Candidates for school races clash over budget, staffing of Richmond’s schools

Candidates for WCCUSD’s open school board seats, and the county Board of Education, clashed at a recent forum over how best to improve equity and transparency in Richmond’s understaffed schools.

The Contra Costa County Charter Coalition’s forum took place Thur., Oct. 3 at Making Waves Academy, a charter school, with less one month to go before the Nov. 5 election. In the same week, WCCUSD Superintendent Chris Hurst announced that he would be retiring in December. 

New trustees will be joining the WCCUSD board as Assistant Superintendent Kim Moses becomes interim superintendent. The challenges they face include improving the district’s financial outlook and ensuring all schools have sufficient teachers and services to support students — such as adequate counseling. 

The county board candidates have never held public office. In interviews, Anthony Caro said he wants to improve teacher retention and college and career readiness and support WCCUSD’s community-based schools. Daniel Heiss said he wants to eliminate the school-to-prison pipeline and improve athletics and arts education. 

County Board of Education candidates

The county Board of Education’s powers include hearing charter school petitions, considering appeals for inter-district transfers, and approving or denying the County Office of Education’s budget, which was about $96 million last year. 

At the Oct. 3 forum, Caro drew attention to the many endorsements he has from various Bay Area politicians, including former Richmond mayors Tom Butt and Nat Bates. Heiss told the crowd that he’s the only candidate for the board with experience in education, including counseling students for higher education. But Caro has been disputing how Heiss has presented himself to voters. On Aug. 20, Caro sued the Contra Costa County Clerk Recorder for allowing Heiss to describe himself as “Educator/Economic Commissioner,” on the ballot, a designation Caro believes is “false” and “misleading.” 

Meanwhile, Caro and Heiss clashed over how the county Board of Education can best address the need for adequate funding to staff all schools. Questioned by parents on how they could improve WCCUSD’s fiscal problems, Heiss attacked the district for not knowing that it had more than $6 million extra in revenue than expected,  a miscalculation which he said delayed hiring much-needed teachers.

“We want our credentialed and educated teachers in our rooms,” Heiss said. “And all of our teachers need to be paid better, I don’t think anyone would disagree with that. We also need someone who’s not afraid to go to Sacramento. I’ll get on Amtrak right now and tell them we need more money.”

Caro called out the district for its handling of Stege Elementary, which had to unexpectedly indefinitely be closed right before school started after asbestos and lead were found in building materials. He said the county board can take responsibility for these problems, as well as seek more funding for schools by helping them improve attendance and write grant applications. (Schools are funded by the state based on their enrollment.) 

“We’re the facilitator between the state and the federal level,” Caro said. “I don’t need to go to Sacramento; I have those people’s numbers on my phone.”

The two disagreed how to improve literacy levels and college readiness. Heiss said the county Office of Education’s programs to improve children’s reading levels need more support. He also fired a jab at Caro’s list of endorsements, saying “I think we need to keep politics out of schools. Endorsements don’t mean anything without experience.”

Caro said with the Black Unity Council telling him that 70% of Black students are not reading at their grade level, “I don’t think the programs we have right now are working, and I think they should be beefed up.” He said the county needs to fight for more funding to build better programs and improve teachers’ professional development to better equip students with the tools they need to read. 

The differences between the candidates on college readiness also stood out, with Heiss arguing for increasing high school students’ exposure to trade skills and partnering with organizations to introduce them to work experience. Caro said the county should use data-backed approaches from around the country to design education standards around both job and college readiness.

WCCUSD Area 2

Christian, who told Richmondside earlier this month that he’d be happy to debate Enllana “anytime, anywhere,” did not attend the forum after canceling the prior day, according to organizers. He said that he was unable to attend because he needed to care for his elderly mother.

Enllana said during the forum she’s running as a mother deeply rooted in the neighborhood, pointing to her experience as co-chair for the city’s Fund for Children and Youth Oversight Board.

She’s also an active member of DLCAP,  a committee for community members to oversee development of the LCAP — which stands for Local Control Accountability Plan, a plan that guides how the district will serve its most at-risk students, such as foster children, low-income children and English learners. 

“I want to make sure that we’re (mothers) being heard,” she told the crowd. “I want to see us there. I am the representative of parents.”

Enllana also heavily emphasized a need to focus on mandatory attendance for students and teachers. (WCCUSD already enforces a mandatory attendance policy, allowing students only excused absences for illness or contagious diseases, death in the family, specific religious reasons or a required appearance in court.)

She also said she wants to see investment in better mental health support to address bullying, saying “If my child feels unsafe then he’s not going to be able to learn.”

Enllana suggested the district hire more academic counselors to meet every child’s needs and create a “culture of college readiness” by bringing parents into the process, including for students who prefer another career path versus going to college. 

The candidates all answered “yes” to a series of rapid-fire questions asked by the coalition:

• That charter schools are public schools and parents can choose between traditional and charter schools;
• That the district should make an annual transparency report on academic outcomes for all district and charter schools; and
• That they will support renewal of public charter schools and meet with parents if elected. 

Parents and teachers have for months criticized the district for what they see as a budget crisis that left many schools without enough qualified teachers. WCCUSD board chair Jamela Smith-Folds, running unopposed for Area 1, did not attend the forum. Newcomer Cinthia Hernandez, who’s running to govern Area 3,  including parts of San Pablo and the Central and North Richmond neighborhoods, was excused for maternity leave. She was the only candidate to file for that seat and will automatically represent Area 3. (The seats governing Areas 4 and 5, which represent El Sobrante and El Cerrito, are not up for election this year.)