53 of 58 counties in California elect a Superintendent of Public Instruction. Here in Orange County, our elected Superintendent oversees a County Department of Education with an annual budget exceeding $350 million and an organization of nearly 1,500 employees. This is an important position, and it comes with a salary of more than $300,000 (more than the Governor) and a total compensation (including a very generous pension) of more than a half million dollars annually. Having an elected Superintendent makes sure that this bureaucracy is accountable to all of us – the public.
Now what would you say if I told you that our elected Superintendent Al Mijares has not been to the office nor apparently performed any work whatsoever since December… of 2022! Let me say this again, Mijares has literally not stepped foot into the Department of Education (or anywhere else for work) for some fifteen months! You can read the Voice of Orange County’s news story on this here.
Superintendent Mijares left abruptly. He did not share publicly that he was doing so and has still never issued any public statement to the public on why he is not reporting for work. In his place he has left unelected bureaucrats in charge of – themselves. These individuals freely spend public money and draw public salaries, operating with impunity and without transparency or accountability.
As taxpayers, you have a right to know how your money is spent. But equally as important, you have the right to have the person you elected to oversee this agency actually doing their job, accountable to you.
Just five of the top bureaucrats at the OCDE collectively bring in well over $1 million annually, plus benefits. They also have not put out any public statements about the vanishing act being performed by Superintendent Mijares. It appears they have everything to lose by allowing a little sunshine into what’s going on in the Department. Not one of these senior Department officials, nor anyone else, has said a peep. All are covering for their long-absent boss. It begs questions like – who approves the raises for those that would normally report to the absent Superintendent? How much are salaries going up throughout the bureaucracy in his absence?
As unelected public sector workers, it’s not just that they don’t answer to anyone; they also have no competition. Anyone in the private sector knows that if they’re not at least productive enough to cover the cost of their employment, they lose their job. They have no incentive to rock the boat. Who doesn’t dream of going to work and the lights are off in the corner office? A great gig if you can get it.
Context matters, and it is important to note that Mijares was the chosen candidate of the public sector unions representing all of these public employees at the Department of Education. And it is important to know that if Mijares were to actually resign his office then the elected members of the County Board of Education would select his replacement (until the voters weighed in at an election). It’s worthy of note that the five elected Board of Education members were all elected, despite being opposed by the unions. Of course, the Board has repeatedly inquired as to the status of Mijares and have asked him to come before them to explain the situation. The Superintendent has not done so.
How long can someone just not show up for work? Who is actually empowered to do anything about this? Supposedly staff at the department have recently started to say Mijares is ill. But is there is a certain point at which the public’s right to have their elected representative doing their job, in this position, has to be the priority? Mijares has more than enough time in the pension system to retire with very generous benefits, but he chooses to not do so, and in fact he is building up more pension benefits while not showing up.
After this long without the elected Superintendent showing up for work, there should be a hue and cry for his resignation, or removal. Frankly, the elected District Attorney should look into this matter, and make his own public statement of the findings of an investigation.
What if the Governor disappeared for over a year? One of our United States Senators? What about a Mayor? Or even a local school board member? Maybe because most voters do not think about their elected Superintendent, that it is an “out of sight, out of mind” situation. However, what Mijares is doing (or in this case what he is not doing) is totally unacceptable and he needs to be held accountable. And he needs to resign immediately.
Jon Fleischman is the President of the Fleischman Consulting Group. His firm specializes in ballot measure and other political work and is active in over 15 states around the country. His and his wife and his school-aged children reside in Yorba Linda.
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