Noted Teacher Decides Not to Seek Top State Schools Post

Former East Los Angeles calculus teacher Jaime Escalante, whose success in the classroom gained him big-screen celebrity, said Thursday that he has decided against running for state superintendent of public instruction.

Describing California’s top school job as “a problem with too many variables,” Escalante said in a telephone interview that he had rejected the invitation of a politically diverse group of educators to become a candidate.

“For the last two weeks I’ve been reviewing the negative numbers and the positive numbers, and I decided I wanted to be a zero, I didn’t want to be involved,” said Escalante, 66, who teaches math at a Sacramento high school.

His success in helping students pass the demanding advanced-placement calculus test at a school where few had achieved academic success was made into the 1988 movie “Stand and Deliver” starring Edward James Olmos.

“It’s much better to do the assignment in the classroom and help the kids on a one-to-one basis,” the teacher said.

Former Assemblywoman Delaine Eastin is running in the June primary for a second four-year term as superintendent.

Only one other candidate, former Orange County Supervisor Roger Stanton, is in the race at this point.