City of Berkeley · Statewide General Election

Berkeley Unified School Board

Draft candidate list — early preview until the state’s official list publishes on August 27, 2026.

This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.

On the ballot

Sandy Park — Education Consultant
Jennifer Shanoski — Incumbent
Ka'Dijah Brown — Incumbent

This person would hold one of three Berkeley Unified school board seats up this cycle, alongside directors not up this cycle: district policy, the budget, and hiring the superintendent. A 4-year term, decided by plurality vote -- not ranked-choice.

Exactly three candidates -- incumbents Ka'Dijah Brown and Jennifer Shanoski, and newcomer Sandy Park -- qualified for Berkeley Unified's three open school board seats; all three are effectively elected outright.

This is a quiet cycle for Berkeley Unified: Berkeleyside reports the Aug. 7, 2026 nomination deadline closed with exactly three filers for the three open seats, meaning no competitive race this November. Separately, and not on this November ballot, the board this summer appointed former board member Beatriz Leyva-Cutler to fill out the remainder of a different seat -- vacated when Ana Vasudeo left to join the Alameda County Board of Education.

Ka'Dijah Brown

Ka'Dijah Brown grew up in Berkeley, attended Berkeley public schools through Berkeley High (class of 2009), and now teaches fifth grade at a charter school in Richmond. First elected to the board in 2018, she was chosen by her fellow directors as board president in December 2021 -- at 30, the board's youngest-ever president and, at the time, its only sitting classroom teacher -- and continues to lead the board as of this cycle. Her ballot designation is "Incumbent."

Strengths

Board leadership experience (president since 2022) plus a still-active classroom-teaching role that keeps her directly connected to what BUSD's policies affect day to day.

Trade-offs

As board president, she owns the board's recent record most directly -- including this year's superintendent transition and the Vasudeo-seat appointment process.

Keep in mind

Being both a sitting teacher and a school-board member is a real, distinctive combination, but this dataset found no independent reporting weighing whether it creates any conflict-of-interest questions.

Jennifer Shanoski

Jennifer Shanoski is a sitting Berkeley Unified school board member seeking a second term; her ballot designation is "Incumbent." Her committee, Re-Elect Shanoski for Berkeley School Board 2026, reported $5,410 in monetary contributions and $662 in expenditures for the first half of 2026, plus $19,140 in public-financing matching funds from the city -- more than triple her itemized contributions.

Strengths

A completed first term plus the field's largest fundraising total, reflecting an active, well-resourced incumbent campaign even in an uncontested race.

Trade-offs

This dataset found no independent 2026 news profile of her specifically, beyond Berkeleyside's own roundup coverage of the race overall.

Keep in mind

Heavy fundraising in a guaranteed-win race is not itself evidence of anything about her record -- Berkeley's public-financing matching-funds program pays out based on qualifying small-dollar contributions regardless of whether a seat is contested.

Sandy Park

Sandy Park describes herself, on her own campaign site, as the mother of three BUSD students and a community organizer who has worked as an educator, school administrator, and consultant to school districts around California; she previously served on Berkeley's Peace and Justice Commission. Her ballot designation is Education Consultant. Her committee, Sandy Park for Berkeley Unified School District Director 2026, reported $1,860 in monetary contributions and $138 in expenditures for the first half of 2026.

Strengths

A multi-role background across education (teaching, school administration, district consulting) plus direct experience as a current BUSD parent.

Trade-offs

As the only non-incumbent in the race, she has no board voting record, though she also arrives without any incumbent's institutional decisions to answer for.

Keep in mind

Her professional biography is drawn from her own campaign site -- an accurate self-description, but not independently verified by outside reporting in this pass.

Source review: Strong (87/100) · 10 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context; advocacy or endorsement sources are treated as attributed perspective.

Review note: Sandy Park's own 2026 campaign site (sandyparkforberkeley.com): self-description, attributed in text -- she is the mother of three BUSD students and a community organizer who has worked as an educator, school administrator, and consultant to school districts around California, and previously served on Berkeley's Peace and Justice Commission. may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

berkeleyca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Berkeley -- City Clerk Mark Numainville's signed "Nominees for Public Office" notice for the Nov. 3, 2026 General Municipal Election (dated Aug. 19, 2026): lists all 23 candidates across all seven Berkeley races in ballot order with their exact ballot designations -- Auditor, Council Districts 1/4/7/8, Rent Stabilization Board Commissioner, and School Board Director.
alamedacountyca.gov (opens in a new tab)Alameda County Registrar of Voters -- own JSON API behind its "Candidate List" web app (electionId 260 = General Election - 11/03/2026, Official): the candidatelist/260 endpoint returns every race category countywide with no County category at all (zero Board of Supervisors/row-office/judicial seats on the Nov. 2026 general), and the racelist/260/600 endpoint names all 46 City-category races countywide, including the exact seven Berkeley races (four Council districts, Auditor, Rent Stabilization Board, School Directors) with their raceIds and vote-for-N seat counts -- confirming Alameda County publishes a unified countywide candidate document, unlike Santa Clara County.
alamedacountyca.gov (opens in a new tab)Alameda County Registrar of Voters -- the same candidatelist app's per-race candidate-detail view (POST to /rov_app/candidatelist/ with electionId=260 and each Berkeley raceId), queried directly for all seven Berkeley races: returns each candidate's exact ballot designation, filing agency, and on-ballot status -- the same roster as the City Clerk's own Notice of Candidates, independently confirming all 23 names and designations.
berkeleyca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Berkeley -- "Candidate Information" elections page: states which offices are elected on the presidential cycle (Mayor; Council Districts 2, 3, 5, 6) versus the gubernatorial cycle (Auditor; Council Districts 1, 4, 7, 8) -- both alongside Rent Board and School Board, which are elected every cycle -- and states the vote-threshold rule: Mayor/Auditor/Council require ranked-choice majority; Rent Board/School Board are decided by plurality.
berkeleyca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Berkeley -- "Voting Information" elections page: states in full how Berkeley's ranked-choice voting works for Mayor, City Council, and Auditor (voters may rank up to five choices; last-place elimination repeats until one candidate has a majority) and that Rent Stabilization Board and School Board are decided by plurality vote instead, "typically multiple candidates elected at each election."
berkeleyside.org (opens in a new tab)Berkeleyside -- "Election 2026: Who's running for Berkeley City Council, school board and more" (originally published Aug. 14, 2026, updated Aug. 19, 2026 to report Fred Feller's withdrawal from the District 8 race), read in full: profiles every 2026 candidate across all seven Berkeley races by name, occupation, and background; reports incumbent Rashi Kesarwani (D1), Cecilia Lunaparra (D7), and Lori Droste's since-2022 successor context are not seeking reelection; and reports Rent Board incumbent Vanessa Marrero's disqualification from the ballot over a signature shortfall and her stated plan to challenge it.
netfile.com (opens in a new tab)City of Berkeley's own NetFile-hosted public campaign-finance portal (aid=BRK), queried directly via its own QuickNameSearch and filings/byCandidate JSON API for all 23 2026 candidates, with each candidate's most recent 2026 FPPC Form 460 (the Jan. 1-June 30, 2026 semi-annual statement) downloaded directly via the portal's own CampaignDocuments/download endpoint and read for its actual reported totals. Real H1 2026 totals (monetary contributions raised / total expenditures / public-financing matching funds received, where applicable): Jenny Wong (Auditor) $6,916 / $1,109; Laura Babitt (D1) no 2026 committee Form 460 on file yet, only a Form 410/501 -- her filings show active participation in the city's public-financing matching-funds program; Ross Bernet (D1) $4,449 / $209; Moni Gangopadhyay (D1) $3,307 (incl. $500 nonmonetary) / $2,163; Steve Kromer (D1) no committee located; Daria Wrubel (D1) $120 / $0; Igor Tregub (D4) $10,287 / $3,405, plus $20,670 in public matching funds; Majdi "Gaith" Abuhamdieh (D4) no Form 460 on file, only a Form 410/501; Aidan Hill (D7) $1,102 / $257 on his current District 7 committee (a separate, older "Aidan Hill for Berkeley City Council 2022" committee also remains on file from a prior run, not further researched here); Syrak Micael (D7) $5,698 / $4,444, plus $12,600 in public matching funds; Mark Humbert (D8) $1,630 / $56; Michael Wallman and Fred Feller (D8) no Form 460 on file, only a Form 410/501 each; Mari Mendonca (D8) an active committee reporting $0 contributions and $0 expenditures this period; Carole Marasovic (Rent Board) an active committee reporting $0 contributions and $0 expenditures this period; Avery Arbaugh (Rent Board) no 2026 Form 460 on file, only records from an unsuccessful 2024 Rent Board run; Ida Martinac (Rent Board) no 2026 Form 460 on file yet, only a Form 410/501; Nathan Mizell (Rent Board) an interim Jan. 1-May 10, 2026 report showing $0 contributions and $0 expenditures; Vylma Ortiz and Derek Rodriguez (Rent Board) no Form 460 on file, only a Form 410/501 each; Sandy Park (School Board) $1,860 / $138; Jennifer Shanoski (School Board) $5,410 / $662, plus $19,140 in public matching funds; Ka'Dijah Brown (School Board) filed her new 2026 committee's organizing paperwork July 23, 2026, after the H1 reporting window closed, so no H1 2026 Form 460 exists for it yet.
en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia's Berkeley, California article -- 2020 census population (124,321), the 4th-largest city in Alameda County.
berkeleyside.org (opens in a new tab)Berkeleyside -- "At 30, Ka'Dijah Brown is Berkeley school board's youngest president -- and its only teacher" (by Ally Markovich, March 2, 2022), read in full: Brown grew up in Berkeley and attended Berkeley public schools through Berkeley High (class of 2009), teaches fifth grade at a Richmond charter school, was first elected to the board in 2018, and was chosen by her fellow directors as board president in December 2021 after a year as vice president.
sandyparkforberkeley.com (opens in a new tab)Sandy Park's own 2026 campaign site (sandyparkforberkeley.com): self-description, attributed in text -- she is the mother of three BUSD students and a community organizer who has worked as an educator, school administrator, and consultant to school districts around California, and previously served on Berkeley's Peace and Justice Commission.

Last updated September 1, 2026.