Your guide to the California state schools superintendent race: Barrera vs. Shaw

The office of state superintendent of public instruction is classified as nonpartisan, but that’s not how the candidates line up: Sonja Shaw is a conservative Republican whose views align closely with those of the Trump administration; Richard Barrera is a liberal Democrat backed by the California Teachers Assn. and closely aligned with its views.

They are vying for an office with little clear authority and an uncertain future. In June, the Legislature signed off on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to reshape the position. By nearly all accounts, the state superintendent’s power has been reduced — and the authority of the office already was somewhat limited. Many of the new duties have yet to be worked out.

But that doesn’t mean the two candidates are any less motivated. And the California Teachers Assn., as the main source of campaign spending, also is invested in the outcome.

Leaving the office is two-term incumbent Tony Thurmond, who was barred by term limits from serving again and ran unsuccessfully for governor.

Although the contest is defined as nonpartisan — and party affiliations won’t be listed on the ballot — the candidates’ affiliations are likely to decide the race, in the view of political analysts.

In the primary, voters appeared to hew closely to political party lines. Shaw finished first with 22.6% of the vote — apparently consolidating the support of conservatives and Republicans. Barrera, who had 20.3%, split a much larger swath of more liberal votes with six other competitive Democrats. Together the Democrats in the primary garnered 67.6% of the vote.

Democratic voters generally are expected to consolidate behind Barrera in the general election and sweep past the smaller number of Republicans. Shaw hopes to beat the odds, however, by appealing to independents and centrist Democrats, especially with positions on culture-war issues that she thinks will resonate in her favor with parents.

The state superintendent always has had a challenging role — with limited authority over school districts, which are locally managed. Instead, the officeholder managed the California Department of Education, which guides local school districts and also provides partial oversight. In that capacity, the state superintendent also worked in close conjunction with the state board of education — appointed by the governor — and often in concert with the governor and Legislature.

But under a new distribution of powers, the next state superintendent will lose control over the education department. Newsom has consolidated authority over education under the governor, and the education department now will be run by an appointee of the governor. The elected superintendent is reimagined as a student “champion” who would analyze and report on the effectiveness of the education system and also take on an advocacy role.

The Times submitted surveys to the candidates. Unedited excerpts from the surveys, in which candidates lay out detailed goals and policy analysis, can be found at the links below.

Barrera

Shaw

Aligned with their parties

Shaw, 44, is the president of the Chino Valley Unified Board of Education, overseeing a relatively large school system of 26,000 students in San Bernardino County.

Barrera, 59, is the president of the San Diego Unified Board of Education, which governs the state’s second-largest school system with about 113,000 students. Barrera also serves as a senior adviser to state Supt. Thurmond, whom Shaw has sharply criticized.

Both are parents. Barrera’s children are grown; Shaw’s still are in school.

Shaw broadly characterizes the public education system as failing because of liberal Democratic policies, although she praises the quality of the public school system over which she presides. On the culture-war front, she supports flag bans at schools — which were conceived to target gay pride flags — and book restrictions that target content deemed as sexually obscene.

She became politically activated by the pandemic’s prolonged school closures, COVID vaccine mandates and mask mandates — all of which she opposed.

Despite a consistent policy alignment with the Trump administration, Shaw, a longtime religious conservative and a small business owner, objects to any implication that she is falling into line behind Trump or that she is subservient to his policies.

“I don’t put loyalty behind a person,” Shaw said. “I put my my effort and my love and my everyday sacrifice behind protecting kids, whether it’s this president, the next president or whatever. If they’re on the right side of protecting kids, then, of course, when it comes to the issues, I’m all in. I really honestly hate the division. In my heart, if we just speak on our issues, it’ll bring people together. We could see more eye to eye. We can actually have decent conversations, right?”

At times, Shaw presents a sharp rhetorical style, as when she characterized a September court ruling that placed limits on when school officials would have to notify parents about their child’s gender issues. Shaw believes such notifications should be mandatory. Her first emphatic comment, in an interview and a social media post after the hearing, which she attended, was: “Kangaroo courts. Dishonorable judges.”

Shaw sidesteps discussions about Trump’s immigration enforcement. “Districts should follow the law, communicate clearly with families and keep their attention on the classroom ... That’s where our energy belongs,” she said.

Barrera, in contrast, calls Trump’s immigration raids harmful.

“This assault on our immigrant families by the Trump administration absolutely is a real issue that affects students and affects educators,” he said. “And I’m going to stand up to those assaults, and Californians will continue to stand up to those assaults.”

Barrera defends the quality of public schools and advocates for increased funding and expanding what works from successful campuses to those with poorer academic results.

Barrera sees the superintendent as a convener and organizer to advance initiatives that benefit students — with or without state funding or direction from the governor and Legislature.

As an example, he cited the education department’s effort to promote affordable workforce housing projects on school district property. He also cited efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism, for which the department gathered a working group that has produced guidance for schools.

Barrera has a long career in community and labor organizing and worked as a senior official in two unions. That background, combined with his 18 years on the San Diego school board, where he has been a union ally, made him an ideological fit with CTA. Neither Barrera nor CTA had to compromise values or shift positions to join forces for this campaign.

“I have absolute respect and … a long demonstrated partnership with the unions that represent our educators,” Barrera said, “and believe strongly that unions are democratically elected, governed institutions where the educator voice comes out most powerfully, and so for me, the unions are a partner and will always be a core voice in influencing the way that I make decisions.”

Fundraising data will be updated regularly until the election.

Shaw called education Newsom’s biggest failure as governor.

“On his watch, academic outcomes have declined while the state focused on everything but the basics. When districts tried to course-correct, the response from his administration was litigation instead of support. He signed laws that cut parents out of major decisions in their children’s lives and backed policies that put ideology ahead of student well-being,” she said.

Shaw also is critical of outgoing Supt. Thurmond.

“In one of the wealthiest states in the country,” Shaw said, lagging student achievement “is not a funding problem. It’s a leadership problem. Under his watch, the focus shifted away from academic results and toward political priorities. The state fought parents, defended policies that put girls at a disadvantage and ignored clear signs that students were falling behind.”

Barrera praised Newsom for treating education as a “core priority,” and especially for creating a new public school grade level: transitional kindergarten for 4-year-olds.

However, he criticized Newsom for holding back $3.9 billion in funding this year that, under state law, typically would be directed toward education. Newsom defended the maneuver as justified because of the state’s potentially volatile revenue outlook and the need to provide resources to this year’s budget.

“Even when districts ultimately receive the money, that kind of maneuver complicates cash flow, raises uncertainty and pushes districts toward short-term decisions rather than stable strategies,” Barrera said.

Barrera praised Thurmond for helping to expand community schools, which provide academic support and nonschool services to students and families; for staying focused on whether policies and resources are reaching students with the greatest needs; and for defending students’ civil rights “in a period when many states have moved in the opposite direction.”

In their candidate survey, Barrera and Shaw reviewed a list of policy statements related to parent notification of a child’s gender identity and then choose the statement that most closely fits their view. Here is what they chose.

Shaw: While there should be a legal obligation, district officials must cite documented instances, by courts or law enforcement, of abuse or mistreatment to withhold this information in extremely rare circumstances.

Barrera: The aspiration should be to fully inform parents, but the child’s wish should carry the greatest weight, especially as the child grows older.

California law allows sports participation based on gender identity, meaning transgender athletes have a right to participate in girls’ and women’s sports. Recently, the California Interscholastic Federation enacted a new policy for track and field competitions — offering honors and slots in competitions both to transgender athletes and to any biologically female athletes they would have displaced.

However, this approach affects only track and field and not team sports.

Barrera supports state law and agrees with allowing transgender athletes to participate on the teams of their self-identified gender.

“The practical work is implementation: Districts need clear guidance on their obligations, consistent coordination with the relevant athletic governance bodies, and a school climate where students can participate without being targeted,” he said.

For Shaw, this issue is central to her campaign.

“Girls are losing roster spots, medals and scholarships. Some don’t even feel comfortable using their own locker rooms, choosing to change in their cars before games rather than be forced to undress in front of boys. That’s not fairness. That’s failure,” she said.

Shaw demonstrated at a track meet to oppose the participation of a trans athlete — which won her plaudits from supporters who felt she was standing up for girl athletes, but criticism from those who felt she was publicly targeting a child for harassment.

Shaw consolidated conservative Republican support in the primary with her campaign raising $399,000. Since the primary she has raised at least $187,000.

Barrera’s campaign collected $274,000 in primary contributions. Since the primary, Barrera’s campaign has raised at least $481,000.

Barrera has the overwhelming advantage in independent expenditures — spending by outside groups on behalf of political candidates. The biggest contributor is CTA, which spent more than $5 million in the primary, covering the cost of mailers, text message campaigns and TV, radio, newspaper and digital ads, among other things.