Rivals for Schools Post Test Themes

Two of the major candidates for California superintendent of public instruction used the statewide education summit that ended here Wednesday as a showcase to test possible campaign themes.

Assemblywoman Delaine Eastin (D-Fremont), who is allied with teachers groups, hammered away at the need to change the status quo and criticized Gov. Pete Wilson and his education policies. “The No. 1 thing the state does is educate our children,” she said, but “with this Administration prisons come first.”

In contrast, Maureen DiMarco, Wilson’s secretary of education and child development, said the top issue facing public schools is crime. DiMarco, a Democrat and former Orange County school board member, said efforts must be made to curtail campus violence before spending more money on schools.

There was no formal recognition of the superintendent’s race during the two-day summit and there was no formal debate between DiMarco and Eastin. Both were active participants, however, and each was featured on separate panels.

DiMarco and Eastin are among at least 11 candidates who have filed papers saying they intend to seek the nonpartisan post in the June primary. The job was vacated when state schools Supt. Bill Honig was forced to resign a year ago after his conviction on conflict of interest charges. If none of the candidates receives a majority in June, the two top vote-getters will face off in the November general election.

Also at the education summit was candidate Gloria Matta Tuchman, president of the Tustin Unified School District Board of Education and a first-grade teacher at Taft Elementary School in Santa Ana, who has made criticism of the state’s bilingual education program a cornerstone of her campaign.

A fourth high-profile contestant, Joseph Carrabino, the combative and conservative former president of the state Board of Education, is also likely to be a force in the race.

In separate appearances Tuesday and Wednesday, Eastin and DiMarco said they expect the contest to become a two-person race, with each of them vying to become the state’s first woman schools chief.

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco), who is backing Eastin, predicted a close contest with Eastin winning “by an eyelash.” Like Eastin, Brown is closely allied with the powerful California Teachers Assn., the state’s largest teachers union.

Wilson, a summit participant, praised DiMarco’s credentials but did not endorse any of the aspirants.

In an interview, DiMarco cited her 25 years of experience in education, from parent volunteer and Garden Grove school trustee to consultant to Honig and president of the California School Boards Assn.

DiMarco said her experience serving under Republican Wilson has shown her the need to end partisan bickering over the future of education.

DiMarco, 45, emphasized fighting crime as “the first, overriding issue” facing the schools. She supports legislation to curb guns on campuses and boost security. Last year, a move by Democrats to divert some parking fine revenues to finance school safety programs stalled in the Legislature.

Eastin, 46, criticized Wilson for emphasizing an expansion of the state prison system over public schools.

“The best prevention program against crime is to keep these kids in school,” said Eastin, chairwoman of the Assembly Education Committee.

“Let’s really do something about the long-term issue of crime which all points back to education. I cannot point to a single nation on Earth that we consider more globally competitive because it has the best prison system. Not one.”

Tuchman, the Tustin board of education president, emphasized her opposition to the state’s bilingual education program, saying it is costly and ineffective. Bilingual education programs provide academic instruction in a child’s native language until the student becomes proficient in English.

Tuchman might well appeal to Carrabino’s conservative supporters.

After six stormy years, Carrabino resigned from the state Board of Education in 1992 rather than face rejection by the state Senate on his reappointment by Wilson. A retired UCLA management professor, the 70-year-old Republican engaged in an all-out battle with Honig over control of the education department. Major school groups opposed his reappointment, citing Carrabino’s racial and anti-Semitic remarks.

Carrabino, of Sherman Oaks, had no formal role in the education summit and could not be reached for comment.