Ike Ochoa has served on the Santa Maria-Bonita School District board of education for 16 years, but says he still has some unfinished business.

And so, on Nov. 4, Ochoa, 63, will go head-to-head with fellow incumbent David Riloquio and challengers Ken Milo, Daniel Cadena and Craig Beebe in the hopes of snagging one of the three open spots on the school board and the opportunity to serve another four years.

The retired correctional officer said he plans to keep the focus on getting the district up to state standards and keeping budget cuts away from the classroom.

“I truly believe in advocating for children ... I want to complete the job of housing the children and (developing) the curriculum,” Ochoa said. “I feel that I need these coming four years to finish the job.”

Born in Mexico and educated at Mexico's oldest university, Ochoa, who was employed as a philosophy teacher in his native country, came to the United States in 1966 to find work during an economic downturn.

Ten years later, he found himself in Santa Maria and began working as a correctional officer for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department.

The employment allowed Ochoa to support his wife and three children without having to go through the lengthy credentialing process required of California teachers.

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However, he said he missed working in the education field, and wanted to improve the schools for his children, which prompted him to make his initial bid for the Santa Maria-Bonita school board.

If re-elected, Ochoa hopes to see the district be removed from Program Improvement, a sanction the state slaps on schools with consistently low scores on standardized tests.

That, Ochoa said, could translate into a curriculum overhaul overseen by a state-mandated District Assessment and Intervention Team.

And, “the wheels, are already in motion,” he added.

Another curriculum concern will involve easing students into the new eighth-grade algebra requirement.

Earlier this year, the state handed down a mandate requiring algebra - which formerly wasn't introduced to students until their freshman year in high school, with exceptions for particularly advanced students - now be taught to eighth-graders, who must also pass a standardized exam in the subject.

Aside from curriculum issues, Santa Maria-Bonita also has the state budget crisis to worry about, Ochoa said, stating that any more cuts the district makes should stay as far away from the classroom as possible.

To that end, Ochoa said he plans to gather together all the various stakeholders - from teachers to students to parents - to come up with a list of acceptable corners to cut.

“(The budget) is not your problem. It's not my problem,” Ochoa said. “It's our problem. Let's work to solve this together.”

Ochoa said the district also needs to free up as much of its financial resources as possible by resolving the lingering legal issues stemming from the TurnKey debacle.

The Temecula-based TurnKey construction company went bankrupt and allegedly failed to pay its subcontractors hired to work on a slew of major construction projects in the district. Since TurnKey did not have the proper bonds to ensure its subcontractors would get paid in the event the company went belly-up, the district was left holding the bag and now faces numerous lawsuits from those subcontractors.

Though Ochoa said the pending suits prevented him from commenting on exactly what the board plans to do in order to prevent another TurnKey, he did make assurances that safety measure have already been put in place.

“We work for the child and we have to do everything possible for them. They should be our main focus,” he said.

October 29, 2008