a work force that is composed of top performers. and in order to do that, we need students that are suc stem in stem fields, science, technology, engineering and math mat -- mathematics. what steps would you take to keep california students come pet misin those fields. >> we need to get away from the teaching and testing we are doing now with just reading and

math. we need expand our curriculum so that -- in fact teachers tell me i don't have time to teach ardsdiate standards.ave to that's nonsense. we're crushing the curriculum to meet -- the bubble testing, the two areas of concentration, reading and math, and it's not all of reading or all of math. we need to assure that we have more critical thinking type of courses, more problem-solving, that science and technology are met by working together, having the technology for kids to use in the classroom so they can step into the world with that background behind them. right now -- i met with 30 students from berkeley yesterday. we had a great meeting. i asked them about their high school experience. you don't want to hear what they had to say. it really is deadly for them that what we're doing is basically moving away from the courses that expanght n them.

right n thee're cutting in the midst of our cuts -- we're cutting the high-end ap courses, the calculus courses, and even once they get into college, it's taking now six years to graduate as opposed to four because many of the section are being eliminated. we're doing a disservice to the next generation of students, not just for the silicon valley but for the entire state. and certainly if we don't keep kids engaged in school, they become -- i mean, it becomes very dull for them. so it's got to be very engaging, very challenging, and the whole issue of 21st century skilled -- bloof we need to be part of the partnership for 21st century skills. there are 15 states. california is not one of them. one of the things tray they -- things they stress is forge -- foreign language. english is not the only language when they step out.

>> i come as this as a science teacher, i was teaching ecology, health and new -- new new nutri, and we need to have that problem-solving start easterly yay. i talked to sally ride about having a roving science magician, teacher, who comes to schools. we have that in p.e. and music. we used to have more of that, those teachers who good to the elementary school, prep the teachers with what the experiment or the field trip or lab will be, and then do this great engaging dep demonstration and then halve in followup lessons for the teacher to work on. when i was teaching in this title 1 community, i had the resources and the microscope and dissecting the frogs and earth worms. how many of you did those? i did the earth worm die section

around vandal -- val len -- valentines. look at microorganism and engaging science and education we need. there's math, engineering, science achievement, programs that help montor and foster a natural curiosity that is the foundation for the future individuals, young bright minds who will get that solar battery figure out, will do some incredible things in stem cell research, and we need to home-grow our own engineers and technicians. agent of -- eight of the top ten jobs will be in the field of science and engineering, and we need our schools to step up to that. what would be a major anywheretive on my part to make that happen. >> our next question comes from julie to be responded to first

by tom torlakson. >> superintendent jack o'connell made narrowing the achievement gap the hallmark of his administration. if elend, what would you make the centerpiece of your tenure as state school superintendent. i said, the, the one. >> the one. >> and why. >> praise the current superintendent for focusing on something critically important, and i want to keep that going. i believe that the issue of accountability is key, and forming a coalition of the education stakeholders who will sit down and hammer out what does that mean? what does -- what is a successful school and how do we measure that? from the top, and adequate resources and the field trip dollars i had, and holiday do -- how do you fund it in terms of teachers in the classroom and

the principal leadership in the professional development that is going forward. so, to me, connecticut -- accountability and having the public have a sense there's accountability. right now there's a lot of finger-pointing and blame-gaming, teachers are the problem. i think teachers are the solution. some teachers need refresher courses. figuring out, how do we have an accountability system and effective schools, and then having that definition disseminated, so our taxpayers, the legislators, the voters, parents, will have confidence again that things are being measured and it's not just a bubble-test measurement, but a probust tort. we need to get beyond the bubble test and look at schools and what they eaver. the api shouldn't -- our student success scale shouldn't be just

based on two bubble tests in math and language development. what are you doing about the dropout senate do -- dropout senate do you have contrary education? what's your retention rate? and have these different kinds of measurements and part of a more comprehensive system. >> interesting that you mentioned the hallmark of jack o'connell's administration in anyway -- narrowing the achievement gap. it's never been wider. it's worse than it ever was before over the last 16 years, sew the issue is not talking about great things, it's about getting them done. i actually agree that the quality in the classroom is going to be where things are done. if you have good teachers, excellent teachers, withstrom principals, that work together, have a deep abiding belief that every child can learn, all you

need to do is get out of their way. my concern of the system as it's structured now gets in the way of that. right now to fire a bad teacher, as a superintendent, i went through the process of really the whole process of firing a bad teacher. it cost me $150,000 per teacher. it took two years of my time and a principal's time and an assistant superintendent of human resources time to get rid of teachers who ought not to be in the classroom. i believe 80-85% of our teachers are very, very good. there's another 10% that are probably need some work, and then there's 5 to 8% that ought not to be in a classroom. and those 8 or 9% or destructive in the classroom. we know by data that if a child get twoz bad teachers in a row they will fall three years hip, and unfortunately where those teachers tend to end up are the tough neighborhoods, you know,

the inner city schools, hoolz where 30% of the kids graduate and the rest of them, who knows where they go? that is critical. from the beginning of my campaign i have been inviting the teachers union to be part of the conversation because there is a belief that if it doesn't stop with them, it will happen anyway. >> we're now at that part hoff the debate today to have closing comments from both of our candidates. we'll start with larry aceves and then tom torlakson. >> thank you for this opportunity. i believe that there is -- this is a good time in public education '. as tough as the economic times are to have a conversation, which is, where are we going from sneer we are really at a crossroads where we can throw up our hands and say there's not much we can do. but really we can pull together and say, we have an opportunity. certainly the federal government has stepped up with a common

core standards and the idea we develop a national test that tests children really in all of skills, not just in the very precise skills, but in all the skills we have been talking about, critical thinking. this is a time when the legislature has to be paying attention. their approval rating is so low right now, they cannot sit on their business as usual, at a 9% approval rating, they know there has to be some changes made in public education. i i believe the teachersdownens and other unions understand the public is not content with the fact that 200 teachers are sitting home in los angeles unified, drawing full pay, because nobody can figure out how to fire them. those sorts of things are disgraceful. so public education, we have to stop pretending that everything is going well. it is not. we have serious work to do. and we are capable of doing that.

we are the state where -- i mean, we were the golden state of education. when i went to public schools, people moved to california because of the quality of our education. we need to be that way again. it will take business, it will take our parents as partners. it will take the legislature paying attention to those thing that need to happen mitchell first call will be to the governor. what are the five things in common we have to do? right now there's not a common vision for public education in california. there has to be one. thank you very much. >> why are we here? i asked that question around the state. i think many of us have -- and i, myself, have a deep anger at why and how our system fell to being in the low ranks we are and, despite that, there's still valiant efforts by the teachers and parents to unable students' success. we shouldn't be at the bottom of the nation. i believe one reason we're all here, we're optimists, we

believe our individual efforts and collective efforts will make a difference. i'm a team builder, coach, a problem solver. one other reason i'm here as an optimism, any 30-year-old daughter had a boy so i'm an officially a grandparent. my nickname is papa-t. so i'm not a rapper. at it just me. we believe in our kids. the california promise is about a better life than we had for our kids, four our grandkids, and i believe i have the skill set, both as a classroom teacher, to fight the bureaucracy to move money into the classroom to unable -- enable the voters to spend more. i'm a problem-solver in the legislature. e everyo have everybody set a goals they can reach and sed. i have that ability. i have done the largest construction program in the nation's history.

i'm he architect of the 36 billion of public investment in our schools, modernization of facilities, building of new facilities. i have done a number of major tough negotiations and formed a ban -- bipartisan. i'm going tone gauge the mayored and county supervisors of this state, we have a healthy kid campaign we will launch. i have a way of building vibe partnerships.nts. thank you for this forum. >> we thank you for participating today. i'd also like to thank our sponsor, the san jose mercury news, abc-7 kgo, and to our hosts, the silicon leadership group neither endorses candidates or provides political

contributions but provides forums like this as a way to keep the residents informed. please do not forget to vote. thank you. insure. >> now you can applaud both candidates. captioned by closed captioning services inc. >> the superintendent of public