Assemblyman Put in Capitol 'Dog House' After Dispute with Cristina Garcia

March 27 turned out to be a definitive day for Assemblyman Kevin Kiley who has now been moved to the "dog house" of the Capitol.

His new cramped corner office was bestowed to him after he "offended" the top Democrat in the California Assembly, Cristina Garcia.

During an education hearing, Kiley 'lashed out over a Democratic proposal to prevent Teach for America members from working in the state’s poorest schools,' the Sac Bee reports.

Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, proposed the bill because she was worried that Teach for America "does more harm than good by enabling schools to cycle inexperienced educators into classrooms."

Teach for America is a nonprofit organization that recruits college graduates for two-year positions in public schools.

Kiley, who is a Teach for America alum, shot back at Garcia and accused her of "drafting an unconstitutional bill that would discourage aspiring teachers from entering the workforce."

“We have 7,000 TFA alums in California who know better than anyone that our public education system is failing our kids,” Kiley said at the hearing. “We have a committee here and a Legislature that is not focused on kids and that operates a default mode of policymaking that’s anti-student, anti-teacher and anti-equity.”

“I’m not (going to) commit to completely changing my bill to please you today,” Garcia said to Kiley.

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon then used his leadership powers after the hearing to reassign Kiley to the "dog house."

“No Assembly member is guaranteed a particular office,” Rendon’s office said of the decision to move Kiley.

Read more about the dispute here and listen for Assemblyman Kevin Kiley on the show today at 5:00 p.m.


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