Sonja Shaw and Richard Barrera, two school board presidents with sharply different alliances, will face off in California’s November runoff for state schools superintendent after Shaw led the primary with 24.5% of votes counted through June 4 and Barrera secur
For California’s next state schools superintendent, the question heading into November is no longer abstract. It’s about who gets to set the rules in public education—and how hard those rules will be pushed.
This week’s primary narrowed the field to two school board presidents who could not be farther apart politically. Republican Sonja Shaw finished first with 24.5% of votes counted through June 4. Democrat Richard Barrera followed with 19.3%. Wendy Castaneda Leal, the third-leading vote-getter, lagged about 10 percentage points behind Barrera, leaving Shaw and Barrera locked in the runoff.
Even with more ballots still to be counted, Shaw’s lead looks sturdy. Barrera is “firmly in the runoff,” setting up a matchup defined by stark differences in tone and priorities for California’s schools.
Shaw, 43, has not typically linked her views on schooling to President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. But she aligns with the Trump administration’s education agenda in areas that have become flashpoints in classrooms and extracurriculars. That includes banning trans-athletes from women’s and girls’ sports and notifying parents when a child raises gender-identity issues at school.
In her home district, Shaw’s record also points toward a more aggressive parental role in education. Under Shaw’s leadership, the school board in Chino Valley Unified—located in San Bernardino County—approved a policy allowing parents to challenge books in school libraries.
Barrera, 59, brings a different kind of political weight to the race. He is the board president of San Diego Unified, the second-largest school system in the state. He previously served as a union official and built close relationships with the teachers union during his long board tenure. That history helped him win the endorsement of the California Teachers Assn. which poured about $5 million into an independent campaign on his behalf.
Barrera directly acknowledged that support when describing his leap ahead of other strong Democratic candidates.
In contrast, Shaw has cast her campaign as populist—an effort against what she calls a failed and self-interested establishment. “I didn’t get into this race because I was a politician,” Shaw said in a statement. “I got into it because I was a mom who saw too many families being ignored. too many classrooms falling behind. and too many elected officials unwilling to stand up for our kids.”.
Barrera, meanwhile, has positioned himself around improving learning through what works on the ground. “We see examples of schools that are delivering,” Barrera said. “The answers are all around us. The challenge for us as a state is to learn from educators in the local community about what is beating the odds and then take those practices to scale.”.
He also framed the election in terms of national politics. Barrera speaks of an “assault” by the Trump administration on immigrant families, and said, “I’m going to stand up to that assault.”
His campaign support is reinforced by his leadership at the school district level. Barrera is a senior adviser to outgoing state Superintendent Tony Thurmond, and he praises Thurmond’s record. Shaw. by contrast. has been willing to bring conflict to the local political stage: she once threw Thurmond out of her local school board meeting.
That divide is already shaping how strategists expect the runoff to play out. Lance Christensen. a conservative education analyst who ran unsuccessfully for the office four years ago against Thurmond. said he is ready for a spirited campaign that “is about to go nuclear.” Christensen praised Shaw’s primary win as an “unabashed parental rights advocate” and said she ran her local school district effectively. He added that if Shaw can withstand “the political maelstrom that is about to hit her with tens of millions of dollars from the entrenched left. ” she could enter the general election with a stronger platform to pressure people in power.
On the Democratic side. veteran political consultant Larry Levine predicted the runway toward November will follow a familiar pattern: Democrats would consolidate around Barrera the way Republicans rallied around Shaw in the primary. Levine said the likely result is a different order of finish in November, and that the California Teachers Assn. will step up with the money to help ensure their candidate wins.
Levine also pointed to how quickly campaigns can shift after voters narrow their choices.
Other Democratic candidates are already lining up. One of the trailing Democrats, former state Legislative leader Anthony Rendon, endorsed Barrera. Rendon said Barrera “is qualified. shares my values. and has spent his career fighting for public education.” Rendon added that Barrera is the candidate who will “stand up to and defeat the dangerous. extremist ideology of Sonja Shaw.”.
Under California law, the state superintendent has limited authority over school districts, which are locally managed. The officeholder instead manages the California Department of Education, which guides local districts and provides partial oversight. Still. the superintendent typically wields a bully pulpit on education issues—meaning the influence often comes not only from policy but from the spotlight.
That spotlight may grow more complicated as well, because the office’s future is uncertain. Gov. Gavin Newsom is pushing a proposal to reimagine the office and redistribute some of its duties.
By the time voters return in November, Shaw and Barrera will have brought their districts’ conflicts and alliances with them. For supporters on both sides. the runoff is less about the mechanics of state education leadership than about what kind of public school system California is willing to build—and what families and educators will be asked to accept along the way.
California schools superintendent Sonja Shaw Richard Barrera Chino Valley Unified San Diego Unified California Teachers Assn. Tony Thurmond parental rights trans athletes book challenges