SACRAMENTO (AP) – As state schools superintendent, Jack O’Connell has implemented some of California’s most far-reaching education reforms over the past two decades, in large part by brokering deals between Republicans and Democrats.

That’s won him bipartisan praise and helped keep him on even terms with the state’s sensitive and powerful education lobby, despite occasional policy disagreements.

O’Connell, a Democrat overseeing a nonpartisan office, is endorsed by the California Teachers Association. But he didn’t hesitate to compliment Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger when the governor reached a $5.7 billion deal with education groups earlier this month to settle a lawsuit over how much money the state owed public schools.

Some Democrats might have shied away from complimenting Schwarzenegger in a heated election year, but O’Connell gave him his due, said Kevin Gordon, president of School Innovations and Advocacy, a Sacramento firm that lobbies for school district reimbursement.

“He’s the kind of individual who is able to cross party lines on any given problem that’s being faced in education and reach out to the other side. That’s a great asset,” Gordon said. “He’s really pushed and challenged the education community to do better, without alienating them.”

O’Connell, 54, seems to have a resume tailor-made for the job. He’s a former high school history teacher in Oxnard and school board member in Santa Barbara County who later became a state assemblyman and state senator.

None of his opponents in the June 6 primary has mounted a serious political challenge or established a statewide profile. If O’Connell wins 50 percent of the vote in the nonpartisan race, he will be elected outright to a second term. Otherwise, the top two will compete in the November general election.

His opponents are: Daniel Bunting, 74, a retired Sonoma County teacher, principal and superintendent; Sarah Knopp, 28, a Los Angeles high school teacher and Green Party candidate who wants to repeal the high school exit exam; Diane Lenning, 59, an Orange County high school teacher endorsed by conservatives; and Grant McMicken, 61, a Fair Oaks teacher who won a presidential award for excellence in math instruction during the Clinton administration.

During his four years in office, O’Connell’s signature issue has been implementing California’s high school exit exam, which took effect for the first time with this year’s senior class.

He wrote the legislation establishing it as a graduation requirement when he was a state senator and calls it a cornerstone of the state’s academic standards.

An Alameda County Superior Court judge recently ruled in favor of a group of students who sued the state claiming the test was discriminatory, temporarily suspending the effects of the exam and creating uncertainty for high schools. The state has appealed to the California Supreme Court.

“That’s a lost opportunity to hold students accountable, push the system,” O’Connell said. “It’s a disappointment and a disservice to kids who will have a piece of paper without the skills.

“What’s a little frustrating for me is I believe the students that need the most help are going to be the biggest losers, at a time when we’re making closing the achievement gap a real priority.”

O’Connell also helped draft a new curriculum and was behind the push for class-size reduction, accountability standards and expanded access to preschool. He supports Proposition 82, director Rob Reiner’s Preschool for All initiative, also on the June ballot.

“Jack O’Connell has his fingerprints on every major education reform that has happened in nearly 20 years in this state,” said Gordon, the lobbyist.

California’s schools still face intense pressures, particularly from a growing population of non-English speaking and immigrant children the state must educate. That has prompted a continuing debate about the state’s responsibility to foreign-born children who arrive late in their schooling.

O’Connell said part of the schools’ mission should be to “intensively prepare these students for success in our society.

“I want every student to have problem-solving skills, analytical skills, critical thinking skills, be technologically proficient,” he said.

California’s public school system is the nation’s largest, with 6.3 million students, about a quarter of them classified as English learners. The state ranks well below the national average on national test scores and per-pupil funding.

The superintendent has clashed with federal officials and some in the state’s business community over the federal No Child Left Behind Act, at times asking the U.S. Department of Education for more leniency. He wants to credit schools for improvement, even when they fall below yearly targets; he’s had mixed results.

The state Board of Education recently adopted his proposal to raise achievement targets for students in racial and economic subgroups, but business leaders said he didn’t go far enough.

Still, O’Connell has managed to bridge many divides, said Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Merced.

“He approaches education in a nonpartisan fashion,” he said. “This is a time when Sacramento has become very partisan, and there are very few of us that can work in a nonpartisan fashion. We need more of that.”