# County Superintendent of Schools — Merced County Compare records and positions simply between Richard Lopez or Ana Boyenga for County Superintendent of Schools — Merced County at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person leads the county office of education. The job is nonpartisan. - Jurisdiction: Merced County - 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/merced-superintendent-of-schools - 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 24, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 95 out of 100 (Very strong), across 4 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Richard Lopez** - **Ana Boyenga** A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Richard Lopez led Merced County's June 2 primary for Superintendent of Schools with 31.26%. That was 12,804 votes. Ana Boyenga took second at 29.54%, or 12,099 votes. She edged out a third candidate by fewer than 1,000 votes. Neither cleared a majority, so the two meet again on November 3. The seat is open. Sitting Superintendent Dr. Steve Tietjen was first appointed in 2017 and elected in 2018 and 2022. He announced in November 2025 that he would not seek reelection. The county superintendent runs the Merced County Office of Education. That office does not run your local school district — it oversees district budgets and can intervene when one is in financial trouble, runs county-wide programs including special education and juvenile court schools, and provides services individual districts are too small to run alone. It is one of the most consequential education jobs most voters have never heard of. This is one of the closest contests on the county part of this ballot, between two candidates who both come from inside the county's school system — Lopez a sitting district superintendent, Boyenga a sitting assistant superintendent. A third candidate, El Nido Superintendent Paula Heupel, finished 1.96 points behind Boyenga for second place and was eliminated; a fourth, recently retired superintendent Alberto Velarde, publicly questioned Lopez's "ethical standing" during the primary while acknowledging his own long-shot odds. Lopez campaigns on school safety, fiscal responsibility, and college-to-career pathways; Boyenga campaigns on third-grade literacy, teacher retention, and career development. ## Richard Lopez Richard Lopez is superintendent of the Merced River School District in Winton, a job that gives him a rare vantage point on the same fiscal-oversight role the county office holds. He is, in his own words, "a product of" Merced County's public schools, and he later served on a local school board before moving into administration (KVPR). At a candidates' forum, he said he plans to keep attending district board meetings in person across the county, since rural communities are "looking for that guidance, looking for that support" (KVPR). On special education funding, Lopez told forum attendees the county's districts should treat it "as a collective" rather than compete separately for scarce resources: "We need to work together" (KVPR). In 2025 an outside audit of his own Merced River School District found deficiencies, including student-activity funds diverted to payroll and cash deposits left unrecorded for months; Merced County officials referred an allegation of misappropriated funds to the state's Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team in March 2026, and that review is ongoing (KVPR). Lopez declined an interview but said in a written statement that "the audit did not identify any misappropriation of funds" and that the district has since "resolved these findings" with county office support (KVPR). He promises to remain visible in the county's smaller, rural districts rather than governing from the county office alone, and to coordinate special-education budgeting regionally instead of district by district (KVPR). No campaign website or additional issue material for Lopez could be located this cycle. **Strengths:** He already runs a school district, the closest job in this race to the county's own oversight role. **Trade-offs:** An outside audit found problems in his district's finances, and a state review of misappropriation claims is still open. **Keep in mind:** He says the problems are already fixed. The state's review is not finished, so voters will decide before that answer is public. ## Ana Boyenga Ana Boyenga is assistant superintendent of educational services at the Atwater Elementary School District, where by her account she oversees roughly 5,000 students across 11 schools, a larger enrollment than either opponent managed as a single-school leader (KVPR). A first-generation immigrant, she worked as a classroom teacher and a principal before moving into district administration (KVPR). She says the county needs a superintendent who plans years ahead: at a candidates' forum she said school boards already have three-year budget projections and "you can already have an idea of where you're going" and adjust spending before a shortfall hits (KVPR). On special education, she has emphasized recruiting more special-education teachers and building stronger instruction and intervention programs (KVPR). No audit, lawsuit or other documented dispute involving her district turned up in available coverage. She promises to recruit more special-education teachers and to strengthen early intervention and instructional support so problems are caught before they compound (KVPR). **Strengths:** She runs a bigger, multi school district than either opponent and pushes multi year budget planning. **Trade-offs:** Coverage of her record comes from one forum and a campaign questionnaire, not independent reporting. **Keep in mind:** No audit or dispute has surfaced about her district. That may reflect a clean record, or just less attention on her race. ## Sources 1. [Merced County elections office — certified June 2, 2026 primary results](https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/CA/Merced/126388/) 2. [Ballotpedia — June 2026 California primary](https://ballotpedia.org) 3. [KVPR — Merced County Superintendent of Schools candidates lean on experience in forum (candidate backgrounds and direct quotes from the May forum)](https://www.kvpr.org/education/2026-05-01/merced-county-superintendent-of-schools-candidates-lean-on-experience-in-forum) 4. [KVPR — Merced County Superintendent of Schools candidate's district under financial review before election (audit findings, FCMAT referral, Lopez's written response)](https://www.kvpr.org/education/2026-05-30/merced-county-superintendent-of-schools-candidates-district-under-financial-review-before-election) ## The rest of the ballot County Superintendent of Schools — Merced County 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, "County Superintendent of Schools — Merced County — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/merced-superintendent-of-schools (sources last retrieved September 24, 2026). 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