SACRAMENTO — Because the lone Republican on stage, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco stood out as the one vocal supporter of faculty vouchers throughout a gubernatorial candidate discussion board Wednesday targeted on schooling.
“If you’re deciding the place you need to eat dinner, you select the restaurant with the most effective meals, and the opposite restaurant is just not going to get your service till they modify their insurance policies,” Bianco stated. “I would be the solely individual providing voucher programs for your entire youngsters.”
His comment, prompted by a query about how one can greatest help rural college students, earned booing and a few cheers from the gang on the California Faculty Boards Assn.’s annual convention in Sacramento.
Voucher programs, which offer public cash to oldsters to pay for personal faculty tuition, are extremely controversial. Supporters consider vouchers supply new alternatives for college kids and create a aggressive surroundings that encourages all faculties to enhance. Opponents argue it takes away wanted funding from public faculties.
Throughout the occasion, candidates mentioned a variety of points that impression studying, together with public faculty funding, trainer shortages and achievement gaps.
The candidates on the discussion board included: Bianco, former State Controller Betty Yee, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former Meeting Majority Chief Ian Calderon and California Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.
Whereas many California voters stay undecided on who to help within the 2026 governor’s race, Bianco narrowly led the sphere in a November ballot launched by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Research and co-sponsored by The Instances. The highest Democrat within the survey was former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter. Tied for third place had been former U.S. Well being and Human Companies Secretary Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, and conservative commentator Steve Hilton.
A spokesperson for the college boards affiliation stated all candidates working for governor weren’t requested to take part as a result of it will have been tougher to handle. The affiliation as an alternative invited the candidates it thought of most viable primarily based on a number of elements, together with identify recognition and former places of work held.
All the candidates agreed on one general message: The state’s present system is failing the roughly 5.8 million Okay-12 college students enrolled in public faculties.
“One thing is damaged,” stated Villaraigosa. “Data is the foreign money of our economic system and but we received too many youngsters who can’t learn and write. And once you have a look at who these youngsters are, they’re disproportionately poor, disproportionately of colour, and it’s unacceptable in a state this wealthy.”
Every candidate supplied barely totally different takes on how one can assist.
Calderon referred to as for extra parental involvement and urged faculties to enhance outreach efforts and work hand-in-hand with households. He stated addressing the state’s housing disaster was additionally essential.
“You can not have an achievement hole that you simply slim,” he stated, “if there’s not safe housing for individuals. In case you have uncertainty within the house and also you don’t know the place you might be sleeping at night time, then how are college students going to succeed?”
Thurmond stated extra income streams had been wanted to help the college system.
“I’m going to tax billionaires so we have now extra income for California’s faculties,” he stated, including it was time for the extremely wealthy to “pay their justifiable share.”
Bianco disputed the assertion that extra funding was wanted and identified California is the fourth-largest economic system on the planet.
“We’ve got by no means, by no means had a income downside,” he stated. “Our issues are 100% a spending downside.”
To assist with the trainer scarcity, Thurmond proposed creating two million housing models on surplus school-owned land to offer educators with inexpensive dwelling choices.
Yee stated she would prioritize normal workforce housing for the general public sector however not educator housing on faculty property. She defined she didn’t need faculty districts to develop into landlords.
Yee stated she would deal with bettering lecturers’ healthcare and making a safer and more healthy working surroundings within the classroom. She vowed to worth enter from educators.
“The native perspective that you simply all have about how one can enhance scholar achievement is what wants to tell state coverage,” she stated. “What we have now as an alternative is only a lack of recognition, frankly, on the state stage.”
All candidates shared reservations about California’s mandate phasing out gas-powered faculty buses by 2035, with most calling for an extended timeline or extra exemptions. Bianco stated the mandate ought to be nixed fully as a result of the federal government mustn’t dictate what forms of automobiles are used.
The discussion board was held at Sacramento’s SAFE Credit score Union Conference Heart close to the state Capitol. The varsity boards convention brings collectively greater than 3,500 faculty board members, superintendents and different schooling leaders from throughout the state.
