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<H1 id=story_headline class="entry-title sc_sharable" ev_id="24"
meeboShare="2">Democratic schism opens on fixing schools</H1>
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<DIV class="byline author vcard">By <SPAN class=fn>Laurel
Rosenhall</SPAN><BR><SPAN class="source-org vcard"><SPAN class="org fn"><A
href="mailto:lrosenhall@sacbee.com"><FONT
title="mailto:lrosenhall@sacbee.com
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<DIV style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px" class=published
title=2010-12-24T00:00:00-0800>Published: Friday, Dec. 24, 2010 - 12:00 am |
Page 1A </DIV>
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title=2010-12-24T00:00:00-0800><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px" class=published
title=2010-12-24T00:00:00-0800><FONT face=Calibri><STRONG>Sacramento
Bee</STRONG></FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 1.5em" class=pubdates>Across the nation Democrats
have begun to split over education, with a growing chorus arguing the party must
move away from its traditional allegiance with <A
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 15px; CURSOR: pointer; FONT-WEIGHT: 400"
class=" lingo_link lingo_link_hidden"
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/teachers+unions/" rel=nofollow><FONT
title="http://topics.sacbee.com/teachers+unions/
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color=#000000>teachers unions</FONT></A> in order to improve chronically
low-performing schools.</DIV>
<DIV id=articlebody class="lingo_region entry-content">
<P>In <A
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 15px; CURSOR: pointer; FONT-WEIGHT: 400"
class=" lingo_link lingo_link_hidden"
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/California/" rel=nofollow><FONT
title="http://topics.sacbee.com/California/
CTRL + Click to follow link"
color=#000000>California,</FONT></A> the divide likely will be magnified in the
year ahead as a new political action committee lays ground here with a goal of
backing Democrats who support education policies that unions generally
oppose.</P>
<P><A
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 15px; CURSOR: pointer; FONT-WEIGHT: 400"
class=" lingo_link" href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Gloria+Romero/"
rel=nofollow><FONT color=#024a82>Gloria Romero,</FONT></A> the former state
senator from <A
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 15px; CURSOR: pointer; FONT-WEIGHT: 400"
class=" lingo_link" href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Los+Angeles/"
rel=nofollow><FONT color=#024a82>Los Angeles</FONT></A> who lost her bid this
year to become the state superintendent of schools, is heading the new <A
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 15px; CURSOR: pointer; FONT-WEIGHT: 400"
class=" lingo_link lingo_link_hidden"
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/California/" rel=nofollow><FONT
color=#000000>California</FONT></A> chapter of <A
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 15px; CURSOR: pointer; FONT-WEIGHT: 400"
class=" lingo_link lingo_link_hidden"
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Democrats+for+Education+Reform/"
rel=nofollow><FONT
title="http://topics.sacbee.com/Democrats+for+Education+Reform/
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color=#000000>Democrats for Education Reform,</FONT></A> a <A
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 15px; CURSOR: pointer; FONT-WEIGHT: 400"
class=" lingo_link lingo_link_hidden" href="http://topics.sacbee.com/PAC/"
rel=nofollow><FONT color=#000000>PAC</FONT></A> that operates in 10 states. In
<A
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 15px; CURSOR: pointer; FONT-WEIGHT: 400"
class=" lingo_link lingo_link_hidden" href="http://topics.sacbee.com/New+York/"
rel=nofollow><FONT color=#000000>New York,</FONT></A> the group supported
candidates who pushed for expansion of <A
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 15px; CURSOR: pointer; FONT-WEIGHT: 400"
class=" lingo_link lingo_link_hidden"
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/charter+schools/" rel=nofollow><FONT
color=#000000>charter schools,</FONT></A> whose teachers are typically not
unionized. In <A
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 15px; CURSOR: pointer; FONT-WEIGHT: 400"
class=" lingo_link lingo_link_hidden" href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Colorado/"
rel=nofollow><FONT
title="http://topics.sacbee.com/Colorado/
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color=#000000>Colorado,</FONT></A> it backed those who wanted to rewrite teacher
tenure laws. </P>
<P>Romero said trouble in the schools – 21 percent of <A
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 15px; CURSOR: pointer; FONT-WEIGHT: 400"
class=" lingo_link lingo_link_hidden"
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/California/" rel=nofollow><FONT
color=#000000>California</FONT></A> students drop out of high school, and the
rate is even higher among Latinos and African Americans – is no longer an
"elephant in the room."</P>
<P>"It's a donkey in the room," Romero said. "It's Democrats who have been
tightly aligned with education's special interests year after year, decade after
decade, and we haven't progressed. So we have to examine our conscience, our
party, and really forge a new path forward."</P>
<P>It's not the first time Romero has fought the <A
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 15px; CURSOR: pointer; FONT-WEIGHT: 400"
class=" lingo_link lingo_link_hidden"
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/teachers+unions/" rel=nofollow><FONT
title="http://topics.sacbee.com/teachers+unions/
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color=#000000>teachers unions.</FONT></A> Union leaders backed <A
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 15px; CURSOR: pointer; FONT-WEIGHT: 400"
class=" lingo_link lingo_link_hidden"
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Tom+Torlakson/" rel=nofollow><FONT
color=#000000>Tom Torlakson,</FONT></A> who won the race for state
superintendent, while her funding came from EdVoice – a <A
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 15px; CURSOR: pointer; FONT-WEIGHT: 400"
class=" lingo_link lingo_link_hidden"
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Sacramento/" rel=nofollow><FONT
title="http://topics.sacbee.com/Sacramento/
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color=#000000>Sacramento</FONT></A> firm that advocates for <A
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 15px; CURSOR: pointer; FONT-WEIGHT: 400"
class=" lingo_link lingo_link_hidden"
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/charter+schools/" rel=nofollow><FONT
color=#000000>charter schools</FONT></A> – and its network of wealthy
entrepreneurs.</P>
<P><A
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 15px; CURSOR: pointer; FONT-WEIGHT: 400"
class=" lingo_link lingo_link_hidden"
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/David+Sanchez/" rel=nofollow><FONT
color=#000000>David Sanchez,</FONT></A> president of the <A
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 15px; CURSOR: pointer; FONT-WEIGHT: 400"
class=" lingo_link"
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/California+Teachers+Association/"
rel=nofollow><FONT
title="http://topics.sacbee.com/California+Teachers+Association/
CTRL + Click to follow link"
color=#024a82>California Teachers Association,</FONT></A> said Romero's new role
doesn't amount to much of a political threat.</P>
<P>"If her ideas were that popular with the voters, she would have been the next
superintendent of public instruction," Sanchez said. "Her ideas didn't make the
cut."</P>
<P>
<H3>L.A. mayor weighs in
<P></P>
<P></H3>But there are signs that <A
style="FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 18px; CURSOR: pointer; FONT-WEIGHT: 700"
class=" lingo_link lingo_link_hidden"
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/teachers+unions/" rel=nofollow><FONT
title="http://topics.sacbee.com/teachers+unions/
CTRL + Click to follow link"
color=#000000>teachers unions</FONT></A> are losing the tight grip they've
traditionally held on Democrats.</P>
<P>In a speech earlier this month, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a
Democrat who got his start as a union organizer, blasted the L.A. teachers union
for blocking changes in the schools.</P>
<P>Michelle Rhee, the former Washington, D.C., schools chancellor who fought the
teachers union there over tenure and merit pay, is launching a national advocacy
group to back politicians who can't get union support because of their views on
education.</P>
<P>"Being a Democrat myself, a lifelong Democrat who is committed to the
Democratic party, we've got to bring our party along in this," she said during a
recent visit to Sacramento.</P>
<P>And earlier this year, California teachers unions suffered a rare defeat when
the Legislature passed a set of bills, written by Romero, that they opposed. The
laws give parents new clout to make changes in the lowest-performing schools,
including the power to convert them to charters and dismiss teachers.</P>
<P>Many Democrats, including Torlakson, voted against the bills. But they passed
with an unusual coalition of support from Republicans who prefer a free-market
approach to education and Democrats who said they were looking out for the best
interests of black and Latino children.</P>
<P>"It's a people's movement, in a way, from groups like NAACP saying 'enough is
enough,' " said Alice Huffman, president of the California NAACP, which
supported Romero's bills.</P>
<P>"We're all saying you have to do something about our young people here. You
just can't leave them hanging year after year."</P>
<P>Taking a position against the unions was a switch for Huffman, a Democratic
Party activist who worked for the CTA for 12 years and describes herself as a
strong believer in labor rights.</P>
<P>"I'm not trying to destroy the union," Huffman said. "But sometimes you have
to make a choice in life and right now, the education of our young people is
more important than protecting the union."</P>
<P>
<H3>Race to the Top
<P></P>
<P></H3>The backdrop for the shifting politics of education is the Obama
administration, which has embraced many ideas that make unions bristle. Obama's
$4 billion Race to the Top program encourages states to expand charter schools
and create data systems that tie teacher pay with student performance. His
education secretary, Arne Duncan, was suggested by Democrats for Education
Reform.</P>
<P>The group is allied with Rhee, the former Washington, D.C., chancellor, and
her fiancé, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson – who became a darling of the
national school reform movement when he turned Sacramento High into a nonunion
charter school.</P>
<P>"I was elated when (Democrats for Education Reform) decided to come to
California because we need to get Democrats in California mobilized," said
Johnson, who was "Mr. March" in a 2009 calendar of education activists the group
put out.</P>
<P>Democrats for Education Reform started in New York in 2007 and has become a
political force there with substantial backing from several hedge fund managers.
The organization's views reached the masses this fall with the release of
"Waiting for 'Superman,' " a documentary about the poor performance of American
schools that features interviews with many of its members.</P>
<P>So far the group has few donors from California, a review of Federal Election
Commission records shows. One exception is Laurene Powell Jobs, wife of Apple
CEO Steve Jobs, who contributed $5,000 to the organization in 2009.</P>
<P>Romero is busy raising money to get the group's California chapter started
this spring. Just last week, she said, she was in Silicon Valley meeting with
potential donors during a luncheon organized by Powell Jobs. "This was a roomful
of people saying, 'Count me in,' " Romero said.</P>
<P>The growing anti-union movement among Democrats could make the next few years
"a pretty gory battle" in the Capitol, said Bruce Fuller, an education professor
at UC Berkeley.</P>
<P>"The guy in the hot seat is going to be Jerry Brown," Fuller said. "He's
going to have to mediate between these two camps that have opened up in his own
party." </P>
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