Teachers Group Calls Sigoloff Unqualified

The state’s largest teacher organization announced Monday that it opposes Gov. Pete Wilson’s appointment of Los Angeles businessman Sanford C. Sigoloff as state superintendent of public instruction.

“We have found no evidence that Mr. Sigoloff has the qualifications or the experience or that he meets any of the major normal and customary prerequisites” to be state schools chief, announced D.A. (Del) Weber, president of the California Teachers Assn.

Weber also said that Sigoloff, if approved by the Legislature, would serve in the position less than a year. “He would have, at best, a minimum amount of time for on-the-job training and that is not sufficient to warrant confirmation,” Weber said in a statement.

Weber described Sigoloff, a physicist by training, as “extremely articulate” but said he failed to demonstrate the background needed to handle the “extraordinarily complicated duty” of providing education to 6 million youngsters.

Sigoloff, 63, a corporate turnaround wizard, was nominated by Wilson in November after the schoolteachers union helped scuttle the governor’s first choice for the post, Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach). Wilson has been trying to fill the spot since former Supt. Bill Honig was forced to step down last spring after his conviction on conflict-of-interest charges.

Sigoloff, who does not plan to run for the superintendent’s job in this year’s election, said he was not surprised by the CTA’s action. “It would have taken enormous courage for them to do anything else,” he said in a statement.

Still, he described the decision as “disappointing” and “an indication of how fearful they are of challenging the status quo. If we are to get our schools back on track, we must be willing to accept change.”

Initially, because of the short time left in the vacancy, indications were that Sigoloff would win confirmation. But the CTA opposition is a setback for Sigoloff, especially among Democrats who rely on the teachers group for campaign support.

“It clearly doesn’t help his cause,” said Assembly Republican Leader Jim Brulte of Rancho Cucamonga. “There are a lot of members of the Democratic caucus who don’t do anything that the CTA doesn’t like.”

But Brulte said that although Democrats turned opposition to the Bergeson nomination into a highly partisan fight, he has “not heard that same drumbeat against Mr. Sigoloff.”

Assembly Majority Leader Thomas Hannigan (D-Fairfield) agreed that the CTA action has “some significance” but that he expects a special committee he chairs to conduct a fair and balanced hearing on Sigoloff.

Facing a Feb. 16 deadline for legislative action, the Senate Education Committee has set an informational hearing for next Tuesday to quiz Sigoloff on education issues. The next day, Hannigan’s committee plans a broader hearing, including a look at Sigoloff’s background.