# Contra Costa County Board of Education, Area 2

Compare records and positions simply between Pamela West, Sarah Butler, or Sibyl Minighini for Contra Costa County Board of Education, Area 2 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election 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. The term is four years.

- Jurisdiction: School District
- Election: November 3, 2026 California general election
- Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements.
- Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/contra-costa-boe-area-2
- Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/
- Sources last retrieved: September 7, 2026
- Source-objectivity score: 88 out of 100 (Strong), across 14 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology

## On the ballot

- **Pamela West** — Small Business Owner
- **Sarah Butler** — Governing Board Member, Contra Costa County Board of Education, Area 2 · Incumbent
- **Sibyl Minighini** — School Psychologist

A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.

Contra Costa County's Board of Education has a contested race for its Area 2 seat on November 3, 2026. Incumbent Sarah Butler is the board's 2026 president. Butler faces two challengers. Pamela West is a small-business owner and former Orinda school trustee. Sibyl Minighini is a school psychologist. It is 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. They have been on the board since 2018 and are its 2026 president. They hold a degree in Environmental Planning and Management from UC Davis. They previously served on the Orinda Union School Board from 2012 to 2016. Their stated priorities include school safety and expanded mental-health resources. They also name equitable access to a quality education for every student.

**Strengths:** Nearly eight years on the board since 2018. Butler holds the board's 2026 presidency. They have a UC Davis degree in Environmental Planning and Management.

**Trade-offs:** Butler's 2026 committee is active but has filed no campaign-finance disclosure yet. Their own campaign site is the primary source for their platform.

**Keep in mind:** Butler and challenger Pamela West both previously served on the Orinda Union School Board. No independent news coverage of Butler's specific board votes was found.

## Pamela West

Pamela West is a small-business owner challenging Butler for the Area 2 seat. West spent eight years as a trustee on the Orinda Union School District board. They hold a degree in economics and an MBA. They say they want to bring a collaborative, results-focused approach to the county board. They're endorsed by Sue Severson. Severson is Orinda's former mayor and a past Orinda Union School District board president.

**Strengths:** Eight years of city-level school-board experience. West has an economics degree and an MBA. They name an endorsement from a former Orinda mayor and school-board president.

**Trade-offs:** No California campaign-finance committee was found registered under their name for this race. No independent news coverage of their candidacy was found.

**Keep in mind:** Their campaign site's only outside endorsement is from Sue Severson. Severson is a longtime ally from West's Orinda school-board years. That is not proof of wider support. It is not evidence against it either.

## Sibyl Minighini

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

**Strengths:** A school psychologist's classroom-adjacent perspective. That is distinct from her two opponents' school-board and small-business backgrounds.

**Trade-offs:** Her most recent bid for office was a 2024 run for two Acalanes Union High School District seats. It was unsuccessful. No campaign website or finance committee was found for this race.

**Keep in mind:** Her employer and a prior unsuccessful school-board run are the only records found. No independent information about her priorities for the county board was found. That is an absence, not a judgment.

## Review notes

- 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.

## Sources

1. [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](https://www.contracostavote.gov/wp-content/uploads/26Nov03_PositionsUpForElection.pdf)
2. [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)](https://www.contracostavote.gov/wp-content/uploads/8-27-26_candidatelist_detail_final.pdf)
3. [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)](https://www.contracostavote.gov/wp-content/uploads/8-14-26_candidatelist_summary_final.pdf)
4. [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](https://www.contracostavote.gov/wp-content/uploads/26Nov03_PositionsUpForElection_In-Extension-1.pdf)
5. [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](https://www.cccoe.k12.ca.us/About-CCCOE/County-Board-of-Education/index.html)
6. [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](https://contracosta.news/2026/08/07/november-ballot-taking-shape-in-contra-costa-county/)
7. [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](https://www.sarah-butler.org/meet-sarah)
8. [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](https://www.pamwestforcboe.com/)
9. [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](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Pamela+West%22+Contra+Costa+County+Board+of+Education)
10. [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](https://ballotpedia.org/Sibyl_Minighini_(Acalanes_Union_High_School_District,_At-large,_California,_candidate_2024))
11. [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](https://pastresults.contracostavote.gov/)
12. [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](https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Misc/filerSearch.aspx?SEARCH=Butler)
13. [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](https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Misc/filerSearch.aspx?SEARCH=Pamela%20West)
14. [California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS -- filer search for "Minighini": no results -- no campaign committee registered with the state under her name](https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Misc/filerSearch.aspx?SEARCH=Minighini)

## The rest of the ballot

Contra Costa County Board of Education, Area 2 is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/

## How to cite this page

Vote or Else, "Contra Costa County Board of Education, Area 2 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/contra-costa-boe-area-2 (sources last retrieved September 7, 2026).

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