Over the last several months I have written two San Jose Inside columns on the Gates Foundation initiative to fund city/district/charter school collaborative compacts that bring meaningful cooperation and planning to the forefront of communities. Each time, I wrote that I had enormous hope that our collaborative compacts would be validated and funded by Gates. That hope, however, took a hit during a conference call with the foundation Monday.

Some communities get it, and some don’t get it at all. It is truly amazing how things work when there is a vision and people with the talents to carry it out. Right now, a brand new two-story school building, built in record time on one acre of land in a residential neighborhood of San Jose, houses hundreds of K-3 grade students who are eager to learn.

Why are we leaving so many children behind when educators know now how to get students prepared for a fulfilling and prosperous life? As a participant last week in the 3rd Annual Career Technical Education (CTE) conference, I became angry that we have not kept our eye on the ball. For example, why are there so many Silicon Valley job openings on LinkedIn and other career recruitment sites while the unemployment rate is more than 10 percent?

It has been an honor for me to serve on the Board of Education for the Santa Clara County Office of Education. Sometimes it’s been rewarding, other times frustrating, but never boring. Here is a self-assessment, knowing full well any issue I might want to work on needs at least three other board members to agree.

“It’s hard to improve public education—that’s clear,” Warren Buffet says. “If you’re picking stocks, you wouldn’t pick this one.” Even Bill and Melinda Gates must question whether their $5 billion multi-year investment in public school reform has been worth it.

Are locally elected school boards and their politics at the root of the inertia that has led to little reform of a system of public education? Is the new request for Rocketship Education’s 20 Charter Schools a means to get around the non-productive politics of school boards?

Santa Clara County is on the verge of the beginning of the end of public education as we have known it for the last 100 or so years. I am not intending to be hyperbolic; I’m simply stating the truth as I know it. Will each child’s educational opportunities be enhanced by the shake-up? Or will there be winners and losers?

I know you care deeply about the success of our nation’s educational systems and the student clients they serve. You and your boss advocate for an education system that is second to none. Early childhood education can be the great equalizer between poor and wealthy families. The $21,495,317 that Santa Clara County receives in federal funding for Early Head Start and Head Start saves the taxpayer at least four times that much, if Head Start did not exist.

This new-year, 2011, will be the year for a new federal program for the reform movement in public education. Or will it? Will we punt once more since the problem appears to be intractable and no clear consensus has emerged on where we need to go from here? The history is instructive.

Thirty-six years ago I began my teaching career at Osborne School at Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall. I was hired by Superintendent Glenn Hoffmann (who served from 1967-84), a charismatic and visionary man, as a first-year teacher for the then-Office of the County Superintendent of Schools.  As of last Wednesday evening, I am the newly elected board president of the same office, which is now the Santa Clara County Office of Education

“A rising tide lifts all boats” said Pres. Kennedy.  Will Governor-elect Jerry Brown be the leader that raises the tide for every California student from preschool to college commencement? After all, California—specifically Silicon Valley—was the economic engine that drove the nation’s economy just a few decades ago. Our declining high school graduation rate and achievement gap threaten our very economic and societal survival.

“Egregious” and “contemptible” are two words that describe my reaction to the California School Boards’ recent announcement that their executive director, Scott Plotkin, was paid nearly $1 million dollars in compensation and bonuses the last two years. However, it does not end there.

Lithium and crude oil are essential resources to bolster our global economy. Some even speculate we are in two wars because of their importance to our nation. Whatever the truth is about Afghanistan with its lithium deposits and Iraq with its oil reserves we cannot lose focus on the undeclared war of educating all children adequately. A quality education for all children must be a guaranteed fundamental right of all governments, but particularly for the wealthiest nation on the planet.

The Pomp and Circumstance March is echoing from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Universities across the nation have been issuing tens of thousands of parchment diplomas this month while final plans are being made for high school commencements and grad nights. With each newly issued high school and university diploma comes a time for each graduate to ponder the next stage of life.

With the unemployment rate at over 10 percent in California and Silicon Valley, too many newly minted college graduates will not have an easy time in securing a job in the area of their undergraduate course of study. At the same time, high school graduates are having an increasingly difficult time securing student slots at community colleges and public universities due to the state’s economic crisis

I have been totally flummoxed on what in today’s world constitutes a progressive agenda for public education. I believe I am a progressive on many debatable public policy issues. When I attempt to outline a progressive agenda for K-12 education I am personally conflicted now more than ever

One Charter Summit conference participant wrote “John Deasy rocked” on her conference evaluation form.  Who is John Deasy anyway? Dr. Deasy is the recently hired deputy director of education for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and former superintendent of Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland. He was an afternoon speaker at Santa Clara County Office of Education’s Charter School Summit.