Marshall Tuck

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. 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. and boasted the Parent College, a parent engagement program. 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. News coverage of the Partnership's 10-year history noted it as a "unique turnaround model is driving big gains at struggling campuses. Tuck continues to serve as a member of the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools' Board of Directors.

Tuck pledged not to accept any contributions from PACs or corporations, 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. 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. It was discovered in January 2018 that Tuck had accepted donations from an anti-gay activist. The campaign returned the money under pressure from Equality California, the largest state LGBTQ organization in the United States.

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. 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.”

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

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

Marshall Tuck is an American educator and politician. He has served as CEO of Antonio Villaraigosa's Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, former and as President of charter school chain Green Dot Public Schools. Tuck was a candidate for California State Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2014 and 2018, losing in the general election in both races.

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, the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Sacramento Bee, the Fresno Bee, the San Jose Mercury News, and the East Bay Times, among others.

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. 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. 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.

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.