By Kevin Johnson
Mayor of Sacramento
As positive change goes, it’s hard to top the resurgence of competitive elections in Sacramento since 2008.
Elections, of course, are the essence of democracy. But two years ago in Sacramento, we were in danger of letting that essence slipping away.
From the city school board to the city council, entrenched incumbents ran without opposition. Special interest groups helped decide who would run next. Some politicians treated elected offices as stepping stones or permanent jobs.
Public interests were not always being served.
Times are changing. In June, 15 candidates vied for four city council seats. Only one incumbent is returning.
For the Sacramento City Unified school board race in November, 10 candidates may qualify for three seats. That’s democracy.
One huge factor in my decision to run for mayor in 2008 was the hope that I might inspire other people to run. I didn’t want to sit back and watch an incumbent win a third term without healthy challenge. Voters agreed.
I am going to devote some time in upcoming weeks to the city school board election. Education is my passion, and I am troubled by the inability of city schools to consistently provide the quality education all of our children deserve.
Some people tell me education reform isn’t in my job description. While that’s true in literal terms, in some ways I couldn’t disagree more.
What’s more important than the education of our city’s children? As I’ve always said, we can’t have a world class city without first rate public schools.
To that end, we are making an effort to align city services to the needs of our schools and to bring increased resources to our efforts. Of all of our initiatives, school reform is the one that will have the greatest long term positive impact on Sacramento.
I will be inviting all candidates for city school board to have a conversation with me. I see this as a great opportunity for me to learn more about what is driving each candidate and what their philosophy of school reform is. Some things I hope to learn are:
Are they willing to put the interests of students ahead of the interests of adults?
What are their thoughts on data-based, objective report cards for schools, teachers and principals?
Do they believe families should have choices in the schools their children attend? If so, how should those choice dynamics be actualized?
How to they propose to attract and retain the best and brightest staff members?
These are the types of questions voters I believe voters will ask, too. That’s what democracy is all about.
I look forward to these conversations. I’ll carefully consider them as I determine my endorsement and ultimately my votes. I hope others will do the same so that we can make informed decisions about our next school board members.
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