Sigoloff Drops Bid for Top Schools Job

Los Angeles businessman Sanford C. Sigoloff, with his prospects for confirmation apparently doomed, Thursday withdrew from consideration for the post of California schools chief and accepted an appointment to the State Board of Education.

Sigoloff’s surprise announcement came two months after Republican Gov. Pete Wilson nominated him as superintendent of public instruction and less than a week before the Democrat-controlled Legislature was expected to grill the corporate turnaround artist about his qualifications.

Sigoloff’s nomination faced mounting opposition from schoolteachers and unions and, without a high-profile lobbying effort by Wilson, was faltering.

In a letter to Wilson, Sigoloff said “partisan politics, combined with an educational establishment resistant to change, make it highly unlikely that . . . I or anyone else will be confirmed before the election.”

He told Wilson that he is still committed to renewing the state’s education system and described the 11-member Board of Education as “the most appropriate” arena “for creating the agenda of change” for children in public schools.

With Wilson’s help, Sigoloff is likely to be chosen president of the board and exercise the broad authority it won last year in a state appeals court decision. Historically, the board has had power over such items as textbooks and the schools chief has been the visible policy-maker.

Sigoloff may seek to elevate the board’s profile, setting up a power struggle with whoever wins a four-year term in the superintendent’s job in this year’s elections.

*

“On the Board of Education,” Wilson said in a prepared statement, “he can sustain the effort required to free our public schools from micromanagement and mountains of regulations and paperwork that cost time and money and should instead be spent on improving classroom teaching.”

Wilson also said he regretted that children “will not enjoy” Sigoloff’s leadership but noted that, if confirmed by the Senate, Sigoloff will be on the state board for four years--much longer than the 10-month term as state schools chief. The Senate has a year to act on the nomination, during which Sigoloff will serve on the board.

Sigoloff’s decision is a setback for Wilson; the governor has spent most of a year searching to fill the schools chief post since Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig was forced to resign on Feb. 24, 1993, after he was sentenced on conflict-of-interest charges. Wilson’s first choice, Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), a former teacher and school board member, was rejected by the Assembly on a partisan vote.

Officials in the Wilson Administration indicated that they do not expect the governor to make a third selection to succeed Honig.

Hoping that an educational outsider would pass muster with legislators, Wilson in November nominated Sigoloff, 63, best known as a corporate turnaround specialist, to help rescue the state’s foundering public school system. Sigoloff teaches a course at UCLA’s Anderson Graduate School of Management and is chairman of a consulting firm.

The appointment drew initial praise from business leaders and Senate Democratic leaders, in part because Sigoloff would not seek election to the post and agreed to craft a plan to turn around the state’s schools. But while Sigoloff met with some legislators and educators, he and his backers in the Administration failed to capitalize on the momentum generated by his nomination.

Sigoloff, whose lean frame and terse comments became familiar to TV viewers in the 1980s from his “We got the message, Mr. Sigoloff” ads for the now-defunct Builders Emporium chain, is widely regarded in business circles for his ability to salvage debt-laden companies.

But Sigoloff reportedly refused to lobby legislators and conduct a hard-sell campaign to win a job he was willing to take for no salary.

*

A variety of explanations were given for the failure of the appointment to generate a groundswell of support.

One education lobbyist said Sigoloff, a physicist by training, seemed arrogant and unfamiliar with the nuts and bolts of the job. Another said Sigoloff snubbed an invitation to talk to his group’s members. Others said that recent surgery slowed Sigoloff’s bid to win the job.

Also, as the hearings approached, some unions that had tangled with Sigoloff were launching an effort to stop the appointment.

The nomination suffered a major blow earlier this week when the California Teachers Assn., the state’s largest teacher union, announced it would oppose Sigoloff’s appointment because he did not have the education credentials for the job.

As a result, Republican legislators said they doubted if Democrats, closely allied with the teachers’ group, would have approved any Wilson nominee. Assemblyman Robert J. Campbell (D-Martinez), a member of an Assembly committee that was set to review Sigoloff next Wednesday, said the executive’s chances of winning confirmation were “slim and none.” Campbell said Sigoloff “didn’t know anything about education” and would have had only 10 months’ on-the-job training before he would have had to relinquish the office.

Others said that acting schools chief William D. Dawson is performing well and Democrats see no reason to upset the status quo, especially since one of their own, Assemblywoman Delaine Eastin (D-Fremont) is a leading candidate for election to the job.

One education source said that Sigoloff’s withdrawal “clears the air” for a fight in the June primary election between Eastin and Maureen DiMarco, Wilson’s education adviser, who is strongly considering entering the race.

Eastin said she thought the outcome of the hearing would have turned on Sigoloff’s testimony and that committee members were open-minded.

In an interview before his withdrawal, Sigoloff said he planned to testify by himself, without aides, and, unlike most high-profile appointees, not bring any character witnesses.

“I’m coming alone,” Sigoloff said Wednesday. “All I need is an outlet for my laptop (computer).”

Sigoloff said he has been sifting through the pluses and minuses in state education. In the process, he said he determined that just throwing money at the problems was not satisfactory.

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco), who assailed Bergeson, kept a low profile on the Sigoloff nomination. But on Thursday he said he was pleased by Sigoloff’s decision because he had advised him to seek some other job if he wanted to conduct an in-depth look at schools.

“The superintendent’s job is to worry about the toilet paper and the light bulbs in 1,100 schools,” Brown said, and there wouldn’t be “time to do a whole lot of comprehensive thinking about how to deal with the system.”