Richard Barrera, the San Diego school board president backed by California’s powerful teachers union, has won the race for state superintendent of public instruction.
“Last night, voters made their choice,” Chino Valley school board president Sonja Shaw said Thursday as she conceded. “I would be lying if I said my heart wasn’t heavy. As a mother and a protector of children, I feel deeply saddened for the kids. They are the ones who deserve so much better,” she added.
Barrera led with 4,014,765 votes, about 57.6%, to Shaw’s 2,959,230, about 42.4%, a margin of more than 1 million votes, according to results updated Thursday morning. All precincts had reported their ballots.
“More than $10 million was poured into this race against us and we were up against a political machine that has been in place for decades. We didn’t have that kind of money or machinery,” Shaw said. “What we had were people. Mamas, dads, papas, Grammy bears, teachers, parents and everyday Californians who linked arms because they believe our children are worth fighting for.”
Barrera, 59, who has yet to make a public statement, steps into a now largely moot role that looks very different from the one outgoing Superintendent Tony Thurmond held.
Under a law Gov. Gavin Newsom signed this summer, the next governor will appoint an education commissioner to run the California Department of Education beginning in 2027 — removing the department oversight that has long defined the elected post.
The superintendent will instead become a voting member of the State Board of Education and join the California Community Colleges Board of Governors, while remaining a UC regent and CSU trustee.
The new superintendent and the commissioner are expected to spend the first six months of 2027 negotiating a job description to bring back to the Legislature.
Governor-elect Xavier Becerra will appoint the state’s first commissioner of education.
Neither candidate supported the overhaul.
Shaw called it an unconstitutional “power grab” and said she plans to sue to stop future governors from appointing a commissioner, though legal experts have said such a suit is unlikely to succeed.
Barrera was more accepting of the change and has pitched using the office to draft an education budget with local educators and parents before the governor releases his spending plan each January.
Shaw, 44, thanked her husband and two daughters but noted her work isn’t finished.
“I don’t know exactly what God has next, but I know He isn’t finished,” she said. “California’s kids still deserve an education that prepares them for life. Parents still deserve to be heard. Teachers deserve support. And our children deserve adults willing to stand up for them.”
“The election may be over, but the work and the mission don’t end here,” she added.
Shaw and Barrera advanced from a 10-candidate June primary that included several legislative veterans, among them Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi and former Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. Rendon later conceded and endorsed Barrera.
Shaw finished first with 22.6% of the vote, or roughly 1.74 million ballots. Barrera took 20.3%, about 1.56 million.
Shaw, who was elected to the Chino Valley Unified board in 2022 and was a stay-at-home mother before the pandemic, made headlines in 2023 when she presided over a board meeting at which Thurmond was escorted out during a heated debate over a policy requiring schools to notify parents if their child identifies as transgender.
California has since barred districts from enforcing such policies, a law Shaw wants to undo.
She also opposes allowing transgender girls to compete in girls’ sports and backs reinstating the SAT requirement for UC admissions.
She was endorsed by the California Republican Party, Moms for Liberty California and the California Rifle and Pistol Association.
Barrera, a longtime labor organizer, has served on the San Diego Unified board for 18 years and works as a senior adviser for special projects at the state Department of Education.
He supports Prop. 3, which would make permanent the high-earner income tax that funds schools, and has called for more counselors, nurses and smaller class sizes. He opposes bringing back the SAT requirement and supports the state’s LGBTQ+ student protections.
Barrera won the backing of the California Democratic Party and, unusually, both the California Teachers Association and its longtime rival, the California Charter Schools Association.
The CTA spent $8.4 million supporting Barrera and opposing Shaw, according to campaign finance records.
During an October debate hosted by EdSource, Barrera repeatedly tied Shaw to President Donald Trump, while Shaw accused him of “Trump derangement syndrome.”
Barrera has said Shaw used her platform to divide people and bully vulnerable students; Shaw has argued Barrera treats student outcomes as a talking point.
The Post has reached out to Barrera for comment.
