Robert Fong
Robert King Fong is a United States Democratic Party politician who is a former member of the Sacramento City Council. He was first elected to that post in 2004 and was reelected in 2008 without opposition. In December 2012, he was replaced by Steve Hansen.
Education
Fong is an alumnus of the University of California where he received his undergraduate degree and the University of California at Davis law school where he received his Juris Doctor.Board of education
Fong served on the Sacramento City Unified School District Board of Education for 6 years from 1998 until 2004. When he initially ran for the board, Fong was part of a slate of candidates put up by the late mayor Joe Serna who was attempting to have more control over the struggling, urban school district. He was the president of the board from 2000 until he resigned to take his council seat in 2004.Issues Facing the Board
During his time on the board, several controversial issues were dealt with including but not limited to charter schools, teacher contracts, and the California Administrative Services Authority, a pension plan for top administrators that many considered legally questionable.With regard to charter schools, the primary issue was the closure of Sacramento High School, the city's oldest high school, and letting St. HOPE, an organization run by Kevin Johnson, a former NBA star who later became Sacramento's mayor, take it over. Due to his support of the conversion, Fong had a recall drive looming against him by the Take Back Our Schools Committee.
In regard to CASA, CalPERS, the public employee retirement system in California, found that it was invalid and that the district owed millions to the retirement system. Another audit found it legally questionable and that it possibly left the district owing ten million dollars in liability.