Marshall Tuck

Marshall Tuck (born July 28, 1973) is an American educator, venture capital investor, and politician. He has served as CEO of Antonio Villaraigosa's Partnership for Los Angeles Schools,[1] former and as President of charter school chain Green Dot Public Schools.[2] Tuck was a candidate for California State Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2014 and 2018, losing in the general election in both races.[3]

Marshall Tuck
Personal details
Born (1973-07-28) July 28, 1973
Burlingame, California, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
EducationUniversity of California, Los Angeles (BA)
Harvard University (MBA)

Early life and education

Tuck was born in Burlingame, California, and grew up in Hillsborough. He attended parochial elementary school and public middle and high schools, graduating from San Mateo High School.[4] His father was a lawyer and his mother was a teacher.[5] Tuck is one of four children.

Tuck graduated from UCLA and Harvard Business School.[6] After school, he worked for two years at Wall Street Bank Salomon Brothers [7] before spending a year teaching and doing service work internationally.[8] He then became a senior leader at Model N, a revenue management software company[9] based in the Silicon Valley, before switching careers to work full-time in education.[8]

Education career

In 2007, after serving as an education advisor to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, he became the founding CEO of the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, a collaboration between the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Unified School District, which began by operating 10 public schools.[10]

The contract between Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s office and the Los Angeles Unified School District eventually included 17 struggling elementary, middle, and high schools serving about 15,000 students.[11] Tuck claims these schools raised four-year graduation rates by more than 60%, had the highest academic improvement among California’s school systems with more than 10,000 students.[12] and boasted the Parent College, a parent engagement program.[13] A recent report by a third-party research institute included the Partnership as a new governance model for public education that is being used as an alternative to charter schools in communities that are resistant to new charter schools.[14] News coverage of the Partnership's 10-year history noted it as a "unique turnaround model is driving big gains at struggling campuses.[15] Tuck continues to serve as a member of the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools' Board of Directors.[16]

The Partnership for Los Angeles Schools faced controversy during Tuck's tenure. Teachers at 8 of 10 schools gave Tuck landslide votes of "no confidence" after his first year.[17] Parents at Ritter Elementary School, together with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, filed a complaint in 2009 after Tuck cut dual language immersion programs.[18] After three years of Tuck's leadership, the Los Angeles Times reported that while academic performance had improved at the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, improvements were greater at Los Angeles Unified schools with similar demographics.[19]

Prior to that Tuck had served as President of the Charter Management Organization (CMO) Green Dot Public Schools, where he helped to create 10 new public charter high schools in some of Los Angeles' poorest neighborhoods.[2] Of the 10 schools that Tuck helped to open, 8 have been recognized by the U.S. News & World Report as among the best high schools in the country.[20]

Tuck is also currently a board member of the nonprofit Parent Revolution,[21] an organization with the mission to "ensure families, especially those from historically underserved communities, can use their power to secure an excellent public education for their children, children in their community, and all children in California.[22]"

Most recently Tuck was an Educator-in-Residence at the New Teacher Center, a nonprofit organization working with school districts to help develop and retain effective teachers and principals.[23]

2014 election for State Superintendent

In 2014, Tuck ran a campaign against the incumbent State Superintendent of Public Instruction in California. During the campaign, Tuck won the endorsement of every major newspaper in the state, including the Los Angeles Times,[24] the San Francisco Chronicle,[25] the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Sacramento Bee,[26] the Fresno Bee,[27] the San Jose Mercury News,[28] and the East Bay Times, among others.

The race received national attention,[29] and money raised and spent on the campaigns exceeded that spent in that year's gubernatorial election between Governor Jerry Brown, and challenger Neel Kashkari.[30] A recurring issue in the campaign was an ongoing legal challenge at the time to the state's laws which grant teacher permanent status ("tenure") after two years.[31] Tuck said he supported the students who brought the lawsuit, and wanted to see California law change to extend the amount of time before a teacher had to earn tenure or be let go.[31]

Tuck was among the top two vote-getters in the primary.[32] In the general election, he lost to incumbent Tom Torlakson, receiving about 48% of the vote (2.9 million votes).

2018 election for State Superintendent

In March 2017, Tuck announced that he would run again for State Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2018.[33] While the role of State Superintendent in California is nonpartisan, Tuck is a Democrat.[33] At the California State Democratic Party convention in February 2018, he was “roundly booed” during his speech.[34] He received 5% of the votes of delegates while his opponent, Tony Thurmond, received 89%, and 6% voted for No Endorsement.[35]

Tuck was endorsed by the California Charter Schools Association, San Francisco Chronicle,[36] the San Jose Mercury News and East Bay Times,[37] the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Association of California School Administrators, President Obama's Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the California Peace Officers' Association, former Bay Area Congressman George Miller, San Diego Assemblymember Dr. Shirley Weber, San Francisco State Senator Scott Wiener, Los Angeles Assemblymember Blanca Rubio, among others.[38]

Tuck pledged not to accept any contributions from PACs or corporations,[39] and has raised nearly $4 million from over 3,000 individual donors. However, he has received over $160,000 in contributions bundled by the Govern for California PAC.[40] His major donors include billionaires associated with the charter school industry, including Bill Bloomfield, Eli Broad, Arthur Rock, and members of the Walton family and heirs to the Walmart fortune Carrier Penner Walton, Alice Walton, and Jim Walton.[40] It was discovered in January 2018 that Tuck had accepted donations from an anti-gay activist.[41][42] The campaign returned the money under pressure from Equality California, the largest state LGBTQ organization in the United States.[43]

Tuck has come under criticism from educators for his support from billionaires associated with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Bill Evers, a fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution and education advisor to President Donald Trump.[18][44] In May 2018, the California Democratic Party issued an official statement in response to Tuck's refusal to disavow his appearance on Republican slate mailers saying, "The fact that Tuck is okay with cozying up to some of the most despicable Republicans in the country speaks volumes about what his true priorities are.”[45]

Tuck finished in first place in the June 2018 primary, and advanced to the November general election. He received 2,223,784 votes.[46]

Since the primary election, the campaign for State Superintendent has received national attention. Washington Post columnist George Will expressed his support for Tuck's candidacy in "A California election that might actually matter" and President Obama's Education Secretary Arne Duncan penned an OpEd for the San Jose Mercury News, also supporting Tuck and urging voters to "forget the lies in the state schools' superintendent race."[47]

Personal life

Tuck has spent most of his adult life in Los Angeles. He currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Mae, and their son, Mason. Mae is a first generation Chinese-American. Mason attends their local public school in the Los Angeles Unified School District.[4]

References
  1. Roberts, Jerry (30 August 2018). "Charter School Crusader Fights Unions in Bid for California Schools Superintendent". Santa Barbara Independent.
  2. "Essential Education: L.A. schools Supt. Michelle King reiterates push for 100% graduation". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  3. Gammon, Robert. "Tony Thurmond Wins State Superintendent of Schools Race", East Bay Express. November 16, 2018. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
  4. "State Superintendent Candidate Marshall Tuck Says CA Has 'Accepted Mediocrity And Failure' For Too Long". Speak Up. Retrieved 2018-08-15.
  5. "When Will School Reform Become a Wedge Issue for Democrats?". Sacramento Bee.
  6. "Marshall Tuck - Ballotpedia". Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  7. "State Schools Chief Challenger Marshall Tuck Wants to Change Sacramento, If He Can Get There".
  8. "Marshall Tuck for State Superintendent". Marshall Tuck. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  9. "A Great Divide: The Election Fight for California's Schools". Capital & Main.
  10. "Who We Are | The Partnership for Los Angeles Schools". The Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. Retrieved 2018-04-14.
  11. Dawson, Christopher. "Interview: Marshall Tuck, CEO of the Partnership for LA Schools | ZDNet". ZDNet. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  12. Lundquist, Melanie (2014-01-28). "The Education of Marshall Tuck and the Making of a Run for California's Chief Education Office". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  13. "LA schools use 'Parent College' as tool to boost student achievement". PBS NewsHour. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  14. "Partnership Schools: New Governance Models for Creating Quality School Options in Districts | Center on Reinventing Public Education" (PDF). crpe.org. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
  15. "As the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools turns 10, a new report shows this unique turnaround model is driving big gains at struggling campuses | LA School Report". laschoolreport.com. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  16. "Who We Are | The Partnership for Los Angeles Schools". The Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. Retrieved 2018-08-15.
  17. Lopez, Steve (24 June 2009). "L.A's mayor getting schooled". Los Angeles Times.
  18. Jones, Erika (1 October 2018). "Teachers at 8 of 10 schools Tuck oversaw rejected his leadership". San Francisco Chronicle.
  19. Blume, Howard; Poindexter, Sarah (18 August 2011). "L.A. Unified bests reform groups in most cases, data show". Los Angeles Times.
  20. "Nine Green Dot High Schools Rank in U.S. News & World Report's Best - Green Dot Public Schools Blog". Green Dot Public Schools Blog. 2017-04-26. Retrieved 2018-08-15.
  21. "Board". Parent Revolution. Retrieved 2018-08-15.
  22. "Home". Parent Revolution. Retrieved 2018-08-15.
  23. Agbalog, Romeo. "2015 An Evening for Kern County". www.kerncitizens.org. Archived from the original on 2017-08-11. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  24. Board, The Times Editorial. "Marshall Tuck for state superintendent of public instruction". latimes.com. Retrieved 2018-08-15.
  25. "Editorial: Marshall Tuck for state schools chief". SFChronicle.com. 2018-04-02. Retrieved 2018-08-15.
  26. "Endorsements: The Bee's 2014 election recommendations". The Sacramento Bee. 2014-10-27. ISSN 0890-5738. Retrieved 2018-08-15.
  27. "The Fresno Bee recommends". fresnobee. Retrieved 2018-08-15.
  28. "Mercury News editorial: Tuck for California schools superintendent". The Mercury News. 2014-07-31. Retrieved 2018-08-15.
  29. Finley, Allysia (2014-09-10). "School Yard Brawl". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2018-08-15.
  30. "NUNES taped at closed fundraiser -- Handicapping TUCK vs. THURMOND -- ODDSMAKERS favoring KAMALA -- HOLLYWOOD bets big on GAVIN". POLITICO. Retrieved 2018-08-15.
  31. "Tuck, Torlakson debate union power, lawsuit". EdSource. Retrieved 2018-08-15.
  32. "Statewide Direct Primary Election - Statement of Vote, June 3, 2014 | California Secretary of State". www.sos.ca.gov. Retrieved 2018-02-20.
  33. "Marshall Tuck running again for California schools chief: 'We've settled for mediocrity'". sacbee. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  34. "Winners and Losers at Democratic Party Convention". Fox and Hounds Daily.
  35. "CDP Endorsements - Statewide Results" (PDF). CALmatters.
  36. "Editorial: Marshall Tuck for state schools chief". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
  37. "Editorial: Elect reformer Marshall Tuck state schools chief". The Mercury News. 2018-04-26. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
  38. "Supporters - Marshall Tuck". Marshall Tuck. Retrieved 2018-04-13.
  39. "Two candidates for state superintendent raise nearly $2 million". laschoolreport.com. Retrieved 2018-08-15.
  40. "Campaign Finance: Tuck for State Superintendent of Public Instruction 2018; Marshall (Candidate: Superintendent of Public Instruction)". Cal-Access - Secretary of State.
  41. "California School Privatizers' Ideal Superintendent Is Tied to Anti-Gay Crusaders". The Progressive.
  42. "State Superintendent Candidate Marshall Tuck Returns Donation From Anti-LGBT Funder". EdSource.
  43. "State superintendent candidate Marshall Tuck returns donation from anti-LGBT funder". EdSource. Retrieved 2018-04-13.
  44. Cohn, Carl (5 October 2018). "The truth about money in public education politics". The Mercury News.
  45. "CDP Vice Chair Daraka Larimore-Hall Statement on Pro-Tuck Mailers Featuring Gingrich, Cox". California Democratic Party. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  46. "Statewide Direct Primary Election - Statement of the Vote, June 5, 2018 | California Secretary of State". www.sos.ca.gov. Retrieved 2018-08-16.
  47. "Opinion: Forget the lies in the state schools superintendent's race". The Mercury News. 2018-08-03. Retrieved 2018-08-16.
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