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School District · Statewide General Election

Contra Costa County Board of Education, Area 2

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

This person holds the Area 2 seat on the 5-member Contra Costa County Board of Education: it sets policy for the County Superintendent of Schools' office, which runs the county's special-education and alternative-education programs and supports and hears appeals from the county's public school districts. A 4-year term.

Contra Costa County's Board of Education has a contested race for its Area 2 seat on November 3, 2026: incumbent Sarah Butler, the board's 2026 president, faces two challengers -- small-business owner and former Orinda school trustee Pamela West, and school psychologist Sibyl Minighini. It's the only county Board of Education seat with real competition this cycle -- Areas 4 and 5 also have expiring terms, but each drew a single, unopposed candidate.

The winner serves a 4-year term on the county's 5-member Board of Education, one of five geographic areas. The board sets policy for the County Superintendent of Schools' office, which runs the county's special-education and alternative-education programs and hears appeals from the county's public school districts. Area 2 covers Canyon, Concord, Lafayette, Moraga, Orinda, Walnut Creek, and parts of Alamo, El Sobrante, and Kensington.

The choice is between continuity and two different kinds of outside experience: Butler points to nearly eight years on the board and its current presidency, West offers eight years on a city-level school board plus a business background, and Minighini brings a school psychologist's classroom-adjacent perspective after an unsuccessful 2024 run for a different district's board. None of the three has held elected office above the school-board level.

Sarah Butler

Sarah Butler is the incumbent Area 2 trustee, on the board since 2018 and its 2026 president. She holds a degree in Environmental Planning and Management from UC Davis and previously served on the Orinda Union School Board from 2012 to 2016. Her stated priorities include school safety, expanded mental-health resources, and equitable access to a quality education for every student.

Strengths

Nearly eight years on the board since 2018, the board's 2026 presidency, and a UC Davis degree in Environmental Planning and Management.

Trade-offs

Her 2026 committee is active but has filed no campaign-finance disclosure yet, and her own campaign site is the primary source for her platform.

Keep in mind

She and challenger Pamela West both previously served on the Orinda Union School Board; no independent news coverage of Butler's specific board votes surfaced in this pass.

Pamela West

Pamela West is a small-business owner challenging Butler for the Area 2 seat, after eight years as a trustee on the Orinda Union School District board. She holds a degree in economics and an MBA and says she wants to bring a collaborative, results-focused approach to the county board. She's endorsed by Sue Severson, Orinda's former mayor and a past Orinda Union School District board president.

Strengths

Eight years of city-level school-board experience, an economics degree and MBA, and a named endorsement from a former Orinda mayor and school-board president.

Trade-offs

No California campaign-finance committee was found registered under her name for this race, and no independent news coverage of her candidacy surfaced in this pass.

Keep in mind

Her campaign site's only outside endorsement is from Sue Severson, a longtime ally from her Orinda school-board years -- not proof of wider support, though not evidence against it either.

Sibyl Minighini

Sibyl Minighini is a school psychologist for San Francisco Unified School District challenging for the Area 2 seat. She ran for two Acalanes Union High School District seats in 2024 and did not win, competing against five other candidates. No campaign website or public platform statement for this race was found in this pass.

Strengths

A school psychologist's classroom-adjacent perspective, distinct from her two opponents' school-board and small-business backgrounds.

Trade-offs

Her most recent bid for office, a 2024 run for two Acalanes Union High School District seats, was unsuccessful; no campaign website or finance committee was found for this race.

Keep in mind

Beyond her employer and a prior unsuccessful school-board run, this dataset found no independent information about her priorities for the county board -- an absence, not a judgment.

Source review: Strong (88/100) · 14 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: Pamela West for Contra Costa County Board of Education -- campaign site (pamwestforcboe.com): her own platform statement, confirming 8 years as an Orinda Union School District trustee, an economics degree and MBA, and a named endorsement from Sue Severson, Orinda's former mayor and a past Orinda Union School District board president and Sarah Butler for Contra Costa Board of Education -- campaign site (sarah-butler.org/meet-sarah): her own platform statement, confirming a degree in Environmental Planning and Management from UC Davis, prior service on the Orinda Union School Board (2012-2016), and trusteeship on the county board since 2018 may have more bias because they are advocacy voter guides compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

  • contracostavote.gov (opens in a new tab)Contra Costa County Elections Division -- "Positions Up for Election, November 3, 2026, General Election": the only county-section contest in the document is County Board of Education Areas 2, 4, and 5 (under Schools) -- no Board of Supervisors, row office, or Superior Court seat appears anywhere, consistent with both Supervisor seats up this cycle (Districts 1 and 4) having been decided outright in the June 2026 primary
  • contracostavote.gov (opens in a new tab)Contra Costa County Elections Division -- "Contest/Candidate Proof List" (8-27-26_candidatelist_detail_final.pdf), the county's post-certification ballot-order-proofing export: shows Area 2 as a 3-candidate contest (Sarah Butler, incumbent; Pamela West; Sibyl Minighini) with each candidate's filed ballot designation and qualification date -- this export omits single-filer contests entirely, which is why Areas 4 and 5 do not appear in it (see cc-candidate-summary-2026)
  • contracostavote.gov (opens in a new tab)Contra Costa County Elections Division -- "Candidate List" (8-14-26_candidatelist_summary_final.pdf), the county's complete qualified-candidate roster including single-filer contests: confirms Area 2 (Sarah Butler, Pamela West, Sibyl Minighini), Area 4 (Mike Maxwell, sole qualified candidate), and Area 5 (Clyde Henry Lewis, Jr., sole qualified candidate)
  • contracostavote.gov (opens in a new tab)Contra Costa County Elections Division -- "Nomination Period Extended" notice (26Nov03_PositionsUpForElection_In-Extension-1.pdf, revised 8/11/26): lists "Contra Costa County Board of Education, Area 5" among the offices extended to Aug. 12, 2026 because no incumbent filed by the regular Aug. 7 deadline -- Areas 2 and 4 do not appear on this list
  • cccoe.k12.ca.us (opens in a new tab)Contra Costa County Office of Education -- "County Board of Education" page: names all five sitting trustees by numbered area (Daniel Nathan-Heiss, Area 1; Sarah G. Butler, Area 2, board president; Yazmin Llamas, Area 3; Mike Maxwell, Area 4; Annette Lewis, Area 5) and each area's term-expiration date, independently confirming Areas 2, 4, and 5 expire in 2026 while Areas 1 and 3 expire in 2028
  • contracosta.news (opens in a new tab)Contra Costa News -- "November Ballot Taking Shape in Contra Costa County" (Aug. 7, 2026): independent local-news roundup of the county's own candidate filings, listing the same three-candidate Area 2 field, Mike Maxwell alone for Area 4, and Clyde Lewis, Jr. alone for Area 5
  • sarah-butler.org (opens in a new tab)Sarah Butler for Contra Costa Board of Education -- campaign site (sarah-butler.org/meet-sarah): her own platform statement, confirming a degree in Environmental Planning and Management from UC Davis, prior service on the Orinda Union School Board (2012-2016), and trusteeship on the county board since 2018
  • pamwestforcboe.com (opens in a new tab)Pamela West for Contra Costa County Board of Education -- campaign site (pamwestforcboe.com): her own platform statement, confirming 8 years as an Orinda Union School District trustee, an economics degree and MBA, and a named endorsement from Sue Severson, Orinda's former mayor and a past Orinda Union School District board president
  • google.com (opens in a new tab)El Cerrito Wire (Facebook) -- "Aug. 7 filing deadline passes with some El Cerrito, ..." post naming the Area 2 field as "incumbent Sarah Butler and challengers Pamela West and Sibyl Minighini" -- independent local corroboration of the county's own candidate list, read from a search-result snippet after the post itself's URL could not be resolved -- Facebook blocks a direct fetch, so this is anchored to the search-engine result that surfaced the post's own text
  • ballotpedia.org (opens in a new tab)Ballotpedia -- Sibyl Minighini (Acalanes Union High School District, At-large, California, candidate 2024): lists a 6-candidate field (Minighini, Wendy Reicher, Peter Catalano, Paul Chopra, Andrew Fontan, Stacey Schweppe) competing for the district's 2 at-large seats in the November 5, 2024 general election; she is not shown among the winners
  • pastresults.contracostavote.gov (opens in a new tab)Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder -- past-results candidate page for Sibyl Minighini: "Ran for High School District Board Member in High School District Acalanes Union against 4 opponents" -- the county's own record of her 2024 run, independent of Ballotpedia's account; the county's opponent count (4) and Ballotpedia's full field (5 other candidates for 2 seats) don't quite reconcile, flagged rather than resolved
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS -- "BUTLER FOR CONTRA COSTA BOARD OF EDUCATION 2026; SARAH" (Filer #1492690), status ACTIVE; a prior 2018 committee (Filer #1410196) is TERMINATED; no Form 460/461/450 electronically filed for the 2025-2026 cycle as of this retrieval
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS -- filer search for "Pamela West": no active 2026 committee found under her name for this race; the only match, "WEST, COMMITTEE TO RE-ELECT PAMELA" (Filer #1291024), is an older, unrelated TERMINATED committee
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS -- filer search for "Minighini": no results -- no campaign committee registered with the state under her name

Last updated August 31, 2026.