Internal emails for top Santa Clara County Office of Education administrators provide a rare glimpse into an insulated power structure that attempts to control the message at all times, delays the delivery of information when possible and spins uncomfortable facts into purple public relations prose.

San Jose Inside has learned that the Santa Clara County Office of Education cut tutoring services for foster youth and filed questionable federal grant reports while wasting more than a half-million dollars that could have helped the county's most needy children.

Sounding an optimistic note that 2012 would be a year of “hope, optimism and recovery,” San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed delivered his State of the City address at the San Jose Civic Auditorium Thursday night. Hours after being pummeled in the media over an actuary’s claim of inflated pension projections, Reed sounded confident and statesmanlike, saying that he wanted “ to thank the leaders of our employee unions who have remained engaged and stayed at the table for many hours, days and months of difficult discussions.“

Respondents to this weekly column sometimes refer to my writings and beliefs as socialistic due to my general support of teacher unions, targeted use of additional money, and progressive education precepts.  Is Rush Limbaugh a socialist? Have we all succumbed to the opinion of Jonathan Mahler in his recent New York Times article, “The Deadlocked Debate Over Education Reform,” that “false dichotomies have replaced fruitful conversations?” I truly hope not.

Last week in SJI I wrote about the criticality of strong leadership from our candidates running for governor to fix California’s public schools. It will not be the leaders that make the difference, but each of us who are willing to speak out and put our money where our mouth is. The assembly Democrats have a proposal that supports our children and schools, but it will not pass unless we become engaged in the debate right now.

For the number one civil rights issue of our time, there was a distinct lack of passion at the rollout of SJ2020 last Thursday at City Hall. However, the singular goal of the initiative is very bold. Just the fact the event was held at the Council Chambers in the 10th largest city in the United States was significant. Congratulations to San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and Superintendent Chuck Weis for pulling together the community to embrace the mission of becoming the first large urban region in the United States to eliminate the achievement gap in 10 years.