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Delaine Eastin for State Schools : Good candidates vie for important post

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Although the school voucher initiative failed resoundingly at the polls last year, surveys have shown that Californians are far from satisfied with public education. Voters didn’t want a drastic and unfair voucher system that might kill the public schools but they also didn’t want schools that served every purpose but academic learning.

The question facing voters in 1994 is, “Who among the 12 candidates for superintendent of public instruction is in the best position to make meaningful reform happen?” It’s no easy choice.

Assemblywoman Delaine Eastin, the chair of the Assembly Education Committee, and two other strong candidates, Maureen DiMarco and Wilbert Smith, sound amazingly similar in proposing remedies for what’s wrong with California public education: Teachers and administrators must be given the support and the up-to-date tools they need to teach children well and then must be held accountable for the results; more attention must be paid to vocational training for children who are not college-bound; the state schools chief must be willing to stand up to the special interests who resist changes that benefit schoolchildren.

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It is on that last point that Eastin has something to prove. While an endorsement from the California Teachers Assn., one of the most powerful lobbies in Sacramento, is undeniably politically helpful to Eastin, it also raises a flag. She must work harder to demonstrate that she is indeed willing to stand up to obdurate elements in the union that are more interested in what’s good for the union than for the kids.

That said, it is Eastin who offers the background and the legislative savvy needed for this important state post. A former community college instructor, she has authored and supported key education bills, including one that places stricter checks and balances on financially ailing school districts. The Fremont legislator has drawn a broad base of support from the education and business communities.

DiMarco, Gov. Pete Wilson’s secretary for child development and education and a former school board member in Orange County, has worked hard for the governor in advancing his agenda for children. Though she got off to a late start in pulling her campaign together, she remains a welcome voice of reason and pragmatism in the Wilson Administration.

Smith, a former bank executive from Pasadena who also happens to be African American, has managed to get major backing from influentials on the right. He offers good, common-sense ideas about getting back to basics in the schools; our enthusiasm for his candidacy is dampened by some of his notions about how to deal with the illegal immigrant student population.

Eastin is best suited for state schools chief. If elected, she must deliver to a public weary of only talk of change. The Times endorses her.

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