Editorial:

It was billed as a mayoral debate on education, where the four candidates for mayor, Bob Filner, Bonnie Dumanis, Carol DeMaio, and Nathan Fletcher for an hour and a half shared their knowledge and vision on education held at the University of San Diego.

Education is one of the most important issues to voters and where the next mayor stands on education is equally important. And, in today’s world where mayors are taking a proactive stance when it comes to the running of school districts, Los Angeles Mayor Villagrosa wants to take over the LA Unified School District, for example, it has become increasingly important to know where these candidates stand on the issue of education. At present the mayor of San Diego has no say in the running of the school district. They do play a role in providing support.

After the debate one thing was abundantly clear we are glad that none of these candidates will be in charge of educating  our children!

In general, while Congressman Bob Filner was in tune and understanding of the plight of the teachers, supporting Gov. Brown’s tax proposal for more money for education for example. It should be noted he, as the lone Democratic candidate, has the support of the teacher’s union. At the same time though he was not familiar with the recently passed Parent Trigger law which had to be explained to him by Nathan Fletcher. Fletcher, now an Independent candidate, has for months now been on a listening tour discussing education with the community. While Fletcher was well versed in education he didn’t offer anything new and relied on one example, one school, as a model for education which he often referred to.

At the other end of the spectrum was the Republican perspective provided by Carl DeMaio who repeatedly touted his pension reform plan as the model for city schools and a total deconstruction of the way education is run now with a school district modeled after charter schools which he cited as an unqualified success. Unfortunately the moderator failed to follow up on this hyperbole about charter schools. DeMaio pretty much followed the Republican blue-print for education.

While DeMaio was following the Republican plan, candidate Bonnie Dumanis was following the plan put forth by the San Diegans 4 Greater Schools who tried to qualify a ballot initiative that would allow for five elected school board members and four board members appointed by the mayor. Dumanis went a step further and said that she would have the schools fixed in her first term of office. Clearly she has no concept of what it takes to “fix” the school district.

While we could go on and discuss the merits of the candidates’ vision for education, the one area where all the candidates failed their test was when it came to the question of educating Hispanic and Black children.

While all the candidates were adept at spouting dismal statistics that we all know about, the failure rates of minority students, and the relationship to crime statistics, none had an answer as to how as mayor they would address this issue.
Congressman Filner talked about the Six to Six program, before and after school programs, and collaborative support. DeMaio hinged his remarks on fixing the budget deficit by passing his plan for pension reform which would free up more money for libraries and after school programs, Fletcher talked about putting an IPad in every child’s’ hand, none addressed the root problems of poor education for minorities.

While it must be noted that there is no one answer to the problem of educating minority children, there are many areas that as mayor they could have addressed. They could have talked about some of the systemic problems that many minority children and families face that are a hindrance to their education.

Education starts before Kindergarten, as mayor the city can support pre-school programs such as Head Start at the MAAC Center and the Neighborhood House Association. The mayor can support programs such as the Barrio Logan College or Reality Changers both of which are putting minority children into college and could do more with the support of the city. None of the candidates used either program as a successful program to emulate.

The mayor can provide a safe school environment with police support. The mayor can provide after school programs, which Filner did emphasize, and provide computer and technical support which Fletcher advocated for. The other areas of challenge in teaching minority students is the lack of support at home, the city can look to find a way to provide tutoring and a safe place to learn. Many parents deal with drug and alcohol abuse, the city can work to deal with these problems. Affordable housing, good jobs, clean neighborhoods, these are all issues that affect children’s education and areas that the next mayor can look at.

Yet none of these topics came up with the exception of Filner and Fletcher who briefly touched on a couple of salient points. Short of that the conversation on the education of minority education was shallow at best which was disappointing! In the area of education minority children these candidates earned a failing grade.