On October 7, the two candidates for California State Superintendent of Public Instruction faced off in a virtual debate hosted by EdSource.
Richard Barrera and Sonja Shaw are both school board members competing for the state’s top education job. That’s just about where their similarities end.
The race is officially nonpartisan, but this one has a decidedly partisan tone. The California Democratic Party endorsed Barrera, a longtime community organizer.
“ I describe the job as an organizer, and what an organizer does is build coalitions around ideas to make our world a better place, and in this case, to make our public schools better,” Barrera said in response to a moderator question about how he envisions the role.
Barrera has served on the San Diego Unified School Board for 18 years, and is a senior policy advisor at the California Department of Education. If elected, he said he will prioritize unifying communities and setting clear, achievable goals.
The California Republican Party endorsed Shaw, a conservative advocate and relative newcomer to education. She was elected to the Chino Valley Unified School Board in 2022. Last night, she focused much of her time on the need to improve academic outcomes.
“I do not promote failure. Right now, California is failing,” she said. “I have the blueprint, and I have the track record to step in and say ‘enough already.’”
Shaw was a small business owner when she was elected to the school board. If elected to the state role, she said she would advocate for parents’ rights and take politics out of the classroom.
Several times during the debate, Shaw referenced a letter signed by 3,000 University of California faculty members expressing concern that students are arriving unprepared for college-level math.
On a call with KALW today, Barrera said Shaw’s focus on student outcomes during the debate was disingenuous. “What she's all about is the culture wars.”
The two clashed over how to prepare students for college, the community school model, and LGBTQ+ students.
A centerpiece of Shaw’s campaign is her opposition to transgender students playing on sports teams or using bathrooms that match their gender.
“These are girls saying there's a boy or a male on their team or in their restrooms, and they're crying out for help,” Shaw said. “The only real discrimination here are against these females.”
Shaw’s opponents, including Barrera, have criticized her views on LQBTQ+ students and her alignment with President Donald Trump.
Barrera referenced Shaw's support of the President repeatedly during the debate, which she took issue with.
Shaw wrote in an email to KALW today, “The measure of this race is not who can say Trump more often. It is whether the next superintendent will be honest about why so many California students cannot read, write, or do math, and whether they have a record of fixing those problems.”
A June primary knocked out eight other candidates. Shaw won 25% of the primary vote; Barrera received 19%. The Democratic vote was spread across a large pool of candidates.
The debate comes as the state superintendent’s job is changing. Starting in January, the governor will take over running the California Department of Education, a duty that has belonged to the superintendent.
Correction: A previous version of this story noted in one instance that Shaw was "appointed" to the school board. The article has been updated to reflect that she was elected.
