CA Superintendent of Public Instruction Candidate Tony Thurmond Delivers Rousing Speech to more than 700 Educators

LOS ANGELES – Kicking off campaign season for thousands of educators, the top governing body of the 325,000-member CTA, the State Council of Education, nearly completed its election recommendations today at its vital quarterly meeting of nearly 800 democratically-elected educators from across the state.

Delegates supported re-electing Secretary of State Alex Padilla and State Controller Betty Yee, both of whom are strong advocates of public education. They also voted to back dozens of state Assembly and Senate candidates (see list below).

They are dozens of candidates who are committed to fighting for a better future for California’s public school students. CTA educators will now fight for each of them in the June primary and the November general election.

In October 2017, Council delegates voted to back Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom for governor and Bay Area Assembly Member Tony Thurmond for state superintendent of public instruction. Thurmond’s inspiring remarks to delegates Saturday focused on his commitment to our schools and strong opposition to any White House efforts to promote vouchers or the privatization of public schools.

“We won’t stand for vouchers and we will not allow the privatization of public schools in the great state of California,” Thurmond told cheering delegates. He declared that resolving the teacher shortage is key to closing student achievement gaps. “I don’t know how we close the achievement gaps without closing the teacher shortage in the state.”

Watch video excerpts of Thurmond’s speech, about fighting school privatization, closing the achievement gap and teacher shortage, and about a teacher who made a big impact in his life.

In his speech Saturday, California Teachers Association President Eric Heins reiterated to delegates the power of political involvement and the critical need to support Thurmond and Newsom.

“As a lawmaker, Tony passed legislation to provide millions of dollars to school districts to keep kids in school and out of the criminal justice system,” Heins said. “He recognizes the growing teacher shortage in California. He supports affordable housing and other incentives to attract and retain quality educators in our classrooms.”

Thurmond has served the public in elected office for more than 12 years as a state Assembly member, school board trustee and city councilman.

Heins said Lt. Gov. Newsom believes that solving California’s public education problems starts with teachers.

“He believes we need to attract high quality teachers and retain them, by treating them as professionals and paying them as professionals. And he knows that educational excellence isn’t conceived in Sacramento but in the daily toil of hundreds of thousands of educators, parents and students.”

Newsom opposes the proliferation of charters, especially those run by private management companies who want to profit off students. He supports holding charter schools to the same standards of accountability and transparency as neighborhood public schools.

Council delegates backed Padilla for re-election for his record of support for education, which includes advocacy for English learners. As a state Senator, Padilla authored a series of legislative measures to identify and implement best practices in English Learner curriculum and instruction statewide.

Delegates supported the re-election of Controller Yee, who has 30 years of public service.

She also cofounded the Asian Pacific Youth Leadership Project, which “exposes California high school youth to the public service, public policy, and political arenas.”

Below is the list of statewide and legislative candidates recommended today by the CTA State Council for the June primary and November election:

Secretary of State – Alex Padilla (D)
Controller – Betty Yee (D)

Assembly
AD 2 – Jim Wood (D)
AD 4 – Cecilia Aguiar Curry (D)
AD 7 – Kevin McCarty (D)
AD 9 – Jim Cooper (D)
AD 11 – Jim Frazier (D)
AD 13 – Susan Talamantes Eggman (D)
AD 15 – Judy Appel (D)
AD 16 – Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D)
AD 17 – David Chiu (D)
AD 18 – Rob Bonta (D)
AD 19 – Philip Ting (D)
AD 20 – Bill Quirk (D)
AD 21 – Adam Gray (D)
AD 22 – Kevin Mullin (D)
AD 25 – Kansen Chu (D)
AD 27 – Ash Kalra (D)
AD 28 – Evan Low (D)
AD 29 – Mark Stone (D)
AD 30 – Robert Rivas (D)
AD 32 – Rudy Salas (D)
AD 41 – Chris Holden (D)
AD 43 – Laura Friedman (D)
AD 44 – Jacqui Irwin (D)
AD 47 – Eloise Gomez Reyes (D)
AD 49 – Ed Chau (D)
AD 50 – Richard Bloom (D)
AD 52 – Freddie Rodriguez (D)
AD 53 – Miguel Santiago (D)
AD 57 – Ian Calderon (D)
AD 58 – Cristina Garcia (D)
AD 59 – Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D)
AD 60 – Sabrina Cervantes (D)
AD 61 – Jose Medina (D)
AD 63 – Anthony Rendon (D)
AD 64 – Mike Gipson (D)
AD 70 – Patrick O’Donnell (D)
AD 78 – Todd Gloria (D)
AD 80 – Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D)

Senate
SD 2 – Mike McGuire (D)
SD 6 – Richard Pan (D)
SD 10 – Bob Wieckowski (D)
SD 12 – Anna Caballero (D)
SD 20 – Connie Leyva (D)
SD 30 – Holly Mitchell (D)