School District · Statewide General Election
Oakland Unified Board of Education, District 6
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
- Alexandra Williams — Teacher/Program Director
- LeAna Powell — Family Advocate/Parent
- Valarie Bachelor — School Board Director · Incumbent
This person holds your area's seat on the Oakland Unified school board: district policy, the budget, and hiring the superintendent.
Three candidates are on the ranked-choice ballot for the District 6 seat on the Oakland Unified school board: incumbent Valarie Bachelor, the board's vice president, against LeAna Powell and Alexandra Williams.
The winner holds one of seven seats governing Oakland Unified: district policy, the budget, and hiring and overseeing the superintendent. Trustee areas share the city council's district lines by charter. A four-year term.
Three different theories of the job: a labor-rooted incumbent who ran on moving power from OUSD's central office to school communities, a parent and former council staffer running on financial transparency, and a working teacher running on measuring student outcomes. Ranked-choice voting lets you rank the field in order of preference rather than picking one name.
Valarie Bachelor
The incumbent District 6 director and the board's vice president, on the ballot as a School Board Director. Elected in 2022, she is a former labor organizer and social-justice advocate and the Oakland director for the tenant-advocacy organization ACCE. When she first ran in 2022 she named shifting power from OUSD's central office to school communities and returning district finances to local control as her priorities; the Oaklandside could not find a current campaign site for her.
Strengths
A term on the board plus its vice presidency, and organizing experience with both labor and tenant advocacy across the district she represents.
Trade-offs
The Oaklandside could not find a current campaign website, so her 2026 platform is less documented than her opponents'.
Keep in mind
Her stated 2022 goal — moving power out of the central office and finances back to local control — is checkable against four years of board decisions, which is a fairer test than a fresh platform.
LeAna Powell
On the ballot as a Family Advocate/Parent. A parent, including of two children at Burckhalter Elementary where she serves on the parent-teacher organization, she previously worked as a City Council staffer and filed an ethics complaint against a former mayor. Her platform promises transparency around district finances, student safety, and support for students with disabilities (per the Oaklandside).
Strengths
City Hall staff experience alongside school-level involvement, and a demonstrated willingness to file an ethics complaint against a sitting mayor.
Trade-offs
No school-district governance record; her institutional experience is city government rather than education.
Keep in mind
Willingness to challenge an administration she worked near is real evidence about temperament — a board seat rewards that differently than a staff job did.
Alexandra Williams
On the ballot as a Teacher/Program Director. She has worked in public, private and charter schools and joined AIMS Academy as a math teacher in September 2024. Her top issue is measuring student outcomes; her site says every decision should be assessed on whether it improves well-being, opportunity and outcomes for Oakland students (per the Oaklandside).
Strengths
Current classroom teaching across public, private and charter settings, and the field's clearest single standard for judging decisions.
Trade-offs
No governance record, and she teaches at a charter school rather than in OUSD — a distinction some Oakland voters weigh heavily.
Keep in mind
An outcomes-first standard sounds neutral but implies choices about what gets measured and what gets cut; ask which decisions it would change.
Financial info
- Small donors
- Individuals
- PACs & committees
- Self-funding
Alexandra Williams
$11,714 raised
- Small donors$1,59514%
- Individuals$8,52477%
- PACs & committees$9008%
- Self-funding$1001%
LeAna Powell
$5,303 raised
- Small donors$1,23825%
- Individuals$3,67573%
- Self-funding$1002%
Valarie Bachelor
$9,813 raised
- Small donors$7137%
- Individuals$8,20084%
- PACs & committees$9009%
1Figures are CA Form 460 filings through 2026-06-30, per the Oakland Public Ethics Commission's e-filed transaction exports, retrieved 2026-08-22.
Source review: Very strong (94/100) · 4 cited sources
Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context.
- oaklandca.gov (opens in a new tab)Oakland City Clerk — Nov 2026 Election Qualified Candidate List (final, in ballot order, with ballot designations)
- oaklandside.org (opens in a new tab)Oakland City Clerk qualified-candidate list for November 3, 2026, as published by The Oaklandside (2026-08-10)
- ballotpedia.org (opens in a new tab)Ballotpedia — City elections in Oakland, California (2026)
- netfile.com (opens in a new tab)Oakland Public Ethics Commission — e-filed campaign-finance transactions (NetFile)
Last updated August 22, 2026.