Shaw and Barrera clash over civil rights, funding

Sonja Shaw and Richard Barrera, both school board presidents, are headed to California’s Nov. 3 general election for the nonpartisan superintendent of public instruction seat after dominating a primary. Their campaign is defined by two sharply different vision

When the results came in. it wasn’t the details of California education policy that made them feel like a turning point—it was the speed and scale. Sonja Shaw and Richard Barrera. both school board presidents. had jumped past eight other candidates in the primary election. including three veteran Democratic state legislators.

As of noon Tuesday. with an estimated 1.4 million ballots still to be tabulated. Shaw had received more than 1.5 million votes and Barrera more than 1.3 million votes—numbers that left little doubt about what voters were responding to. The general election for the nonpartisan seat is Nov. 3. and Democratic consultant Andrew Acosta said he expects it to become “super partisan. ” with Democrats voting for Democrats and Republicans voting for Republicans. He drew a contrast to an earlier era: “This isn’t like the old days when it was charter schools versus teachers.”.

Shaw and Barrera may look similar at first glance—mother and activist in Chino Valley, father and board president in San Diego—but their visions for what California schools should do, and who schools are for, land in very different places.

Shaw is the president of the Chino Valley Unified school board. a role she has held for the past four years. She has been a vocal opponent of California policies that allow transgender students to participate in girls sports and forbid teachers from telling parents if they believe a child identifies as LGBTQ+. She also argues California doesn’t need to spend more money on education—she wants more funding to reach classrooms instead.

Barrera is the president of the San Diego Unified board. He supports California’s policies on transgender and LGBTQ+ students and says the state should increase funding for schools.

The candidates’ disagreement is not confined to culture-war headlines. It reaches the practical question voters will be weighing as they decide who leads the California Department of Education: what the state should prioritize, how money should move, and how schools should be guided.

Culture is at the center of their clash. Shaw says she will continue advocating policies that bar transgender students from competing in sports and for parental notification policies tied to a student’s sexual orientation or gender identity. “I will never back down from trying to make sure California’s on the right side of history when it comes to that. ” Shaw said. She framed Barrera’s position in personal terms. saying he is “OK with our daughters having to change in their cars and feeling uncomfortable in their locker rooms. and having scholarships ripped away from them.”.

Barrera. in turn. said his priority as superintendent would be protecting the civil rights of LGBTQ+ students in all school districts. including Chino Valley Unified. “I do believe that what we’ve seen out of Sonya Shaw is an attempt to violate the basic civil rights of certain groups of students. And I will hold those districts accountable, absolutely,” he said.

The fight has been amplified beyond its scale. Transgender athletes, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office, make up a tiny fraction of California’s student population: fewer than 10 transgender athletes participated in K-12 school sports last year among nearly 6 million students statewide.

Both candidates also stake out competing views on ethnic studies. Barrera has been a strong proponent of ethnic studies in San Diego Unified. leading efforts to mandate the subject be taught in high school and to hire more bilingual teachers. Shaw calls ethnic studies divisive. saying: “You see a lot of ideologies being pushed through that class and it’s not even funded.” She adds that it is “not a required class for a reason. ” and argues she would prefer civics. “I would love civics. That’s definitely something we need to focus on instead of all these other classes that obviously are driving the failure here in California.”.

Despite the cultural intensity, both candidates point to the same kind of evidence—academic gains—as proof that their approach works.

Chino Valley Unified’s numbers, based on the most recent available year of data, show improvements between 2022 and 2025. For English Language Arts, the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced rose from 58.91% in 2022 to 62.12% in 2025. Math proficiency increased from 44.58% to 49.79%.

In San Diego Unified, the percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced also rose during the same period. English Language Arts improved from 53.13% in 2022 to 56.17% in 2025, and math proficiency increased from 41.10% in 2022 to 45.3% in 2025.

Graduation rates are also above the state average for both districts. In 2025, San Diego Unified posted a 90.3% graduation rate and Chino Valley Unified reached 95.5%, while the state average was 87.5%.

A recent study ranked California 34th in the nation for education, and both candidates agree schools need significant improvement.

Where they diverge is what kind of improvement California needs most—and whether the answer is money, direction, or both.

Barrera argues California has resources and needs to move them effectively. “California should have the best public school system in the world. ” Barrera said. adding that “We have one of the strongest economies in the world. So, it’s not that we lack the resources that our students and educators need. We just need to get those resources to the classroom.”.

Shaw doesn’t believe California should spend more on education. She argues the state should do a better job directing more resources to the classroom. “I believe that the state should be providing tools to districts instead of us having to pull out of our general fund to do things that are best for kids. ” Shaw said.

Shaw says that if elected, she will focus on improving reading, writing and math achievement; preparing students for success after high school; increasing parental involvement; and preventing transgender students from participating in girls sports or using girls’ locker rooms.

Barrera says he would bring parents. educators. superintendents. school board members and community leaders together to establish shared goals for California schools and hold both schools and state leaders accountable for meeting them. He points to schools with strong academic gains as those that create “collaborative. supportive environments” and he calls “That’s the secret sauce.”.

The contrast extends beyond campaign promises and into how each candidate would run the California Department of Education.

Jack O’Connell. who served as California superintendent of public instruction from 2003 to 2011. said both candidates bring local policy experience. but he believes Barrera would be better suited to lead the department. “With his knowledge of the department. background with labor. his ability to be more collaborative and consensus building. that’s how you get things done. ” O’Connell said. He contrasted that with what he sees as Barrera’s temperament versus another style: “Instead of being a lightning rod and such a polarizing figure on Fox News.”.

Their backgrounds also come with different paths to this race. No candidate has won the office in the past 44 years without the CTA’s backing, and the California Teachers Association is already on record preparing to spend to keep that pattern alive.

Barrera received $5 million in contributions from the California Teachers Association’s independent expenditure committee. part of a late surge of spending in the race. CTA President David Goldberg said the union is prepared to invest whatever resources are required to ensure Barrera wins. He described Barrera’s vision as aligned with the union’s priorities. citing “community schools. investing deeply in educators and students and pushing back on this kind of austerity mindset that we’ve all been living with for so long.” Goldberg said the union’s “300. 000-plus members” would be actively talking with voters in their communities.

Goldberg added that the union feels confident that the message will land. “We’re in every community across the state talking about what our candidate Barrera really stands for,” Goldberg said. “We feel very confident that it’s going to resonate with people. We feel very good about it. We have a great candidate. and we’re going to really try to build some capacity to pull him over the finish line.”.

Barrera also received an endorsement from the California Charter Schools Association, which has often backed candidates opposing CTA-supported races. The charter association spent $40,000 on TV and online advertising supporting his campaign.

Shaw’s fundraising, by comparison, is smaller. Since the beginning of the year. she raised $165. 000 for her campaign. including $10. 000 from the conservative Reform Local Government PAC. according to the California Secretary of State’s office. Representatives of Reform Local Government did not respond to emails from EdSource requesting comment.

Shaw said the disparity in spending is part of the challenge she’s facing. “In comparison to the over $6 million spent by special interest groups and the unions. we didn’t even get close to that money. and we have an overwhelming amount of people who voted in favor of the change on this side. ” Shaw said.

That gap matters because Acosta said the general election will push Shaw to raise more funds. He framed it as the moment the campaign shifts from building a base to persuading everyone else: “It didn’t take her much money to make sure that her team knew that she was part of their team. ” Acosta said. “It’ll take a lot more money if she wants to get everyone else. Now we’re in the OK, now it gets real phase, right?”.

There are also political stakes in who could hold the office next. If Shaw wins, she would be the first Republican to hold the seat since Max Rafferty, who served from 1963 to 1971.

Acosta said Shaw faces a difficult path in California. “It’s hard to see a path in California for a sort of MAGA conservative school board superintendent of public instruction candidate,” he said, citing registration numbers: 45% of registered voters are Democrats and 25% are Republicans.

Shaw disagreed. “They can outspend us, but if I get across and outwork them like I have, they will not win this,” she said. “I just need people to pay attention and trust me. I’m going to put in the work to make people pay attention.”

Behind the votes and the money, the race is still about what Californians want a state education leader to do. Barrera’s argument is that the conversations happening in Sacramento must connect to classrooms. and he has repeatedly pointed to the need to align state policy with local realities. Shaw’s argument is that voters are done with top-down fights and want a superintendent who will fight for specific cultural policies and for direct tools rather than broader spending.

For Barrera. the idea is to build shared goals and keep LGBTQ+ protections intact; for Shaw. the idea is to push back on transgender sports participation and the parental-notification rules she opposes being blocked. The numbers from the primary suggest the divide is not marginal. It’s why voters delivered both candidates to the Nov. 3 ballot with enough force that the general election is already shaping up as the loudest test yet of what California education should look like.

California education superintendent of public instruction Sonja Shaw Richard Barrera Chino Valley Unified San Diego Unified transgender athletes girls sports LGBTQ+ parental notification ethnic studies California Teachers Association CTA EdSource Jack O'Connell