Superintendent Bill Habermehl - A Truly Decent Guy in a Truly Indecent Business

Written By SCOTT MARTINDALE and FERMIN LEAL 

 THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

COSTA MESA – For the past decade, Bill Habermehl has served as the unofficial Ed McMahon of the Orange County education scene, bursting into classrooms with balloons and cameras and an entourage to deliver trophies and $15,000 checks to Orange County's Teachers of the Year.

The surprise announcements – done with the same fanfare as a magazine company's sweepstakes giveaways – have provided five of the "best of the best" O.C. teachers each year with a glitzy moment in the spotlight, a chance to shine in a profession that too often feels thankless, said Habermehl, superintendent of Orange County schools.

Bill Habermehl (left)

FILE PHOTO: MARK RIGHTMIRE,  THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Orange County schools Superintendent Bill Habermehl, who has become perhaps the most visible public face of Orange County schools, is retiring. For the past 11 years, he's used his elected position to serve as an unabashed champion and cheerleader for Orange County's public schools.

"Teachers don't get enough recognition; education doesn't get enough recognition," Habermehl said. "The visibility of this award – it's life-changing and it's something that stays with them the rest of their lives."

Habermehl, 69, an unabashed cheerleader and champion of Orange County schools, retired Friday after 11 years as county schools superintendent. He will be replaced by Al Mijares, a former superintendent for the Santa Ana Unified School District.

Habermehl's legacy as head of the county's 500,000 public school students is cemented in his relentless drive to bring visibility and prominence to local schools – most notably, the Teacher of the Year award that he transformed from a subdued weekend awards breakfast into a flashy media event, for which he became the public face and spokesman.

"Despite being underfunded and overregulated, Orange County schools have performed exceptionally well, and I've taken advantage of that," Habermehl said. "I'm always out speaking to business and community groups. I've really made it a point to make sure I was a spokesperson for public education."

Habermehl serves on more than 30 local boards, from Orange County United Way to the Ocean Institute in Dana Point to the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana. He speaks regularly at business and community events, networking and seeking to build partnerships between local schools and private industry.

As elected leader of Orange County public schools, Habermehl has campaigned for a longer school year and a stronger emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math; he also supports ending teacher tenure.

As head of the Orange County Department of Education, Habermehl has helped local school districts maneuver through a series of difficult budget cuts as they have lost more than $1 billion in state funding over the past five years. He has lobbied Sacramento lawmakers to allow for more local control of state funding for schools, and called on the federal government to better fund mandated special-education services.

Habermehl's influence on local education policy, though, is limited because Orange County's 27 school districts are largely autonomous. The Orange County Department of Education's primary roles are to review school district finances and handle payroll. (Habermehl's signature appears on all of the checks.)

Even so, Habermehl has carved out a more prominent role for the county office.

He started a county program called ACCESS for high school dropouts to return to school to earn their diploma. The program, which serves nearly 8,000 students daily and about 17,000 over the course of a year, was designed for students who have fallen so behind on credits that they can't be effectively served by traditional schools.

Before ACCESS, "these guys out there in the field would get them back into school, but when the students came back, they were just a round peg in the square hole – 'Eight weeks into the semester, but here he is!'" Habermehl recalled. "The teacher would say, 'Oh, gee, thanks.' We said we're going to start them any time, any place, anywhere. We're going to rent storefronts, not send them back to school. We hired teachers who specifically were focused on alternative education."

Habermehl also started a home-school mentoring network called the Community Home Education Program to support and train O.C. parents who teach their kids at home.

During Habermehl's 11-year tenure, public school enrollment increased by 1.6 percent, or about 8,000 students, and Orange County schools generally posted year-over-year gains on standardized tests.

Student demographics also shifted. Between 2001 and 2012, whites dropped from 41 percent of the total O.C. student population to 30 percent, Latinos grew from 42 percent to 48 percent, and Asians grew from 12 percent to 14 percent.

Habermehl, a native of south-central Los Angeles, began his teaching career in 1967, as a science teacher and a football and wrestling coach at Garden Grove's Pacifica High School. He initially thought he'd be a teacher for his entire career, he said, but after a few years was asked to take on a temporary administrative assignment in the district office. He loved working in school administration, and moved on to become a high school and school district administrator in Buena Park and Fullerton.

By the early 1980s, he had moved to the county education office in Costa Mesa. When he was appointed to the county superintendent seat in 2001, he was serving as associate superintendent, a non-elected position.

Habermehl has run for reelection three times unopposed – in 2002, 2006 and 2010 – but announced his retirement in May with 2-1/2 years remaining on his third full term in office. He earned $322,284 in total pay last year.

One recent controversy was his decision last year to award pay increases of as much as 7.2 percent to four top administrators in the county education office, including his second-in-command, Deputy Superintendent Lynn Hartline.

Habermehl, who as an elected official has the unilateral authority to award such raises, was harshly criticized by some members of Orange County's school board for raising pay in a tight budget year. Habermehl defended the raises as part of a sweeping departmental reorganization that netted hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings overall.

Since that time, "we've had an excellent discussion with the school board," Habermehl said. "They understand their role and responsibilities, and I understand mine. There was no intent to go around them, but I don't think I communicated very effectively with them about my plan."

Although he's retiring, Habermehl plans to continue advocating for local schools; the O.C. school board recently awarded him the honorary title of superintendent emeritus of Orange County schools.

He also is working with former state Education Secretary David Long to start a consulting business called Connecting Business and Education, which will help businesses that sell educational products to successfully market their wares to schools.

"I'm not just going to sit in a rocking chair and watch the grass grow," Habermehl said. "There are other mountains to climb, other opportunities and challenges out there."

Late last year, in preparation for retirement, he sold his home in Irvine where he'd been living with wife Holly for the past 35 years; they've downsized and relocated to Newport Beach to be closer to their grandkids, he said.

"I want to spend more time with my family, have a nice cup of coffee in the morning and read the newspaper," Habermehl said. "I'm healthy and in relatively good shape. Hopefully, I'll go to the gym more and get better shape. I still have good energy. I really hope to take advantage of that."