Barrera and Shaw meet in the race for state schools chief, a job losing much of its power in 2027

California voters will pick a new superintendent of public instruction on Nov. 3, choosing between two school board presidents who arrived at the runoff with very different priorities and backers.

The candidates

Richard Barrera is president of the San Diego Unified school board and has worked as an adviser to the state superintendent. He was not widely known outside San Diego until the California Teachers Association endorsed him, CalMatters reported.

He describes himself as a Sacramento outsider with a "fresh perspective" and has focused on more money for schools, early childhood education and making it easier to become a teacher. His endorsements include the CTA, United Domestic Workers and California Charter School Advocates.

Sonja Shaw is president of the Chino Valley school board. She has been a prominent opponent of protections for transgender students, and in 2023 she presided over a Chino Valley meeting at which then-Superintendent Tony Thurmond was escorted out during a debate over transgender students' rights, CalMatters reported.

She says classrooms should move away from what she calls "radical ideologies" and get back to academic basics. The California Republican Party, Moms for Liberty and the California Rifle and Pistol Association have endorsed her.

The office is officially nonpartisan, and the two finished as the top two in the June 2 primary.

A shrinking job

The winner will have limited direct control over classrooms in Saratoga or anywhere else. Local school districts set most of their own budgets and curriculum, though the post offers a statewide stage in a system that serves nearly 6 million public school students.

The office is also about to lose much of what it does. Under a new state law, a governor-appointed education commissioner will run the California Department of Education starting in 2027, and many of the superintendent's duties will move to the State Board of Education, according to CalMatters.

Sources

laist.com

calmatters.org

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