School District · Statewide General Election
San Diego County Board of Education, Trustee Area 5
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
- Rick Shea — Incumbent
- Bianca Ragonesi-Lasche
This person is one of five members on the board overseeing the San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE), which supports the county's local school districts with fiscal oversight, alternative-education and juvenile-court schools, teacher credentialing review, and charter-school appeals -- it does not run any individual district's classrooms directly. A 4-year term.
Incumbent Rick Shea, the county Board of Education's vice president and a member since 2015, faces challenger Bianca Ragonesi-Lasche for the Trustee Area 5 seat. Shea won a majority of June's three-candidate primary vote, but the race still goes to a November runoff under the county's rules for this office.
This person is one of five members overseeing the San Diego County Office of Education, which supports the county's local school districts with fiscal oversight, alternative-education and juvenile-court schools, and charter-school appeals -- it doesn't run any individual district's classrooms directly. A 4-year term.
Shea is campaigning on continuity and institutional knowledge from more than a decade on the board, including its current vice presidency. Ragonesi-Lasche's platform was not found in this pass -- unlike Trustee Area 3's challenger, she has not built a public campaign website or Cal-Access committee that this research could locate, leaving her June second-place finish as the clearest public signal of her support.
Rick Shea
Rick Shea, 76, is the current vice president of the San Diego County Board of Education, an Encinitas native who has served on the board since 2015 and previously worked for the San Diego County Office of Education and as a teacher.
Strengths
Eleven years on the board, including its current vice presidency, plus direct prior employment at SDCOE itself, give him institutional knowledge few challengers could match.
Trade-offs
Like Muñoz in the neighboring race, Shea won a primary majority (58.9%) that county rules still send to a second round -- a margin that would settle a Supervisors race outright but not this one.
Keep in mind
His active 2026 campaign committee is a carried-over, renamed version of his 2022 re-election committee, not a newly filed one, and it shows no itemized 2025-2026 contributions or expenditures.
Bianca Ragonesi-Lasche
Bianca Ragonesi-Lasche is a challenger who finished second in June's three-candidate primary with 30.2% of the vote. No campaign website, published platform, or Cal-Access committee for her was found in this pass.
Strengths
A 30.2% primary finish against a sitting board vice president, with no visible campaign infrastructure found, suggests grassroots recognition or dissatisfaction with the incumbent.
Trade-offs
Without a campaign website, platform, or finance filing, voters have no independent way to learn what she'd prioritize on the board.
Keep in mind
This is a documentation gap, not a finding about her candidacy -- if her campaign publishes a platform before Election Day, it would meaningfully change what voters can learn about this race.
June 2 primary — how they advanced
Source review: Very strong (94/100) · 4 cited sources
Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context.
- sdvote.com (opens in a new tab)San Diego County Registrar of Voters — certified June 2, 2026 results
- ballotpedia.org (opens in a new tab)Ballotpedia -- San Diego County Board of Education District 5 (candidate pages for Rick Shea and Bianca Ragonesi-Lasche, with the full certified June 2, 2026 primary field): incumbent Shea drew 58.9%, Ragonesi-Lasche 30.2%, and eliminated primary candidate Tammy Alam 10.8% -- both advance to a November general regardless of Shea's primary majority
- sandiegouniontribune.com (opens in a new tab)San Diego Union-Tribune -- "Q&A: Meet Rick Shea, candidate for San Diego County Board of Education in District 5" (Jemma Stephenson, May 7, 2026): Shea, 76, is the current vice president of the county Board of Education, an Encinitas native who has served on the board since 2015 and previously worked for SDCOE and as a teacher
- cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS -- "SHEA TO COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION 2022; RE-ELECT RICK" (Filer #1454250), status ACTIVE -- Shea's committee from his 2022 re-election carried forward rather than a newly named 2026 committee; no Form 460/461/450 electronically filed for the 2025-2026 cycle as of this retrieval
Last updated August 31, 2026.